Current systems and institutions are deliberately deteriorating and designed for failure and betrayal. U.S. officials, lurching from one crisis to another, drive public institutions into ruin. In the midst of one or another pandering-politician-made crisis, these entrenched officials carry on a pageantry of blame. Blame “other.” Blame some person, place or thing (never themselves, never their responsibility) — who or whatever “other” conveniently serves their purposes.
Schools
A List of Pandemic Era Remedies
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K |
-12
Schools: Institutional Design and Service ·
- Institute a sharing of school buildings across communities to accommodate more students
- · Refurbish school building interiors, and expand or build additional permanent or temporary structures or interiors
Design building refurbishments to
- · reduce class sizes and
- · institute more open space to ensure student, teacher, aides, and other staff’s proper physical distancing
Cleaning staff
- ·
Upgrade and expand cleaning staff
- · Hire and fully outfit full-time cleaners for round-the-clock shift duty
- · Pay cleaners living wages, not prisoner or slave wages.
- · Provide cleaner outfits to include mouth, nose and hands coverings, goggles, if needed, and full-body gowns
- · Ensure on-site storage and easy availability of protective wear
- · Ensure on-site and easily available clean sinks and soap and water, plus other appropriate hand sanitizers
Teaching and other staff
- · Hire additional fully qualified, trained and experienced (not merely entrenched tenured) full-time teachers, counselors and administrators
- · Provide proper protective outfits
- · Ensure on-site storage and easily available mouth, nose and, as necessary, hands coverings
- · Ensure on-site and easily available clean sinks and soap and water, plus other appropriate hand sanitizers
Testing Staff
- · Institute regular testing (also properly outfitted testers and handlers of materials) and follow remedies for all school staffs, custodial, teaching and other staff
- · Ensure proper and safe disposal of protective materials
- · Place and ensure proper handling of disposal vessels or bins, and their emptying
Students
- · Institutionalize school-related Communications (with parents and communities) and Protections in service to students
- · Provide proper interior classroom spacing, lighting, and learning materials
- · Ensure small class sizes, student-teacher (aide) ratio (standardized 9 or 12 to 1; lower if student circumstances indicate)
- · Provide students with proper protective outfits
- · Ensure on-site storage and (depending on age, supervised) easily available mouth, nose and, as necessary, hands coverings
- · Ensure on-site and (depending on age, supervised) easily available clean sinks and soap and water, plus other appropriate hand sanitizers
- · Extend protections to school and public transport vehicles (include drivers and monitors in ensured protections, see above)
Respect, Honor, School Environment·
Remove police, military, security guards, or related professionals, and lethal weaponry from school interior, property, and environment.
· Remove drug and drug paraphernalia from school interior, property, and environment.
· Professional School staff (teachers, administrators, counselors together) should demand and enforce atmosphere, attitude, and practice of respectfulness among and between staffs, between students and staffs, and among all school personnel, students, and surrounding communities.
· Professional School staff, consistent with previously established and published codes of conduct, should exemplify and be empowered to demand and discipline acts of disrespectfulness.
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P |
ost secondary-level Schooling cannot be free in the USA
If a politician tells you he or she is going to give you so some money or cancel your debts, he or she is pandering; not talking about or intending to institute and support substantive changes that are beneficial to institutions and to generations of students, and society at large.
In some countries, post-secondary education is provided, or partially provided for their residents.
Countries with free tuition for their citizens
|
1. Argentina |
2. Luxembourg |
|
3. Austria |
4. Malaysia |
|
5. Brazil |
6. Morocco |
|
7. Czech Republic |
8. Norway |
|
9. Denmark |
10. Panama |
|
11. Egypt |
12. Poland |
|
13. Finland |
14. Scotland |
|
15. France |
16. Slovenia |
|
17. Germany |
18. Spain |
|
19. Greece |
20. Sweden |
|
21. Iceland |
22. Turkey |
|
23. Kenya |
24. Uruguay |
https://www.edvisors.com/plan-for-college/money-saving-tips/colleges-with-free-tuition/countries-with-free-tuition/
The incoming U.S. president is pandering by holding out the notion of student debt cancellation. The outgoing administration, with an education head vested in for-profit “educational” institutions made money on increasing student debt and refusing to cancel debt even in a health crisis that caused schools to close. Promises on the Biden Harris 2020 campaign site headlined “The Biden Plan for Education Beyond High School” March 2020 Reminder: More than “44 million American individuals hold “$1.5 trillion in student loans.”
