California K-12 education and Governor Elections

I was surprised to hear these two facts:
1) California ranks in the bottom of per student spending in USA
2) California teacher's average salary is in top of bracket in USA

Anyone can easily make out why K-12 education in California is in such a bad state. Whatever money we are getting is going for salary. I wouldn't have mind second fact if our students were performing really great. Good salary is essential to attract good quality teachers. It may be true as well. However, there is another fact with above two facts. Once teachers are tenured in California, there is no relationship between there salary hikes and performance. That can and actually leads to complacency. We as a parent see it all the time. Definitely there are so many good teachers. Actually, most of them are pretty good. However, once in a while you do get teachers which you wish were not your child's teachers. Problem is that, nothing can be done against these kinds of teachers. Even if there track/performance record screams that they shouldn't be here.

Unfortunately nobody can do anything. When there is budget cuts, teachers are laid of based on seniority or I should say juniority.

I wish it can be changed.

Is it possible. As of now it is next to impossible. Not that it can't be done. Teacher's union is toooooo strong and won't let this happen.

However, sooner or later it has to be changed.

May be it can slowly be made election agenda and who so ever supports linking of performance and teacher's job or salary hikes. We need to do it.

President Obama's religion

I really wonder about this big debate on President Obama's religion. As most of you know that as per some polls 20% American think that he is Muslim by religion. Some 30% or so are not sure about his religion (in other words thinks that he is not Christian).

I really don't understand all this. Is there any requirement in constitution that president has to be Christian?? To my best knowledge it is not. If not then why any body cares about it. Why make it a big deal. Period.

Mosque at Ground Zero

Very interesting discussion on Mosque near ground Zero in Manhattan in last week's Meet the press. Started with Mayor Rudy Juliani's interview. I had hoped much better performance from man like him. Actually way he was speaking you can make out that he himself not sure about what he is talking about. Honestly, I will be surprised if he can make any dent in politics beyond NYC..

However, there was excellent point for Mosque near ground Zero by other participants. They were very clear on it. Bigotry was their main issue.. If you are non-religious state then you can't differentiate between Mosque or Church or Temple. If you can have Church at proposed site then you can have Mosque.. Allah didn't do 9/11. It was humans.. Just Humans.. Did they ban building of Church or anything like that where that famous bombing of federal building happened in late 80s or early 90s by US citizens who most likely must be Christians. I am not very familiar with exact details or history of that incidence so these are my guess. So either these guys should declare that USA is Religious Christian State. Period.. or let any legal and / or democratic process take it's root..

 

Apple taking over MSFT as biggest Tech Company!!

It is great to see Apple taking over MSFT as biggest tech company. However, I feel that Apple is making same mistake as they did 20 years back. I don't know if you noticed or not.. Android based smart phones overtook iPhone for last 2-3 months in overall sales numbers. Which means that users are loving and accepting openness of Android based phones and I feel that iPhone will soon become 15-20 year old MAC. This time it could be Google/Android instead of Microsoft.. However, Google is smart enough to avoid MSFT mistakes as of now by making Android as open source and broader developer community taking lead on it..

Hope we all will have much better future as compared to last 15-20 years of monopoly of MSFT.

Cheers!!

One of the oldest known disease to human kind - Malaria

Reading one article on Malaria in WSJ. It is kind of surprising that even after knowing about this disease for 2000 years still one million people die every year. All the cures we have come up has only made parasite and Mosquitos more stronger. Worse, only one third people who gets malaria gets treatment. It is not that treatment is not available or accessible they simply don't fear this disease dispute world's biggest killer.

May be we should change name of this disease rather than current meaning of "bad air". Unless people gets serious about this disease no eradication program will succeed. Some how need to generate fear among the population who gets it rather then considering it as equivalent to common cold.

Though with all the research and efforts from different organizations I am hopeful that it will be eradicated soon.

Heat Wave in East Coast and Power Grid Questions!!

Even though power grid in East coast is taking pretty well so far and there aren't any major breakdown or black out reports there are so much noise about power grid modernization of this country. Every one is fearing that powergrid is going to collapse as a result of historic heat wave in east coast. 

I really find it ironic about the discussions on our power grid modernization. The very same people who are now crying about why our government hasn't modernize power grid are the ones who will be first to raise flag about any new power plant or transmission lines in their own area. These people should be told how many times their own city/county/state government has opposed any new power station or even new transmission line. People have short memory!!!

I think government (if et all any one is still interested) should keep these type of resolutions or projects which are required for modernization of grid ready before summer and as soon as these type of heat wave comes in create some hype about imminent black out and pass these projects on fast track. Otherwise our so called true form of democracy literally kills these projects.. 

Mexico

I will be writing about my experience during my visits to Mexico..

I literally want to write a book about it and thought that blogging will be first good step towards that.

I have been visiting to Mexico on business trips for last 6 month literally every other week on an average.. During these visits I got to see or meet from Secretary to governors to education leaders to school principals to teachers to interns to students to security guards to cooks.. a very broad spectrum of people.. in 3-4 different states..

I have made good friends some of them almost close to my family members to some of them more of profesional courteous friends.. I am sure I must have made some not so good friends.. especially if you have to get some work done..

