I’m filling in for Dave Ross this morning (and through March 6) on News/Talk 710-KIRO. Here’s the show as it’s shaping up so far:
9AM: Q&A with Gov. Christine Gregoire
Gov. Christine Gregoire was in the other Washington this week, and she joins us by phone for the first half hour. Topics of discussion will include the imminent announcement of the Air Force’s new refueling tanker contract, and how to respond if it doesn’t go to Boeing, her threat to sue the federal government over Hanford cleanup, the state of negotiations over federal funding for the State Children Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), and the state budget battle in the context of reduced revenue forecasts. Later, KIRO’s business correspondent Jason Brooks will give us an update on the tanker contract and Microsoft’s record $1.3 billion EU fine.
10AM: The race for the White House… is the campaign about to turn dirty?
With one week left to go before the Ohio and Texas primaries possibly settle the Democratic nomination, strategist, pundit and blogger James Boyce joins us again for a recap of last night’s debate, and an analysis of the current state of the campaign.
11AM: Is “No Child Left Behind” making our kids stupid?
Our national obsession with standardized tests as the key to education reform may have spurred marginal improvements in reading and math (or maybe not) but a new survey suggests it has done so at the expense of literature and history. Fewer than half of teens knew when the Civil War was fought, and only a quarter correctly identified Adolf Hitler. And on literature, teens fared even worse. Is our emphasis on the WASL and other standardized tests impoverishing the educations of already impoverished students, or is a liberal arts education an unaffordable luxury in a taxpayer-funded public school?
Tune in this morning (or listen to the live stream) and give me a call: 1-877-710-KIRO (5476).
SHAMELESS ASK:
Just a reminder, First Lady Laura Bush is in Medina today to raise money for Rep. Dave Reichert, her first fundraiser for a House incumbent this election cycle. As Darcy Burner repeatedly points out, “there are more of us than there are of them”, so let’s prove. We’re in the middle of an netroots fundraiser seeking to match the First Lady donor for donor, and we’re only about a third of the way to our 250 donor target. So if you haven’t given already, please give today, and send the message to Reichert that he won’t be rewarded for his loyalty to the Bush administration.
Goldy: Get this guy on and challenge him: SAM ZELL.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/23350846/site/14081545
“The US economy will avoid recession as the housing market begins to recover this spring, according to billionaire investor Sam Zell.
Speaking on “Squawk Box” this morning, Zell attributed much of the current economic troubles to fear-mongering and politicking by Democratic presidential contenders Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.
“Obviously what we have going on is an attempt to create a self-fulfilling prophecy,” said Zell, chairman of Equity Investments Group and owner of the Chicago Cubs, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and other companies. “We have two Democratic candidates who are vying with each other to describe the economic situation worse.”
PuddyStudy: How many of the 16%ers here know the US economy has expanded for 25 consecutive quarters? Well the libtard donkey crap eating newspaper MSM wouldn’t tell you that. The libtard donkey crap eating nightly news MSM wouldn’t tell you that. Goldy wouldn’t tell you that.
So it had to be from us whom think right. I posted the numbers here before. Sure this will be the first quarter of economic downturn, but the rules are two quarters. So we’d need to see the May numbers.
I would drop my network work and listen (with the bass turned up to give Goldy’s voice some depth) to that discussion. But as always, Goldy is too chicken to really prove his “radio mettle”.
You could challenge Bill Cunningham from Cincinnati. But then you’d need to speak to Jon Stewart to come on too. He said this at the Oscars which was watched by most 16%ers here (and courtesy of many News Orgs who captured it)
JON STEWART: “You have to give Barack Obama credit. He has overcome a great deal — not just he’s an African-American, Barack Hussein Obama is his name. His middle name is the last name of Iraq’s former tyrant. His last name rhymes with Osama. That’s not easy to overcome. I think we all remember the ill-fated 1944 presidential campaign of Gadolf Titler”
PuddyStudy: Goldy whined he lost his radio gig. If he’d grow some and provided cutting edge material maybe KIRO would think twice. But being a 16%er, KIRO saw through him.
3. Stupes you forgot to bark some orders at Goldy to denounce HL!
Command me Stupes! LMAO!!!
So Puddy – the economy is doing great, huh.
This guy, Bernanke, seems to think otherwise.
“Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned Congress today of a period of sluggish business growth, sending a fresh signal of another cut in interest rates.
“The economic situation has become distinctly less favorable” since the summer, Bernanke testified. Since his previous such assessment last summer, the housing slump has worsened, credit problems have intensified and the job market has deteriorated. Bernanke said the confluence of these factors has turned people and businesses alike toward a more cautious attitude toward spending and investment. This, he said, has further weakened the economy.”
link:http://www.sbsun.com/breakingnews/ci_8378207
Let me see:
Record federal budget deficits due to Republicnas and the 3 billion/day Iraq nation building
Record trade deficits (due to republican sponsored trade agreements that ship off our jobs and the evisceration of the FTC and EPA that allows shoddy and dangerous products into our country).
Record oil prices (due to no regulation of oil companies, the Iraq policy and an energy policy written by Cheney and Enron with no emphasis on any alternative energies)
Record foreclousres (again no effective regulation of the banking and loan industry and the selling/buying of sub prime and other loans)
Big losses on Wall street
Average wage for americans is efectively losing ground.
Inflation due to oil price increases.
Lack of savings by americans.
But Puddy says that everything is great….so it must be. Thank you republicans for this great economy and your policies to help the little guys (sic).
On Puddy’s side
OF course the economy is doing great. Bush ca not brag about ti because that would give the3 gane away but the “fall” of the dollar vs the Euro now means that Boeing Airplanes are 30% cheaper to build!
Even the real estate dingus will turn around once JMcC id elected and invokes IKE in a lets build the highways to defend ourselves movement! Americans have a right t commute and to live in the wid eopen spaces!
Anyhooie … how much better can the ecoomy be? Thanks to low paid chinese workers, American productivity is at an all time high! Does this surorise you grasshoppers? Think of it this way, I designed a product for my company last year. We did the engineering and design. At the push of a button I can now order there products thousands at a time, at a cost amost not worth mentioning. My productivity for my employer is AWESOME!
