We measure how strong countries and quasi-independent
sub-countries like California are by how they treat their weakest.
Presently, California is not being devastated by drought or AIDS, like
much of sub-Saharan Africa. California has not been slammed with
major earthquakes and tsunamis, nor ash clouds and pyroclastic flows
from a volcano like Indonesia. As near as we can determine, there are
no (zero) physicians in Knightsen, so residents go to nearby Oakley,
Brentwood or Antioch.
However, of concern is that school children in Knightsen and a lot of other places are being in effect
punished for something they did not do. They have no lawyers, make no campaign contributions and do
not vote, and so are relatively defenseless. Like several thousand other school districts in California and
virtually every other state, there are not many non-core expenses to cut at Knightsen. We actually
simulated abandoning whole subjects like mathematics so as to save on teaching costs. Advocates of
numeracy will be pleased to hear this rather extreme strategy does not provide very much economic relief.
In many modes of analysis it is often fruitful to invert a problem - in this case that means asking what
happens if education is considered a financial stimulant rather than a depressant.
When we asked our mathematical models what was to be done the answers were very clear: 10:1 student
teacher ratio (4:1 for special education); standards-based education which includes virtual classrooms
and more frequent, directed tests; more subjects (8 instead of 4); longer school days and more school days
per year. And the benefits? Less unemployment, stable real estate values, a steady revenue stream of
sales, income and real estate taxes and smarter children.
We then rather tediously worked through whether an economic recovery was possible without restoring
and improving education as above. The answer was "No". Can America recover without California? "No".
How about the more than 100 nations around the planet that depend economically to varying degrees on
America? No, no chance for them either.
So if less than 500 children in an obscure community in an undistinguished county in a bankrupt state get
smarter or at least achieve better scores, we can save Planet Earth? Are you serious? Yes, we are.