Monthly Archives: December 2015

National Literacy

Posted by on 2015-12-19 No comments

In a comparative study of national literacy published by Connecticut State University, the United States of USA! USA! USA! ain’t doing so good.

http://www.ccsu.edu/wmln/rank.html

The United States comes out 7th overall, which doesn’t sound too bad until you actually read the report.

The U.S. is:

  • 9th in money spent on education
  • 12th in reading newspapers
  • 12th in test scores (after “normalization” with other systems)
  • 23rd in households with computers
  • 30th in libraries

The amount of money thrown at education doesn’t matter: it should be the outcomes. As the study’s Methodology section admits: “There are virtually no meaningful correlations between the input measures and the output measures [for education].” So why were input measures given undue weight in the study? Similarly, test scores don’t matter: it’s what students actually know — which is often not much. Likewise, the number of computers in a household doesn’t matter if all family members do with them are tweeting, watching porn, streaming movies, or downloading music. The ranking of American libraries, while bad enough, is actually elevated by the number of university facilities, while at the community level libraries are poorly, grudgingly, and disgracefully funded. Newspaper rankings are also inflated by the number of local papers (not their quality) that exist solely for advertising revenue, while in smaller countries papers with national circulation are stronger and of better quality. When, for example, was the last time you saw a fuilleiton section in your local newspaper — or any real international news in it? No matter how many USA Todays, New York Posts, and National Enquirers exist, Americans still can’t find Brazil on a map.

Meaningful outcomes? These were given short shrift in this “study.”

And a final question:

How do weighted rankings of [ 9, 12, 12, 23, and 30 ] amount to a composite ranking of 7?

To the Jewish Federation

Posted by on 2015-12-04 No comments

Jewish Federation of Greater New Bedford

Dear –,

This is a bit awkward. I am writing you in your capacity as President of the Federation, not as the old friend that you are to both of us.

Please ask the Federation to stop sending me appeals for donations. Deborah certainly holds her own views, but I am speaking for myself here.

My views on Zionism and Israel within our community are well-known, and these campaign appeals are unappreciated. I have previously asked the Federation to remove my name from its mailings, and it has ignored my requests. What other steps must I take to make this stop?

Zionism is not a religion. It is a remnant of 19th century nationalism, of a destructive and divisive type we have seen all over the world – in Germany, Serbia, Africa, and the Middle East. Nationalism is incompatible with democracy because within nationalist states there is always a preferred people, race, or religion – and its “others” always find themselves in its crosshairs. In Israel proper and in the occupied territories, Palestinians don’t have to wear yellow stars, but they might as well be required to. They are third-class citizens in Israel, and essentially non-humans in the West Bank.

Judaism, on the other hand, is a religion, and one in which ethics mean everything. It has evolved since the days of temples and priests, but apparently the fundamentalist conception of God literally conferring land ownership of Israel has not similarly evolved. Until modern day Messianism reared its ugly head after the Six Day War, many Jews believed that talking about a reconstituted Israel was an abomination. Now only the Satmars reject Zionism, but many progressive Jews believe that Zionism must be reigned-in and that Israel’s rejection of Two States leaves no other alternative for peace except a single, democratic, secular state. This is my view. I cannot consider myself a Zionist in any form.

Those who believe in a fusion of nationalism and religion remind me of the Islamic zealots who want their own religious state. Israel should strive to be a 21st century democracy and not a Jewish Caliphate. Most Americans believe in separation of church and state. Why, then, should we be expected to make an exception for Israel?

Since the program of the Federation is Zionist, I cannot support any of it. Please take my name off your list permanently. Thank you for your understanding. I hope this explains why I do not wish to have any donations given in my name.

David Ehrens

Our Only Hammer is a Bomb

Posted by on 2015-12-01 No comments

This morning I read two different op-eds on ISIS. Dana Milbank ponders the proper way to talk about risks and “bad guys” to children, and Chace Howland regurgitates the old line that – just like Chamberlain with Hitler – the West has been too easy on ISIS: now is the time for allies to strike.

In other words – keep a stiff upper lip and attack the “bad guys” anew.

The problem is – there’s nothing new in any of this. Worse, it shows just how narrow our thinking has become on issues of foreign policy. When you have a monstrous military, every foreign policy choice involves “defense” – no need to ponder one’s own responsibility for creating the conflict. There’s only one hammer in our tool belt, and it’s a bomb.

We’ve been at war in the Middle East almost as long as my children, now pushing thirty, have been alive. A whole generation has grown up in perpetual war, never knowing full civil liberties, seeing the decline of infrastructure, education, health, and security by the middle and working classes. The only constant during all this time has been our addiction to war.

Chace Howland sees parallels between Germany of the Thirties and ISIS. The Nazis had an ideology; so does ISIS. Check. The Nazis wanted to expand their territory; so does ISIS. Check. Ergo: they’re the same. His is a rather shallow analysis for a history teacher. Nazism was a reaction to the failures of liberal democracy in a once-advanced, highly educated and cultured nation, and was characterized by scapegoating within that democracy. In many ways, the United States is a better candidate for Nazi analogies than ISIS. We have military bases in 150+ countries. The Patriot Act has gutted most of our Bill of Rights – something that white people have only recently lost but which minorities have never completely enjoyed. And we now have presidential candidates who want to slap yellow stars on our citizens.

Yes, ISIS is powerful, but only relatively so. Its power comes from all the failed states in the Middle East that the United States and its “allies” have created. If ISIS appears strong in Iraq it is because George Bush’s and Paul Bremer’s “de-Baathification” policy destroyed the Iraqi military. If ISIS is strong in Libya, thank Obama and Clinton. If ISIS is strong in Syria, thank John Kerry. And thank all the American presidents of both parties that encouraged, funded, and armed religious militias during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. The United States created Islamic extremism. Both Republicans and Democrats have blood on their hands. And we still seem determined to finish off Assad’s Syria. This is insanity.

We claim to be shocked at the horrific beheadings and religious repression of “apostates” by ISIS. And yet our great friend Saudi Arabia is about to stage a mass execution of a variety of “criminals,” including a well-known poet who renounced Islam and a teenager who attended a pro-democracy demonstration with his uncle. Sounds like ISIS to me. If Mr. Chace thinks the ideology behind ISIS will be exterminated by allied bombing, he is mistaken. Saudi Arabia’s Wahhabist oil peddlers are beloved by both Bushes and Clintons.

Which brings us to the heart of things – the Middle East is a Middle Eastern problem. Even if we bomb Raqqa and Tikrit and Mosul into powder, terrorism is not going away. We flatter ourselves to think that the US and Russia are in a “proxy war” in the Middle East – one that could be resolved by finding a nice chateau for Syria’s Assad to live out his days in. But the balance between democracy, religion – and of what kind? Western, Sunni or Shiite? – is at the heart of all this. Saudis want their own democracy, not a family-owned kleptocracy; Egyptians want their own form of democracy instead of a military junta: but the United States continues to support these repressive regimes. Kurds want their own state; religious minorities want protection from majorities. Some of the messes of colonial meddling with borders need to be cleaned up.

Drones and F16’s will fix none of this.

We like to think of ourselves – not as the world’s policeman – but as a force for good in the world. Yet we are neither. Our policing of the world has been as violent and mercurial and damaging as it is at home. As a for being a force for good, this is more wishful thinking. We will never know what it is to be a good friend and neighbor until we have learned to count every one of our own citizens as such.

This was published in the Standard Times on December 6, 2015
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/article/20151206/opinion/151209673