Open-Letter to the President

Dear Mr. President,

Our country is currently experiencing one of the worst economic recessions in history. This type of event would make one question the foundations of a country that is traditionally one of the economic superpowers of the world. It would be a mistake not to investigate the effectiveness of America’s educational system as ultimately education dictates the success of a nation.

I believe, as you do, that drastic measures should be taken to overhaul the United State’s education system and keep America competitive with other nations. Actually, competition is just what we need within our schools.

It has always been the American spirit to fight till the end and never give up but somehow this has been eliminated within the school system. Our schools are hurting from the lack of competition that is brought about by the apathy a teacher exhibits in a typical 8 to 5 job. Just like in any workplace, the employees need to be challenged to reach a goal with rewards for those who succeed.

Finding an opening for a teaching position is not difficult and that presents a problem, not from a shortage of teachers standpoint but rather from a competition perspective. For teachers, knowing that there is always a job opening in some other school provides a sense of security or comfort, sometimes undeserved. It is necessary that the government creates a competitive environment in which teachers are rewarded and even punished for their performance.

The idea of a voucher system has been presented before and I believe this would be the most effective method of increasing the effectiveness of our schools and teachers. A voucher system would allow parents to choose the school their child attends and have the money allotted for that student to go towards that school. This would undoubtedly create a competitive environment as schools would battle to be the most successful and enroll the best students.

This voucher system would hold the teachers and the school administration accountable for their actions. Just like the citizens of America should hold you responsible for the actions you take as president, the government should hold the education system responsible for their actions, almost like a check and balances system. No longer would there be immediate teacher openings, especially at the better schools, eventually leading to some form of stability within the school system.

This system would benefit those students who are disadvantaged and would otherwise have to attend a poor school in their area. Qualified students would be able to attend a better public school that is not full of other poor students, but of a diverse student body that would not be discriminated against financially. How could such a system hurt the education of our students? At the very least, students would simply attend schools other than those in their area. It is absolutely worth giving this proposal a shot.

In Ohio, it has been proven the voucher system increases the effectiveness of our schools. A research conducted by the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice has revealed that of the 17 school systems participating in some form of a voucher system, 16 showed the voucher system improved their schools while only 1 school system showed no improvement. It was further noted in the study that the school system which showed no improvement was actually designed to discriminate against competition. The foundation is so confident in the results that “researchers predict the enhancements will result in a one-standard-deviation improvement in the academic performance of public schools three to four years into the program.” Clearly, there is some benefit to increased competition.

There are two major hurdles to starting a voucher system, however, and they come in the form of congressional lobbyists and teacher unions. Throughout you’re campaign, you promised the American people that there would be a “new Washington” free of lobbyist influence. These two groups are negatively impacting the education system by lobbying congressmen to vote ‘Nay’ on any form of a student voucher bill. It is necessary to push these influences out of Washington for the educational system to have any chance. Please deliver on your promises, they are why an overwhelming amount of citizens have voted for you.

Mr. President, you campaigned on the premise of change and change is what the American people desperately in the area of education. Reform is necessary especially during these turbulent economic times our great country is facing. Please uphold the promises you have made to the American people and at the very least, take a moment to consider this proposal. These times call for drastic but smart measures.

A concerned citizen,

Kyle Smith
Chapel Hill, NC




Works Cited

Barack Obama Already Breaking Election Promise. Warner T. Houston. 8 Nov. 2008. Current.1 Mar. 2009 .

Education: How Do We Get the Results We Want? David Mathews. 1 Mar. 2009. National Issues Forums, Dayton, Ohio. 1 Mar.2009.

Get Schooled. Laura Diamond. 29 Jan. 2008. Atlanta Journal Constitution, Atlanta, GA. 1 Mar. 2009 .

The Heartland Institute: Free Market Solutions. Aricka Flowers. 1 Nov. 2008. The Heartland Institute, Chicago, IL. 1 Mar. 2009 .

The Credibility of Cyberspace Identities

Major problems lie within the realm of cyberspace identities but one problem is far more serious than any other. While the internet is capable of creating identities, it is not capable of authenticating those identities. Ultimately, this can mislead people and compound problems with identity representation, especially on social networking websites. Most of these identity problems have lead to precarious situations.

Misrepresentation is a wide-ranging and impactful problem on the internet. With a number of profiling websites online, all someone has to do to create a profile is simply fill out information about themselves, whether factual or not, and then click create account. With such few steps involved, it is relatively easy to form another identity online contradicting one’s real-world identity.

Facebook is a prime example of the ease with which someone can access a profiling website, create a profile and manipulate factual information about oneself. When signing up to create a profile, Facebook requires that you read, or at least claim that you have read, the Terms of Use. Within the Terms of Use it states that “If you are required to register as a sex offender in any jurisdiction, you may not use the Facebook Service.” While this may seem like it is effective in warding off potential criminals or identity thieves, it is highly inept. It is unimaginable to believe that such dangerous criminals can bypass a restriction, with no difficulty at all, by simply checking the box agreeing that he/she has read the Terms of Use. With that said, those people whose intentions are malicious in nature are then able to use Facebook as a source to make initial contact with unsuspecting victims.

Using cyberspace as a medium to develop a false identity and take advantage of impressionable young people is not just isolated to one website; it is occurring on many websites including MySpace, another social network. There are stories of adults befriending teenagers online and then using MySpace as a weapon against the victim; Megan Meier is one of those victims. After becoming friends with Josh on MySpace, a boy that Megan perceived to be attractive, they both exchanged messages for over a month when Josh suddenly stopped responding after telling Megan he heard she was “cruel.” Considering her amusement with Josh, she was extremely disappointed. Meier, the girl with attention deficit disorder and depression, decided to take her own life the next day. (CBS)

Not only are malicious-minded people falsifying their own identities but some are even claiming other identities as their own for their benefit. Just recently, a person (not known if it was a man or woman) impersonated Bryan Rutberg on Facebook and managed to get money from his friends. The guilty person pleaded to Rutberg’s friends on Facebook asking for money because he was stuck in London and had been robbed. As good friends they sent the money only to find out that Rutberg was actually safe at home. (Sutter, Carroll)

Numerous other stories similar to these exist. It is important that something is done to keep people from creating false identities as it is obvious that these people have bad intentions. Restrictions that are not enforced are not effective in defending against truly malicious people and therefore stronger enforcement through limiting access to profiles is necessary.

It is currently possible to limit access to social-networking profiles on most websites but this is only at the discretion of the user. To protect those using these websites, a restriction should be formulated preventing people from separate networks to add each other as profile friends. Additionally, to authenticate that people belong to the network they signed up for, one must provide an identification name and password associated with that particular group to gain access. For example, someone that wants to join a network such as a university network must provide their email address and password that is associated with the university. This would be a self-enforcing restriction as only those people that attend the university would be able to create an account and communicate with others at the university. No internetworking would occur but people would be able to join other networks that they are associated with.

This type of solution would greatly decrease the opportunity for identity theft and misrepresentation. Assuming that the user does not give away their identification name and password, the only person that would be able to login to someone’s profile would be someone within the networking group. Nonetheless, some sort of solution should be reached swiftly as internet identities will have a profound impact on future generations.

If you also have concerns about the seriousness of identity theft or impesonators then join my blog and express them here. This blog will be an open forum for anyone with concerns or possible solutions to such a formidable problem.

http://www.myspace.com

http://www.facebook.com/terms.php

http://cbs13.com/national/myspace.hoax.girl.2.570411.html

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/02/05/facebook.impostors/