The Death of Media
I recognize that all things change and grow with time. I also know that time also allows decay and atrophy to set in. The media is a shell of its former self and is dying before our eyes. The unfortunate byproduct of the death of media is the vacuum of information that is has left in its wake. Why is it important to have news and where do we get it from?
In past generations, the media linked people to the government. The media was a watchdog and kept an eye on the government in the peoples’ interest. The media relished the opportunity to dig and find truth. Once the media became a corporate interest, it was no longer about presenting the news of the day to people. The media no longer cares about educating or informing citizens. The moment that “host” replaced “anchor”, the role of media shifted from news to infotainment. The News, which used to be one of the most important shows on the original three networks, is now about entertaining the audience and achieving ratings. In some cases the news is wholly about ideology so every story is skewed left or right.
One of the most laughable catch phrases of the last decade or so has been Fox News with “Fair and Balanced”… Many of the hosts on Fox are neither fair nor do they deliver the information in a balanced way. Fox News is pushing ideology. Bill O’Reilly, Hannity, and the rest of the cast or characters are clearly advocates for a conservative ideology. On the left, carrying the liberal message are the arrogant stylings of Keith Olberman and Rachel Maddow on MSNBC. Channels are now pumping out ideology in place of real news.
I don’t care about Tiger Woods, his smashed up SUV, how many social climbers, porn stars, or others that he slept with. Tiger Woods is a degenerate and a lousy father and husband, but he does not warrant “news” coverage. If anything, a message across the bottom of the screen is sufficient. People didn’t even know that the President was making a prime time address last week from West Point about widening the war in Afghanistan. On the other hand, people know the name of the newest woman to come forward about sleeping with Tiger Woods. If you buy the Vietnam War parallels, and there are many, then this foreign policy decision can have major implications on a reelection bid. It was a one day story.
The 24 hour news cycle has destroyed one of the most important of American institutions- the free press. The press is no longer free if it’s been bought and paid for by corporate America. News is no longer about fact; it’s about spinning a truth.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Paradigm Shift in Public Education
The public school system is broken, but not in the way that many people envision. Many schools, urban, suburban, and rural do an admirable job of educating students. There are strong and weak teachers in every school in this country, but that isn't the main issue either. Giving more local control (school boards and parents) versus state or even federal control is not the issue either. While safety and security are issues in some schools, they are not the reason why public education is not working for so many children in America.
Some of the preceding points are valid, but are only symptoms and not the root cause of the problems with public education. If a patient goes to the hospital with a headache, fever, bleeding, and each problem is treated separately, the patient could have a serious illness that is never diagnosed. That is the situation in public education. The system is wholly reactionary- Too many students are failing tests so remediation tutoring is set up without any guarantee that students will be proficient. Too many students are malnourished so we have the federal school lunch program (which also feeds students breakfast in some cases too). In schools where there is increased violence, metal detectors have been installed. There are many more examples of reactionary programs and policies in public education. In all fairness, schools have to be reactionary because they have been under constant assault. Schools get blamed for problems that they neither created nor are equipped to fix.
Public education was intended to be the great equalizer in society. An education is supposed to give people options and opportunity. Public education did not simply stop working. The idea that educators no longer know how to teach children seems ludicrous. Again, there strong and weak teachers in every school across the country, just as there always were.
Public education is broken today because schools were not designed nor were they intended to operate as social service institutions. Many of your “failing” schools serve a distressed population in America’s urban centers. It is not very surprising that students from the lowest socio-economic strata have the most difficult time achieving. It is not a case of these students lacking the capacity to learn. To the contrary… many students in schools that are considered to be underperforming are quite bright and capable of achievement at high levels (and some do just that). The issue is that many of these students face conditions that hinder their learning.
Students have to be ready to learn upon entering a school building. When their basic needs are not being met, how can these children be expected to perform at the same levels as students who do not face issues like hunger, homelessness, inability to purchase school supplies, no support system to help with homework and studying? When kids don’t know where they’ll be spending that night and whether or not they’ll have a bed or food, their priorities are not always on their studies. A student may be capable of being in an advanced placement class in high school but if he or she is homeless, their ability to focus on assignments is going to be hindered.
None of these conclusions are new. How to alleviate these symptoms in public schools (particularly in urban education) remains the issue. The solution is expensive. People do not want their tax dollars to pay for other people’s children. Suburban tax payers do not want to see their tax dollars sent to the city because they do not perceive the value in helping to educate children in other districts. The most telling statistic (and I don’t recall where I heard it) is that a community can determine how many jail cells it will need based on how many students are reading below grade level when they are in the 3rd grade.
