Forum Replies Created
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Angela Harenza, 10 years ago
Well Jay… if we’re going to just talk hard facts… let’s talk about… MATTER. You know that stuff from which ALL things are made….
As I’m sure a “learned academic” such as yourself must know… you can change the state of matter. Solid to Liquid to Gas by various methods of manipulation of the elements. But… the thing that CANNOT BE DONE… is to CREATE matter out of… NOTHINGNESS.
So… I’m just curious in that purely proven factual scientific approach to what should be taught… if not a CREATOR… where did matter originate?
Angela Harenza, 10 years ago
My opinion is that throwing money at a fence is not going to stop anyone from driving over from where they crossed in N. Mexico, Arizona or California. Not to mention the apparently abundant tunnels being found routinely. I suggest:
1. Hold employers responsible and avidly enforce the laws already on the books barring them from hiring illegal aliens. All employers should get routine inspections of the “show me their green cards” variety. And FINED accordingly as warranted.
2. Prosecute and FINE drug users. Incarcerating them just costs us the money of housing and guarding them. Let them pay HUGE fines for every infraction of the laws their drug mules are breaking. It is a supply and demand business. Drying up the demand WILL impact the supply.
3. Step up patrols giving them the same authority as police.
4. I don’t mean put Texans out of work. But, the most secure method of really closing our borders is to SEND JOBS TO MEXICO. We already outsource thousands of jobs to India, Taiwan, China, Pakistan and elsewhere. If we move THOSE jobs to Mexico we would be pro-actively securing our own border by relieving a big majority of why they come here in the first place. There would be less language barriers, less distance to travel for oversight purposes, import and export of goods necessary to the production as applicable and proximity to the Texas based HQ of the parent companies. (I’ve suggested this last one elsewhere here but believe it belongs in this conversation too.) While we all talk about drug cartels and smugglers the by far vast majority of aliens come here to earn money… not deal drugs.Angela Harenza, 10 years ago
Regardless of how many delegates are gathered… in the end… each state has ONLY one vote.
Angela Harenza, 11 years ago
My purpose for improving the employment situation in Mexico is to address the problem in Texas with so many of their citizens coming here illegally. The vast majority of them come here for jobs. And I’m not talking about exporting any new jobs … I’m talking about the jobs already being outsourced to (for example) the Far East. Those are jobs lost that gain nothing for Texas.
If we can take the jobs America sends to India, Taiwan and China… and send them to Mexico… INSTEAD… it will lessen the influx of Mexicans coming to Texas for jobs and very likely decrease the cost of goods sold by decreasing the cost involved in transporting finished products back to market here or providing managerial oversight to a much nearer location that doesn’t involve an ocean.
I’m not saying it is our “responsibility” to improve Mexico. I’m saying it will be to our benefit. And… the Federal Government… NOR Texas directly outsources work. It is a cost-cutting function of for-profit industry.
Angela Harenza, 11 years ago
I very much agree with the Gleaves’ comment that students learn in different ways yet the tests do not assess them differently. I’m not a teacher or otherwise recognized as an experienced professional involved in this topic. I’m “just” a Mom. I have, however, lived in several other countries and while here the tests are as inclusive as possible based on little more than age or grade level. Those other nations we are compared to and ranked accordingly are for the most part testing only the cream of their crop. There are several stages along their process that tends to wind up with an entirely different make up under the category… mainstream classroom.
Angela Harenza, 11 years ago
Unfortunately I don’t believe the existing law under Obama’s Affordable Care Act actually would cede any real control of the exchange to the state. So if the question is state vs federal control of exchanges in their present form I’d prefer the state let the entire fiasco reside with the federal government. As it stands now the states, in my opinion, would be in control “in name only” with a cobbled together set of rules looking for someone to blame.
IF, however, the state of Texas is able to put together our own STATE affordable health care plan… I would want the state and only the state to have any say in how it is administered. Responsibility can’t be delegated… therefore… why put any other fingers in the authority pie.
Angela Harenza, 11 years ago
The purpose of the amendment was not intended to be freedom “from” religion as it is applied today. It was freedom “of” religion. The two clauses are (1) the government will not establish a religion, and (2) the government will not impede a citizen’s practice of their religion. Not allowing prayer in school, reading the Bible in school and/or belonging to a prayer club on school grounds… IS… impeding the student’s practice of religion.
