An open letter to The Honorable Mark Kirk

 Please note, I left my dad's and own name out of this published version. I am to you, Servus.

To The Honorable Mark Kirk, Junior Senator for Illinois,

I write to you regarding the recent committee hearing’s topic of discussion, held on the 8th of March, 2012, concerning the United States’ workforce competitiveness’ relation to the United States’ competitiveness in education against other nations’.

Before I continue, allow me to introduce myself. My name is ---. I am American born and grew up in the Chicago area. My parents are Danish and moved to Chicago when my dad, ---, was invited to work at Argonne National Laboratory. I have since become an expatriate American and currently live in the North Atlantic region. I intend to return to Chicago once I have completed my education in Denmark. One of my goals in Chicago is to influence the paradigms of education in Illinois.

I would like to know, to what extent do you intend for the United States to develop its own paradigm and policy in education reform and to what extent do you intend to import ideas and policy from our competitors? To what extent will adult education be influenced and can you quantify the effect the reforms will have on the labor and job markets? What conclusions have you reached as a result of the hearing?

I would also like to take the opportunity to tell you about the state of education in Denmark and my experiences. Colleges in the United States hold Gymnasium degrees in high regard. I myself took a HF degree, which is the equivalent of a GED and was informed by several colleges and universities in the Midwest I could be awarded enough credits to graduate with an bachelor's degree in one or two years. But there is a down side to Denmark’s high level of education in the labor market. Many highly educated graduates are now having difficulty finding a job that fits their level of education. While there may be plenty of job training positions in offices granting degrees in Public Administration, Finances or Business Administration, competition among new gymnasium graduates is high. Even job training programs, lasting two to four years, for trades such as plumbing, auto repair or masonry work, is in short supply compared to the number of candidates who apply for these positions. Oddly enough, the reverse is true for academic, highly technical or design sectors, as many of these career paths are seen as unattainable due to difficulty, too menial despite or boring despite the high level of technical skill required, or uninteresting.

While I am tempted to suggest Illinois would benefit from importing models from Denmark, I cannot without reservation do so. The current crisis and occupy protests have highlighted the higher than expected unemployment rate among new graduates. To improve education across the board as a solution to America’s job market woes would ignore the factors which is reflected by the high number of unemployed graduates. It is curious as to what these factors are.

Thank you for taking the time to read my letter to you. I look forward to your reply and value any correspondence you offer on the subject.

Best Regards, Peter Smedskjaer.

Fate's Rollerskate

People often dream of immortality. Technically, it is possible with future technology. Gene therapy can give you a genetic make up that encourages healthier cells. Aging organs can be regrown with stem cells. Cancers will be cured one day in the future. Immorality is possible... save for the unseen bus.

Quick Three - Bad Parenting or a Joke?

WGN reports the case of a father who posted a picture of a gagged and bound child on Facebook. His defense is it was only a joke. I take this to mean either the dad was a poor sense of humor or he has a great sense of humor. It will all come down to how he is as a father the rest of the time. Currently though, he is granted supervised visits, which is a fair chance to show he is a good father.  All the best to him.

A blast from the past and the main reason why I am not quick to condemn the above mentioned father. No link to this one so I will relate what I have from memory. An American family calling Scandinavian relatives got the answering machine, which told them the family was kidnapped, the kids were bound and they needed help. Well, help was called, the police showed up at the front door and the family was in good health. It seems the answering machine recording was a joke fitting in with the regional love affair with irony and sarcasm. This happened some ten years ago, I think.

Filling this one under bad parenting because bullies need to be put in their place by their parents before someone kills themselves. KATU reports on the suicide of a 14 year old school girl. She had attempted to convince the girls to stop pushing her around, to no avail. It is a sad day when we only step in and do something when someone already has died. But why are we so focused on the kids themselves and not the parents of these kids? I think it is time we started shaming the parents of bullies in proportion to how bad the bully is. Maybe then kids will start behaving themselves.

