New Teachers

It's an interesting government deal. They tossed around $50 million into a deal to involve 4,500 new teacher "recruits".

The deal is simple. Unlike 'real teachers' who go through a program designed over four years to produce a real teacher....this is a program where some pitiful school districts (Philly, Washington DC, Chicago, Miami, Detroit, New York City, Memphis, etc) all get a chance to go out and grab a fresh batch of college graduates to make into teachers real quick.

The neat thing (probably stupid in this case) is that they were all plain college kids with no ambition for being a teacher....so none of the classes over four years was in this area of study. Over this summer, they underwent what you'd describe as a boot-camp deal....roughly eight weeks....to get them ready for school instruction.

You can imagine Karl Jr, who finally got his degree in journalism and there's really no market for him....and here's this great deal for a teacher job....paying a minimum of $45k a year as a rookie teacher.

The teacher unions aren't happy because these punks aren't really trained or prepared. But you can't turn down a free deal.

Adding to this mess...you have to imagine taking a 22-year old kid and putting into a modern school. If it's the third grade....no problem. If this is the 8th grade in Boston? Well...you are pretty screwed as a 22-year old teacher and trying to take charge of a bunch of punks.

I'm guessing this is a failed program and folks will admit it in twelve months. One out of four teachers will quit in the first six months, and another one will quit by the end of the first year. Luckily, we only wasted around $50 million on this deal. But there's likely already another batch of 2011 teachers in the line already and another $50 million will be spent by then.

The Dominate Dude

Over the last day or two, I've read through a dozen news reports on the WikiLeaks dude, Julian Assange, and his charges in Sweden. As of today, the Swedish cops are still investigating the situation. The best they will say is that molestation charges still stand, but the rape charges are now tossed out.

I sat and read over Julian...who has had an interesting life. In her Australian youth, Julian's mom basically packed up and left on a motorcycle. She started a anti-establishment life. Julian, for the most part, was a self-taught kind of kid. He had around two dozen locations in his life and never really got into any real school system. Most folks will admit he was very bright by the time he was 18.

Julian's core fundamental personality? Anti-establishment. Most folks who know him today will say that his greatest pleasure is taking down big guys, big companies, and big countries. He enjoys the thrill of dominating them as an outsider.

I started looking back at the key comments spoken so far in Sweden over these molestation charges. Two women made the comments to the cops. No one will stand up and say what exactly Julian did or such. Then there's this funny comment he made after the accusations came up....he said that he always had consensual sex with his partners. He wanted everyone to know this up front.

So I sat and pondered over this. Julian is a dominant type character and he gets his thrills that way. He's been moving around from house to house in Sweden and I'm guessing both women were likely consensual when they started, but Julian is likely to be a bondage guy....very much into domination.

At some point in these consensual acts...which Julian proudly proclaims...he probably went to step two or three, and both of these women weren't prepared or happy with that move.

I'm also guessing that he didn't stop...and that led to both comparing their notes, and then talking to the cops.

The problem here for the women...if this was consensual....there probably can't be a rape charge. So the idea of molestation....now fits perfectly. Even if both women stand by their comments...the best that the government could hand out to Julian is probably six months of prison (twelve is max there). Count in good behavior, and he's there for four months of jail.

The pressure on the women now? Well...they are likely Swedish Pirate Party members and probably condemned as member's of the US effort. Most guys in the Pirate Party won't stand by either woman (my guess). As for Swedish women in the Pirate Party...this is going to cause turmoil as they discuss this and basically quit.

Julian? Well...he's one of those characters who won't admit he's done wrong under any circumstance. I'm pretty sure he's never said "I'm sorry". I'm fairly sure that he will blame the CIA for these terrible acts....even if the women come out on TV and explain how he went into a bondage act without their permission.

At the end of the day....this becomes a comedy of sorts. You've got some guy running around and never establishing a real home...just living off folks and taking advantage of them. He's forever playing a domination game...either in public or private life. He forever makes speeches on how he took down this giant or that terrible foe. And he needs to blame the CIA and the US for everything that goes wrong. I can almost see a Woody Allen movie out of this.

A New School

It'll be mentioned this week in the news....as LA county prepares for the new school season in a few weeks, and the newest school opens. The new school? The Robert F. Kennedy Community School.

Total cost of construction for the 4,100-odd student school? $578 million. Yeah, that comes to roughly $137k per kid.

We could say alot of things, but mostly, when you wonder about why the state is going bankrupt....it's stupid things like this. It looks more like a upscale Ivy League school than some high school.

As the dimwitted news guy from CNN reports this...just keep asking yourself how they ever paid for this and who was stupid enough to sign off on the paperwork?