Hey Nostatus didn't I just say the smae thing as G-9 Girl did on my own Thread????????????????????/

BAAAAAAAAHHHHHH BAAAAAAAAHHHHH
 

SHEEP SHEEP SHEEP

Hey Nostatus I told You they are SHEEP.....bought off with the house in the suburb, SUV and Credit cards

How serious are you? Personally, I think using politics to change things is like screwing a lightbulb into a toilet. If you want things to change, then change them yourself and don't beg a politician to do it for you.

If you are serious, I have been researching a plan to change the world through education. Basically, I feel that publically funded education (while certainly a noble idea) is fundementally flawed. So I have been researcing a way to fund our education system privately. It isn't nearly as nutty as it sounds. I plan to move on this plan after I have retired - sort of as a second career.

In my vision, teachers get paid six figure salaries, are held to the same standards as other professionals making that pay, schools don't lack for money, and students and parents are held to extremely high standards. There is a school in MA called Boston Latin that achieves some of these goals so I know it can be done. I just think EVERY school should be so good. And I don't think publically funded schools can do it.

Accomplish that goal and I think a lot of the other social ills will work themselves out. OTOH, without improving education, we'e going nowhere fast.

Janus, that is the only solution...not at all nutty as long as there is some non-NEA management in place.

janus I agree, and I'm dead serious. I'm likely about to be reorg'd out of a job and am trying to think about what I want to do next. I have a couple of startup ideas, one in disaster simulation/preparedness, the other in healthcare. but I have the most experience in the edu space especially wrt new technologies. as much of a proponent of public ed as I am (i am a product of the ca school systems before they sucked) I see how bad they are now via my 8 year old. they are beating the creativity and innovation out of him already.

I'm up for further discussion.

Okay, then I'll give more details if y'all are willling to listen (or read?). Take a city like...um...Worcester, where I happen to live. Start a non-profit business. Something really boring like storage unit rental or automated carwashes or just residential rental properties...something that turns a slow and steady profit with no fuss and no muss. There is an oil company in MA run by Joe Kenendy that does something very similar. They sell oil at a profit to regular customers in order to provide it below cost to low income people. So I didn't invent this idea. It works today.

Take the profits and use them to run a private school in the city. Pay the teachers serious dinero. Somebody really needs to pay teachers according to their importance in our society. Then you will get highly talented professionals entering the field and STAYING (I know too many super smart people who left teaching because they could not feed their families). Teaching should be a path to wealth, not poverty.

Keep the school private. Keep class sizes around five or ten. Tell the NEA to eff off. For that matter, tell the local school board and the state board of ed to eff off. Have open enrollment for any kid in the school district. No entrance exams. No fees. Every kid gets a private school education for free and the goal is that every kid goes to a top college - EVERY kid. Teachers get hired and fired based on the results of their students.

Then, like Boston Latin, make the parents and kids sign a contract outlining their responsibilities - which will be large. If a parent or kid doesn't live up to the contract, bounce'em. If Billy's parents don't like the program or the grades or whatever, then they can take him back to public school.

If you make that school function in a city like Worcester, then you will see property values increase as people WANT to live within the school's district. Teachers in nearby communities will gain increased bargaining power since they can say, "Pay me $12k per year? Screw you, I'm going to Worcester." Companies will want to locate in Worcester to access the well educated workforce. If enough kids go to the private school, then the public schools will have fewer students and so real estate taxes will decline while education improves.

Then, after the first school is operational and the bugs are worked out...replicate replicate replicate...

I've picked the brain of every teacher I can find for the past four or five years to develop that plan. When I retire, I seriously hope to make it happen.

BTW - I really do believe that public education is a noble idea. It says something important about our priorities as a society. Unfortunately, it just doesn't work. So long as the schools are funded via tax dollars, they will always be underfunded. I wish it worked but it doesn't.

Shaun- So quick with the race card. :(

I like it Janus, but you'll NEVER turn enough profit from any feeder business to operate an "academy" on the gravy. I too have ideas in this area, but the financing is the kicker (always is, ofcourse).
Pay to play? Corporate sponsorship? etc.... etc....