The Biden group promises
- “Two years of community college without debt.”
- “Tuition-free public college and university education for families with incomes below $125,000”
- “$25,000 or less” annual income of college graduates “… will not owe any payments on their undergraduate federal student loans, and also won’t accrue any interest on those loans.” Above “$25,000” annual income earners “will pay 5% of their discretionary income (income minus taxes and essential spending like housing and food) … toward their loans.”
- Debt relief of $10,000 for undergraduate or graduate students “for every year of their national or community service (e.g., schools, government, other non-profits) up to five years”
- Debt forgiven for “individuals who were deceived by the worst for-profit college or career profiteers”
The United States of America, barring long-term realization of substantive changes in societal ethos, the culture being an essentially wasteful culture, is unsuited for free higher education.
Panderers and opinion writers aside, one must bear in mind critical, demonstrable differences in culture and values. In the United States, education is less valued than military industries, and debt is more valued than education.
Manifestations
- Quality of Student preparedness for college
- Student emotional and intellectual discipline (search some of the documentaries on U.S. student drinking and drugging and frat behavior in United States colleges and universities)
- Relative or disparity in Quality of U.S. IHEs
- Relative or disparity in quality of teaching (and research) in U.S. IHEs
- Relative or disparity in competence and values of products (graduates from U.S. higher education institutions—Ivy Leagues, or not)
USA Culture, Costs, Values, Waste
2011 August
Study: “Parties constitute an integral part of the college culture and serve as primary settings where students engage in heavy drinking, often leading to negative outcomes (Harford, Wechsler, & Muthén, 2003; Wechsler et al., 2000). The pervasiveness of ‘pre-partying’ behaviors (alcohol consumption prior to attending an event where more alcohol may be consumed) has also been documented among collegiate populations (Pedersen & LaBrie, 2007).”
2015
“Nationwide survey conducted by the University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future study shows that 5.9 percent of college students in 2014 reported using marijuana on a daily or near-daily basis, up from a mere 3.5 percent in 2007.
“Drug use in general is also on the rise. The proportion of college students using any illicit drug other than marijuana in the prior 12 months increased from the recent low point of 15 percent in 2008 to 21 percent in 2014. This increase is mostly attributable to an increased use of ecstasy and amphetamines.
2018
RT documentary “reveals the dazzling and obscure system of American University campuses: a world of money, influence, but also stress, decadence, excess, where alcohol freely flows and where drugs circulate.”
New Creation reported “many unfortunate students in fraternities are going to find themselves addicted to substances like benzos, heroin, opiates, alcohol, and even methamphetamine”; and “one of the quietest addiction problems gripping college students these days is party drugs. … Party drugs, such as ecstasy, cocaine, and lean are all accessible on college campuses.”
2019 Daily Mail
A Princeton Review list — after canvassing “140,000 students across 385
different U.S. schools” ranked “on drug and alcohol use, time spent studying or
in class, and fraternity culture”— found Syracuse University (attendance $74,799)
to be “the country’s ‘best college’ … for drinking, drug consumption and frat
parties”; not “academic excellence.”
August 11, 2019: Marketwatch: “Half of young Americans say their degree is irrelevant to their work: With rising tuition costs, some aren’t going to college, and more are working jobs on the side” by James Wellemeyer: “Is a college degree necessary? Parents still think so. Nearly all — 96% — of parents surveyed in the TD Ameritrade study said they do expect their kids to go to college. But a lot of young Americans don’t think a four-year degree is essential. About half — 49% — of young millennials said their degree was “very or somewhat unimportant” to their current job. Only 27% of parents said the same.” https://www.marketwatch.com/story/half-of-young-americans-say-college-isnt-necessary-2019-08-06 TD Ameritrade: August 2019 “Young Americans & College Survey” https://s2.q4cdn.com/437609071/files/doc_news/research/2019/young-americans-and-college-survey.pdf
USA Today August 19, 2019: “It’s no secret that drugs and alcohol are a
part of the college experience for many. Sometimes the effects are relatively
benign, especially if the indulgence is occasional and not excessive – but they
can also be tragic. Dangerous binge drinking, overdoses, deaths from alcohol
poisoning related to fraternity hazing, and various kinds of drug- and
alcohol-related crime, sexual and otherwise, are all of grave concern.”
|
D |
ebt Culture USA 2020
“Consumer debt in the United States has grown 19% since 2009, to its current record high of $14.1 trillion” (source Experian data)
“As debt in aggregate has grown, so have the totals in nearly every debt category—with some, such as student loans, more than doubling in that time.
