4 dead in Ohio

One of the most popular singing groups in America in the 1970’s was a group called Crosby, Stills, Nash (and sometimes) Young. Like many of the singing groups of that era, they are still performing today. David Crosby is 73, Stephen Stills is 70, Graham Nash is 73, and Neil Young is 69.

At almost the exact time that I reported for basic training at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, an event occurred at a small college in Ohio that prompted CSNY to release the song shown below:

4 dead in Ohio

Some years after the shootings at Kent State, the State of Ohio erected an historical market on the campus. It reads, in part, that “the shootings were unnecessary, unwarranted, and inexcusable”. The financial settlement by the State of Ohio amounted to $675,000, which would be equal to $3,792,247 in 2010 dollars.

Not long after I moved to Arizona, the legislature tried to pass a bill to allow guns on college campuses. I literally wrote to every single member of the legislature in opposition, and input by law enforcement officials and campus authorities also helped to kill the bill.

Although the majority of colleges and universities in the country are opposed to guns on campus, as are the majority of college students,there is currently a movement by pro-gun groups to FORCE campuses to allow guns on campus.

Although the “guns on campus” law hasn’t resurfaced in Arizona, the legislature still manages to come up with numerous wacky gun bills every single year. One legislator has even has suggested that guns should be allowed in ALL public buildings until church attendance is made mandatory.

I long ago came to the conclusion that simply casting your vote every couple of years wasn’t enough participation in the political process, so I send LOTS of letters to newspapers and various folks in the legislature. Not surprisingly, those activities occasionally result in achieving the results that I feel are desirable.

I recently finished reading Elizabeth Warren’s book, “A Fighting Chance”. The daughter of a janitor, she eventually became a law professor at Harvard and a United States Senator. If YOUR state starts to go a little crazy (which is par for the course in the Grand Canyon state) follow the example of Elizabeth Warren - and fight like crazy.

The fountain of youth

For thousands of years (going back as far as the 5th Century B.C.) people have been looking for ways to either restore their youth, or at least live longer. Believe it or not, there IS a place in America that has a “fountain of youth”, and it’s been a popular place to visit for almost 500 years.

It was first discovered by the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon, who was the first governor of Puerto Rico. He traveled to southern Florida in the early part of the 16th Century, in order to find “the fountain of youth”, and landed in St. Augustine, the oldest continuously occupied city in North America.

Although the site has had numerous visitors over the years, it wasn’t until the early 20th century that a more formal structure was erected. “Diamond Lil” McConnell created the Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park in 1904, and the pictures below will give you an idea what it looks like:

We stopped at the park on our way back from Disney World more than 20 years ago, and we currently have some friends from Minnesota who are visiting the town (and somehow managed to climb all 212 steps in the St. Augustine lighthouse).

I don’t think that I actually drank any water from the fountain when we were there, but have aged pretty well in spite of it. As you’re aware, red wine contains resveratrol, a preservative, so my long life span is undoubtedly due to my fondness for red wine, even though there is no scientific evidence that the stuff actually works that way.

The world’s oldest human (unless you happen to believe that some of the ages listed in the Bible are actually accurate) was a French woman named Jeanne Calment, who lived to be 122. She smoked from the time that she was 21 until she was 117, she ate an average of 2 pounds of chocolate every week, and she frequently consumed port wine.

The vast majority of the people who have lived a long time actually lived very hard lives. Many of the word’s oldest humans were either slaves or descendants of slaves. Louis Zamperini, the former Olympic athlete who was horribly abused while being held in a Japanese prisoner of war camp, lived to be 97 years old. He died in the summer of 2014, and his life story recently was made into a movie titled “Unbroken”.

If you don’t drink the water in the Fountain of Youth in Florida, it appears that the other ways to live a long time are:

1) be poor

2) eat, drink, and smoke

3) pick parents who have good genes

Oh poop !

