Ponderings of a Scientist

Two separate streams of thought brought together by one,
unfortunately, not shocking title.

Yesterday I overhead this, “I can speak it better then I can
write it.” I will not say who spoke this
quote to protect his/her stupidity.
However, when I heard this I wanted to scream, “what is wrong with our
educational system” that a person can present a concept better in impromptu
speech than in the written word, the written word that can be pondered and
revised. People do not learn grammar or
vocabulary anymore (man I sound like I’m old; I guess I just lucked out with a
good school system and involved parents).
People don’t even learn penmanship anymore, as long as your kid can connect
the dotted lines to make As, Bs and Cs who cares if he makes the pen strokes
backwards!

Yesterday while reading I came across an article on the administration’s
2007 budget proposal. Can you guess what
department he is proposing to cut the most programs from? You say, no it can’t be the Department of
Education (DOE), what about “No Child Left Behind” or is that “No Child Gets
Ahead” (thank you to which ever one of my friends came up with that witting
comment). He proposes cutting programs
to help the disadvantaged make the grade, programs to help all students compete
globally, programs to help families pay for college (Like new high school grads
need less help affording college.. lets see I owe $20K and that is the least
out of the five friends I had dinner with the other night). The only good thing I can say about the
budget proposal is the Congress has pretty much already written it off and will
hopefully come out with more appropriate appropriations. To see the DOE spending plan go here; the
section titled “Restraining Spending and Managing for Results” is a good read.

Due to high polling numbers I will now discuss the trials
and tribulations of the twenty something.
Let’s see:

College – it costs a lot to learn a little and you now need
a whole series of letters after your name to get a job.

Jobs – Who has one and how long did it take you to get
it? Do you get paid nearly enough to pay
for all the letters you have after your name?
I doubt it. It takes 2 or 3
degree to qualify for temp work making 30K with not benefits

Health Care – Who has health care? Our country needs to do something to help
recent grads get affordable coverage.

Politics – We are opinionated and politically active, yet
our administration doesn’t represent our views.
We are against the establishment!

Home Ownership – I laugh at my own desperate desire to own a
home. Anyone have an extra $300K+
hanging around so I can buy a starter condo or a rundown 2 bedroom?

The list could go on further, but I think I will stop
here. Looking at the list, I would say,
yeah us current twenty somethings have some new issues to deal with, but if you
can’t see how these themes are universal to just about every generation before
us then you need to study up on your history.
Anyone, even the history-phobes, should be able to see the similarities
with the 1960s- hum an unnecessary war fought for political reasons, major environmental
issues, do I need to go on? Anyone with
a little more historical perspective should see the similarities with the 20s,
30s, 40s, 50s, and 70s. We may have it
worse than the twenty year olds of the 80s and 90s, but that’s about it. So for that person at Zipy’s work who thinks we
are fighting a new war, your wrong SORRY!