Thanks for the compliment, Manny... but I'm not a teacher. I tried it when I was in University and found that it wasn't really for me... the whole class-room/lab thing just wouldn't work out. I like to design and build "things", trouble-shoot, analyse, "get my hands dirty".
I do have very strong feelings on our North American system of education including how it has developed as a result of our culture; and where our culture might be headed as a result of our education system. I look at the ratios of capital spent on Research and Training by corporations as a percentage of their revenues and I can easily see why other cultures are capable of so quickly passing us by.
That old line "those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it" comes to mind within the context of other "powerhouse civilizations" (Roman, Greek). They were so successful that they started to "believe their own advertising" and fell back on self-indulgent behaviours that spelled their demise.
While I don't disagree that there is a limit to how much the public purse can be expected to contribute to the educations of a (relative) few, there is always the counter-argument that education of a society's students is for the long-range benefit of the entire society. Low interest (or no interest) loans might be the way to do this but I am somewhat concerned about the increasing reliance on corporate funding for education.... that will tend to produce students who specialize only in the fields promoted by those corporations. Can we expect the symphonies to produce ALL of the funding for music students? What about jazzers? The Humanities? Environmental studies? Who will pay for the education of teachers?... school boards? But aren't they "public organisations"?
Yeah, it has the potential to be a can of worms, but only by discussing it openly, making it an election issue, and engaging all of the stake-holders will we, as a North American society, be able to manage our own destiny.
And I am unanimouse in those thoughts!
