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The Nation's Pulse
Bushwhacked
Compare your kids’ school to the rest of the country — or world — with an updated tool from the Bush Institute.
Ask any suburban-dwelling parent about their child’s school and they’ll likely do one of two things: feign indifference or boast. Sure, they’ll admit, their school could offer a larger variety of programs or certain teachers could do better about keeping in touch with parents. But overall, they’re happy with their school. In fact, many have intentionally forgone urban life, believing suburban schools to be better.
The Bush Institute recently released an updated version of its Global Report Card, a one-of-a-kind tool that offers the ability to stack any school district against the rest of the world. The results, which show even some suburban schools rate poorly, should put a whole new spin on education reform.
Education reform has gone through cyclical phases, from the 1980s to George W. Bush’s “No Child Left Behind.” But one underlying theme has remained more or less constant. As a 2011 piece in the New York Times put it: “The policies and rhetoric changed, often dramatically, but the underlying assumption remained the same: Our nation’s schools are in dire need of systemic reform.”
Last year, Harvard University’s study, “Globally Challenged: Are U.S. Students Ready to Compete?” cited statistics that found that American students rank 32nd in the world in math. Still, most parents and policy-hawking wonks assume its urban-area schools dragging the rest of the country’s down, and that kids aren’t as dumb as they score.
The Bush Institute’s Global Report Card helps smash those assumptions to pieces. The tool is at once simple and devastating. With a simple search, you can pinpoint any specific public school district and see how it rates among schools in the rest of the country, or even the world (results are based on 2009 standardized testing data).
For example, while the Minneapolis school district most of my childhood neighborhood friends attended ranks low (22 percent in math), this is no surprise given its urban location. I now live in a county nestled among three of the 10 wealthiest in the country. Schools in Fairfax County (the Orange County of the East Coast) just to my north tested at 51 percent in math, compared to the rest of the world. Even these schools still don’t stand a chance against those in countries like Finland, which, according to the 2009 PISA scores, came in second in science, third in reading, and sixth in math among nearly half a million students worldwide. (Other statistics show Finland leading in literacy and math.) Considering the wealth permeating the Northern Virginia area, students here should be doing significantly better.
According to an infographic posted last year on the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education’s blog, the United States spends more money per student than Finland — nearly $8,000, compared to $5,600. Or, as they put it, “the U.S. is the clear leader in total annual spending, but ranks 9th in Science performance and 10th in Math” among 11 countries.
The Bush Institute itself shies away from making any specific, aggressive recommendations for education reform. Instead, the goal is to provide a razor-sharp look into what’s really going on in education at a micro level. It is up to the rest of us — parents, teachers and policymakers alike — to take responsibility and propose legitimate, effective reform once and for all.
Among the most obvious inferences one can make from the tool is that more money doesn’t necessarily equal better education. But if money doesn’t improve education, what does? Smithsonian Magazine’s excellent report last year, “Why Are Finland’s Schools Successful?” examined that issue. There appear to be many contributing factors; some the United States cannot or likely will not replicate, such as Finland’s state-provided maternity leave, subsidized day care to parents, subsidies for parents, and free student health care.
But three important factors stick out — things the U.S. should examine and replicate if possible. First, size. In one of the tougher neighborhoods of Finland, there are seven students to every one teacher or aide. U.S. schools have, on average, one teacher for every 15 students. Obviously Finland’s tiny population — 5.4 million compared to more than 300 million in the U.S. — plays a role. Second, teacher education. In Finland, teachers are required to “earn a fifth-year master’s degree in theory and practice at one of eight state universities — at state expense,” the Smithsonian article states. The occupation is paid the same respect as the fields of medicine and law. Finally, there’s a dynamic I’ll call creative teaching. Rather than follow a rigid curriculum that may bore children and prevent real-life learning:
Teachers in Finland spend fewer hours at school each day and spend less time in classrooms than American teachers. Teachers use the extra time to build curriculums and assess their students. Children spend far more time playing outside, even in the depths of winter. Homework is minimal. Compulsory schooling does not begin until age 7. “We have no hurry,” said Louhivuori. “Children learn better when they are ready. Why stress them out?
Of course, these ideas are easier to discuss than to implement. But we’ve been debating with no real results for several decades. It’s time we took action and joined the rest of the world at the top of the educational food chain.
About the Author
Nicole Russell writes from Northern Virginia.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (103) | Leave a comment
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Pecos Pete| 12.19.12 @ 8:45AM
For the most part, schools in the USA are more about people (teachers and administrators) earning money than about educating students.
Von Mises Jr| 12.19.12 @ 9:45AM
Public schools in the USA are about indoctrinating little heads full of mush. The authorette is a glaring example of indoctrination rather than learning. Take her logic for instance:
Proposition: they succeed in Finland since they have 7-1 ratio of students to teachers while the US has 15-1.
Fact: We went to a private K-16 and my family has two MBA's and a CPA. At school reunions, there is at least one doctor in my class, several lawyers, successful Wall Street and other business professionals and we had 40-1 ratio of students to teachers.
The authorette has fallen prey to phony science where we find statistics to ordain our fallacious theory. I have taken Graduate courses with 30-1 or even large group lectures in Undergrad with perhaps 75-1, yet I graduated always with Honors. How the hell did that happen, Ms. Russell?
PolishKnight| 12.19.12 @ 10:08AM
Ice cream consumption goes up in summer. Burglaries go up in summer. Ice cream causes burglaries.
Scientists fall for this too. Ptolomy wrote a formula to predict the paths of planetary motion around the Earth. That's right. You heard right. It worked and looked like an etch a sketch but it accurately predicted the observed motion of the planets around the Earth. If you can predict that the sun will rise in a particular place, and simultaneously say that the world will end on 12/21/12, then that is probably also a good scientific prediction. Two more days folks!
Von Mises Jr| 12.19.12 @ 10:34AM
You just described the difference between conservative thought process and liberalism. Rand had her theory of "Objectivism" that posits that "cognition" and "volition" always have the light switch "on" for conservatives whom "must" integrate all new information with their worldview. Correct science of experimentation proves nothing, but it often disproves what we think we know.
For liberals, experiments only count if they coincide with the nonsense inside their heads.
This is why they hate Propositional Logic. It has rules and the rules often prove that they don't know what they thought they know and their ideas are nonsense.
So they are the ones that are anti-science.
PolishKnight| 12.19.12 @ 10:51AM
I loved Albert Einstein and his "thought experiments" because his brain was probably a better laboratory than what most climate "scientists" have. :-)
In the end, the committee always wins. This is why counting numbers start at 1. (Committee). Or why global warming is funded (committee).
