Category Archives: wages

Behind the science

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I found the comments in this post intriguing.   I’m like the others with the post itself, however, not too happy with it.

I didn’t know what STEM stood for, so I looked it up:  Science Technology Engineering Math.

I don’t know why education has to be divided into either/or with Math/Science and the Arts.  They both benefit from the other.  I would say Science benefits more from the arts than the other way around, but that’s just my take on it.

The comment on Darwin’s theory being used to justify power over others is spot on.  I don’t think Darwin meant for it to be interpreted that way.  Robert Shepherd asserts that Darwin saw all of us as interconnected, rather than adversaries as the social darwinists would have you believe.  I believe it, too.  That is one reason I became a vegetarian.  I only went back to eating meat because I had gotten sick and was advised that i should eat meat.  I think that we owe it to the animals who give their lives  for us some respect.  Factory farms do not do that.   Once again, it’s following the golden rule of doing unto others as we would have done to us.

Another comment was striking:

Sharon

September 14, 2013 at 7:22 pm

I think STEM is being oversold and that some skepticism is in order. Here is one personal story on top of those articles and the information provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

My daughter was very strong in math and ended up majoring in chemistry at a top-20 school. After college she was selected to be a paid intern in the research division of a successful pharmaceutical company. One year later she started in the PhD program for organic chemistry at a top University of California system school. STEM-speaking, this would all seem to paint a rosy picture for her future because she’s done everything right. Right?

But what she learned from working at the pharmaceutical company and from talking with other organic chemistry graduate students, was that much of the R&D in that particular STEM field is being increasingly outsourced to Asian countries. Not only that, but the pharmaceutical company was inclined to fill its labs with a large number of imported scientists (to save money). Some people have theorized that the reason for the current STEM push is to saturate the market with extremely educated scientists who then get stuck having to accept lower and lower wages.

In the STEM field of chemistry, American PhD graduates, even those from top universities, are not having an easy time finding work. These are people in their 20s who have been very, very self-disciplined about their schoolwork from the time they were in grade school. So, as far as our children’s futures go, pursuing any old STEM field does not guarantee success. But that is NOT what Arne Duncan or President Obama would have us all believe.

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Okay….here is someone who did everything right….and look what has happened to her.   (working for Big Pharma aside….)

Note the comment on Boeing wanting people getting a well-rounded education so they can “think outside the box”.  If it’s for airplanes, I don’t have a problem with it, but there’s just something wrong with teaching children better arts skills so they can find more creative ways….to kill people.

From the commenter Democracy:

The Sandia Report (Journal of Educational Research, May/June, 1993), published in the wake of A Nation at Risk, examined carefully its specific claims. The Sandia researchers concluded that:

* “..on nearly every measure we found steady or slightly improving trends.”

* “youth today [the 1980s] are choosing natural science and engineering degrees at a higher rate than their peers of the 1960s.”

“average performance of ‘traditional’ test takes on the SAT has actually improved over 30 points since 1975…”

* “Although it is true that the average SAT score has been declining since the sixties, the reason for the decline is not decreasing student performance. We found that the decline arises from the fact that more students in the bottom half of the class are taking the SAT than in years past…More people in America are aspiring to achieve a college education…so the national SAT average is lowered as more students in the 3rd and 4th quartiles of their high school classes take the test. This phenomenon, known as Simpson’s paradox, sows that an average can change in a direction opposite from all subgroups if the proportion of the total represented by the subgroups changes.”

* “business leaders surveyed are generally satisfied with the skill levels of their employees, and the problems that do exist do not appear to point to the k-12 education system as a root cause.”

“The student performance data clearly indicate that today’s youth are achieving levels of education at least as high as any previous generation.”

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He/She goes on to mention an article in Columbia Journalism Review by Beryl Lieff Benderly.    It’s really eye-opening to the myth of scarcity of math;/science majors.  It’s not hard to question who is putting this myth out there and why….especially when they are bringing in foreign workers who will work for lower pay.  Is the myth being created so that they can justify bringing in the foreign workers?  It would appear that way.

From the article:

It is a narrative that has been skillfully packaged and promoted by well-funded advocacy groups as essential to the national interest, but in reality it reflects the economic interests of tech companies and universities.

High-tech titans like Bill Gates, Steve Case, and Mark Zuckerberg are repeatedly quoted proclaiming a dearth of talent that imperils the nation’s future. 

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“When the companies say they can’t hire anyone, they mean that they can’t hire anyone at the wage they want to pay,” said Jennifer Hunt, a Rutgers University labor economist, at last year’s Mortimer Caplin Conference on the World Economy.

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And this, which alludes to the point I was making yesterday on the ageism in the corporate world:

For instance, tech companies that import temporary workers, mainly recent graduates from India, commonly discard more expensive, experienced employees in their late 30s or early 40s, often forcing them, as Ron Hira and other labor-force researchers note, to train their replacements as they exit. Age discrimination, Hira says, is “an open secret” in the tech world.

