Sunday, January 31, 2010

Why is school free?

I was just thinking about this the other day while I was talking to my dad and then I went to a training yesterday and the question was posed again, so I figured I must be on the right track. I had a thought earlier this week and it really got me thinking. "What if all public schools charged for students to attend?" I'm not talking a private school type tuition, but something like $500 per year. A little more than $2.75 per school day. It would help pay for school improvements, better lunches, better facilities etc. What would be so wrong with this?

The more I thought about it, the more I actually liked the idea. This is how I would see it playing out. The home property taxes would go down because schools were no longer solely funded by the number of houses in the area. If a student lived in one area but went to a school in a neighboring area, the school would still be financially supported by that student and their family. Schools that have large apartment populations would also reap the benefits of more cash flow from their students. I think this would take a great burden off of school budgets to pay for student who aren't paying for the school as in the current system. It would also allow a stream of revenue for other academic endeavors such as school technology and building projects. Districts would be able to allocate more money to teachers, administrators and personnel since actual per school cost will have a way of being covered. These are just some thoughts.

I'm sure some will argue that "All kids can't afford it." or "That's wrong to make kids to pay for school.". I disagree. I feel that if you want a quality product you should be willing to pay for it. When these same kids buy Jordan's, Coogi sweaters, true religion jeans, baby phat outfits, coach handbags, and ipods I don't hear anyone complaining about cost, so what's so different about their education? If a parent is willing to pay $400 for a playstation 3 with 1 controller and no games you think $500 for the ability to read, write and comprehend would be a bargain. Sadly enough, the masses don't see it this way. They expect a free education. They expect people to want to deal with their unruly children and like it and then they turn around and want to bash the people who take their time and efforts and give their all to try to teach the masses. They say "those who can't do, teach." Well I'd like to see some of those same people stand in front of a crowd of 30 uninterested, unmotivated, untrained, disrespectful strangers and teach them anything. Then you'll see what one class is like. Good luck!

I think a paid education would allow for most of the principles that people want to see in schools. If you're paying, then you expect a good product. This would mean that parents would be more apt to actually take a vested interest in their child's education because they are now footing the bill. Since you are paying, you can now expect teachers, principals and the like to provide the best service available to your child. It's not like they aren't already, but now when you say "I would like to meet with you because I feel something may need to be done better" you have a leg to stand on and the school would be far more apt to listen because it's your business they would like to keep. By supporting your child's school, you could demand for better food, services, supplies and production from your school and what the kicker would be is that the school will actually have funding to implement the changes without the red tape.

These are just ideas of how I think things would go in a paid education system, but I don't think it would be a bad thing. Sure there are holes that I would have to sure up and guidelines that would still need to be put in place but the overall premise is one that I think needs to be looked at moving forward with today's education system. If you have any more ideas, suggestions, concerns, rebuttals, dissenting opinions please feel free to leave a comment or two. Don't forget to follow @ogreen32 on twitter or at ogreen32.blogspot.com for all of the latest updates. Take care!

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Late night

Can't sleep. I know I should be. I definitely have work in the morning, but I'm not tired and I'm just thinking about some things.

1.) I really like these new google extensions on their chrome browser.
2.) I would really like to look into this public policy PhD a little more. I think I can do some good in that area.
3.) I'm feeling this iheartradio app. Q93 and FM 98 are bringing me back. I still think those are the best two radio stations ever. Q93 is still tops in my book.
4.) I would love to be a full-time, well-paid tech blogger where I could work from home and keep my finger on the pulse of mobile tech and gadgetry, I'll keep working towards that.
5.) I'm glad I cleaned the gutters today. We're supposed to have some bad rain on the way.
6.) I agree with Sakina, I'm done with winter.
7.) I hate going to the doctor. I'm never that sick.
8.) I'm completely stoked about getting married.
9.) Sometimes I wish I could use more of my talents, but I'll be patient and use them at the appropriate times.
10.) I love my family and friends. Yall are the best.
11.) The Saints finally made it to the super bowl.
12.) I like law and order but I secretly urge to be a dissident and militant/rebel. I'm not sure what that's all about.
13.) Kids will be kids.
14.) We need to start doing what's right and not what's popular.
15.) Deal with the root cause of the problem. Don't just put a band aid on it.
16.) There's never enough money. We'd be better off without it. It causes too many problems.
17.) Be kind to the Earth.
18.) Chance is an awesome dog.
19.) I love my g1.
20.) Feel free to add your own comments. I'm done for now. Take care.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Healthcare

