SilverLib

Category: Education

  • The Walnut In The Machine

     

    The Walnut In The Machine

    Imagine a group of people gather for a tour of a machine tool factory.  At the beginning, a walnut is distributed to each person.  The nut is in its familiar tough brown shell.

    At one stage on the factory floor, a large hydraulic press is pressing train wheels onto axles. The tour guide says the press is strong enough to crush a car, but gentle enough to crack a walnut, and asks for a volunteer to submit their nut for a demonstration.  Dials on the machine are adjusted, and the walnut shell is cracked open, the machine stopping and releasing the nutmeat unharmed.

    The tour proceeds, and the tour participants go home to relay their experiences.  Some of those not on the tour can’t imagine a machine with the combination of strength and sensitivity needed to perform the feet described.  Especially the friends and families of those with the still-whole walnuts are met with some skepticism, fending off observations about the tough un-cracked nut and how walnut shells are one of the hardest non-mineral substances.  Some are accused of prevarication.  Others upon hearing the story seem intent on missing the point by emphasizing the inefficiency of such a huge machine to the task for which a small hand-tool would suffice.

    Of all parties involved, some participated more directly in the experience. Some witnessed the event first hand. Some heard about it second hand.

    Some believe because of evidence, some believe on testimony, some reserve judgement pending personal experience, and some don’t believe.

  • My 53 percent story

    A friend posted about http://the53.tumblr.com/ recently and I find the site quite compelling.  The 53% refers to a recent statistic that 53% of people pay taxes and 47% reap benefits. Here’s what I might say on the topic:

    I am thankful to my parents for not just handing me everything I wished for, but encouraging working toward it.  So my first jobs during high school were because I wanted to buy a computer.

    Then I followed the example of my parents by moving out immediately after high school, a short stint in the military, then using the [quite modest] G.I. Bill benefits to help pay for college.  Tuition and student loans were much smaller back in 1990, and the interest rates were higher which encouraged paying them off early, which I did within a year or two after graduation (on time in 4 years, private college.)

    Then my early career was interrupted as my Naval Reserve duty status was activated to participate in the first Gulf War.  I returned to find my employer had gone out of business.  Thankfully my B.S. degree prepared me to find other jobs, and I’ve been working in my chosen field ever since.

    Didn’t save much while single, but my wife did, so we bought our first home in 2003.  The house is now “under water” in the current market, but we see no good reasons to default since we purposely did not overextend.

    Health problems with our two children have kept my wife out of the job market for the last 6 years, and living on one income is a challenge.  Maintaining my tradition of donating both time and money charitably is also a challenge.

    That is my 53% story.

    My hope for this country is that the 53% (an F grade) grows to 60, then 70 (D), with a final goal of 90%+ (A).

  • Rich Dad Education: Real Estate Academy

    I signed up for a Real Estate training course which will be at LAX Sheraton on June 24-26 and I am pretty excited about it. Been wanting to learn more about investment properties, and this sounds like a great way to do it.
    As a rookie, I need to learn (more…)

  • Millionaire Mind Intensive

    If you want to be among the savvy and elite group who are capitalizing on the opportunities presented by our financial crisis, you need 3 things: 1. The right knowledge at the right time. 2. The right vehicles at the right time. 3. The right you … ALL the time. Find out if you are on the right path here http://www.peakambassador.com/cmd.php?af=mmi17204&p=1

    I attended this financial seminar last weekend, and it was both motivating and educational.

  • bullet-points for learning economics the fun way

    I’m putting together a list of topics that must be addressed for economic literacy and financial awareness.

    1. What is [something] worth to me? (how to assess value–for yourself vs. others)
    2. risk vs. safety, how to judge?
    3. how to mitigate risks
    4. diversification: true vs. phantom
    5. taxes –this is huge and could be broken down several ways…
    6. inflation vs. the money supply
    7. inflation vs. sentiment
    8. price controls

    What others would you add? Also, I want to think of catchy one-line descriptions for each, since looking at that list after I write it, it seems a little dry/boring/off-putting, and the more so the longer it gets.

  • fun new payment: real money (silver coins)

    I had the pleasure of attending a lecture given by Michael Badnarik on U.S. Constitutional history and law. He was visionary enough to accept silver as tuition payment. Below he blogs about the hazards of embarking upon silver coinage. (more…)

  • Best Way To Evaluate Fairness Of Teacher Ratings

    I felt bad listening to the story of the LAUSD teacher who committed suicide this week.  One of his alleged reasons was a negative score on the “Value Added” list published in the Los Angeles Times.  One point that has been made multiple times is that there are multiple factors in judging a teacher “good” and test scores is only one of them. One  question I have is what outcome other than public humiliation is to be expected from such a narrow rating system. Another is how does the average parent react to the score of their child’s teacher?  But I’d like to step back even further and try to consider the “ratings game” situation from a Liberty perspective:

    1. Maybe we should regard public education the same way we regard public retirement (Social Security) in other words as a last-resort safety net rather than the primary method of education.  In other words don’t expect boutique creativity and stellar quality from a large-scale mass-produced education system.

    2. How about returning to smaller districts with more local control and feedback?  This more intimate setting allows both the administrators and the community to be more aware of which teachers have the right stuff.

    3. Choice, choice, choice, and more free choice.  By free, I mean free as in freedom to choose, not necessarily as in free lunch.  Choice is the ultimate expression of a free society, and it spreads the “job” of evaluating the many factors (effectiveness/coolness/niceness) among the entire population and helps distinguish the good services from the acceptable, and eventually culls the least desirable.

    If parents and students were allowed to choose, then the ones who cared the most would flock to the best school, even if they had to pay a distance fee.  How would they figure out what are the best schools?  I don’t know, and I’m proud to admit that I don’t know, unlike meddling bureaucrats who make it their life’s work to dream up arbitrary metrics then use them to perpetuate their jobs.  My point is that people will find a way to evaluate the schools in a variety of ways that no one committee can foresee, anticipate, model or predict.  So lets get out of the way of the market, and let the people be free to chose.

    references:

    http://www.scpr.org/programs/airtalk/2010/09/29/teachers-suicide-leads-to-call-for-times-to-remove

    http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0829-lopezcolumn-20100829,0,1921216.column