Texas Says Yes to Maritime Education

Texas A&M has educated offshore and deep-sea mariners at its Galveston campus since 1963. Unlike the founding of other maritime academies, there was no external impetus, such as war (Maine, 1941; USMMA, 1943; MEBA Union, 1965), a generous new subsidy (California, 1929; Great Lakes, 1969), or lack of skilled mariners (New York, 1874; Massachusetts, 1891; AMO Union, 2010). College was not required to serve on the first generation of oil rig vessels, debunking yet another theory. Instead, it appears that Texas, then one of the poorest states in the nation, wanted to make good for its citizens. They could sail as ships’ officers from New Orleans or another coastal port, and bring home good paychecks. A recent change- tuition cuts for maritime programs- continues this tradition. Like medicine, maritime education has been costly for several decades, but if you stick with the program, then the rewards in salary will easily cover the cost. There is a negative feedback loop, specifically that lower-paying jobs, like primary care medicine, or working onboard research vessels and training ships, are understaffed with high turnover. In several newsworthy cases, some medical schools have drastically cut tuition, in hopes that earning potential decreases as a factor in career decisions. While Texas has cut the cost of maritime education by $300 per credit hour, it only applies to In-State and In-Region students. However, this could have a big impact on the composition of future seafarers. Currently, the Carolinas and Gulf Coast are underrepresented among the merchant marine officer ranks. Geographic distance from a maritime academy, coupled with cultural differences from the Northeast (New York is closest), contribute to this issue. While USMMA remains the sole tuition-free option, Texas is accessible to non-traditional students, including those who started as deckhands, and does not have an age limit to entry.

Is Money Enough?

One of the great appeals of merchant shipping is lifestyle design, where people with wanderlust could take extended trips unthinkable to those working a 50-week-a year grind. The other appeal is paying off student loans in 5 years or less. Use Mom and Dad as a mailing address, and sleep and eat on the employer’s dime. Port visits are open again, but seeing the recent difficulties for recruiting and retention in the maritime field, something else is going on. We are a decade past “peak college”; enrollment is declining in both absolute numbers and percentage. Where maritime academies burst at their seams ten years ago with students hopeful for solid employment, today, there is more space in the dorms and hallways. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. I’ve seen posters from the 1920’s proclaiming the need for more education. Slacking students in the 1980’s (see “A Nation at Risk”) were a threat to national security and economic prosperity. In the post-NAFTA era, education would be the lifeline for workers displaced from uncompetitive industries and outdated factories. Populists like Pat Buchanan and Donald Trump countered this assertion with a more authoritative model: the government could pay for infrastructure programs and subsidize the construction of new factories for the titans of industry. The construction of new oceangoing training ships under recent Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, the first of which launched last year as the “T/S Empire State VII”, is an icon of this model. Yet, more recently under President Biden and his state-level allies have accomplished the same populist improvement through a different model, by raising the minimum wage and tipping the scales of arbitration towards labor. With the floor as high as $20 per hour in California, or $15 per hour elsewhere ($30,000 per year), entry-level workers without college degrees are earning similarly to college graduates five years ago, who would accept subsistence wages to get a foot in the door. Likewise, entry level shipboard jobs can pay close to what newly-graduated officers earn. Traditionally, many seafarers hailed from high cost-of-living areas such as New York and Boston; today, recruiting focuses on the lower-cost Coastal South, and not requiring municipal services much of the year, many experienced mariners establish residence in states without an income tax, predominately in Florida and Texas. There is less pressure to become an officer for the higher pay, or to dedicate a career to a field where Sundays are often spent at work, rather than at church. For now, higher education has lost its end-all, final-word status as an economic proposal. But as I have stated before, the growth of understanding is still essential to the modern mariner.

