Lazy stereotype

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Forbes writer Mike McShane joined the blowback on that Harvard law professor's campaign to outlaw homeschooling.

His article, "Harvard's Lazy Attack on Homeschooling," makes the same point I did this week, which is that their case is easily countered. (The image above was used in the Harvard Magazine article - how funny is it that they originally misspelled "arithmetic!") Studies show that homeschooled kids do very well academically and are no less safe at home.

Regarding the professor's objection to "conservative Christian" parents, she should know that she can't get a law passed to silence political opinion she doesn't like (yesterday's post). 

McShane adds that homeschooling parents are actually diverse, not only the stereotype. Kids with special needs are the primary reason why about 10% of parents do homeschooling, while 8% are African-American and 26% are Hispanic. 

Homeschooled 3

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

As a professor of law, this woman should know beyond any doubt that genuine Christian values violate neither the law nor the traditions of American life. And "conservative" values held by many homeschooling parents represent about half the country, the political party she (apparently) does not belong to and would like to undercut.

If "conservative Christian" parents want to bring up their children within their own value system, that's still okay in America. Her claim that this right of parents should be outlawed is without merit.

(It's also annoying that she identifies Christian values as including white supremacy, female subservience, and science denial. No. Just, no.)

Homeschooled 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

It's pretty clear that this Harvard prof is simply advocating for the preferences of her own tribe, the academic elites of the American East coast. Her complaints do not justify a ban on homeschooling:

• Homeschooled students generally do well academically and even surpass  publicly schooled students. Her claim of academic superiority at public schools is without merit.
• Public schools are not safer for the child. According to this study, over four million children endure sexual misconduct by school employees. Her claim of superior safety in public schools is without merit.

photo from pbs: Homeschooling tips

The third charge she makes is that homeschooling parents educate their children counter to "mainstream culture," that they are driven by "conservative Christian beliefs." 

(cont'd tomorrow)

Homeschooled 1

Homeschooling, done by 3-4% of American families, has a very long tradition. Compulsory education began to be mandated by state laws only about 160 years ago, and the venue could be public, private or home-based. Today all three options are still in operation.

A professor of law at Harvard University would like to see laws passed to prohibit parents from homeschooling their children. In her opinion, homeschooled kids are deprived of a "meaningful education." To advocate for her opinion she also must deny the results of recognized studies on the subject.

Homeschooling should be banned by law in her opinion because:

• state regulations don't control homeschooling tightly enough, and even the few existing regulations are not enforced enough
• school teachers are necessary to ensure child safety by reporting signs of child abuse
• many families homeschool in order to teach undesirable "conservative Christian beliefs"  

from Harvard Magazine

(cont'd tomorrow)

His own words 3

T.J. Stevens didn't see people when he entered a Virginia high school back in 1982. He describes himself as seeing "prey."

While considering suicide the night before, he felt that he heard voices who told him he wouldn't know peace until he killed others first. But at that school the next day, he shot over their heads and took hostages instead. He believes Jesus stopped him.

He saw a vision of a robed man holding out a hand to him, and he took that hand. It was the first of a series of decisions to respond to God over many years. Eventually he told the story to someone who wanted to know why his life changed completely, and she made a film.

The trailer is below, and the film was shown at an independent film festival six months ago.

from Christianity Today

SGN 2

Ready for Some Good News?

Pizza makers, baseball uniform makers, hockey equipment makers and big corporations make themselves into . . producers of medical supplies.

There's even a surprise appearance of John Krasinski's wife, Emily Blunt! And Lin Manuel Miranda!

Air travel loss

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

The enormous crash of revenue for passenger airlines around the world means that they can't keep paying employees. For some it's temporary, but some will never come back:

• Canada Air is laying off about 5,000 cabin crew members, half their roster
• Air New Zealand will let go 3,500 employees, one-third their roster
• Scandinavian Airlines will temporarily let go 10,000 workers - 90%

Will these employees still pay their rent, make their car payments? There's a ripple effect on every part of the economy when a significant portion of workers lose their jobs.

The airline industry buys services and food from other businesses. Vendors who serve Orlando, New York, Philadelphia and other airports have laid off hundreds of workers.

photo

from Forbes

Air travel drop

Most businesses are suffering from the quarantine we all are under, some more than others. Passenger air travel is in economic shock, judging by this chart:

image

About a hundred thousand travelers per day pass through TSA checkpoints now. Compare that to 2,300,000 travelers per day a year ago. It's a downward plunge of 96%. 

