Wednesday, December 15, 2004
Separation of Church and State?
After reading this I am frightened about the future of my planet. How can people actually believe that complete destruction of this world will lead to a better place? What if their timing is bad? I am unsure of what follows this life, but I'm personally pessimistic that there is anything. So I ask, how can it be a good strategy to totally destroy the world and the opportunity I have to live and enjoy what has been provided for me here? What if this is it? Talk about a lost opportunity.
Friday, December 10, 2004
Outsourcing and No Child Left Behind
This has nothing to do with the Beavs or sports for that matter but is based on an editorial I read today on education and my own experience in outsourcing.
Being a father of a child who is about to enter the public educational system it has been important to me and my wife to explore the options for her education. Should she start early or wait and be old for her class? Should she go to a public school or private? One thing that has disturbed us most is in regards to the "No Child Left Behind" program, which has been described to us by others with children already in the educational system as "No Child Gets Ahead". This alone is disturbing enough, but then as I look around at work and the landscape of American business this becomes even more frightening. Allow me to elaborate.
First the schools. Due to the stiff penalties and/or labels a school might get for not achieving defined levels of "success" in this testing the curriculum has become focused on preparing students for success on standardized tests. Not success in college or the real world. The focus being on getting every student to a specific level of achievement, no matter how much time/energy/focus it takes for the teacher to get that last student to that level. What happened to getting all students to the highest level they are capable of achieving? What happened to teaching children how to learn? The answers for these tests are known and a teacher can use this to get a child to be successful. The answers in the workplace, and the real world these students will someday occupy, are unknown and will require thought and creativity to solve.
Speaking of the workplace, over the past five years I have been around, and in fact have driven some projects where the result was the loss of U.S. jobs to low cost countries (LCC). Now personally I do have some conflict with this, but being a fiscally responsible employee I was unable to justify otherwise and moved ahead with the projects. Now the concerns sets in when I look around to what my future employment might look like, not to mention my kids.
Whenever outsourcing is talked about the common answer is that this frees up more creative American minds to develop new technologies, products, gizmos, whatever, that can then be built cheaply overseas and sold for bottom dollar from WalMart. Don't get me wrong, I am like 99% of the rest of America. I want as much stuff as I can possibly squeeze into my house, and I want it for cheaper than the other guy paid for it. LCCs enable me to do so. However, my problem is believing this creative revolution will drive us and our economy forward for the next 100 years just as Henry Ford did when he set off the industrial revolution at the turn of the last century.
Do you see the conflict yet? Banking on independent thinking, creative minds to be our major contribution to the global economy, yet having an educational system that rewards conformance and minimum level achievement for all. Where is the drive to succeed? To be better and to frankly be the best and brightest at anything?
I have the same issue with youth sports and not keeping score, but I'll save that for another blog and just summarize by saying; we are not all created equal, sometimes someone needs to lose. Ideally it will push them to be better and in turn raise the level of competence for the entire population. Think survival of the fittest. Is it fair? No. Does it allow for the best chance of a species prolonged existence? Yes. If we are all driven to be equal, where is my incentive to be better? Let's just keep the bar low and that will be the least amount of work for me.
This is not the kind of thinking we need to lead us forward and not the kind of thinking I want my children to grow up with. Of course my kids won't have that luxury, at least at home. I don't care if it's old maid, chutes and ladders or candyland, daddy is playing to dominate the dojo. Yes, I feel sorry for them too.
Being a father of a child who is about to enter the public educational system it has been important to me and my wife to explore the options for her education. Should she start early or wait and be old for her class? Should she go to a public school or private? One thing that has disturbed us most is in regards to the "No Child Left Behind" program, which has been described to us by others with children already in the educational system as "No Child Gets Ahead". This alone is disturbing enough, but then as I look around at work and the landscape of American business this becomes even more frightening. Allow me to elaborate.
First the schools. Due to the stiff penalties and/or labels a school might get for not achieving defined levels of "success" in this testing the curriculum has become focused on preparing students for success on standardized tests. Not success in college or the real world. The focus being on getting every student to a specific level of achievement, no matter how much time/energy/focus it takes for the teacher to get that last student to that level. What happened to getting all students to the highest level they are capable of achieving? What happened to teaching children how to learn? The answers for these tests are known and a teacher can use this to get a child to be successful. The answers in the workplace, and the real world these students will someday occupy, are unknown and will require thought and creativity to solve.
Speaking of the workplace, over the past five years I have been around, and in fact have driven some projects where the result was the loss of U.S. jobs to low cost countries (LCC). Now personally I do have some conflict with this, but being a fiscally responsible employee I was unable to justify otherwise and moved ahead with the projects. Now the concerns sets in when I look around to what my future employment might look like, not to mention my kids.
Whenever outsourcing is talked about the common answer is that this frees up more creative American minds to develop new technologies, products, gizmos, whatever, that can then be built cheaply overseas and sold for bottom dollar from WalMart. Don't get me wrong, I am like 99% of the rest of America. I want as much stuff as I can possibly squeeze into my house, and I want it for cheaper than the other guy paid for it. LCCs enable me to do so. However, my problem is believing this creative revolution will drive us and our economy forward for the next 100 years just as Henry Ford did when he set off the industrial revolution at the turn of the last century.
Do you see the conflict yet? Banking on independent thinking, creative minds to be our major contribution to the global economy, yet having an educational system that rewards conformance and minimum level achievement for all. Where is the drive to succeed? To be better and to frankly be the best and brightest at anything?