That said, the left largely stays out of hard science at least directly but the soft sciences are largely jokes: sociologists are as hamstrung by politics now as back in the days of Nostradamus. Psychiatry is also, well, nuts. :-)
Occam's Tool| 12.19.12 @ 12:02PM
Public school teachers in the US document what they do and teach according to, guidelines laid out by attorneys for the school districts to minimize litigation first and last. My kids are homeschooled for a reason.
I agree that a lot of academic psychiatry can be castles in the air stuff, but the things I deal with are as concrete as a Marciano Right Cross: Psychosis/agitation/psychotic depression/danger to self/danger to others. It looks the same in Minnesota and Rotorua, New Zealand as it does in Owensboro Kentucky, Los Angeles, Las Cruces, Galveston, and Alabama.
What I do and my approach to my patients is NEVER reflected in ANY television or movie that I have seen.
My basic problem is convincing lawyers that psychotic people who threaten violence ARE psychotic people who CAN DOviolence. Libertarian and ACLU asshats poo-poo this until a Connecticut school gets shot up by a psychotic whose mother was going to commit him, or a violent psychotic whose Psychiatrist warned that he was dangerous shoots up a movie theatre in Colorado, or a...
It would be nice if people would let me do my job without ignorant comments from the peanut gallery. And you would be much safer, because I, for example, was the Psychiatrist for the Alabama Chain Gang. No suicides. I ran the show.
The more I'm allowed to do my job right, the quieter and safer things become. And I'm not alone in my skills.
PolishKnight| 12.19.12 @ 1:22PM
My personal negative experiences with psychiatry/psychology is during my younger years when I made friends with people with such degrees and had a philosophical disagreement with them and then they would take personal information I had confided with them and attack me with it and then play little backhanded games and pretend like they weren't doing anything. They were calling me crazy (literally) while their pretense and denial of such tactics, IMO, made them crazy (who does that kind of sleaziness with their friends and to win arguments?)
No doubt, there are fine psychiatrists and psychologists out there who are professionals but the tools of the trade, like the legal profession, encourage abuse. (Speaking of the legal profession, apparently the attorney for instagram has withdrawn their idea of reserving the right to steal their users' content buried in the user agreement... :-)
TLP| 12.19.12 @ 2:21PM
I believe that, if you took a Survey of all of these Sociologists, Psychiatrists, and Social Busy Bodiesnwho come up with these Studies? You'd find that Most of them, don't have any Kids.
When I took one of my boys to the pediatrician, when he was still a Toddler, the Unmarried, obviously Gay Pediatrician recommended that I keep my boy on FORMULA for Two Years.
I told him that we had been adding small amounts of Cereal to his Formula, since he was 3 Months Old.
I told him that that was what My Mother gave me and my Brother and Sister, when we were Babies, and that I was gonna defer to HER EXPERIENCE.
It's the same with all of these Ivory Tower Know It Alls.
My Classrooms were always full of kids, and look how Great I turned out.
TLP| 12.19.12 @ 2:46PM
Am I the only one who would love to see this Babe naked?
Occam's Tool| 12.19.12 @ 6:30PM
Tim, I thought you had this hot Asian wife. Does she read your stuff, my friend? Or is she of the "he can look but not touch school?" :-)
Von Mises Jr| 12.19.12 @ 3:15PM
Why should a sociologist have kids when our Chief Executive never had a job?
Terrible Ted| 12.20.12 @ 12:12AM
VMJ,
I analyzed Michigan public school performance data (MEAP) by class sizes for the latest 2011 exam. 20 of 23 grade/subjects tested show that classrooms with more than 20 students per teacher outperformed classrooms with 20 or less students per teacher. I don't believe "more teachers in the classrooms" is the answer.
C. Vernon Crisler | 12.19.12 @ 2:46PM
I doubt whether the last point in the article had anything to do with school test score improvement.
PJ| 12.19.12 @ 8:48AM
I think part of the problem on why the USA does not compare well with the "rest of the world" is the lack of homogenity in its population regarding education & cultural values. Finland is just about as "white, middle class bread" as one can get. Who in their right mind would live in Finland for the school's education system?
Many poor people in the USA (I don't think it makes a difference the color of skin.) do not value education the way I do, an educated, middle class parent. I look at education as a foundation to disciplining one's mind so that knowledge can be learned within the system & on one's own time as an adult. Does anyone really think that the typical poor person has the knowledge to think of such things? Of course growing up in a traditional family environment makes it easier for a child to prosper in the school system.
I went into the website the article recommends to compare school districts to prove my point. My diverse school district in Fairfield County, CT scored 30%- 50%. Newtown, CT, a middle class homogenous community scored 70s%- 80s%. These scores also reflect the BS that's required to be taught in CT resulting in time taken away from the important subjects of English & Math, those subjects that are tested by these international exams.
Even with these low scores of my district, my children will do well because I know what needs to be taught & I am the primary educator of my children.
TLP| 12.19.12 @ 2:25PM
What do you mean we don't compare with the rest of the world, when it comes to Education?
Our kids know how to put on a Condom. They know about the Joys of Anal Sex. The Joys of Masterbation. And the Joys of having Sex with an Older Neighbor.
And, that's just the 3rd Grade.
We're #1!
Stkman| 12.19.12 @ 4:50PM
You're number 2! You'd be #1 if you had sex with the author.
Pecos Pete| 12.19.12 @ 9:16AM
I just checked the Santa Fe, NM school district and found that this heart of liberalism/progressiveness scored: 25% for math and 37% for reading.
Forward!
TLP| 12.19.12 @ 2:26PM
That explains a lot of things.
TLP| 12.19.12 @ 2:37PM
It explains everything.
cowgirl| 12.19.12 @ 9:20AM
The public school system in the United States is welfare for the people who are employed by it. When you give "free stuff" meaning you pay the employees of the public school system outrageous salaries and benefits and don't expect anything in return then you get nothing in return. Privatize the school system with vouchers and school choice and watch the competition begin.
Of course thinking like this in unacceptable in Liberal Land.
delahaya| 12.19.12 @ 9:35AM
The differences between Finland and the US are vast. Firstly, Finland is homogenous and is not educating millions of poor kids from illiterate families imported from Third World countries. Secondly, Finland's schools are not geared to the lowest common denominator to make sure special needs kids are "mainstreamed" and poorly performing kids pass, while talented and outright gifted kids fend for themselves and are bored. Thirdly, Finland's teachers are professionals instead of unionized clock punchers (and yes, amazingly the US has a lot of good teachers still).
Simon Templar| 12.19.12 @ 9:58AM
You are correct for the most part. So, what do we do about it. Any ideas?
You sound like an intelligent, thinking individual.
Any proposals, thoughts?
