An article in the local daily informs us that experts say it is too soon to judge effects of recent legislative overhauls on the economy. Of course it gets political. But according to the argument in the newspaper, the economy of North Carolina is getting better, but it is still not as strong as those in neighboring states. Therefore, we can’t tell if the changes were good or not. Perhaps we should have made the economy worse. Then, we would know our changes were better.
That goes back to the announcement today that the state is going to make it easier to get higher grades in school. That way, the kids in my generation who excelled in calculus will end up working for the graduates who can’t do fractions. The whiz kids, if they want to pay their bills, will do math the way the boss says – except their paychecks will be riddled with errors, because it’s not so much about contract fulfillment as how the payroll officer feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeels about her work. And she’s stoked on antidepressants.