Why do we blame government for the failures of the US educational system?

Whenever I hear the yearly announcement that the US is yet again trailing in math and science, I also notice that the op-ed columns immediately start the blame game. So, who is to blame for our kid’s poor school performance? Consider these facts:

• 92% of the funds for elementary and secondary level comes from non-Federal sources.
• The Department of Education delivers about 99 cents on the dollar in education assistance to States, school districts, postsecondary institutions, and students.
• The Department’s staff is 46 percent below the 1980 high of 7,528 employees.

So if only 8% of the funds for elementary (k or 1-5) and secondary level (6-12) education comes from the Federal government, why then does the Federal government get blamed so much for our low math and science rankings? I understand that the Department’s mission is “to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access”, but surely they should only get a portion of the blame relative to the amount they fund the failing educational system. Shouldn’t we be looking at the other 92% of the $1 trillion spend on education — individual State, local, and private sources?

Considering Private School

Our 56 million students attend 99,000 public schools and 34,000 private schools. That’s a lot of private schools to consider! And here’s the kicker — some research is indicating that private schools aren’t necessarily doing better than their public school counterparts. Sure private schools can excel — like in 8th grade English — but the belief that private schools consistently excel in all subjects at all grade levels is not supported by all the research.

My Public/Private Educational Experience

So, who else can we blame? I’ll consider my own education. I went to public school for my entire education except for two and a half years at a private Baptist school in Savannah, Georgia. I think my intellectual growth was stunted during those years of private school education. Perhaps that is an unfair statement when I compare that growth to my later education. Nearly 5% of the students from my high school graduating class ended up going to an Ivy League school — and most of them could do so without receiving a scholarship.

Blaming Parents

Regardless of my private or public school attendance, during all my years of education I had a very supportive parent that was interested in my education. At a basic level, I never had to worry about being hungry, cold, or clothed. In addition, they inquired about my studies, did homework with me, fed my curiosity with educational summer programs and camps, and funded my extra-curricular activities.

In other words, I mostly blame my parents for my education. Thankfully, I had a good one.

Solar Energy: A Current Review

During my honeymoon, my wife and I stayed in an eco-lodge in New Zealand. I was amazed at their story — not only was the lodge powered by solar energy, it was built with solar energy! The owners partially powered the tools and generator used to build the house with solar energy when possible.

Eight 80-watt solar panels and eight 24-volt deep cycle batteries provide the power for the house and the lodge. An inverter draws the power from the batteries into the proper 230 volts for appliances, such as our lights, washing machine, and refrigerators. Three hours of full sunlight will provide enough electricity for daily use.

So I began to wonder — has solar power finally arrived? In the case of the eco-lodge in New Zealand, it also took energy-sipping appliances, strategically placed lighting and windows, and a mild environment to make it happen there. But where does solar stand in the US?

Currently, electricity costs about $.08/kilowatt hour in most states. To put that in perspective, a 100-watt incandescent lightbulb would cost about $.60 to run 24/7 for an entire month. That’s pretty darn cheap, and hard to compete against!

In 1970, the cost of solar finally decreased from $100 to $20 per watt. Today, solar is $.30 KWH — still a full 3x more expensive than typical utility costs. Imagine your monthly electric bill tripling! That’s the current state of affairs for a solar powered grid.

So an utility approach may not be the solution — what can an individual do off the grid? Currently, a 4-kilowatt solar photovoltaic system costs about $34,000 without government rebates or tax breaks. As a result, solar power accounts for well under 1% of U.S. electricity generation.

But how bright does the future of solar energy look? Worldwide photovoltaic installations increased by 5,948 MW in 2008, up from 2,826 MW installed during the previous year. To put this in perspective, in 1985 annual solar installation demand was only 21 MW! We’ve come a long way, baby.

The US grew to 357 megawatts in 2008. Spain is the largest market, followed by Germany.

But strong at the heels of these global players is China, which wants renewable energy to account for 15 percent of the country’s overall use. China recently announced to boost solar output 13 fold by 2011 to 2,000 megawatts.

You Are What You Tweet

felfoldi twitter response to bmorrissey

Recently, I stopped subscribing to @BMorrissey on Twitter. Brian Morrissey is the Digital Editor at Adweek. I stopped my subscription in reaction to a post like this:

Ran 5.75 miles in 42 mins and felt good. legs felt surprisingly perky after long time on the bike

My response, found at the beginning of this post, attracted the attention of several of his other subscribers. Some were private messages to me thanking me for having the guts to tweet what I did. Others were public postings from groupies, insulting my character and questioning my motives. @Armano pointed me to Morrissey’s blog posting on the tweet. Apparently I got him thinking. And he got me thinking, too.

