The Things I Blogged About This Morning Primary

I wrote this morning that it would make a lot more sense to spend the money we're spending in Iraq on promoting universal education instead, and John Edwards said exactly that in the midst of answering a question about Pakistan.

Comments

Not to be too cynical here. But I assume the candidates all have groups of volunteers scanning the blogs throughout the day, so they can engage in some impressive real-time blogo-pandering, with crowd-pleasing echoes of what the attendees have just read on their laptops. They're right on top of the stundegeist.

Posted by Dan Kervick | August 4, 2007 3:50 PM

We already spend about $900 billion annually on education in this country (counting state and local government spending in addition to federal), and we still have a good share of people who aren't too sharp. Education isn't the panacea highly educated folks think it is.

Posted by Fred | August 4, 2007 4:27 PM

Fred, it's not all about the US. If we spent a little more time and money helping out people in other parts of the world that live in total squalor, our ability to influence world events in positive ways would be hugely improved. Think of what bringing that kind of opportunity to Africa would accomplish.

Posted by justinb | August 4, 2007 4:41 PM

"We already spend about $900 billion annually on education in this country (counting state and local government spending in addition to federal), and we still have a good share of people who aren't too sharp. Education isn't the panacea highly educated folks think it is."

I am going to say something that might sound a little strange, since it goes against the prevailingly narcissistic winds of the college educated conventional wisdom, but, ah what the hell: Education is not for making people smarter.

I'm serious. Making people smarter is pretty damn hard anyway-I think they've only managed to do it in the laboratory. The point of education is really to clue people in to what they might be able to do. This is particularly important in developing and underdeveloped countries, where the people there are frequently criticized for failing to turn rocks and dirt into automobile factories. Not being able to read in a language in which the collective technological advancement of industrial society is encoded pretty much rules out the speedy development of a robust modern economy. So, if a program can be executed with some degree of effectiveness (there will be significant hurdles of the kind that western nations have a dismal achievement rating with) I'm all for it.

Posted by Gordon Lightfoot | August 4, 2007 5:51 PM

from a Pakistani newspaper--

The Nation, Pakistan
Obama-Attack on Pakistan Would Fail

. . . Considering Washington's ultimate goal of rooting out terror, it will have to act more constructively and rationally. The tribesmen are religious conservatives - in other words sticklers for outmoded traditions and with an abysmally low literacy rate. With this reality on the ground, ruthless measures to curb their sympathies for ethnically-identical Pushtuns [Taliban] would prove counterproductive. To change their mindset will require an extensive program of social and economic development and, indeed, a complete review of American policies toward the Muslim world. . .

http://www.watchingamerica.com/index.shtml

Posted by Don Bacon | August 4, 2007 7:02 PM

"I wrote this morning that it would make a lot more sense to spend the money we're spending in Iraq on promoting universal education instead, and John Edwards said exactly that in the midst of answering a question about Pakistan."

Somebody tell Matt we're not spending money on Iraq, we're making our children spend money on Iraq.

Here's a novel idea! Let's not borrow any more money so that when our children get to be our age THEY can decide how to spend THEIR money.

Posted by kafka | August 5, 2007 11:51 PM