I have enjoyed broad spectrum of foods.. though restricted by my self imposed vegetarian  diet.. I have seen and smelled lot of mexican authentic food..

I have seen and met one of the best and simplest soules to some stunning beauties ;-) No more comments on this section as it can be controversial..

I enjoyed Tequila  of all kinds.. I can say that I might be now one of the best Paloma makers on the street.. This helped me make friends who can't speak even one word in English..

Overall, I had paradigm shift about Mexico during my last 6 months visits... mostly for good.. in some cases it made me such a big fan that I might end up with one of my retirement home.. If I can afford ;-)

I have so much to write.. my only regret is that why didn't I started earlier.. Well.. whatever happens.. happens for good.. may be this stage my thoughts and writings will be more clear precise..

What Peace Means To Me - By Aditya

What Peace Means To Me:

In my opinion, peace is a feeling that controls your acts to be peaceful. For me peace is a world that is serene, full of happiness, and is united.

The definition for the word peace in my opinion is a fair, equal, and non-violent world. This is quite interesting because most people think that peace is just to be non-violent. This makes me think that everybody has a different definition to peace. Others might think peace is just love and harmony. Peace is important because without it, the world would be unfair, full of fighting, and nobody would be happy.

As I said earlier, peace is being fair, that means peace animals also. I don’t want hunting because we should be peaceful to animals too. I think we could kill animals for food only and not for sport. Hunting is also bad because if one animal is hunted to much the food chains and food web it’s part of will get messed up. Not only is that cruel, but the animals might go extinct and others endangered. We all should be in harmony with nature.

I strongly believe that anger makes us very un-peaceful. When we get angry it usually leads to violence. It is possible to be angry and be peaceful. We can say, “Please don’t do that again” and walk away. Then don’t do anything with that person again.

I think people who fight in war is usually fight for good reason. We have wars to capture terrorist or settle a bad arguments. But, war is bad because many people die and get hurt.

All in all there are a lot of meanings to peace and a lot of ways to be peaceful. I think peace means a lot to everybody and usually do their best to be peaceful.

Excellent photos by Akash

Here is the link for one of the greatest photos of nature..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/isko_dekho/sets/72157622453165115/show/

Good Job Akash..

Cheers!!

Noble Prize for Obama

There is lot of controversy about Obama getting Noble Peace Prize for this year. Lot of people and media are saying he didn't do anything to deserve it. Obama is president for not even one year and he hasn't achieved anything yet. Noble prize committee has put him in embarrassing situation. However, I feel that this first time Noble Prize committee has done the right and bold move not only in their decision but also tried to enhance value of their reward. Instead of giving any one who had done some work in past and has already achieved something of significance they are trying to foster that kind of work. wait a minute.. I think I am not able to find words correctly.. for the sake of convenience,, let us split this discussion and my thoughts in two categories:

1) Obama rightfully deserves this year's award.. who else is better candidate then him..

I think biggest achievement of Obama is to create right, sensible and peace loving/making election manifesto and convincing majority of american population about it.. he had capability to make so many bold promises and convincing electorate that it is right approach.. So far he is trying to stick to them and working hard to convert them to reality.. Hope he will be successful in executing them.. I guess if he is able to execute them even 50% he should be getting another Noble Peace Prize..

Second was his Cairo speech.. It is master piece.. It extends hand of friendship to Islamic countries.. starts new era of co-operation and mutual trust.. Lot of people says that it is just speech.. execution is yet to be seen.. however, everything starts from talk and that inspires actions.. He has extended open hand to Islamic nations.. at the same time bashed them for their short comings.. If any one says that Islamic nations don't have any issues and they don't have their own dirty laundry to clean up they are living in fools paradise.. At the same time I agree that US has her own problems which needs to be addressed.. no one is denying that.. however, kind of trust he is able to instill or may be I should say that he is trying to is amazing.. He really needs to have guts to take this approach.. Obama has started the fire. now it is upto Islamic nations to carry torch forward.. they are not babies who needs spoon feeding.. However, make no mistake, that most of their leadership may not be interested in it due to their own vested interest.. I guess it is high time that greater population understands gravity of situation and take their fortune in their hands and take appropriate decisions..


2) Committee has take decision to enhance value of awards..

I think, this prize has highest potential to create and enhance impact on world's peace.. which is or should be ultimate objective of any prize.. Noble Committee's decision now puts even more onus on Obama administration to continue path they had promised in elections.. and Insha-allah.. Obama should be getting another noble peace prize in another 3-4 years.. This is just beginning my friends.. I think if he continues this path then, he will be getting another one soon.. it has been long time since noble prize has been awarded second time.. however, it is coming soon..


There is no doubt that Obama is respected and loved on our lovely planet most.. at the same time USA is hated most.. lot of it is due to hard work of our predecessors (which ultimately is responsibility of US citizens..)... Let us see if Obama's magic and love can help change USA's image world wide.. US has made lot of mistakes in past.. and who doesn't.. but that doesn't mean that there is no hope in future..

Once again I have full confidence and desire that this prize will serve its best purpose by awarding Obama this year..

Cheers - Shailendra