While we are at it,
Goldie ought to ask Missy Gregwar why she doesn’t privatize the UW. That place, if it re in the private domain, would bean obvious take over target for an investor who would break it up and sell the parts.
The Huskie brand alone may be worth more than the book value of the school and at today’s condo prices LOOK at all that waterfront property!
Hay .. one more ..
What racist dimwit came up with the idea that only indians ought to be allowd to run casinoes?
Very sad to report the passing of one of the greatest conservatives of our time, William F. Buckley, Jr.
http://wcbstv.com/topstories/w.....63965.html
He was conservative when it wasn’t cool, and the magazine he founded, National Review, was a rock upon which the modern American conservative movement was grounded.
Intellectually erudite, witty in the extreme, and insightful, Bill Buckley made Ronaldus Magnus Reaganus and his political progeny possible. And he gave us hope before Barack Obama was even born!
Starting with his seminal, “God and Man at Yale,” he exposed the paucity of the liberal orthodoxy of the day and offered an alternative world view more grounded in reality, the American experience, and a genuine regard for freedom and liberty.
Bill Buckley, R.I.P.
The Piper
Puddy at 3:
C’mon. I’m calling you on this one. This is pathetic. Jon Stewart was in NO way using the race card against BHO.
You are either stupid, which I know you are not, or you are intentionally misleading everyone.
Clueless Idiot: Your father Keith Olbermann went off on Stewart. Look up the MSNBC transcript.
Waaaa haaaa haaaa
GBS: Why is it okay for a lefty to make jokes of a name and if Dennis Miller did the same everyone left of the double yellow line would be screaming?
You can’t call me out when you know the truth is facts.
Clueless Idiot: You don’t take orders from anyone except jo mama. Since you live at home you have to follow her orders.
“Speaking on “Squawk Box” this morning, Zell attributed much of the current economic troubles to fear-mongering and politicking by Democratic presidential contenders Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.”
This is beyond stupid. To actually believe that the US economy hinges on political debates between two people who may not even become the president, instead of the fact that George W. Bush and the Republicans have instituted their own economic agenda an it’s failed. To forget the fact the Iraq War has created immense geo-political instability in the Middle East that has put between 25%-35% premium in the cost of oil; that a weak US dollar isn’t helping to drive the cost of oil up.
Nope. The ONLY people responsible are Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama.
Good Lord, this serves to exemplify the “take on personal responsibility” that has become one of the many infamous hallmarks of conservatism in general and of the Bush administration specifically.
Correctnotright: Did you read what I wrote above or are you blinded by your thoughts you can’t see truths? The last report in late November had the economy still expanding. I haven’t seen a new report yet. I said I expect it to be negative. “Sure this will be the first quarter of economic downturn, but the rules are two quarters.”
I realize living on this board and rubbing shoulders with Clueless Idiots such as Clueless Idiot@4, does tend to dumb down your intelligence.
@6: thanks gipper – it is great to know that the dollar falling is good – that means our goods are cheaper – except the example you cite – Boeing – doesn’t work ’cause boeing is just asembling the new planes in Everett – they went all multi-national in order to compete – and now the parts cost more since they come from overseas.
Also -we now pay more for those cheap imports.
And the real reson the dollar is falling and the Canadian economy is kicking our butts – budget deficits, health care costs and the Iraq war.
For a republican you know very little about the economy.
why is it record budget deficits are OK now?
3 billion/day wasted in Iraq – and oil prices are at record levels.
Why is it nation-building is OK now?
Why is it corruption is central to the republican party?
GBS: Yell and scream all you want about Sam Zell. Until you are a billionaire your stool is kind of short to sit at his table.
Pelletizer, did you research Sam Zell. Did he inherit it?
Puddybud the clueless:
Jon Stewart was, now get ready for this, making fun of the Bill Cunningham types, the Rush Limbaugh’s.
Get it? Or did you think that there was actually an “ill-fated 1944 presidential campaign of Gadolf Titler”
Baaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa
GAY-dolf TIT-ler!!!
C’mon. Get your moral compass headed towards the truth again. Sheeeeeeeez.
Oh, Good morning.
@16 – The economy is about to fall off a cliff – if you can’t see it, while everyone else can…and economic growth of under 4% is weak and nothing to brag about.
You have one weak statistic – and I cite ten statistics but I am not paying attention?
What do we need – a huge increase in unemployment and a huge negative growth to clue you in that a recesssion is under way?
C’mon Stupes – let’s hear those orders!
Order everyone around here to dance to your tune!
Let’s hear that tally again.
LMAO!!!
You’re such a loser!
your stool is kind of short to sit at his table.
There goes that Puddy lapdog again. Sucking up to the right wing rich and famous.
Such a loser!
Puddybud at 17:
Oh, you must be right. Why would a conservative billionaire lie?
Not like he wants more tax cuts for himself and to avoid the Estate Tax.
Yep, you’re right. The economy has NOTHING to do with economic principles, only if Hillary and Barak are bickering.
Yep, now that I think about it a little more the arguing makes MUCH more sense than economic policies.
Just think, if those two would just stop debating politics we’d have another Bill Clinton like economy. Darn it all.
Is that what you honestly think on an intellectual level about the economy? Really?
Terrorist @ 15
Did you read what I wrote above…
Why, on earth, would anyone read what you have to say about Economics? You have, repeatedly, demonstrated your inability to discuss the subject intelligently and rationally.
As for Sam Zell, why would we expect an attorney (he has a law degree, not a PhD in Economics) and the chairman of the Equity Group to be either knowledgeable or objective about the future of our Economy?
Contrast Zell’s comments with those of Nouriel Roubini, who received his PhD in Economics from Harvard, who says the recession could last up to six quarters.
So, why would you choose Zell’s prognosis over Roubini’s? Please, try to enlighten us with something other than your constant stream of bullshit.
Delusional One@23:
You chose to disagree with an economist who looked at Clinton’s plans and he said they hurt the little guy.
