Freedom, Ringing
Flipping through the Wall Street Journal over a cup of coffee just now, I felt my mood improving, attributing it, at first, to the caffeine. But it wasn't the coffee. It was the news. The news was...good.
Just get a load of this:
On the front page:
Wisconsin Unions See Ranks Drop Ahead of Recall Vote
Public-employee unions in Wisconsin have experienced a dramatic drop in membership--by more than half for the second-biggest union--since a law championed by Republican Gov. Scott Walker sharply curtailed their ability to bargain over wages and working conditions.
The lead editorial:
ObamaCare in Reverse
Maine deregulates the insurance market. Premiums fall.
On the opinions page:
Higher Education's Online Revolution
Over the long term, online technology promises historic improvements int he quality of and access to higher education....Online education will lead to the substitution of technology (whih is cheap) for labor (which is expensive)--as has happened in everyother industry--making schools much more productive.
The public sector employee unions are getting walloped in Wisconsin, and it seems only reasonable to suppose that other states will get the idea. Up in Maine, we're getting proof--not mere conjectures or theory, but proof--that the best way to lower the costs of health care isn't with more government control but less. And online? The higher education monopoly that for decades now has enabled fancy schools and liberal faculties to exercise much, much too much influence over the nation appears to be--well, if not doomed, then most certainly displaying a few cracks.
Freedom. Freedom.
Even better than caffeine.
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Comments:
May '12
Re: Freedom, Ringing
Why Wisconsin Unions and not Wisconsin Public Employee Unions?
There really is a difference.
Apr '12
Re: Freedom, Ringing
Edward, do you mean in the headline?
Apr '11
Re: Freedom, Ringing
We have a lot of eggs about, but they're not hatched yet. Lots of favorable polls, but they're not all favorable, the incumbent rule isn't in our favor, the challengers have a more entrenched (and motivated) paid GOTV operation. They've had notice that this will be a tough election and include numerous criminals whose livelihood is on the line; most of the polls suggest that the election is still easily within the margin of fraud.
Intrade suggests near certainty, but Intrade has a strong tendency to overconfidence. Maine has two years to cement its gains before its governor faces an extremely challenging election.
The headlines are good, but we need to be securing that bright future, not basking, yet, in its arrival.
If you know someone in Wisconsin, now is the time to get back in touch. If you don't know any cheeseheads, now is the time to contact the Walker campaign and ask them to put you in touch with some. If you live in Illinois, Minnesota, Indiana, Michigan, or Iowa, or if you're keen enough to travel further, now is the time to get packing and do what you can.
Jun '11
Re: Freedom, Ringing
Peter, why not, "Because Freedom Is Even Better Than Caffeine" as the tag line for the Ricochet coffee mug? I think it works.
Apr '11
Re: Freedom, Ringing
I'll buy a Ricochet Freedom Mug, but only if you put Peter Robinson on it somewhere.
Jul '10
Re: Freedom, Ringing
Can someone, somewhere explain to me why so many of the smart folks on our side are enamored with on-line higher-ed?
Yes, I recognize the productivity upside and the decreased labor costs. I also see the potential for broader access. But are these the major problems in higher-ed?
I don't think so. It seems to me that the major problems (leaving anti-Americanism aside) are:
1. Huge swathes of kids are wasting substantial time and money chasing an ever more useless credential, while its supposed necessity is constantly trumpeted and its intrinsic value (development of a knowledgeable, well-rounded person) is intentionally degraded.
2. Whatever value the college degree has is largely derived from growing failures at the primary and secondary levels. For the general public, it has become an expensive stand-in for a high-school diploma. Making it a bit less costly is fine, but hardly a great victory.
Regarding access: broadly speaking, too many folks are attending college, not too few. Also, it is fantastic to pretend that all four (six?) year degrees are equal. The University of Phoenix won't open the same doors that Dartmouth will in my kids' lifetimes.
Apr '12
Re: Freedom, Ringing
Peter, we'll take the victories as we find them. Hear, hear! It certainly boosts my morale to hear of these successes.
But you know as well as I, this struggle we're locked in today has been going on since they laid the foundation stones of Ur. It won't be settled in our lifetimes, nor in our great-grandchildren's lifetimes.
It's a process, not a contest.
What you're observing through the windshield is the mere fact that your automobile is not swerving into the ditch...now. A big improvement, since the car for a long time as been doing nothing but swerving from the ditch on one side of the road to the steep cliff on the other.
However, the first thing you must do once the car comes back under control is to maintain that control.
Your victories will be always most visible in the rear view mirror.
"The price of liberty is..."
Well, you know what it is.
May '10
Re: Freedom, Ringing
One of the benefits of the polarization of the country is that we're getting unprecedented opportunities to contrast unfettered (more or less) conservative state governance with unfettered (more or less) liberal state governance: e.g., Texas and Louisiana vs CA, IN and WI vs IL, even NJ vs NY, etc.
With time comes clarity and teaching moments aplenty, seemingly every day -- and big advantages for us. The facts of life are conservative afterall.
Oct '10
Re: Freedom, Ringing
If Walker wins in wisconsin and wins big next week, California republicans + national GOP figures should immediately (and loudly) pressure Gov. Jerry Brown to take on public sector unions in California.
Stop dcking around and stop the dem one party "gridlock" over there.
