On the Word of an Actor?

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While finally putting the books onto shelves and cleaning up my 'Library' now that the shelves are all in, I watched/listened to the movie "Gettysburg" again. Longstreet passes on some intelligence from a scout named Harrison to Lee and reminds Lee that he knows Harrison. Lee is taken aback and asks, "We move on the word of an actor?" I found it odd to note that the Democrats continue to make the same mistake of resting their laurels in the words of an actor.

You hear actors all the time. They get involved in causes and sell products and get in trouble mostly, but from time to time they also try to tell you what you ought to do. They get into politics, not because they are actually good at anything, but because they are famous. We then allow them to dictate the terms of our lives when they are mostly people who pretend to be something else for a living. Who cares what Tom Hanks, Jane Fonda, William H. Macy, and the like think about politics? They are actors who are paid to pretend.

The saying goes that those who can, do and that those who can't, teach. I think those who can't do or teach, act. Sure, in industry and education, you find actors, people who show up and play the part of teacher. Some of them are capable people, but they're at least acting to be teachers, and some of them are pretending to be worth anything at all.

Beyond that, consider the words the Lee character uses (Lee is played by Martin Sheen, which I find even more comical). They move on the WORDS of an actor. They do not move on his skill, on his experience, or on any proof of what he says. They take his word for it. Now, Harrison happened to be telling the truth, but they didn't know. Unlike the commanders, Harrison had zero war experience or training; he was just zealous for the cause.

Most of what we see is a play. Most people play parts. You can usually tell when you talk to a person if they know what they're talking about. I try not to pretend or portend to anything I do not actually know, because if people make decisions based on information I give them and it's not accurate information, people die. That's what happened with Heth when he confronted Buford at Gettysburg. He thought and bought the notion that it was just militia, and the Confederacy paid for it.

This kind of fallacy trips people up all the time. In relationships, we buy into the notions- flowers, chocolates, and promises people don't intend to keep- because we want to believe in something bigger than ourselves. It's how we hire people who cannot perform, villify people who didn't do anything (Duke Lacrosse anyone?), marry people who do not love us, and buy things we do not need with money we do not have to impress people we do not like. Shoot, the producers laughed at the notion of an actor in politics in "Back to the Future" when Brown was incredulous that Reagan was president in 1985, and yet we still swallow the foist.

I know they use actors all the time. They use them to sell you cell phone plans and bone supplements and memberships to retirement associations or travel deals. They are people we recognize, but are they really people we know? They are paid in those endorsements just like they are on screen to tell us what they want us to hear. If you move on the word of an actor, you may pay the price.

Other People's Fault

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About a mile away from home last night, I saw a police car pull in behind me. I figured they were interested in me, as I had pressed through a light to make it and hit the intersection when the light was red. The pavement was slick, I slid into two previous intersections, and this was the last stoplight. I decided to push forward, didn't see the cop, and ended up having an unexpected chat.

Much to my satisfaction, she opted against giving me a ticket. I asked her if she was sure she wanted to let me go with just a warning. I am the only person I know who would be silly enough to ask a question like that. I was ready to get a ticket, because I had made a choice and this was the opportunity cost of miscalculating my ability to clear the intersection. If she had given me one, I would have taken it, paid it, and then been more careful, because I expect people to obey the laws required of them by civil society.

However, the older I get, the more I realize that very few people feel that way. Like a friend of mine told me, when people find themselves confronted by problems they do not desire to face, their most frequent strategy is avoidance. Rather than face it and face up to it, they project it onto someone else. It's never their fault. It's their parents, their teachers, their government, society, drugs, anything but their responsibility when it has nothing to do with anyone but them.

You see, it's easier to deal with if it isn't about you. As long as it's not personal about someone or about someone to whom they have an emotional attachment, people will agree with me, even if they are guilty of the same thing. As soon as I point out that they also stand among the number who need the lesson, they either ignore me or villify me. They look deep down inside, take some time in introspection, and then blame other people. That doesn't take a lot of courage.

