This Article Confirms Everything I've Said About Education for the Last 5 Years.

Fortune Magazine published this story and it doesn't strike me as surprising. Over the last five years, since the imposition and increase of technology by our administration and by the country at large, I have seen a reduction in work ethic, retention, writing and reading abilities. We no longer teach cursive so there is no motor memory of writing. The assumption by the powers that be is there will always be a calculator or a computer accessible to do the mundane tasks of basic math or spelling. This erosion of basic skills is resonating through the workforce. Parents who pushed computers at early ages over reading kids bedtime stories are now faced with young adults who do not read for pleasure or enrichment and possibly cannot read on a literate level at all.

Yet what is the drumbeat we hear? TECHnology TECHnology TECHnology....how many vocational programs were gutted to buy into the rarified coursework of Animation or Graphic Design? How many kids fully capable of hands on skills in a variety of trades such as electrical repair, plumbing, auto repair, cosmetology, cabinetry and more have found themselves instead in classes they do not need and do not want? The myth that every kid is going to college is a fallacy. Every kid doesn't belong in college. Many kids go to college only to fail and end up in dead end jobs with a large student loan in tow. This is no way to improve an economy.

I guarantee that in China or Japan or Korea or India or Russia they are not teaching their children to do math using computers. I promise you that these nations also celebrate their complex language structure by requiring students learn to write and communicate. These are skills that are vanishing from a large part of the population. Ironically we are removing the very exercises that would instill deeper retention. Cursive writing is used to help dyslexic students internalize the shapes of letters. Rote memorization of multiplication tables affects a different part of the brain than using a calculator and allows for deeper understanding of the PROCESS of multiplication.

As I have said before, technology is a good servant, but a bad master. Every sci fi movie alludes to this fear of technology actually countermanding the desires of humans. Perhaps we are on the threshold of that becoming reality. When you go to the doctor, the younger ones often spend more time looking at the computer than the patient. For that reason Johns Hopkins has medical students taking art history classes to teach them to OBSERVE THE PATIENT. How many medical mistakes have occurred because of the failure to note the reaction of the patient over the steps of protocol?
We have young mothers sitting at playgrounds enthralled with Angry Birds while their children are out of control. We have students watching movies during class. What is more the overlay of social media on a population that has not been taught basic social skills has led to most of the angst we've witnesses in society over the last few years. Can you name one incident-political, social, legal or economic-that wasn't in some way by social media?

It's time to stop this nonsense. I'm not saying to forbid media, but it's time to stop just giving in to trends. Frankly I think Apple and Google and Facebook and all the other manufacturers and websites share the blame for the sick dissolution of social discourse. And make no mistake, for all you liberals out there, none of these companies do it for any other reason beyond making a buck. So while hipsters walk around talking on IPhones about how high their student loans are and complaining about how they don't have any money, step back and think about all the things we have now that are branded and promoted and therefore deemed popular. Is Starbucks really better than a cup of coffee you make yourself? 

Such weakminded behavior leads to some of the mob/gang/group atrocities we've witnessed online. How are the SAE's any different than wilding mobs attacking innocent people at a midwestern fair? How desperate are these kids to find some magic pill that can insure their success the way Mommy and Daddy did when they were in public school? While both are vile and nasty and racist and violent, this doesn't spring full born from their own heads. Have you listened to the lyrics of popular music? I ban those songs in my classroom and yet I have had heated discussions with students who think the n-word is allowed simply because they themselves are black. I think bad, rude, insensitive language goes across the boards. You cannot permit some people to use the words with impunity and then get outraged when someone uses them. NOBODY SHOULD BE USING THESE WORDS. Stop trying to be hip and cool by joining into activities that are mean, dangerous and simply unnecessary. And the kids on the bus using the n-word in Oklahoma are every much as vile as the gangs who assault innocent people on the street for the sake of "fun." 

By the way, lest you think I am out of touch, much of this is fueled by things my own kids-ranging from 25 to 30-have told me about their peers. Every week it's a new complaint about coworkers that are hunted down by bill collectors or people who run up credit card bills at restaurants leaving friends to cover the bill. These dime a day millionaires have bought into the Oprahization of America believing that their mere existence qualifies them for the best of everything. Nobody deserves the best of everything, especially if they can't pay for it. 

Here's the column and link. Read it. Share it. This is important.

Millenial Fail

Surprised? So were the researchers who tested and compared workers in 23 countries.

We hear about the superior tech savvy of people born after 1980 so often that we tend to assume it must be true. But is it?

