Equal education

Remind me why there are still all-female colleges? There is a crisis in male education, but not according to the AAUW. Sorry AAUW, but your report is flawed from head to toe. That’s really good, objective, academic research you’re conducting disguised as propaganda.

• Another critique of the latest report
• Refute of earlier report
• More evidence of bias

Since I work in higher education, I’m very much aware of the statistics and trends currently “known” to exist. Females continue to widen the gap in enrollment at colleges across the country – that is a fact. Scores in high school are irrelevant when considering the notion accepted by most experts that a college education will be required in the new economy. Future women will be prepared and future men won’t, but that’s nothing to be concerned about is it?

Political strategy

Could Clinton be taking one for the team? I'm starting to think that's possible. Every day she stays in the race the news is about the fight between her and Obama. The focus is on the difference between Obama and Clinton. Without McCain to compare him to, the democratic front-runner looks better and better to swing voters. Swing voters get that high feeling of being a part of something, a part of "change." Isn't that the central message of the Obama compaign? The less time there is to compare McCain and Obama the longer that feeling will linger, and possibly effect voting in November. Not to mention there will be less time for debates between McCain and Obama meaning Obama has less opportunity to put his foot in his mouth. There's one thing the Clinton's are and that's calculating. I wouldn't put it past them. She knows she can't get in the Whitehouse, so she'll try to make sure a democrat does get in and try to see that she gets pulled along for the ride as VP. What better way to have a good shot at the next opportunity?

McCain on the other hand better start figuring out how to swing voters to his side, and get the conservative base he needs to win the election out voting in November. Right now the conservatives are not thrilled with their party's selection and that's not good for him. Unexcited voters may not take the time to vote at all. Excited voters will make sure they get to the polls. Excited Obama voters versus lethargic McCain voters. It's not hard to predict that outcome. I'm curious to see what happens between now and November.

Day zero

Since everything in computers starts with 0 (not 1) today is day zero of summer. I had my first three-hour class this morning and it was drab. Sitting in class for three hours listening to a lecture on essentially math and logic is not exciting stuff (even with the two 10 minute breaks). Remember I get to do this twice per week for 7 weeks too. The only saving grace is that since I am remote and the only student at my location no one sees or hears me in the class (if a press the microphone button I ca speak, but otherwise I'm quiet as a mouse). I could basically sleep, eat and make paper airplanes without anyone being the wiser. I won’t be doing those things probably (well, I might eat) but it’s a little less pressure to pay attention 100% of the time for three hours. I can freely get up and move about to stretch the old muscles. We’ll see how much I like being the only student locally once we get into the meat of the material – a study partner wouldn’t be bad.

I’ve also started what they call 4 ½ work weeks for the summer months. They allow us to work nine hour days on Mon-Thurs and a half day on Fri. Fri afternoons may become my homework time, unfortunately, but that’s the price you pay for nine hours of in-class instructions per week. July can’t get here fast enough.

Hopefully I’ll hear soon on whether I’ve been selected for the Chancellor’s Fellowship program. Additionally, we should hear some time in June whether Chloe is accepted into the public pre-school program. We are really hoping she is admitted. It would be great for her to get some daily interaction with other kids her age as practice before going to kindergarten. Salvacion and I have talked about how we would fund her going to a private pre-school next year if she doesn’t get in the public one. So many things are up in the air right now. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Gas tax politics

Clinton and McCain are aspiring magicians. At least, that's what I've come to believe. They are trying to magically make a problem go away. The "Gas Tax Relief" idea is a short-term relief effort with no long-term outcomes. Obama has this one right – it’s a gimmick. Let’s examine it for a minute and see why. I’ll save 18.4 cents per gallon, in theory, for roughly 3 months of the summer. My daily commuter car holds 12ish gallons and gets about 25 MPG. I drive about 25 miles (one way) each day to work. So that means I would save about $2.21 per fill up, or about 37 cents per day (weekdays). I work five (5) days per week and we’ll assume I drive that same car everyday to work. Now, that would be $1.84 per week of “relief.” I don’t know about you but that isn’t much – not even enough to buy a gallon of milk, and barely enough to buy a loaf of bread. However, let’s continue the math and see where it takes us. There are about 15 weeks between Memorial Day and Labor Day (we won’t factor in the holidays or vacation time). That means I’d save a total of $27.60 for the summer on gas for my commute. That’s nowhere near the “about $70” Clinton is claiming it would save “average Americans.” Oddly enough, Obama is claiming it would only save you about $30. It seems cut and dry to me. Maybe Clinton’s $70 is based on a less fuel efficient vehicle? Let’s try using my pick-up as an example instead. Changing only the MPG in the above mathematics to 15 MPG I would see $45.54 in savings. That’s still nowhere near $70. Let’s try increasing the commute mileage too and see if we can reach that elusive $70 mark. At five (5) gallons of gas per day we see $69 in savings over the summer. I would travel 75 miles in my truck, or 125 miles in my commuter car, per day at that rate. Is that really the average consumption? Not according to ABC News, which stated the “one-way average commute… [is a] distance of 16 miles.”

Why not propose something with short-term relief and long-term outcomes? Here’s an idea, a tax break for anyone selling their SUV/Truck (getting less than 20 MPG) and purchasing a vehicle that achieves no less than 30 MPG (trading in just got better). A tax break of up to $2500 would incent people to do it and it would help strike a blow at the largest reason for the “pain at the pump” – inefficient vehicles. We aren’t going to see gas prices go down and the economy begin to rebound until we give up our excess. Some people can’t afford to do this on their own and this would help make it possible. Others would take advantage of the deal just for the savings. Not everyone would do it, but if say 10% of the consumer market did it, you would see a decrease in gas consumption overall. With that decrease in demand, comes a decrease in the cost. Additionally, it would send a clear message to the auto industry that America wants better fuel economy. As long as we continue to buy gas-guzzling vehicles, the car manufacturers will continue to make them. Do you really need a Hemi in your four-door sedan?

Oh yeah, Happy Cinco de Mayo!