That was your quick three for today. Next article might be an infographic about the energy market. See ya.

- Servus

The Electric Age

You will often read or hear in the news stories about smart grids, energy diversity, green houses gasses or oil imports. These are stories about energy concerns relevant to national interests. You do not hear about the 1.3 billion people who do not have access to electricity,or how delivering power to those who do not will change the world, or from what we should use to produce power for these people. More importantly, we do not hear about how lack of access to electricity prohibits the use of fundamental infrastructure such as lighting, cooling or heating or industrial applications that can create jobs in poor rural areas. Communication is also limited to what can be done without modern tools.

Parenting Gone Wrong - Boot Camps

Anyone who watches day time TV and talk shows such as Ricky Lake will know about the Boot Camp edition of behavioural adjustment in problem children. Drill sergents will yell at kids to do push up, pick up messes, dress in a uniform and do long hikes or hard runs. You will see a short time compressed version where there is a lot of yelling and tough love. A lot of people see these kids turn around and support the idea. When we hear about a death related to these boot camps, we think 'the drill instructor is at fault' and not 'this was a bad idea through and through'. Sometimes, people think they can do a better job and make sure their kids wont suffer the same fate. Well, not in Alabama.

Quick Three - Parenting

 I posted this in the wrong blog by mistake. I will post a continuation in connection to a new case.

Abuse is a pretty touchy subject. The line between doing what is best for a child and what is worst for a child can be pretty thin. Sometimes, it is just a matter of perspective that separates the two. This topic came up recently when a New Yorker from Eastern China made his son run nearly naked through the snow. The son was born prematurely and it seems the actions of this dad are premeditated, directed, pointed. From his perspective, this is was is best for his son and seen through the perspective of Eastern Chinese Philosophy, it just may be true. The Western perspective is quick to condemn this kind of behavior and may even question the Chinese ability to parent a child in the Western world.

But freedom to decide how one raises one's own child has not always been universally agreed upon, demanding decisions from the Supreme Court. Education, what kind of or if there should be any at all, is a child welfare issue taken up from time to time. In the United States, parents have a great degree of control over what their children learn. However, in Europe, education is stricter. Some commentators have questioned if teaching religion to a child is a form of child abuse by it self.

Then there are cases where the government insists on presenting a picture of a parent that doesn't match up to what the rest of the world sees. Kerry McDougall fled the UK at night for Ireland because social workers claimed she was too stupid to marry or care for a child. That kind of ruling happens...often enough that it would make more sense to ask you to Google it and pick a story than link to all of them. One would expect a judgment in one country to hold up in another country, however, the social workers in Ireland disagreed with the UK and Kerry has recently given birth to another child and seems to be doing well. Child abuse doesn't always means abuse at the hands of the parents and government systems that have the power to take children away are supposed to do it right the first time. If the Western world can screw up and traumatize kids by taking them away or by not (Baby P), what right do we have for judging a dad who makes his son run through the snowy streets of New York City if there is a specific point and benefit for the child?

The Ohio School Shooting - Where Education and Parenting Unfortunately Collided

It is a somber moment when ever a child brings a gun into a school, regardless if the gun is discharged or not, We recently have seen a school shooting come to national attention in Ohio. Two victims are dead now, three physically wounded and many more survived by those passed away. We will have a cycle of media talk about gun control, where were the parents and if teachers should have guns. We wont have a cycle of media talk about the art of teaching, where the rights of the parents intersect the art of teaching and the motivations children have in school.

The Department of Education has a new program it is pushing; Raising the Bar. I heard about this push on the Daily Show; Jon Stewart interview Arne Duncan. Teaching to Test and No Child Left Behind came up as relevant subjects. Jon Stewart's observation that teaching is an art, not a science, and current programs seems to treat education as a science with exact cause and effect, universal laws and sameness from area to area struck the nail on its head.