George Will wrote an editorial about an ominous rise in dog ownership because an increasing number of women “are adopting dogs for security and/or companionship partly because of the great education divide.” Many more women than men are going to college. It was estimated that in 2013 there were 4.9 million more women age 25 or older with college degrees than men in that age group. Apparently women prefer to marry men who have educations at least similar to theirs, which translates to a shortage of suitable male partners. That leads to the women having a dog for companionship, and few would dispute that dogs are more dependable than men.

But that isn’t the end of the story. Amina Elahi writes that women represented 30 to 37 percent of computer science undergraduates in the 1980s. That number dipped to about 18 percent by 2010-2011. There are 75 percent of girls are interested in STEM in middle school, but apparently they then become more interested in makeup and having “the right body type.” There also continues to be a “nerdy” stigma with technology. Watching young girls and boys tells me they are all interested in technology, or at least they’re interested in the technology that keeps them texting each other as they gather for lunch.

It’s all very confusing. Why are many more women attending college but there are fewer of them in technology classes? I would think a young woman could fuss over her makeup and still attend a computer class. And why would they care about body type if they are going to opt for a dog as a companion?

Tom Coyne had an excellent guest commentary article in the Denver Post about the status of education in Jefferson County, Colorado. The only complaint I have about the article is that it dances around defining the problem until page two. Taxpayers spend an enormous amount of money for education. In 2012-2013 Jeffco spent $10, 420 per student or over $260,000 per 25 student classroom. Denver metro expenditures on education were in the billions of dollars. All this spending is not resulting in decent educations for many of the students. “In 2014, only 46 percent of Jeffco students met the college and career ready… (requirements) in reading, only 47 percent in math, and only 45 percent in science.”  Sadly that means more than half the students were not adequately prepared to attend college or start any kind of career when they graduate from high school.

The school administrators and teachers union has a standard response to complaints students aren’t meeting standards. They first say they know what they are doing. They then will say something such as, “If you want better achievement results, you have to give us more money and trust us to use it wisely.” Does that mean the administrators and teachers are admitting they can work harder and smarter, but are holding back because they want more money. Everyone would always appreciate higher pay, but I think it would go over very poorly in a private business if a manager or employee said they will improve substandard performance only if they receive a raise Continue reading →