Angela Harenza, 11 years ago
If the State of Texas comes up with its own health care plan that meets and exceeds coverage under ObamaCare… can all residents of the state be rendered exempt from the federally mandated program by instead being enrolled in the state’s program?
My thinking is… while I disagree with the concept of forcing citizens to purchase anything… it seems to me if Texas puts her mind to it we can almost certainly come up with a plan that is tremendously better than the hobbled together monstrosity that Washington is shoving down our throats.
I believe the state can get hospitals, clinics, doctors and health insurance carriers to willingly put their heads together in a way that benefits their bottom line, citizen’s health and everyone’s pocketbook.
Surely someone like Mitt Romney and others with some experience in what NOT to do would be available to us. In the short-term whatever funding gap might exist could possibly be met with our slush fund, the state’s lottery or even corporate contributions.
Angela Harenza, 11 years ago
Actually I think it could be implemented with existing staff because… for example… the electives teachers wouldn’t be teaching any material until after lunch which means they would be available in the morning to serve as home room staff. Also… if possible… a single home room staff member could circulate amongst as many as four or so classrooms located close enough to simply walk from one to another or even monitor them via camera and speaker from their own classroom for much of the class period.
On the other hand… these home room staff do not necessarily need to be certified teachers. All the afternoon teachers could be part-time only to present their subject matter while the savings on their salaries is applied to hiring home room staff whose qualifications are suited to discipline, administrative functions and facilitating learning by being available for all the non-teaching activities.
The core subject matter teachers would still need to be available in the afternoons because this would be time for them to prep, work on team teaching concepts and be available to students for extra help or tutoring. Another plus to this is students would by nature of the setup be able to seek that extra help at the expense of missing an elective rather than some other core subject topic.
In my opinion there is just a whole bunch of the school day spent on activities that have very little to do with teaching. I also feel an enormous hurdle for new teachers going into the field has more to do with adjusting to the disciplinary needs than it does put their education to work teaching their core competencies.
Angela Harenza, 11 years ago
A starting place (bearing in mind I am not an Economist) might be to contact companies who already successfully outsource a bulk of their work to Mexico such as IBM. A think tank scenario of what works, what doesn’t, their experience, what would make it better, how they overcome obstacles and any variety of brainstorming would be a means of letting hindsight be Texas’ guiding light in doing it right the first time.
At the same time questions can be explored to identify gains such as lower cost of goods sold by reducing transportation costs from nearby Mexico rather than far away Taiwan, for example. Rather than just calculating potential costs to implement, instead, work to obtain some firm numbers on savings that might be found in proximity.
There are also potential savings in training and management potential if for no other reason, per capita, there are bound to be significantly more Texans who speak Spanish than those fluent in languages of either the near or Far East.
Lastly there are a significant number of incentives Mexico itself offers to attract outsourced work for their labor market. Texas can take a more active role in articulating these to our companies who may benefit.
My bottom line on this suggestion is not intended to ship Texas’ jobs to Mexico. My goal is to see the state entice and facilitate companies who already outsource to far away countries to instead put that investment into Mexico because a strong vibrant economy in Mexico will do more for securing our borders than I believe a fence or guards can ever mandate.
Angela Harenza, 11 years ago
I have a suggestion that might increase time available to present the material to be covered without adding hours to the school day or days to the school year with a significantly lower increase in cost to implement.
It seems to me two big time-wasters in our schools are the several minutes culminating into hours spent (1) by teachers enforcing discipline and (2) students changing classrooms approximately every hour throughout their school day.
My idea is to create core subject hub classrooms equipped with the books and learning materials for all the core subjects. A “home room” staff member would have responsibility for a set of these hubs based on a reasonable population base to facilitate their ability to oversee maintaining discipline, tracking role, writing hall passes and other non-teaching aspects of the classroom environment.
The students would arrive at their assigned hub first thing in the morning and remain there while various subject matter teachers transition in and out of the class presenting their material. The teaching staff would then be free to simply… teach. The “home room” staff member would be on-hand for all the other time-consumers that otherwise bog the teacher down in the needs of a few at the expense of the majority.
Following the break for lunch students would separate into their various elective activities such as band, cheerleading, art, music, etc.
In a nutshell this means the kids would show up, go to their assigned room… check in with the same home room staff who are going to be with them all morning… and be taught by the subject matter experts as the morning progresses from one subject to another. No pushing, no shoving, no hallways, no bullys, no locker issues, excellent discipline, recognition, rewards while remaining safe, secure and engaged in learning.