TLP| 12.19.12 @ 2:40PM
I'm kidding, of course.
Occam's Tool| 12.19.12 @ 6:33PM
I like the idea of educating teachers rigorously, paying them very well, and suing them for malpractice when kids don't do well. Works for MDs. Hell, if that had been the case, I would have gone into teaching. A huge chunk of my job is teaching anyway.
PolishKnight| 12.19.12 @ 10:05AM
Shhhhh! Shhh! Finland is better because it's socialist and socialism is the magic ingredient to automatically make the USA into paradise! As soon as the Democrat party wins, and Lenin, er, Obama takes power, our new Soviet republic will automatically have Finnish prosperity for all, tovarisch!
I was watching a History channel presentation about the Russian revolution and how the oppressed naval sailors initially embraced bolshevism in the hopes they would get to participate more in political meetings and for a brief time it was true. Then they were shoved aside and betrayed. I have no trust for my corporate fascist masters and even less for the bolsheviks.
TLP| 12.19.12 @ 2:42PM
I thought Finland was great because it's the Alcoholic/Suicide Capitol of the World?
The Fisker?
Occam's Tool| 12.19.12 @ 6:51PM
You, too, saw "night on earth," eh, Tim.
I'd rather live in Minnesota.
Simon Templar| 12.19.12 @ 9:36AM
"The Bush Institute itself shies away from making any specific, aggressive recommendations for education reform."
Herein lies the problem.
How many times have you read an article by a talking head that whines about there being no answers to any of our problems? We spend billions of dollars studying everything from flys to soda consumption but do not have the slightest clue as to fix anything except propose some new restriction or law removing one more freedom or liberty and punishing the rest of society for the stupidity or irresponsibility of a few. Then we go back to sleep with a false sense something has been done and action taken. Of course, we also like to create more departments of this or that the give them immortality with no accountability and ever growing expense accounts.
Simon Templar| 12.19.12 @ 9:43AM
This is basically how it goes. Our society like all have issues, conflicts, and problems. One group loves to use these problems as political opportunities for their never ending agendas to bring about more centralized control, more government, more restrictions on liberties, and greater consolidation of power. It loves to rush forward, no pun intended, with the image that it has answers and is ready for change and action. It does not care about an accurate assessment of the problem or facts. The other plays the role of resister and naysayer, rather unwillingly, with no answers but very accurate descriptions of the problems. It tends to shy away from that...as it rightly focuses on the proposals of the other that often create more problems then solutions.
Simon Templar| 12.19.12 @ 9:52AM
Then there is the general public containing millions of confused, busy, and preoccupied and uniformed citizens who watch the whole show unfold with a glancing eye in a state of shock and bewilderment.
Who do you think they inevitably go with and listen to the most? That is it in a nutshell and that is 21'st century America.
It is time for conservatives to start providing solutions, ideas, and leadership other than accurate objections and problem assessments. It is time for Americans to be Americans, the Americans that once walked boldly, creatively, and believed they could accomplish anything.
PolishKnight| 12.19.12 @ 10:02AM
Let's ban gay marriage! That'll fix all the problems! Yeah!
Simon Templar| 12.19.12 @ 10:23AM
PK, what is your point? I do not understand your reply.
PolishKnight| 12.19.12 @ 10:54AM
My point is that the attempts of conservatives to ban gay marriage (through the marriage protection act) didn't really protect marriage at all (even as defined). Heterosexual marriage in the states is on the rocks because of:
1) anti-male divorce courts and laws.
2) ease of women to collect child-support and welfare for having children out of wedlock
3) anti-male affirmative action
4) the marriage penalty in the tax code.
Any ONE of those trumps the effects of gay marriage yet conservatives don't care about them. Stupid fools. So the wealthy may get hit with a tax increase because of this election. My heart bleeds.
CJW| 12.19.12 @ 11:12AM
What is your point, that a man who fathers a child, out of wedlock, should not pay child support?
The child support laws are based on the income of the father and mother, and the earning potential of each, and who has physical custody. Pa, as most states, have support guidelines, for the amount to pay. It has nothing to do with whether you are a man or woman, it is income and custody.
PolishKnight| 12.19.12 @ 12:09PM
Note that I wasn't making a value statement on the policy ("child" support for illegitimate children) but rather stating a fact: when women can get support for children out of wedlock then many will not want to bother marrying. Why bother buying an ATM when you get cash for free? (so to speak)
As you do point out, it's all about ownership of the child or "custody". A welfare mother doesn't have to pay back welfare because she owns and controls the child whether the father can be located or not. In addition, in most states, women can now legally abandon a baby lest she murder it. Courts rarely take away children from a mother and award it, and "child" support, to a man unless she's been grossly negligent. And, in that case, women default at a rate 7 times that of men (note that under CS laws, poverty is no excuse either for men or women!)
So "child" support laws are much like liberal policies: Rather than reducing welfare rolls, they created an environment where women were encouraged to have children out of wedlock whether a father could pay or not. Responsible men are penalized by the system while irresponsible (broke) men can breed all they like. I read about deadbeat dads with dozens of kids all the time. Good luck collecting! Taxpayer, here's the bill.
But ban gay marriage. That'll fix it all! (Sarcasm.)
C'mon Man!| 12.19.12 @ 12:43PM
CJW, how pious and pompous can you get? Do you realize how easy it is for a woman to get full custody, even when the father is a great father? Spend a day in family court and watch women ride roughshod over good men, ruining children in the process. Family court is just another liberal experiment that is failing. You are correct on the rules and calcualtion, but child support should start at 50/50 time share unless one party is found to be harmful, and more than just the mother or her friends word is needed. REAL proof. Man, we let criminals free on technicalities, but just a bitter womans word is necessary to rip a child's life apart. It isn't for the children, it is for the feminists.
CJW| 12.19.12 @ 1:09PM
Not true. I have many men, clients, who have joint physical and legal custody. The policy of the courts here in Pgh is to favor joint custody. The practical problem is to divide the time in an equitable manner because both usually work.
PolishKnight| 12.19.12 @ 1:31PM
"I have many men who..." sounds like the "I'm not a bigot, some of my best friends are.." kind of statement. Sure, many men get custody. And Madame Curie was a 19th century scientist. So women were clearly not discriminated against in the workforce back then...
In some ways, the courts are better than before and in some others, they can be worse. A former girlfriend of mine worked as a California family court attorney and the money was good. She represented a woman who brought children to court in rags to get an addition to a "child" support order based upon hardship because one of the children was hitting their 18th and was going off the radar. So the judge just ordered an increase in the other two children's support. So much for that magic formula! They just rationalize increases via "potential" income or additional expenses, etc.