One Magazines and the Student Loan Craze

The American student debt issue is multi-pronged, some of which have been addressed by previous government programs ranging from alternative payment plans, Public Service Loan Forgiveness, and the rare approval to discharge through bankruptcy. These programs were designed for students who attended for-profit schools, like Corinthian, that targeted revenue goals over student achievement; students who had to drop out for personal hardship related to family or health issues; and graduates of high-price, high-reward professional schools interested in community service rather than country clubs. One magazine, however, made six-figure student debt a cultural phenomenon. Ten to twenty years ago, there was one authoritative source of truth on the best colleges in America: The US News & World Report. This annual compilation synthesized various data such as standardized test scores and acceptance rates (the lower, the better) to rank the prestige of America's universities. I had a classmate who chose Stanford (#3 in 2011) over Harvard (#1), and this decision was talk of the campus- both students and parents- for several weeks, reflecting how much influence this list held. As a "normie" high school student, the goal was naturally to attend a Top 25 university. Rebels and artsy students could attend a small liberal arts college instead. Classmates at my preparatory high school made contingency plans for surviving at a "second page" college, namely, an institution ranked between #51 and 100. Oftentimes, these universities offered generous scholarships; and it was this tier that represented large state universities in my classmates' suburban home states of Virginia and Maryland. Until the US News & World Report era, going out-of-state for college was fairly uncommon. It was common for the Ivy Leagues, the Service Academies, and specialized programs like Naval Architecture; but financial and practical issues kept it from being a cultural phenomenon. So-called "no-name" schools actively strived to increase their ratings. The University of Alabama offered free tuition to any student with 1400 out of 1600 on their SAT score, or the top 5% of scorers. The people of Alabama, and the other 95% of students, had to pay for this indulgence. Other colleges sent out application forms to students who certainly wouldn't be admitted anyway. George Washington University (#51) thoroughly gentrified its campus. Utilitarian dormitories built in the 1930's and 1950's were gutted and rebuilt as palaces for students of higher learning. Student loans could also be used to lease cars, and take vacations to Montreal or Cancun. Tuition rates became uncoupled from reality- from the real inflation rate and from students' actual earning potential. Finishing students four years was no longer a priority for many colleges; the "forever student" was the new model. Yet this amenities race was not universal. At some small colleges like Deep Springs and my alma mater, the US Merchant Marine Academy, students continued to clean the dormitories and perform other on-campus work. Today, there is better understanding that "strength" comes in multiple forms. You are more likely to see more focused lists such as: "Best Upward Mobility" and "Best Mid-Career Income". Even better, "Lowest Cost of Attendance". The hangover from the US News and World Report era is far-reaching. There are fewer traditional college students now than in 2011, and a greater appreciation among them for acquiring marketable skills. Some small liberal arts colleges have had to close. The maritime industry is a good place for graduates to pay off their loans, yet the price of trade-offs is apparent now: a smaller mortgage, a later retirement age. But wasn't college a blast? "If I knew then what I knew now...", they begin to say.

Middle Managers That Weren't

 The 1940’s to the 1990’s were the golden age of middle management. World War Two was foisted upon a United States that still had a large agricultural population. To ensure quick learning for workers transitioning from farm to industry, it was necessary to break work into small tasks, with rigid supervision of personnel and production of reports. This method won the war.

The high overhead of this kind of supervision meant many jobs for middle managers, who often were picked from liberal arts colleges rather than the assembly line. As foreign countries built their industries along different management systems (such as Japanese quality control or German quality design), high overhead costs and large internal bureaucracy strangulated profits and ingenuity. 

To rework these byzantine processes and procedures, “re-engineering the corporation” meant re-evaluating the hierarchical organizational charts. Work once performed in narrow silos, (for example- clerks who processed one or two lines on a form) now became assigned to functional groups centered on a tangible result (customer satisfaction or widget-making machines repaired). Prospective management, which prevents employees from inducing errors; was replaced with less-costly retrospective management, which trusts the auditing process to find errors.

Middle management stood outside of the “value chain”, as found in Six Sigma theory; or the rolls of “essential workers” in the COVID-19 Pandemic. While the implementation of re-engineering created efficiency and return to profitability; the 1993 namesake book’s author, Michael Hammer, did not discuss what to do about displaced middle managers; or how the nascent internet would many first post-college jobs obsolete. Nor what to do about the continued rate of business and liberal arts majors graduating college each year; as college counsellors were late to the news.

Broken expectations are topics for a different day. Even if these graduates never reach the upper-middle class lifestyle, there is still a baseline consumption of goods and services; think food shelter, and medicine; which must be provided by essential workers. Those large student loans are a millstone on disposable income, whether it is to start a family or small business, or buy a home.

Many essential workers in the oft-forgotten “value chain” proclaim themselves “open to work”. They are commonly credentialed in multiple trades and professions; yet if they’re shipping war matériel to Europe, they aren’t available for offshore oil drilling. If they’re building houses, they aren’t available for over-the-road trucking. They are in-demand, and many are paid handsomely up-front; in contrast to the long-term payout envisioned by future middle managers. For whatever the reasons, vocational-focused colleges tend to be magnitudes more affordable than liberal arts colleges. 

How do you retool those middle-managers to become more essential, and to become part of the value chain? Some might cite the use of vocational aptitude tests, to determine that many people are not suited for manual labor, technical, or field work. But the experience of the military, through its promotion rates of Corporals and Petty Officers, shows that at least half of the population is suited for both labor and supervision; blue-collar and white-collar work (not just in today’s highly-selective military; but in Cold War times, when most volunteers were accepted for service). Occupational elitism is another concern: Would degreed construction managers lend a hand on the worksite?  