There's a human story here about people trying to keep their careers and businesses alive. Maybe at some point we'll hear some of those stories.

from Carpe Diem

NIH frivolous

With an annual budget of $32,000,000,000 (billion) per year, the National Institutes of Health is the "largest public funder of biomedical research in the world".

About fifteen years ago there were drugs (such as hydroxychloroquine) that might be effective against a coronavirus. The NIH could have led the way in rigorous, clinical trials  to make them ready for any future pandemic - ready in the sense of scientifically proven and available to save lives.

Instead of effectively handling the pandemic we're now in, our biomedical community has been arguing over which drugs to use.

Some say the NIH didn't have enough money and resources to research the drugs that showed promise. However, they apparently had enough money and resources to study other  burning issues:

• does drinking encourage gambling among people 12-30 years old? ($350k)
• does TV affect family formation in Vietnamese villages? ($750k)
• could anti-obesity hip hop songs make kids healthier? (over $3 million)
• could people live longer if they take more steps? (spoiler: yes)
• why are lesbian women more overweight than gay men? ($3 million)

As an American tax payer, I wish they had spent resources to find out which drugs would help pandemic victims.

from Just the News

SGN

Anybody ready for a break from the bad news?

Enjoy "Some Good News" from John Krasinski:

China's grip

Another emerging story illustrates the grip that China's government (CCP) holds over their people.

photo

Two Chinese universities published online a directive they received from the Ministry of Education's science and technology department: all academic papers relating to the origin of the coronavirus must be strictly managed, with levels of government approval, before the papers can be released. 

A Chinese researcher, who wants to stay anonymous (of course), told CNN:

"I think it is a coordinated effort from (the) Chinese government to control (the) narrative, and paint it as if the outbreak did not originate in China. And I don't think they will really tolerate any objective study to investigate the origination of this disease."

from CNN

note: the World Health Organization mandates transparent medical data sharing

Field hospital

Coronavirus continues to multiply in the U.S. According to today's update, eight states have over 20k confirmed cases, with New York way out in front at 200k.

Eerily empty New York City streets border a recently-set up field hospital right in Central Park with a capacity of 68 patients, across the street from Sinai Hospital.

Samaritan's Purse did this, as they have done in the middle of many medical emergencies around the world. They get their name from Jesus' story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:31-36) who took care of a wounded stranger.

Last Friday you saw a short Easter message from Eric Metaxas who lives in NYC, and here he is interviewing the staff at the field hospital.

Mind work 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Dr. Charles M. Lieber has a long, long list of accomplishments and honors to his credit. He does research in nanotechnology, advises scientific journals, and was the principal inventor on 35 patents. He's the Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University.

He was arrested in January, charged with lying to the United States government about his ties to China's Thousand Talents Program - and the money they've paid him. As a recipient of millions of dollars of U.S. grants, he was supposed to disclose whether he was also receiving payment from any foreign governments. He answered, No.

Why did he do it? Sounds like China gave him compelling amounts of money: $50,000 per month, $158,000 as living allowance, and $1.5 million to create a research lab in Wuhan, China. You have to wonder if he really thought he could hide all that money.

Did he sell America's intellectual property to the Chinese? Dr. Lieber now has the focused attention of the Department of Justice, and he's on indefinite leave from one of the most elite universities in America.

image

Mind work 1

China's government started a program called "Thousand Talents" in 2008 to recruit experts all over the world in scientific research, innovation, and entrepreneurship. 

Ideas are the work of the mind. Good ideas are essential for economic growth. Companies with a research and development department (R&D) pay a high price for those ideas, supporting researchers with income and equipment while they do their work of the mind - in the expectation that it will pay off with great new ideas.

photo

So it's easy to see why China would institute such a program. Consider the significance of patents. China was well behind the U.S. in acquiring patents (despite having 3x the population) until 2011. China's patents have soared past American patents since then

Recruiting talent is understandable. But stealing ideas (intellectual property) from those who have done the hard work to get them? A different matter.

(cont'd tomorrow)

Good Friday

Author and speaker Eric Metaxas has a message for you today, Good Friday:



Just in case you don't have a church home, or a church service to watch online this Sunday, I gladly give you this link to my mine.

Happy Easter!

Outrageous

Easter is a national holiday in America. Even "nones" (identifying with no religion) can celebrate Easter as the return of spring, life returning to the landscape (if you have winter at your location). 

Hey, me too - I love the green coming back to nature. But this Christian holiday is actually the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. As this author says: it's a stunning, outrageous claim.