Also, the 90's added a new twist: The VAWA where attorneys faced disbarment for not advising their female clients of the option to make a spurious accusation to get the upper hand (truthful or not.)
If gays want a part of that, more power to 'em.
C'mon Man!| 12.19.12 @ 2:41PM
Thank you, Polish knight, for making points I saw every day in feminist, er, family court. And I had PhD Psychiatrist, mediators and childrens' atty's all agree with me that I was a great father. Court didn't care.
CJW| 12.19.12 @ 3:43PM
PK
My comments are based on actual experience representing men and women in court. You sound like a bitter defendant on the losing end of child support and custody, and rely on anecdotes from your friends. You make no sense.
PolishKnight| 12.20.12 @ 9:49AM
Which one is it? Am I a bitter defendant (therefore, "loser" and unworthy of respect) or someone who relies upon anecdotes from friends? And why are your anecdotes valuable and mine not?
Just be glad you didn't lay down with this psycho: tinyurl.com/cyox8j3
Holly Collins. She's a woman who appeared, during her first marriage, to be otherwise happy. Then after divorce and a custody battle, she made outrageous accusations of abuse against her ex. Several court psychologists in a row said she was making her children sick by proxy to win the battle. Custody went to the father.
In the meantime, she shacked up with another guy, got pregnant, and then fought him for custody. She lost in that court too. So her solution was to take all the children from both men and run off to Holland and claim political refugee status. In the meantime, she adopted a half dozen kids and went on welfare. She was turned in by a concerned neighbor annoyed by her brood.
Her own mother disagreed with her so she said she was abused by her mother and sexually by her father too. Her children now worship her (she has control of all the money) and post horrific screeds about all the relatives involved.
They are the darlings of the feminist movement. A film was made about her story.
C'mon Man!| 12.19.12 @ 2:38PM
Oh, so your little world works well, so all is fine! Again, pious. I am a great father, yet my ex filed a false claim w/ CPS, I was investigated and it was determined unfounded (in fact, all 6 different times she filed charges in three separate counties were unfounded), she went to court claiming there was a substantiated report, and her atty claimed to have CPS agents on call to subatantiate her claim. I said great, call them in, the judge refused and took my kids away based on the claim only. I subpoenead the report into court, the judge refused to look at it, again refusing to return my kids. That was it, all her "proof" was just a lie. Like I said, family courts are run by feminists, and a few exceptions just prove the rule. And, BTW, I fought her claims many years earlier and won, at a cost of over $40 k and bankruptcy. This time I had no $$ left, but the court saw fit to award her about $10k in atty fees. Yeah, courts are fair! Please look beyond the end of your nose before you end up looking stupid.
lost| 12.19.12 @ 2:50PM
Those men that joint physical and legal custody how many of those did the court decide that it would be that way and how many got that because the mother choose not to fight it? If the mother fights joint physical and legal custody she usually does prevent the father from having equal time.
The system favors the mother and is biased in her favor. You can think otherwise but you are living in a dream world
C'mon Man!| 12.19.12 @ 3:03PM
Lost, that is so correct. There are some sane women out there who don't desire to do damage to their children by removing the father from their lives. My current wife is one of them.
Occam's Tool| 12.19.12 @ 12:04PM
I care about all of them, PK. And, I agree with you.
Simon Templar| 12.19.12 @ 12:38PM
I care about them as well. There just another part of the their overall strategy of deconstruction.
PolishKnight| 12.19.12 @ 1:46PM
But it's not just the left. Even most conservatives have either ignored the above policies because they are "chivalrous" or outright embraced them.
I liken it to holding the ladies' door to the abortion clinic. Conservative chivalrists are chumps much like Don Quixote protecting the damsel Dolcinea.
PolishKnight| 12.19.12 @ 1:46PM
But it's not just the left. Even most conservatives have either ignored the above policies because they are "chivalrous" or outright embraced them.
I liken it to holding the ladies' door to the abortion clinic. Conservative chivalrists are chumps much like Don Quixote protecting the damsel Dolcinea.
Occam's Tool| 12.19.12 @ 6:50PM
Hey, PK: you know what? Holding doors for ladies and picking up the check helped get me laid in my younger single days. I am fortunate in that I married the finest wife and mother in the world.
PolishKnight| 12.19.12 @ 10:23PM
I paid for sex too but with prostitutes at very nice, legal bordellos in Germany and Eastern Europe. Good times. And also some of the best, honest conversations I have ever had on a "date." Nothing more honest than two people who have just finished sexual activity with nothing to gain from pretense. But aside from that, I found that the best way to get laid was to cook dinner for women at home. It made it easier to, er, get them to bed. :-) Most kids nowadays do hookups and get "Lewinskys" from what I heard.
In any case, plying women for sex via dinner dates is NOT "traditional "dating or at least courtship. In the old times, men courted women at their parents' homes and the conversation was serious, but respectable and I think made for far more respectful relationships.
Throwing money at women to try to get laid makes the women into whores and even worse, the men into beggars. It's no wonder that men and women often treat each other like something out of rap lyrics.
Occam's Tool| 12.20.12 @ 12:06AM
Yes, of course. But in LA you had single men and women without chaperones.
Picking up the check was just a sign of respect. The women had already decided before the end of the meal.
PolishKnight| 12.20.12 @ 9:58AM
If you have to pay otherwise they won't sleep with you, it's about as much as sign of respect as giving Tony Soprano his monthly protection payment.
Simon Templar| 12.19.12 @ 12:08PM
So...what the hell does any of that have anything to do with my comments?
Conservatives, most of them, particularly the social conservatives, have been attempting to resist these forces and the list you gave. Heck, you have people here like Kaminsky, the libertarian and others who call themselves conservatives trashing these efforts and see no culture war at all. Unsuccessfully resisted, obviously, as the culture and society has continued to rot in all areas. Not sure what you are trying to communicate...
PolishKnight| 12.19.12 @ 12:17PM
My point, Simon, is that conservatives have put more energy into fretting about gay marriage than any one of the above problems that have harmed not only marriage, but also their own electorate that was inadequate (or unmotivated) to vote against Obama. Twice.
It's strangely ironic that men, and white men in particular, (but also black men who were hit indirectly hardest by the above since the so-called civil rights movement), have been treated by conservatives and leftists alike in a manner that Obama's rhetoric targets the "rich": Men should have infinitely deep pockets to pay "child" support and treat "ladies" out to town, but simultaneously should be able to outearn women even as women enjoy preferential treatment (signed off by NIXON!!!) in the workplace and academia. Men are the "eatin' pig" in the fable of the farmer who appreciates his brave pig by "not eating him all at once."
