The following discussion clip is from the Occupy Wall Street demand discussion list
Here is the lead in post from halfdaykindergarten:
Stop the Race to Nowhere… www.racetonowhere.com Congress and the administration should recognize that the push for national standards is politically driven and scientifically unfounded…” http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa285.pdf There is far more at stake here than test scores… Preserve parents rights and protect childhood… Save our children from irresponsible institutionalization!
Nanook:
The previous post opens up another Pandora’s Box: the direction of education. I completely agree! We have to STOP the Race to Nowhere.
Everywhere we turn we hear the STEM education propaganda: America’s future depends on more Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. We need more CREATIVITY! So, we must FORCE ALL of our students to achieve standardized grades in these subjects.
This is total nonsense. I’ve been at the forefront of high tech for 40 years. I’ve invented over 200 items and have 8 patents. None of the items reached the market. And I’m not talking about simple inventions like paper clips. Back in 1983, I invented a new computer architecture that can speed up computers by over 10,000 times! I am still trying to find ANYONE willing to help develop this machine.
And yes, I have talked to many companies about it, and many government agencies. None of their technical people had any concern about the technology working. The roadblock was always EXECUTIVE PROFIT! The companies told me the invention would essentially displace all the old systems they have installed at a fraction of the cost. They would lose all the maintenance money on their installed machines and drastically cut their company’s size.
The GOVERNMENT had an even worse excuse. They were “research labs”. Congress happily gives them BILLIONS of dollars every year to “research” better computers. Why would they want to help develop such a powerful solution! It would cut off their funding! I got the same stonewall in 1990 when the Human Genome program just started. Congress committed $10B to the program. I developed and DEMONSTRATED a machine that would have completed the job in 3 years for $300M. NIH kept refusing to support me. Why? They didn’t want to lose the $10B. So the U.S. public paid the full bill and it took 10 more years. The government greed ended in 2000 when a private company, Celera, announced they had the answer.
What’s my point? America’s success is NOT dependent on having more capability in science, technology, engineering or math. It’s dependent on preventing the greed of the LEADERS of both industry and government from blocking the capability we already have just so they can protect their PERSONAL incomes. And who’s driving the STEM program? Right! The MILITARY INDUSTRIAL complex. And who funds them? Right! *** WALL STREET! *** Why are we not surprised!
