Unconventional Wisdom

[VIDEO] I’m tempted to post this to my other often neglected Shedd School blog. Just concerned that the content of this video would turn off people who hopefully have the same questions about the education system as I do. Although in my case, no kids so there are no real worries for the system on my end. It’s just that the goal for our young people is for them to get the best education no matter who provides it.

I’ve often expressed my frustration with my experience with the public schools especially high school  – GO FALCONS! Still my view of the system isn’t entirely marred as my time in elementary school is still remember fondly. It lead me to an important philosophy in life, there are going to be ups & downs.

All the same, this video bounces off of a book The K-12 Implosion by Instapundit blogger Glenn Reynolds. A case is made that our education system still has aspects of the Industrial Revolution style-education embedded. One-size-fits-all can’t work anymore as there are many different vocational/career paths out there in the 21st century.

Of course this doesn’t mean the schools aren’t trending in that direction. It’s possible that they’re just not doing that good of a job. Whatever the case may be what should a 21st Century education system look like? How can we truly revamp a 19th century system?

Like I stated already I have no children, however, the young people toiling in school today needs access to opportunities that will last them a lifetime. What this means is that we want them to pursue the many opportunities that will be available to them in the 21st century. Let us hope today’s education policy experts are able to steer the system in that diraction.

So we may ask if America is losing what made this nation great in the first place?

This makes me want to read Democracy in America by Alexis Du Tocqueville. That seminal book is duly noted in this video and while I do have that physical book in my library I’ve yet to take the take to read. It’s time that I do so.

This video is today’s food for thought.

Hat-tip The Other McCain! That post was written by a blogger named Smitty who answered this question in the blog title with this response, “Yes“.

When I started typing this, I had been watching the FOX Business network and they’re talking about one aspect of the “fiscal cliff” compromise. Here’s a piece from MSNBC:

Politicians in Washington made much hubbub last week about a bipartisan deal to soften or postpone some $600 billion in scheduled tax hikes and government spending cuts. President Barack Obama said the deal would shield 98 percent of Americans from a middle-class tax hike.

Nevertheless, for most workers, rich and poor alike, taxes went up on Dec. 31 as a temporary payroll tax cut expired. That cut – a 2 percentage point reduction in a levy that funds Social Security – was put in place two years ago to help the economy, which was still smarting from the 2007-09 recession.

About 160 million workers pay this tax, and the increase will cost the average worker about $700 a year, according to the Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank.

“It stinks,” said Beverly Renfroe, an accountant for a realty firm in Jackson, Mississippi. “I definitely noticed a decrease.” The pain will trickle through the economy over the next few weeks. Already, the new rate of 6.2 percent has trimmed paychecks for about half of the 200,000 employees whose paychecks are processed by Advantage Payroll Services, a payroll firm based in Auburn, Maine.

Oh dear, it seems to get worse:

Some Americans will also pay higher income taxes this year. Congress and Obama let income tax rates rise for households making more than $450,000 a year, a partial repeal of tax cuts put in place under President George W. Bush. The wealthy will also pay a new tax to help fund a health insurance reform passed in 2010.

These will have a smaller impact on the wider economy because they affect fewer people. But taken together, this year’s tax hikes could subtract a full percentage point from growth, Feroli said.

Most economists see economic growth of roughly 2 percent this year, a lackluster pace held back by the government’s austerity measures that is likely to do little to reduce unemployment.

Failure to postpone government spending cuts due to begin around March would slow growth more, further frustrating the economic recovery.

And worst still!

The blow to the economy from the tax hikes will hurt the most during the first half of the year as people adapt to their smaller paychecks.

Consumer spending, which drives more than two thirds of the economy, will likely grow at a mere 1 percent annual rate in the first quarter, and 1.5 percent in the second, said Sven Jari Stehn, an economist at Goldman Sachs in New York.

It’s all about the economy and alas we’re continuing to struggle out there. Hopefully when the current fiscal cliff compromise is reconsidered in the next couple of months or so Washington may consider to find ways to alleviate this new pressure. Hopefully someone out there will say wait a minute here, this isn’t helping us?

Well one can only hope, yes?

