In my last post, I discussed a challenge my friend Matty gave me, to tell the world what I would do differently, were I made president. My response, which will come in a multi post format, started off with election reform, the elimination of the dual party system to introduce and put into the mainstream, alternative parties. It went on to discuss how I would eliminate the ties that bind government and business – and specifically business interference with how government operates. I also mentioned removing the presidential privilege of signing statements, as well as remove our troops from Iraq and eliminate the dept of homeland security.
Those are all a start – but there is more that can and should be focused on to improve things. First and foremost – the issue of climate change. Our government’s current administration – for whatever reason – has decided to not heed the advice of many many scientists (including government scientists) regarding climate change and our policy positions regarding it. We’ve decided to reject the Kyoto Treaty, claiming it would do no good anyways, and our stance seems to be – as always – pro oil and anti-environment. A major problem, though, is that currently there is so much FUD being spread around about climate change that it’s difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. In order to cut through all the BS, I would want scientific studies done to really determine the impact of humans on our planets environment – and determine once and for all if we’re a significant threat to the ecology of our planet. If we ARE, then we need to start taking steps to correct it. The only way to know is to have the research be done. The only way to do that is to fund it. Lets take some of those billions away from spending on unpopular wars, and spend it on determining the fate of our species.
To go hand in hand with that, i’d also set our government up to sponsor and endorse the development of alternative fuel sources that are better for the environment and can help us break free of the stranglehold Oil has on us.
We also need to focus more on schools and education. I don’t really have any suggested policy here – but I do know the no child left behind act is not really helping the situation any. Perhaps a meeting with a random selection of REAL teachers who actively have classrooms could help us understand what they need to help their children succeed. If we’re going to improve our future, we need to improve the education of our youth.
The most important part of all of these, of course, is the government working WITH the people to improve things. As it is now, the government doesn’t seem to want to work with real people, but instead with a think tank that supposedly has our best interests at heart. I want to put the people in touch with the government – make it more accessable, more transparent and a whole lot more efficient. I also want it to stop ignoring the big issues and focusing on silly little wars in different parts of the world. Hello, how about we figure out how to improve ourselves first?
as always – comments welcome.
I don’t know how to do it, the the way to improve education is to make sure that parents are involved. When you have parents not checking over (not even helping with) homework, you have problems. When you have parents telling children that they don’t have to listen to their teachers because they are “just teacher” REALLY doesn’t help.
Every child can succeed, they just need the proper support at school and at home.
I totally agree – and this is the kind of information and feedback (dialog, perhaps) the government should be having.
keep ‘em coming, my friend, they’re great!
i would totally vote for this campaign!
Oiy!! Don’t even get me started about Education!!! I have a lot to say on this but I’ll spare you the details for right now. Okay, I’ll throw one thing out there….we have way to many higher ups in the school systems that we don’t need to run effective schools. If we did away with half of them there would be more money available to higher rather than cut teachers. Anyway, Mr. John email me I have a question for you.
While I don’t know exactly how the education system is in the US, I know how it is here in Sweden. We did have an American exchange student from Colorado at my school, though. And a Japanese girl in my class (all of this in upper secondary school). I soon learned that the Japanese system seems to suck a lot (students aren’t allowed to think for themselves, all they do in class is write down what the teacher says). I had a hard time believe my ears when she praised the Swedish system because we openly discussed things in class with the teacher, and that people are allowed to have different opinions.
As I said, I didn’t become as familiar with the American school system. But I learned that things were a lot more strict than what I’m used to. We often had projects to work on which were due at a certain date – and most of the time we didn’t have to be in class or be supervised by a teacher during the time we worked on the project (although if we required help we would get it). So we were more or less free to sit in the cafeteria and play Hold’em if we wanted – and do the work at home. To be able to pull that off in a school system it depends on if the students can handle the freedom, of course. But that process starts much earlier than upper secondary school, so that when we get there we’re used to it. And the trust the teachers put in us was valued, because we could use the allotted time more efficiently, doing homework or studying for an exam or playing cards… if we felt that was more prudent.