- · Mortgage loans: Mortgage debt is at an all-time high of $9.6 trillion.
- · Auto loans: Auto loan debt is at a record high of $1.3 trillion.
- · Student loans: Student loan debt is at a record high of $1.4 trillion.
- · Credit card debt: Consumer credit card debt is at a record high of $829 billion.
- · Home equity lines of credit (HELOCs): HELOC balances total $420 billion.
- · Personal loans: Personal loan debt totals $305 billion.
- ·
Retail credit card debt: Retail credit card debt
is at a record high of $90 billion.
|
W |
ar Culture USA
Costs of War Project findings
- Latest Figures November 2019 “Budgetary Costs of Post-9/11 Wars through FY2020: $6.4 Trillion”
- · The US government is conducting counter-terror activities in 80 countries, vastly expanding this war across the globe.
- · U.S. government funding of reconstruction efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan has totaled over $199 billion. Most of those funds have gone towards arming security forces in both countries. Much of the money allocated to humanitarian relief and rebuilding civil society has been lost to fraud, waste, and abuse.
- · The cost of the Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Syria wars totals about $6.4 trillion. This does not include future interest costs on borrowing for the wars, which will add an estimated $8 trillion in the next 40 years.
|
A |
people must look closely at themselves, study who they really are. Then, if they choose, set their hearts, minds, and hands (together) toward making substantive changes for the better. No panderer will lead substantive change. The historical record will show the accomplishments.
Sources
Biden Harris 2020 campaign site “The Biden Plan for Education Beyond High School” https://joebiden.com/beyondhs/#
The Brian Lehrer Show “Is There An End In Sight For The Student Debt Crisis” November 18, 2020 WNYC https://www.wnyc.org/story/end-sight-student-debt-crisis
“Joe Biden has proposed changes that would affect millions of student loan borrowers, while leaders in the Democratic Party have pushed for student debt to be forgiven. Other commentators have said forgiving student loan debt would be unfair to people who did not go to college or have already paid back their loans. Sarah Jones, senior writer at the Intelligencer and New York Magazine, talks about the potential backlash against these changes, and argues that change is needed anyway.” https://www.wnyc.org/story/end-sight-student-debt-crisis
World Population Review “Countries with Free College 2020” https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/countries-with-free-college
Ed Advisors “Countries with Free or Nearly Free Tuition: About two dozen countries provide free tuition or nearly-free tuition at public colleges and universities to their citizens. Some restrict the free tuition to citizens, while others also provide free tuition to all international students or a subset, such as free tuition for all European Union (EU) citizens.” https://www.edvisors.com/plan-for-college/money-saving-tips/colleges-with-free-tuition/countries-with-free-tuition/
National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine 8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda MD, 20894 USA “Drinking at College Parties: Examining the Influence of Student Host-Status and Party-Location” Cynthia K. Buettner, Ph.D., Atika Khurana, Ph.D., and Natasha Slesnick, Ph.D. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3179796/
RT “Cannabis not Camels: College students now consume more marijuana than cigarettes – study” September 3, 2015 https://www.rt.com/usa/314164-college-students-marijuana-cigarettes/
RT “The true colors of US universities” February 17, 2018 https://www.rt.com/shows/documentary/405010-us-universities-campuses-alcohol/
New Creation “Party Drugs on College Campuses are creating a Generation of Addiction September 27, 2018 https://newcreationtreatment.com/blog/party-drugs-at-colleges/
Daily Mail “America’s top party schools REVEALED: Syracuse University crowned wildest college for drugs, drinking and Greek Life” by Luke Kenton For Dailymail.com August 8, 2019 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7337793/Americas-party-schools-REVEALED.html
USA Today “The colleges with the most drug and alcohol arrests” by Colman Andrews August 19, 2019 https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/08/19/party-schools-drug-alcohol-arrests/39963697/
Experian research “Consumer Debt Reaches Record High in 2019: Debt Reaches New Highs in 2019, but Credit Scores Stay Strong” March 9, 2020 by Stefan Lembo Stolba https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/research/consumer-debt-study/
Costs of War Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/papers/summary https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/
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