We consistently hear about the woeful state of the US educational system. Inattentive parents, overworked teachers, and crowded schools constantly put the United States in the bottom of test scores. However, as a parent and a former college flunky I have to ask, what is the point of all of this?

I failed miserably in college. But my failures in college were not the work of any of the aforementioned complaints. I went to a decent school, was raised in a loving home, and was a consistent B student. At Northern Illinois, I slacked off and slept through $15,000 worth of tuition. This isn't rare, since over half of the freshman who start college never get "The Piece of Paper"®.

I decided to write this little diatribe after an impromptu conference with Nathan's teacher. Nathan is reading, counting to fifty, and is knows an astounding amount of facts and figures that as I parent I am proud to have. Except, according to the latest academic standards, he should have known that in utero. We're now finding out that my wonderful child is behind, and now in trouble of revisiting kindergarten. I've already had experience in holding a kid back, and have no problems doing it when it makes sense. Tonight, I'm still grasping for sense out of this matter. Apparently, as a parent, I'm supposed to push Nathan every waking moment to read, add, subtract, divide, conquer Poland, etc. But I have to ask where the fun is supposed to be squeezed in. The last thing I want to do is to turn a motivated Kindergardener into a unmotivated first grader.

Public Schools do a great job of churning out kids. Unfortunately, they do a poor job of customizing curriculum for each child's talents and needs. Over the past several years I have been a strong proponent for privatizing the education system and moving into a voucher-based economy. Our own brief experience with Emily and Hannah in a private school only seems to validate these beliefs.

In the end, we want a talented and motivated workforce to drive the American Economy. But, as a parent, a flunky, and MBA; why are we driving our kids into overachievement?

Posted by Brian at 8:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

With the incoming Obama administration, one question that resonates across the disappointed conservative base is the return of government mandated fairness. While some politicians link mandating "fairness" to other items as such limiting pornography or vulgar language; the bigger question is "who" is going to be the judge of fairness.

We have a judicial system, like it or not for all of its idiosyncrasies, which mandates fairness. Rules are followed and judgments are handed out. But there is a difference in how this "fairness" is metted out. Judges only interpret laws that are approved by the legislative and executive branches of government. And in the end, a jury or twelve people sit on each case and decide whether the law, the judge, and the people are prosecuting a "fair" case.

Now we are looking at the return of a number of "fairness" issues. President-Elect Obama talks about leveling the economic playing field, Talk Radio is up in arms about the return of the "Fairness Doctrine" and Congress is looking at making our lives "more fair" through a variety of economic proposals. The question remains, who is going to be the judge of this fairness?

Are the FCC, Congress, or even the Obama Administration good judges of fairness? While some of the people recovering from the group hug/orgasm of Tuesday night might agree, the cold hard reality is government has never a good judge of fairness. If you ask the people of New Orleans or the thousands on public aid, government mandated fairness is slow, stupid, and eventually costs exponentially more in the long run.

The American People and their hard earned dollars are usually the best judge of fairness. If we disagree with something, we stop paying attention. In the media, this means a loss of dollars and eventual bankruptcy. This process has worked for millennia across a wide swath of industries.

While "Change" may have been a mandate this past Tuesday, "Fairness" shouldn't be one as well over the next four years.

Posted by Brian at 8:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dear Die-Hard Cubbie Fan,

Please chill. I know your world is crumbling around you, the sun has turned to a ghastly orb, and Billy Goats around the nation are high-hooving each other. And yes, you are 0-2, heading into LA for what appears to be an ignoble finish to a blessed season.

But railing and rooting against the White Sox isn't going to get you sympathy.

In 2005, I could not believe the vile crap I heard from Cubbies fans who were rooting for the Astros. You know, those Astros who are in the same division as you and routinely used to clobber your asses.

But now that we are both in the 0-2 hole, and we both can probably look forward to an October which is filled with Halloween decorations and avoiding ESPN, here's the deal.

It's really simple. Let's hope that one Chicago team survives that crap and somehow, someway makes it to the ALCS or NLCS. At this point, I don't care which. While I've been a life-long White Sox fan, I would love to see the Cubbies win it all. Even if Ozzie is out swearing at caddies when it happens.

For the first time in 106 years, we have something to celebrate. And in probably two days, we'll look back on this time and swear and drown ourselves in our favorite beverage and start counting the days until pitchers and catchers report to Arizona.

But until that happens...layoff the crosstown bullshit.

Posted by Brian at 10:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Oh, this has been a fun one....

#1. Go to "ropes course". Find out that I can't do the course. Only one that doesn't climb the pole of death (no, that's not what it's really called).
#2. Have to run back to truck (about a mile, uphill) to deliver goodie bags to team.
#3. Have to leave early, miss out on the remaining fun stuff that I could have done.
#4. Get pulled over for an illegal lane change. (Thankfully, only got a warning).
#5. Get lost, end up taking back road route to airport.
#6. Miss plane cutoff time by literally ONE MINUTE. Even though I could have made it through security, run over the bridge, and been on the plane....no no, Frontier doesn't allow that. Of course, every OTHER airline has the ability to override the cutoff, but apparently Frontier forgot to invest in that part.
#7. Buy overpriced ticket on Southwest so I could at least get home tonight.

Well, I still have my health (and didn't break anything on the trip). More pics later....

Posted by Brian at 5:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Took a brief trip out to the Air Force Academy, lots more pics tomorrow (since I left the camera in the truck).

Posted by Brian at 12:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This time...well....it may involve serious injury (probably knot....), but it should be interesting. Driving to Colorado Springs shortly, getting some work caught up in the airport while I grab a quick lunch, then off to the rental car.

Posted by Brian at 2:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)