So if gays flood the chapels and conservatives faint over it, it's because their beloved unwed mothers and their illegitimate children pull the lever for Obama. I say good. Maybe it will wake them up!
Simon Templar| 12.19.12 @ 12:27PM
All these things are attacks on traditional values, institutions, and beliefs and part of an overall strategy by the Left to deconstruct everything from the family, marriage, gender roles, the raising of families, the school and education system, the role of religion in society, morality, sexuality, and on and on. So, again what is your point? Gay marriage or the destruction of marriage as an institution, the real agenda, happens to be in the spotlight because this is the Left's latest cause and push and political obsession. So, it is getting a lot of attention by everyone.
Simon Templar| 12.19.12 @ 12:36PM
Furthermore, when was a conservative ever elected to high positions of office? Nixon, all of the were progressive big government Republicans.
Did you happen to notice that everything under the sun was done to stop anyone being remotely a true conservative from being nominated in the last election? Many people call themselves conservative, call themselves Republicans, or whatever, but is that so? Conservatives, and conservatism is not the problem, the problem is a well organized, aggressive, American Left wing movement that has has successfully kept conservatives out of power for nearly a century and have successfully made conservatism a bad word.
PolishKnight| 12.19.12 @ 1:44PM
Simon, even if we chase around the definition of "true" conservative, the reality is that few if any of them out there have addressed the 4 critical issues above while simultaneously fretting about gay marriage and abortion. Show me a "true" conservative in your eyes that puts the 4 real world issues above at the same level or above gay marriage and abortion, then you'll have a point.
Honestly, and I know this is heresy, I don't care about gay marriage or even abortion in my daily life. I don't pick up an abortion at the grocery store on the way home and if I don't want to attend a gay marriage, I don't have to. However, the above 4 things DO hit me personally and there are few conservatives, as defined, who have done anything about them. People like me in PA and OH stayed home or voted for Obama out of stupidity or disgust. Deal with it. In the meantime, the lesbians actually do have pretty nice weddings.
PolishKnight| 12.19.12 @ 1:38PM
Again, my point is that the right has done little about the 4 serious issues above partly because they like the idea of being chivalrous and that includes, pardon this allegory, holding the door open for the ladies to go into the abortion clinic (they are still ladies, you know.)
Male heads of households of traditional families and even their children were ultimately sacrificed on an altar of radical anti-abortion philosophy that rewarded unwed motherhood in the hopes that they wouldn't get an abortion. Ultimately, it was just a form of extortion. Reminds me of Chamberlain at Munich except Chamberlain wised up a lot faster.
Letting the left yank the right's chain on gay marriage because it's the "latest" attack is kind of like (another analogy, sorry) chasing after a red cape because it's nice and flashy. If conservatives are that "reactionary", literally, and easily goaded then they deserve to lose.
Oh, wait, they did!
Let us all pray to the Holy Constitution...
Simon Templar| 12.19.12 @ 3:28PM
Let us all pray to the Holy Constitution...?
That constitution is the only thing standing between you and those GD socialist you claim to despise.
It is sacred, it is unique, and it is greatest document ever created.
The Left controls the media and sets the agendas, subjects, and focus. There are conservative groups out there of all kind of stripes and fighting them on all fronts including your concerns. Just what the fuck are you doing in this fight, but accusing conservatives that they are not doing more about your loss of custody rights? It is not a question of being reactionary, or being goaded per se. You are not making any sense. Enough, it seems I am wasting my time on a troll.
CJW| 12.19.12 @ 3:44PM
I agree with you Simon. You and I are wasting our time.
Merry Christmas.
PolishKnight| 12.19.12 @ 10:33PM
Simon, I'm not a troll but rather dealing in tough love. If the left is winning and getting away with everything and the Holy Constitution, like the Ark of the Covenant in some museum somewhere is doing nothing, then it's not Holy. Holy stuff actually gets stuff done on it's own. While the ideas are great, they aren't perfect (the document was modified by necessity over the years unless you think we should wipe out all the amendments).
The bottom line principle of the Constitution was that the government serves the people and not the other way around. If conservatives worship the Constitution while throwing their electorate under the bus, then the Constitution is meaningless both literally and figuratively.
Simon Templar| 12.20.12 @ 1:50PM
That is some really childish thinking. You do not throw away the constitution or mock it, you throw away the so-called conservatives and representatives not upholding it. The government does not serve the people. This is a self governing Republic. The "conservative" or anyone who has thrown this under the bus is meaningless and worthless, not the constitution. The constitution does not do anything, it is people. This is like the liberals with guns. The guns are not the problem, it is the people misusing them. Holy stuff actually get stuff done? That is magical thinking.
Occam's Tool| 12.19.12 @ 6:44PM
I hate to see friends fight. Some points, CJW:
I have seen dads get custody over highly qualified moms. The trick is to get CJW as your mouthpiece. My contempt for the legal system in general is well documented here. But I see nothing as absolute.
But here are some facts that PK has right: 1) Our laws are structured to marginalize fathers in families in the event of breakup.
2) Our minority and low income families are less likely to have dads around than richer ones.
3) This destruction of the minority/low income family by Liberal doctrine largely goes unnoticed: by the Conservatives because minority/low income families are usually chattels of the Democratic party (want Conservatives to ignore you? Vote 98% Democrat for NO DEFINABLE REASON other than skin color for a guy who, if he was White, the NAACP would have been pillorying for his destructive anti-Black family policies), and the Dems don't really care because they will have their vote anyway.
4) This destruction of the low income/Black family is largely responsible for crime/violence and drug use in those families. Responsible older men are needed in families.
On the other hand, I stay married and happy by putting wife and children first, and generally doing what the women in my life (wife at home, nurses at work) tell me to do. Being a neutered cat except in the bedroom with the wife has its advantages.
CJW| 12.19.12 @ 7:02PM
OT
I do not think we are fighting, just a disagreement.
As to your points 2,3,4, I agree.
I disagree with point 1. Now the courts encourage each parent to spend as much time as possible with the children. The practical problem is that in many families the father's job makes it difficult for him to spend time. Years ago, the standard court order was for the father to get alternate weekends only, but has changed, at least in my area.
In custody cases, the court orders mandatory counselling, and a meeting with a court custody counsellor, without attorneys, to discuss the best interest of the child. Many cases are resolved at this step.
If not resolved, there will be an investigation of each,with a personal meeting, with the court ordered psychologist and mabye shrink, with a written report about each parent. This also resolves a lot of cases.
Unfortunately there are bad parents who use the children as a weapon to hurt the other. They do not put the best interest of the child first. These are the difficult cases, which everyone hears about. But the vast majority get resolved if you have reasonable people. As one judge said, get a daily calendar, work it out, if you don't I will make the decision.
