PROBLEMS IN USA EDUCATION CONTINUE

The last time I wrote about problems in USA education was in 2011. In looking back, I see little or no improvement in the last two years. After I did some more study and thinking about this problem I still have more or less the same criticisms as I had before. But here is my latest take on USA education:
1. Children are not motivated to learn anything because they do not see any advantages to learning. Schools need to set up some classes where children in the higher grades and high school are shown what knowledge and skills will do to help them earn a living when they become adults and enter the workforce. They should know what the earning potentials are for different types of knowledge and skills. For example, how much earning potential is there in becoming a plumber? A doctor? An engineer? A lawyer? A mechanic? A technician? What courses should a student take to be ready for his or her work desire?
2. There is not enough emphasis in learning math, science, chemistry, and business skills.
3. No training in personal finance, saving money, and investing.
4. We still have poor discipline in schools. Students are regularly bullied and the bullies get away with it because no one is watching them. School becomes an unpleasant experience for a lot of students. There is no training in respect for others or any principles of basic morality.
5. The school hours are too short for any effective education. Vacation days are too many.
6. Students graduate high school without any marketable knowledgeable or skills.
7. There are very few technical training opportunities in the public school systems for students that want a trade or technical skill.
In summary, the USA educational system has problems everywhere you look and it needs serious attention as soon as possible.
Attach you comments if you agree or don't agree.

HOW THE USA COULD LOWER DEBT WITHOUT TAXES OR CUTS

The USA Federal Reserve board could invest in foreign stocks and bonds and other debt instruments that would earn the US dividends and possible capital gain. If the Fed set up a portfolio of say $10,000,000,000,000 (that's 10 trillion) of investments, and the Fed had a reasonable rate of return of 10% a year, the typical gain on long term stock and bond investments, the return would be a full 1 trillion a year! This would be a good income and would allow substantial reductions in taxes while still providing for social needs, military, and even space exploration projects. Where would the US get 10 trillion to invest? The Fed should be able to easily come up with that at the rate it is printing money now, but of course it might take a few years of savings and financing activities here and there to do it without causing a massive inflation spiral! The US has a lot of agencies and operations that could be sold to private companies to operate. Examples are federal prisons, portions of NASA, some law enforcement activities, some agencies, some federal parks, and other federal activities that are not critical. If the US continued to invest in foreign stocks and bonds it could participate in the funding of foreign companies and nations and at the same time gain influence and wealth around the world as well! Another thing the US could do is venture capital activities, providing seed capital for new businesses in foreign lands in return for partial ownership and a share of profits. This would be a way to reduce the need for foreign aid as it is now provided, and instead be a way to build the economies and the standard of living in other countries without causing a cash drain on our economy. It would also be good if the US could be a net exporter instead of a net importer. We need to take a look at our trade practices to make sure we are not killing our own industries and businesses by allowing cheap imports without pricing fairness or adjustment with tariffs or import taxes. So lets get busy USA. And you people out there reading this, call and write your Congressmen about my plan!

THE PROBLEMS WITH US EDUCATION

Teachers in Wisconsin are on an illegal strike for union rights, higher pay, etc. I won't presume to argue either for or against their case, but I am very concerned about the quality of public education in the United States. Does anyone want to argue that education in the US is OK when the US ranks 30th among nations in math and science knowledge of US students? So what is wrong with US education? Here are the problems that I believe we have:

1. There is a generally an "I don't care" attitude among both teachers and students.  Students don't care about school because they are forced to go and because they are not properly motivated to get an education. Teachers do not teach the most important lesson which is Why People Need to be Educated and what are the great benefits of education as well as the downside if a person is not educated. Teachers are not motivated because they know that no matter how hard they teach and work at educating children, they will still get the same pay. There is no incentive to do their best. There is no merit pay system.

2.  The schools have no competition. The public school systems are total state monopolies so there is no incentive for any one school to provide any better education than any other school. Schools should be operated by private corporations that are chartered to provide the best possible education and their work is monitored to verify that they do, of course. The best run schools that achieve the best results for students receive additional bonuses so that there will be competition and a reward for better results.

3. Education is not valued by students or parents because it is free and actually forced on people. Education should be dear and all students should pay something according to their parents income. This would also provide additional funds for teacher's pay and other benefits.

4. There are too many "goof-off" courses available to students in high schools. I know this is true because I myself went through a public school system and there were always courses available for students to take that were very easy and would allow students to get out of taking more serious math, science, chemistry, and biology courses that the students should have been taking.

5.  The school systems are very rigid with more time wasted on political issues than actual teaching activities. 

6. Students and teachers have too much time off. A long summer vacation, "spring break", "fall break", "teacher days" and short hours. If we are going to have better education for our students we need to spend more time at it.

7. Poor discipline in school buildings, class rooms, and on school grounds. A lot of our students are not safe at school because of a lack of discipline and poor security measures. It is easy for a student to walk right into a school even though he is carrying a weapon of some sort.

The entire US public school system needs a total overhaul if we are interested at all in having better educated students.