I have the same issue with youth sports and not keeping score, but I'll save that for another blog and just summarize by saying; we are not all created equal, sometimes someone needs to lose. Ideally it will push them to be better and in turn raise the level of competence for the entire population. Think survival of the fittest. Is it fair? No. Does it allow for the best chance of a species prolonged existence? Yes. If we are all driven to be equal, where is my incentive to be better? Let's just keep the bar low and that will be the least amount of work for me.
This is not the kind of thinking we need to lead us forward and not the kind of thinking I want my children to grow up with. Of course my kids won't have that luxury, at least at home. I don't care if it's old maid, chutes and ladders or candyland, daddy is playing to dominate the dojo. Yes, I feel sorry for them too.
The BCS is BS
First, let me admit that I am a homer. I think the Beavers can and will win every week and get physically ill when they don't. I am also a big believer in the Pac-10 and think the brand of football played "out here" rivals any collegiate football in the country. Some even used data to say the Pac-10 was the toughest conference in the country. That said, how does the 2nd best team in our conference, and possibly the country, get snubbed from getting one of the eight births in the BCS bowls? BTW, this snub cost the conference about $4.5M. That money is instead bound for Texass and the rest of the Mediocre 12.
How good is the Mediocre 12? You needn't look further than their "Championship" game to decide. But I will. Oklahoma is good, yes, but Colorado mustered 46 total yards, IN THE ENTIRE GAME! What exhilarating football that must have been. If that is the best you can do in a championship game in your conference then you have issues. Meanwhile the Pac-10's championship game, not formally of course, was USC vs. Cal on October 9th. It ended with Cal's final drive stalling at the USC 20 and the score 23-17. Cal outgained SC 437-209 and never punted. Their downfall was 3 lost fumbles. Now if you believe SC is the best team in the country, which I do, how can Cal be far behind? How can they be 6 or 7 teams behind as some coaches voted this last week? So they eeked one out at S. Miss, who by the way is 6-5 and bowl bound. USM was jacked up to be on national TV and have a chance to play a nationally ranked team and they came out and played like it. Cal took their best shot and still won by 10, 17 if you ignore that ridiculous clipping call that negated JJ Arrington's TD scamper in the final two minutes. Did Tedford do the right thing by kneeling at the end of the game? Yes. The game was over and one more TD would do nothing to change the outcome or their season. Not impressive enough you say? What about Texas' impressive 22-20 win over Arkansas in September? Arkansas finished 5-6, no bowl. Too early in the season you say, OK, how about that 27-23 thumping of basketball power Kansas on November 13? BTW Texas trailed 23-13 with 7 minutes to go in this game and had to rally to win, certainly a less than impressive victory.
The fact is that it worked out this way because of where Cal plays. Mack Brown was all over the TV begging for votes and got them, most likely from the Big 12 and SEC. Even better is the news that we'll never know which coaches made the following questionable final votes, keep in mind that no one had Cal ranked lower than 6th the prior week.
How good is the Mediocre 12? You needn't look further than their "Championship" game to decide. But I will. Oklahoma is good, yes, but Colorado mustered 46 total yards, IN THE ENTIRE GAME! What exhilarating football that must have been. If that is the best you can do in a championship game in your conference then you have issues. Meanwhile the Pac-10's championship game, not formally of course, was USC vs. Cal on October 9th. It ended with Cal's final drive stalling at the USC 20 and the score 23-17. Cal outgained SC 437-209 and never punted. Their downfall was 3 lost fumbles. Now if you believe SC is the best team in the country, which I do, how can Cal be far behind? How can they be 6 or 7 teams behind as some coaches voted this last week? So they eeked one out at S. Miss, who by the way is 6-5 and bowl bound. USM was jacked up to be on national TV and have a chance to play a nationally ranked team and they came out and played like it. Cal took their best shot and still won by 10, 17 if you ignore that ridiculous clipping call that negated JJ Arrington's TD scamper in the final two minutes. Did Tedford do the right thing by kneeling at the end of the game? Yes. The game was over and one more TD would do nothing to change the outcome or their season. Not impressive enough you say? What about Texas' impressive 22-20 win over Arkansas in September? Arkansas finished 5-6, no bowl. Too early in the season you say, OK, how about that 27-23 thumping of basketball power Kansas on November 13? BTW Texas trailed 23-13 with 7 minutes to go in this game and had to rally to win, certainly a less than impressive victory.
The fact is that it worked out this way because of where Cal plays. Mack Brown was all over the TV begging for votes and got them, most likely from the Big 12 and SEC. Even better is the news that we'll never know which coaches made the following questionable final votes, keep in mind that no one had Cal ranked lower than 6th the prior week.
- 4 voters slid Cal to 7th
- 2 voters slid Cal to 8th
- 1 voter put Texas #2, likely ahead of SC and Auburn
- 3 voters put Texas #3, ahead of SC or Auburn
Does this all sound fair to you? Pac-10 commish Tom Hansen has called for the votes to be made public, but the chances of that are slim. Oh how I would love to get that list and get those teams on Cal's schedule in the near future. So for the time being the best we can do as a conference is to schedule every OOC game against the Big-12. Anytime, anywhere we'll show them on the field who the best is. Don't be afraid to schedule their patsies either, after all those are the same teams that the shorthorns plays every week in conference. If that doesn't work I say we just take our Rose Bowl and go home.
Until then, root for SC to lay the wood to Oklahoma, pack the rose bowl in blue and gold (Cal colors anyway) to cheer on the Wolverines and unleash all the bay area anguish on TT in the Holiday bowl. Oh yea, and how about a repeat of the 2001 Fiesta bowl in Phoenix as the Beavs trounce ND again!!!