In his blog posting Morrissey stated he started his Twitter account “not as a professional tool but a way to keep in touch with a few friends and family members”. 8,331 subscribers later, “it became something different.” Rather than start a new Twitter account targeting and relating to different audiences, Morrissey states that he would prefer to not “completely change what I share, even if plenty of people, like former follower David Felfoldi, find it superfluous.”

But I think my main point was missed in my 142 character tweet. My issue is not that he posts things outside his profession. In fact, my own Twitter feed is loaded with personal stuff including my own triathlon trials and tribulations. And I agree with Morrissey when he says that that it is often those very tweets that get the most response from my subscribers.

Rather, my issue is rooted in my non-personal relationship with Morrissey on a very-much public medium — Twitter. I started following Morrissey because of his professional vantage point. His bio on Twitter reads “Digital Editor at Adweek, marathon runner, cheeseburger connoisseur”. I had no problem with the marathon running tweets — it was the second thing on his bio! And while I haven’t seen many cheeseburger tweets recently, I share the passion. Morrissey, if you are ever in Atlanta I’d be happy to point you to the best hamburger joint in the Dirty South.

But then I noticed more and more posts on running. And then then Morrissey started posting his daily workout times and distances. I’ll be frank — I didn’t sign up to get a daily record of some guy’s workout. This reminded me of Jason Calacanic, CEO of Mahalo, who once started “Fat Blogging”. It wasn’t the fact that he was sharing his feelings about his health goals — I’d actually be OK with that. Rather, it was that he was giving daily updates of his actual weight. And, frankly, this behavior annoys me on both Twitter and in-person.

After a running or cycling race, several people — usually the loudest it seems — feel that it is OK to ask your or tell you their times. I truly don’t understand this. Unless you are an elite athlete, you didn’t even get close to the fastest time. So maybe it is a pride thing — you want to share how you did with others? But then I have to ask — are you also willing to share how much money you made last year with others? Your weight? How many calories you consumed daily? So why is it “ok” to ask or share your daily workout metrics? In other words, your personal best record is just that — personal.

So Morrissey, post away about your personal stuff. I’m with you on the triathlon training — I’ll update you on my progress if you feel that will make us closer. But I’m going to assume that most of your 8,331 subscribers aren’t that close enough to you to care. And, frankly, getting your workout schedule wasn’t what I signed up for. So I opted-out.

Creating a household budget

Several readers of my blog have asked me how to live off their salary, and often they feel like their salary is never enough. In fact, my second most visited post — how to live off $40,000 — lists ways one can make the most of a dollar. But the questions continue, so I thought I’d put some research into assembling a framework that can be applied to any salary.

Let’s look at your basic needs:

• Food – About 15% of your budget should go to food according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (2003) Consumer Expenditure Survey. Going to the grocery store will always be cheaper than going out to eat or shopping a convenience store. A friend once told me they thought Wendy’s was cheaper — they could buy a potato with chives and sour cream for just over a buck. Except a potato cost far less than $1, chives can grow in your back-yard, and sour cream can be spread over a number of dishes. Avoid confusing convenience for necessity.
• Shelter – U.S. home ownership first soared past 50% after World War II, to peak at 69% in 2004. But even then, it was after many years of savings (80% of those aged 55-64 own, while 41% under 35 own). Now, many of us expect to own a home in our 30’s, or even 20’s. Rule of thumb is that a mortgage should be no more than than 2x – 3x of your gross annual salary. Many lenders assume 3x when giving you a loan (or did, perhaps that has changed in the recent years). So if you are single making $50K, your mortgage should be no more than $100 – $150K. If that seems like not much of a house, then rent while you save for a down payment. If you are concerned that you are “losing” money renting vs owning, consider that the average return on a house is 6% while the market from 1970 – 2000 returned 10.2%. If anything, you are losing potential by placing money into a house (don’t forget repairs). Don’t be in a rush.
• Clothing – It’s amazing how long clothes can last when you don’t run it through the washer or worse dryer every wear. And if you are working a white-collar job, you probably can get many wears out of a pair of trousers or a skirt. Watch for sales. Learn how to sew to mend.
• Savings – It’s probably strange to see savings as a necessity, but if you don’t have any savings you can’t handle a job loss, health issue, or provide after you are unable to work. Which means you can’t take care of yourself or your family. Savings are a necessity — the more you can save, the better.

Everything else is discretionary. Seriously.

