West Side Story: Birth of a Classic --- http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/westsidestory/

Powerhouse Museum: Online Resources --- http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/online/index.asp

Hampton Dunn Postcards Collection --- http://www.lib.usf.edu/public/index.cfm?Pg=HamptonDunnPostcardsCollection

Jones Beach Air Show --- http://www.jonesbeachairshow.com/gallery.html

Environmentalist in a G-String --- http://deathby1000papercuts.com/2008/04/jennifer-moss-pastie-lady-environmental-exhibitionist-too-liberal-for-liberal-town/

Online Books, Poems, References, and Other Literature
In the past I've provided links to various types electronic literature available free on the Web. 
I created a page that summarizes those various links --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm

The Visual Dictionary --- http://www.infovisual.info/

Open Science Directory --- http://www.opensciencedirectory.net/

The National Institute for Conservation --- http://www.heritagepreservation.org/

What is more touching than a used-book store on Saturday night,
dowdy clientele haunting the aisles:
the girl with bad skin, the man with a tic,
some chronic ass at the counter giving his art speech?
August Kleinzahler as quoted by Dwight Garner, "Bullies, Addicts and Losers: A Poet Loves Them All," The New York Times, April 24, 2008 --- http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/24/books/24garn.html

Especially note the free online textbook sites

The Community College Open Textbook Project begins this week with a member meeting in California," by Catherine Rampell, Chronicle of Higher Education, April 29, 2008 --- Click Here

At the meeting, representatives of institutions around the country will start reviewing open-textbook models for “quality, usability, accessibility, and sustainability,” according to a news release. They will initially review four providers of free online educational resources: Connexions, run by Rice University; Flat World Knowledge, a commercial digital-textbook publisher that will begin offering free textbooks online next year; the University of California’s UC College Prep Online, which offers Advanced Placement and other courses online; and the Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources, which was founded by the Foothill-De Anza Community College District and the League for Innovation in the Community College.

The open-textbook project was paid for by a $530,000 grant to the Foothill-De Anza Community College District from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Bob Jensen lists other free online textbooks in various disciplines, including accounting textbooks, cases, and free online tutorials, at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm#Textbooks

Bob Jensen's threads on free online tutorials in various academic disciplines are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Tutorials

Ignorance is never out of style. It was in fashion yesterday, it is the rage today, and it will set the pace tomorrow.
Franklin K. Dane as quoted in a recent email message from Aaron Konstam

My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician. And to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference.
Attributed to Harry Truman, although I did not verify this.

My choice early in life was either to frolic in whorehouses or go to Harvard Law School and become New York's Attorney General investigating white collar crime on Wall Street. And to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference between those two roads in life.
Hypothetically said by Eliot Spitzer when he came to the fork in the road and took it.

Through instructing our students in the questions that I have outlined, we continue the debate proposed by the Founders. Socrates argues that human goodness, at its peak, may well consist primarily in investigating the question, “What is human goodness?” Socrates taught Plato, who in turn taught Aristotle. In his Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle honors both Plato and Socrates when he takes Plato to task: “Plato is dear to me,” writes his best student, “but dearer still is truth.” In a like manner, we pay tribute to the Founders when we subject their radical reinterpretation of citizenship to the most searching scrutiny. But such tribute is far from filial piety. It is, instead, the quest demanded by the desire to know ourselves. For the sake of the integrity of both our universities and our politics — for our citizens both newly arrived and native-born — let us begin this quest, and let us do so in the civil, fair-minded, and magnanimous manner that defines university life at its noblest.
Thomas Lindsay , "Becoming American," Inside Higher Ed, April 25, 2008 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2008/04/25/lindsay

Whether Barry Bonds's absence from the San Francisco Giants is a factor in the team's slow start is a matter of debate. But unquestionably it is responsible for the drop in sales of rubber chickens at the stadium.
Jim Carleton, The Wall Street Journal, April 28, 2008 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120933917167348283.html?mod=todays_us_page_one