Researchers at Princeton-based Educational Testing Service (ETS) expected it to be when they administered a test called the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). Sponsored by the OECD, the test was designed to measure the job skills of adults, aged 16 to 65, in 23 countries.

When the results were analyzed by age group and nationality, ETS got a shock. It turns out, says a newreport, that Millennials in the U.S. fall short when it comes to the skills employers want most: literacy (including the ability to follow simple instructions), practical math, and — hold on to your hat — a category called “problem-solving in technology-rich environments.”

Not only do Gen Y Americans lag far behind their overseas peers by every measure, but they even score lower than other age groups of Americans.

Take literacy, for instance. American Millennials scored lower than their counterparts in every country that participated except Spain and Italy. (Japan is No. 1.) In numeracy, meaning the ability to apply basic math to everyday situations, Gen Yers in the U.S. ranked dead last.

Okay, but what about making smart use of technology, where Millennials are said to shine? Again, America scored at the bottom of the heap, in a four-way tie for last place with the Slovak Republic, Ireland, and Poland.

Even the best-educated Millennials stateside couldn’t compete with their counterparts in Japan, Finland, South Korea, Belgium, Sweden, or elsewhere. With a master’s degree, for example, Americans scored higher in numeracy than peers in just three countries: Ireland, Poland, and Spain. Altogether, the top U.S. Gen Yers, in the 90thpercentile, “scored lower than their counterparts in 15 countries,” the report notes, “and only scored higher than their peers in Spain.”

“We really thought [U.S.] Millennials would do better than the general adult population, either compared to older coworkers in the U.S. or to the same age group in other countries,” says Madeline Goodman, an ETS researcher who worked on the study. “But they didn’t. In fact, their scores were abysmal.”

What does that mean for U.S. employers hiring people born since 1980? Goodman notes that hiring managers shouldn’t overestimate the practical value of a four-year degree. True, U.S. Millennials with college credentials did score higher on the PIAAC than Americans with only a high school diploma (albeit less well than college grads in most other countries).

“But a degree may not be enough,” Goodman says, to prove that someone is adept with basic English, can do what she calls “workaday math,” or has the ability to use technology in a job. Curious about how the PIAAC measures those skills, or how you’d score yourself? Check out a few sample math questions, or take the whole test.

Our Brave New Generation

Despite the economic gloom in the world at large, I do honestly try to stay upbeat and optimistic with my students. High school kids have usually been very earnest and often seek approval for their views. This time around many of them gave lip service to the ideals expressed, but not demonstrated, by the Obama administration. They seem to think that they are safer, freer and richer under the current administration. I'm not about to get into a political debate with someone who hasn't earned a paycheck so I let it go.

But here's the irony. These bright young people who claim to adhere to the kinder, gentler policies seen on DNC placards are in real life quite often shallow and narcissistic in their personal behavior. Witness this. Every year our student council does a food drive for Metrocrest Services-a local food bank that provides baskets of food for needy families in the immediate area. I have volunteered there and they do terrific work. So when the program was announced, I talked to my classes. I posted information. I discussed the need for food and how in the current economic situation there were more people-sometimes even people they might personally know-who were counting on the food bank in order to survive. I brought my own collection of canned goods-about ten cans in all. But not one kid, NOT ONE, not even the kids who claimed to be so in touch with the community ideals of Obama, could be bothered to donate a can or a dollar for the cause. Of course, I don't think that kids should be badgered into donating a la United Way (ugh!) but this particular group has been so aggressively supportive of what they view as liberal Democrat goals. It appears that they are only willing to help others as long as it isn't much trouble. I guess it's a good thing we have all those backward churches and all those middle class conservatives that do things like donate time and money and effort for such causes.

I am quite fearful of the outcome if these young people-who get their opinions from Colbert and SNL-come into power. We should all be very afraid.

The Real War on Women

My daughter was married just last month. She’s young, educated, beautiful and in love with a wonderful guy. She’s a teacher in charge of an entire staff of dance instructors and he’s a psychologist working with autistic kids. They married because they love each other and because they want kids.

Enter Obamacare. If you want a look at the Real War on Women on Women is not the bogus media hyped limitations on abortion, but the very real economic realities that allow some women-notably the poor and ignorant who rely on public largesse-to make whatever choice they want. If they want birth control, it’s free. If they want and abortion, it’s subsidized.  If they want a baby, they can have as many as they want. And this is because they are the demographic base that the Democrat party relies on for votes.

