money for everybody

[godbey at aloha.com]

Jennifer and all,

	I agree that a counterintuitive part of shaping public policy is aassessing overall benefit when talking about initiatives that directly affect groups of individuals.  

	Two weeks ago I was in a group of very smart people who were bemoaning the future because they were soon to retire without replacements.  One scientist who did have a few replacements mentioned that the places he visited in Silicon Valley had a demographic anomaly--older folks who were American and educated with money that flowed to S&M education after Sputnik scared the country into policy changes (and some cultural shift), and younger folks who were Asians, mostly Chinese, who had similar benefits more recently while American focus and interest in that education dwindled.  I can see where *that* trendline goes, especially considering American cultural attitude changes over the last fifty years towards science and engineering.  (Oh, and nanotech?  I now *get* it.  Very very interesting field, that.)  Others may have also seen this demographic trend.

	So although my initial reaction was "not one taxpayer penny", observations such as the one above--and the fact that I'm writing this as other than a resident of NC because NCSSM didn't keep me in state--make me rethink that initial reaction.  It seems that a carefully done benefit to people with sci/eng skills with a tied obligation of some sort might be the opposite of, say, Ted "Pork" Stevens' Alaskan Bridge to Nowhere.

	Maybe.


Chap
who's putting a .sig on this email solely to annoy some of y'all, even though typing on a Treo.  

-----Original Message-----

From:  "Jennifer Took Harrod" <took at mebtel.net>

Subj:  RE: money for everybody
Date:  Wed Apr 11, 2007 12:53 am
Size:  3K
To:  <alumni at ncssm.net>

 
The last paragraph of DeAnne's e-mail is the only one anyone should be
concerned about.  Like all grants that are given by the state, the question
should not be whether the grantee is uniquely deserving, but whether it
serves the needs of the state.  Did Dell "need" $240 million in tax breaks
to locate its plant in Forsyth County?  No, the good legislators and county
commissioners and whomever else hands out the cash thought it would be good
for NC.   

As a former gifted student and current parent of a gifted student, I'm
beyond fed up having to justify why smart kids are "deserving" of
educational resources to allow them to develop their talent.  The head of my
child's school actually SAID to us that it was all very well to say that
there should be services geared towards the eagles if your child was an
eagle, but if your child was a buzzard or a sparrow, it was a lot less
popular.  

As the (possibly apocryphal?) cheer goes "That's all right, that's ok,
you're going to work for us someday."  

The tuition grant should be justified on the same grounds as the school
itself--it nurtures talent the state thinks is important and keeps that
talent at home to create jobs and improve the economy of our great state.
Same reason there was in my day a $500 grant for any NC student who went to
a private school inside NC.  

So don't feel guilty about your good fortune, people, get out there and
start a dot com already!

--Jennifer
c/o '86