Other commentators were more definitive. "The simple truth is that imprisonment works," wrote Kent Scheidegger and Michael Rushford of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation in The Stanford Law and Policy Review. "Locking up criminals for longer periods reduces the level of crime. The benefits of doing so far offset the costs." There is a counterexample, however, to the north. “Rises and falls in Canada’s crime rate have closely paralleled America’s for 40 years,” Mr. Tonry wrote last year. “But its imprisonment rate has remained stable.”
Adam Liptak, "Inmate Count in U.S. Dwarfs Other Nations’," The New York Times, April 23, 2008 --- Click Here
Jensen Comment
Adam Liptak fails to mention that one reason for the higher number of prisoners in the U.S. is the relatively high number of incarcerated illegal aliens. Canada does not have nearly as much violent crime committed by residents who were not admitted to the country legally.

A wall-mounted gadget designed to drive away loiterers with a shrill, piercing noise audible only to teens and young adults is infuriating civil liberties groups and tormenting young people after being introduced into the United States. Almost 1,000 units of the device, called the Mosquito, have been sold in the United States and Canada after the product debuted last year, according to Daniel Santell, the North America importer of the device sold under the company name Kids Be Gone. The high-frequency sound has been likened to fingernails dragged across a chalkboard or a pesky mosquito buzzing . . CNN, April 23, 2008 --- http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/04/23/teen.be.gone.ap/index.html

New data on Iraq oil revenues suggests that country's government will reap an even larger than expected windfall this year - as much as $70 billion - according to the special U.S. auditor for Iraq. The previously undisclosed information is likely to strengthen the hand of U.S. lawmakers complaining that Iraqis aren't footing enough of the bill for rebuilding their nation - particularly in light of rising oil production and world prices. Oil prices Wednesday hovered near $120 a barrel.
Pauline Jelinek, "Iraqi oil windfall keeps growing," SeattlePi, April 23, 2008 --- http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1152ap_us_iraq_oil.html

The problem is the wreath he laid piously at the grave of Yasser Arafat, who, as Mr. Carter knows better than anyone else, was a real obstacle to peace.
Bernard-Henri Levy, "The Sad End of Jimmy Carter," The Wall Street Journal, April 25, 2008; Page A15  --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120908506974843623.html?mod=todays_us_opinion

The repeated claim that Shia Iran doesn't help Sunni terrorists is wrong. Dead wrong. When McCain stated this, he was called every name in the book: "Abysmally ignorant," said someone on the Atlantic.com website. Someone else accused him of brain failure. But the abysmally ignorant are those that can't figure out that terrorists all over the globe are helping each other. Irish terrorists, for example, are in love with PLO terrorists, with whom they share neither religion, nationality or culture. McCain got it right. The Obama cheerleaders might want to reconsider whom they are calling ignorant, and wise up.
Naomi Ragen, Email Message from Israel on April 22, 2008 --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q69ubiOko8A
See http://media.nationalreview.com/author/?q=NDI0NA==

The most recent assault on the Ahmadiyya comes from a government body that manages to sound Orwellian and Kafkaesque at the same time – the Coordinating Board for Monitoring Mystical Beliefs in Society. Last Wednesday this august grouping recommended a ban on Ahmadiyya in Indonesia. The reason: Though Ahmadiyya Muslims revere the prophet Muhammad and follow the Quran, they also contend that their founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908), was a prophet as well. This contradicts the mainstream Islamic assertion that all divine revelation ended with Muhammad, the so-called – and it might be noted, self-proclaimed – "seal of the prophets."
Sadanand Dhume, "Intolerance in Indonesia," The Wall Street Journal Asia, April 22, 2008 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120880837027832281.html?mod=djemEditorialPage
Jensen Comment
That's almost like  having Congressional bans on the witnessing of a a 200-foot tall Jesus.