As expletives go, “oh poop” is a pretty mild utterance, roughly on the same scandal level as “oh darn” or “dagnabit“. Expletives, of course, are necessary to relieve our temporary frustrations, but there’s another side of “poop” that most of us aren’t aware of.

Yesterday’s Arizona Republic contained an article titled “Double Duty”, which described how 2 Arizona dairy farms (Triple G Dairy and Stotz dairy) were converting methane gas produced by their cows into renewable energy. Between them, the 2 dairies have 20,000 head of cattle, which means that they have a lot of (um) poop to deal with.

The power generated by the converted methane gas is sold to Arizona Public Service Company, which produces revenue for the companies. The systems used by the companies to produce power also reduce the odor from their manure lagoons, and they help in other ways as well. Water from the lagoons is treated, and is used for irrigation, and the less liquid components from the lagoon are made into fertilizer, which is spread onto food crops. Any methane that is left over after all the other conversions is burned, which renders it harmless.

Farms in other states have also realized the economic value of recycling manure. The Blue Spruce Farm in Bridport, Vermont, installed a generator roughly six years ago to convert manure to electricity. The installation generates $250,000 a year in income for the farm, and produces enough electricity to power 400 homes.

Believe it or not, global warming IS real, and it’s exacerbated by human activity, despite what people like Jim Inhofe might believe. If you’re not familiar with him, he is the senior senator from Oklahoma, and is a member of the Republican Party. Inhofe is considered to be one of the most conservative members of either chamber of Congress, and has been the foremost Republican promoting arguments for climate change denial in the global warming controversy. He famously said in the Senate that global warming is a hoax, and has invited contrarians to testify in Committee hearings.

Naturally, he is now the ranking member of the United States Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Oversight. His position is, of course, roughly equivalent to putting Michele Bachmann in charge of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, which meant that while she was the chair of the committee, she oversaw the CIA, the National Security Agency, and the rest of the U.S. intelligence committee.

Methane gas is the second most prevalent greenhouse gas (after carbon dioxide) but its impact on climate change is 20 times greater than carbon dioxide over a 100 period. Although it IS a naturally occurring gas, it is also produced by human activities like the raising of cattle or leakage from natural gas systems. In the United States, cattle produce 6 million tons of methane every year, which is roughly 20% of all methane gas emissions.

For their efforts in being “environmentally friendly businesses” , both dairies were recently awarded an Environmental Stewardship Award by the Arizona Farm Bureau.

There’s an old saying that if you have lemons, you make lemonade. The logical extension of that saying, of course, is that if you have poop, you make power. Another old saying that can now be laid to rest, though, is, “that shit don’t fly around here”, since all of us can even learn lessons from bird poop - but that’s all that I’ll say about that.

Selma

“Selma” is one of the 8 motion pictures nominated for 2015 Best Picture by the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences. It is one of the 3 remaining nominees (along with “American Sniper” and “The Imitation Game“) that is still playing at our local theater.

One of those films, “American Sniper“, is still being shown 5 times a day. “The Imitation Game” is still being shown 4 times a day.

“Selma“?

When Sharon and I saw it last weekend, the only 2 showings were 9:30 a.m. and 10:15 p.m.. As of yesterday, the ONLY showing of the film is at 10:15 p.m., which tells me that somebody does not want this film to be watched by a lot of people. Our experience in Flagstaff isn’t unique, since other theaters around the country have very limited show times.

Since its release, “American Sniper” has taken in $250,000,000.

During the same time period, “Selma’s” box office receipts were $44,000,000. That’s still a respectable number, even though it pales in comparison to “American Sniper“. At least some writers consider “Selma” to be the BEST picture still playing in movie theaters.

It took roughly 8 years for “Selma” to get produced, and it was largely due to the efforts of Oprah Winfrey (one of the film’s producers), who had complete faith in the black female director, Ava DeVernay.

