Monday, April 24, 2006

Bush in San Jose

(first published as a comment on The Spartan Daily website by Andrew Venegas)

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The Spartan Daily: media content by Daniel Esch

The President visited SJSU yesterday to talk about the need for math and science education to enable the U.S. to compete in a global economy.

This visit comes at a choice time for the President; while his domestic policies are waning and his presidency seems hopelessly tied to his troubles in Iraq, small strides towards recovering the still ailing economy shine through as his only hope at stalling his plummeting approval ratings.


Well Well... That's All Right and Good, But -

Unfortunately, the use of a San Jose State student seems more of a political photo-op than concrete evidence that the President means to increase education spending in Washington.

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The Spartan Daily: media content by Daniel Esch

The very notion seems absurd with wartime spending spiraling out of control, and the largest national debt in history continuing to grow.

Even if the President were serious about focusing on education, the Republican Congress has lost much of the political capital they had to recent scandals, and are now scurrying to secure their base of voters for the upcoming Senate elections.

An increase in spending for these Senators would be unwise.

All said, the President's visit smells of political window-dressing - lacking of true
substance.






Sunday, April 23, 2006

Google Earth

I was reading the official Google Blog today, when I came across a post SJSU teachers unsure about the importance of emerging technologies will be on education should read.

image courtesy of Google Earth

Google Earth has lessons and links to help teach students about environmental issues for Earth day - allowing students to "fly" to areas around the planet, "learn[ing] about local and worldwide environmental issues, and communicate with others students and teachers around the country."

Usenet ties the students together, and outside organizations like the Sierra Club and Greenpeace offer further education.

Why isn't there more emphasis on this sort of hands-on organization and use of emerging technologies at SJSU?