Change takes courage. Perhaps for this reason, it takes a great deal more courage to stand up to your friends than your enemies. With those in whom you have little invested, you have little to lose, but even when you act as a true friend and tell people what they ought to know and do and be, you run the risk of losing a friend. It's easier to lash out at others than to admit our weaknesses, because once we confess them, we face the choice to embrace them or to change, both of which take work and honesty, and so it's easier to blame others.

Last night, I made a choice, and even as I lay down to sleep, I knew that if the LVMPD officer had given me a ticket I would have taken it. I wasn't happy, but I was ready. Nobody else was at fault, and when I saw her pull in behind me, I pulled over to face the music.

Continuing on from yesterday's topic about superiority, this attitude that nothing is our fault comes from the notion that we are better than other people. It's how we justify speeding, because our jobs are more important, cutting in line, because our purchase is much more important, infidelity, because our physical wants are more important, and stealing, because we know far better how to spend other people's money. This attitude reflects leadership. We have leaders in business, religion, and politics who act as if they are better. They take credit for our work and unjustly ascribe blame to other people, particularly those they do not know or do not like.

In the end, we really are all dust. Death is the great equalizer, which lands every man in the same state as every other, no matter what he does during life. It reminds us all that we are not the most powerful force on the planet or in the universe, and that no matter how smart, how rich, or how saavy we are, nobody has escaped its grasp. Nobody except one Man whose birth we celebrate in a few weeks.

I have a new theory on what will actually happen at judgement. I think that at judgment people will finally be faced with truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. When they finally have to acknowledge their real motives, their real feelings, and the truth of their actions, I think that will be hellish for many people. I know many people who have spent years building a life around lies, and when they cannot escape them any more, I think that will be hellish. Our lives are nobody's fault but our own. While we may not be responsible for the actions of others, we do own how we respond.

Like I told my students, I do not really care too much what you believe or do as long as you own it and the consequences. You see, if you are honest about what you believe and do, then I know where to go from here. As long as we lie, any help offered us proves useless or less effective because it's not calculated against the truth of our travails. As long as we lie, Christ cannot help us, lift us, or change us into something better. If you own it, you take responsibility for the consequences rather than making me shoulder them. If you own it, then if it turns out to be an awesome choice, you can honestly find joy in the consequences. Consequences aren't always bleak; they can be wonderful. Until we accept truth, not only will we think other people are at fault but we also empower other people to be beneficiaries of what we do that is good.

Improve when you can. Hold your ground when you get there. Involve Christ from the getgo and let Him seal your faults.

Light-Minded Condescension

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A friend of mine missed church yesterday due to a rather severe cold, and so I called him up to chat. We ended up talking about a book, James Farrell's The Holy Secret, which deals very simply but very profoundly with the problem in our perception. You see, my friend and I both think that the problems in our world come from the misbegotten notion that we are better than other people.

The simple fact of the matter is that we're all lost sheep who have need of a Savior. Many of my friends are surprised when, after they confess their faults to me, I am uncritical and equally penitent. I tell them that even though my transgressions may seem small to them, they are still marks of open rebellion against the Lord and keep me from Him without the intervention of the Messiah.

That's not how most people think. Each thinks he has "run up a very favorable credit-balance in the Enemy's ledger by allowing himself to be converted, and thinks that he is showing great humility and condescension in going to church (CS Lewis' Screwtape Letters)". Conversion, however is much more than that. It is true and full submission to the will of God.

I sat in my meetings listening to the leadership draw near to the Savior with their lips while their hearts are far from him. Granted, the Bishop was absent in the meeting when the light-mindedness reached its peak, but I am continually dismayed by the fact that some of those who appear to be furthest advanced in the service of the Master and in positions of authority act with light-minded condescension, not only to people who are earnest seekers of truth, but to the principles and precepts taught by Christ during His conversations with men. We do not know what He said, because we do not listen; we cannot hear because we do not look to Him. Why should we read what others wrote about Him when we already know everything?