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I saw yet another blip the other day on the nooz of how many tech jobs are going unfilled because “there aren’t enough tech grads out there”….so now, after reading all of this, I realize they’re actually saying “there aren’t enough tech grads willing to work for minimum wage”.

And the whole debate on Science vs. Arts fails to include the argument for being well-rounded citizens who can think critically, analytically, with creativity of arts’ mindset.  I think art that is unscripted allows one freedom of expression that translates into, for want of a better word, “looseness”.  I think science is rigid where art is not (or shouldn’t be), and that translates into humanity’s acceptance of differences.  Perhaps I’m reading too much into it, but there you go…

 

 

 

Slave life in Stagville

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Michael Twitty has a link up to epicurean’s post on the slaves and their food preparation and diet.   I love learning the stuff outside of the “normal” history (wars, wars, land grabs, oil, wars).

It’s interesting the note on slaves using herbs for medicinal purposes because they had no medical care..  I think perhaps that was the best medicine…if you compare it to the number of staggering deaths related to pharmaceuticals.

I was hoping that Michael was going to tell us that Paula Deen took him up on his offer to come visit and begin the conversation and healing…but alas…

PBS’ Frontline on the Wall St meltdown

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Just in case you missed the link in the Center for Media Democracy article yesterday, I wanted to highlight it here:

http://video.pbs.org/video/1302794657/

It’s really important to revisit what happened and who was responsible….so it doesn’t happen again.  We are STILL paying for Greenspan’s idolatry of Ayn Rand…

Bluntly, bankers can’t be trusted to tell the truth.  They cannot be trusted to regulate themselves.  Ain’t gonna happen.  By nature, bankers are greedy and see everything in dollar signs, and as this piece illustrates, if they think they can get away with something, they won’t let ethics or concerns for democracy get in the way.

The subtext to this story is how Brooksley Born was ignored.  A woman not taken seriously….a narrative of sexism.  It’s interesting that she refused to talk about her meeting with Bill Clinton…makes me wonder if he tried to get in her pants and then called her ‘boring” because she refused…or perhaps he was intimidated because she was not only intelligent but principled, as well.  Bill probably doesn’t “get” principled people…sharks only understand other sharks….

 

This on Phil Gramm, who….wait for it….joined a banking firm after aiding the financial meltdown.   And afterward, calling us “a nation of whiners”…um-hmmm….

Frank Partnoy, a law professor at the University of San Diego and an expert on derivatives, said, “No one, including regulators, could get an accurate picture of this market. The consequences of that is that it left us in the dark for the last eight years.” And, he added, “Bad things happen when it’s dark.”

In 2002, Mr. Gramm left Congress, joining UBS as a senior investment banker and head of the company’s lobbying operation.

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Another subtext is the intimidation by those involved.  They created derivatives to be confusing on purpose…and counted on the others to be too embarrassed to ask the question “what does this mean”? Here we have a law professor who understands derivatives, and HE was in the dark about them.

People are intimidated and don’t want to say “I don’t understand”.  I used to be that way, but no more.  Ask away, folks.  Ask away.  And if someone makes you feel stupid by being condescending, then call them on it.  There are some really smart people out there, but nobody knows everything.   And you aren’t going to learn (and understand) anything if you don’t ask questions. If more people had asked questions and raised concerns like Brooksley Born, the financial collapse would have been averted.

More on the ethics of Gramm here.

And here.

Walker Backs Down

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Gov. Scott Walker has rescinded a $500,000 grant to the United Sportsmen of Wisconsin.

You know, for folks who are so dead set against government in their lives, via taxation and regulation, they sure to go out of their way to get those tax dollars while trying to circumvent the democratic process.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the grant was slipped into the budget bill by outgoing Majority Leader Scott Suder with terms that excluded most sporting groups in the state. The grant was not properly advertised, conveniently leaving United Sportsmen as the sole applicant.

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More Wisconsin news here. 

You’re telling me that citizens throwing pop cans and shouting obscenities requires the use of armed guards?  Talk about overreaction.  Yes, it was wrong for the one demonstrator to destroy the camera, no doubt, but having armed guards with assault rifles is just soo over the top.

What I don’t understand is why  they are allowed in the forest at all.  Why are they destroying what little we have left?  People seem to think that climate change is this thingy down the road….hello, it’s happening now and destroying the forests is one of the reasons.    Why are they not valued as much as the mining operations?  Why aren’t the environmental impacts on the land and water considered as important?

The primary cause of this lasting pollution is acid mine drainage. Mining exposes sulfide-bearing ore that generates sulfuric acid and mixes with water. This outflow of acidic water, otherwise known as acid mine drainage, contaminates drinking water aquifers, lakes, and streams, agricultural lands, and prime fish and wildlife habitat. Because acid mine drainage can’t be stopped, once started it must be treated until the acid generating material runs out. As acknowledged in government mining permits, this can take hundreds or thousands of years.

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Texas’ Freedom of Information Foundation is aiding CMD in obtaining public records that members of ALEC are trying to keep in the dark.

