Tag: Education

What Supply and Demand Does NOT Address

by Chanel Rose, posted in Economics

“Supply and demand” is a common response to many economic discussions. However, it is only PART of the discussion. There are MANY MANY MANY factors at play. NOT JUST supply and demand.

Last night I had a great (though short) discussion  with a peer about political candidates and the economy. One of the topics (BRIEFLY) discussed was the unemployment/underemployment of college graduates. His solution was to reduce the number of college graduates because … you guessed it … supply and demand.

He is right. If we reduced the number of college graduates available for businesses to hire, businesses will have to offer the graduates available more. Yet, something nags at me. Something is screaming at me that this is a bad idea. Part of my peer’s argument was that if we continue to increase the number of college graduates, they will continue to get less and less because the supply would be greater than the demand. Thus, we should NOT make college more affordable and accessible for the masses.

Yet, something nags at me. Something is screaming at me that this is a bad idea. That something is all other causes and effects. Yes, one of the effects of having a large college educated population is reduced “reward” for that education. Yet, there is more to it.

Do you know what else is a result of having a large educated (college or otherwise) population? All the benefits of education. You have people making a better contribution to society and making it a better place. You have people making gadgets and gizmos. You have people increase the efficiency of operations. You have people using personal, group, or public resources to improve the environment. You have a happier society.

Increasing the education of the population may reduce the individual rewards, but it also increases the societal rewards. I recall hearing a comparison of today’s economy with yesteryear’s. The comparison goes something like the rich of yesteryear would be the poor of today.

That comparison reminds me of this discussion. A college education may not grant the same social-economic advantage as it did in yesteryear, but today’s society-economy is more advanced than yesteryear. Thus, progress and stuff.

In conclusion, supply and demand is not the entire answer. It is only part of the answer. What are other parts can you think of?

My imperative – my command – is to ….

by Chanel Rose, posted in About Me, Women's Issues

My imperative – my command – is to work directly with individuals to help them overcome societal barriers by helping them find answers and increase their knowledge.

I seek to impact individuals or groups of individuals.

I am driven to ensure everyone has access to opportunity.

I uncover new information and develop insights.

It breaks my heart to know people go hungry. It breaks my heart to know that people sleep without shelter. It breaks my heart to know that people go without health care. What breaks my heart more is to hear people say that those people deserve it. No one deserves to be hungry. No one deserves to not have shelter. No one deserves to go without treatment. No one. Not the “good” people. Not the “bad” people. Not adults. Not children. No one deserves to be in poverty.

In the not too distant future no one will go hungry. No one will be without shelter. No one will be without healthcare. This is an idealized view of the near future. Some may say that this is unrealistic and unachievable. However, nothing is impossible if we work together to build the perfect society. What matters is not that we achieve this within our lifetime, but that we continuously work toward it.

Gun Violence in America

by Chanel Rose, posted in Current Events, My 2 Cents and Sadly No Coffee

The article I read: Congress Still Bans CDC Scientists from Studying Gun Violence by Janet D Stemwedel a contributor to Forbes

In the wake of more violence in America, it seems as if members of Congress are purposefully trying to make the government more and more ignorant. I was completely unawares that the US Congress had forbad the research into gun violence by government scientists. How ludicrous is that!

Whether you are for or against gun regulation, it is irresponsible to disallow research into the matter. If you are for gun regulation, allow research so that we may understand whether or not we need regulation. If you are against gun regulation, allow research so that we may understand whether or not we need regulation.

This brings to mind that a state congress has also forbad the testimony of scientists when *discussing* the issue of climate change. Was that Florida? I don’t recall. Why are more and more anti-science politicians being elected to state and federal offices? Why are those anti-science politicians then being allowed to be part of science-policy-making committees?

The way I see it, if a group is against globally approved research, they must fear that the answers will prove them wrong.

It is sad to be an American today. It is so hard to be educated in this country.

*****

EDIT: I should also add, that the CDC is not the appropriate agency to study gun related deaths. Also, there have been studies from other agencies over the years, though I don’t know which ones. However, gun violence — especially, mass shootings — remain a problem, and we as a society need to work towards an answer to reduce such events. We need to know why events happen, so that we can take action against them. “This will always be an issue, so let’s do nothing” is not an acceptable stance.

A random morning thought: childhood education

by Chanel Rose, posted in My 2 Cents and Sadly No Coffee

What if there are some teachers accidentally teaching our youngsters to not be ambitious?

During my childhood, I recall some teachers would allow bonus work and others would not. The teachers that did not allow bonus work would say they didn’t want the extra work, though a few claimed it did not reflect the “real world.” I also recall some teachers not allowing late work for the same reasons.

I propose that by not allowing late work or bonus work, teachers are inadvertently teaching our children to not be successful. During my short time in the “real world” I find that employers do allow late work – at a cost – and they LOVE bonus work.

Employers would rather you complete your work late than not at all. However, if you make a habit of it, you will be fired.

Also, employers want their employees to be ambitious and take on additional responsibilities and learn new skills. That is the easiest way to get raises and promotions.

I wish we would pay our teachers more. I wish we would not overburden them with too many classes. I wish we had smaller class sizes. I wish many wonderful things for our teachers. If our teachers had better working conditions, imagine our children’s learning environment. Yes, there are many children who each year over come their circumstances. However, I implore you, imagine the child who had to overcome these small obstacles, you know, the one who became successful. What if instead, he were able to use the that drive to better society.

Unfortunately, we all have multi-lemmas (trilemma, dilemma, etc). We have multiple wants and needs, yet we can only satisfy some of them. What if a child wants to improve his or her family’s economic standing, but also wants to improve the economic standing of society as a whole? Not everyone can do both. After all, there are other needs that eat up our time as well.

It takes more than ambition to have the capability of handling multiple large wants-needs at a time. … also, there are many lessons what we all want our children to learn, and teachers can only do so much. We as a society need to work together in order to create the best environment for our children. We as a society need to work together to create the best world for us to live. All I am saying is that treating our teachers better would be a great start.

Ramble over.