When colleges and non-essential businesses were closed during the heart of the Pandemic, I could see with my own eyes that many young adults rolled up their sleeves, and went to work on construction sites, as independent-contract delivery drivers, and as trade apprentices. If it was not just the ennui of boredom, the Invisible Hand of Economics finally did its work. Those college graduates will have some concrete skills to put on their resumes.

The College Experience: Now Customizable

As I walked around Old Dominion University, I felt like I was back in the Fall of 2019. There were students on the streets and in the student center and in the local shops; I was no longer “the lonely graduate student” on an empty campus. While there are many anecdotes of college students joining the full-time workforce instead of attending classes online, evidence shows that traditional college enrollment has remained fairly stable. They have presumably been living with their parents while attending online class. Thus, while dormitories and dining halls remained available during the pandemic, they had been empty save for a small number of non-traditional students. At ODU, the Spring 2021 semester was conducted in a hybrid format. In addition to the essential lab and practical courses for nursing students that were never cancelled, in-person seats were made available in many other undergraduate classes. 

So even when the opportunity presented itself, many of the youngest adult generation passed on "The College Experience". This college generation has better sensibility in avoiding frivolous expenditures. Tuition and expense estimators are now placed prominently on each state university's website. Understanding the effects of automation on entry-level white-collar work, this generation is more realistic about life expectations than those who attended in the early 2000s' campus amenities boom.

“The College Experience” for millennials was not built in a vacuum. As they were born in the 1980s and 1990s, there was a widespread feeling that moral and professional underachievement racked society from top to bottom, from the corporate boardroom’s tolerance of workplace inefficiency, to the high school dropout. Books like A Nation At Risk were published, and programs such as No Child Left Behind, and Common Core were implemented. These were good decades for the professional middle class, but would their children fall from grace?

A concatenation of data did offer a model for intergenerational middle-class replication: The only sensible way to succeed in life was to attend college for four consecutive years, while living on or near campus with peers. This assumption was built into the Post-9/11 GI Bill of 2008, giving extra benefits to veterans participating in the traditional “College Experience”. In addition to ostentatious amenities like indoor water parks, the university had become a city in itself, replete with administrators and counselors; paid for primarily by student debt. This in turn led to young graduates expecting comprehensive workplace amenities and luxury apartments in a time of corporate restructuring.    

As the perceived struggles of young college graduates permeated the media, resentment grew against ivory-tower professors and administrators. Populists, in both major parties, sought to replace “The College Experience” with low-cost community-centered colleges, a few large campuses with good football teams, and massive online open classrooms (MOOCs). The Ivy League and the professional-managerial elite would be banished from positions of authority. I hesitate to call this the “conservative” model of higher education, because it was the early 20^th century Progressives who advocated for vocational and practical instruction at high schools and colleges. In Europe and Asia, students attending barebone but competent colleges engage in the local community for housing and social needs.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced a break from the perceived path to success, and a reassessment of how young adults are shaped in America. The “College Experience” was very formulaic, and assumed a student’s unbridled control of their future. As late as 1973 in the US, mandatory military service affected where, when, and even in what subjects a college student would study. While students today have more choice in how to spend their pandemic semesters; as online students, trade apprentices or volunteers; the academic interruption of COVID-19 will bring an end to the cookie-cutter resume.     

 

(Enrollment Information: It’s Time to Worry About College Enrollment Declines Among Black Students - Center for American Progress)

Checklist

 As I was pursuing work and a dense course load for grad school this Spring, there were a lot of “things” to do that I put on a list for later. Some of these tasks were time sensitive, like renewal courses for a project management certificate I earned as an undergraduate: I finished the current semester May 1, and the renewal was due June 1. Done. Others, like selling excess belongings on EBay, have not been done yet. I'll get to it when I have time!

Since first writing the list, I have not cancelled any task I had not completed. A bit surprising that everything retained its salience, whether it was fixing a leaking faucet or building out my college 529 plan. This list, paperclipped to an Old Dominion University-issued planner, serves me well. When something new comes up- add it to the list.

Task switching is a distraction

I automated the bill payments that I could, and the others (natural gas, for one) I resolved to handle twice a month. This "zero-minute task" did take actual time and attention. I finally figured that it was OK to leave these in the “inbox”.
General correspondence for political surveys and professional organizations would also be done twice a month.
Currently, I publish blog posts every two weeks. The best writing comes to me in waiting rooms, and in contrast to many novelists, I find no need to set a writing hour on the calendar.

Harry Byrd: The Bigot Who Closed the Black-White Wage Gap.

Harry Byrd, a segregationist who ran Virginia's political machine in the mid-20th century, is losing his place near the seat of government in Richmond, VA. A statue erected in 1976, featuring the long-term Senator sizing down the federal budget, is expected to be removed from outdoor display. How did he fall out of grace so quickly?