Al Gore has just won the Dan David Prize for "social responsibility."  That's another $1 million that I presume Gore will use to push his message further, so presumably winning him more awards. 
National Review Corner Blog, April 29, 2008 --- http://corner.nationalreview.com/

Saying Wesley Snipes showed "contempt," a Florida judge sentenced the actor to three years in prison for failing to file income tax returns. "These are serious crimes, albeit misdemeanors, because he has a history of contempt over time," said U.S. District Court Judge William Terrell Hodges during Snipes's sentencing hearing in Ocala, FL Thursday. Hodges sentenced Snipes to the maximum sentence, one year for each misdemeanor count, to be served consecutively, Bloomberg reported. He must also pay all tax debts. Snipes was found guilty in February of willfully failing to file taxes from 1999-2001. He was acquitted of three identical counts and two felony charges of tax fraud and conspiracy . . . Snipes's co-defendants, Douglas P. Rosile and Eddie Ray Kahn, were convicted on felony counts of tax fraud and conspiracy. Kahn, who refused to defend himself in court, was sentenced to the maximum 10 years. Rosile received 4 1/2 years. Kahn was the founder of American Rights Litigators, and a successor group, Guiding Light of God Ministries, groups that claimed to help members legally avoid paying taxes. Snipes, who fought the IRS for years, was a dues-paying member of the organization. Rosile, a former accountant who lost his license, prepared Snipes's paperwork, the Associated Press reported.
AccountingWeb, April 25, 2008 --- http://www.accountingweb.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=105029

Representative John Murtha is one sorry man, and by sorry, I do not mean apologetic. His efforts to smear the military in the court of public opinion, the Marines in particular, has been elaborate, elongated and disgraceful. It is hard to fathom that this man was ever a member of a group that he seems to hold in such contempt. His distaste has such a powerful hold on him that, when asked on Nightline on January 2, 2006 if he would join today’s military, the Vietnam Veteran and Marine firmly answered, “No.” One can only assume the feeling is mutual. Murtha’s character assassination of the Haditha Marines, long before the facts were available, and his efforts turn the public opinion against them will go down in American history as one of the most egregious acts of hate and slander against the United States military since…well, the last time anyone from Code Pink opened her mouth . . . While Murtha is clearly comfortable disparaging our military men with cameras rolling and lights blazing, one can only assume that the thought of having to look the victims of his smears in the eye was more than he could bear and more than his staff knew they could expect of him.
Katie O'Malley, "John Murtha is Sorry," Human Events, April 23, 2008 --- http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=26175

Martin Luther King, Jr. would have been repelled by Mr. Lee's remarks. I was his lawyer and one of his closest advisers, and I can say with absolute certainty that Martin abhorred anti-Semitism in all its forms, including anti-Zionism. "There isn't anyone in this country more likely to understand our struggle than Jews," Martin told me. "Whatever progress we've made so far as a people, their support has been essential." Martin was disheartened that so many blacks could be swayed by Elijah Muhammad's Nation of Islam and other black separatists, rejecting his message of nonviolence, and grumbling about "Jew landlords" and "Jew interlopers" – even "Jew slave traders." The resentment and anger displayed toward people who offered so much support for civil rights was then nascent. But it has only festered and grown over four decades. Today, black-Jewish relations have arguably grown worse, not better.
Clarence B. Jones, "King and the Jews," The Wall Street Journal, April 30, 2008  --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120951797764154811.html?mod=djemEditorialPage

Obama, declaring "that's enough," denounced Tuesday as "appalling" and "ridiculous" comments made in the last few days by his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. . . . "I am outraged by the comments that were made, and saddened over the spectacle that we saw yesterday," Obama said. "The person I saw yesterday was not the person that I met 20 years ago. His comments were not only divisive and destructive, but I believe they ended up giving comfort to those who prey on hate," he said.
Fox News, April 29, 2008 --- http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/04/29/obama-i-am-outraged-and-angered-by-wrights-comments/