As two young healthy working adults, you would think that health insurance wasn’t a problem, especially under the auspices of Obamacare.  But not so quick. My daughter had her own insurance through Blue Cross Blue Shield. No underwriter in the nation is covering pregnancy on private insurance policies. She can have birth control. She can have an abortion. But under the private insurance, my daughter and her husband cannot have a baby without finding about $14K to come up with to cover labor, delivery and hospital costs. So while the indigent woman from across the border gets free pregnancy, prenatal and healthcare covered, my daughter cannot.

So they sought out the insurance from both their places of work. With a $5000 deductible-meaning they pay up to that amount out of pocket. For two young people starting their careers and paying off college loans, rent, car payments,  that’s a hard row to hoe. They looked at policies from both places. Both places costs two to three hundred dollars per month. And they covered things that they do not need, but which are MANDATED by Obamacare such as mental healthcare and drug treatment. As my daughter joked “maybe if I become a crack addict they will pay for me to have a baby.” It wasn’t a happy joke, but one that told she was giving up.

And what is she giving up? She’s giving up the dream of having kids. She’s giving up the dream of having her own house of being able to find other better jobs.  While the Obama Team likes to think that as a young  women she is supporting them, she is not. And many of her friends are in similar states of despair. They know the score. They know that they are paying for those who are too irresponsible to pay their own bills. And these young people, they ones with jobs who pay their bills and who live circumspect lives are growing in their resentment of a leisure class composed of Obama voters shouting “more free stuff” at every turn.

I ran into my own clarification of how Obamacare has created a Real War on Women. Today my doctor tried to make an appointment for me for a mammogram.  As the only one working due to the economy, I can’t simply peel off and pay a couple of hundred bucks for an appointment. I was told that if I ran it through insurance my bill would be $311 and it would go against my $5000 deductible (the deductible that I never reach because we can’t afford that kind of outlay) OR if I didn’t run it through insurance my bill would be “only” $150. First of all, this sounds like a scam to me. Why would you pay more when insured and less when it’s out of pocket? Second, why is it that doctors keep ordering tests and exams without knowing how much they cost? Three years ago a mammogram was $75. The only reason for rising costs is the rising cost of liability insurance and the failure BY THE PRESIDENT to have tort reform.

Many young people are still celebrating the dubious triumph of Obama. I think they are in for a harsh reality  come January. Layoffs are on the horizon and last hired is first fired. Contract workers are replacing full time employees with the self-employment taxes that entails. By the way, when you lose a contract position, as a contractor you are small business person and sometimes can’t get that nice unemployment check. Add to that the rising cost of healthcare insurance, shorter hours and the same braindead college kids who voted based on the preferences of Brad Pitt, George Clooney and  Steven Colbert are in for a very basic lesson in how our economy works.

How it works is like this: Every penalty, every fee, every tax placed on a business is passed along and paid for by the consumer. So when you make energy more costly, you drive up the cost of groceries which is a tax on everyone. And when goods and services become too costly to afford, businesses close, people become unemployed and tax revenue drops. At that point, government services have to be cut meaning  that all those feel good services suddenly cease. Then the rioting begins. As it has happened in Greece. As it has happened in France. And sadly, as I fear it will happen here. I wish I had some happy note of optimism to lay out here, but the mindless drones on the Left allowed their souls to be bought for cheap. We will all suffer for years as a result. God help us all.

New From Microsoft-Team Obama 1.0

(also known as Carter 2.0)
In cooperation with Team Obama, Microsoft has introduce a new Shifting Paradigm subprogram which will interface readily with all taxing, banking, and other monetary programs on your computer. This will save you the trouble of filing taxes. It will also save you the trouble of working, saving, earning, investing and otherwise using your income to your own advantage. After the full takeover/implementation of this program, all future earnings will revert to government coffers for the betterment of personkind.

If you should encounter any problems with Team Obama 1.0, refer to the online manual or send a grievance report to our friendly customer service staff whereupon your taxes will be carefully monitored for the remainder of your life, or the remainder of Team Obama's tenure. Should you persist in complaining about taxes, lack of personal freedoms, implementation of socialism, you will recieve the third grievance report, also known as "Barry's Frowny Face". This is not a good idea as President Obama will consider this as an effort to thwart the goals of the DNC, of his personal friends and you will be assigned to a special retraining facility monitored by the Ayers Corporation. If you somehow continue to complain, you will see the final screen. At that point, if you have not already found a safehouse, it might be time to consider altering your appearance, your identity and possibly your gender, in order to slip across the border. Once you reach Mexico, demand English language be made available and that you should be able to vote in elections. Good luck.