Young Americans are dumbs

[Cassius]

oh and a young fogey joins in with the old fogies!

Young fogies for the win!

[IceSpear]

If only we treated our teachers like trash, Americans would be much better educated and more successful.

Right-wing logic.

[King]

It might be bias, but I consider this emerging generation to be remarkable.

[krazen1211]

With the astonishing amount of money squandered by the government education industry complex, such figures are truly amazing.

Even more amazing data is the massive amounts of windfall profits reaped by those teachers despite stagnant student enrollment. They are winning the treasury.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

Torie, I realize that you live in a sheltered bubble but this thread is a non sequitur that bears little relation to the article in question. I have no idea how you arrived at the conclusion that "teachers unions are bad" because you read an article about income inequality. The article itself claims that the decline of the middle class is due to the decline of labor unions...

This is not to say that this New York Times article has much merit. After-tax income is a terrible measure of affluence. Americans above the 30th percentile might have more money than Europeans but it is squandered on expensive out of pocket healthcare costs and higher education.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

With the astonishing amount of money squandered by the government education industry complex, such figures are truly amazing.

Even more amazing data is the massive amounts of windfall profits reaped by those teachers despite stagnant student enrollment. They are winning the treasury.

What is your solution krazen?

[krazen1211]

With the astonishing amount of money squandered by the government education industry complex, such figures are truly amazing.

Even more amazing data is the massive amounts of windfall profits reaped by those teachers despite stagnant student enrollment. They are winning the treasury.

What is your solution krazen?

Win the treasury back.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

With the astonishing amount of money squandered by the government education industry complex, such figures are truly amazing.

Even more amazing data is the massive amounts of windfall profits reaped by those teachers despite stagnant student enrollment. They are winning the treasury.

What is your solution krazen?

Win the treasury back.

How?

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

With the astonishing amount of money squandered by the government education industry complex, such figures are truly amazing.

Even more amazing data is the massive amounts of windfall profits reaped by those teachers despite stagnant student enrollment. They are winning the treasury.

What is your solution krazen?

Win the treasury back.

What does this even mean?

[krazen1211]

With the astonishing amount of money squandered by the government education industry complex, such figures are truly amazing.

Even more amazing data is the massive amounts of windfall profits reaped by those teachers despite stagnant student enrollment. They are winning the treasury.

What is your solution krazen?

Win the treasury back.

How?

That's the easiest question of all. Put the government education industry complex on a diet by firing staff, cut the fat cats, and redirect funds to more useful purposes.

All it needs is a fellow with some mettle to take the fight to the enemy.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

With the astonishing amount of money squandered by the government education industry complex, such figures are truly amazing.

Even more amazing data is the massive amounts of windfall profits reaped by those teachers despite stagnant student enrollment. They are winning the treasury.

If you actually bothered to take a look at those figures, you'd see that it isn't teachers that are profiting at all.  In constant dollar terms, the salaries of classroom teachers have remained essentially flat between 1990 and 2010 and only increased some ten percent overall in the forty years between 1970 and 2010.  By contrast in the forty years prior to that, classroom teacher salaries almost tripled in constant dollar terms between 1930 and 1970.  The greedy teachers of that era must have led to some really awful education by your brand of logic.

Yes, we have too much school administration and it is bloated and horrendously overpaid, but to blame teachers' unions for that problem is ludicrous.

[Torie]

With the astonishing amount of money squandered by the government education industry complex, such figures are truly amazing.

Even more amazing data is the massive amounts of windfall profits reaped by those teachers despite stagnant student enrollment. They are winning the treasury.

What is your solution krazen?

Win the treasury back.

How?

That's the easiest question of all. Put the government education industry complex on a diet by firing staff, cut the fat cats, and redirect funds to more useful purposes.

All it needs is a fellow with some mettle to take the fight to the enemy.

Giving kids in the wrong zip codes the education they deserve, and to better secure the American dream of the land of equal opportunity, is, along with the requisite reforms, tied to its hip, going to cost more money krazen, not less. And it is a moral imperative to do so, as to which all other considerations must give way in my view.

[krazen1211]

With the astonishing amount of money squandered by the government education industry complex, such figures are truly amazing.

Even more amazing data is the massive amounts of windfall profits reaped by those teachers despite stagnant student enrollment. They are winning the treasury.

If you actually bothered to take a look at those figures, you'd see that it isn't teachers that are profiting at all.  In constant dollar terms, the salaries of classroom teachers have remained essentially flat between 1990 and 2010 and only increased some ten percent overall in the forty years between 1970 and 2010.  By contrast in the forty years prior to that, classroom teacher salaries almost tripled in constant dollar terms between 1930 and 1970.  The greedy teachers of that era must have led to some really awful education by your brand of logic.

Yes, we have too much school administration and it is bloated and horrendously overpaid, but to blame teachers' unions for that problem is ludicrous.

They are crafty folk. To reap increased profits the unions simply increased their numbers as well as their 'Personal income per member of labor force'. It's no coincidence that staff has nearly doubled since 1970.