It’s a very powerful film, and virtually the entire audience that saw the show with us sat through the entire movie AND all of the credits at the end of the movie. Five minutes into the show, Sharon started to cry, and the picture below will give you a glimpse of what caused her to be upset:

On July 2, 1964, President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law. Although the law, which outlawed discrimination in a lot of areas, but did not fully protect voting rights for African-Americans., which is the reason that Dr. King felt it necessary to march from Selma to Montgomery in order to protect voting rights. Eventually, of course, he succeeded, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 became law on August 6, 1965.

We all know that the marchers walked across the Edmund Pettus bridge, but few people actually know the significance of that particular bridge. Construction on the bridge was started in 1939. It was the site of “bloody Sunday” on March 7, 1965, and it was named a National Historic Landmark on March 11, 2013.

The man who the bridge was named for was a brigadier general in the Confederate Army, and later became a U.S. Senator in the state of Alabama. Significantly, he was also the first Grand Dragon of the Alabama Ku Klux Klan, in 1877, so marching across his bridge took an enormous amount of courage.

Now that we’re more than 50 years past the signing of the Civil Rights Act, and close to 50 years past the signing of the Voting Rights Act, you’d think that voting rights were now guaranteed for all Americans, wouldn’t you?

It’s a widely known fact that minority voters tend to vote for Democrats rather than Republicans. In the 2012 Presidential election, Mitt Romney captured only 17% of the non-white vote, and in some precincts, he got no votes at all. The most lopsided results were in Philadelphia, where Romney got no votes at all in 59 precincts.

Since non-whites includes African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans, it’s fairly obvious that the Republican Party is out of touch with a lot of people. Since Latinos are the fastest growing segment of our society, and Caucasians will be the minority by 2042, it’s clear that the Republican Party can’t remain in power unless they cheat, which they have done in 2 area:

1) Redistricting

During the 2014 mid-term auctions/elections, Senate Democrats got 20,000,000 more votes than the Republicans did, but gerrymandering of voting districts, as well as low voter turnout, helped the Republicans to achieve a 54/46 advantage in the Senate.

2) Voter ID laws

Although voter ID laws date back to 1950, they have exploded in recent years. Today, 34 states have voter ID laws on the books. Although their proponents claim that their purpose is to prevent voter fraud (which is virtually non-existent in our country), their true purpose is to make it more difficult for minorities to vote. That second point became very obvious after June of 2013, when the Supreme Court invalidated a key part (prior notification, also known as Section 5) of the Voting Rights Act.

Shortly after the Supreme Court’s decision, legislators in 14 states (Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Virginia) made changes in their laws to make it more difficult to vote for at least a portion of their population. Texas made the changes in its laws the SAME DAY of the Supreme Court ruling.

Martin Luther King made significant strides in protecting the rights of African Americans, which is why he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, 1964. You can listen to his acceptance speech by clicking on the link below:

Martin Luther King in Oslo

He was well aware of the fact that the achievement of racial justice can take an awfully long time, which is why it wasn’t until February 5, 1994 that Byron Beckwith was finally convicted of the 1957 murder of Medgar Evers.

One of the key phrases in Martin Luther King’s speech was that violence and civilization cannot exist together. If you put that in the context of Ferguson, Missouri, the 74 school shootings that have taken place since the slaughter in Sandy Hook, and even the popularity of “American Sniper” itself, his words are still very much true today,

Even if “Selma” doesn’t win the Best Picture award, it will still be a success, due to the fact that it will rekindle interest in racial equality, which is a never ending story.

See it while you can.

You’ll be glad that you did.

Why the Finns are smarter than us - in Finnish

Amerikka ei ole paras maa maailmassa, että olisi jyrkästi kiistetty joidenkin kansalaistemme, jotka vahvasti uskovat "American poikkeusasema". Ollakseen täysin tarkka, mutta yksikään maa on maailman paras kaikessa, koska se on lähes mahdotonta.