Too recently, White Supremacists dominated the Deep South. In contrast, segregationists were
"racial moderates" in the South, as they were called in their time. Politicians of the later group were often socially conservative, and fiscally liberal, the "Blue Dog" epitaph today. Public health and education improvements occurred in the mid-20th century by a separate and somewhat equal policy. 

 Atlanta, Memphis, and Washington DC hold America's 3 historically black medical schools. These cities, in general, were forward-looking and not in touch with racial attitudes in their surrounding region. Graduates of Black professional schools built a self-sufficiency in border state Black communities that leaders like Frederick Douglas  and WEB DuBois imagined. 

 

Yet in the heart of the Jim Crow era, many African-Americans worked as peanut, cotton and tobacco sharecroppers under the peonage system in "Black Belt" counties. Predominately Black urban occupations such as movie attendants, domestic servants, and shoe-shiners were exempted from minimum wage laws. (This shortcoming was symbolically closed in recent years). 

Federal directives on equal employment in the defense sector during and after World War Two played a key role in leveling the harsh discrepancy between Black and White income. Senator Harry Byrd of Virginia, a Democrat, maintained cordial  relations with President Eisenhower, the later of whom was able to push civil rights bills through a recalcitrant congress in 1957 and 1960. This relationship made Virginia a powerhouse in infrastructure (Dulles International Airport was build with federal funds), technology,  and the defense industry. In major Virginia cities, college expansions were paired with the opening of a Black college. Hospitals opened or were renovated in underserved communities (Credit to the US Government's Hill-Burton Act of 1946). The racial wage gap compressed further.

Source: Virginia Pilot

With an emerging black middle class came legal action that closed the chapter on Jim Crow. Strength of conviction and legal connections led plaintiffs to sue for equal rights. Cases include Morgan vs. Virginia (1946), desegregating interstate transportation; Boynton vs Virginia (1960), reinforcing the 1946 case; Davis vs Prince Edward County, which became part of Brown vs Board of Education (1954); and Loving vs Virginia (1967) on interracial marriage.

If there is evidence that the latter generation of segregationists delivered for minority citizens, it is found in voter turnout. The same Southern Democrats who defended segregation often gained support of Black voters towards the end of the 20th century. Governor George Wallace and Senator Al Gore, Sr, are two examples.

Virginia Pilot Link: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pilotonline.com%2Fnews%2Fvp-nw-racial-income-gap-virginia-20200915-b5t4cl7p6fa7hkdtufpwrnj34e-story.html&psig=AOvVaw1LnHGSMJxgd3yiDhRFqXd8&ust=1612839349840000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAMQjB1qFwoTCMisp_ek2e4CFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD

Ringing in the New Year

DC Sports

What a run in Washington, DC sports.  The Washington Nationals played each deciding, make-or-break, baseball game down to the wire: winning Game 6 to pull ahead of the Houston Astros in what could have been sudden-death; and winning Game 7 on October 30th to cinch the championship.

This follows on the Washington Capitals'  hockey finesse, which in 2018 brought home the Stanley Cup. Washington, DC's insufferable football team, the Redskins, have yet to win a Super Bowl in my lifetime. Outside of the South and Midwest, football seems to have lost its luster, falling from its decades-long pinnacle in the American psyche on account of growing scandals over concussions and other debilitating injuries caused by the sport.

Woke Journalism at the Top 25 Universities

I picked up a copy of the Georgetown Voice, which is Georgetown University's longtime independent student paper. One featured article, "Problems at Home Don't Stay at Home", by Cheyenne Martin, stuck out from editorials on current affairs, and a shame piece on those rent-by-the-minute scooters.
It is a narrative of a student who worries about her loved one in a poorly-managed Tennessee prison.

This voice differs from elite student journalism of just a decade ago; when I first started reading the Georgetown Voice and its establishment cousin, The Hoya. Class, race and gender were not discussed; and if so, at an arm's length detachment. Good journalism back then stuck to the "5 W's", a patient and disinterested observer to world events. A generation of recent college graduates whose early careers have been characterized by socioeconomic struggle, I believe, have forced a reckoning in news rooms.

See:
https://georgetownvoice.com/2019/12/06/problems-at-home-dont-stay-at-home/

Branded by Social Media

The month of June means time for Beach Week, an annual, mid-Atlantic tradition. Celebrating the end of an academic year, unchaperoned high school and college students rent houses, inhabit hotels, and populate the beaches. It is a tradition dating to 1982 or earlier, when the Honorable Brett Kavanaugh, now the most junior US Supreme Court Justice, infamously attended.  During his recent Senate Confirmation process, lawmakers perused fading photographs, yearbooks, a Mark Judge novel, and hazy memories; looking for evidence of unsuitability and lapses in personal judgement.