Mr. Wright has not let that happen. In the last few days, in a series of shocking appearances, he embraced the Rev. Louis Farrakhan’s anti-Semitism. He said the government manufactured the AIDS virus to kill blacks. He suggested that America was guilty of “terrorism” and so had brought the 9/11 attacks on itself. This could not be handled by a speech about the complexities of modern life. It required a powerful, unambiguous denunciation — and Mr. Obama gave it. He said his former pastor’s “rants” were “appalling.” “They offend me,” he said. “They rightly offend all Americans. And they should be denounced. And that’s what I’m doing very clearly and unequivocally here today.”
The New York Times Editorial, April 30, 2008 --- http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/opinion/30wed1.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Wright's purpose now seems quite clear: to aggrandize himself--the guy is going to be a go-to mainstream media source for racial extremist spew, the next iteration of Al Sharpton--and destroy Barack Obama.
Joe Klein, Time Magazine, April 28, 2008 --- http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2008/04/the_reverend_wright.html
Jensen Comment
I might add that Joe Klein is one of the most liberal, Bush-hating correspondents in Time Magazine's stable.

By the time he took the stage on Monday at the National Press Club in Washington, Mr. Wright was on a tear, insisting that “this is not an attack on Jeremiah Wright, this has nothing to do with Barack Obama, this is an attack on the black church.” He delivered a rambling disquisition on race, African tradition and theology, and he was clearly enjoying himself, frowning in concentration as the moderator read written questions from reporters, then stepping up to the lectern with feisty rejoinders and snappy retorts, looking as pleased with his replies as a contestant in a high school spelling bee who has just correctly spelled the final word. While MSNBC was waiting to go live to the event, an anchor asked Mr. Obama’s chief strategist, David Axelrod, why the campaign had allowed Mr. Wright to refocus attention upon himself. “He is doing his own thing,” Mr. Axelrod said wearily by telephone. “There’s not a thing we can do about it.” By the time Mr. Wright had finished speaking, he had proved Mr. Axelrod’s point. And also one made by Chuck Todd, the NBC political director who summed up Mr. Wright’s apologia by paraphrasing a Carly Simon song: “You’re so vain, I bet you think this campaign is about you.”
Alessandra Stanley, "Not Speaking for Obama, Pastor Speaks for Himself, at Length," The New York Times, April 29, 2008 --- Click Here
Jensen Comment
Media comparisons with Al Sharpton, Louis Farrakhan, and Jeremiah Wright are unfair. Ms Stanley points out that Rev. Wright has a lot to brag about and is a scholar in various disciplines including “hermeneutics.” Not mentioned by her are  his two masters degrees and a doctorate. Interestingly, Fox News is purportedly the most fair to Rev. Wright's side of things (apart from Bill Moyers on PBS who could not find anything seriously wrong with his friend)  in reporting Wright's latest racial class warfare "tear" according to Kathryn Jean Lopez:  "For all the short skirts and lip gloss on FOX, there’s real journalism happening there (at Fox News), too. Sean Hannity deserves credit for doing actual reporting" National Review, April 29, 2008 --- http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MDI4ZjVmYzNiMTczMjFiYWEzNjE4NGI1NDRlNGU0YmQ=

Dana Milibank has a sober review of Wright’s morning rantings — and what they portend for the Obama campaign. For weeks now Wright has insulted the United States, whites, Jews, Israel, Italians, et al., but confined his media attacks to talk radio and cable news. But at the Press Club he showed disdain for the liberal corps, and that is a felony of a different sort. So expect outraged reporters to strike back. All this will be fatal to the Obama candidacy. Had he set an example of moral outrage at his pastor, Wright would be gone and Obama would...
Free Republic, April 29, 2008 --- http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2008567/posts

To Rev. Wright, it’s wrong to compare “African-American” and “European-American” kids with one another because they are virtually different species . . .  In other words, this great Civil Rights (NAACP) organization seems to have come full-circle—from supporting Thurgood Marshall and other lions of justice in demanding that black kids can- and must- learn and compete directly with white kids, to now cheering the lunatic Dr. Wright who says it’s wrong to even compare achievements of black children with the performance of white children because the two races are so completely different. While Obama tries to rally his followers with the chant of “Yes We Can,” Dr. Wright shrieks at African-American children, “No You Can’t” --- you can’t compete with white or Asian kids because your lack of “logical and analytical” and “left-brained” wiring makes it impossible for you even to engage your white neighbors on the same playing field.
Michael Medved, "Ranting Rev's Education Theories Strike At Heart of Obama Campaign," Townhall, April 30, 2008 --- Click Here
Jensen Comment
Sort of makes you wonder how Jeremiah Wright earned earned two masters degrees and a doctorate if he could not compete in the classroom. Seems like he competed pretty well with white people. It seems to me that he's insulting the millions of blacks who cheer at his rants.