Amerikka on melko hyvä paikka elää, ja olemme maailman johtava useilla aloilla.

We have the largest economy maailmassa, olemme paras paikka maailmassa innovation, meillä on paras (ja kallein) defense department maailmassa, olemme sidoksissa (Myanmar!) siitä, most generous country in the world, we have 18 of the world’s 25 top universities, ja amerikkalainen kulttuuri (elokuvat ja musiikki) on suosittu lähes kaikkialla.

Ironista kyllä, vaikka meillä on joitakin parhaista yliopistoista maailmassa, se on meidän koulutusjärjestelmän että kaukana muusta maailmasta. Verrattuna 40 muut kehittyneet maat,we rank 17th, far below the number 1 country, which is Finland.

Yllättäen koulutusjärjestelmämme ongelmat johtuvat siitä, että we also lead the world in another area - teen pregnancies.

Meidän hinta on 1792 syntyneiden määrä miljoonaa naisille alle 20 on huomattavasti suurempi kuin maa, joka on numero 2, Slovakia, joka on 1121 syntynyttä kohti miljoonaa. Suomessa n määrä teini raskaus on 288 miljoonasosaa.

Johtuen siitä, että nämä varhaisnuoret ovat todennäköisemmin pakko elää köyhyydessä, olemme # 34 maailman kannalta child poverty, johtuu siitä, että 23% meidän lapsista elää köyhyydessä.Paras maa maailmassa, kun se tulee lasten köyhyyden?

Suomessa, jossa lasten köyhyysaste 3%

Lasten köyhyyden vähentämiseksi maamme paitsi parantaisi meidän koulujärjestelmä, se parantaisi myös taloutemme.Lasten puolustus rahasto on arvioinut, että lapsuuden köyhyys maamme maksaa talous $500 billion a year. Se on lähes kaksi kertaa niin paljon kuin BKT Suomessa, joka on 41st largest economy in the world - mutta maailman paras koulujärjestelmä.

Johtuen siitä, että todella paljon noista varhaisista raskauksista suunnittelemattomia tapahtumia, nuoret tytöt astumassa äitiyttä eivät yleensä saa asianmukaista äitiyshuollon, mikä johtaa epätavallisen high number of premature births.

12% meidän syntymät ovat ennenaikaisia, kaukana pahin osuus kuin missään muissa kehittyneissä kansakunta.Paras maa maailmassa (4%) on Valko-Venäjä, mutta Suomi ei ole kaukana jäljessä, 5,5%.

Lapset, jotka ovat syntyneet ennenaikaisesti on suurempi todennäköisyys fyysisen ja psyykkisen vammoja, ja suurempi taipumus käyttäytymisongelmia, mikä tekee niistä vaikeampi kouluttaa. Tämän seurauksena vaikka meidän koulujärjestelmä oli maailman paras, olemme jo takana kahdeksan palloa, kun lapsemme tulevat päiväkoti.

Kansallinen K-12 koulujärjestelmä on parasta, että se on koskaan ollut, mutta et ikinä tiedä, että puhumalla keskimääräinen amerikkalainen, minkä vuoksi olemme yrittäneet lukuisia "uudistuksia" vuosien varrella, joista yksikään ei ollut erittäin onnistunut . Valitettavasti molemmat puolueet ovat syyttää, koska George Bushin No Child Left Behind on pääosin kahdennettu Barack Obaman Race yläosaan.

1) Lahjakortit ja charter koulut (erityisesti voittoa charter koulut) eivät ole oikea ratkaisu, sillä ne siirtää varoja julkisista kouluista, jotka ovat jo rahoitetaan valtion lainsäätäjille, jotka mieluummin antaa verohelpotuksia yrityksille kuin investoida tulevaisuuteen johtajia. Arizona on erinomainen esimerkki väärä painopisteistä, koska valtio on perinteisesti ollut yksi pahimmista klo rahoittamalla sen koulujärjestelmään. Lisäksi sillä on suurin osuus kansakunnan (15%) sen lasten charter kouluissa, mikä tarkoittaa sitä, että valtion ei charter julkiset koulut saavat 15% vähemmän rahoitusta kuin ne muutoin saada.