You chose to ignore the Clinton jobs created did little to help the little guy and improve his/her personal wealth while fattening Wall Street.
You chose to place URLs what “claimed” to reduce the poverty level. I never discussed the poverty level (another of your “canards”). I previously related NY Times articles which discussed how the Clinton jobs did little to improve the lot of over 20 Million people.
You chose to ignore those facts, so it’s not my problem.
You chose to ignore a self-made man and how he’s made jobs for many men and women in this economy for others.
You choose to agree with an academic who has created how many jobs for men and women?
That’s why I call you the delusional one. Now I’m not going to rail on producers and consumer like MTR-X. that’s his line and I’m not stealing it. But you are a LEFTIST Pinhead and I’m am stealing it from Mr. Cynical.
Your “friend” the “terrorist” (your words).
Still Scabbing and taking away Union Jobs I see. At least you continue to live up to your moniker of Cheap Labor Liberal. My Union dues went up lt month, did yours?
Goldy;
Look, I know the “no child left behind” program has become a political football. But I work in an international company, and I have encountered the product of lots of educational systems from around the world, and I’ve become a firm believer that the U.S. educational system is falling behind so rapidly that it will soon cease to be relevant.
And before the wingnuts start to chant that the problem is the Democrats, liberals, WEA & teacher unions in general, or public education in general, I would counter that there are lots of free, taxpayer-supported education systems around the world that are providing a lot better education system than we now experience in the U.S. A Korean gal in my office scoffed at the SAT’s, which she took when she came here after getting her high school diploma in Korea. Even taking the test in a foreign language (English), she scored in the top 5%, and said it was MUCH easier than her high school final exams. I heard the same thing from a more recent immigrant from India, a friend of my daughter.
And for those who continue to spout the mantra that only in the U.S. do we insist on educating everybody, and the other countries are only counting selected “elite” students being prepared for college – it just isn’t so. And it hasn’t been that way for the better part of three decades. The average student in Korea and Japan and Singapore and Tiawan and even China, and increasingly India also, is MUCH better educated than the average student in the U.S.
What we do very well in the U.S. is to teach creativity and artistic processes. We do not teach math, science, foreign languages well at all – basically, anything that requires memorization. A serious study of history and literature is usually the last thing to be taught – perhaps some light reading of a novel a year, on a subject of contemporary interest, is often considered to be the most teachers expect from their students.
Once I asked a fellow from Japan when he learned the capitals of each province. He replied that he learned them by the third grade. When I mentioned that seemed fairly early, by American standards, he clarified. He said he learned the capitals of Japanese provinces in the first grade. He had learned the capitals of the U.S. states by the third grade!
I’m a firm believer in standardized testing. Schools have gone too long without being accountable for their performance due to the lack of standardized testing. The GPA doesn’t mean anything if the default grade becomes an “A”, just to keep parents happy and make for fewer problems If we lack the political will to acurately measure our achievements, how will we ever be able to identify our shortcomings and improve them????
But having a WASL or other standardized test shouldn’t be exclusive of other subjects. Other countries have no trouble at all teaching the other subjects in addition to math and science. (They do, however, fall behind in encouraging “creativity”). How do they perform this?
1. They test every year. If you don’t pass the final, you don’t advance.
2. They have, generally, year-round schooling. Only the U.S. insists on having an educational system which is designed on a 19th century rural model.
3. They may have numerous holidays and breaks of a week or so each for New Year, Spring, and Summer, but they don’t have the frequent days off for “teacher training”, half-days for parent-teacher conferences, etc. They also go to school for longer hours each day.
4. The expect, and recieve, discipline from the students, and parental support of the discipline process. Classroom disruption due to discipline problems are rare.
5. They have a national curriculumn and standard to follow. This allows students to move throughout the country without missing any significant amount of school work, as their previous grades will transfer with them and they can pick up in the new school right where they left off. This doesn’t mean that the local schools can’t supplement the national standard, however, with additional projects in various areas of study.
6. School is for serious work, not a social event or a substitute for unfunded government mandates of one sort or another. Anything other than academic work – sports, dances, DARE classes, fundraising, etc., are done after school, as long as they don’t infringe upon school time.
7. Memorization is expected. Teachers’ don’t spend a lot of time using “exercises” to “motivate” students to remember something that they could just as well learn if the spent a couple of hours studying when they got home after school. When students arrive at school, they are expected to be prepared to tackle the day’s work.
8. Many middle and high-school age students go to another school for several hours of classes after they leave their regular taxpayer-funded school. The night schools are designed to make sure they will do well on college entrance exams. It’s certainly not required, but it’s the only way to get into a best colleges.
Why did I take the time to go on this rant? Because our leadership position in the world economy is in danger. I think we MIGHT have ten years left to correct it before the danger is irreversable, but it might already be too late. We have to move quickly – we can’t squabble forever about which plan or another is best, like we do on the Alaska Way Viaduct or the 520 Bridge.
In the meantime, Microsoft is hiring software engineers from India because they say they cannot find sufficient numbers of good people in the U.S. Japanese manufacturers and trading companies have already taken over much of Asia-Pacific marketplace, because their people can travel freely and speak many languages. Boeing is outsourcing much of the design work for the 787 program because Japan and even China are just about at our level of aerospace technology (China rolled out its first true modern commercial airline produced in the country only last month). Boeing & other defense companies are having a hard time finding U.S. citizens with engineering degrees to fill the defense contracts requiring citizenship for security clearances. As for a young generation of tool & die makers, manufacturing engineers, etc. – forget about it. The “service sector” jobs, which were supposed to fill the vacume caused when our manufacturing jobs all went overseas, are now being performed in India call centers.
Even that bastion of capitalist investment, Bill Gate’s bridge-playing pal, said in last year’s annual report that we were spending our parent’s inheritances, and we will be out of money in the next decade or so.
Sorry for the rant – but this is a subject that concerns me greatly.
I donated $15
Terrorist @ 24
I choose to not accept someone’s analysis when it’s not backed up by the data, and I don’t care if the person doing the analysis was the recipient of a Nobel Prize in Economics (e.g. Milton Friedman’s criticisms of the Federal Reserve’s actions following the Great Depression).