Occam's Tool| 12.20.12 @ 12:08AM
Yes. For my friends who are divorced, I always recommend intelligent discussions so that everyone feels comfortable taking the kids someplace.
PolishKnight| 12.19.12 @ 10:30PM
I don't think there's NO DEFINABLE REASON for blacks to vote Democrat. The Democrat party promises blacks race entitlements and often delivers them. The main problem with these entitlements is that they're now often watered down with new entries in the Democrat party tent primarily Mexicans. But also Indians. My wife was at a work potluck and her black co-worker confided to her that he wasn't going to attend because he despised the other non-whites, non-blacks more than her because of their racist nepotism. So that's progress in a way.
Also, the justice department even during Republicans is something like mostly non-white and even black and looks the other way at black on white violent crime while labeling only blacks as victims of "hate crime." Note that George Zimmerman will most likely face federal charges while dozens of whites attacked by black mobs after the incident are getting swept under the rug.
Occam's Tool| 12.20.12 @ 12:16AM
Yes, but the Dems 1) raise black unemployment rates, 2) increase Black poverty and 3) support Black child killings through their policies, both in the womb and on the street.
Bill Cosby is all alone. And Jackie Robinson is dead.
PolishKnight| 12.20.12 @ 10:03AM
With all fairness to the Dems:
1 and 2) The black unemployment rate is not intentionally set high by the Dems but rather a function of the welfare state that unwed black mothers take advantage of. The Dems don't require black mothers to raise their children to be gang bangers and recipients and there are numerous opportunities available for them based upon race that they value (and many do take advantage of.)
3) Abortion is a race neutral policy. In theory, it doesn't reduce the number of children since a mother who had children earlier in life might decide to stop having children later. I'm not saying that's morally defensible but rather an observation that abortion is not intended to reduce black births.
Simon Templar| 12.19.12 @ 10:25AM
How can you ban something that does not exist, by the way?
PolishKnight| 12.19.12 @ 9:58AM
We can be politically incorrect (namely, observe something obvious and factual but which goes against modern dogma) and spit out the obvious: Finland is full of Finnish people. If you were to move the population of, say, Detroit to Finland they probably would not perform much better. And this has already been done, on a small scale in Finland, with expected results. By the same token, move the population of rural Wisconsin to Finland and probably not much would change.
Regarding paid maternity leave. In other words, women are government housewives with men as second class citizens enslaved to the state. Sadly, America the so-called land of the free, is not much different.
A Finnish friend told me that the street thugs of Finland (small in numbers but growing) have a nickname for their Finnish victims: Kittens. Americans and even Germans might put up a fight, but Finns make it easy. If you're a street thug in Detroit, move to Finland. The pickins' are good!
And stream Lilihammer from Netflix. Hilarious!
Occam's Tool| 12.19.12 @ 6:46PM
Once upon a time, the Finns were the fiercest fighters in Europe.
Ned| 12.19.12 @ 10:31AM
US schools are hampered by three factors:
1) the education of teachers is (and has been for decades) substandard. Education grads make up the bottom 1/3 of all college graduating classes. Plus, they are taught education dogma, not actual subjects. In Europe you typically get a four year degree in a real subject, and THEN take a fifth year to learn to teach it.
2) there is no discipline in schools any longer. The most egregious behavior is tolerated, because you can't tell the little darlings 'no'.
3) there are no standards, and no downside to failure to participate. In a class of 20-25 students,
FIVE might bother to turn in an assignment, and those will be poorly done. But EVERYBODY passes.
PolishKnight| 12.19.12 @ 2:42PM
Something to keep in mind about the socialist paradise of Europe: higher education is largely "free" over there. Looking back, as a young teen I should have gotten some kind of provisional citizenship or residency via a European relative and gone to school for free. Who needs American student loans?
So going to school for 4 years isn't a big deal. Heck, it's like getting paid to go to school since young people finding a job is hard. Most go onto graduate school just to kill time!
So the notion of getting the equivalent of a professor to teach a high school history class (or even chemistry class) sounds great, but is part of a larger socialist system.
In the states, homeschooling is increasingly affordable and even comparable to mainstream public education because the socialist/fascist system here doesn't work (worse than the Soviets) and most decently educated adults can teach at least K-9. Later on, it's harder without access to facilities such as chemistry labs, etc. that are not strictly classroom teaching.
TLP| 12.19.12 @ 2:44PM
You left out: Millions of kids with NO FATHERS.
That is Problem #1.
lost| 12.19.12 @ 5:07PM
You are right that kids with no father is a major problem. But the thing is the current system deems fathers as unimportant just a source cash. It is hard for fathers to be part of their kids lives if they are not with the mother. In fact the system pretty much encourages fathers not to be involved. Consider this a mother calls the cops and claims x you can bet that they will be on the fathers doors step ASAP. The mother with holds the kids from the father and he calls the cops the will do nothing and say take her to court not our problem.
R Martin| 12.19.12 @ 10:36AM
Improving the quality of American public schools is simply a matter of eliminating the influence of teachers’ unions and the related requirement that public school teachers be “certified”. Consider all the private schools that flourish especially in areas where the public schools are considered poor. Washington, D.C. for example. Most of those schools are very expensive (tens of thousands of dollars per year per student) and none of them requires their teachers to be “certified” by anyone. They hire mathematicians to teach math, scientists to teach science and linguists to teach languages. None of those teachers belongs to a union. And the beauty of this solution is that it all can be done at the local level.
Simon Templar| 12.19.12 @ 10:39AM
It seems that many of you object to the use of Finland as an example of success and great ideas for solutions to education issues. Fine. Yes, we are obviously not Finland and to be honest, I do not want America to be Finland.
The point is this. We are capable as Americans in solving our own problems in American ways with American solutions and American creativity and innovation. We can even learn from other nations and their mistakes. The first thing we need to do is pull our heads out of our cynical, self defeating, whining asses and start believing in ourselves again.
Who better to develop real and creative solutions than conservatives who generally are more willing and capable of understanding the problems.
PolishKnight| 12.19.12 @ 10:58AM
In many ways what made Finland great is what made America great: A lot of natural resources per capita. What's taking down much of Europe and the states and even (slowly) Finland is their need to import non-Europeans to mow their lawns and look after their children which is why I snickered about the "free" daycare. Yeah, the nanny looks after the kids for 'free' (taxpayer expense or cheap, under the table wages) and then brings 4 of her kids in the country and sends them to school and go on welfare. Then as soon as she qualifies, she goes on welfare. In the meantime, they hope that these immigrants will work like slaves for their whole lifetime, and then die just before retirement age to fund their ponzi scheme.