As I consider their pride, I wonder about my own. I know that Paul wrote to the Hebrews about priesthood authority that "no man taketh this honor unto himself". I spoke with an old friend who is himself a bishop this weekend about what I should do. You see, I have maintained the attitude for a year now that if it mattered to the Lord, He would yell at my bishop who seems to have no interest whatsoever in whether or not I even show up at church. See, nobody talked to me the entire time I was there except with that superfluous inquiry into my well-being Americans use as an inarticulate greeting. Maybe they're so wound up in their own problems that they don't have time to notice anyone else. Then again, maybe I'm dead and don't know it.

It bothers me, especially at Christmas, that they can take things that matter most to me so lightly. While they inflate things of transitory ephemeral value, they speak with thinly veiled disdain for things of eternity. They mock wives, procedures, families, etc., while they excuse sloth, tardiness, and villainy. They call good evil and evil good, and I wonder why they are where they are. I trust God knows what He's doing; I just don't see how He gets us to where He wants us to be from where we are, and I'm frustrated all along the way.

Contrary to popular belief, truth is not relative or subject to change. Contrary to popular belief, it does not make you a better person that you have a lofty title, a bank account awash with cash, or a metabolism that keeps you lithe and fit. As a matter of fact, where much is given much is required. Too many people I meet however act as if they believe they must save themselves. They consider salvation to be a scale in which their good deeds are weighed against their sins, as if you can earn your way in. They only turn to Christ when all other lights go out, after they have done all they can do, when all we really can do is repent. Like the innkeeper, there is no room in their hearts for the Savior of Men. They intend to save themselves. They are better than we are; they have no need of a Savior.

My friend and I talked about what's really required. What's required is repentance. Jesus taught that the only thing that matters is that the sheep returns. He is not interested in how shiny or thick its coat is or any of the outward measurements. Riches and intelligence are relative, and compared to the Christ, none of us are worth anything at all. I have begun to hear Hamlet's solliloquoy differently this weekend as he says "Life is but a walking shadow, a poor player who struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing." We live and move and have our being at the express will and beneficience of our Creator. It is not for any prowess we possess that we awake in the morning. For all I know, I die every night and am brought back to life, because there's nobody there to prove otherwise.

You may have noticed that I'm often unsure of my value, but it's mostly because I know my weaknesses rather than an attack on my strengths. Only I among mortals am intimately familiar with my weaknesses and my need for a Savior. I was reading the end of the Epistle of James and found this in chapter 5:16

Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

Other people are surprised sometimes to hear me talk about how much I need the Savior. They think because they know what I do that I'm perfect somehow. I am a man, subject to the same passions and fits as every other man. Sometimes, I pay them no heed. Sometimes, I pay attention far longer than I should to the whisperings of the adversary. I will be humble, for I know my weakness, and I ask for your prayers, that I may be healed, that I may be a more effective instrument in the hand of my Maker. Your effectual fervent prayers may avail much for me.

At the end of that same epistle, James concludes with these words:

Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

Like I said, I've done some thinking about conversion, which seems to be a submissiveness to the will of God, and willingness to strive His works to do and trust in His redeeming love. I am not better than you. I need the redemtive power of the atonement just as much as any man on the earth. Every day, I really do die, spiritually speaking, and those of you who encourage me and pray for me help hide a multitude of sins and rescue me from spiritual death. In the end, it is not a tally of good deeds compared to our rebellions; it will depend on Christ. Will you try to save yourself still at that day or invite Him to help you?

Nobody in Their Right Mind

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On my way into Kohls today, I was accosted by a young lady asking me if I'm registered to vote. I noticed the shirt she wore and wondered why in thunder she was an Obama supporter. Then again, I'm frequently mystified as to the choices of political involvement made by young people. Ron Paul is poised to win the Iowa GOP Caucus, and I have no idea why.

Young folks tend to support people who think America is the problem. Obama goes around apologizing for America, talking about how we're lazy, greedy, and intolerant. Paul goes around talking about how we're at war on the wrong side. Both of them go around talking and then claim they didn't say what they said or that we misunderstood what they said. The irony is that we can watch them say it over and over again, thanks to sites that archive video of politicians.

