I have tried not to weigh in publicly to the controversy in the Middle East. Partly because, as a Jew, my impartiality might be suspect, but mostly because, it seems to be a continuing dialogue of the deaf, with neither side really listening to the other. Each side is so surrounded by its own misery, or its own survival, or its own special axe to grind, that civil discourse seems impossible,
Finally, Netanyahu has got to me. I am a great fan of his father, professor emeritus of Judaic studies at Cornell University, but not of his right-wing, intractable son. Benny is a problem. I do understand his dilemma. He would like, (what politicians doesn’t) to stay in power. To do it he has to ally himself with the religious nutbars. According to a recent piece in the Atlantic Monthly, Washington is publicly denouncing the expansion of settlements in East Jerusalem, while at the same time trying to maneuver Netenyahu into a coalition with Tzipi Livni who actually has more seats than Netenyahu’s Likkud party. She is on the political left. Benny is on the right. If Washington’s quiet urging can move him, there could be a better coalition – one that did not include the religious right.
I am, as you must know, an atheist. I simply do not believe in the divine or that he magically endowed us with a book that is a complete guide to life and human behaviour. I am a humanist and an existentialist. While I am fiercely Jewish, I have no time for the fundamentalists who claim they have some kind of special link to the almighty. It is those people who spend a lot of time in prayer and study, when they are not busy making hordes of children they can’t afford to have, who need the new housing being built in East Jerusalem. They are, for the entire Jewish people, a sad kind of revenge of the cradle. In the years ahead, they will outnumber the moderates and the secular Jews. It is they who proclaim that “God gave them this land” and therefore they are entitled, by divine direction, to hold it. (No mention is made of the ethnic cleansing that is documented in the holy book when Joshua conquered and obliterated Jericho and thousands of Canaanites who happening to be living there in obvious defiance of god’s will.
I know that Netanyahu has to assuage the sensitivities of these people in order to keep their party in the government coalition. But he plays politics with human need. Shame on him.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
SCHOOL DAYS - SCHOOL DAYS
A few years ago I went back to school. It was not for all the reasons in those “get-a-career” commercials on television. I’ve already had my time in the workforce. It was reasonably successful. I have no regrets, save for the feeling I have about never getting even an undergraduate degree.
But I wonder about all the sometimes-desperate folks who are attracted to the ads that promise a whole new life; that promise a career; that promise you can do it if you just pick up the phone.
I don’t know who goes to these highly advertised career and vocational schools. I have to believe that they are people who are highly influenced by media persuasion. That push, coupled with their own sense of failure, leads them to become dental assistants or pharmacy workers. They probably have found themselves, either in the position of having no income other than some government largesse, or perhaps in a dead end job that offers no chance for anything but survival – unless you are laid off.
I have no figures to prove it, but I am betting that if such figures were available, they would reflect a rise directly connected to the drop in employment possibilities. Recessions are good for “career” schools.
Recently, an article looking at all those schools found that many of them made high-pressure promises of guaranteed job placement and did not live up to the promise. The “prepare yourself for a high paying career...” enticement has pulled in some people I am sure, who have succeeded, but has also pulled in many hapless suckers, people grasping at straws. The article points to the enormous burden of debt, because these schools are not cheap, and to the hopelessness of a graduate not making enough money to repay the loans. There is, I am sure, some kind of legislation that protects people from themselves, and makes the schools reach some kind of measurable standard.
It may be a leap, but the attraction of these schools is not unlike the attraction of the multi-million dollar lotteries: a chance to hope. There must be something good happening because the schools seem to thrive and always find new students.
I know that universities and community colleges offer continuing education courses. They don’t come with job placement facilities, but they certainly must open people’s eyes to new possibilities.
It boils down to this: there are too many failed people in our society. There are too many who, at age sixteen, quit school, got a job, bought a truck, and thus achieved their “goals.” The so-called goals are a matter of aspiration, and aspiration – the urge to be better – is not easy to come by and certainly will not be fulfilled by a quick-study miracle offered on a TV commercial.
But I wonder about all the sometimes-desperate folks who are attracted to the ads that promise a whole new life; that promise a career; that promise you can do it if you just pick up the phone.
I don’t know who goes to these highly advertised career and vocational schools. I have to believe that they are people who are highly influenced by media persuasion. That push, coupled with their own sense of failure, leads them to become dental assistants or pharmacy workers. They probably have found themselves, either in the position of having no income other than some government largesse, or perhaps in a dead end job that offers no chance for anything but survival – unless you are laid off.
I have no figures to prove it, but I am betting that if such figures were available, they would reflect a rise directly connected to the drop in employment possibilities. Recessions are good for “career” schools.
Recently, an article looking at all those schools found that many of them made high-pressure promises of guaranteed job placement and did not live up to the promise. The “prepare yourself for a high paying career...” enticement has pulled in some people I am sure, who have succeeded, but has also pulled in many hapless suckers, people grasping at straws. The article points to the enormous burden of debt, because these schools are not cheap, and to the hopelessness of a graduate not making enough money to repay the loans. There is, I am sure, some kind of legislation that protects people from themselves, and makes the schools reach some kind of measurable standard.
It may be a leap, but the attraction of these schools is not unlike the attraction of the multi-million dollar lotteries: a chance to hope. There must be something good happening because the schools seem to thrive and always find new students.
I know that universities and community colleges offer continuing education courses. They don’t come with job placement facilities, but they certainly must open people’s eyes to new possibilities.
It boils down to this: there are too many failed people in our society. There are too many who, at age sixteen, quit school, got a job, bought a truck, and thus achieved their “goals.” The so-called goals are a matter of aspiration, and aspiration – the urge to be better – is not easy to come by and certainly will not be fulfilled by a quick-study miracle offered on a TV commercial.
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