The Wisconsin State Journal’s Editorial Board pointed out some “good news” in Dane County public schools. This news was not an increase in the graduation rate or any other academic achievement.
Graduation time is coming, and with it follow the concerns of getting a job and paying back loans. The timing could not be better for U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to visit Madison and gubernatorial hopeful Kathleen Falk to release her plan to fix what many are calling a student debt crisis.
Next November’s elections will feature a fight for Sen. Herb Kohl’s, D-Wis., seat in the United State’s senate. The Democratic candidate will be Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and one of the biggest names on the Republican side is Tommy Thompson, former four-term governor of Wisconsin.
The issue of diversity has been prevalent in the last year and a half of my life. When I interned at McDonald’s Corporation, I had multiple trainings on different types of diversity, including cultural, generational and racial. Hearing from the company’s diversity officers, the idea of diversity and inclusion were shown as a way to promote a better corporate culture that benefits everybody from being able to better deal with challenges and an ever increasing global community.
It is easy to look at the upcoming Spring elections and focus solely on the potential recall of Gov. Scott Walker. It has become a national issue, and millions of dollars from both Wisconsin and out-of-state are being thrown into the election. But there is another important choice to make on the ballot: two candidates for Madison school board representatives.
In the face of recall, Gov. Scott Walker is continuing to push for changes. His most recent plan calls for education reform, focusing mainly on teacher evaluations and improving reading levels. While these programs will improve Wisconsin’s public education system, Walker would do the state’s students even more good if he looked at reforms happening on America’s coasts.
The United States Postal Service is burdened with high health-care, pension and labor costs, not to mention falling sales. It faces fierce competition in e-mail and private delivery systems, yet bailout talks are in the works. Are big banks and auto manufacturers the only organizations that are too big to fail?
Horse trading sounds fun, but political horse trading is exactly what former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich committed to receive 14 years in jail. He was charged with 17 counts of corruption pertaining to his willingness to trade political favors and donations for facilitating public funds to certain projects, including children’s hospitals, race tracks and President Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate seat.
However much it pains me to say it, I am too dependent on the Internet. I use Google and JSTOR to research papers and articles. When I miss my TV shows, I quickly rush online to see if Hulu has them. I use Facebook to keep in contact with my friend in the Army and my brother in Colorado. So when two current bills in Congress would allow the government to censor the Internet, I can't help but feel like parts of my life, however small or large, are in jeopardy.
Matt Beaty
Matt Beaty
Matt Beaty
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