I just don't see why these two people attract support from any demographic. Even Obama admits that he hasn't done much, since he needs three more years. Neither of these men will go on record and do what ought to be done, but they'll jump over the steeple chase to attack someone who does. They did so with Ryan's budget. They would do so to me. My life is not better for any of Obama's policies or any of Paul's suggestions despite his entire career in Congress. As I have said and written before and elsewhere, if your life is better, it's coincidental. Most politicians are their own favorite beneficient, beneficiary and constituent, and to Death Valley with you and your problems.

That being said, I don't watch Fox or CNN or anything. I find that my blood pressure goes up when I watch the news. I have spent a good deal of time and money over the past five years studying the Enlightenment Experiment that birthed the United States, traveling to the sites relevant to that history, and reading the actual notes of men who made it happen. Sure, the men were imperfect; they were after all men. Their ideas were, to paraphrase Ben Franklin, the best any group of men ever has or could manage.

The older I get, the more I think that politics is about personality more than principles. The people who flock to Ron Paul or Barack Obama do so, not because they are interested in what ought to be done, but because they identify with the personality of the candidates. They will talk all day long about sacrifice and doing what's right, and then they do what's best for them, the majority of us be damned. Freedom is not license to do whatever you like; it is to do what you ought. Neither of these candidates is a good choice because they believe in destroying America in order to rebuild it. Every real leader knows that it's easier to hold onto something and improve it than to start over from scratch. Once a city is lost to an enemy army, it can only be retaken at the expense of much blood and treasure.

Nobody in their right mind would vote for either kook- Obama or Paul. I'm not happy with the other options trending up either, but the only way I know to find a candidate with whom I completely agree is to run for office myself, and I'm neither old enough to run for president nor interested in the prospect. So I'll settle, but not for either of these court jesters, and neither should you. Improve when you can. Hold your ground when you get there. Every upgrade, no matter how small, moves us closer to lasting prosperity and peace.

"Doctor Jukebox"

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On another blog I follow, I was introduced today to the concept of Dr. Jukebox. He's that expert witness who can and will, for a fee, testify in court that no matter what you did it was absolutely wrong and criminal. As Dr. Grumpy points out, Dr. Jukebox will sing whatever tune you like once you drop in the coinage, and it pays better than actually doing anything in the field. That's work after all.

I've paid attention to alot of roorback moments in recent media. I do this because I have, like Dr. Grumpy, been the target of miscreant and malcontent versions of Dr. Jukebox, who felt it their patriotic duty to exact justice against me or people I love, regardless of the facts. He, and the client on whose behalf he spoke, were not in it for the truth; they were in it for the money. How much money can the gaggle of gals that went after Hermann Cain hope to make (or how much have they already been paid), or that gal who said Justin Bieber fathered her son, or that stripper who accused the Duke Lacrosse team of raping her? They saw a chance at wealth without work and took it, because it costs very little to file a lawsuit, and any shark lawyer will take a case for a chance at 33% contingency fee.

Too often, people are not really interested in the truth. There are other versions of Dr. Jukebox who will play the tune demanded by the source of their grant money. Far too many scientists go out to do research hoping to prove their preconceived notions. Far too many cops investigate the obvious and ignore everything else.  Far too many people invest in religion, jobs, and relationships not because they really like WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) but because they want what they see to be what they want to get. For this reason, they will manipulate language and details, citing half of what you said or did without the other half to back it up in context. They are in it to get gain, and society as presently constituted rewards them. We are afraid to offend, afraid that we will be accused of doing something by virtue of demographics or personal beliefs they project on us, and that the complaintant will be backed up although the malcontent is actually malevolent.

For a long time now, I have really wanted to make a tshirt that says the following:

I don't do P.C. I'm a Mac.

They won't allow it because it's a trademark, but it sends home my point that P.C. is not a friend to truth. We already walk on eggshells enough as it is, and if we're not allowed to do our jobs to the best of our ability out of fear, nothing will ever get built. People make mistakes. Only evil people let their mistakes make them. Each of us makes a character by the things we practice, and the world would be better if all the Dr. Jukeboxes of the world instead of passing judgement were out practicing what they preach.

Soap Shall Set You Free

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One of the labs we teach is an environmental sampling lab. Students go out and swab environmental samples onto a regular growth media plate and a plate with antibiotics in it. We use this to show them evolutionary adaptations and the need for cleanliness. Some of them come up with unique sources to check. We have had couches, banisters, purses, spare change, and the dirt outside tested for bacteria. Most of what we find is benign, but it always leads to a good discussion about what we found, where, and why.

