Will money solve our education problems?

Most Americans agree that there is something wrong with our public education system. It's hard not to--we often hear any number of bleak statistics about the alarming state of public education in the US (low high school graduation rates, enormous gaps between racial and socioeconomic groups, low performance compared to other countries, etc etc etc).

What we don't agree on is what to do about it! Let's skip the issues of charter schools or vouchers entirely and, for the moment, focus on public schools. Most people agree that it's a good thing for the government to spend more money on education, but the allocation of government funds can be controversial.

So what about... merit pay for teachers? ♥ Michelle Rhee ♥ , the chancellor of Washington DC public schools, is a big proponent of merit pay for teachers. This would involve bonuses (often quite large ones) for teachers whose classes perform better on the standardized tests currently used to measure academic progress. Possibly also bonuses for teaching in more needy or dangerous districts, or for teaching subjects that are more in demand of teachers (math or science), or for teaching special-education classes, or for having higher qualifications.

While there are some obvious benefits for merit pay, the fundamental question is: does throwing money at education really solve its problems? Will paying teachers more change anything at all? Perhaps it will motivate existing teachers to work harder, or perhaps it will encourage some bright people who otherwise would have gone on to more lucrative careers to be teachers instead. But it completely fails to address some of the structural concerns with public education (budget gaps, differing levels of parental investment or emphasis on learning at home), and it sends us even farther along the path of standardized testing for all (to determine which teachers are doing well, you'd have to test often and rely on those numbers as accurate measures of achievement).

In other words--is this a problem we can solve by throwing money at it?

OMG

It is just about midnight here in scenic Connecticut. Colin, Kayoko, Mina, and I are all sitting around with our laptops, finishing up some JASC work. Our once-in-a-lifetime spring meeting ends tomorrow morning, when Ed flies back home at around 5 AM.

For about four days now, we've been working until 2 AM every night, too excited about our JASC work to sleep! And I am pleased to announce that

THE DELEGATES FOR THE 61ST JASC HAVE BEEN CHOSEN!

It was an incredible experience to select the delegates. We were honored to receive so many amazing applications, all of which showed care and hard work. Our applicants were all interesting people with diverse experiences that could contribute so much to JASC--it was really hard choosing just 28 delegates!

We've dealt with all sorts of other JASCy work, and of course had some fun in the meantime! We can't wait to meet our delegates, and until then, we'll keep working on the conference for them!

Introducing ♬TAKUMA♬

It is my honor and pleasure to introduce to you one of the members of our illustrious JEC:


Name: Takuma Tanaka (田中豪)
Age: 20
School: University of Tokyo
RT: Public Interest Vs. Individual Rights (with Ed!)
Hobbies: Sports, juggling (!!!), being awesome

***

Some questions and answers to help you get to know Takuma better:

What was your original goal/intention for attending the 60th JASC?

Honestly speaking, my original intention was visiting the U.S., which
was my first time, or looking for my partner through my life because
JASC is also know as JAMC, Japan-America Marriage Conference :P

( ♥ Takuma with Moto Ono, JEC leader of Food RT! ♥ )

Now that the 60th is over, and some time has lapsed since, how much as a person do you think you have grown?

During the conference I became twenty. Before the conference I was not
allowed to drink in Japan....but after coming back to Japan....I
was!!! I do not like alcohol so much, though.

What kind of leader do you want to become for the 61st? In the perspective of the Japadeles? Amedeles?

A typhoon of smile and Tsunami of laughter~♪
I never let the delegates feel sad or lonely (^-^)

(Takuma with Koji Jimba, JEC leader of Education RT!)

What do you want to accomplish in the 61st? In the RT? As a person?

I would like to achieve perfect equal participation of the Japanese
delegates, including me, in the RT discussion in English.

(Takuma with Ed Phillips, his RT partner, and Masato Morishima, a 60th delegate, on a bus in Portland!)

Briefly describe one particular memory you had at JASC that was memorable to you.

I and Yukio, who is a 60th Japanese Executive Committee, were
celebrated on our birthday, 7th of August, in Los Angeles!

If you could describe yourself as a type of food, what would it be and why?

bamboo sprout, which is bitter but healthy.

If you only had one option, which would you choose: time or money? why?

I would choose time because time cannot be bought with money but money
can be made with time....I would like to get both :P

Besides answering to the questions, what are you doing right now?

I just finished eating my lunch, Japanese noodle UDON.

What is your ideal day?

I see the sun rising from the horizon in the morning, walk around in
the nature in the afternoon and sleep under the beautiful Milky way at
night.

(Takuma with Colin Moreshead, our beloved AEC chair. This is the JASCiest picture ever.)

The world is ending in 24 hours. How do you want to spend your last day on Earth?

I would lead a life as usual.

If you had to lose one of your 5 senses, which would you lose and why?

I love foods so much that I cannot lose my tongue.
I love books so much that I cannot lose my eye.
I love music so much that I cannot lose my ear.
so maybe sense of smell or touch....?
Which would be better to lose?
but.... without sense of touch, I could not even walk along the beach
safely with bare foot because I could not notice even if I lose
blood...
so I would lose sense of smell (>_<)

Please write a brief message to the future Amedeles.

JASC is not a purpose but a means. If you find something good in JASC
which is useful to achieve your goals, I would like to recommend you
to participate!

***

And finally, watch Takuma demonstrate his dramatic and acrobatic skills in a skit from the 60th JASC:



(The narrator was played by Miss Yuri Takeuchi, our JEC vice-chair, and the CEO was played by Mr. Hideya Matsumoto, our JEC chair!)

Hail to the Chair

This weekend I was lucky enough to have Yoshi, Kayoko, and Colin as my guests! I documented this historic occasion and wanted to share something with you all:


I'm sure it reassures you all to know that our conference is in such capable hands.

日の丸

I came across an English-language article about the hinomaru flag recently. Briefly, a finance minister intends to display the hinomaru in his press briefing room and there is, naturally, controversy over the hinomaru's symbolism.


I find this particular political issue pretty fascinating. What do you think?
Should the hinomaru have been made Japan's official flag?
Is the hinomaru (with or without sun rays) a symbol of militarist Japan?
Is it ever offensive for a country to display its national flag?
Does the symbolism of the gesture change if it is displayed by a known rightist/nationalist?

Also, did you notice that Kiichi Miyazawa was quoted at the end of the article?

Henry Kissinger

I've been looking through previous JASC recruitment materials and making some of my own, and whenever I encounter a list of famous JASC alumni, there's always one name that stands out: Henry Kissinger.

Presumably because he is our most famous American alumnus, we seem to take great pains to mention him as often as we can.  I am of the school of thought that sufficient repetition makes anything funny, so now every time I see Kissinger mentioned, I can't help but smile.

As you can tell, I am working very hard on JASC right now.

Rachel's self-introduction

Name: Rachel Staum

College: Harvard

Major: East Asian Studies (Japanese literature!)

Hobbies: classical music ♥ , knitting, reading

EC roles: recruitment, public relations, publications (with Mina!)

Site: Kansai!!!

Roundtable: Educating a Global Citizenry: What is the ideal education for a globalizing society?

I am looking forward to working with everyone to make an amazing conference for next year. Right now it seems so far away, and it's hard to imagine everything coming together!

Our new blog is awesome

To my fellow AEC--

Welcome to our new AEC blog!

I believe our intention in creating this blog is to have a casual online presence, through which we can spread information about JASC and our progress creating the conference.

You all have posting access, so I hope you feel free to post photographs, informal updates, and your thoughts on JASC!

Let's keep this blog lively and post often!

Post #1

Hello World!