How bad was Reverend Wright's appearance before the National Press Club this morning? Bad enough that even CNN contributor Roland Martin—who yesterday enthused about Wright's address to the Detroit NAACP, who gave Wright's chat with Bill Moyers an 'A'—flunked it with an 'F.' Bad enough that David Gergen condemned it as "narcissistic almost beyond belief." Bad enough that, introducing a panel discussion of the speech, the palpably distressed CNN Newsroom host Tony Harris let out an audible groan of "ah, boy," and later wondered how much damage had been done.
Mark Finkelstein, "Rev. Wright's Press Club Debacle Has CNN Anchor Groaning 'Ah, Boy'," April 28, 2008 --- Click Here 

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright taunted a gathering of journalists Monday in Washington, D.C., calling their coverage of his speeches an attack on the black church, while defending his claim that the U.S. was responsible for the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Wright, the controversial former pastor of Barack Obama’s church, took dead aim at the U.S. government Monday — saying American soldiers in Iraq have died “over a lie” and calling the war “unjust” — as he called for reconciliation and understanding between blacks and whites. Wright was speaking at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. as he continues a...
Fox News, April 28, 2008 --- http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/04/28/rev-wright-takes-his-message-directly-to-the-media/

If you (Barack Obama) get elected, November the 5th I'm coming after you, because you'll be representing a government whose policies grind under people.
Rev. Jeremiah Wright in a face-to-face meeting with Senator Obama --- http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0408/9912.html

Mr. Wright’s return to the national stage has provided more sound bites that could haunt the Obama campaign.
Kate Phillips, "Rev. Wright Defends Church, Blasts Media," The New York Times, April 28. 2008 ---
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/28/rev-wright-defends-church-blasts-media/index.html?hp
Jensen Comment
I think it's unfair to not vote for Senator Obama because of the racial class warfare and over-the-top hate for whites of his pastor. But I think it's entirely fair to fear Obama because of his poorly thought out, truly ignorant, populism taxation and spending plans that will most likely destroy the U.S. economy. Obama would only compound the disastrous deficit spending ignorance of George W. Bush.

From The Wall Street Journal Editors' Newsletter on April 21
We learn from blogger Tom Maguire that a group of 41 "journalists and media analysts" have signed an "open letter" to ABC in which, according to The Nation (with which five of the signatories are affiliated), they "condemn the network's poor handling" of the debate. Here's how the letter closes:

Neither Mr. Gibson nor Mr. Stephanopoulos lived up to these responsibilities. In the words of Tom Shales of the Washington Post, Mr. Gibson and Mr. Stephanopoulos turned in "shoddy, despicable performances." As Greg Mitchell of Editor and Publisher describes it, the debate was a "travesty." We hope that the public uproar over ABC's miserable showing will encourage a return to serious journalism in debates between the Democratic and Republican nominees this fall. Anything less would be a betrayal of the basic responsibilities that journalists owe to their public.

, , ,

Then on April 22, 2008
Of course, after last week's debate--which turned out to be highly informative--Obama has got to be wishing he had stopped at 20 (not the 21st debate with Clinton). Given that he seems to have the nomination nearly locked up anyway, it makes tactical sense for him to run out the clock and stay far away from anyone who may ask him a tough question.