The Fight for Fifteen in Wisconsin.  I think $15 per hour is reasonable and would put us back to where we would have been had our wages not stagnated over the last twenty or so years…

There is just something terribly wrong when a CEO can make millions in income while employees are forced on food stamps or food banks to feed themselves and their families.

Finally, in non-Wisconsin news, CMD has this up on the paper trail of Larry Summers.   I haven’t begun to read all the information here, so I’m off to read the links. …note, however, the link to education “reform”–he’s on the board of the Eli Broad Foundation.  Not only that, but Andy Stern is also on the board–he was head of the Service Employees Union…wow….a union supporter on the board of an organization trying to destroy teacher’s unions and public education.  Just wow.

 

 

Teachers’ unions under fire in Canada, as well

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Well, this shouldn’t surprise me, but yet it still does…Canadians have been a little more progressive in a lot of ways, but apparently education isn’t one of them.

Given the recent statement by Canadian politicians on mulitculturalism, and the stealth racism of charter proponents here in the U.S., one has to wonder if racism isn’t at the heart of the attack on education, in Canada, as well.

 

A student speaks up to Michelle Rhee

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What a brave phenomenal young woman.  Truth to power.

Steve Perry sounds like a real nice guy….not.  Cockroaches?  Really??  Sounds like sour grapes to me…

How can you tell… **edited

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…when John Kerry is lying?  His lips are moving.   (Old joke, but unfortunately still works.)

From Global news in Canada.

Anytime anyone involves ego in a decision, you can bet it is a bad decision.  Going to war over a warped perception of credibility is wrong.  And America’s credibility was seriously damaged with going to war in Iraq.  We were perceived as bullies and liars.   The whole world rejoiced when Barack Obama was elected because the whole world disagreed with our invasion.

But the world’s perception of us didn’t seem to bother Congress before now, eh?

And what exactly does “protect our values” mean??  Because I don’t value war.

Kerry tries to shut up opposing voices by throwing out ” this is not the time for  armchair isolationists”….that’s you and me, folks, the American public that speaks out against war.  We’re sick of war and we’re sick of millionaire politicians telling us that our opinions don’t matter.

He asks if one would be comfortable if we don’t act and Assad gasses his people.  Hello? Are we alone in the world?  Israel and Saudi Arabia have a stake in this  and they should be expected to bear the brunt of it–skin in the game, as they say…they are both wealthy nations, and we are fast losing our wealth.  Well, it’s still there, technically, but in the hands of a few who don’t want to pay taxes….that… fund… wars.  So Saudi Arabia and Israel need to ante up.

Note how Kerry asserts that there will be no boots on the ground, but from what I was watching yesterday, he once again flip-flopped and stated that he did not want that put in writing because it may become necessary if things escalate.   Mighty suspicious….

Tell me again why Kerry was trying to interfere with U.N. gathering evidence on chemical weapons?  And why aren’t we waiting for the U.N. to get the results bacK?  The Syria situation is not new–this has been happening for over a year now….so why the rush, rush, rush to bomb?

And tell me why those pictures of the dead keep nagging at me–like I have seen them before…?  That they were from a chemical weapons attack, but not the current event with Syria?? I just can’t shake that feeling.

Here’s the view from emptywheel.  During the hearing, Kerry was drumming his fingers on the table with impatience that they were questioning him.   John McCain was caught playing computer games….on taxpayer’s dime.  If those same taxpayers were caught playing computer games during company time, they would be fired.

Another take here on it from the Israelis:

Note the sentiment if the U.S. doesn’t strike, Israel will.   Is that supposed to be a threat of some sort?

Lastly, John Kerry’s testimony as a Vietnam veteran before Congress, below.  He stated yesterday that no chemicals had been used since WWI…I was stunned that he chose to ignore Agent Orange used in Vietnam.  In this video, he acknowledges the horror of them and how we “destroyed villages in order to save them…”  Note also the reference to Nixon, who stated he “did not want to be the first president to lose a war…”  Doesn’t that sound eerily similar to “we have to go in to Syria to save our credibility…”??  The Communism threat was a lie, btw, as only 25% of the people in Vietnam were Communists.  The rest were peaceful Buddhists.  Pretty sad, eh?

**Edited to fix stupid link to Kerry’s Vietnam Testimony:

Labor Day…what unions…?

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Another reader of Diane Ravitch posted this on how times have changed.

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We Do Not Support A War on Syria.

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“You Take Care of Us.  We Keep Everything.  Screw You.”

 

 

A letter to Boston

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The Indignant Teacher has  a post up highlighting Diane Ravitch and her letter to Bostonians.

Bostonians being recently threatened with the bombing perhaps can understand a bomb has gone off in the public school system–put there by billionaires who wish to destroy it for their own greed.  Unfortunately, it’s not as easy to see as a bombing in a public space…it’s much more stealth than that…and the damage done is not felt in real time, but in years past it.  It will be hard for some to realize the connection to the destruction to society and democracy…making it easier for those doing it to not be held accountable.