You talk about Economic policies not helping the “little guy,” and, then, elide that claim when I point out that poverty levels declined during the Clinton years. If the “little guy” isn’t about poverty, then, by all means, be more explicit in your definitions. If you use ambiguous terms, then you don’t have much right to deride people who seem to not understand what you’re saying.
You lack the knowledge and understanding required to adequately assess someone’s Economic analysis, so you choose to accept the prognostications of someone who happened to be in the right place at the right time, but who has done absolutely nothing to demonstrate that he actually understands the subject he’s discussing. Damn, anyone who didn’t make some money in real estate investments over the past 15 years has to be a complete idiot.
By the way, name a single job that Sam Zell created, other than, perhaps, a few cushy desk jobs for financial analysts doing what my teenaged daughter can do, that would not have been created without his foray into real-estate holdings.
Contrast that with the number of students whom Roubini has helped to educate. Seriously, when you twits start touting the “achievements” of real-estate tycoons over those of educators, you do nothing more than reveal the fact that you can’t see reality beyond the end of your own nose.
Now, please, provide an intelligent reason to take Zell’s prognostication over Roubini’s. In other words, at least try break down their respective arguments, and decide which one better fits observable data.
#11 PuddyPrick, The Fact Finding Prognosticator… says:
I don’t believe the sheeple on the left refer to olbermann as father, it’s more like saint/god/deity/savior.
Olberman’s funny. So is Jon Stewart. Marvin Stamn is a wannabe.
“…making our kids stupid?” Doesn’t David know there are no stupid kids, just kids who “learn differently?”
rhp6033 @ 26
I am all for year-round schooling, especially with a special needs child. Katie is given some summer instruction as part of her program, but it only amounts to 160 minutes a day, four times a week, for five weeks. We should follow the Japanese model, as you suggest.
But I forget. We are too cheap to properly pay teachers for even the job they are doing now. Dino Rossi and the Republican legislature eliminated 3.6% from the pay in 2003 — a bad enough sin, compounded by Christine Gregoire and the Democratic legislature doing nothing to restore Rossi teacher pay cuts for the last four years.
Teachers need close to a 10% raise, just to bring them to the national average. Plus another 15% or more to deal with a longer school year that we should be having, and maybe another 15% if the school day is longer.
the sheeple on the left
and to the RIGHT we have Mahvelous Marvin who can’t think his way out of a rice paper bag.
#30 Don Joe says:
Wannabe what?
When you’re not even replying to me you include me in your thoughts and words. Your actions prove I’m up in your head. Makes a troll proud.
Richard @ 32
Unfortunately, we also have far too many wingers who will extol the “virtues” of real-estate investment tycoons over those of educators (who, supposedly, don’t “produce” anything). When someone who takes credit for the work of others in building some 3000 houses in the Puget Sound area thinks himself better than a university professor of Political Science, that’s a mountain of stupidity we have to climb.
Your actions prove I’m up in your head.
You were there for about 10 seconds. You’ve come back for another 10 seconds of infamy, but will be gone as soon as I post this.
If your thoughts were food, we’d all starve to death.
Delusional Don Joe: Before I answer your “question” I need to understand your frame of reference.
Do you agree with Paul Krugman? No equivocation a simple yes or no will suffice.
@26
Well said.
IMO
Throwing money at the problem has yet to solve the problem of low achievement by graduating students.
I have always contended that the biggest problem with our education system is not in the schools, but in the home.
rhp6033, I think you have it just right. You write so well, you must have been educated abroad.
If we don’t reverse our downward spiral, we will be an ignorant, third-world country with a weak economy armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons willing to bully the world under the guise of capitalism. Someone will have to take the weapons from us.
We’re in grave danger.
I’m all for paying teachers well – my mother was a teacher. One of the reasons I did so well in school was that by middle school, I would spend an hour or so each night helping her to grade high-school English tests & papers.
As for university political science professors, I knew quite a few (I received my undergraduate degree in political science). There are goods ones, bad ones, smart ones, and some who are off their rockers. Like just about every other profession. I judge them by their work product.
#38 Right Stuff says:
Next thing you know you will be using phrases the right-wingers do like “personal responsibility.” Be careful, you probably don’t want to go there on this blog.
Terrorist @ 37
Do you agree with Paul Krugman? No equivocation a simple yes or no will suffice.
Have you stopped beating your wife? Why do you ask a question for which the only correct answer would be equivocal, and then demand a yes or no answer?
This is the problem with your logic. You demand that I accept someone’s analysis based on who is providing the analysis rather then basing my acceptance on the quality of the analysis itself. In terms of logical reasoning, you’re asking me to uncritically accept a particular appeal to authority.
The correct answer to your question is that I often do agree with Krugman, but there have been times when I haven’t. In particular, there was a round-table discussion on the TPM Cafe quite a while ago regarding “orthodox” Economics, and there were quite a few things Krugman said that I thought weren’t very well thought out.
I have always contended that the biggest problem with our education system is not in the schools, but in the home.
Is that why many rich people send their kids off to boarding schools?
Do you agree with Paul Krugman? No equivocation a simple yes or no will suffice.
Stupes believes in Donald Luskin.
Hey Stupes who’re your favorite “economists”? Kudlow? Luskin?
Laffer?
LMAO!!!
Krugman says the sky is often blue. One of us agrees with him.
Stupes goes into “afterglow”.
By the way, Terrorist, if you really do care about the “little guy,” then the Economist to whom you should be paying the most amount of attention would be Jamie Galbraith at the University of Texas. He’s done some remarkable work correlating income disparities with economic growth.
‘Course, you won’t, because Galbraith is a hated “librul,” who just happens to be the son of James Kenneth Galbraith.
Errata: “James Kenneth Galbraith,” should be “John Kenneth Galbraith.
James is Jamie’s proper name.
JK @ 39: “You write so well, you must have been educated abroad.”
