More on the walkout

More on the school walkout. At the Middle School I was at there were 75 students out of 1,200 who walked out. I didn't want to ask if there was a racial quality to those who walked out but I hope there wasn't. The teachers in general were not comfortable talking about the issue. I think most teacher are gun shy when it comes to any talk about anything unusual that happens in school. They might misspeak or be misinterpreted. They are walking on egg shells when it comes to anything out of the ordinary.

Walkout

On CNN there was a story about a Minnesota student who did not participate in the walk out and it showed a picture of him sitting all alone in the classroom. I can't say what happened across the state or the country but in my class of 27 students 7 walked out and in the class next to mine 5 out of 34 walked out. I could not see where the students gathered from my room and my small sample was anecdotal but what disturbed me was that all of the minority students in these two classes chose to walk out. Is this just one more way that the county is divided along racial lines?

PA vote

Today's special election in Pennsylvania shows some real progress. Both candidates solidly represent their constituents. Both are personally opposed to abortion, both are against gun control, both are for import taxes on steel and the income tax cuts are played down. This means they have turned their backs on the national ideology in favor of what their district wants. Maybe this will be the start of a tread to move away from the extremes of both parties and the bringing back of the more moderate positions that most people hold.

USA

We often decry the acrimony surrounding US elections but that is the price for having a representative republic where people are free to choose their candidates without interference from the government. China is ruled by a communist government and yesterday they voted to allow the president to serve for life. The government representatives voted 2,960 for and 2 against. This is not a free vote and I wonder what will be the fate of the two who voted no. It is like the old soviet union where they had a one party system and that parties candidate always won. Joe Stalin was in power for over 30 years and was replaced only when he died. During his time in office he killed an estimated 20 million of his own citizens. The United States has many problems but it's great to an American.

Import taxes

Milton Freedman was one of my favorite economist and he was a strong proponent of free trade. The US has leaned in this direction since WW2 and it has brought benefits but at a cost and the cost has been borne mostly by what used to be called the middle class. In the 50's the middle class was expanding because many of the manufactured goods were produced in the US. Home ownership was rapidly growing and all of the appliances were made in the USA. As the concept of free trade grew companies realized that products could be made overseas at lower cost and these were then imported and middle class consumers were able to buy low priced products. These working people were like the frog in the warm water. As they saw the prices of the goods they purchased going down they didn't realize that the price of their labor was also going down. The manufacturing jobs they once enjoyed were disappearing and the higher wages associated with those jobs disappeared with them. For those with college educations this was good since their wages were not tied to manufacturing and continued to rise but for the others it was wage stagnation and this group has now gone decades without any real increase in pay. There are many reasons why production costs are lower overseas and one of the most important is the lack of environmental controls and no protection for workers. When ever this is brought up it is never mentioned that improving conditions overseas will raise prices on imported goods. One prime example is the mining of rare earth metals. These are the elements needed to produce electronics like cell phones, solar panels and windmills. These mines take a heavy toll on the local environment and the US consumer enjoys the benefits. Leveling the free trade playing field takes more than import taxes, it takes better wages and working conditions for overseas workers but the US has very little control over those factors. One area the US does have influence is taxing imports. That is why trade unions favor import taxes and businesses do not.

Classroom

In the past I have mentioned that I have a unique perspective as a sub teacher in that I go to all different types of classrooms and observe the different ways that teachers handle their classes. One of the things I have noticed is the lack of consistency in classroom rules and behavior. Some teachers say no smart phones while others allow them during free time. Some teachers allow food and drink in the class while others do not. Some permit working with other students which includes talking and other teachers prefer no talking. In some classes students leave their seats and in others they are told to remain seated. Some have assigned seats and some sit where they please. One common thing I observe is the student, almost always a male, who gets up from his seat to sharpen a pencil, to spit out his gum in the garbage can, or to through away a piece of crumpled up paper or get a book to read and each time he leaves his seat he will hit another student or knock someones papers or book on the floor. The teacher spends an inordinate amount of time telling this student to stay in his seat or to stop talking or to quit throwing things and other disruptive activities. These are the things I observe when I am team teaching. That means I am in a room with a teacher just to help out and I spend a lot of time watching how the teacher handles disruptions. Teachers are limited in the ways they have to deal with these students. One example was when I went through orientation I was told that if I ask a student to do something and they refuse I should walk away and come back later and ask them again. I was not told how many times I was to do this. One thing that is true for all classes is that it is easier to deal with girls than boys and knowingly or not teachers prefer girls. This is most evident in middle school but also is the case in high school. In the teachers lunch room 75% of the conversation is about student behavior.

Collusion

When Special Prosecutor Ken Starr was assigned to investigate the Clintons in the Whitewater real estate deal he found very little but this led to the discovery of the affair with Monica Lewinsky and the now infamous blue dress. Without this smoking gun Monica would have been sent to the ash heap of history and Clinton would have gone scot free. The impeachment process that followed was a mistake and the accusers paid a price and Clinton ended up with a 65% approval rating. The affair which led to lying under oath caused Clinton millions of dollars in legal fees and the loss of his law license plus personal humiliation which was certainly punishment enough but to impeach based on this seems now, with the benefit of hind sight, a bit much. It was politics run amok and now it appears that Robert Mueller is about to go down the same path. All sorts of shenanigans are being exposed by various individuals along with some questionable activities by some government agencies. Where ever this ends up it will likely be far afield from the original investigation into Russian collusion in the election. The Clinton investigation lasted over four years and the Mueller case will be even longer especially if Trump is re-elected.