Times are different today for the young. Smartphones and social media eliminate the possibility of plausible deniability; instead indemnifying any young adult who made a juvenile decision. Such is the case of Kyle Kashuv, whose admissions to Harvard University in Boston was rescinded for social media posts made at age 16. 

Laden with casually-strewn racial slurs, the posts reflect on Kashuv’s maturity at the time, and on the society in which he was raised. That was in Parkland, Florida. Rachel Slade, author of Into the Raging Seas, noted the state’s proclivity to racial slurs and use of the n-word. Fittingly to this case, William Faulkner’s  The Sound and the Fury, set in the 1920’s, demonstrated the culture clash between Southern racial hierarchies and Boston’s progressive attitudes on racial equality.   Today’s Harvard talks the talk of promoting racial justice. Does it walk the walk?

  Since World War Two, the US Army has taken a proactive role in fighting this kind of ingrained racism. In an era that still had segregated lunch counters, Blacks were assigned as Sergeants in charge of turning Southern White recruits into soldiers, physically and morally. Fixing prejudice hands-on, as the US Army has done, is something Harvard has shown unwillingness to do, in rescinding a young man’s admission letter. A more important observation, though, is that the digitally-native Generation Z is coming of age in a zero-defect culture; while previous generations got a pass on their youthful indiscretions- even into the Ivy League.   

“We are sorry about the circumstances that have led us to withdraw your admission, and we wish you success in your future academic endeavors and beyond”, wrote Dr. Fitzsimmons, Harvard’s dean of admissions in a personal letter to Kashuv. 

(Source: Patricia Mazzei, NY Times, 6/17/19)

Governor Northam: Wolf in Doctor's Clothes

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On the heels of Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation, another 1980's yearbook claims its prey. Ralph Northam, one week ago the quiet Virginia Governor, made an embarrassing, shameful splash onto the national stage. We wonder why Ed Gillespie, the Republican who lost to Ralph Northam in 2017, didn't find that yearbook. Simply put by another campaign manager:"opposition research 101". To further this point, Mr. Gillespie spent part of his working career as a political operative. I also wonder why no Eastern Virginia Medical School alumnus broke the Code of Silence, and independently brought forth the revelation during the 2017 campaign.

Gauging the public outrage over the EVMS Blackface-Klansman photo, Black Virginians were the most outraged. Institutional racism died slowly, with Dixiecrats holding control of the Virginia legislature into the 1990's. That nightmare, fueled by the current President's "good people on both sides" comment, flared up recently in Charlottesville. In 2017, Northam claimed moral high ground in a brutal, race-baiting campaign season: a law-and-order Gillespie ad focused on real crimes committed in the Washington, DC area by the MS-13 gang, but was taken by some as a loud dog whistle on immigration. A Latino Victory Fund ad in response, run on behalf of Northam, portrayed a Gillespie supporter in a pickup truck, waiving the Confederate flag. He proceeded to mow down minority children. The Washington Post condemned this ad, which was pulled after an ISIS-inspired Uzbek man plowed through, and killed eight New Yorkers with a rented truck on Halloween.

In 2006, former Senator George Allen narrowly lost reelection after using a questionable term, "macaca", to describe an Indian-American. It was caught on camera, and soon there were allegations from high school classmates of "N-words and nooses". As this concerned merely the "coalition of the ascendant", the total shift in support amounted to a few critical percentage points. Black-White relations, however, have permeated Virginia politics for 400 years. Many white moderates, the target audience for expensive, televised campaign ads, now felt duped by Northam's hypocritical (self projecting?) campaign on racial issues. A photo shouts a thousand words.  In this context, despite his perceived dog-whistle on immigration, Gillespie was the better man. This was buttressed by his commitment to criminal justice reform, an aspect of Virginia policy which has roots dating to the Dixiecrat era.

White liberals (the latte set) were more likely to consider the pros-and-cons of keeping Ralph Northam in office, as a so-called "progressive leader". That is the art of marketing at work, if you can virtue-signal your way into office, with pink hats and appearances with minority community leaders. In contrast to previous liberal governor Terry McAuliffe's frequent impasse with the GOP-controlled legislature, Ralph Northam is one of the "good old boys" who works with Republicans. 

Ralph Northam's views on social issues is within line of the mainstream medical community. Here is my take. On guns: Did you hear the recent story about the four-year-old who got hold of, and shot a loaded handgun?  On the prosecution of abortion doctors as a slippery slope: Read Miller's 'King of Hearts' and see how allegations of murder followed high-risk heart surgery, including future Governor Doug Wilder's civil suit following a 1968 heart transplant in Virginia. On capital punishment: Even I felt bad that Tojo was hung for his war crimes in WWII, after American doctors worked hard to save him after a suicide attempt. On expansion of healthcare access: Why are politicians interfering with my ability to provide better care?

