Tuesday, March 29, 2011
I think one thing everyone's missing in all this state budget rigamarole is - why are teachers even in unions in the first place? Didn't they go to college? Don't they consider themselves professionals?
I guess not. The fact that they are violently pro-union suggests that they themselves believe that teachers are replaceable cogs in the machine. Frankly, at least in public schools, it's probably true.
As such, I'd like to suggest another way for local governments to close budget gaps. Just fire all the teachers and replace them with educational software and a few security guards. I really doubt the educational outcomes would fall dramatically, especially in the inner cities.
The only problem with this is that the budget savings on schools would probably be somewhat counterbalanced by increases in welfare spending when the fired teachers find out they are unemployable elsewhere. He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches.
I guess not. The fact that they are violently pro-union suggests that they themselves believe that teachers are replaceable cogs in the machine. Frankly, at least in public schools, it's probably true.
As such, I'd like to suggest another way for local governments to close budget gaps. Just fire all the teachers and replace them with educational software and a few security guards. I really doubt the educational outcomes would fall dramatically, especially in the inner cities.
The only problem with this is that the budget savings on schools would probably be somewhat counterbalanced by increases in welfare spending when the fired teachers find out they are unemployable elsewhere. He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches.
Friday, March 11, 2011
I get it. Twitter really is a game changer. From its ability to so rapidly disseminate information about the recent Japan quake, to its adroitness at allowing people to foment revolutionary ideas in the middle east, twitter is not only remaking media, but society.
The previous statement would be true on opposite day.
Twitter is still a useless toy. I did learn about Japan via social networks. So fucking what? I would've found out about 9 mins later when I turned on the TV anyway. What about the first hand perspective? Someone on facebook posted "a guy on twitter said it was the strongest quake he'd ever felt." A guy on twitter said that? Holy crap I guess we can FUCKING THROW AWAY THE SEISMOGRAPHS. To paraphrase Rodney Dangerfield, Twitter is like buying already highlighted textbooks. How do you know the previous guy isn't a maniac?
Oh and the Middle East revolutions? They didn't have twitter in E. Europe in 1991. They didn't have Twitter in Iran in 1979. They actually still don't have Twitter there, and the revolution is hampered by a much more effective and brutal secret police, not some magical technology that allows people to suddenly know that a revolution is happening. Also, a lot of the street names are longer than 140 characters in those weird countries.
Why is twitter so huge? 3 reasons.
1) Because the media lives in a young, urban, high tech echo chamber where everybody uses it. "I can't believe Richard Nixon won... Nobody I know voted for him!"
2) Vanity. People like to think they're important and I think twitter indulges this. Not like blogs, where you can make sure nobody is listening via your site stats.
3) Laziness. Writing a book is hard. Writing a PHD thesis is hard. Even writing a blog post on a regular basis is hard. Twitter is something people can participate in without actually doing any work. Hard to overestimate the laziness of most people.
So there it is. This post is also available via 74 twitter updates.
The previous statement would be true on opposite day.
Twitter is still a useless toy. I did learn about Japan via social networks. So fucking what? I would've found out about 9 mins later when I turned on the TV anyway. What about the first hand perspective? Someone on facebook posted "a guy on twitter said it was the strongest quake he'd ever felt." A guy on twitter said that? Holy crap I guess we can FUCKING THROW AWAY THE SEISMOGRAPHS. To paraphrase Rodney Dangerfield, Twitter is like buying already highlighted textbooks. How do you know the previous guy isn't a maniac?
Oh and the Middle East revolutions? They didn't have twitter in E. Europe in 1991. They didn't have Twitter in Iran in 1979. They actually still don't have Twitter there, and the revolution is hampered by a much more effective and brutal secret police, not some magical technology that allows people to suddenly know that a revolution is happening. Also, a lot of the street names are longer than 140 characters in those weird countries.
Why is twitter so huge? 3 reasons.
1) Because the media lives in a young, urban, high tech echo chamber where everybody uses it. "I can't believe Richard Nixon won... Nobody I know voted for him!"
2) Vanity. People like to think they're important and I think twitter indulges this. Not like blogs, where you can make sure nobody is listening via your site stats.
3) Laziness. Writing a book is hard. Writing a PHD thesis is hard. Even writing a blog post on a regular basis is hard. Twitter is something people can participate in without actually doing any work. Hard to overestimate the laziness of most people.
So there it is. This post is also available via 74 twitter updates.
