Academia

The “Overton Window” and how to apply it

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With Glen Beck having discovered the “Overton Window” more than 2 years after I did, I thought this would be a great time to re-post my essay/post from Jan. 2008.

Being new here, I thought this might be an nice place to repost it.
Note that this was posted pre-Obama and pre-tea party. I think it is still wholly relevant, but I luxuriate in the fact that the “hand is on the other foot now.”
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I found a good post over at a pretty good lefty blog. Apparently, some Champaign-Urbana blogger named “The Squire” started blogging again, and he posted something pretty significant here. (clicking the link will get you an interesting and polite discussion)

The poli-sci concept is called “the Overton Window,” and if you want the very short version of it, I can boil it down to five words.

“The Limits Define the Center”

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A “Jobs Program,” not an education system

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Hey everyone,

I’d like to express my thanks to the “ChicagoBoyz” for allowing me to become a contributor.

Check out my profile for my Bio if you want. When I’m not not reading or posting to blogs, I’m probably working for education reform at the Heartland Institute or sailing my modest boat out of Monroe Harbor (weather permitting). Like many happily married men, if I’m not working or doing something I really enjoy, I’m doing what my wife tells me to do.
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I just saw this yesterday over at Big Government. Why we allow these education bureaucrats and teacher’s unions to bankrupt an entire civilization is beyond me.

The U.S. Economy Needs Fewer Public School Jobs, Not More

I don’t have time this morning to copy and paste the two graphs in this post right now, but I urge all of you to go the linked article, print the two graphs, and carry them around in your wallets and purses. Show them to any dingbat who thinks education spending is “for the children.”

Hyping Higher Ed, continued

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My post on this topic a little over a week ago garnered a fair number of comments. Here are some related items which have surfaced in the last few days and may be of interest…

1)A Washington Post item about college graduates who have chosen to make a switch to the skilled trades

2)Glenn Reynolds posts some interesting emails he has received from recent college graduates. Excerpts:

For the vast majority of people who are now in their 20’s, adolescence wasn’t about anything at all but getting in to college. Our teachers talked about College the way that Churchill talked about Victory. I’ve long argued that the reason why popular culture among young adults today is so obnoxiously, insufferably adolescent is at least partly due to the fact that we were never /allowed/ to be adolescents. You didn’t play sports or write for the school newspaper or volunteer at the soup kitchen because you wanted to, you did it to pad that college application. I can’t tell you how many times I was told, point blank, that the way to success was to get into the best college you could, and borrow as much money as you could to pay for it. Of /course/ college was worth six figures in debt.

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And What is an Educated Man?

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Many (Foster here, Instapundit) have argued education is a “bubble” a good oversold and overpriced. Like most “bubbles”, this has begun with a good our founders understood only a literate society could successfully manage a democracy; a sense of history and perspective equips us against a demagogue. Education gives a longer perspective, so we are less likely to sell our birthrights for a mess of pottage. Universal, public education is necessary for a meritocracy.

But, like many large problems, this one is overdetermined.

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Hyping Higher Ed

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1)A study by York College suggests that many graduates are unprepared for the working world. The study cites the expectations of business leaders and HR people as including “the ability to communicate and listen respectfully, motivation to finish a task and attention to appearance.” While the study indicates that many graduating college seniors may lack these attributes, they do possess certain other ones:

There’s a sense of entitlement that we’ve picked up on. Where people think they’re entitled to become, let’s say president of the company, within the next two years. They’re entitled to five weeks of vacation.

York says it is now trying to teach “professionalism” in addition to whatever else it already teaches. But sitting into an auditorium and listening to some executive, a few weeks before graduation, strikes me as less about teaching professionalism and more about teaching how to simulate professionalism in an interview.

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