"Akin to a federal crime . . . new benchmarks of degradation," The New Yorker's Hendrik Hertzberg declared, of the debate. - "Despicable. . . . slanted against Obama," Washington Post critic Tom Shales charged. A "disgusting spectacle," the New York Times's David Carr opined . . . The uproar is the latest confirmation of the special place Mr. Obama holds in the hearts of a good part of the media, a status ensured by their shared political sympathies and his star power. That status has in turn given rise to a tendency to provide generous explanations, and put the best possible gloss on missteps and utterances seriously embarrassing to Mr. Obama.
Dorothy Rabinowitz, "Obama's Media Army," The Wall Street Journal, April 23, 2008; Page A17 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120891044439036617.html?mod=djemEditorialPage 

Among other things the liberal media is raging mad because ABC Television asked Sen. Obama for details regarding his tax initiatives.
Time and again, the rookie Senator (Obama) has said he would not raise taxes on middle-class earners, whom he describes as people with annual income lower than between $200,000 and $250,000. On Wednesday night, he repeated the vow. "I not only have pledged not to raise their taxes," said the Senator, "I've been the first candidate in this race to specifically say I would cut their taxes." But Mr. Obama has also said he's open to raising – indeed, nearly doubling to 28% – the current top capital gains tax rate of 15%, which would in fact be a tax hike on some 100 million Americans who own stock, including millions of people who fit Mr. Obama's definition of middle class. Mr. Gibson dared to point out this inconsistency, which regularly goes unmentioned in Mr. Obama's fawning press coverage. But Mr. Gibson also probed a little deeper, asking the candidate why he wants to increase the capital gains tax when history shows that a higher rate brings in less revenue.
"Obama's Tax Evasion," The Wall Street Journal, April 18, 2008; Page A16 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120847505709424727.html?mod=todays_us_opinion

"Why Not Blame Obama? The media favorite has a very poor grasp of basic economic principles," by Larry Kudlow, National Review, April 18, 2008 --- http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OTEwYWUxNjY0ZTJmNGY4NjAwYTM4NmJhNWMzZWYxNzc=

It’s rather amusing watching the liberal media launch a full-scale attack on George Stephanopoulos and Charles Gibson, with General Tom Shales of the Washington Post leading the charge. ABC’s Stephanopoulos and Gibson had the audacity to ask Obama some tough questions during the Democratic debate Tuesday night. Challenge Obama with well-informed questions on tax policy and politics? Wound the media favorite? How dare they?

. . .

But here’s the deal: During the debate, Obama bungled his answers on tax policy, big time. Period. End of sentence. End of story. To my liberal friends in the media, all I can say is: Get over it. Your guy has a very poor grasp of basic economic principles.

First off, you don’t raise taxes during a recession. That’s a no-brainer. Second, doubling the capital-gains tax rate will affect Americans up and down the income ladder, not just rich hedge-fund managers. In addition, capital-gains tax cuts are self-financing, and they stimulate jobs and the economy. You want to raise budget revenues and spark economic growth? Cut the cap-gains tax rate. That’s what history shows.

The Wall Street Journal’s Steve Moore points out that in 2005, almost half of all tax returns reporting capital gains came from households with incomes under $50,000, while more than three-quarters came from households earning less than $100,000.

Obama also proposed uncapping the payroll tax, another blunder that will hit people up and down the income ladder. While Obama pledges tax hikes only for folks earning more that $200,000 a year, his tax hike on payrolls would actually slam middle-income earners. The cap on wages subject to the payroll tax is presently $102,000. By eliminating that cap Obama will be soaking veteran firemen, cops, teachers, and health-service workers, along with a variety of other occupations.

In fact, in America’s largest cities, a firefighter married to a school teacher can earn close to $200,000 filing jointly. So not only will each spouse separately pay more for Social Security and health care under Obama’s plan, together they’ll also be slammed by Obama’s cap-gains tax increase.

This is more than just a failure to understand the Laffer curve. It’s another cultural misstep by Obama. I can’t help but wonder if the senator knows any cops or firemen. His appeal is to well-educated latte liberals. That remark about middle-income folks having turned to God, faith, and guns because of economic setbacks? Not only was it ill-advised, it illustrates the wide cultural chasm that exists between the candidate and the rest of America.

. . .

