One irony of the firing of Joe Paterno was that, in the end, it served to protect his legacy. It allowed him to be held to account for the scandal he did not do enough to stop, enabling the story-line "He made a grave mistake, for which he accepted, with grace, his [ultimate] punishment, but look at all the good he did..." Another irony is, in contrast, how self-serving, hypocritical and without grace the Penn State trustees who fired him appear.
Also not in a good light, are those who, at the beginning of the scandal, seemed to take perverse joy in the take-down of JoePa. And while there is an obvious accomplishment gap, Paterno and Tebow shared this sort of critic. The ones who finds Virtue and Character threatening rather than inspiring. To whom the need for "everybody does it" self-affirmation overwhelms any desire for self-improvement.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Intellectual vs Intelligent II
The Time's Room For Debate, bravely considers research by conservative think tanks that argue that taking into account "standardized tests of cognitive skill" teachers are paid "roughly 50 percent above private sector levels."
Opposing this view are Jeffrey Keefe, an associate professor at Rutgers, who argues that "comparing teachers to other workers with similar education, experience and weekly work hours... teachers are underpaid by about 19 percent" and that "a cognitive ability model that does not account for education level is meaningless, because individuals are employed in jobs that depend on the skills acquired through education" and David Z. Hambrick, an associate professor at Michigan State University, who acknowledges research that demonstrates that "measures of general intelligence are... the single best predictor of job performance across a wide range of occupations," but none-the-less asserts that "as a society" we decide to pay more critical professions more -- for example, he notes, heart surgeons are more important than electricians -- and contrasts the compensation of entry-level teachers (it comes to about $20 / hour, he calculates) and bartenders (who apparently can make double that) to argue we don't pay teachers enough.
Again, it is hard to take these academics with any seriousness. The suggestion that a master's degree in education imparts skills similar to a master's degree in physics, engineering or even business is precious. The research acknowledged by the Hambrick more or less contradicts Keefe's argument. Hambrick's argument itself is beyond foolish. Wages, of course, are determined by supply and demand (and, too often, political influence), not, as he bizarrely asserts, relative importance. And it is hard to imagine that he honestly discounts the lack (wealth) of fringe benefits, career opportunity and job stability built into a bartender's (teacher's) hourly rate.
It should be noted that Conservatives need not embrace the argument that teachers are overpaid. If not true -- if members of one of the most powerful unions in America are compensated similarly to, or even less than, equivalent non-organized private sector workers -- it would be the strongest argument against unionization imaginable.
Opposing this view are Jeffrey Keefe, an associate professor at Rutgers, who argues that "comparing teachers to other workers with similar education, experience and weekly work hours... teachers are underpaid by about 19 percent" and that "a cognitive ability model that does not account for education level is meaningless, because individuals are employed in jobs that depend on the skills acquired through education" and David Z. Hambrick, an associate professor at Michigan State University, who acknowledges research that demonstrates that "measures of general intelligence are... the single best predictor of job performance across a wide range of occupations," but none-the-less asserts that "as a society" we decide to pay more critical professions more -- for example, he notes, heart surgeons are more important than electricians -- and contrasts the compensation of entry-level teachers (it comes to about $20 / hour, he calculates) and bartenders (who apparently can make double that) to argue we don't pay teachers enough.
Again, it is hard to take these academics with any seriousness. The suggestion that a master's degree in education imparts skills similar to a master's degree in physics, engineering or even business is precious. The research acknowledged by the Hambrick more or less contradicts Keefe's argument. Hambrick's argument itself is beyond foolish. Wages, of course, are determined by supply and demand (and, too often, political influence), not, as he bizarrely asserts, relative importance. And it is hard to imagine that he honestly discounts the lack (wealth) of fringe benefits, career opportunity and job stability built into a bartender's (teacher's) hourly rate.
It should be noted that Conservatives need not embrace the argument that teachers are overpaid. If not true -- if members of one of the most powerful unions in America are compensated similarly to, or even less than, equivalent non-organized private sector workers -- it would be the strongest argument against unionization imaginable.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Mis-Understanding Debt
In a column ironically titled "Nobody Understands Debt", Krugman argues that national debt is not "like a family that took out too large a mortgage, and will have a hard time making the monthly payments" for at least two reasons: "Governments don't [have to pay back their debt] -- all they need to do is ensure that debt grows more slowly than their tax base," and "an over-borrowed family owes money to someone else; U.S. debt is, to a large extent, money we owe to ourselves"
The first reason is, inescapably, the logic of a Ponzi scheme.
There is some truth to the second reason. National debt held domestically is less dangerous for the obvious reason that paying it down does not directly shrink the national economy, but also, and more importantly, because citizen-debt holders are "stickier" than other investors: If Greeks were willing and able to purchase Greek sovereign debt, it would not be in crisis now.
In any case, he clarifies this as not even being true: "Foreigners now hold... a fair amount of government debt. But every dollar’s worth of foreign claims on America is matched by 89 cents’ worth of U.S. claims on foreigners." In other words, paying down the debt will shrink the national economy (unless these 89 cents worth of U.S. claims are simultaneously called in), and U.S. debt is not in (or roll-over-able into) stickier hands.
Complementing the column's hollow argument, is Krugman's habitual bombastic dismissal of opposing views. Those he disagrees with are "disconnected... from the suffering of ordinary Americans", "have no idea what they're talking about", are "repeatedly, utterly wrong" and, in case the nuance here was too subtle for the gentle reader, are guilty of "wrongheaded, ill-informed obsession." This sort of political rhetoric is, obviously, designed to minimize analysis or reflection and very effective -- taken seriously, it can tie one's sense of self-worth to particular political conviction: by aping Krugman, one demonstrates being informed and right-minded.
While there is, of course, no shortage of equivalent rhetoric on the right, Ann Coulter, for example, doesn't carry anything like the academic or intellectual pretension of Krugman.
The first reason is, inescapably, the logic of a Ponzi scheme.
There is some truth to the second reason. National debt held domestically is less dangerous for the obvious reason that paying it down does not directly shrink the national economy, but also, and more importantly, because citizen-debt holders are "stickier" than other investors: If Greeks were willing and able to purchase Greek sovereign debt, it would not be in crisis now.
In any case, he clarifies this as not even being true: "Foreigners now hold... a fair amount of government debt. But every dollar’s worth of foreign claims on America is matched by 89 cents’ worth of U.S. claims on foreigners." In other words, paying down the debt will shrink the national economy (unless these 89 cents worth of U.S. claims are simultaneously called in), and U.S. debt is not in (or roll-over-able into) stickier hands.
Complementing the column's hollow argument, is Krugman's habitual bombastic dismissal of opposing views. Those he disagrees with are "disconnected... from the suffering of ordinary Americans", "have no idea what they're talking about", are "repeatedly, utterly wrong" and, in case the nuance here was too subtle for the gentle reader, are guilty of "wrongheaded, ill-informed obsession." This sort of political rhetoric is, obviously, designed to minimize analysis or reflection and very effective -- taken seriously, it can tie one's sense of self-worth to particular political conviction: by aping Krugman, one demonstrates being informed and right-minded.
While there is, of course, no shortage of equivalent rhetoric on the right, Ann Coulter, for example, doesn't carry anything like the academic or intellectual pretension of Krugman.
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