Edited on June 1, 2012 at 5:36amOct '10
Re: Freedom, Ringing
Scott Reusser: One of the benefits of the polarization of the country is that we're getting unprecedented opportunities to contrast unfettered (more or less) conservative state governance with unfettered (more or less) liberal state governance: e.g., Texas and Louisiana vs CA, IN and WI vs IL, even NJ vs NY, etc.
With time comes clarity and teaching moments aplenty, seemingly every day -- and big advantages for us. The facts of life are conservative afterall. ยท 18 minutes ago
Romney and RNC would be wise to devote one day at the Florida convention to celebrate GOP governors' achievements (main speaker Walker, Christie, Perry, Jindal, McDonnell, Martinez, Haley). Show the difference between Red state governance vs Blue state (CA, Illinois).
Another day reserved for former rivals (Gingrich, Cain, Santorum, Huntsman, Bachmann, Paul) to show party unity. A third day devoted to rising stars and already stars (Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Sarah Palin etc etc.)
Edited on June 2, 2012 at 7:57amMay '10
Re: Freedom, Ringing
Great idea, John. They could even throw in a correspondent giving hour by hour updates from a burning Europe to further illustrate the endpoint of blue-state governance.
Edited on June 1, 2012 at 6:05amMay '12
Re: Freedom, Ringing
Even better with caffine!
Jul '10
Re: Freedom, Ringing
Great News!
May '12
Re: Freedom, Ringing
I meant the headline yes.
It is a quibble, but I see a real difference between the union janitors belong to and the one city workers belong to. For starters, there are a lot of buildings with non-union janitors.
Jul '11
Re: Freedom, Ringing
Good question.
1 - I think it's short sighted to think of Online education as University of Phoenix. Khan Academy is combating exactly the kind of incompetence in primary schools you speak of in point #2. That Harvard and MIT publish ALL their lectures online for free helps my 17 year old delve into topics in physics that he may never have been exposed to in his public high school. It also helps him get a perfect score on his SAT math section.
2 - In Florida, my daughter was able to take a class for high school online that she was interested in but was not being offered at her school. It did not require me to get out of work and drive her to places, dual enrollment, etc., etc.
3 - I would rather hire a young person who has completed the programming course taught by Sebastian Thrun at Udacity than a CS degree at the local colleges.
4- It's a crack in education monopoly. It's a process, but we'll get there eventually.
Jul '11
Re: Freedom, Ringing
@Palaeologus -
Plus, in defense of University of Phoenix, while main stream schools are still pumping out Women's Study majors with 100,000s in loans, at least graduates from University of Phoenix are employable.
BTW I have worked along with many a MIT graduates. And there was no difference in the salary we drew, but they had student loans while I did not.
Jul '10
Re: Freedom, Ringing
Hi Barkha, thanks for the thoughtful, informative response.
You do point out a flaw in my comment: I'm looking at it too broadly. There is access and access. I suppose this does offer some significant opportunities for go-getter students & parents, which is wonderful and shouldn't be ignored. (Btw, congrats to your son!) I'd guess it's also a boon to adults attempting to keep up in their professional fields. But I still think the big problems are unlikely to be resolved by technology.
There is a great deal of cultural capital invested in the following propositions, neither of which is true:
1. Advanced academic education is necessary for a good life
2. A diploma is proof of an obtained education
If parents and teachers don't expect/demand that kids learn, then they probably won't. Parents, teachers, and school administrators are all inclined to see the immediate benefits of, say, "social promotion" and discount the longer term costs of devaluing the credential because it's easier.
For instance, R. Craigen linked this story on another thread which left me nauseous for an hour or so.
Jul '11
Re: Freedom, Ringing
@Palaeolgus -
I have to disagree (call me an eternal optimist) but I DO think that technology is what often brings about huge social changes. The same stinker of a son, when he was around four, learnt to play chess with me, and cheated mercilessly. My solution - computer chess. Even the temper tantrums of a four year olds don't work against computer logic. Lynden Dorval can be suspended because we as society attribute "insensitivity" with people and can suspend them. However, computers cannot be suspended. A zero is a zero in the case of a computer administered test.
I am not saying that technology is a panacea, but I honestly think that it is shifting the paradigm, mostly in the right direction.
Peter Diamandis tells of the story of how technology turned Aluminium from a metal more precious than gold to a recyclable material used for soda cans.
Writing changed us from a primitive people to people who expect 100% literacy, forcing all our young to years of strange learning rituals; computers might change the paradigm yet again.
Idiots will persist, technology or not, but the I have a lot of faith in the trajectory of the human race.
Jul '10
Re: Freedom, Ringing
Something to that Barka. Though I have to wonder: how well would the computer chess have worked if someone else offered him another game that allowed him to cheat once in awhile? You enforced standards through a technological filter, yes. But the important thing (I think) is that you enforced them. I worry that this is a disappearing trait. But I hope you're right.
I ran out of space in my other comment, but for the record I wasn't knocking U. of Phoenix. I haven't taken courses through either Phoenix or Dartmouth. Popular perceptions and contacts were the issues, not the product.
Finally, women's studies grads are too employable! I employ one, poor thing. She's the first person in her family to attend (let alone graduate from) college, loaded with debt, and working as a part-time cashier trying to figure out a route to grad school. Sometimes I think her academic adviser should be kicked daily for at least a year. Of course, then I'm failing to assign the responsibility to her.
Edited on June 2, 2012 at 8:44am