But what about the car, phone, TV, internet, cell, cable, vacation, etc, etc? I’m not saying don’t have them, but I am suggesting that because they aren’t necessary, spend your money frugally on them. If you want a car, don’t buy new and get something you can afford (rule of thumb: 10% of your monthly income should go to transportation). If you want a phone, look into how you can turn your existing internet connection into a phone and phone combination.

Think of it this way — if you were fortunate enough to go to college, remember how you lived back then? Revive some of those strategies.

Or think of it this way — the average household income is $48K. If half of the population in the wealthiest country in the world can do it, so can you.

Plastic bags — reduce, reuse, recycle

Here’s something to consider: the average American will use 22,176 plastic bags in their life (288 in a year, 24 in a month, 6 in a week).

Here are three simple ways to decrease these staggering numbers.

Reduce: use cloth bags instead of plastic bags. If only 1 in 5 of us stopped using plastic bags in the US, we would save 1.3 trillion plastic bags.
Reuse: save your plastic bags for future visits, as liners for waste baskets, or even lunch bags. Every time you reuse a bag you have halved your plastic bag use.
Recycle: if you can’t reduce or reuse the plastic bags, at least consider recycling them. Today, only 1% of plastic bags are even recycled.

Or we could go the path of countries like China, which by banning plastic bags will save 37 million barrels of oil/year. Or Ireland, which reduced consumption of plastic bags by 90%. Progressive US cities like San Francisco have already initiated bans.

George Zinkhan, UGA Professor Sought in Shooting of Three Adults

This is what I read in the news today, minus the George Zinkhan part. But the interesting thing — as soon as I read it I wondered if it had anything to do with Professor George Zinkhan. Some back story.

In spring 2001 I took a Honors class about eCommerce. The class met weekly. What struck me as odd about Zinkhan were the following:

• He was very laid back in a “I’m burned out from my life and work” kinda way. I figured he was just tired from being in academia or having recently written a textbook on eCommerce.
• He wore flip-flops and shorts to class. It was strange to see a professor, especially a business professor, wear such laid-back clothes in class. Hey, I wear flip-flops and shorts to work, so I understand the appeal, but this was the first and only time I’d seen a professor do it.
• He had a long pinky fingernail. All his other fingernails were nicely trimmed, but his pinky fingernail was long. This would lead my classmates to joke that he used it to snort cocaine — as seen in any 80’s movie as the coke nail
• He always came to class and acted like he was under the influence of some drug. Disorganized, confused, scatter-brained. He was by no means violent or tempered.

So when I read the headline, I thought of Zinkhan not because he was a mean, malicious person, but because he was probably involved with drugs, rather heavily, and this just sounded like a “drug-trade-gone-wrong” kinda situation (i.e. behind a building near campus, involved non-students).

I don’t mean to disrespect the deaths of the three adults but if I were investigating this case I would look to see if any of them had a drug history.

update: since posting this blog, I have been kindly (and not so kindly) informed the shooting took place at a community theatre as part of an annual noon picnic. The victims were his wife (they have two kids) and two other community adults. This sounds less like a drug trade gone wrong situation, but the information may help investigators so I’m not deleting the post (despite being told to pleasure myself repeatedly & questioning my mental capacity).

update 2: I’m told that Zinkhan may have fled to his Amsterdam home. Seriously!? I’m telling you drugs may be part of the dispute

update 3: I gave an interview for 11Alive that went on the 11pm news. I hope I made it clear that he didn’t come off as dangerous, just…”peculiar”.

update4: Check out the reviews of Zinkhan’s teaching style at RateMyProfessor.com. One reviewer used the term “quirky” — mine is “peculiar”. His personality stood out enough that when I heard a UGA Professor was involved in a shooting (didn’t know he did the shooting at the time) I immediately thought about Zinkhan. When I discovered it was Zinkhan, I was compelled to post this blog and tweet about it, hoping the material may help capture him.

update 5: 24 hours after the shooting, investigators are saying they have few leads on the Zinkhan shooting case. If you were a student or knew Zinkhan, let me know and I can connect you to some reporters who want to understand what type of person Zinkhan was.

update 6: The AJC has posted a timeline of the events. Zinhan was reportedly arguing with an “unidentified man”, not his wife. He left, came back with two guns, and shot the three people repeatedly. He dropped his kids of at his neighbors, and hasn’t been seen since. Zinkhan is not using credit cards or cell phone at this time and has abandoned his home and kids. These actions don’t sound pre-meditated — they sound like the actions of an impulsive man.

update 7: AJC reports Zinkhan gave a copy of one of his books, a co-written work called “Consumers,” to one of the victims he shot — Ben Teagues — as a gift over dinner at a Lenox Square restaurant.

