Tagging The IRS not Facebook

It is not really that interesting or surprising to me that the IRS tagged certain words for scrutiny on corporate income tax forms, that has been going on since Al Capone, in both political directions. What would be more interesting would be the other words they have currently tagged as suspicious, as that would then give us some context to determine the intent of the IRS in tagging the words that are currently in the news. If nothing else a list of words that have been tagged in the past but are no longer tagged would be highly instructive. And yes they do have that list somewhere no matter how  vehemently they deny it.  Are Acorn, Westboro, al Qaeda, currently on the list of suspicious names?

If The TV Show “Numbers” Tried to Fix Education

We tend to state things now in absolute black and white. This is happening within our schools because our government seems to love data instead of results. Mathematically (simplistic but valid) we could state the basic educational equation thusly:
t ● s = l
t = teaching
s = Students
l = learning

At the present time we seem to be considering s (students) to be a constant and t (teachers) to be the only variable. As l (learning) declines we know mathematically if s (students) is a constant, a direct relationship between t (teachers) and l (learning) seems to be established and hence all of the problems with education must be attributable to the teachers/teaching. When in fact the truth is that “because all of our children are now perfect” our bias causes us to confuse the variable and the constant. When viewing this equation without bias it is just as possible and actually more reasonable and probable although uncomfortable for parents that the t (teachers) variable has remained constant or increased and the s (students) variable has declined in value leading to a decline in l (learning). This is possible and more probable because when we consider all the time and money that has been spent on improving and correcting teachers and teaching while very little or none of the attention has been directed at students It seems more likely that the t (teachers) variable has not declined but in fact should have increased leaving the only other explanation for a decline in l (learning) to be a direct relationship between s (students) and l (learning).

Simplistic? certainly !  worth thinking about…..I believe so!

The Consequences of Publicly Drawing Red Lines

It has become the current fashion in politics, government, education, and international relations to draw “red lines” in an attempt to control the behavior of someone or something. At the present time our media is obsessed with drawing red lines around our schools, terrorists, North Korea and Syria. I don’t have a problem with meaningful controls on government, people, education or nations but I do have a problem with how we publicly draw “red lines.” We need to determine before, not after, the drawing of a line if indeed, “one red line can ever fit all” and possibly, although seemingly a lot to ask of our politicians, even consider the consequences of drawing that “red line” before it is drawn. It appears to me that too often we are doing the exact opposite, drawing ‘red lines,’  then changing our policies to fit them. Zero tolerance canards that afflict our society such as changing classical book titles to make them politically correct and not mentioning certain words while ignoring egregious behaviors are, as is the careless drawing of “red lines,” if not doomed to failure, doomed to a future filled by sterile environments where nothing new can easily grow.

Now it seems that nations are talking, pointing their fingers and drawing “red lines” around education, Muslims, Christians, and even nuclear weapons/nerve gas. Drawing hard and unmovable international “red lines” that attempt to affect or control other sovereign governments, no matter how evil that government may be, will most certainly lead to a lesson in the real time application of the “ law of unintended consequences.” .The act of publicly drawing, “red lines” around other nations or people is itself a little like touchdown dances in football games, because it is almost always the arrogant or the uncaring who draw the lines and do the dances. Apparently believing that they will always be the winner and always be in charge they feel free to publicly grind what they have attained or believe into the faces of others

Consequentially, in many cases the consequences of not paying attention to consequences can have serious consequences (sorry it got out of control for a moment). Iran, The Euro, The American Fruit Company, The American Civil War, North Korea, the war on drugs, test love, silence on Hitler all come to mind.

In most cases political and governmental “red lines” eventually become wedge issues, not open to compromise and therefore not open to continued thought and revision. Guns, abortion, corporal punishment, deficit spending, taxes, open meeting laws, immigration, Etc. are examples of things that we can no longer apparently discuss in civil discourse so instead our politicians resort to drawing “red lines” in Sharpie around the issues.
Three things almost always happen when we start drawing hard and unmovable lines. I learned this lesson from 8th grade students over the years. This is applicable nationally because I have come to believe that behavior of 8th grade students is often an almost perfect allegory for the way our government works so I’m thinking what works for 8th graders might work for politicians.

There are three things that will almost always happen when we draw absolute lines or create zero tolerance rules:

1. Someone who is largely or even completely innocent will trip over a carelessly drawn red line and the class (world) will then watch to see what you do about the infraction and judge your fairness and consistency based on how you handle it.

2. Someone who just doesn’t care about lines or the punishment that comes with crossing them will intentionally stomp on one, look you directly in the eye and dare you to do something about it and the class (world) will then watch you to see what you do and judge your strength based on your response.

3. Those who originally drew the line, when the consequences of enforcing it, or the political costs become clear, will re-draw the line in another place proving that the line never really existed in the first place and the class (world) will then believe that they must evaluate carefully your credibility.