That’s exactly why wealth-redistribution plans always backfire. Robbing Peter to pay Paul is a surefire economic loser. So is putting government in charge of the economy, which is what Mr. Obama is proselytizing.

This marks the third mistake for the Illinois senator. Not only does he not understand economics; not only is he set apart from middle-class values and beliefs; he apparently hasn’t read much history either.

Continued in article

Jensen Comment
The liberal media seems to be totally ignoring substantive questions like taxation and the economy. The New York Times called the ABC questions in the debate little more than show biz while never mentioning the NYT's preferred candidates' ignorance of economics and taxation --- http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/18/us/politics/18moderator.html
Since the economy is the Number 1 priority among voters in the U.S., you would think all Presidential candidates would prepare themselves better on how to answer questions about tax increases, spending, the Federal deficit, the plunging U.S. dollar, and soaring oil prices. They'd much rather avoid these topics and discuss Iraq, poverty, health care, and all the things they'd rather spend money on without having to be specific about where it will come from.

Did you ever wonder why nobody, including ABC's Gibson nor Stephanopoulos, seems to ask the Presidential candidates for details on how they plan to reduce the Federal deficit (which is now the main cause of the plunging dollar and the soaring fuel prices)? The answer is simple. McCain wants to carry on in Iraq, and both Democratic Party contenders want to add over a trillion dollars to the budget for universal health care, free education for the poor, ending global warming, wonderful houses for every family, and many other noble causes that will never be reality if the taxes, deficit spending, inflation, and a soaring Federal deficit kills the goose that lays the golden eggs --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Entitlements.htm
In fairness, any candidate that wants to fatten the goose before spending all the golden eggs can never be elected by voters who worry more about themselves than their children and grandchildren. The real advantage of our political system in the U.S. is that what a newly elected President promised along the way and what she/he can deliver is chained down by a cumbersome, albeit corrupt, Congress feeding at the trough of the lobbyists.

Watch the Video of the non-sustainability of the U.S. economy (CBS Sixty Minutes Television) --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS2fI2p9iVs

"Taking Back Our Fiscal Future" by experts who understand eonomics --- http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/papers/2008/04_fiscal_future/04_fiscal_future.pdf

The authors of this paper are longtime federal budget and policy experts who have been drawn together by a deep concern about the nation’s long-term fiscal outlook. Our group covers the ideological spectrum. We are affiliated with a diverse set of organizations. We have been meeting informally for over a year, under the auspices of The Brookings Institution and The Heritage Foundation, to define the dimensions and consequences of the looming federal budget problem, examine alternative solutions, and reach agreement on what should be done. Despite our diverse philosophies and political leanings, we have found solid common ground. We agree that:

• Unsustainable deficits in the federal budget threaten the health and vigor of the American economy.

• The first step toward establishing budget responsibility is to reform the budget decision process so that the major drivers of escalating deficits—Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid—are no longer on autopilot.

What is the next President of the United States going to do about the primary cause of the rise in fuel prices --- The Federal Deficit
The dollar dropped to a new low against the euro Tuesday, as the single currency climbed above the symbolic $1.60 level on growing expectations for an increase in the European Central Bank's benchmark interest rates
Dan Molinski, The Wall Street Journal,April 23, 2008; Page C8 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120886941035334513.html?mod=todays_us_money_and_investing