I don't have too favorable view of our current health care system. Thank the good Lord I'm in relatively good health and it's rare that I have to go to the doctor, but when I do I feel the pain in the wallet.


The past couple of times I've gone I've had to come out of pocket quite a bit for nothing. Both times I went to urgent care clinics (primacare and care now) and in both cases I saw a doctor for about 5 minutes and in one case a PA and both basically told me to keep doing what I was doing and sent me on my way. Both times I was given at least a $200 bill. Really? Thats ridiculous! Something has to give.


Obviously the government can't fix it, so I'm hoping maybe someone reading this can find something that works better than our current system. I have insurance but I have to fulfill an out of pocket deductible before they start paying and the deductible is not cheap (it was the only option they presented me). So, my one doctor visit every other year continues to cost me just like if I had no insurance at all. Just pathetic. I'm truly at a loss. Let's get it together American insurance companies and health care system. Do something right.


Feel free to leave a comment. I look forward to hearing if you've had any similar experiences. Take care! Oh and don't get sick.


Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Computers

I've been gone for a bit but I'm back! This will be a totally geeked out post, but feel free to read along. I'm tired of windows, I don't care for mac so what do I do? I'm looking at some linux based operating systems, but they're a bit more technical than I'm comfortable dealing with so I'm just up in the air. I'm downloading this OS called jolicloud and I'll see how this goes. It's made for netbooks, but supposedly it runs on laptops too. I just wish we had more of a choice in the computing world. More than just mac and pc would be a dream. If you have any comments, feel free to leave it in the comment section. Take care.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Back in the saddle

A break. It's just what the doctor ordered. Along with some crafty switching of students in my classes. I feel a thousand times better about my situation. The Lord has once again worked his magic and for that I'm eternally grateful. I've had some new opportunites open up for me and I'm focusing on the positive. I guess if I were a resolution type, I would say that this year I'm going to focus on the positive but I was doing that anyway. I wanted to start this year off with a positive post and some good foresight for the rest of the year. Here's how I see it: 1.) By spring break I'll be a beast at rock band on ps3 2.) The wedding is going to be great. 3.)This summer I'll get some work done around the house. 4.) My friends and family will be blessed and finally this is going to be a great year. So live it up. Tell someone you love em and be thankful for everyday you're here. One other thing, before the end of this year I'll get a new phone :). Take care!


Sunday, January 3, 2010

Back on the grind!!

Well good folks! Tomorrow puts me back into the real world. The world of schedules and deadlines and benchmarks and everything else school related. I've enjoyed a wonderful break and I feel that I have refocused as much as I could to get ready for this next semester. We plan on pushing the kids as much as we can in order to squeeze as much academic juice out of them as possible. This break has given me time to ground myself and escape from the roughness this school year has brought. I look forward to keeping myself going by focusing on the positive around me and trying to let the negative come and go without me missing a beat. I'm thankful for the new opportunity that I have been given to do some writing and reviewing for droiddog.com. That gives me a chance to keep up with one of my favorite past times, mobile technology. As my mom said, I should be a part of the geek squad. Why not? Maybe, I'll put in an application soon. Who knows? It's about that time for me to start looking towards tomorrow. I hope everyone has a wonderful night and a great week. Take care and for the record the Kardashian show sucks.

First video review

Well my dear readers. I did my first cell phone rom review for droiddog.com and I'm pretty excited about it. I was honestly nervous making it, but I think it came out pretty good. I plan on doing more so I'll post them as I do them. If you have anything you'd like me to do a video over please let me know and I'll see what I can do. Thanks and as always, take care.