No, I wasn’t, but as I said before, my mother was an English teacher, and I was lucky enough to have a couple of good English teachers in High School. I also had a couple of pretty demanding professors in college who insisted on some intellectual discipline and clear writing.
But as a quick review of my post indicates, or my other posts, I really, really, shouldn’t post – ever – without proofreading and doing a spell check. Spelling in particular is still one of my weaknesses.
RS @ 38: I agree that home environment & parental involvement is a big componant of the education problem. (Gee, we agree on something!!!!) A good reason why Japan and Korea have advanced so far, so quickly, is that the parents there place a high value on education, insist that their children work hard at it, and they won’t tolerage poor performance by the teachers or their schools. But they also pay for it – Japanese teachers earn fairly high levels of income, comparitavely, and are respected leaders in their communities.
Other facets of the Japanese system are a little strange to us, so I wouldn’t want to adopt it wholesale. High school students study like crazy for the college entrance exams, because where you go to college pretty much dictates the rest of your career. It’s increadibly stressful, and suicides are not rare. But once you are in college, the workload is actually very light. You are expected to use the time to form lifelong friendships and forge future business relationships, and to cultivate a few hobbies & sports, as well as a reference or two from a university professor to help you land a good job. If you graduate from a major university (Tokyo University is the most prestigious), your future employment at a good company is assured.
But once employed, Japanese college graduates go back to working long hours as a “salaryman” – twelve hour work days, followed by frequent business dinners or drinking sessions with your co-workers, is routine. That’s why most Japanese men don’t get married until they are well into their 30’s.
For Japanese women, even those graduating from a major university, they are still fighting for equal employment opportunity. In Japan it is still expected that a woman will work only until they are married, although a few will continue to work until they become pregnant, at which time they are expected to quit. It is rare for a woman to reach management level in a large Japanese company, regardless of merit.
@43
I don’t know the answer to that, or what the % of children attend boarding school vs public school.
Do many “rich” people send their kids to boarding school?
In a way, you make my point in that boarding school is a situation where school is 100% of the focus. Eat-Sleep-Live in the school environment. Contrast that with the public school experience.
IMO parents who are engaged in their childrens education greatly increase the likelyhood of academic success.
Maybe, just maybe, Puddybud is right and we should listen to Sam Zell.
I’ve come to learn that whatever the officials in the Bush administration say, you know the oppoisite is true. Ben Bernanke has just testified before the house and he said “The economic situation has become distinctly less favorable” since the summer, the Fed chief told the House Financial Services Committee.”
Which is it Puddy? Zell is full of shit or Bernanke?
In summary: We need to treat our education system problems as a crisis, which demands immediate action but long-term solutions and attention. This requires parents, teachers, taxpayers, and politicians to all agree to put aside their differences and quickly enact some needed changes, and to make education a priority over the next twenty years.
In Japan, some two decades or so ago, they realized that English had become the international business language, but their students were having trouble in English. The teachers had mostly learned English from other Japanese teachers who taught English, with the result that although they could teach students how to read and write English fairly well, nobody could speak it very well. This was compounded by the Japanese cultural reluctance to ever attempt to say anything which might be a mistake. So the government established a program to bring in thousands of American and British citizens to teach their students English, normally serving for one or two years at a time. It had a profound impact. The Japanese also increased the number of years of English study required by each student in order to graduate from high school (I think it is five years now, but I could be wrong).
They identified a problem, reached a consensus on a solution, and quickly adopted it.
In comparison, in the U.S. we know that students learn foreign languages best when they are taught them early, but for the most part we only teach foreign languages in high school and college. We require students to take one year (sometimes two) of a foreign language, in man school districts around the country study of a foreign language is not required at all. It is a rare student in the U.S. who studies more than one foreign language, and virtually all U.S. students study only Spanish or French in high school. But apparantly, nobody sees a problem with this?
And we are the only industrialized country in the world which continues to use feet, inches, and quarts as units of measurement. I guess we arrogantly assume that everyone else will put up with our eccentricities, and continue to buy seperate sets of tools to repair or modify our products? Well, not so much, I guess – if our current decline in manufacturing output, as compared with the rest of the world, is any indication.
RS @ 49
I wasn’t disagreeing with your point about the home environment, and, had you paid attention to comment threads here, you’d know that my oldest presently attends a boarding school in Canada. My comment was part self-deprecating humor part commentary on how disinterest in the lives of one’s children tends to cross Economic divisions. The underlying point is, there isn’t any one single factor that determines success in school.
I will, however, reiterate the point about a significant number of people, mostly from the right-leaning end of the political spectrum, who seem to not value the work that educators do. We see it here in the comment threads, particularly when wingers prattle on about “producers”.
Tends to lead one to wonder if people like rob [sic] have sent their children to attend a state college, and, if so, should we expect a refund from them for their tax-subsidized educations?
@ 50
Reminds me of a Lewis Black line about global warming. Now that President Bush says he believes in global warming…I don’t know what to think.
Richard @ 32,
The problem with the raises you are talking about are also shortages. Math and Science teachers are on the same pay scale as music and Art teachers. We can’t give bonuses to recruit more people to become Math and Science, unless we do the same with all of the other teachers. Look, my wife is a voice teacher at a university. I recognize the pay disparity and the need to pay teachers more. But let’s get real here. Does a photography teacher need to make as much as a Math and Science Teacher? What about the teachers who aren’t teaching? Any parent out there, can pinpoint at least 1 teacher who has a terrible reputation, or who they don’t want their kids to be taught by. How can we dismiss the teachers who aren’t doing right by the students, while at the same time reward the teachers who are excelling?
RHP
You’re spot on. We are lagging the world in educating our population and as we move further into the “Information Age” we will be at an extreme competitive disadvantage in the global economy, and soon.
I think YLB said it best about the B-2 bomber that crashed in Guam: the cost of the plane is equivalent to 80,000 4 year degrees.
Our founding fathers believed in advanced education, particularly Thomas Jefferson. Why so many conservatives are against giving America the upperhand in the global economy is beyond me.
