what's going on today?

hmm, so what is there to blog about today. i think i already exhausted my thoughts for the week on the healthcare debate, as well as clash for cunkers. and nothing notable happening in aerospace industry either. boeing still isn't quite sure how long the 787 will take, and they plan to test the orion crew module in abort tests starting early next year. but none of that is really surprising i suppose. and the state budget has even managed to avoid front page and especially my wallet (and thus my extreme interest, ire, and disgust) for a few days.
oh. i remembered what i can talk about. remember a couple weeks ago, gates got arrested "because he's black?" then he and crowley went to have beers with obama (and biden) to "discuss race relations in america." but then within the last two weeks here in california, we had a large race riot in one of the state prisons. dorms are now uninhabitable, in once case completely burned. yet why is no one suggesting that we invite some of the prisoners directly involved to go to washington and talk it out over some beers too? while some might argue that this riot was between two minority groups (blacks and hispanics), there's no denying that it was still an issue of racial tension here in america and one that is certain to rise with the gradual "browning" of america that is expected to happen over the next several decades. so what better way to highlight and bring positive discussion on the issue than to bring real average citizens into the discussion? (i'd hardly say crowley and gates are very representative since a similar episode is undoubtedly played out weekly with other minorities but none are world-renowned harvard professors.) this incident is being highlighted as a further failure of the california prison system, but i think it's far more representative of both the imbalance of incarcerations and definitely an indicator of the racial barometer in the country. if anyone is really serious about discussing race relations in a meaningful way, they would seize the nice opportunity afforded by this riot to start a real discussion. sure, Ph.Ds can sit around all day at posh conferences and talk about it until their faces are blue, but i can assure you that many are not directly related with it like the common man is.

the high school exit exam

here in california (although i'm sure we're being watched and probably emulated soon), there is much debate over whether the high school exit exam is fair, is accurate enough, is administered properly, etc....the list goes on. but one problem: it only tests up until the 10th grade level of school at most to begin with. i'm sorry, but if you're in 12th grade, then that means you're presumed to have passed the 10th grade. you might think you forgot, but the human brain is capable of things that will startle most brain users. so if you cannot pass a test on the 10th grade material after six tries, then maybe you shouldn't be in the 12th grade now at all. (before you get your panties all in a bunch, special ed isn't being factored into this equation. i'm quite aware of the fact that not everyone is cut from the same cookie cutter.)
but on a slightly different vein of thought, if we are only going to test to the 10th grade level, why not just test them at the end of 10th grade for everyone? if you pass, then congratulations, here's your diploma, now go out there and be somebody. if you don't, then you have five more tries and up to two years of school to try and get it right. we could potentially save billions of dollars from being wasted on kids who don't need it (aka those who pass after 10th grade). the saved money could be shifted to better educate kids in the lower grades to increase the passage rate as well as increase funds for community colleges and universities. (or at the very least balance the state budget.)
how this would affect the dropout rate might not be crystal clear and would probably take awhile to fully be actualized. but i doubt it would be any worse than the current stats for dropouts, which are pretty disheartening. if california (and the rest of the us as well) is to compete in a 21st century global economy in the mid-long term, something must be done soon to combat the drastic cuts to education both in primary, secondary, and higher education levels.