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Teachers helping Teachers

Teachers, especially all of you newbies, I am in the process of putting together a site (it will be up in the next day or two) where teachers can exchange lessons, strategies, and tips.

If you are interested send an email to ideaexchange@yahoo.com or visit
the web site.


Please provide a user name, an email (I will not share with anyone or send you spam), and a specific request for a lesson, strategy, or tip. For example, I need a lesson on the World War I. Or I need a group activity that will teach the concept of capitalism. You could even request a tip, such as "what are three ways you differentiate instruction?" or "how can I get my students to participate more frequently?".

I am really excited about this concept and look forward to hearing from you :)

The Power of Incentives

I’m currently reading “Naked Economics,” a well written, easy to follow articulation of fundamental economic concepts and principles.

The last few days I’ve been reading an early section of the book that discusses incentives.
An incentive is a reason for doing something- think motivation, a topic which I am very familiar with from the many education courses I’ve taken.

Economists assume that each of us attempts to maximize our utility, which is similar but not identical to happiness. In economics, utility means doing what you desire, what you believe you benefit or gain satisfaction. You may derive utility from walking in a park, or shooting deer, or driving an SUV. It really doesn’t matter how you achieve utility, the principle applies to all people. There is a joke in the book: Why did the chicken cross the road? To maximize its utility.

How do incentives relate to utility?

People respond to incentives. This is as much a concept of psychology as it is economics.
Any time you ask questions such as “what’s in it for me?” or “how do I benefit from this?” you are analyzing the incentives of a situation.

If a one hundred dollar bill was for the taking on the ground across a busy street, you would have to decide if it was worth taking the risk to get the money. If your chances of surviving the trip across the street were 10% or even 50%, most people wouldn’t bother risking their lives to get the money. In this example there is a disincentive, a reason for not acting, that influences your decision making. Your desire to live outweighs your desire for one hundred dollars.

Because people strive to maximize utility, they have interests, desires, or goals. Use whatever word you want. The point is the same. These interests or goals provide the framework through which we determine how to respond to a situation.

In economics, if you can align your goals with the interests of others, you are going to have success. If my goal is to have someone cut my lawn, I have to think of a way to get someone to find it worth his while to expend the time and energy to do a job that is not very appealing in 95 degree weather. I have to align my goal, having a nice lawn, with someone else’s goal. In this case, as in most cases, assume people want money. How much I do I have to pay to get someone to cut my lawn?

The concepts of utility and incentives are at the heart of human nature.

Federal Budget Issues

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_517348.html


Congress authorized the talking books program in 1931. After three decades of using phonographic players and records, the program switched to audiotape cassette players in 1971. Today, the program has more than 750,000 subscribers who share use of 23 million copies of nearly 500,000 titles.

SNIP

The National Federation of the Blind -- the nation's largest organization for the blind, with 50,000 members -- passed a resolution at its convention two weeks ago urging Congress to approve $19.1 million a year from 2008 through 2011 to update talking books technology to digital equipment and recordings.

SNIP

Congressional budget writers have agreed to funding next year of $12.5 million -- almost $7 million short of what is needed to keep the transition on schedule.

SNIP

"For us, there is only one public library. By in effect closing this library -- even for a short period of time -- it's equivalent to closing every public library, every bookstore and every newsstand in the country for sighted people. In short, it is devastating," Pare said.


I am not trying to pick on the blind, but if the money is that important each of the 750,000 members could donate $10 and the fiscal goal is met.

What issues does this article raise?

Notice how a significant amount of money is allocated to this program, yet because the full amount was not approved people are up in arms.

There is nothing wrong with people speaking up when they don’t get what they want politically, but it is important to examine the assumptions that are being made by a disgruntled group. If every group received the funds they requested our taxes would surely be much higher.

In the Philadelphia Inquirer’s editorial on this topic (see link below), the following point is made:

In the budget wars in Washington, where billions usually are at stake, an amount less than $7 million would almost never draw any notice.

The author is correct, the federal budget is huge. Many people assert that government spending is out of control. One huge difference of opinion politically involves the role of government. What is the proper role of the federal government? The US government is involved in our lives in so many ways. This is a fact, but should it be. Why does the federal government have so much power? Should it?

For any issue the following question ought to be asked:

What is the basis for the federal government’s involvement in this issue?



(http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20070825_Editorial___Talking-Books_Budget_Cuts.htmlon this topic)

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Morals are Human Creations (incomplete.)

Morals are standards of behavior that help people to make decisions. People create them; they do not exist out there, independent of human beings, like the laws of physics, which have been explained by scientists. Moral laws cannot be ascertained and then explained. They need to be created.

We are not born with morals, but we are equipped with the capacity to develop them. There are facts about our species that make moral reasoning possible and that allow us to compare moral beliefs. The degree to which a moral system avoids or contradicts certain facts is the extent to which that system can be called unreasonable.

Moral thinking involves the ability to think about other people’s interests, to define and weigh values, and to formulate goals and means. Right and wrong simply means we should do this or we shouldn’t do that. Anybody can walk around saying “do this” and “don’t do that,” but until reasons are provided to support a particular course of action a person is not engaged in moral reasoning; instead, they are moralizing.

What are some of the facts that a moral system ought to account for?

Each person has one life and one life only. This gives value to human life.

People are similar in their capacity to feel pain and happiness.

People have interests, an interest in staying alive, in avoiding pain, and achieving happiness, however they may define it.


Are there other facts that I am ignoring?

How do these facts help me to think about a moral situation?


“Not praying to god is wrong.”