It’s a fact that people with degrees earn higher salaries. People who earn higher salaries contribute more to the overall consumer spending and tax revenues to the government. More revenue to the government from more people will actually lower the overall tax burden per person.
You owe your mother a big Thank You and I applaud her profession.
rhp6033: Golly it seems you are stuck in the twilight zone.
Puddy been all over the world. Puddy has seen the bright and the stupid. Shit, I converse with Clueless Idiot every day so there are stupid ones here too.
Puddy posted the results from many studies which said when the NEA decided to dumb down our education the United States dropped from 4th in the world to 30th or so.
I agree with much of what you wrote. I posted many anecdotal stories of the headless lucy teaching methods employed by school districts today and the professor Darryl teaching results (Marvin did Darryl ever answer your question) where our college grads suck.
Why did Bill Gates rail on Education last year?
The No Child Left Behind Act was the brainchild of Kennedy wasn’t it?
That FEDEX commercial where the employee couldn’t find China on the map was very telling of the US educational system.
Re: WFB
Buckley could rise on occasion to being civil and respectful to people whose views he otherwise scorned.
However…
I watched Firing Line quite a bit during the Reagan years and Buckley always seated the Liberal guest between himself and another conservative.
The Liberal would get it from both sides.
If it was “one-on-one” Buckley then had a conservative “examiner”.
I saw him go for the jugular time after time. National Review was well known for its sarcasm and its sneering.
And talk about “Godwin’s law”! Buckley always tossed mentions of “Adolph Hitler” when it came to more realistic or sane views of handling the Soviet Union.
But whatever goes around, comes around:
When Buckley went on that NR cruise and asked Norman Podhoretz, “Aren’t you embarrassed by the absence of these weapons?”.
http://alternet.org/story/57001/?page=1
Yeah, that’s how I want to remember Buckley.
the professor Darryl teaching results
PuddySilly: Why is your son taking classes from the likes of Prof Darryl when he could be defending momma and daddy from the Sharia law in Iraq?
http://www.goarmy.com.
Sign him up Stupes – there’s a war on terra goin’ on!
LMAO!!!
Oh this is sweet! For the benefit of our resident village idiot (you know who):
Rick Perlstein on WFB:
http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-.....role-model
Privatize = Turning Govt. functions over to rich people and industrialists = Republican Fascism
60: Headless Lucy, you’ve already admitted to being who you are so why do you continue to hide under these names?
Headless are you wearing your purple laced costume at school today?
re 56: Your grasp of cause and effect is faulty.
Why do you refer to yourself in the third person all the time? You sound like an ungrammatical Bob Dole.
re 61: I don’t carry on conversations with myself and invent phantom supporters who back up my claims. You are into that kind of sock puppetry. You betray yourself at times by use of the word ‘donk’ when you are in a sockypupp disguise.
That is your new name: “SockyPupp’!!
Puddy said: “Golly it seems you are stuck in the twilight zone.”
But other than blaming the NEA for all our education problems, I didn’t see where you actually objected to anything I said – other than wanting to share some stories about how bad the system was.
Surprise – I agree that we need some major changes. You can supply all the stories you want about how bad the system is, I won’t argue with them. Were you just reacting to me in a knee-jerk fashion, expecting that we would have an argument over that?
But I’ve seen some private schools that weren’t really that much better – some of them just become dumping grounds for kids who were expelled from the public schools. Others have become rather complacent, satisfied that as long as they are marginally better than a nearby public school (because they can selectively kick out students who can’t keep up), they feel they are doing just fine. The public vs. private school debate is a bit like watching two minor league teams arguing over which is better, even though they don’t even realize how poorly they compare with the performance in the major leagues.
Realistically, I don’t anticipate that a large number of teachers, students, or parents, much less Democrats or Republicans, would agree on all of the solutions I propose. There’s plenty of my opinions available to upset just about everybody.
* I’m all in favor of standardized testing, which some liberals and quite a few teachers oppose.
* I’m opposed to closing down public schools in favor of private ones supported by tax credits, which seems to be the preferred right-wing response.
*I’m all for paying teachers more, which conservatives don’t like because it means higher taxes and it benefits the teacher’s unions, indirectly. But I would expect that in return, teachers to be held responsible for classroom performance, and they would work long hours as salaried (not hourly) employees, with professional training on their own time, like other professionals – which I assume the WEA and NEA would oppose.
* I also expect that parents would have to support much stricter discipline in schools, to which I would anticipate a “…as long as it doesn’t apply to MY child…”, response.
* While I support increased funding of teacher salaries and infrastructure funding, I disagree that funding levels and student/teacher performance are inexorably linked. I’ve visited a few schools in Africa, with volunteer teachers, open walls and dirt floors, which in some cases did a better job than some of ours schools (except they couldn’t plug in a computer – no electricity).
But the only political aspect of my “rant” is that I object to the attempt by Republicans to use the problems as an excuse to defund the public schools in favor of using tax money to finance, or underwrite through tax credits, private schools. I have a philosophical commitment to a free public education, and I don’t accept the premise that anything “private” in inherently superior to a publically funded and operated system.
Another gem for our resident right wing fools (especially Poopster). A little expose on war profiteering and from a right wing newspaper no less:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/28oj4e
Ahhhh yes. Greedheads and Republicans going to jail for doing what they do best: thieving.
How sweet it is!
Clueless Idiot: You watched Firing Line? And you still live at home with momma? So Clueless Idiot, do you know who Boris Bolgin is? Oh wait a minute, you’ll need to look that up.
Firing Line was a staple in our home Dad always had us watch it. Great show.
‘SockyPupp’!! : You rarely guess who I really am. Those who say they know, don’t know; and those who say they don’t, do.
GBS – see #5 above – yup – what the heck does the chair of the Federal Reserve know – anyways!
67 – I never read any of Buckley’s spy novels and I don’t recall them being discussed much on Firing Line.
I do recall Frank Snepp chiding Buckley on one show for not first approving the publication of his novels with the CIA like Snepp has to do with EVERYTHING he writes.
Buckley snapped back something in Latin – you know, the sneering thing.
@70: I thought firing Line WAS in sneering latin….as the lingua franca.