He looked ordinary, used only his culture's technology (2000 years ago), and gathered around himself a relatively small band of followers. The apostle Peter explained why they followed him: "You have the words of eternal life."

Everything he did went to benefit other people. What mythical god ever lived a selfless life or went to his grave to redeem human beings?

Believers and non-believers alike, if you would like to explore the question of whether Jesus really rose from the dead, there's an opportunity to do so. Go to the Facebook page of Tom Gilson tonight, April 9.

EasterNow

Easter won't be the same this year. Obviously. I will miss celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ with my beloved church family, as many of you will. We have a situation and we'll do the best we can with it.

Maybe this could help. There's an app called "EasterNow" which follows the events of Easter week day by day, including maps. You can download it free on both Android and Apple phones.

"Each day this week, users receive messages that tell the story of what happened on that day some 2,000 years ago. It also provides the full text of the scripture that tells the story and shows a map pinpointing where it happened."

image

COVID-19 cases

Here is a source you can go to for the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in states of the U.S. It is updated pretty frequently.

We hear that the number of new cases is leveling off, so you can check to see whether that's happening in your state (if you live here in the U.S.).

Good liberty 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Some of us would love for somebody else to make our life decisions for us. Is that you?  Probably not. You know yourself better than other people do, especially government bureaucrats who have no idea that you exist and have their own agenda.

More about freedom from Jonah Goldberg:

"Freedom works from the assumption that you have a better sense of what’s best for you than someone else does, especially someone who has never met you—and never will.

"Freedom does not require radical personal autonomy. Friends, family, clergy, teachers, mentors, neighbors, et al., all play a role in helping people find their way in life. Their opinions matter more precisely because they know you, want what is best for you, and to one extent or another, love you. You consider their input, and make your own choice.

"People love people they know . . . The government doesn’t love you, because it can’t love you—and neither can the market. But at least the market doesn’t pretend that it can."

Good liberty 1

There's a serious public debate going on in America (one of many) to ask which is better for us, socialism (government-controlled economic system) or capitalism (a person is free to create her or his own productivity). 

Those terms will have to be defined so we know what we're talking about, and that's a future post.

But before we get there, here are some good quotes from Jonah Goldberg (disclaimer: I don't endorse everything he writes) to answer the question, "what's so great about freedom?"

"The government can improve your net worth, but not your self-worth, and your self-worth comes from earned success and the good character that allows you to recognize what that means. If I could earn success for my daughter, I’d be tempted to do it. But I can’t and neither can the government.

"The free market creates opportunities for people to find what is meaningful to them . . creates opportunities for people to find their niche."

(cont'd tomorrow)

Gender & jobs

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

It is evident from yesterday's chart that more men than women are willing to risk work-related injury and death, though in each category there are some women.

image

Here's a surprising, clarifying quote from feminist Camille Paglia:

"Men are absolutely indispensable right now, invisible as it is to most feminists, who seem blind to the infrastructure that makes their own work lives possible. 

"It is overwhelmingly men who do the dirty, dangerous work of building roads, pouring concrete, laying bricks, tarring roofs, hanging electric wires, excavating natural gas and sewage lines, cutting and clearing trees, and bulldozing the landscape for housing developments. It is men who heft and weld the giant steel beams that frame our office buildings, and it is men who do the hair-raising work of insetting and sealing the finely tempered plate-glass windows of skyscrapers 50 stories tall.

"Surely, modern women are strong enough now to give credit where credit is due!"

Dangerous jobs

There used to be a tv show about dangerous jobs. The worst on that show (or one of the worst?) was to be on the crew on a fishing boat.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics confirms that in this list of the ten most dangerous jobs. They're not closed to women, but the huge majority of people holding these jobs are men.

image

(cont'd tomorrow)

RIP Dr. Jim

Jim Goodrich did a combat tour as a private with the Marines in Vietnam, then came back home to go to college and med school. He trained as a pediatric neurosurgeon.

This author (Michael Egnor), during his own time as a medical student, got to shadow him for a month. His rounds took a little longer while they stopped to play with the babies. Dr. Egnor describes him as "a great guy—funny, hardworking, considerate. A real gentleman."

photo

Dr. Goodrich became the Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Montefiore Medical Center in New York for 30 years, treated thousands of kids, and trained generations of students. He specialized in reconstructing kids' skull deformities and pioneered reliable separation of Siamese twins joined at the brain. 

It turns out that he was one of the wealthiest people in NYC as heir to the Goodrich Tire fortune. But he spent his life working 80 hours per week, operating on poor kids from the Bronx.

He died Monday from coronavirus.