Our janitorial staff has caught onto this. They try very, very hard to sanitize, especially towards the end of the semester when we send the students out to do this. One of the other professors, however, came up with something I had not considered that hammered home to me just how important it is to sanitize things yourself.

Sue suggested we swab the lock mechanism inside a stall. You see, when you go into a room to clean, you clean what you can see, what you're used to seeing, and where you expect to see obvious filth. However, even the most careful of humans will contaminate this lock lever, and we know that most students are neither careful nor health conscious. If that were the case, they wouldn't engage in all the risky behaviors that dominate their lives.

As I used the bathroom next after our chat, I thought about that handle. I looked at it. I wondered how many bacteria were growing on it and how long they had been there. I wondered if I should hire someone to come clean my house, because different people emphasise cleaning differently, and it might catch stuff I routinely miss. I wondered how many people at school get sick because they touch that and then leave the bathroom without washing their hands.

Ironically enough, this is a battle you can't ever completely avoid. I am surprised the statists among us don't say "Why bother cleaning up and trying to avoid getting sick? You should just do so with protection", because like the war on poverty and promiscuity, they are willing to surrender at the outset, but they ostensibly care about our health. Even the most careful person will catch something. I have known folks who got cancer or hepatitis, not because they were unsafe, but because of other people or random chance.

However, you can't catch a disease to which you are not exposed. Lather up and cleanse out every part of your life. Clean your house, your mind, your speech, your food, and your body. Poor Richard taught us that an ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure. Just because you can't stop all instances doesn't mean you shouldn't try. You will survive 100% of the outbreaks you don't catch. I guarantee it.

"Tell Spencer to flush". --from "The Man Who Knew Too Little"

Empty Nester

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The time of the semester has come when I feel like an empty nester. Next time I see my students, they'll be taking their exams, glad it's over, anxious about their grades, but on their way hurriedly somewhere, somewhere else. We spend ninety hours together laughing, learning, and talking about things that matter both today and for all of their tomorrows, and then they move on.

I know it's as it should be. They need to move on, to move forward, to keep making progress, and I'm just a small way point on that longer journey. As far as a man in my position can, I understand a little of what it might be like when all the kids are grown and leave to find their fortunes elsewhere.

From time to time, as happened today, they tell me they'll miss me. Although I've been teaching off and on for many years, I don't have any students who come back to visit. It would be pretty tough since I've taught in so many different places and occupied so many offices in that time, but in today's internet-driven world, I'm surprised they don't contact me. Maybe I'm not as good at this as even I would be willing to confess. I hope they are well, wherever they are.

This Christmas season, my thoughts are with my 'children'. To all of you who have been or are my students, at least for the next 48 hours, you're in my thoughts and prayers. Merry Christmas, and Godspeed.

Taking the Bait

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I learned Friday night that fish have a memory that lasts about two minutes. For this reason primarily, it is easy to catch fish, even the same one if you catch and release, with the same bait, day after day, year after year. How ironic then that we believe ourselves a superior species when we also have such a short memory when it comes to political bait.

Politicians count on our short memory when it comes to political activity in order to perpetuate their political power. Every time they do something that stirs up political fervor, they back off slightly until the pressure simmers down, and then they find a new way to do it. See, once it's done, our anger doesn't suffice to change anything. This way they can use the same tactics or same end games over and over and get what they seek irrespective of the will of the people.

Frequently, they use the same bait, the same lure, and the same lines to fish for us. They tell us that the GOP wants to fire teachers, policemen, and end Social security. DEMs promise us jobs and money and prosperity and peace if we just give them a little more power. What is more amazing to me is that, just like the fish, we forget that they said the same thing two minutes ago, and swallow the parliament jester's foist hook line and sinker. We almost always take the bait.

Like the fishermen, the politician does not do what he does for the benefit of the fish. These particular fishers of men bait us for their own elevation, opulence and advancement, always careful to garb it in writ that sounds like it's for our good. Even if it happens to benefit you, that is accidental. The politician does not do what he does for your benefit; he does it for his.