Oh and you DO know who Snepp is don’t you?
I read Snepp’s book. That was actually about things that really happened.
rhp6033: Let me say it again “I agree with much of what you wrote.”
But you seem to give a pass to the NEA and their claim of dumbing down the curriculum so the under brained children like Clueless Idiot could pass.
When I posted this your 16%er friends had a cow. http://www.sntp.net/education/education_stats.htm It’s the NEA baby!
I believe good teachers should get merit pay bonuses. No merit pay bonuses for the # of kids who pass the WASL etc., but bonuses for student evaluations where a student says this teacher inspired me to be X or Y. Teachers who go beyond the 7:15-2:45 day and kick ass in the classroom. But the NEA and WEA would not like that.
I did that for a Jewish Social Studies teacher I had. His father and my father were good friends. Came back after college told the school administration he was one of their best and deserved to be paid as one.
Telling comment: “A Washington, D.C., grade-school teacher reports that many of the fifth- and sixth-grade students in her geography class were unable to locate Washington, D.C., on a map of the United States, even though they lived in the nation’s capital themselves.”
Also the hip-hop culture (Bill Cosby railed on that) doesn’t help.
Hey Stupes,
Here’s one for you:
Must have been you!
LMAO!!!
http://alternet.org/story/57001/?page=1
Delusional Joe: Getting back to you.
Yes, I heard of his son when he died. I haven’t followed his economic pronouncements. If his work is credible then he’ll get the accolades due to him from his “peers”. I brought up Krugman as Goldy, Clueless Idiot and others use him as their economic standard bearer. Shit, even the NY Times Ombudsman castigated him.
Never beat my wife. Never will beat her either. She gives it to me freely as she enjoys the feeling. She has six brothers and two of them are mean suns of bitches! I guess since you brought it up you must of beat yours last night. Rough night getting those “receipts”?
Clueless Idiot: At least the person was on a cruise ship. You should try one. Ask for a non-smoking boat. Best one we ever took. Oh yeah… you need to work to do that.
Waaaaaa haaaaa haaaaa haaaaa haaaaa haaaaa.
rhp6033: Is the NEA the problem or not?
77 – I got better things to spend $1200/head on than a floating hotel.
Imagine that – a black man calling on God to bless the Ku Klux Klan.
Could only be National Review reader.
And there you go again – those who have the money are better than those who don’t.
We all know who you really worship on Saturday Stupes. It doesn’t begin with a “G” – more like an “M”.
So rhp6033: Conservatives are not into de-funding schools as you argue. It’s the schools that fail that need evaluating just like teachers that suck int he classroom. No one wants to investigate why they fail. It’s always throw more money at the problem. Unlike a lawyer that sucks works for the guvmint, teachers usually don’t get fired.
I placed on this board years ago:
Joe Clark was ostracized in the New Jersey high school system because he cared for his students and he didn’t allow bullying or anything else. What did the NEA establishment do to him? Got him removed because he was breaking the norm and was making a difference to minority and poor white kids. We can’t have that can we? People from a lower social strata succeeding not in a Democratic Party controlled society. They are not coming to us for the entitlement.
Then you look at Jaime Escalante. He took the barrio kids in LA and proved that they could perform advanced math. Again the Union was po’d. Did you know that the school system forced his kids to take the AP Math test twice that first year because the Union didn’t support Escalante? The students passed again. He too didn’t support bullying.
Third instance was the elementary principal in Chicago. She made 60 Minutes. She created a charter school for inner city black boys. They wore uniforms, had strict discipline, and were at the top of the charts for academics. What did the NEA and the Chicago school board do? They fired her butt. Why? She didn’t follow the rules of mediocrity.
Fourth instance. Another lady in downtown Harlem NYC. She had similar programs to the principal in Chicago. She too made 60 Minutes. She too lost her job to Union pressure.
Fifth Instance: http://www.alipac.us/modules.p.....38;t=56029 a great principal but your latino friends wanted her fired.
Clueless Idiot: If you had $1200, it’s because you stole it.
Puddy @ 73: I agree that teachers need to be avaluated on their merits, and not get a free pass based upon seniority. But I also know that analyzing merit pay for teachers in notoriously difficult.
One teacher I know said that 20% of the kids will do well no matter who teaches them, or what incentives they are offered. Another 20% of the students will do poorly, despite every effort to drag them kicking and screaming into the classroom and spoon-feeding them the subject matter with exceptionally motivating teachers. The rest of the 60% are the ones that are motivated by engaging teachers who both present the subject matter well and encourage the students to push their boundaries in learning the subject.
But my own mother was a pretty good teacher, if I say so myself. And it is notoriously hard to motivate anyone in the bottom 20% to excell at English Literature & Composition if they aren’t inclined to do so. But because of her experience and skills, she tended to be assigned more of the “problem students”. Yet the merit pay plans which were proposed at the time only tended to reward teachers who’s grades were above average. Obviously, she didn’t think this was a fair measure – it penalized teachers who were taking on the more difficult students, and it rewarded teachers who graded too easily.
That was some time ago, and there are more sophisticated methods of measurement out there, but the problem remains that any emperical method of measurement is easily frustrated by (a) student & class assignments within a school, (b) school assignments with a district, (c) comparisons of economic advantages between districts, and (d) different methods of measurement – such as grades vs. standardized tests.
Other methods of measurement are pretty subjective, and subject to manipulation by interested parties. Student performance evaluations can be one factor, but only one factor of many – sometimes it encourages teachers to be “friends” to the students, when they should sometimes be disciplinarians. Classroom reviews by other teachers, district officials, or principals can be pretty subjective. Sometimes principals who are edging for a promotion themselves will let it be known that they don’t want to hear about any discipline problems or poor grades, because that might distract from their reports of “glowing performance” at the school – but which tends to increase discipline problems, and grade inflation (yes, I know of at least one specific instance).
So although I agree with rewards for good performance in general, it’s like the old saying about nuclear arms treaties: “the devil is in the details”.
re 81: Judging whether a school is failing or succeeding is not a one-size-fits-all sort of proposition.
