James Drogan

I've taken the liberty of revising the first paragraph of this article.

"A UN mandated panel will report this week that the United States suffers from poor management, "dismal" staff morale and lack of accountability and professional ethics."

Physician, heal thyself.

Here is a very provocative post from The Cunning Realist.  It calls to mind political entitlements.  A line from the post.

"It would also mean that control of the presidency or vice-presidency will have passed between two families without interruption for thirty-two years since 1980---eight straight presidential terms straddling two different centuries."

A recommended read and a recommended think.

Re Conversations with Dave

Perhaps one ought to always keep an open mind. Drogan's Second Law says "When things are going really well you've probably missed something."

I once read a paper by an upstate (or is it upstart?) college professor who claimed there was no such thing as truth. I reminded him that the sun always rises in the east and have not heard from him since.

I close with

One of my Korean students has written: " As I am Korean, I am very shy, especially during class, only looking for right answers. In Korea class rooms, students only hear what professors teach, and even some students feel they have different ideas with professors' opinions (even I have never thought professors' teachings are wrong or something different with my idea), they never argue with professors. But here in the United States, there is no wrong answer. Even some one have different ideas or even these are not true, no one says that idea is wrong. In this reason, class rooms are alive (is it right expression?) and energetic."

and

"If stated reasons don't sit well with your conscience or stand the test of logic, look for deeper motivations." Docent Glax Othn

Inspirational dissatisfaction (from Bob Neuschel), healthy skepticism, and a tolerance for different views seems to me to be a good combination

Re Conversations with Dave

We must, as teachers, play the hand that is dealt us.  Indeed, maybe we're the only ones, particularly if we are good teachers, who can play the hand.

And what is a good teacher?  One with experience which brings with it wisdom, insight, courage, and a sense of humor.  And what does the good teacher do?  Inspire insatiable curiosity and teach the knowledge and skills necessary to satisfy that curiosity.

It ain't easy, but there is nothing like it.

See Yuan Answers? in today's Wall Street Journal.  This issue is far deeper and more complex than MSM seems to let on.

It would be useful if this deep complexity could be distilled in a manner suitable for consumption by the laity and printed on the front page of most popular newspapers.

Three things came together in my mind this afternoon.

First, is the article from last Sunday's New York Times, Richest Are Leaving Even the Rich Far Behind.

Second, is the article from today's Wall Street Journal, House Panel's Spending Bill Ends 49 Government Programs.

Third, is Paul Krugman's op-ed in today's New York Times, Losing Our Country.

America is becoming a society comprising two classes;  the very wealthy and everyone else.  The divide between the two becomes increasingly more difficult to conquer.  The House Panel's cut of programs in Labor and Health and Human Services makes it just that more difficult to cross the divide.

I am reminded of the last line of a poem by the Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes Jr.

" And the greatest theft of all is to rob one's right to be."

Spitzer ought to go after this.

I videotaped our granddaughter's entire Motown Review.  Apparently they are less uppity and greedy at Fuller Elementary than at the Lincoln Theatre.

Here is an article from the WSJ Opinion Journal (which I tend not to read because of its constant rightest shrillness) that has caught my attention.  I was led to it through my regular morning review of  blogdex.

Next, is this modified (to include a learning function) sense, interpret, decide, and act loop (SIDAL).

The article and the image to the left come together in the following way.

News will be increasingly made available through the non-MSM.  There will be less reliance on the MSM reporters and editors to sense, interpret, decide, and act in bringing to the attention of the public news that they is then resensed, reinterpreted, etc. 

The upside is that MSM will have less of a roll in shaping public behavior.  The downside is that the public will need to become increasingly competent in SIDAL. 

Democracy as it is meant to be?

And how does this sea change affect how we teach and train the public?

I've added A Note on Fact-Based Hypothesis-Driven Thinking to Ideas and Information.

Re Conversations with Dave

I hold that good communication occurs

if the grammar and syntax of the messages being exchanged is easily understood, and

if the information communicated in the messages is relevant, and

if the medium of communication is acceptable, and

if the sender and receiver have a mutual desire to communicate.

Finally, I suppose I would rather be copied than not.  Something about imitation being the best form of flattery.