[jaichind]

I think the biggest educational gap between USA and other advanced economies is in the area of vocational training.  In the sphere of liberal arts education the USA still dominates the rest of the world. It is the tier of people below that that seems to be getting a liberal arts light education for the purpose of social status when in fact vocational training is better from a ROI point of view.  The student debt crisis is a symptom of this.

[Torie]

I think the biggest educational gap between USA and other advanced economies is in the area of vocational training.  In the sphere of liberal arts education the USA still dominates the rest of the world. It is the tier of people below that that seems to be getting a liberal arts light education for the purpose of social status when in fact vocational training is better from a ROI point of view.  The student debt crisis is a symptom of this.

Yes, for the elite top 10%, education in the US remains the best on the planet probably. So we are baking into the cake more inequality as a matter of public policy. We are not doing that intentionally of course, but we are doing it nevertheless.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

With the astonishing amount of money squandered by the government education industry complex, such figures are truly amazing.

Even more amazing data is the massive amounts of windfall profits reaped by those teachers despite stagnant student enrollment. They are winning the treasury.

What is your solution krazen?

Win the treasury back.

How?

That's the easiest question of all. Put the government education industry complex on a diet

Food metaphors for politics are both stupid and useless.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

More useful purposes like what?

You must be logged in to read this quote.

You're right, we do need more like Sherrod Brown and Liz Warren in high office in this country! I'm glad we see eye-to-eye on this.

[MurrayBannerman]

With the astonishing amount of money squandered by the government education industry complex, such figures are truly amazing.

Even more amazing data is the massive amounts of windfall profits reaped by those teachers despite stagnant student enrollment. They are winning the treasury.

What is your solution krazen?

Win the treasury back.

How?

That's the easiest question of all. Put the government education industry complex on a diet

Food metaphors for politics are both stupid and useless.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

More useful purposes like what?

You must be logged in to read this quote.

You're right, we do need more like Sherrod Brown and Liz Warren in high office in this country! I'm glad we see eye-to-eye on this.

Speaking strictly of universities, firing people like the "diversity coordinator" and cutting a president's salary from the millions or high hundreds of thousands would do a lot of good. Also taxing endowments by tying them to the rate of tuition.

[patrick1]

Well, that is not the title of the article of course. And yes, it lays out what we already knew - that income inequalities in the US have grown exponentially, potentially threatening our democracy. But the real fist in the face is the observation in it, that while Americans age 55-65 (you know, my little age cohort), are the best educated in the developed world, Americans age 16-24 are close to the bottom of the heap.

So your cohort was better educated than their counterparts who were still emerging from the ravages of of WWII?  [Slow clap]

[krazen1211]

More useful purposes like what?

Some have suggested a cut in personal income tax rates. Some have suggested a fast train between 2 cities in the Central Valley. Some have suggested a repair of our roadways. It turns out that the government education industry complex devours enough resources to cover all of the above in some manner.

[MaxQue]

More useful purposes like what?

Some have suggested a cut in personal income tax rates. Some have suggested a fast train between 2 cities in the Central Valley. Some have suggested a repair of our roadways. It turns out that the government education industry complex devours enough resources to cover all of the above in some manner.

Mental care for the mentally ill? It would be beneficial.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

More useful purposes like what?

Some have suggested a cut in personal income tax rates. Some have suggested a fast train between 2 cities in the Central Valley. Some have suggested a repair of our roadways. It turns out that the government education industry complex devours enough resources to cover all of the above in some manner.

All fine ideas! Perhaps also we could spend some on improving our schools.

[krazen1211]

More useful purposes like what?

Some have suggested a cut in personal income tax rates. Some have suggested a fast train between 2 cities in the Central Valley. Some have suggested a repair of our roadways. It turns out that the government education industry complex devours enough resources to cover all of the above in some manner.

Mental care for the mentally ill? It would be beneficial.

Well, people like you provided $320 billion a year to the teachers unions instead. Consider that another example of those unions winning the treasury while the common man loses, if you wish.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

More useful purposes like what?

Some have suggested a cut in personal income tax rates. Some have suggested a fast train between 2 cities in the Central Valley. Some have suggested a repair of our roadways. It turns out that the government education industry complex devours enough resources to cover all of the above in some manner.

Mental care for the mentally ill? It would be beneficial for you.

Well, people like you provided $320 billion a year to the teachers unions instead. Consider that another example of those unions winning the treasury while the common man loses, if you wish.

krazen, I think I've said this before, but I really am sorry that beautiful public school teacher broke your heart. You have my deepest sympathy.

[Mordecai]

government education industry complex

lol

[MaxQue]

More useful purposes like what?

Some have suggested a cut in personal income tax rates. Some have suggested a fast train between 2 cities in the Central Valley. Some have suggested a repair of our roadways. It turns out that the government education industry complex devours enough resources to cover all of the above in some manner.

Mental care for the mentally ill? It would be beneficial.

Well, people like you provided $320 billion a year to the teachers unions instead. Consider that another example of those unions winning the treasury while the common man loses, if you wish.

I find that very hard to believe. You have any proof?