Real statesmen do what they do even when it might be bad for them individually. You can tell who's doing the right thing, because they typically have nothing to gain. The true measure of a man, I heard in a talk on CD this weekend, is in how he treats other people, not how well off he is. I heard that Obama was brazen enough to say that even if America fails his kids will be ok. What in thunder? What kind of president talks about America failing or says something akin to "sucks to be you, but my kids will be fine"?

It's almost as if people today want to be deceived and are too lazy to do anything about it. They are too attached to their 'stuff' and unwilling to sacrifice anything on the altar of freedom. That is inconsistent with American tradition, where men pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to do what they ought.

So as we head into 2012, remember there is an agenda in what they tell you. They are baiting you with the same old lines, the same old bait, and the same old lures. They want to hook you and reel you in, either to devour you to serve their own ends or just so long so they can get where they want to go, whereupon they will release you back where you were, no better off than you were before except by accident. Why do they do it? Because they want to win above all else. They are not interested in America's success per se, only their own. If they aren't enough without winning an election, they will never be enough with it.

O Ye of Liddell Faith

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For most of my adult life, I have heard talk from members of my faith and others rationalizing their participation in sports on the Sabbath. What they do not realize is that this argument, this dilemma, is an old one, already handled, in a time no longer remembered by many yet on the earth. It was once a national sensation, but if you were born after summer 1924, you weren't even alive when it happened.

Among my favorite movies is the movie "Chariots of Fire". I first became aware of this movie because of the musical score composed by Vangelis for the movie. It deals with among others the story of Eric Liddell, part of the British Olympic contingent to Paris in 1924. It focuses on themes of faith and faithfulness to principle and loyalty to God. I find it a little bit ironic that the descendant of a king who once beheaded his best friend for loyalty to God demanded the same treason in return for national piety. Even in our nation, Patrick Henry had written about how abandoning his principles would be like an act of disloyalty to God.

Eric refused to do any kind of sport on Sunday. It does not say if he would exercise, but he refused to do anything competitive on the Lord's day. He tells the man who would become the king that God makes nations, God makes kings, and God makes the laws by which they rule, and His law says that the Sabbath is His. Every member of the British Olympic team who competed on Sunday lost. Liddell turned around on Thursday and outran one of the fastest men on earth. So, you are not the first to weight the opportunity cost of sports on Sunday, and you will not be the first example made thereby.

Liddell was vindicated in his decision thanks to timely intervention by the youthful Lord Lindsay, who was a teammate of his. When Liddell completed his work, in his early forties, God called him home, he having sealed the testimony of his faith with his life as a missionary in Japanese occupied China.

In the sermons Liddell preaches associated with running depicted on the film, Liddell asks parenthetically this question. "Where does the strength come from to finish the race of faith? From Within". Each of us is tempted to hedge on principles, to abandon what we know, to quit the race, but the strength to not only finish the race but also to win it comes from an inner personal resolve to dare to be true, to be valiant, no matter what opposition may arise. Would that more men were of Liddell's faith.

Perhaps you will not be called upon as was More to die at the block or as Liddell to vanish into obscurity abroad, but your choices are the testament of your life and faith. The first time you do something in error, it's a mistake. The second time it's a choice. If you have room to upgrade your choices, this is the time. Rise up and be men, men worth remembering, men of faith, the very and only kind of men who are taken to Heaven in a Chariot of Fire.

For Students or Faculty?

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I have previously written about my misgivings about academic advertising. Far too many decisions in education seem garbed in language that makes it sound like it's about the students when that is not necessarily the case. Last night for example I heard about a new initiative in higher education to promote people finishing their degrees. That's less about the students and more about the institutions themselves.

One of the college ranking system's criteria factors in how many students an institution graduates. This is supposed to measure how well an institution supports the students that attend. However, it is mostly used as a way to rank schools, not by the quality of their teaching or the quality of their graduates or by the concern of faculty for students. Instead, this statistic targets parents, who are concerned they will pay for students to attend classes but never finish.

