How I would fix education

I am not an educator so please take note of my position in the Cheap Seats.

The first thing I would do is change from paper text books to eReaders.  We can pay over a hundred dollars per book.  Why do that when you can buy a licensed copy for virtually nothing.  Get a math guy to write the perfect algebra book.  Pay him something huge, like $500,000 for the rights to it.  Then forever more, every student in the United States will have free access to an electronic copy of that book.  Algebra doesn't change.  Many of the English books that students read are currently free online.  History books can be kept current.  Every book they will ever need is neatly stored in a single eReader that cost a couple of hundred dollars.  A wireless system like the one Kindle uses can download assignments and such as well.  No more tens of thousands of dollars each year for books.  No more heavy backpacks or "I left my books at school or home."  If its on the eReader, its online as well.

The second thing I would do is incorporate some sort of gaming activity in learning.  How can we not be paying attention to how the minds of our kids get wrapped around gaming.  I am certain that my 16 year old son could learn a foreign language in a week if he thought it would get him a trophy or an achievement online. There is something about the way the games get into the children's heads that motivates them to learn.  They go home and play 21st century games after a day of 17th century schooling.

The third thing I would do is add to after school activities.  More sports.  More plays. More community service.  Idle kids are kids open to less than optimal activity paths.

The fourth thing I would do is teach societal and introspective material.  Why not teach the 12 steps of a recovery program?  Why not teach yoga?

Finally, I would make school last year round with several smaller breaks.  High schools would start and end 2 hours later (in accordance with overwhelming evidence about circadian cycles).

My goal would be to make out educational system number one in the world.  No more Top 50.

The Hypocrasy of the GOP

From the cheap seats, this is what the health care issue looks like to me.

Now: I buy my own health care and it is going up every year. It is expensive now and soon it will be out of reach. Why? Greedy insurance companies; greedy lawyers and the high price I am currently paying to subsidize those that get health care without paying for it. For example, does an aspirin at a hospital really cost $20. It does when most of that cost goes to pay for a waiting room full of uninsured patients.

Proposed: Everyone must have health care. The insurance companies and lawyers need to be reeled in and we will pay for it with higher taxes. In the interest of compromise and bowing to lobbyists, all of this is fairly watered down.

I understand that my taxes will go up. We are not going to provide all of this coverage for free. However, the slight increase to my taxes is dwarfed by the huge increase in my personal health care that currently rivals my mortgage payment.

The GOP says, "Let's start over." They act like they have a plan where this will be free. They were given a chance to show their plan. The televised thing a couple of weeks ago gave them the chance to pick and choose where the problems where. Instead, they dug in their heels and did nothing.

Senator Brown from MA is the perfect example. He voted in favor of a health care plan for his state that is remarkably similar to what is now being proposed in congress. Now that he is a member of the GOP, he has changed his mind. Why? Because if the current party in power does something substantial and good, then the GOP will lose power.

I one time had lunch with a union president. I told him what I wanted to do for the workforce. He agreed that it would make their lives much better but he would not support it. When I asked why, he said, "This is a management initiative. If it is good for the workforce, it will weaken my position as the union president." Now, I work with a lot of unions and this has only happened one time so I don't feel it represents anyone's stance other than this one individual's. However, it showed me what people will do to further their own agenda.

The handful of people that make up the GOP are trying to topple our government. They intend to do this by letting everyone suffer so they can try to make Obama and friends look like they can't get the job done.


When it comes to the GOP, I say, "Fire them all." Just to be fair, I also say, "Fire Nancy Pelosi."