Here is the solution! Schools need to be morphed into community centers. Children need to be cared for from sun up until sun down. Federal school breakfast, lunch, and dinner for those who are in need. Students who can not afford clothes should get financial vouchers to spend at area stores. There should be job training programs (including computer classes) for the student’s parents/guardians at the school that their child attends. There should be tutors on hand to help with homework. There should be counselors on hand to help students talk out problems. There should be fieldtrips to colleges, historical sites, etc. Not only will students basic needs be met, but there will also be more buy-in because of the close partnership between the schools and the students and their families.
If we expect schools to solve societal problems, there needs to be a paradigm shift. Schools need to start being thought of as a place of nurturing and love for children. This change can happen. It will be expensive. You can pay now in taxes or pay later in the salaries of extra police and the building of more jails…
Some of the preceding points are valid, but are only symptoms and not the root cause of the problems with public education. If a patient goes to the hospital with a headache, fever, bleeding, and each problem is treated separately, the patient could have a serious illness that is never diagnosed. That is the situation in public education. The system is wholly reactionary- Too many students are failing tests so remediation tutoring is set up without any guarantee that students will be proficient. Too many students are malnourished so we have the federal school lunch program (which also feeds students breakfast in some cases too). In schools where there is increased violence, metal detectors have been installed. There are many more examples of reactionary programs and policies in public education. In all fairness, schools have to be reactionary because they have been under constant assault. Schools get blamed for problems that they neither created nor are equipped to fix.
Public education was intended to be the great equalizer in society. An education is supposed to give people options and opportunity. Public education did not simply stop working. The idea that educators no longer know how to teach children seems ludicrous. Again, there strong and weak teachers in every school across the country, just as there always were.
Public education is broken today because schools were not designed nor were they intended to operate as social service institutions. Many of your “failing” schools serve a distressed population in America’s urban centers. It is not very surprising that students from the lowest socio-economic strata have the most difficult time achieving. It is not a case of these students lacking the capacity to learn. To the contrary… many students in schools that are considered to be underperforming are quite bright and capable of achievement at high levels (and some do just that). The issue is that many of these students face conditions that hinder their learning.
Students have to be ready to learn upon entering a school building. When their basic needs are not being met, how can these children be expected to perform at the same levels as students who do not face issues like hunger, homelessness, inability to purchase school supplies, no support system to help with homework and studying? When kids don’t know where they’ll be spending that night and whether or not they’ll have a bed or food, their priorities are not always on their studies. A student may be capable of being in an advanced placement class in high school but if he or she is homeless, their ability to focus on assignments is going to be hindered.
None of these conclusions are new. How to alleviate these symptoms in public schools (particularly in urban education) remains the issue. The solution is expensive. People do not want their tax dollars to pay for other people’s children. Suburban tax payers do not want to see their tax dollars sent to the city because they do not perceive the value in helping to educate children in other districts. The most telling statistic (and I don’t recall where I heard it) is that a community can determine how many jail cells it will need based on how many students are reading below grade level when they are in the 3rd grade.
Here is the solution! Schools need to be morphed into community centers. Children need to be cared for from sun up until sun down. Federal school breakfast, lunch, and dinner for those who are in need. Students who can not afford clothes should get financial vouchers to spend at area stores. There should be job training programs (including computer classes) for the student’s parents/guardians at the school that their child attends. There should be tutors on hand to help with homework. There should be counselors on hand to help students talk out problems. There should be fieldtrips to colleges, historical sites, etc. Not only will students basic needs be met, but there will also be more buy-in because of the close partnership between the schools and the students and their families.
If we expect schools to solve societal problems, there needs to be a paradigm shift. Schools need to start being thought of as a place of nurturing and love for children. This change can happen. It will be expensive. You can pay now in taxes or pay later in the salaries of extra police and the building of more jails…
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Being Middle Class is no Relief!
What happened to the American Dream? War was declared on the American Dream long ago. In fact, it’s been long enough that there aren’t enough people alive who remember a thriving and growing middle class in America. First the steel plants began closing in places like Youngstown and eventually the car plants began closing in places like Flint. Jobs that were firmly middle class are gone- downsized, out-sourced, eliminated in an effort to get leaner and meaner, lost to structural changes in the economy. The battle between economic classes in this country has already been lost. The middle class has no voice, no direction, and no plan.
As gas prices soar, instead of devising a plan to cut consumption (which would also keep more money in our pockets), the middle class just goes without other things. As food prices soar, the middle class just does without other things. As healthcare costs go up, the middle class just goes without other things. Well, when doing without means that we can’t even afford to buy groceries in a supermarket anymore, or take our family out to eat at a decent restaurant once in a while, or make the mortgage payment, or pay for quality daycare, then what? When there isn’t anything else to cut, you are no longer middle class.
