Fools Debating Spending Cuts or Increased Taxes in an Overtaxed and Over Spending Climate...

polifrog


Via journalnow.com:

Will [Bev Perdue] agree with Republican preferences to cut $3 billion to $4 billion, casting an eye back on November's elections and the big GOP victory? Her political strategy in that case would be to curry favor with conservative voters in anticipation of a re-election run in 2012.

Or will she propose to cut less, demanding that schools and other human services be protected by extending expiring taxes or by raising other taxes and fees? This course would be chosen to shore up her support with Democratic voters, making a "last stand" fight for preserving educational and social-service programs established over the past several decades.

It should be noted that education already eats up 60% of NC's budget. Taking 60% of the budget (education) plus the cost of the unspecified "human resources" would leave less than 40% from which to cut.

Furthermore, it should be noted that the percentage of the NC budget devoted to education would rise if spending in the remaining areas is reduced.

This could easily result in our state spending 70 to 80% of its budget on education. When last year it had been considered fair to spend 60% of the NC budget on education, how is it fair to spend 70 to 80 percent the next year at the cost of other programs?

Truly, the only fair and workable solution would be cuts that hit each recipient of state funds equally so that all recipients of state funding share the burden of the cuts equally.

No cows, sacred or otherwise.




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The Stunning Success of One Mom...

polifrog


Sally Thomas is currently sitting in for the Anchoress:

One night over dinner with her twenty-six new best friends, the talk turned to the subject of what everyone wanted to be when he or she grew up. The girls, one by one, announced that they wanted to be lawyers. One girl said she wanted to go into politics, maybe. A few other girls thought they’d like to do some corporate kind of job.

At last my daughter’s turn came. “Well,” she said, “I want to be a mom.”

There was a silence. Finally someone asked, “Then why are you here?”

“Because I think the basic unit of society ought to be educated,” my daughter said.

It is obvious what has been gained through our current system of education even when peering through the mist of current awful education related issues. But what of what has been lost?

With the advent of government education a massive shift of control over history (an agreed upon lie) and choice of pertinent knowledge to be taught fell to government. This was a massive abdication of power on the part of the individual in this nation that has been obscured by a form of generational delay - the impact of what is being taught today is not truly understood for twenty years or more.

We the people no longer "write" our own history through choosing the knowledge we most value as we once did when education flowed from family. Instead, our government "writes" our history with that power of choice and by extension imparts influence on our social values, values that should be under the sole purview of family.

What of homogeneity of thought? It seems to me that at a time when diversity is coveted more than ever by our educators there has been a frightening rise in the homogeneity of thought. Although mass produced education has as an inherent flaw, uniformity, when applied to humanity, there is a more subtle issue of the biases of the educators that often results in the wholesale rejection of unpalatable thought. Global Warming Theology is a perfect example of group think that does not even allow for contrary thought. Not only have testbeds of original thought been eliminated, but like minded thinkers within education actively reject unacceptable thinking, often going so far as to labeling what they view as objectionable as offensive.

The biggest loss, though, has been the marginalization of family. The assumption of failure in response to learning that someone desires to be a homemaker exemplifies the saddest result of mass produced education. The fact that one mom can, in the face of all contrary social pressure, guide her daughter to believe with conviction that educating family is worthy of an education is a stunning success.



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Breaking Educational Barriers and The Khan Academy

polifrog


Via Instapundit.... A Self-Appointed Teacher Runs a One-Man 'Academy' on YouTube

Polifrog has been unaware of The Khan Academy until today and for this I am embarrassed, as Polifrog has been scooped by the stogy PBS news hour.





The Khan Academy is an example of  the changes in education just over the horizon.  It works; it is fresh.  Each video is bite sized, rarely lasting more than 20 minutes.  These forays into new forms disseminating knowledge have the potential to bring competition to the cabal of liberal controlled sources of education we endure today. This need is most visible in the odd success of Glen Beck the professor.

The Khan Academy is not a school, but a supplement to school and my son, who has a heavy interest in all things science, now has a daily assignment over the summer; to watch a single video of his choice each day.

This sort of spot education is not limited to only the  knowledge conveyed by Khan or even his methods, but extends to all endeavors across the spectrum of human activity.  Polifrog, for example, has two posts that concern two issues that effect Toyota Siennas.  One issue is a fix for the power sliding door and the other is on how to replace an O2 sensor on a Sienna.  These were posted for no other reason than to help owners of Toyota Siennas through their issues.  The posts, as it turns out, are a source of around 10 or 15 hits a day, every day. A third guide via Polifrog is actually a thread on the Teardrops and Tiny Travel Trailers web site that chronicles the build of the camper my family used on a 12,000 mile road trip taken in the summer of 2009.

Traditional education is under siege.



Correction (before publishing for a change):
The video on the Geithner Plan below was posted and seen by Polifrog over a year ago.  I was unaware at the time of the depth and variety of videos posted by Khan.





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