2) Sulkeminen kouluissa ei ole oikea ratkaisu, sillä koulut eivät voi parantaa, jos ne ovat kiinni. Kun uusia kouluja avataan korvaamaan vanhat koulut, ne eivät yleensä paremmin kuin edeltäjänsä.

3) "Parent laukaista" menetelmät eivät toimi, koska ne muuttavat mitä pitäisi osuuskunta kokemus joka on vastakkainasettelua.

4) Jatkuva testaus tulosten lukemisessa, matematiikassa ja tiede ei ole paras ratkaisu myöskään, koska ne vie varoja muita elintärkeitä kursseja, joita ei voida testata, kuten taidetta, kirjallisuutta, maailmanhistoria, vieraan kielen, yhteiskuntaoppi, liikunta, ja taloustiede.Maa, joka on paras koulujen maailmassa, Suomessa, ei anna kansallisia testejä matematiikan, luonnontieteiden ja lukeminen kunnes sen opiskelijat ovat astumassa college.

5) Hyökkäävä opettajien ammattiliittojen ja demonisointi opettajat (naurat, Scott Walker?) On todella luu otsikkona idea, koska se demoralizes ammattitaitoiset opettajat, johtaa kasvuun luokkakoot, ja aiheuttaa korkeamman liikevaihdon maustetaan veteraanien kuin tapahtuisi muutoin .

Miksi Suomessa on parhaat koulut maailmassa? On olemassa useita syitä, mutta tässä on muutamia niistä:

1) Muiden Pohjoismaiden (Norja ja Ruotsi) Suomessa on kestävään pitkän aikavälin investointeja ja priorisointi varhaiskasvatuksen kehittäminen, ja universaali esikoulu on yhteiskunnallinen normi.

2) Vuonna 1970 Suomessa uudisti koulutusjärjestelmässä. Se nosti työhönottovaatimukset sen opettajakorkeakoulujen, joten ne niin valikoiva, että nykyään vain 10% niistä, jotka soveltavat hyväksytään. Suomessa, opettajat ovat arvostettuja, ja ovat niin arvostettu kuin lääkärien.

3) Suomessa ei käytä tositteita tai charter koulujärjestelmä, ja suomalaiset ylpeillä että on olemassa hyviä julkisia kouluja jokaisessa kaupungissa, kaupunki ja kylä

4) Suomessa ei anna opettajille tulospalkkio, ja ei käytä järjestelmää palkintoja ja rangaistuksia, että teemme.

5) Jokainen lapsi Suomen koulujärjestelmä saa yhden aterian päivässä koulussa, ja jokaisessa koulussa on lääketieteen ammattilainen henkilöstön.

6) Suomen opettajat eivät saa kuljettaa aseita kampuksella, mutta se on käytäntö, joka on permissible in 18 of our states.

Meidän julkinen koulutusjärjestelmä ei ole ilman toivoa, ja se voi vähitellen tehdä paremmin, jos otamme joitakin järkeä vaiheita. Alkajaisiksi voimme seurata Suomen johtoa ainakin joillakin alueilla, ja ainakin yksi idea (universal esikoulu) on saanut joitakin pitoa viime vuosina.

Voimme myös vaatia, että ihmiset, jotka johtavat meidän koulutusjärjestelmät ovat päteviä työhönsä. Arizonan nykyinen intendentti Public Instruction ei ole astetta koulutuksessa, ja hänen ainoa opetuskokemus tulee lasimaalauksia luokka, joka hän kerran opetti. Hänet valittiin pääosin johtuu hänen tukea Tea Party, ja hän täpärästi ammatillinen kouluttaja, joka oli paljon enemmän päteviä tehtävään.