NOW IS A CRITICAL TIME FOR THE UNITED STATES

It seems like the politicians in Washington DC do not realize how much trouble the US is in right now and are not going to do anything about it. We have spent our nation into almost impossible debt, that can never be paid- off, spending on worthless entitlement programs and other boondoggle programs of no lasting value. We have spent trillions on so-called bail outs that have done almost nothing and we still have heavy unemployment. Our balance of trade with foreign nations is ridiculous. We import billions of dollars in cheap goods every year wiping out our own industries and building up the economies of countries that are really enemies of our country. Free trade is killing our industries because our own industries can not compete with the practically slave labor rates of foreign nations. To fix this problem we need FAIR trade instead of free trade. This means taxes or tariffs on goods that are priced below our domestically produced goods or are made with much lower labor rates than ours. Because of so-called free trade, we have lost many industries. As just a few examples, we have lost the textile industry, shoes, consumer electronics, household goods, and other important industries. A few US manufactures that are left have either moved their factories overseas, or are in the process of moving them.  Heavy industries such as steel, machine tools, heavy equipment, aircraft, and shipbuilding, are all in serious straits because of the free trade. Now we let our infrastructure decay but don't have any money left to fix it. Our railroads are antiquated, our roads and bridges are falling apart. We are doing almost no new infrastructure construction which is hurting our labor force and our heavy equipment and steel industries. One of the worst situations is in our energy sector where we are almost entirely dependent on the OPEC robber barons for our oil supplies. There is no way this condition should continue! I could go on but I am sure you get the picture and have known these facts all along. The important point is that our government is doing nothing to correct our situation. Please write and call your Congressmen and make sure they understand your concerns.

OBAMA'S SPEECH TO THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

President Obama made a great speech to the Chamber of Commerce today but he left out one important fact that apparently he considers impossible to do anything about. And that is the heavy imbalance between our imports and our exports. We are still importing far more than we export in terms of dollars. The reason is that manufactured goods made overseas are generally much cheaper than what we can manufacture here in the US for the same price. So what could we do? We could raise tariffs or tax imported goods so that there is a level playing field for US manufactures. Doing this would also encourage business people to build plants and hire people in the US to make products domestically. We know that we need jobs here so why can't we fix our trade policies to take care of this trade imbalance problem? The nay-sayers will try to scare us by saying, "Oh, import taxes and tariffs will start a trade war!" Well if it does, so be it! Businesses will eventually learn that they have to deal with it and re-adjust their business practices accordingly.

PEOPLE ARE FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM

People arround the world are fighting for freedom. The United States is supposed to be holding up the standard of democracy for the people of the world, but are we (the US?) I don't think so when we are giving aid and comfort to dictators so that we can have "allies". What good are allies when they turn their own people against us because of their repressive and authoritarian non-democratic rule? I would rather that we have no allies than allies that are dictatorships!

The US should support democracy and freedom for all peoples regardless of whether we like the outcome or not, what their religion is, or any other cultural or ethnic qualities that they have. If a democracy elects a group that is against us or one we don't like politically, that is too bad, but that does not mean that we should in any way a support dictator to maintain that country as an "allie".

The US should boldly speak out in support of freedom and democracy for all peoples of the world and start supporting democracies that are our friends and our are true allies, not evil despotic dictatorships that cause people to be against us and actually creates enemies for us instead of supposed "allies".

And what about the billions in foreign aid the US wastes supporting these dictatorships? It ultimatley results in nothing but bad effects. Examples are many but the best example is the results of supporting the Shaw in Iran. You know what the results of that is.

ARE HIGH TECHNOLOGY NATIONS FRAGILE?

High technology nations such as the United States and a few others are potentially vulnerable to natural disasters of even fairly minor proportions. One quick example is the possibility of a "little ice age" that could cause a severe food shortage. Almost all Americans depend solely on our farmers to supply all of their food needs and never give it a thought in their daily routine. There is little in the way of emergency food stockpiles, at least not enough to handle an extended food shortage. How could a "little ice age" happen? There are several ways, a large volcanic eruption that throws a lot of debris and ash into the atmosphere, a large meteor strike that does the same thing, and oddly enough global warming that could cause the Gulf Stream to stop flowing and warming the North Atlantic nations.

Another area of fragility is our national power grid. What if suddenly most of the electric power in major cities blacks out? How many people in cities are prepared to cope with that, especially during winter time? Almost everything is controlled by electricity now, our heating and cooling systems, refrigeration, communications, etc. An extended period of power black outs would wreak havoc on business, trade, food production, and virtually all of our livelihoods and living conditions. Another danger is the vulnerability of our water supplies to contamination by fallout from the ash of a major volcanic eruption. Where could this happen? Almost anywhere in the world but one likely place is Yellowstone Park where there is a severe danger of a massive eruption. In conclusion, I believe that the government Homeland Security Agency or FEMA should initiate a study of the problem and take steps to provide emergency stores and plans of action in the event of disasters of the magnitude I have mentioned. What can we do about it? Each family and individual needs to think about their emergency preparedness and take actions to provide supplies for themselves to cover at least several weeks of food, water, and heating fuel such as wood for a fireplace or wood stove.