While conservatives joined the cries to unseat Governor Northam, the reality is nuanced for Virginia Republicans. With racial provocateur Corey Stewart retiring from politics this year, the local GOP now has the ability to regain status in minority communities. Behind closed doors, Ralph Northam is a "good old boy", a Virginia Military Institute alumnus connected to bipartisan power-brokering in Virginia. His would-be replacement, Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax, is an African-American progressive who would put the brakes on Republican plans for new pipelines; and expose the tight, bipartisan connections between state-regulated utility Dominion Energy and the legislature. This year, all seats are up for election in the evenly-divided legislature (51/49 and 21/19, GOP in narrow control). There are many competitive districts, where minority turnout counts. A damaged governor who can't make appearances with the Black community will only help Republicans hold the legislature.

Social Justice and the College Campus

I finished college in June, and since travelling overseas for work, have paid less attention to domestic news, and more attention to topics of national security and foreign policy. Something interesting has boiled up on college campuses this year, and I’m glad to have graduated; and to have also attended a ‘school of hard knocks’. Idle hands, not found on the campuses of strictly engineering, science, and technical schools, do lead to trouble. The illiberal faction of the left, afforded with time and resources to pontificate, protests and denies respect to graduation speakers, professors, and guests of honor. They demand that we “check our privilege”, and put a damper on Cinco de Mayo and Halloween festivities with aggressive accusations of cultural appropriation (St. Patrick’s Day and Octoberfest are spared). This is all done with the good intention of Social Justice. But why the guerilla tactics? I read one interview with such a proponent, who stated: “dissent cannot be tolerated because these issues are so important”. There is a more moderate faction which recognizes that the issues being discussed make the comfortable middle class- uncomfortable. But this faction is worth hearing out, since it respects the autonomy of the mind. What do they have to say?

 In traditional Catholic doctrine (dating prior to Vatican II), Social Justice wrongs are highlighted in economic terms: oppression of the poor and defrauding laborers. In a discussion of Miranda rights, one professor informed my class that there are individuals trapped in a cycle of debt caused by court fees. I was unaware of this problem, but I know that there is bipartisan appeal in criminal justice reform. There are conservative arguments for second chances, fiscally responsible sentencing reform, and for the disablement of Kafkaesque government intrusion in the lives of people trying to make good. As for wages, I believe that employers, more than the government, hold the moral responsibility to provide living wages and other collateral benefits when possible. Teens should use the good money to build a financial cushion that will protect them when they move away from home: a Benjamin Franklin kind of wisdom. Some business owners understand that their responsibility for laborers extends beyond the minimums the government allows. I am optimistic for this based on my experience in the Washington, DC area. Both DC and nearby Maryland suburbs raised the minimum wage to $11.50 an hour. The Virginia suburbs did not increase the minimum wage, yet employers voluntarily paid more to keep quality employees. In-and-Out sets their lowest wage at $10 an hour. Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-A offer employees the social benefits of having Sunday off. Perhaps it’s human nature to give the less advantaged a deal. The only way I can fathom that executives at wage-scrimping companies can live with themselves is if they mentally dehumanize their ‘associates’ as mere numbers on a spreadsheet. I did a similar manpower exercise in a project management class.  Never forget who’s on the other side of the spreadsheet.

Enough about economic theories: Laffer, Keynes, and John Locke won’t pay working-class bills. People are taking to the street. Enter the New York phenomenon: “Stand for $15”. Low-wage workers in New York are justly fed up with their situation. The aggravation of middle-class commutes are reasons enough for griping, but it’s worse for the poor. Commuter rail is pricey, and low-income earners are literally priced off the road by $8 tolls on tunnels and bridges in New York. They must contend with long and slow subways and bus rides to work. The cost and time of commuting is sunk; and floating shifts as short as two hours are becoming common in retail. Employees tend to put up with this crapshoot, but this is not a tenable situation. Unlike elsewhere in the country, government is not seen as the inherent problem. With a push by the unions SEIU and AFSCME, ‘the proletariats are marching in the street’.  Squares like myself poked at their dancing and chants; and commenters wrote: “Union agitators…”, “Get back to work!”. But one thing going for the protesters was a responsive government. Cynics called this the unholy trinity of DeBlasio, Cuomo, and the President of the United States. (Hence, in 2001, Republican Mayor Giuliani, Governor Pataki and President Bush consisted the holy trinity of New York?) Ideologues like Bill DeBlasio are predictable. He would side wholeheartedly with the workers, consequences be damned. Tactful politicians like Andrew Cuomo (a New Democrat) and his father are sometimes unpredictable, but are well-versed in what to say and what to do. Statistics like the percentage of homeowners or business proprietors play an important role in defining the ‘triggers’ of the electorate. As far as a $15 minimum wage, it was a safe issue. New York has a unique relic that strikes of mid-century liberalism: the wage board. I’ve passed by this office before: it runs from a fine 1950’s sandstone building in downtown Manhattan, adorned with reliefs of working-class white men, who used to dominate the outer boroughs of New York City. Governor Cuomo and the gurus decided to give the protesters ‘everything they wanted’. (When I took Negotiation 101 in project management, I learned to always come to a compromise, never give in fully). Fast food workers would get $15 per hour. 