Amid all the corporate bailouts and homeowner bailouts, people in the middle class ought to be wondering, "What about me?" Didn’t President Obama say that he was going to protect the middle class when he was campaigning? There was something about the rich paying more and the middle class paying less. What happened? Why isn't anyone looking out for the middle class? Why are people spending more on everything this year when so many went without a salary increase, if they managed to maintain their employment at all?
So in middle class America, there are those who were responsible enough to buy an affordable house with a fixed rate mortgage in a less desirable neighborhood. There are those who couldn’t afford to invest in the stock market but their pension fund took a hit, if their job still offers one. Others get bailed out, but what about the middle class?
If you want to help the middle class and protect families, student loan forgiveness and interest rate cuts on the loans are the way to go. Education has always been seen as a great equalizer. But for the middle class it’s becoming a gamble. Someone who grew up middle class and goes off to college will take student loans at a whopping 6.8% interest rate (higher than mortgage rates- 4.7% on 30 year fixed, and car loans- 4.8% for 60 months). With the cost of higher education, that person may be able to get a decent job, but will never live in the same neighborhood as coworkers who grew up wealthy or those who grew up poor. Neither the child of privilege nor the child of poverty who attend college have to pay student loans (or at least required far smaller loans). In essence, the vehicle that allows middle class kids to attend college is also an albatross around the neck of the middle class because they are so expensive and take so long to pay back.
Its time for a middle class bailout! Its time for the President and Congress to protect the middle class. Its time for the government to lower student loan interest from the whopping 6.8% it is currently. Cut it in half now! The government should also forgive some debt for those who work in the public sector. If you are a teacher, a percentage of your student loan should be forgiven. If you work in social services and you have student loans, they should get chopped too. If you are an EMT, you deserve relief. Did you go to nursing school? If you did, you deserve some loan relief too. How can you ever expect to attract the best and brightest into teaching and other public sector jobs if there is no financial incentive? How can you expect to retain people in these public sector jobs if the wages are no longer livable?
As gas prices soar, instead of devising a plan to cut consumption (which would also keep more money in our pockets), the middle class just goes without other things. As food prices soar, the middle class just does without other things. As healthcare costs go up, the middle class just goes without other things. Well, when doing without means that we can’t even afford to buy groceries in a supermarket anymore, or take our family out to eat at a decent restaurant once in a while, or make the mortgage payment, or pay for quality daycare, then what? When there isn’t anything else to cut, you are no longer middle class.
Amid all the corporate bailouts and homeowner bailouts, people in the middle class ought to be wondering, "What about me?" Didn’t President Obama say that he was going to protect the middle class when he was campaigning? There was something about the rich paying more and the middle class paying less. What happened? Why isn't anyone looking out for the middle class? Why are people spending more on everything this year when so many went without a salary increase, if they managed to maintain their employment at all?
So in middle class America, there are those who were responsible enough to buy an affordable house with a fixed rate mortgage in a less desirable neighborhood. There are those who couldn’t afford to invest in the stock market but their pension fund took a hit, if their job still offers one. Others get bailed out, but what about the middle class?
If you want to help the middle class and protect families, student loan forgiveness and interest rate cuts on the loans are the way to go. Education has always been seen as a great equalizer. But for the middle class it’s becoming a gamble. Someone who grew up middle class and goes off to college will take student loans at a whopping 6.8% interest rate (higher than mortgage rates- 4.7% on 30 year fixed, and car loans- 4.8% for 60 months). With the cost of higher education, that person may be able to get a decent job, but will never live in the same neighborhood as coworkers who grew up wealthy or those who grew up poor. Neither the child of privilege nor the child of poverty who attend college have to pay student loans (or at least required far smaller loans). In essence, the vehicle that allows middle class kids to attend college is also an albatross around the neck of the middle class because they are so expensive and take so long to pay back.
Its time for a middle class bailout! Its time for the President and Congress to protect the middle class. Its time for the government to lower student loan interest from the whopping 6.8% it is currently. Cut it in half now! The government should also forgive some debt for those who work in the public sector. If you are a teacher, a percentage of your student loan should be forgiven. If you work in social services and you have student loans, they should get chopped too. If you are an EMT, you deserve relief. Did you go to nursing school? If you did, you deserve some loan relief too. How can you ever expect to attract the best and brightest into teaching and other public sector jobs if there is no financial incentive? How can you expect to retain people in these public sector jobs if the wages are no longer livable?
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