Hänen välitön edeltäjä valittiin lähinnä johtuen tukea organisaation, joka toimii charter koulut. Kuten hänen seuraajansa, hän ei ole asteen tutkinto, ja hän ei ole koskaan opettanut luokkaa tahansa.

“Just Say No” ei onnistunut iskulause aikana meidän sota huumeita, ja se on yhtä tehoton, kun se tulee teini raskaus. Valtio maamme että on alhaisin teini syntymät on New Hampshire, joka on täysi-ikäisyys 18, ja pakolliset syntyvyyden oppiminen alkaa peruskoulun. Valtio, joka on korkein teini raskaus korko, Mississippi, on täysi-ikäisyys 16, ja ei ole pakollista seksuaalivalistusta tai sukupuolitauti koulutus. Kun seksuaalikasvatus opetetaan, se asettaa erittäin tärkeäksi raittiutta. Mississippi, teachers are not allowed to discuss the use of condoms, vaikka 76% Mississippi teini raportoi seksiä ennen loppua lukion.

Monet viittaukset artikkelissa edellä ovat peräisin kirjan nimeltä "Reign of Error", kirjoittanut nainen nimeltä Diane Ravitch. Tällä hetkellä hän on tutkimus kasvatustieteen professori New Yorkin yliopistossa, ja hänet nimitettiin National Assessment hallintoneuvosto presidentti Bill Clinton vuonna 1997 ja 2001. "Reign of Error" on hänen 11. kirja koulutuksesta, ja se on lukemisen arvoinen, vaikka vaikka sen lukuisat tosiasiat ja luvut tarkoittavat, että se ei ole nopea lukea useimmat meistä.

Kuten monet kulttuurit,the Finnish culture can provide us with many proverbs.

Yksi, joka on erityisesti koulutukseen liittyvät on tämä:

"Maailma on hyvä opettaja, mutta se veloittaa valtava maksu."

Why the Finns are smarter than us

America is not the best country in the world, a fact that was forcefully brought home by actor Jeff Daniels on an episode of "The Newsroom":

the most honest 3 minutes on television

This fact would be hotly contested by some of our fellow citizens, who strongly believe in “American exceptionalism”. To be perfectly accurate, though, NO country is the best in the world at everything, since that’s virtually impossible.

America IS a pretty good place to live, and we ARE a world leader in a number of areas.

We have the largest economy in the world, we are the best place in the world for innovation, we have the best (and most expensive) defense department in the world, we are tied (with Myanmar!) for being the most generous country in the world, we have 18 of the world’s 25 top universities, and American culture (movies and music) is popular just about everywhere.

Ironically, even though we have some of the best universities in the world, it is our education system that lags far behind the rest of the world. In comparison to 40 other developed countries, we rank 17th, far below the number 1 country, which is Finland.

Surprisingly, our educational problems stem from the fact that we also lead the world in another area - teen pregnancies.

Our rate of 1792 births per million to women under 20 is significantly higher than the country that’s number 2, Slovakia, which has 1121 births per million. Finland’s rate of teen pregnancy is 288 per million.

Due to the fact that those young teens are more likely to be forced to live in poverty, we are #34 in the world in terms of child poverty, due to the fact that 23% of our children live in poverty. The best country in the world when it comes to child poverty?

Finland, with a child poverty rate of 3%

Reducing child poverty in our country not only would improve our school system, it would also improve our economy. The Children's Defense Fund has estimated that childhood poverty in our country costs the economy $500 billion a year. That's nearly twice as much as the GDP of Finland, which has the 41st largest economy in the world - but the world's best school system.

Due to the fact that an awful lot of those early pregnancies are unplanned events, the young girls about to enter motherhood don’t usually receive proper prenatal care, which results in an unusually high number of premature births.