Simon Templar| 12.19.12 @ 12:18PM
Many nations have incredible resources, Mexico and Russia being two of the greatest in resources, for example. They are shitholes. What made America great in less than two hundred years and a superpower was not our resources. I am shocked you would write such a thing. It was our constitution, our liberties, and our cultural values of individualism, our religious freedom, and our free market principles that made us great. These same elements are being systematically destroyed by the Left who know EXACTLY that these element MUST be destroyed in order to bring the nation down and reshape it to their vision.
PolishKnight| 12.19.12 @ 1:51PM
Simon, while I advocate small government because I rightfully fear the injustices and lies of socialism, I do not buy into your rah-rah You-Es-Ay cheer. Here's why:
For much of America's initial history, it was a backwater. Folks came to the USA not for the freedom but for many of the same reasons today: economic improvement to their lot at home. Europeans wanted free land while land was limited in Europe. If they could have gotten a hundred acres of land for free in Ireland and Germany, they would have stayed there.
The industrial revolution in the mid-19th century created jobs because America had lots of oil, iron ore, and still lots of land and European immigrants came for it. They liked the freedom too, but let's be honest here. Most of them had the right idea (of earning a living) compared to the welfare and race entitlement attitude of modern non-white immigrants, but they probably didn't gush over freedom all that much.
Then there was war they fleed from but again, not really freedom so much. During the Vietnam war, many young American men fled involuntary servitude to go to Canada. So Canada was more "free" in that regard.
Simon Templar| 12.19.12 @ 2:48PM
Who are you? You sound like many of the liberal trolls that come out here masquerading as conservatives and you certainly do not sound like the polish knight that often post here.
My viewpoints are not rah-rah whatever and if you truly feared socialism you might try actually learning about it as I have. Just where do you think I got the ideas I have? Try reading modern and post modern Left wing literature and you WILL find that this is indeed a coordinated comprehensive effort to undermine every single American institution including the family and your male bashing concerns are on the top of the list. Who do you think ends up as judges and lawyers in these family courts? Your view of American history seems as warped as most liberals. Land and economic opportunity were only some of the reasons. If they wanted this there were plenty of frontiers around the globe. they cam because of the system, the values, and the political freedoms that under girded these economic opportunities. They wanted their kids to get an education, learn the language, think of themselves as having value and not a illiterate dirt peasant.
Simon Templar| 12.19.12 @ 3:00PM
Jobs were created because we had people who had the drive, ambition, and freedom to get rich, copyright laws and patents unlike most other countries. Yeah, let's be honest and tell the whole story. By the way, I have never been otherwise nor have I been a Pollyanna. Many immigrant Americans have been driven to be Americans for a whole host of reasons but they most all shared a love of this country for more than just puerile economic interest. That statue of liberty stands for much more than that in their minds and even others from other nations noticed this FACT.
Involuntary servitude, that says a mouthful...?
They fled to Canada to save their asses...freedom was the last thing on their mind while we, the US were free to protect their asses, the Europeans, and the rest of the world from the latest tyrannies.
Despite what you may have heard there were actual communist and socialist taking over southeast Asia and millions being slaughtered in its name.
Simon Templar| 12.19.12 @ 3:15PM
It seems you have some personal experience and interest in losing child custody and women who have used the system to wring everything out of you. If this pain, or your post for that matter are real, you got some personal issues to deal with...
That does not change the reality that it is all part of a larger culture rot being fought by the Left on many fronts. If you can not see how a man's loss of fatherhood and his rights are not definitively related to sexual perversion, the destruction of the marriage institution, the destruction of gender, and abortion, I can not help you. It seems you are letting your personal issues color your political views and your thinking process.
First, this article was about educating kids, and the issues surrounding the schools systems.
The premise that all conservatives think this way or that way or do not care about this or that is not only a fallacy but ridiculous.
Once again, what do your reply comments have to do with mine and the point that conservatives can offer and should offer solutions rather than just whine?
PolishKnight| 12.19.12 @ 10:52PM
Forcing young men to serve overseas in conflicts that aren't even official wars is reminiscent of European statist societies and not limited Constitutional government. Abraham Lincoln saved the Union, and ended Slavery, by expanding Federalism. So we can thank him for that wonderful tradition (and he was Republican to boot.) That's hardly the argument of a liberal troll. It's a valid criticism of federalist policies similar to socialist progressive agendas today that rationalize big government via grandiose promises.
And sure, protecting Asians overseas is a worthy cause but as I said, if the right cared a tenth as much for their white male electorate and fathers as they did for abortion, gay marriage, and Iraq maybe we'd be having a totally different conversation. When you use young men as cannon fodder, you do a real good job making them love your "freedom".
And I stand by what I said, most immigrants are either refugees or economic opportunists. Nothing wrong with EITHER but they don't necessarily agree with your freedom agenda and their voting patterns back me up, yes?
Simon Templar| 12.20.12 @ 2:07PM
First of all you are an asshole and a troll and not having a sincere conversation about any of this. You have very serious male/female issues and some severe anger towards women. Some of it understandable and much of it is your personal issues. Want some tough love, then stop seeing prostitutes. We were discussing who came to this nation particularly in the past, not current illegals and H1B visas who certainly do come here for economics alone. You made a number of falsehoods in this regard that I addressed. You made a number of mocking falsehoods about our constitution, our military service, the Civil War, and just about everything that does not fall under your whining about fathers rights and the court system. You dismiss me with the mocking remark that I am just a Pollyanna.
Guess what, you are not the center of the world nor on the top of the priority list, nor your personal problems with your ex-wives. Grow up.
PolishKnight| 12.19.12 @ 10:40PM
If being a dogmatic conservative, as you define it, worked then the left wouldn't be winning. The bottom line really is what's best for the people and that's the goal of the constitution. People are not mere supplicants of the holy document like some comet worshiping suicide cult although it appears that way sometimes.
Bottom line: Yes, the left attacked fathers but most conservatives were either too busy with their crazy pet projects (anti-abortion, drug prohibition) and conservatives also often joined in due to "chivalrous" tendencies to protect women even when the women were commie loving bashers. "Let me help you hold that torch, young lady, to burn the constitution with."
Governor Reagan himself signed off on pushing fathers off of welfare and then expanding benefits for single mothers thinking it would push the men to work. Instead, it backfired. Numerous conservatives have advocated going after "deadbeat dads" (while welfare queens get guaranteed entitlements.) I know several leftist father's rights advocates who tell me, correctly, that the right has done little for fathers. And they're right.
But the right sure does care about gay marriage though so we have that!
Simon Templar| 12.20.12 @ 2:14PM
"If being a dogmatic conservative, as you define it, worked then the left wouldn't be winning."