There are other problems besides these that are associated with publicly drawing zero tolerance “red lines” but the end results of any of just these three and the others associated with thoughtless line drawing will in almost all cases be unfortunate.

Do I believe that some lines must be drawn? Absolutely but if they are drawn as absolutes then they must be absolutely enforced and as Shakespeare tells us, “Ay there is the rub.” Unfortunately in our world “red lines” drawn on a map, created as a dare, or politically motivated are quite like speed limit signs on the interstate highway system. Somebody is going to cross that line and in many cases defiantly. But there is a difference between speed limit signs, nuclear weapons and nerve gas. When you back someone or a government into a corner with a “red line” there are only two ways for it to end. Either the ‘red lined” party will acquiesce after making face-saving appropriate noises and accepting meaningful bribes or they come out of the corner in the only way they can, by  attempting to or actually knocking you down and stepping on you. This is just as true of governments as it is of 8th grade students, if you don’t leave a face-saving way out for governments or 8th grade students there is only one possible alternative.

If we must draw lines they can be drawn privately between governments, believe it or not, in our society “open meetings” are possibly the worst possible method of solving serious problems. Policy created in open meetings tends to end up looking like a camel when they intended to design a horse. Our governments and leaders would be well served by learning to draw gray dotted lines , just as many excellent teachers do, by whispering in a student’s ear a clear list of behaviors and consequences without shaming them, challenging them publicly or “red lining” them into a corner.

Public line drawing will not change behaviors or solve problems, If life were a game of tennis, “red lining” would be an overhand smash at the net into the face of public opinion and as such must always be considered suspect no matter how profound the apology or justification given to the bloodied opponent or the fans in the stands.

I understand that some things deserved to be “red lined” because they are so dangerous and disruptive that we cannot tolerate their continued existence but I also believe that as Asimov tells us , “Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent,” and I believe you could replace violence in that quote with “red lines,” and in too many cases today maintain its accuracy.

And yes I understand that I have just been guilty of ‘red lining”, “red lines.”

Will You Be Offended By This?

The greatest infringement of free speech in America today is the too often used phrase, “That offends me.” To which I almost always reply, “I’m offended that what I said offends you.” Now that we are both offended can we discuss the facts of the issue rather than our feelings, “I’m offended, “ has become a favorite of the politically correct and it is nearly impossible to attack it or defend against it, because , “ all can claim it and none can prove it.”

Can We Teach Reading In Our Schools

The Sunday paper properly devoted several pages to the problems of poor readers, but infers that poor reading skills are simply a teaching/ academic problem. In reality much research shows that we learn to read by reading. Just as we learn to shoot a basketball by shooting a basketball. The only consistent research about reading skills relating to cause and effect shows that the children of parents who read, go to the library and have books in the house, tend to be good readers.
Schools can help teach reading but in reality, like many of the behaviors bedeviling education today, the field of play for reading may be set before the child enters school. This is not a genetic, ethnic, poverty, or racial thing this is learning by example thing. Kids typically do what they see! When kids are young if their parents read to them instead of putting on a video or watching TV and the child often sees the parents reading, research shows that they themselves will most likely also become good readers, barring some psychological or physiological barrier.
Schools can teach the mechanics of reading but parents and family must teach the love of reading if our children are to truly become better readers.

The Magical and Incredible Disappearing News

I am not denying the importance of the Boston Marathon Bombings. but it makes we wonder just how important were they. Since the bombings occurred we have had an earthquake in China that killed hundreds, North Korea still stands poised to shoot off missiles, A Town in Texas was devastated by an explosion with 14 dead, hundreds have  been killed in terrorists bombings in other countries,  Our national debt increases,  Afghanistan and Iraq still loom over us and the Europeans, from the lack of news,  have apparently solved their debt crisis. Prior to the Boston Marathon those were all “fears” being  feverishly fomented by the media. Now they have all seemingly disappeared.

Three other suggestions for the media, never show the bomber’s faces again, show a darkened  profile and refer to them as murderers without ever again using their names, not terrorists not Chechens, not college students but murderers.   Second,  don’t ever again make your third from the top headline on your web page the day after something like this happens, “Celebrity  Tweats .” it says more about you than you could ever know.   Third stop interviewing the murderer’s  relatives, its painful for them, its painful for us and  at this point I feel like I know more about the murderers than I do about my own children.

Boston, Bombs and America

There is no real upside to the senseless and meaningless killing and maiming of  any living thing but it is a tribute to the spirit and character of Bostonians and Americans that the number of people running towards the site of the bombing to render aid was equal to or greater than the number of those who were running away in fear.

Fear is a valuable tool but only if you turn towards it and face it, that is the difference between success and failure both personally and nationally.