BTW, Washington Post is even more stark: “The bad news: The expiration of the payroll tax cut this January will basically wipe away all of last year’s gains.”

[VIDEO] Found via Instapundit, this video of newly minted US Senator Elizabeth Warren from Massachusettes. She appeared to be having a tough time defining what middle-class is. It almost turned into an argument with the reporter she was talking with and unfortunately for her the cameras were rolling.

In last year’s election she had some controversy as to her American Indian ancestry. It was under dispute and in spite of that controversy she was able to take the seat of Republican Scott Brown who had in turn won Ted Kennedy’s old Senate seat.

The conservative website National Review made this comment: “If you want to play class warfare, as Warren does, you also need to have the courage to talk about who’s in what class, and how your policies will help or harm them.”

Indeed!

On Christmas Eve I finally had a chance to see Skyfall, the lastest James Bond effort. On New Year’s Eve I finally had a chance to see Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln. This needs to become a recurring tradition!

Lincoln could be a film in the same vein as say The American President – well aside from the romantic comedy aspects it’s still a film that involves politics. I also have compared Lincoln to The West Wing TV series. They all did tackle some issues that were important to the eras that they had been set in.

In the case of Lincoln it was slavery and the Civil War. Basically what we saw in this film was President Abraham Lincoln securing the votes in Congress for the 13th Amendment. Not only that he also had to contend with ending the Civil War. In fact news of representatives coming from the Confederate States of America wanting to talk about the end of the war figured in the political machinations of enacting an amendment to the US Constitution to abolish slavery.

We also learned more about the other players involved other than Lincoln. Many members of Congress – Representatives & Senators – played a role in making the 13th Amendment a reality. Just like the effort it took to make many of today’s policy objectives a reality. For example look no further than “Obamacare” as one example of many.

Granted it’s not the most exciting movie to watch. There’s only one scene of the movie that was action packed which is mainly of Black soldiers fighting against the Confederate army. Then there’s a scene that shows the bombardment of a Southern city although we didn’t see anyone in that scene. It’s a movie for the history buffs and President Lincoln (portrayed by Daniel Day-Lewis) does come alive for us in this movie as well as the many other players in this drama!

When I came to see this movie again at River East there was a packed theater to see this movie. This movie and Skyfall has been out since November and people are still coming to see it. Spielberg must have done something right for it to have the appeal it does.

Or for that matter remember this place, there’s always an update. There is often little difference when there is an update although this application has changed radically over the years. It is what it is.

I do wish I would remember to update this page more often and hopefully in the new year I will!

I wrote this on my original blog on October 20th, figure after the end of the debates it’s worth posting here!

The last time I was asked that question I just stood around in silence. That person asked the question got on my nerves that it was my wish that he would just go on somewhere. He didn’t really say anything that was of any great interest.

In any event the last presidential election required me to pull an absentee ballot. There was an item on the ballot that was of much greater interest to me than the Presidential race that year. 2008 was a tough election to choose a President and 2012 is the same.

It would be nice for me to say that this year wouldn’t be so tough, but it’s not possible. I’ve always said this during the course of the primaries and through the conventions. Surely I’m not the only one who believes this.

No doubt, President Obama had to follow in the heels of a presidency that has numerous crises primarily terorrism, war on two fronts and near the end the economy. A recession or even the collapse of the financial markets with the collapse of the housing market. Surely the things that Obama realized he had to deal with and the fact that there was no easy or quick solution gave him some frustrations.

Just like with President Bush after his narrow election in 2000, people were waiting in the wings to run against Obama in 2012. Surely, this intensified after the midterm elections of 2010 favored the Republicans in Congress.

So this is a tough election. It’s acceptable to me that no President can ensure that the economy will rebound. So is Mitt Romney the answer? At the same time is the President the answer? If you ask me I’m not entirely convinced.

I’m quite a long way from answering whom I am voting for. Until election day my answer will be I’m still not sure yet? Of course there will be people along the way who are equally passionate about their candidates or their parties who will ask the question but my goal is to go beyond that. While I’m not displaying a lot of passion for either the President or his challenger, my intention is to go for who is best for this nation.