Teaching versus Education?

My wife and I have been discussing this vis-a-vis a friend's daughter who recently returned from her mandated charity work overseas (a very private school kind of thing) and spent almost as much on her junior prom as she did on her South American required "good work" for the poor of this world. The argument about doing one's hair professionally, having makeup applied professionally, and doing everything else that her spoiled classmates required told us about a world spinning out of control, in which the wealthy have lost sight of all values, and the not-so-wealthy are caught up in the maelstrom of their angst, and swept along knowing better (for their children).

According to a news report, a certain private school in Washington was recently
faced with a unique problem. A number of 12-year-old girls had begun to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom. That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints. Every night the maintenance man would remove them and the next day the girls would put them back.

Finally the principal decided that something had to be done. She called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the maintenance man.

She explained that all the lip prints were causing a major problem for the maintenance man who had to clean the mirrors every night (you can just imagine the yawns from the little princesses). To demonstrate how difficult it was to clean the mirrors, she asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required.

He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, and cleaned the
mirror with it. Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror.

There are teachers.... and then there are educators.

Odd how this misses the boat. What was taught? That kissing themselves and leaving telltale marks thereof was unhygenic? Neither teaching nor educating!

Savings & Loan versus SubPrime Mortgages

One starts to wonder about a governmental system which consistently favors the cheating rich over the simple proletariat. It seems reasonable that meltdowns should be avoided, since the unintended consequences are far reaching and possibly devastating. But the pain should not be ameliorated for the perpetrators. Or am I just plain wrong, and our duty is to support our betters?

died in vain

One of the arguments put forward to justify continuation of a war policy is that "our soldiers should not have died in vain". I remember seeing in Stuttgart a collection stand for "Opfer des Zweiten Weltkriegs" and I wondered, did they die in vain in Germany? in Italy? in Japan?

Politically incorrect

"Over the course of my public life, I have insisted, I believe correctly, that people, regardless of their position or power, take responsibility for their conduct. I can and will ask no less of myself." Eliot Spitzer, March 2008.

Isn't it off-putting that getting caught creates the opportunity to pontificate? Where was this kind of statement before the revelations? And would it have been made had the revelations never been made? Without being holier than thou, one wonders whether or not one should assume a priori that everyone is NDG.