Update 8: Zinkhan has appeared on America’s Most Wanted, and is also being considered for the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list. Police ask that the public call 706-613-3888 with any information about suspect George Zinkhan.

Update 9: Zinhan’s profile: extremely intelligent and fiercely private individual who is well-resourced, well-traveled and obviously capable of murder. Neighbors paint the picture of the controlling type of an individual who is extremely private and aloof.

Update 10: Why my drug speculation may matter — In 2008 and the beginning of 2009, concealed carry licensees have committed more than 60 documented offenses. Most of them involve assaulting citizens while license holders are under the influence of drugs or alcohol or in a state of rage. They included assaults at sporting events, school campuses and grocery stores.

Update 11: No leads on Zinkhan except they found his car abandoned with his passport in it. Current theory by police is that this was somewhat pre-meditated due to his ability to live off no credit cards or phone. Some others close to Zinkhan think the same thing.

Update 12: Zinkan’s body was found, apparently suicide hours or days after the shooting. Also, motive appears to be his response to awareness of his wife’s affair with Thomas Tanner as he had recorded a conversation between him and his wife about the affair. Not clear yethow Ben Teague was involved.

Why You Shouldn’t Water Your Lawn

I was having a discussion with a friend the other day and, as I passed some large, lush Atlanta lawns, I commented about how wasteful it is to water lawns. The friend challenged me with why it mattered when there wasn’t a drought. And I was a bit flabbergasted in giving a coherent answer. Sure, I remember what I was told about conserving water, but I couldn’t remember exactly why we had to conserve when it was a renewable resource.

So, if you are like me (or you are my friend who also was inquiring) here is what I found.

Why Conserve Water

• Only 1% of the world’s water is usable by humans. It may be a renewable resource, but it is also a very limited renewable resource.
• Earth’s largest aquifer, the Ogalalla Aquifer, is located under the U.S. Midwest. Our rampant water use has this and many other aquifer’s being pumped faster than they are being naturally replenished. As a result, water levels are decreasing and we are on track to deplete these aquifers. We could avoid this with conservation.
• In the US, we often increase consumption of water in the summer. Yet, most drought seasons start in the late summer/early fall. Therefore, we go into drought season with vastly reduced water levels. We could avoid this with conservation.
• It takes energy to process and treat water. So, the less that is needed to be process and treated and the more we conserve, the less energy we use.

And as our population grows, so does the need for water. The problem is we are already using too much of it faster than it can be replenished, drought season or not. So the problem isn’t going to get any better by praying on the steps of the Capital for rain. It will require conservation and efficiency.

Environmental Impact of Lawn Maintenance

• 30% of all water use in Eastern US is from lawn maintenance. In the West — 60%.
• 50% of water used in lawn maintenance is wasted — it has no benefit to the lawn — due to improper application timing and dosage.

Why You Shouldn’t Water your Lawn

For a resource that is so limited and requiring so much energy to artificially renew it seems rather silly to waste that limited resource on a pretty green lawn. Now I’m sure asking society to stop watering their lawn is seen as an extremist perspective — especially having experienced the very request being made during Atlanta’s record low water levels for the past three years and the following fighting over the resource (screw Florida and the river mussels!).

So I ask: outside of pride (I deserve a green lawn!) and vanity (look how green and lush my lawn is!), is there a good reason for using this limited resource for lawn maintenance more than what is provided by natural precipitation?

Water Conservation Resources

• http://earth.rice.edu/MTPE/hydro/hydrosphere/hot/freshwater/FreshWater_OCP06.html
• http://ezinearticles.com/?Is-Water-A-Renewable-Resource?&id=475902
• http://www.purdue.edu/envirosoft/lawn/src/environmental.htm

Gender Roles

I just don’t understand why gender roles persist. I don’t get why our society as a whole perpetuates gender roles or how gender roles are helpful to all parties involved. I understand individual motivations to perpetuate gender roles (especially when it is a role that gives power to one in exchange for another benefit), but I don’t understand why gender roles continue based on, well, gender.

Definition of gender roles

To be clear, a definition:

gender roles are the set of perceived behavioral norms associated particularly with males or females, in a given social group or system. It can be a form of division of labour by gender. To put it simply, it refers to the attitudes and behaviors that class a person’s stereotypical identity, e.g. women cook and clean, men fix cars. Gender is one component of the gender/sex system, the set of arrangements by which a society transforms biological sexuality into products of human activity, and in which these transformed needs are satisfied.

So, to be clear, is the the transformation of biological sexuality into product of human activity that I don’t understand/accept.

