June, 5, 2005 archives

this opinion piece from the los angeles times has the usual statement that “The nation — and California — will have to spend more on education, schools and personnel, but it also desperately needs a vision and a stable plan to guide this investment.” the article in general looks towards the finnish education system as a model to emulate.

of course, in finland they spend $5,000 per pupil, and in los angeles we spend about $7,000. professor grubb fails to mention that.

maybe the real solution is to prevent schools from purchasing any textbooks over 200 pages in length.

oil storm is a faux-documentary from fx that reminded me, at least viscerally, of the day after. it chronicles a series of events (hurricane, shipping accident, attack on infrastructure in saudi arabia) that send the price of oil up near $150 a barrel, and the price of gasoline of $8 a gallon. the whole structure of the movie is just really well done, and i think they made the right choice in not being over the top in pushing a particular point of view. it really does come off as a television news documentary from the future, albeit with a focus on the smaller players in the story than you might see in real life. (for example, the administration is represented by a couple of under-cabinet-level players, and the references to the president and cabinet officials is pretty fleeting.)

one can only hope that this ends up being as un-prophetic as the day after has.