12% of our births are premature, a far worst percentage than any other developed nation. The best country in the world (at 4%) is Belarus, but Finland isn’t far behind, at 5.5%.

Children that are born prematurely have a higher likelihood of physical and mental disabilities, and a higher propensity to behavioral problems, which makes them more difficult to educate. As a result, even if our school system were the best in the world, we’re already behind the eight ball when our kids enter kindergarten.

Our national K-12 school system is the best that it’s ever been, but you’d never know that by talking with the average American, which is why we have tried numerous “reforms” over the years, none of which have been very successful. Sadly, both political parties are to blames, since George Bush’s No Child Left Behind has essentially been duplicated by Barack Obama’s Race to the Top.

1) Vouchers and charter schools (ESPECIALLY for profit charter schools) are not the proper solution, since they divert funds from public schools that are already under funded by state legislators, who would rather give tax breaks to businesses than invest in its future leaders. Arizona is a prime example of misguided priorities, since the state has historically been one of the worst at funding its school system. In addition, it has the highest percentage in the nation (15%) of its children in charter schools, which means that the state’s non charter public schools receive 15% less in funding than they would otherwise receive.

2) Closing schools is not a proper solution, since schools can’t improve if they are closed. When new schools are opened to replace the old schools, they generally don’t perform better than their predecessors.

3) “Parent trigger” methods don’t work, since they transform what should be a cooperative experience to one that is confrontational.

4) Continuous testing of results in reading, math, and science isn’t the best solution either, since they divert resources from other vital courses that can‘t be tested, such as art, literature, world history, foreign language, civics, physical education, and economics. The country that has the best schools in the world, Finland, doesn’t give national tests in math, science, and reading until its students are about to enter college.

5) Attacking teachers unions and demonizing teachers (are you listening, Scott Walker?) is a truly bone headed idea, since it demoralizes professional teachers, leads to an increase in class sizes, and causes a higher turnover of seasoned veterans than would occur otherwise.

Why does Finland have the best schools in the world? There are a number of reasons, but here’s a few of them:

1) Like other Nordic countries (Norway and Sweden) Finland has a sustained, long term investment and prioritization of early childhood development, and universal pre-school is a societal norm.

2) In 1970, Finland overhauled its educational system. It raised the admission standards for its teacher education colleges, making them so selective that today only 10% of those who apply are accepted. In Finland, teachers are highly respected, and are as highly esteemed as those in the medical profession.

3) Finland does not use vouchers or a charter school system, and Finns boast that there are good public schools in every city, town, and village

4) Finland does not give its teachers merit pay, and does not utilize the system of rewards and punishment that we do.

5) Every child in the Finnish school system gets one meal a day in school, and each school has a medical professional on staff.

6) Finnish teachers are not allowed to carry guns on campus, but it’s a practice that is permissible in 18 of our states.

All of the Nordic countries excel in an area called the Social Progress Index. Finland comes in at #7 on the most recent list, and the United States comes in at #16.

Due to the fact that the Nordic countries have advanced social programs, it is widely assumed that their taxes are higher than ours. The reality, though, is that tax rates are LOWER in Finland than they are in America. The MAXIMUM personal income tax rate in Finland is 30%, and the maximum corporate income tax rate is 20%. In the United States, those figures are 39.6%.5 and 35%, respectively.

Our public education system isn’t without hope, and it can gradually be made better if we take some commonsense steps. For starters, we can follow Finland’s lead in at least some areas, and at least one idea (universal pre-school) has gotten some traction in recent years.

We can also demand that the people that lead our educational systems are qualified for their job. Arizona’s current Superintendent of Public Instruction does not have any degrees in education, and her only teaching experience comes from a stained glass class that she once taught. She was elected primarily due to her support from the Tea Party, and she narrowly defeated a professional educator who was far more qualified for the job.

Her immediate predecessor was elected primarily due to his support from an organization that operates charter schools. Like his successor, he does not have an education degree, and he’s never taught a class of any kind.

