QOTD

"This is cutting edge. It's pushing the envelope. But it's exactly the right thing to do."
- Arne Duncan, CEO of the Chicago Public School System

I've seen it all now. How satisfying. I can kick back and relax. Let the world just glide by, surprise-free. Ahhhhh...

Chicago public schools are paying kids to get good grades:

The money is actually coming from a charity called the Broad Foundation. I should contribute. ["Broads". Get it? Sorry.] Anyway, there's ole Eli Broad over to the right there.

Eli has good intentions. "I can imagine no more important contribution to our country's future than a long-term commitment to improving urban K-12 public schools," Eli says. Fair enough. I can imagine something better... giving people their money to choose a school, but whatever.

So, Eli seems a decent enough guy (even though he went to Michigan State... hey, anyone could have made that mistake... he he again). So where'd a decent enough guy like Eli get a screwy idea like paying kids to get good grades. Oh, that would be Harvard University, actually. This idea is "the brainchild" of the Education Lab at Harvard.

So, close your eyes and imagine with me for a second: Harvard University... a roomful of the smartest minds humanity has to offer... dedicated to solving one problem... education... and the answer is... I got it! Pay kids for their fucking grades!

That's a whopper of a whopper.

There's a great Simpsons episode where Lisa and the smartest people in Springfield take over the town... and screw it up. It's heartening to see the pointy heads at Harvard be so lost. Yes? If being smart was all it took to figure things out, life would be a lot less interesting. You can be the biggest brain in the room and still not have a girlfriend or be able to match socks or have enough common sense to know that you don't pay kids to get good grades.

This balance to life... it's ubiquitous. Everything and everyone seemingly has a positive and a negative component. I'm not a God goy, but it's this balance to the universe that leads me to think, maybe there's an intelligence to setup a system with such incredible balance. I don't know.
peace... yow, bill

PS - Sarah Palin. I have heard two one-word descriptions of her that I think nail her appeal: self-confident and normal. These are not words you associate with any politician at the national level. Here's a great pre-veep article in Alaska magazine that describes Palin and her family in more detail: America's Hottest Governor

Labels: politics, qotd