Month: October 2014

We tried No Child Left Behind. It flopped. Then Race To The Top. Same result. Now, Common Core has been floating around as the next big thing in “education reform.” But, hold on. Some of the better performing school districts are saying we don’t need it. Their students apparently do just fine without it. Doesn’t that suggest the real reason for poor student performance in the first place? The better performers are in the more affluent districts: Palo Alto, Los Gatos, Saratoga, Cupertino (and probably others). So where are our public schools “failing”.? Surprise, surprise, in the less affluent districts. That’s where the recession hit hardest, in the neighborhoods that were already struggling, those with less political influence, the first to take cuts in funding, where resources are most limited, which get the least experienced teachers, and where poverty, and poverty alone, is the primary factor in student education. So, it looks like “education reform” as it is with voter ID laws, is still a solution looking for a problem.

Since the election of 2010, Republicans have deservedly earned the nickname: “the party of NO” for their total refusal to participate in the governing of the nation. Now, however, upon a full realization of the depth and duration of their hateful attacks upon America’s first black president and first black attorney general, it seems even more appropriate to label conservative Republicans: “the party of HATE”.

A wise person once said “with all thy getting, get understanding.” That was a while ago, but it applies even more to today’s world situation, especially the Ukraine. Our immediate assumption has been that Russia is the aggressor, and indeed, she may very well be. But someone else also said: “there are two sides to every story”. We have only seen one side, the Ukraine side. So the question is: if we knew both sides, would our attitude toward Russia be different? Do we really need another Cold War?

How can someone, who exuded so much hope for so many people have fallen so low in his approval? When you think about it, the promise for hope and change started fading early. In the 2010 election, in his own words: “we got shellacked.” But why? The GOP was a flat nothing. The tea party offered only the same old GOP Maxim: “no government, no taxes, no minorities.” In any other situation, the tea party would have gained little if anything, but only if Obama supporters had not simply stayed home. A combination of disappointment and disgust among former Obamaphiles, brought on by Obama himself, brought the party of NO to power. The nation has suffered the consequences ever since. His missteps are far too numerous to list here, starting with the mortgage foreclosure crisis he inherited but did nothing to curtail. Other mistakes have only continued across the board. The only way he won in 2012 was because so many people saw what happens when Republicans are in control and wanted none of it. Now, Republicans are regrouping around, not their old tried and untrue ideology, but the notion of “party loyalty”. This tribal instinct may very well broaden their appeal in 2014 and 2016.But if they win again, we would have only Obama to thank.
Howard F. Sosbee 1400 Weston Ridge Road Scotts Valley CA, 95066 831, 335, 8401 hfs@sosbee.com