Neoclassical economics suggests that good compensation relies on a job being one or more of three things: dangerous, undesirable, or unique. Such is the ‘natural order’ of life. First responders and military personnel, of whom I have many friends, were perturbed that burger-flippers would earn the same as themselves. Working-class solidarity is not a simple issue: The real world is interesting and intricate, and filled with tensions concerning self-worth and one’s sense of personal dignity. Some employers engage in what amounts to unethical, if not sinful exploitation of their employees; while others do the right thing. Everyone knows it’s tough to be poor. But it’s worse when trapped in poverty by economic circumstance, with no clear way out. Social Justice, in an economic sense, is to create opportunities to lift oneself out of poverty. Allowing employers to run employees into the ground with commuting costs- just one example- is wrong, Viewing Social Justice in this light makes an individual’s situation succinct as a spreadsheet. Judging Social Justice in terms of race is soft science. It’s messy, as we’ve seen in the news this year.

New Year 2011

Thank you to those special readers who made my Christmas extra-Merry. It means a lot to receive your thoughts and kind words. 2010 represented a decrease in quantity of posts, but, as I believe, an increase in quality. What I mean is that, in these last few months, I've started doing research for a number of the posts. Another factor is college. Although I got the bulk of my work out by November, some new colleges popped up on my list- and they were not Common App. I sent my last college essay (those take time to write well!) at 3pm today. I gave it to the postman passing by in the neighborhood. Some good news too: I received full acceptance to Univ. of Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh, and to the Maritime College of New York. A number of the other applications are still in the works. I must note that I made a good step forward at Maritime's neighbor across the Sound, the US Merchant Marines. I made sure to apply only to colleges where I'd be happy (not just ok with) to go come Fall semester, so I'm in a good position right now no matter what happens April 1.
Happy New Year as we head into year 2 of this new decade!

Early Onset Senioritis

I opened the mailbox and pulled out an envelope that I thought to be rather thin. I was pretty anxious when I realized it came from a "quick decision early action school". I peeked for a key word: either Congratulations!,or Regretfully,.../a dry Thank You. Then I saw the word "Congratulation" blazed in gold on the outside of the manila envelope. I suspected what was inside, but wasn't 100% certain (maybe they wanted more information). As it turns out, that day yesterday, I got an acceptance letter to U Pitt, Pittsburgh. Most of the content of fat envelopes has been moved online, as it appears from the "enclosed details". Pittsburgh is a school that I'd be very happy to attend come Fall 2011. As a result of my personal college ranking, I was able to cancel plans to do applications to several lesser picks of mine. It's not even Thanksgiving and I have a place to go. Early Action is wonderful.

"Why aren't you having a party?" asks Dad as I'm quietly doing homework. "Homework", I reply. No Senioritis for me, yet. Upon the insistence of those around me, I'm still applying to "high reach schools" in New England. Furthermore, the Honors College requires a maintenance of a 3.5 GPA (the SAT threshold was the easy part, right). Notwithstanding this, I have a Service Academy Nomination interview over Christmas Break (that's technically in second semester). Senioritis is not a legitimate condition to them.

Brief Points

*Mole Day was yesterday, 6:02am- 6:02pm (6.02 x 10^23). It's nice to see science being relevant in culture.
*Computer is running excessive virus scans. There's nothing to fear but fear itself, "radialpoint".
*Watched "The Social Network" on the silver screen yesterday evening. Very well presented; sad that it ended after 2 hours (just about on the dot). There were racy scenes; probably not suitable for little kids or grandma. College students seem to appreciate this movie the most.
*Finishing up on that college essay. Found a hook and a decent line and typed it up. I just need a few transitions.

Five Days in Annapolis, Been Changed

Article I of the US Armed Forces Code of Conduct:
"I am an American fighting in the forces which defend my country and our way of life. I am prepared to give my life in their defense".

