We are "Broke"! How are we going to be able to pay back China? First, we have to stop spending more than we are earning. Until we get even we can not expect to start paying anything back. To pay back China, we have to earn "more" than we spend. Now how do we start doing that? We have to look at every thing that we do and spend. Sounds good so far, but what are the specifics? I think it is clear that our governments at all levels spend to much and get to little value for that big expenditure. I am big on "efficiency". Quality of life is based on primary productivity and productivity is a function of "efficiency". See how most systems connect at some point? Everyone is looking at Washington DC when much of our public expenditures and waste are at the state and local level. We need to start close to home with our expenditure reductions. That means our own homes, our local goverrnments and state governments.
At the state and local level, our biggest expenditures are for education. From my prior Blogs, you know that we are not getting our monies worth from our education dollars. Our education system is simply not efficient. Education is a primary investment that we spend large amounts of money on so that we will get a big payback at some point in the future. Why do we make investments in anything? It is to earn back more than we have spent. Education is no different. Try this?
I just looked up on Google what the "10 worst paying college degrees" were. Here they are: (1) Social Worker, (2) Elementary Education, (3) Theology, (4) Music, (5) Spanish, (6) Horticulture, (7) Education, (8) Hospitality, (9) Fine Arts, (10) Drama. This is the list. It is intersting to note that the number 1 Masters Degree at the University of Wisconsin is "Social Worker". Does that tell you something? Most of the degees on the list are more like "hobbie" degrees. Note than none of these degrees require a person to know any Math or Science. To my thinking, these are all "Bull Shit" degrees and should all be eliminated. The tuition for these degrees should be doubled or trippled because they are not a good investment by us taypayers. We should produce 100% of the education degrees at our local tech schools, not take up space at our universities. People who earn "real" technical degrees, like Applied Math, Physiscs, Chemistry and Biology at our universities should be allowed to teach in our public schools. Now, you have to be dumbed down before you can teach in our public schools.
Try this other one. Who is the highest paid public employee in most states? It is the football or basketball coach at one the state's public universities or colleges. Itn't that interesting. I propose that we eliminate 100% of the PE teachers in our public schools and colleges. Notice that most local news papers spend 100 times more ink on sports than they do on the real mission of our schools. Notice how many kids get atheletic scholarship to go to different colleges. This whole concept is stupid. I know from participating in college sports that it takes up so much of your time that you are forced to take easy or fewer classes. Most kids get "gift" classes where they all get "A's" from the coach. Notice that 90% of kids who play football or basketball in our colleges "don't" graduate or don't graduate in the normal number of years. This costs up millions. Notice that over 50% of our college kids who are lucky enough to play profession sports are bankrupt within 10 years of being out of sports. This whole thing sounds like a poor investment for us taxpayers and our society.
Here is a summary of my position:
(1) Eliminate "Bull Shit" majors and degrees from our universities or tripple the tuition for them.
(2) Eliminate PE teachers and sports from our public schools and universities.
(3) Eliminate Education degees from our universities and colleges and shift them down to local community colleges.
(4) Allow university graduates with real degrees to teach in our public schools.
(5) Eliminate "Bull Shit" classes from our public schools, just like proposed for colleges.
(6) Require that we graduate 90% of our medical doctors and that 90% of the students in our medical schools were born in the USA.
(7) Require that in every university Phd program have at least 80% of the students born in the USA.
(8) Require that all universities and colleges base their acceptance solely on qualifications not race, economics or diversity.
(9) Require that all full time college professors teach at least 9 semester units.
(10) Put up for bid all new teaching positions at our universities and public schools. Hey, they have been doing this for coaches for years!!!
I don't see anything wrong with being a little radical during these radical times.