I'm on a handheld so more later. I like the concept but I don't think the numbers will work (unless the company is big oil or big pharma) and there are scaling issues. but the fundamental goals and precepts are good. how about getting industry involved in tje funding? they are the ones who are going to get killed when there is no talented labor pool to draw from and all the j1 visas have been revoked.

I've considered that problem. I said "a company" as an example but I assume it would really require "as many companies as it takes"...a bunch of small businesses perhaps...and they need not all be doing the same thing...in fact it may be better if they do diverse things as protection against market volitility...

Corporate sponsorship is creepy...they have their own agendas which may have nothing to do with education...better to have a truly disinterested funding source...

The idea of starting non-profit businesses to do good is not new...for instance a university endowment is little more than a "non-profit" mutual fund (BTW - for those who don't know, mutual funds are actually incorporated businesses whose purpose is to invest in other companies - companies like Fidelity and Vanguard are only paid to "manage" the mutual fund corporation - each fund being technically a separate corporate entity)...I just think it is an underutilized idea...

bingo. google was around the edges with their book scanning gig. in the new economy the only edge we hold is creativity and innovation. hp needs it, chevron needs it, smith kline needs it. so imagine tax breaks for corporations who seriously sponsor schools. in order to make it palatable, do it with public charter schools at first (although .maybe a pure private platform is better sans tax breaks). I don't know...just spitballing here but the companies are the ones with the most obvious things to lose. the societal cost of lousy edu is lost on most people.

But the original source of the endowments is philanthropic. Without the original gift, there is nothing to incorporate.

I see what you're saying, but I still have questions about the numbers and scale. For instance to educate every kid in your town, how many "non-profit" companies are we talking about?

I'm not trying to diss the idea...just see if it has legs under scrutiny. I'd like to try and fix this problem. Somebody has to....might as well be pelicans.

That is why I was looking at businesses rather than setting up endowments. Nothing against endowments - they just require a LOT of up front capital and nobody gets paid back for their investment. One can start a business with borrowed money and then pay back the lenders over time - plus businesses provide employment which was another plus in my view. But yeah, someone still needs to pony up the seed money - just less than needed for a full-blown endowment.

That is also why I keep saying "after I retire". I'm game to pony up some cash once I have cash to spend. And I assume unless others do the same, then my idea is dead. Frankly, if I could do it alone, then I would not bother telling anyone about it. So of course, this is not the first place I've tried to sell this idea. I generally tell it anyone who will listen. :D:D

But regardless, I'm sure funding can be found. I picked the non-profit idea mainly because it works so well here with oil. So I have to assume someone has already worked out those bugs (like startup costs). Heck, maybe the solution is to start an oil company that operates in a different region from Joe Kennedy's company but otherwise does everything else the same. Maybe I just need to call Joe and ask him how he did it.

You want a changed system? Start in local poletics and effect the "system" at a ground level - get a bunch of the folks who have similar concerne and form your party. Heck, just glom onto an exsisting one and if yoy fill it with enough f your people you can take it in any direction (legally) you wish provided your message is sound and you get the votes.

One man with focus can do almost anything withn reason, two working together and the possibilities are infinate. Look at Bill & Hillry.

Nostatic, did she feel the same way about the rebuild after the Northridge earthquake? If it wasn't for government money S. Cal would still be inhabited primarily by cayotes. We can move the production of porn & crappy hollywood movies to anywhere. Why the hell do ya'll live in an earthquake zone anyway?

But if you want to know how to start a revoloution, here tis. Eliminate all forms of taxation but payroll tax. Then eliminate payroll witholding. Make everybody with a job sit down once a week & write a check to the feds, another to the state, another to the county and one more to the city. When people see how much money they really pay in taxes you'll see politicians hanging in trees!

What did we do Sunday morning? We drove unnecessary cars as fast as possible through canyons and along a coastline filled with million dollar + homes.

As for a revolution, I imagine a complete wiping away of all things democratic that we know of. If that happens, there is the potential that everything from our Sunday morning drive could disappear; million dollar houses, loud little sports cars and all else.

So you better be careful what you asked for...you might just get it.

SmileWavy