EMT teams raced around campus Wednesday as we performed a half-version, 7 hour synthesis of Sea Trials, a keystone experience for Plebe (Freshmen) Midshipmen at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis Although our whole squad of 7 pulled through, not every shipmate did. Some stopped on their own volition; others went out with a zap and bang. On our squad's final trial, fatigued, wet, and sore, we clumsily bear-crawled down a hill. We had a perfect sightline of EMT's working on a fellow shipmate. I suppose that the Midshipmen didn't put up a courtesy curtain because "that there ain't the worst you'll see in battle". The openness of the event also allowed us to say to ourselves and to our squad buddies: "That kid has (darn) good dedication".

I had a co-worker tell me that I was nuts for considering to attend a service academy. Multiple times over the week we were reminded, directly and indirectly, of what you'll have to be prepared to give up if you attend the Academy. Examples include time with friends and family, civilian clothes, "regular college stuff", your life. Our squad leader,a Midshipmen of the Class of 2013, took us to Memorial Hall, a most revered and hallowed space. We perambulated the hall in our buddy pairs. He pointed to the columns of WWII Midshipmen casualties. The usually peppy gymnast just stared. "That many", he murmured. We then went over the wall bearing plaques for the casualties of recent graduating years. The squad leader showed us our place on the wall: "Remember, we are at war and will likely be at war when you graduate". What I want to do is pilot from the bridge of a large ship. My title would be Surface Warfare Officer. My buddy wants to train to be an aviator- not on recon missions but as a Marine Aviator, in the middle of the field of action. I was not dissuaded, neither was he. We know that with privilege comes responsibility. "Where else will someone let you, age 25, take out a $40 million jet and burn $18,000 of fuel in a single trip?"

That's what's so great about being a Naval Officer- the end product of Academy life. Now clean words here will not describe how much I loved the daily challenges- including and especially Sea Trial Day, a "tough day" even when it comes to real-life plebe year. This is the best part- I never expected that I would like it so much.

I reencountered that shipmate the next day at "Graduation". He told me in a serious tone,"Too bad that I missed Indoc last night 'cuz I was in the hospital".
What a beast.

Shipmate Anonymous, what you missed was the awesome experience of being placed under pressure by rising Sophomores who are testing out their newly-earned authority for the first time. Reality Check: What'cha gonna feel if your wood-clad ship was on fire? Personally, I was in a sweat based on the high expectations, but I kept cool under pressure. I wasn't 'dropped' (for reparation in the physical form) as much as I or any of my fellow squadmates had expected.

At least we had this sometimes rebellious reply in our sleeve: " Sir, order to the helm Sir". Never Sir a Ma'am, though.

Five Days in Annapolis

I have never been in the JROTC or taken a formal military science class or attend a military-centric school. That said, I'm off to Annapolis tomorrow for a five-day taste of the Naval Academy. I don't know what to say about a naval career; I've heard to keep an open mind about it.

Over Spring Break, I was looking up internship programs, the federal STEP (Summer temp. youth program), and other summer activities in general. Frankly, the application for the Navy program was not too hard. The hardest part was class rank. It was not an objective number from my point of view; our school doesn't supply it. In that case, the USNA stated to estimate. I lowballed my estimation for class rank, in deferrence to the math whizzes in my class and some others who applied with numbers 3, 5, and 7.

--I also applied for the USCGA Aim Program, but an apparent computer glitch prevented me from submitting my portfolio of paragraph essays.--

I applied later than my peers. When I first heard of their intent, one had already received a letter of acceptance. "First round pick", we say. I received a similar letter on formal stationary soon after the deadline. I suspect some of my other classmates received theirs as well. They haven't been vocal about it, though. As the school mantra goes, "As GPA's are competitive, so is everything else".

Admissions Office

Your Brag Sheet displays some impressive ladership abilities.

We wish that your GPA would be a bit hogher, but you are on track to have a stellar semester.

Now you say you're doing an SAT prep course.

Your app package and heart seem to be in different places.

Tell us more about Choirschool.

Yes, that's true. You come back another week for the SAT II's. SAT I's gotten too long to put both on the same day.

Let me interject...

Even WPI demands more of applicants.

Discipline.

The college want to know: what can you contribute to their school? That's a make-or-break deal. They need people to fill their clubs.

Embrace your talents. Sell yourself for who you are.

No, we have to get that number on your transcript changed.

Is that really what you want to do?

They'll forgive you on that.

If you are really serious about it, you'll need an Independent Study project or some thing or other.

A humanities sort of guy?

That was how it was 30 years ago.

Here, take this note to class with you.

The Big Idea

I promised on Thursday that when I had more time, I would give my big plan. I read online about these High School Entrepreneurs. Their stories are amazing! But there is a benefit- they also give scholarships for these people for college. I suppose that this is a limited field and that I may have a chance to shine, and to get pocket change without being dependent on a parent. I've done lots of buying and selling and much of the other professional matters like evaluation... This is something that I will think about over the long Christmas break in 20 days.