Is this a moral issue? Is this an issue involving other people? No, this issue involves god, a super human being whose existence or desires is far from self evident. What if someone claims your lack of prayer is leading to bad things for the rest of the community? Does this now become a moral issue, since your lack of prayer is now claimed to affect people? If they can prove your actions are impacting other people. You could try to prove to these people that there views are false, but many people hold views that are irrational, not based on verifiable evidence.

Anybody who makes claims about superhuman gods or spiritual beings ought to be viewed with significant skepticism. Ask them to provide evidence of the entities’ existence. I am not aware of anyone being able to do this.


Let’s take a look at a more complicated issue.

“The death penalty is wrong”


Is this a moral issue? Is this an issue involving other people? Yes.

What person or groups are involved in this issue?

The defendant
The victim
The jury
The families of the victim, defendant
Witnesses
The lawyers
The legal authorities- police, judge, prosecutor

Is it wrong to execute those who commit first degree murder?

Premeditated murder is the worst crime a person could commit. The act of murder is final; a person loses their life because someone chose to take it. Our society recognizes different degrees of murder

What are some arguments in support of the death penalty?


What are some arguments against the death penalty?

Exploring Morality (in progress)

If morality is subjective, then a society that says that killing an innocent person is wrong cannot be called superior to a society that kills innocent people. Is this true?

Let’s try to define some of the concepts mentioned in the above sentence.

Morality- notions of right and wrong. Every one has them, but obviously they are not all the same. That is, people often disagree strongly about what is right and what is wrong. Does this prove than an objective morality does not exist? Maybe a lot of people are wrong. Maybe they just don’t recognize the truth about morality. Or maybe notions of morality are simply preferences for certain kinds of behaviors?

Consider these moral positions held by some:

Killing animals to eat them is wrong
Not praying to god is wrong
The death penalty is wrong
Not giving to charity is wrong
Using birth control is wrong
The war in Iraq was wrong.
Not giving a significant amount of money (20,000 if you make 50,000) to charity is wrong.
Having an abortion is wrong.
Driving an SUV is wrong

Subjective- Varied, not definite, a matter of opinion

Objective- Definite, existing independently, a matter of fact

Society- all the people living in a defined area

Innocent person- innocent of what? Guilty of what? This concept cannot be used in isolation of a criteria. Did you steal the cookies? You are either guilty (yes I stole them) or innocent (no I did not).

Wrong- An action that is objectionable; it should not have been committed. Why is it objectionable? There needs to be a standard. Was it wrong to steal the cookies?

Right- To be correct; an action that is commendable. Why is it commendable? Again, there needs to be a standard.

Does an objective morality exist? (inc.)

If morality is subjective, then a society that says that killing an innocent person is wrong cannot be called superior to a society that kills innocent people. Is this true?

As I’ve stated in previous posts, rights are not self evident. If you ask ten people what rights they possess, you will not get the same answer from everyone. Rights are social constructs. Am I correct in saying this?

This reminds me of something I just read. Let’s take a look at traffic laws. Society A has few traffic laws, and society B has many, like the US. In society B there are laws regarding speed, stopping, making left turns, changing lanes, making right turns, and getting your car inspected, just to name a few. In society A, there is only one law- don’t drive over 90 mph.

Is it possible to compare these two societies in regards to their traffic laws? Or are these two societies’ traffic laws equally good? Is good the right word to use? Good at doing what? How about, good at keeping people alive. If more people die on society A’s roads, and all other factors are equal, then can’t we objectively say that society B has better traffic laws?

Obviously, there are not an obvious set of traffic laws that exist out there for all to know- i.e. objective traffic laws, yet we are still able to compare them. As long as you have a standard, you can compare two things.

Where does this standard come from? Did I pick the right standard to compare the two societies’ traffic laws? My standard was the number of people who die. Traffic laws exist to prevent auto accidents, which cause injuries, some of which lead to death.

Do moral laws exist? If so, why? If moral laws do exist, they do not exist in the same way that traffic laws exist. You can’t look up a particular moral law in the same way that you would look up a traffic law. Morality (what should be done vs. what shouldn’t be done) is a uniquely human enterprise, a result of our ability to think abstractly and to put ourselves in other people’s shoes. Like cars on the road, each day people are out and about. Some people obey society’s laws, some do not. Many laws are based on moral principles, but not all.

I assert that it is possible to compare two systems of morality. To do this you need a standard to hold them up against. This standard needs to be defended. Why are you choosing this standard?

For example, if I were to compare prevailing moral views in the US and Iran, one standard I could use would be equal rights before the law. To what degree are members of each society treated equally before the law? A religious leader in Iran might choose to judge the degree to which members of each society adhere to Islamic law.

Creating a Vending Business

I’ve made some connections with people selling candy machines on craigslist.com. Eighty to ninety dollars seems to be a reasonable price for a used machine. In the next twenty four hours I am going to fill out and send the application to affiliate with a charity. This is will give me some extra credibility, tap into the altruism of the store owners, and give me a chance to earn some money and donate a little, something I rarely, if ever, do.

Do I need to incorporate? Do I need to add to get insurance?

I plan on calling the headquarters of a large supermarket chain to find out if the lack of machines in one of the local branches is an opportunity I can take advantage of.

I continue to keep a list of stores that I plan on asking to host a machine.

So far, my plan is to spend about one hundred dollars, this includes the machine, candy and charity fees. I will get the machine in a store and start recovering the initial expense of starting the business. In the meantime, I will work on getting more sites and finding more machines. The goal is to the let the business expand due to its own productivity, as opposed to spending a lot of my money up front.