Gender Roles in Division of Labor

Let’s take the first type of gender role — those that form a division of labour. Other than jobs that require specific physical capability (i.e. fireman, birthing babies), I’m at a huge loss to understand why gender should play a role in a job. I’m not going to buy that males are better at math, because I’m unable to accept that a Y chromosome definitely provides enhanced cognitive capabilities for that field. There is way too much chicken and egg going on here — perhaps the improved capabilities are due to the way the human was raised and encouraged their entire life, either by the parents, family, or society? I’m not going to buy that women are better at raising kids. Is that lack of y-chromosome making someone more empathetic, nurturing, or is this a self-fulling prophecy?

And, wait a darn minute, who is to say that raising kids is best served by commonly-held female gender qualities?

Gender Roles in the Household

So let’s take this to a bit more of gray area — gender roles in the relationship. Why is one of the people in a relationship, as defined as whether they possess or lack a primary sexual characteristic, supposed to take out the trash, fix things, initiative romance, bring home the bacon, or be the spiritual leader?

All of these things because one has or doesn’t have a penis!

Doesn’t this seem limiting — why should my gender specify what I can and can not do? Perhaps unfair — like you had a choice in the matter of your original sex? Or at least questionable — wake up ladies that’s probably your religion oppressing you!

Gender Roles in Homosexuality

Ever hear someone say “Sue and Betsy are a gay couple. Sue is the “butch” of the relationship”. Even gays can escape gender roles! Apparently there is a term for this:

The heteronormative view is that physical sex, gender identity, and gender roles should, in any given person, align to either all-male or all-female cultural norms

Seriously folks, stop limiting others by projecting your gender-view of the world on other people, especially those that renounce your sexual preference roles.

I hope that my kids, or at least my grandkids (either of which maybe I’ll stay home with to raise, or not) can live in a world free of gender roles. It will probably be a lot of confusing for them, but life is usually long enough to figure it out.

How do wealthy Christians exist?

I was reading Sarah Vowell’s Wordy Shipmates and, while reading about the religious fervor of the Puritans, I couldn’t help but wonder: how does a Christian living in America reconcile their wealth with their beliefs?

I say America because if they live in America earning $50,000 income/year, they are already richer than 99% of the rest of the world population. Yet as I see What Would Jesus Do bracelets, I can’t help but think he wouldn’t be wearing Abercrombie and Fitch clothing and owning a 2,400 SQ FT house. But I’m guessing here.

Before we progress, some background. I used to be a pretty devout Christian. I was raised Catholic. In my teens, my family moved to The Bible Belt and I attended a private Baptist middle school. I witnessed a plenty. By the end of that experience, I was quoting scripture and carrying a leather bound NIV Bible.

But I was conflicted. And how richly one should live was one of the concerns. If you asked what I wanted to be in the future, I would say priest. Later, in my 7th grade St. Valentine’s Court, I would simply say study psychology. I just didn’t know how much I needed to walk the walk in order to certify my ticket into Heaven.

So, I’m back at wondering once again how/why do wealthy Christians exist. The concern is that if one is wealthy, they aren’t 1) helping out others enough, 2) are too focused on wealth or the making thereof, or 3) spending too much time with their material and not enough with their Messiah.

A friend reminded me that the Bible doesn’t concern itself with the ambiguities of how much wealth you should/shouldn’t keep. I agree. The Bible, New Testament at least, is notably ambiguous to specific amounts of wealth. However, the Bible in general is a qualitative not quantitative piece of literature.

I think the lack of dollar or percentage amount has more to do with not buying your way into heaven (1 corith 13:3) and less about it being OK to be wealthy/rich. Some state that their wealth is a sign that they are blessed. But Matthew 13:22 warns of the concerns of wealth, Mark 10:23 states the difficulty of the rich going to heaven, Luke 16:13 discusses how wealth detracts from God.

Is it OK for a Christian to be wealthy? As Palin says, you betcha! But let’s be honest, with so much scripture warning of the concerns of being wealthy, about it detracting you from God, it would take a really, really, I mean REALLY devout Christian to be both wealthy and on the course. And I just can’t believe that most Americans are this devout.

Sex in Beverly Hills 90210

I’m not planning to watch Beverly Hill 90210, just like I didn’t the first time around. But I did want to add these contrasting visuals. Yes, how far we’ve come along as a society.

Beverly Hills 90210 v1.0: Note the vivid colors and fully clothed actor persons in their early 20's. One girl is hugging a guy. All white cast.

Beverly Hills 90210 v2.0: Note the earthy colors and barely clothed actor persons in their late 20's. One girl is riding a guy. Token black dude.