Do not tell me what I think or what I am saying. If you were actually reading my comments you would not make that accusation. The fact is we have seen a century of RINO's and CINO's in power and in control, not dogmatic conservatives.
We have had plenty of compromising on abortion, gay marriage and every other frigin left wing cultural assault in a century, this is why were losing, including your rights as a male and father, apparently you can not see this. Apparently, you are too dense to even recognize that I am essentially agreeing with you on these concerns.
PolishKnight| 12.20.12 @ 4:55PM
Simon, you appear to be sending me on a paper chase. I can't criticize conservatives because you're telling me that they are like unicorns hiding in the forest and therefore blameless.
I don't buy it. Don't make me go unicorn hunting. Surely you can find some examples of conservatives in different non-presidential offices and provide me with examples of them addressing the major issues that impact marriage rather than the gay marriage and abortion red-herrings.
Simon Templar| 12.20.12 @ 5:30PM
You are the one living in a fantasy. I never said you could not or should not criticize conservatives. You are using the same rhetorical fallacies and false arguments as a liberal and dodging my responses to your inane remarks, taking the subject off topic, and making ridiculous assertions. Your point that conservatives have not fought for men's rights is a valid one and the fact that men are now second class citizens, yeah, you heard me say it. in fact, I am more radical about this subject than you are and could out argue your own points. That is because I know exactly what the feminist movement and the Left have been up to as I WAS ONE OF THEM FOR NEARLY TWENTY FUCKING YEARS!
Well, you got your wish today. The great Newt Gingrich, arch fucking conservative to many, has caved on the homosexual marriage agenda. His reasons are classic conservative capitulation on everything including the role of men in the family, his rights as a man, and every other damn gender oriented left wing perversion.
Simon Templar| 12.20.12 @ 5:40PM
Furthermore, you believe the liberal rhetoric about all of this, abortion, homo marriage, all of it. If these were so much losing issues, red herrings, and public supported than idiots like Obama would not be pretending to be against them or not having an opinion about them when he ran for office. Liberal politicians would not be saying well, I am not for abortion but I am for a right to choose. Why in the hell should conservatives care about your custody rights when you could care less about abortion or homo marriage. I care about them all as unlike you I see the obvious connection of all of these issues as one front and one comprehensive strategy. Yes, I do blame conservatives for capitulation on all of it and there never ending whining, hand wringing, stubborn stupid refusal to see their big picture, their stupid divisiveness, and their fractured thinking, like yours.
Simon Templar| 12.20.12 @ 5:49PM
Address the major impacts? They can not address any of them and most of them do not want to or have the balls to do so as their thinking is a lot like yours. Shit, Ricki Santorum tried and he was nicknamed Saint Ricki! They can not effectively address the tax issues and you are whining about family custody issues and in the process of your diatribe throwing the constitution out the window and mocking it. You go ahead and ride off on your unicorn. If you think it is bad now, just wait till the Lefties have your sons in classes and participating in pretend homo marriages and giving sexual instruction classes on anal sex.
Simon Templar| 12.20.12 @ 5:55PM
When I say conservatives, I mean the GOP, the republicans, the mass of christian churches and pastors, the idiot libertarians, and the morons that sat out the election and stayed home and did not show up to stop any of this because their prima donna issues, candidate, or spin was not quite correct and did not reflect them like a mirror. Or perhaps, they did not want to lose membership, donations, or feared lawsuits so they capitulated.
Simon Templar| 12.20.12 @ 5:56PM
Oh yeah, I got a lot of criticism for conservatives, more than you would imagine and could outdo yours any day.
Simon Templar| 12.20.12 @ 6:04PM
Did you know that majority of independents went with Romney in five of the eight swing states. Gee, how did he lose to the socialist then? Well, there are only two logical conclusions. The democrats cheated massively or the core of non-Obama center to right voting block, considered the core, did not show up. The latter is most likely and new statistics and analysis seems to be bearing this out.
There is an old left wing saying, "We have met the enemy and the enemy is us."
Simon Templar| 12.20.12 @ 6:27PM
Do not bother to reply.
I do not expect you to answer with any intelligence, humility, or sincerity because, troll, you are not out here for that...nor are you capable of it.
PolishKnight| 12.21.12 @ 11:57AM
Simon, posting 7, count them 7, responses to me followed by a "don't bother to reply because you're not worth it" is laughably unbelievable. If you think I'm a troll, then say so once and be done with it. Don't feed me.
This topic is dead anyway. Have a wonderful holiday.
holmegm| 12.19.12 @ 1:26PM
Finland also appears to be largely populated by Finns.
We could study whether this has anything to do with their fine academics, but something tells me this would not be allowed.
Occam's Tool| 12.19.12 @ 6:48PM
And Israel has the highest number of scientific papers published per Capita in the world.
PolishKnight| 12.19.12 @ 10:45PM
And the second highest amount of US aid money per capita!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.....oreign_aid
Afghanistan is number one (for 2010.)
Occam's Tool| 12.20.12 @ 12:14AM
Yes, but at least we get great research and Nobels for our investment in Israel, as well as advanced medical devices (the specialized bandage which saved our Congressman in Arizona was an Israeli invention), excellent generic drugs (TEVA is Israeli), great soda machines (SODASTREAM is Israeli), and some fantastic beaches with supermodels (Bar Rafaeli). Plus useful intelligence from the best HUMINT agency in the world.
We give Israel military aid only, by the way. I agree that all of our aid to Islamic countries is piss in a bowl. But our Israeli aid is actually military spending. It is nice to have a Naval base to use in the Mediterranean which is part of a true ally (Haifa).
We don't count our NATO expenditures as aid money. We should. I'd like to know what Denmark gets in defense aid, for example.
PolishKnight| 12.20.12 @ 10:08AM
It's certainly a better investment than Afghanistan and Haiti! :-) (Or welfare mothers)
But that said, OT, many people in other countries don't require "investments" to produce research and Nobels. Perhaps if we sent more money (and hefty contracts) to those countries they might also produce a return?
And the most significant "return" on our investment, including military aid, in the Middle East is that a region that was liberalizing during the 1960's are now a bunch of radical Islamicists who hate America.
Stkman| 12.19.12 @ 4:59PM
Lets just say what we know the problems really are.
Control of education from Washington or the state capital rather than locally.
Unionized Teachers and liberal teacher colleges.
Negroes, illegal aliens and street thugs of all colors and both sexes.
Mister Perdurabo| 12.25.12 @ 3:34PM
My district (a wealthy north-eastern suburb) outperforms Finland and Singapore and runs pretty much even with Switzerland. The lesson: keep out the riff-raff, though high home prices and staggering property taxes. Thanks for this useful tool - it really does show us what works.