An open letter to Rod Jetton, Missouri House Speaker.

[Fovea]

Dear Rod,

Even though I am a progressive social democrat on the spectrum of political attitudes, there is nothing in the new teacher proposal-- allowing non-education trained individuals to test into a teaching cert under supervision- that I disagree with, save that this cannot result in a race to the bottom for teacher salaries. Like the history of medicine, education has required advances in both theory and clinical practice to meet the needs of the modern era. Well managed, bringing people in from the working environment would bring in hybrid vigor and take strain off the system which is low on teachers. Education is the most important way out of our current charlie foxtrot.

Let's take the manacles off them, and let teachers teach, even when that leads into controversy. Let the teachers peer review each other. The modern world has a lot of dangerous ideas, and the sure way to fall prey to them is to refuse to confront them, weigh them, and accept or reject them. Education gives the individual the tools to say things like "Repackaging mortgage debt as an asset and adding it to your bottom line as an industry practice might not be very smart in a market downturn." even when all the so called smart boys think it would be a great idea. Or even, "Let's cut taxes on the rich in a time of war."
And while that level of education is inconvenient to folks like Karl Rove, who fought for one party rule, it is critical to democracy, as Franklin and Madison both agreed.

You, who for for no discernible reason threw Dr. Harris Mirkin and UMKC to the Concerned Women op America to devour, have your work cut out for you if you are going to undo the damage caused by two generations of politicians blaming education for reflecting its milieu and preparing children for a real world they helped make, but do not like.

The fact that George Bush has an MBA suggests a couple possibilities-- the MBA's are actually a worthless degree, that enforcing academic standards is lax, particularly in the 'best schools'-- or both. I feel that teaching is too important a career to treat the way we have. IIRC, the last time the national education budget increased in real dollars over the year before was 1968. The student unrest of the sixties, far from a sign of dysfunction, showed that democracy works best when citizens are informed. We had strayed into a series of situations that could not be sustained without ever increasing authoritarianism.

I was six years old when the Klan tried to take over Mississippi and the miltary sustained a seige of Oxford Miss to protect James Merideth. It was a generation of white college students that made the difference between actual civil rights and an asymmetrical war like the MLK murder riots, but longer and worse.

I think if we had taken the same approach of punishing education to the military after Nam, and given education a black box budget, we would be safer, stronger, and far far better off. The Soviet Union had actually fallen by the seventies, in the ABC (Andropov, Brezhnev, Chernenko) period of Russian leadership. That they could be brought to ground by an insurgency like the mujahedeen tells you how rotten the foundation under the edifice had become. Likewise for America in Iraq. We have shown more weakness and incompetence in Iraq than anything we have done to shock or awe the region. Our terrorist enemies project violence against America at great cost, yes, but that was true before 911.. Without fresh provocation, jihad would primarily dissolve into economic warfare. Without Oil and Opium Money, they could not fight.

We need a foreign policy that is smarter than the Saudi royal family and al Sadr.

We are entering right now a period that James Howard Kunstler (you should read his work) calls "The long emergency". It will take far more teachers, and far fewer drill instructors to make it to the other side- off carbon fuels, off universal auto commuting, out of 2000+ sqft frame houses built in corn fields, away from military adventurism taking the place of diplomacy.

Towards, in essence, an America with renewable energy, less sprawl, universal public education to the 16th grade, mandatory 4 year service for teen/twentys, universal health care, and an economy that is as geared to sustainability as it is to growth. Growth and efficiency have gone from goals to a false religious dogma. There has to be a new boom in public construction to repair and rebuild our society to waste less energy and resources. (I suspect there is enough steel in my city;s landfills to make the much of the rail needed for a public transit system.) the money to rebuild our infrastructure should stay near the bottom of the economy, and not be funneled from the wallet to the CEO, as so often now seems to be the case.

Business administration as currently practiced believes supply will continue unabated as demand increases. Oil is about to prove it wrong.

It only took eight years of conservatism in power to invalidate several other of its own important bits of dogma.

1. Government is less efficient than private business.
2. That Capitalism is self regulating.
3. That the commons should be privatized.
4. That tax cuts are an absolute good.
5. That gunboat diplomacy is superior to traditional diplomacy.
6. That conservatism puts Country over business.

And the same movement that prided itself on defending the constitution has foisted on us the PATRIOT act and the Military Commisions act.
Poor Barry Goldwater. He would not have sat quietly for an America without habeas corpus.

In the human body, there are a whole series of conditions that occur when growth overtakes function at a cellular level. Generically we refer to it as cancer. Our economy (which is to say the financial and energy sectors) seems to be riddled with it.

America does not know it yet, but it is about to start chemo. Now if we could only get it to stop smoking...


Realpolitik

PS, schools need more bicycle parking and fewer busses.

[DiverDave]

1. Hear HEAR!

I would be very interested if you were to get a reply.

Some things I tell anti education folks all the time:

The more education a person has the less likely they will

abuse there kids, their spouses or animals.
Rob and steal to get things they cant afford, like dope.
Are less likely to be drug addicts.
Are more likely to hold down a good paying job that generates (more) taxes and jobs.
Are more interested in the world at large, and about being informed and involved.
Are more likely to make sure their kids, and all young folks, have the opportunity to get a good education.

Course this is anti ethical to the powers that be, as they NEED a dumb crowd to lead...

[Fovea]

2. Rod sends me his constituent letter

Even though we are about 180 degrees apart politically since we rode bicycles across the state of Missouri on the KATY trail in a small group.

I often respond, occasionally he comments back.