“Just Say No” was not a successful slogan during our war on drugs, and it’s equally ineffective when it comes to teen pregnancy. The state in our country that has the lowest rate of teen births is New Hampshire, which has an age of consent of 18, and mandatory birth control education, starting in elementary school. The state that has the highest teen pregnancy rate, Mississippi, has an age of consent of 16, and has no mandatory sex education or sexually transmitted disease education. When sex education IS taught, it places a high emphasis on abstinence. In Mississippi, teachers are not allowed to discuss the use of condoms, even though 76% of Mississippi teenagers report having sex before the end of high school.

Many of the references in the article above are drawn from a book titled “Reign of Error”, written by a woman named Diane Ravitch. She currently is a research professor of education at New York University, and she was appointed to the National Assessment Governing Board by President Bill Clinton in 1997 and 2001. “Reign of Error” is her 11th book about education, and it’s worth reading, even though its numerous facts and figures mean that it won’t be a quick read by most of us.

Like many cultures, the Finnish culture can provide us with many proverbs.

One that’s especially related to education is this one:

“The world is a good teacher, but it charges a huge fee.”

The story of a cancer survivor - part 3

If you’re a regular reader, you already know that I’m a cancer survivor, since I’ve already published two articles about my experience:

The story of a cancer survivor

The story of a cancer survivor - part 2

You may also know that I’ve long been a “car nut”, which led me to (eventually) become a car salesman later in life, when I spent nearly 8 years selling cars in 2 different states. The irony of my car sales career is that I did not own a car of my own during my entire sales experience (and still don’t) but managed to sell 2 cars to immediate family members during my career, and more than 600 to other people (some of whom I sold to more than once).

Common sense would tell you that there’s isn’t much of a connection between cancer and cars (the BIG “C” and the little “c”) but I learned this morning that there IS - at least in Arizona.

One of the car auctions that is held early in the year in Arizona is the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction, which is being held this weekend in Scottsdale. This morning’s Arizona Republic had an interesting article about it:

Barrett-Jackson 2015

The roots of the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction go all the way back to 1972, when Russ Jackson and Tom Barrett organized a fund-raising car auction for local charities. Originally called “Fiesta del Auto Excellence”, it was later re-named “Barrett-Jackson Classic Car Auction”, and re-named again in 2006 to “Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction” in 2006.

Russ Jackson died at the age of 77 in 1993, after a long struggle with colon cancer. Two years later, his son Brian died of the same disease, at the age of 49, and control of the company passed to his brother Craig, who is now the chairman and CEO of the company.

Like the original company started by Russ Jackson in 1972, the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction is a HUGE fund raiser for charity. Since its inception, the company has raised over $67,000,000 for various charities, one of which is T-Gen, an organization that supports the Barrett-Jackson Cancer Research Fund.

Although the auction has always sold an interesting collection of automobiles (some of which have benefited the charity more than once) this year’s auctions will feature two cars that were built by the famed hot rodder Boyd Coddington, who died in 2008.

My dream car in high school was a ‘57 Chevrolet (which I never actually owned) but none of the cars that I dreamed about were anything like the “Chezoom” that will be auctioned off this weekend.

Another Coddington creation that will be auctioned off this weekend is a 1936 Delahaye (nicknamed “whatthehaye”) that last sold at auction in 2005 - for $550.000.

I’ve never been to the Barrett-Jackson auction, and it’s unlikely that I’ll ever be able to afford to buy one of their vehicles, but it’s encouraging to see that car collecting, a passionate hobby for an awful lot of people, can also be a vehicle (no pun intended) for the good of society.

If you’d like to look at some of the other vehicles that will be auctioned, just click on the link below. You’ll also notice that the link will actually allow you to actually BID on the cars (you can always dream, can’t you?)

Barrett-Jackson - Scottsdale 2015