Daily Archives: June 2, 2005

Textbooks I Won’t be Buying

This entry was posted in Democrats Education Government Regulation Technology on by

Here is a good example of why legislative sessions should be reduced(Free Reg) to, say, a week if not completely eliminated:

Maybe Democrats in the state Assembly should just go ahead and write textbooks for California’s students. They’re so confident they know what constitutes a good one.
For instance, who knew that making a textbook longer than 200 pages was such a bad idea that there needs to be a law against it?

These folks have way too much time on their hands.
The bill’s sponser has been bashed a bunch but remember that 42 (mostly democrat) of the 70 representatives voted for this. That Californians elected 42 such bright people to rule their lives is a pretty good indicator that the eduction system there is broken.
Part of the alleged justification:

Textbooks are too laden with print supplemental materials, and too uninteresting in style. In the 21st century, the information age, information changes more rapidly than books can be printed. Educated, informed citizens of the 21st century will have to rely on technology and media for information. Textbooks should provide an overview of the critical questions and issues of a subject, and then become a roadmap to guide students to other means and sources of information.

To which I say, BS.
I’m long out of school and use the internet extensively to research areas in many subjects. Much, I’d expect, as a K-12 student might do once they’ve reached a certain level of competence. I also buy 2-4 high school/college survey textbooks a year (plus 20-30 volumes of more in depth material) for my own library. No 200 page textbook can cover the breadth and depth needed for any survey course even to provide the minimal requirements noted above.
Even if you reduce the range of focus 200 pages is still rediculous. For instance, if you are studying 13th-14th century world economic systems an excellent overview with references to a lot of primary material (much not available on the net) is Abu-Lughod’s Before European Hegemony: The World System A.D. 1250-1350. It has just over 450 pages. Sure, you can find this subject reduced to a paragraph, a few pages, or a chapter or two but whatever chunk you prefer will be in a volume that should take more than 200 pages to be meaningful….unless its volume N of a series.
Via The Carnival of Education: Week 17.

Drug War Killers

This entry was posted in Drug Laws on by

A guaranteed result of prohibitions is inconsistent product quality which sometimes can have deadly results:

Seven people have died in Portland from apparent heroin overdoses in the past week, prompting police to warn users that a recent shipment of the drug might be more powerful than usual or possibly poisoned.
“We’re not fans of heroin use,” said Sgt. Brian Schmautz, a Portland police spokesman. “But obviously, the last thing we want is to have people dropping dead from this stuff.”

Well, it is not at all clear that this is not what the perpetrators of the drug war want.
Product quality related deaths can be eliminated simply by ending the prohibition. Then the marketplace would develop sets of branded products with identifiable quality perhaps tested by something comparable to Underwriters Laboratory. Sure, someone could still overdose but it would no longer be accidental but rather, as with alcohol, the user would have to make a stupid decision to consume large quantities.
Blame for these deaths must be placed on those who legislate for and enforce the drug prohibitions.

WAPO VP Deems bush a Reliable Source

This entry was posted in bush Journalism War on Terrorism on by

Yesterday on NPR Michelle Norris interviewed Ben Bradlee of the Washington Post:

As editor during Watergate, Bradlee was responsible for overseeing the paper’s coverage of the scandal and deciding whether to trust his reporter’s sources, including “Deep Throat.”

In a discussion about the number of sources required for a story to go forward this exchange took place:

Norris: I remember from my days1 that reporters generally needed multiple sources. You needed to come back with more than one name to back up your story.
Bradlee: That is the goal, certainly. Many stories we kept out of the paper because tehy only had one source.
But, if you think about it for a minute, if the President of the United States tells you something then you don’t really need a second source. You don’t hear President Bush say this is so and then go check it with somebody. You don’t have to do that.

Hmmm, just when did the president become infallible? Shouldn’t the fourth estate be fact checking everything that government officials say? And, with regard to the current president, it should be pretty clear to the press that disassembling, dissembling and dissimulation are the norm.
We are truly in deep trouble if faith based journalism is now the norm!
1Norris worked for Bradlee at the Washington Post.