Up to and including upper secondary school there are no costs for the students. There’s a free hot meal every day at lunch time, there are no school uniforms, there are no fees for the books (they are borrowed and returned at the end of the course). There are no grades until eighth grade. The grades are used to apply for upper secondary school, and then from upper secondary school to apply for university, so there’s no point in giving out grades earlier than that. Up until eighth grade you get told at what level you’re at, but there are no *grades* per se.
The effect is that the students don’t lose their confidence early on. And there’s a real sense of the school system being there for you, and not taking away anything from you.
The problems in Sweden have mostly concerned the integration of child immigrants, which hasn’t worked as well as it should. But that has a lot to do with other areas of society too; the more they feel at home the better their results in school. More has to be done in this area, for sure.
Anyway. University is free. Books we have to pay for, though. Every student receives about $365 a month from the state, and (if you want) an additional $700 a month – which is a loan at a reasonable fee. You start paying back the loan when the studies are over.
If you’ve finished upper secondary school and want to study at a university but need better grades, or study a course (at an upper secondary school level) which is needed to apply, that can be done as well. For free. It’s called Komvux.
So when the students know that the system is there for them, they tend to be motivated. Of course, the overall quality of the education is considered among the best in the world. Which probably helps, too.
Downside, if you will: taxes. Yes, we have them. And yes, they’re probably higher than yours. I personally don’t have a problem with it. It’s only natural that I pay back what my education cost when I can – and that is when I have a job (probably thanks to my education).
All of the above was under the social democratic government. As you may or may not know we now have a centre-right government. They have put a halt to the planned expansion of the university system and heavily cut the number of places for Komvux. The rest is still intact.
Any comments or questions – feel free to ask.
Arman:
Thanks a BUNCH for your contribution here, having examples of real world systems in use outside the US is incredibly valuable to the discussion of how to fix the broken system that is the US.
It certainly sounds as though the school systems there in Sweden are a bit different – in a good way – from those found here. Students in upper secondary school here would likely squander the time available to them were they left to their own devices. This is likely due to a lack of value in the eyes of the students. It’s certainly a problem I think is worth our government investing money into.
Again, thanks for the response, I appreciate it!
Another great thing about Komvux (i.e. a system that allows adults to get a new education for free) is that in times like these, when new technologies emerge at such a rapid pace, the workforce can adapt along with those technologies. So the market gets the people it wants, and a lot of them.
The idea behind the education system is that both rich and poor get to have the same chances. So when the workers are fired from the factories because their jobs can be done by machines, they can quickly adjust, get a new education and get to work on something new instead, such as renewable energy sources, for example.
This is speculation on my part, but it seems to me a lot of Americans are so afraid of taxes and the government handling things that they’re more than willing to hand over a lot of important stuff to the corporations. These corporations, in turn, seem about as close to the state as you could get a lot of the time. The fear of the state meddling in the affairs of people might be justified – but the “solution” in place doesn’t seem to be working.
If you want to give the poor a high quality education, decent health care and elderly care, etc you have to take that money from somewhere else. Preferably the rich, because there isn’t really that much to take from the poor to begin with. Now, you could expect a government to say that. You can expect a voter to want that. But you can’t expect a corporation to do anything else than maximize its profit. Because at the end of the day, the voters in the company are stock holders – and a stock holder is only interested in money, not the welfare of those who happen to be worse off.
That’s why so much in Sweden is provided by the state at no or low cost. That’s freedom, believe it or not. Not having to worry about things that should be provided to everyone. The importance of money in society is lessened as a result. All that’s left is human beings.
I don’t know where you or anyone reading this stand politically, but it’s not like I expect the US to become social democratic. If we stick to the basic principle of giving everyone as much freedom as is possible and reasonable (I don’t think we want anarchy), which we can all agree on, the state should do that, because the corporations simply aren’t made to handle that kind of stuff.
And there’s no need to worry, really. Because the state is the people, right? If it’s not, you’re in deep shit. Which seems to be the case in the US.
It’s democracy all the way we’re after. The government is the ruling power. And the people should be calling the shots. It’s as simple as that.
P.S. I noticed that the link to my blog on your blogroll seems to be outdated. The correct link is in my name in this post. D.S.
Ahh, thanks for the headsup on the link I’ve updated it accordingly.