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Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Is a college degree overrated?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Marty Nenko a career counselor in Oakland, Cal. argues that for many students, going to college means taking on massive debt, probably never getting a degree and ending up with a job where no degree is required. He calls on colleges to be more open about graduation rates, employment data, etc. Read the full column
“Colleges should be held at least as accountable as tire companies are,” he writes. “To be government-approved, all tires must have — prominently molded into the sidewall — ratings of tread life, temperature resistance and traction compared with national benchmarks.”
Is college overrated?
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Should Clinton or Obama drop out?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Heading into today’s primaries in North Carolina and Indiana presidential primaries, a Gallup-USA Today poll found that 6 in 10 Democrats say Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama should continue their presidential campaigns.
Of the minority who would like to see either Clinton or Obama drop out and concede the nomination, more call for Clinton to step down than Obama, Gallup reports
If the two candidates split the states tonight (Obama has already been projected as winner in North Carolina), should one of them drop out? Or do you want to see the contest continue between the two?
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Should we broaden war to Iran?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In the opinion of CIA Director Michael Hayden, “it is the policy of the Iranian government, approved to the highest level of that government, to facilitate the killing of Americans in Iraq.”
Hayden’s assessment is widely shared in the U.S. government, and it’s no doubt correct. The Iranians are arming and probably training Iraqi insurgents, and they are in part responsible for the recent rise in U.S. casualties. Last month, 52 U.S. personnel were killed in Iraq, by far the highest total since September 2007.
The question is what to do about it, given the basic facts of the situation:
Fact one: Iran has every incentive to prevent us from “winning” in either Iraq, its neighbor to the west, or Afghanistan, its neighbor to the east. The reason is sheer self-preservation.
The U.S. government has publicly committed itself to the overthrow of Iran’s government. But the Iranians know that as long as they can keep us tied up and bleeding in Iraq and Afghanistan, we can’t turn our attention to them. From the Iranian point of view, they’d rather fight the Americans “over there” —- in Iraq and Afghanistan —- than have to fight us at home.
Fact two: Already overstretched by fighting two long-term wars with insufficient manpower, the U.S. military knows it cannot afford to open a third front against Iran. We do have the power to strike and strike hard at Iran —- “It would be a mistake to think we are out of combat power,” as one top American official warned recently —- but if attacks on Iran led to something bigger and more sustained, we would have a hard time containing the consequences.
Fact three: Gasoline is now approaching $4 a gallon in the United States. A broader war in the oil-rich Persian Gulf involving Iran could quickly drive the price of gasoline to $8 a gallon or higher, with immense ramifications for a global and national economy already teetering on the edge.
At one level, it is tempting to forget facts two and three and focus instead on the fact that Iran is helping to kill U.S. soldiers. But history suggests the answer is not so simple.
In fact, American presidents and foreign leaders have often had to face this sort of dilemma, weighing the dangers of a broader war against the perceived benefits of military action. Most of the time, they have understood that a broader war would do little good.
In the Korean War, President Harry Truman refused to approve attacks against Communist China even though the Chinese were supplying weaponry and manpower to our North Korean opponents and helping to kill U.S. troops. Truman understood that the dangers of an all-out land war in Asia outweighed the possible benefits.
In Vietnam, presidents Johnson and Nixon made similar calculations even though the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong were being supplied by the Soviet Union and China. A decade later the roles were reversed, with the United States smuggling arms to insurgents in Afghanistan fighting the Soviet Union, and the Soviets were forced to accept that reality.
Limited war, with all its frustrations, is sometimes the best option available. But it takes wisdom and patience to appreciate that difficult fact, two traits seldom seen in the current administration.
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Why haven’t superdelegates deserted Obama?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Between “Bittergate” and the revenge of Rev. Wright, Barack Obama has just had the worst four-week stretch of his campaign.
This is just what Hillary Clinton has been waiting for — an unexpected controversy that taints Obama, underscoring her argument to the superdelegates that she is more electable.
Oddly, however, it isn’t working. Despite Wright’s unfortunate reappearance, superdelegates are still drifting toward Obama. In fact, he’s nearly even with Clinton among those who have committed.
What gives? Why haven’t superdelegates deserted Obama? Do they have Clinton fatigue?
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Can U.S. schools learn from China?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Dixon Adair, a 10-grader at Atlanta International School, spent a semester in China and returned impressed with some aspects of the nation’s educational system.
He writes: “The school day ran from 7:40 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and most students in the grade in which I was placed — eighth grade — studied until midnight. The eighth-grade students were also expected to go to school on Saturdays for extra classes, to prepare for end-of-year exams.
“Instead of the teachers assigning students extra work, the students would often give themselves extra exercises to do so that they could improve themselves for their own good, not just so that their teachers would be impressed. They also went as far as “punishing” themselves by doing a lot of extra work if they performed poorly on a test because they knew that what felt like punishment now would actually benefit them in the future.”
Teachers are awarded immense respect, writes Adair. “In China, when the teacher enters the class to begin it, the students stand up to greet the teacher and bow,” he wrote. And students are actually required to mop the classroom floors.
Back in the U.S., he welcomes a more relaxed educational atmosphere but still believes the U.S. can learn from China.
“The school that could combine the best of American and the best of Chinese education practices would surely be the best school of all.”
Do you agree?
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