More on Education

·         Gov. Scott's Florida initiative designed to discourage pursuit of the study of the Humanities and such Liberal Arts degrees, in favor of  technical skills.

(http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/11/26/u-florida-history-professors-fight-differential-tuition)

It is a good effort, but there should be a balance. Besides a useful work skill, the student should learn to be a good citizen.

·         There are 3 million (4 million from some reports) jobs last year in the US unfilled due to lack of skills while we have many college graduates who cannot find a job. We have a serious problem of skill gaps.

As of 2013, here are about 2 million unfilled positions desperately needed by programming including cloud computing. Our high tech industry is expanding their training programs in order to fill 'skills gap' positions.

Vocational colleges and apprenticeship should be encouraged. The high school graduates should match their careers to jobs that are plentiful. A college degree without a job potential is a waste of money and time, not to mention the heavy loan that will take years to repay.

·         From very rough estimate, the society needs less than .5% geniuses who will create jobs for the majority such as Gates and Jobs, 25% professionals (accountants, lawyers, entrepreneurs, scientists…), 25% technicians (auto mechanics, plumbers…), and the rest are low-wage workers in factories and service providers. My point is: We do not need everyone going to college.

·         Lam said:

Well stated and on top of this we need to cut the tax loopholes for the rich, so that we can get the deficit down. As your right we need to model and all pay our share instead of getting food stamps and subsidized labor like so many companies get.

·         Another example of our failure of our family education and now the education from a major network.  Children should be taught to take responsibility: When you borrow something, you need to pay back and not to find an easy way. The child solved our debt with China by killing all Chinese. It was not live, so the network had plenty of time to censor it. ‘Kill all Chinese’, ‘Kill all Jews’ and ‘Kill all black’ are racist remarks. That’s why when they grow up, they will shoot to solve any problems they have or at anyone who do not belong to their group. Spreading hatred has no entertainment value. When it is from a network, it is outrageous.

http://www.scmp.com/news/china-insider/article/1337344/kill-everyone-china-outrage-over-comment-during-jimmy-kimmel-skit

·         NP said:

Agreed. I and probably you were taught to read even before entering school.

Teachers are saying that they are having a very difficult time teaching minorities how to read because the children are entering unprepared.

They say many children do not even know numbers, the names of colors or even shapes! Shocking!

.     A CNN article on Chinese education.
      http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/03/world/asia/pisa-education-study/index.html?iid=article_sidebar