It’s not like consistently producing the same size piston for a 305 Chevy engine time after time. The place to start in improving education is with a living wage for every breadwinner be they male or female.
Goldy, for your show tomorrow
http://www.postchronicle.com/n.....2815.shtml Sure is amazing what flies over the PuddyTransom.
Gennifer Flowers Will Auction Secret Bill Clinton Voice Tapes
Now that’s funny!
Headless@84: No one care what you think 24/7
SO rhp6033: Did your mother agree with Ebonics?
I employ that writing style all the time here. It’s liberally approved and this is a liberal blog.
re 81: Look at it this way, Sockypupp: At any given time, each school and every student in it is at a different starting point. The idea is that if you measure all the students in every school at the same time, you have a starting point by which to measure the school and the individual, i.e., ‘no child left behind’.
Theoretically, you then measure the students on a yearly basis, and you can tell where progress is being made and where improvement is needed.
Conversely, if you come up with an arbitrary set of ‘standards’ that every school must meet simultaneously, you create a situation where blundering asses like Stupes can run around dunning people who by any reasonable measure are succeeding as failures — based on his one-size-fits-all ‘standards’. Stupes can bludgeon educators with his nit-wit assessments of their teaching skills — and — he’s got ‘data’ to back up his claims.
Maybe Goldy you could ask American Airlines about this Haitian lady’s death.
I’m sure Pelletizer can fill you in on all the Haitian country detains as he’s the HorsesASSHole expert on the island country.
http://www.abcnews.go.com/TheL.....038;page=1
Headless@88 I don’t care what you think 24/7. You are writing to the hand. I have high skuul educators in my family. I can talk from experience.
Maybe Goldy you could discuss this new Heilary Cliton 527 Group:
http://www.postchronicle.com/n.....2140.shtml
American Leadership Project: Will Barack Obama Be Swift Boat-ed?
Puddy @ 87: Ebonics wasn’t around (at least, not recognized or named) when my mother was teaching. And the fact that my school was mostly white would have tended to make it a moot issue. She did, however, fight a continuous battle against what might be called “Southern English” which crept it’s way into essays, including a sprinkling of “ain’t”, “durn near”, etc.
And my mother was pretty conservative, but she did vote Democratic. She remembered what Franklin Roosevelt did for the people of the rural south (TVA, Rural Electrification Project, etc.), and was grateful. She said that while Republicans were in charge nationally, they left it up to private companies who wouldn’t help at all unless they could make a huge profit off the people in the process. Roosevelt’s New Deal got things done, in her opinion.
KIRO 710am went from “golden pipes” Ross last week to “Screech” Goldstein this week from 9-12…that can’t be good for ratings.
inre: Ebonics @ 92…..in my day,the mirror opposite of ebonics was simply called “literacy”.
@ 93, Rick D, you might want to direct the ebonics comment to Buddypud. He is one of the resident wingnut trolls here, and the only person who posts with ebonics.
So, Rick D, if your comment is intended to mean that people who use ebonics are illiterate, then Buddypud would at least be an example in support of your proposition.
If only this vacation could extend into a sabbatical, or perhaps Dave Ross could become Charles Osgood permanently?
Ahhh BO; another sybil of headless lucy appears.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebonics
BO – As Clueless as Clueless Idiot.
re 90: If they were educators in public schools, why would you listen to them, as you have expressed nothing but disdain for them.
You have nothing to offer. No valid criticism. No valid solutions. You just sound like a youth who has just discovered that the world and the grown-ups who run it are not perfect.
Big deal.
re 97: Thanks for language lesson, Bre’r Rabbit.
Again Headless@98/99: No response 24/7.
Terrorist @ 76
Yes, I heard of his son when he died. I haven’t followed his economic pronouncements. If his work is credible then he’ll get the accolades due to him from his “peers”.
Actually, that was the very issue on the “orthodox” Economics round-table discussion I mentioned earlier. Galbraith’s views are, well, unorthodox. Krugman stood well within the orthodox camp, and the point where Krugman was wrong was the manner in which orthodoxy in the Economics profession guards the gate against unorthodox research regardless of the merits of that research.
So, no, there is no guarantee that Galbraith will obtain accolades from his peers. That is, unfortunately, one of the things that sucks in Economics.
But, we digress.
I brought up Krugman as Goldy, Clueless Idiot and others use him as their economic standard bearer.
As the supposed “Cluless Idiot” pointed out, Krugman often points out that the sky is blue and the grass is green. When he does, we applaud him for doing so. I’ve yet to see anyone here worship at Krugman’s feet or take what Krugman says for granted. This supposed worship is a delusion entirely of your own making.
So, rather than answering my question regarding Roubini vs Zell, you’re going to literalize a stock rhetorical question and make snide comments about what I do for a living? Other than revealing the fact that you have serious penis envy for what I, in fact, do for a living, what do you expect to accomplish.
Search Google: Bre’r Rabbit site:horsesass.org
The more you know the more headless lucy is an idiot who repeats himelf.
I answered your Roubini Vs Zell. You ignored the answer. A billionaire puts is money to work. An academic makes graphs and hopes it works.
That’s why I am in the networking field. I have to produce or I don’t get paid.
Plain and simple. Just like your receipts.
re 102: Thanks for the tip on boolean language. I will put it to good use — on you.
If you had $1200, it’s because you stole it.
LMAO!! Again, you claim to know everything
You are so fucking silly its not funny.
Delusional Don Joe:
Really on Krugman? http://www.horsesass.org/index.php?s=Krugman
Enjoy!
Terrorist @ 103
I didn’t ignore that answer. I pointed out how it’s a completely idiotic answer, and asked you to come up with a better one. I take it that you are going to decline to actually do some analysis of your own?
@ 106
Imagine that! Folks here have a tendency to quote Krugman. Do you equate quoting someone with worshipping at their feet?
Google this, SockyPudd:
headless lucy race site: horsesass.org 4 RESULTS
puddybud race site:horsesass.org 831 RESULTS
Who is the one that is always using race? Numbers don’t lie, SockyPudd.