Truth be told, we have a lot of students who take a long time in college. Some of these have extenuating circumstances: jobs, diseases, children, etc., that keep them from attending full time. In Las Vegas, our transient population also contributes, as people move away often before they finish, preferring to attend a cheaper in-state institution for their basic core before attending the prestigious institution of their choice for an actual degree. Many of them change majors. Many of them actually take classes, not to get a degree, but to learn things. Shoot, even I do that. There is no way I'm going to get away getting a degree from the school where I teach while I teach there.

Perhaps the most troubling trend in retention is indemic to the institution partnership. Students will bounce around from institution to institution since they are all part of the same system, taking particular teachers or vying for a better grade or hoping to pay cheaper tuition at the community college, and as such we have students who attend all of our institutions. Yet, they are not given credit as being a graduate because they attend NSC and graduate from UNLV or attend CSN and graduate from NSC, or even UNR. It's all part of the same system, and that's the problem.

In my opinion, too many of the measurements used in education do not accurately reflect the quality of the educational experience. Grades are not equivalent with knowledge; graduation rate is not equivalent with care for students; GPA is no predictor of success or dedication or committment; prestige is not synonymous with quality. The best way to get better education is to get better educators. Far too many professors are there for the wrong reasons. They are there to advance themselves or because they couldn't advance themselves in other places. Most successful people can either earn more money elsewhere or do not consider themselves good teachers. Most tenured teachers care a lot less about the students than they would like you to think. Shoot, how many people are actually taught by their professors? At least I was.

Educational institutions are there to make money. Although they rarely if ever actually turn a profit, they exist to rake in money against the cost. They do not care as much about the education of students, otherwise they would have tighter admission requirements to make sure the students who arrive are equipped and motivated for success. We allow high school students, who generally speaking lack the focus and maturity to actually succeed in college, to take classes while they are minors (Why do we allow minors to attend college? It's good neither for them nor for the institution). We allow people to take classes so long as they have a pulse and a credit card. We allow people into programs based on overall GPA after they fluff out their GPA with Underwater Basketweaving, History of Dance, and Backseat Driving classes boosting their GPA. Then we ask why they aren't successful. They are not ready.

Not all professors are created equal. Truth be told, a decade ago, if you told me I'd be teaching Organic Chemistry, I would have laughed at you. Even my ex-wife might be surprised to discover that, because she thought I would never amount to anything, let alone become a professor. My exams are difficult, but they force students to learn, not just barf back up a bunch of details for the exam. There is even one teacher, hopefully former, at my institution who gave exams completely unrelated to the course. I expect great things, and the students who are motivated and equipped for success have risen to the occassion.

I told one of my classes this week that although I wouldn't do this if I wasn't paid, I am not here for the money. The money is insanely good for a single male who bought a house far below his means, and so I am willing to do work off the clock to help them succeed. As I have previously mentioned, I give them other lessons, personal examples, and relevancies that some cannot or will not match, because I actually enjoy the work I do. It's hard work to be a good teacher, even more work perhaps than I am willing and able to give. Fortunately for me, I also happen to get paid, and I am paid sufficient for my needs, and so I will do things other people will not to help my students do things other people cannot.

What I learned about teaching, I learned from my mentors. Doctor Ron R, Doctor Dave Q, Doctor Carol C, Doctor David S, Doctor Bill W., and a handful of others made a personal investment in me. When they saw that I was willing to learn, they were willing to teach, and they went above and beyond to help me become successful. Of course, it also helped that I wasn't headed to medical school like most of my classmates. I watched what they did, why they did it, and how they did it, and I adopted techniques, mannerisms, and philosophies from them all that I recognized helped me learn to be a teacher. Hopefully, dedicated but untenured professors are like fine cheese- they get better with age.

Institutions of higher learning exist to teach people. Sometimes the students will advance without advancing the reputation of the faculty or institution. It's not so much what we do as it is what they do with the tools with which we equip them. Graduation rates that do not lead to job placement are a misnomer, and while my students will not directly as a consequence of my classes get jobs, I do teach them things I believe will help them after they finish college. At least, that's my goal. My students will testify by their accomplishments if I reached that goal.