Gold has jumped about 35% over the past year, to $922 an ounce, and if U.S. dollar weakness and geopolitical tensions continue, it may well move higher from here. Two exchange-traded funds, iShares Comex Gold and streetTracks Gold Shares, are designed to track the price performance of gold bullion, minus fees, and they both charge reasonable expenses of 0.4%. But the yellow metal is an extremely volatile investment, and it has failed to keep pace with inflation in recent decades. Many advisers recommend a small, long-term allocation to a broad commodities fund that includes gold rather than a stand-alone bet on bullion. One option: The Pimco CommodityRealReturn Strategy Fund. This fund holds inflation-indexed bonds as well as derivatives linked to the Dow Jones-AIG Commodity Index, which gives a roughly 7% weighting to gold.
Eleanor Laise, "Is This a Good Time to Invest in Gold? The Wall Street Journal,April 23, 2008; Page D2 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120891304962036781.html?mod=todays_us_personal_journal
Jensen Comment
I've never been a fan of investing in gold. But then I'm a guy who sold the family farm in Iowa just after an ethanol  plant was built in nearby Dakota. The dummy sold too soon to benefit from the subsequent surge in corn-producing land values. I predicted ethanol would never make it, because it took more (from natural gas) energy going in that coming out --- which to me sounded like bad chemistry. Little did I realize that the Federal government would, with Vice-President Al Gore's tie-breaking vote, be stupid enough to require ethanol be added to every gallon of gas that I now buy for my car. The Federal government now subsidizes ethanol to a point where ethanol plants actually can be profitable. Those subsidies actually reduce the price of every gallon of gas by a few cents, but this is more than offset by the soaring prices of grain-based food such as milk, eggs, meat, cereal, and sour mash.

"Twenty-Five Years Later, A Nation Still at Risk," by Chester E. Finn Jr., The Wall Street Journal, April 26, 2008; Page A7 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120916804732546311.html

Today marks the 25th anniversary of "A Nation at Risk," the influential Reagan-era report by a blue-ribbon panel that alerted Americans to the weak performance of our education system. The report warned of a "rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a nation and a people." That dire forecast set off a quarter century of education reform that's yielded worthy changes – yet still not the achievement gains we need to turn back the tide of mediocrity.

After decades of furthering educational "equality," the 1983 commission admonished the country, it was time to attend to academic excellence and school results. Educators didn't want to hear this and a generation later many still don't. Our ponderous public-school system resists change. Teachers don't like criticism and are loath to be judged by pupil performance. In educator circles, one still encounters grumbling that "A Nation at Risk" lodged a bum rap.

Others heeded the alarm, though, and that report launched an era of forceful innovation and accountability guided by noneducators – elected officials, business leaders and philanthropists.

Such "civilian" leadership has brought about two profound shifts that the professionals, left to their own devices, would never have allowed. Today, instead of judging schools by their services, resources or fairness, we track their progress against preset academic standards – and hold them to account for those results.

We're also far more open to charter schools, vouchers, virtual schools, home schooling. And we no longer suppose kids must attend the campus nearest home. A majority of U.S. students now study either in bona fide "schools of choice," or in neighborhood schools their parents chose with a realtor's help.

Those are historic changes indeed – most of today's education debates deal with the complexities of carrying them out. Yet our school results haven't appreciably improved, whether one looks at test scores or graduation rates. Sure, there are up and down blips in the data, but no big and lasting changes in performance, even though we're also spending tons more money. (In constant dollars, per-pupil spending in 1983 was 56% of today's.)

And just as "A Nation at Risk" warned, other countries are beginning to eat our education lunch. While our outcomes remain flat, theirs rise. Half a dozen nations now surpass our high-school and college graduation rates. International tests find young Americans scoring in the middle of the pack.

What to do now? It's no time to ease the push for a major K-12 education make-over – or to settle (as Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton apparently would) for reviving yesterday's faith in still more spending and greater trust in educators. But we can distill four key lessons:

First, don't expect Uncle Sam to manage the reform process. Not only does Washington lack the capacity to revamp thousands of schools and create alternatives for millions of kids, but viewing education reform as a federal obligation lets others off the hook. Yet some things are best done nationally – notably creating uniform standards and tests in place of today's patchwork of uneven expectations and noncomparable assessments. These we have foolishly resisted.

Second, retain civilian control but push for more continuity. Governors and mayors remain indispensable leaders on the ground – but the instant they leave office, the system tries to revert. The adult interests that rule it – teacher unions, yes, but also colleges of education, textbook publishers and more – look after themselves and fend off change. If three consecutive governors or mayors hew to the same agenda, those reforms are more apt to endure.

Third, don't bother seeking one grand innovation. Education reform is not about silver bullets. But huge gains can be made by schools that are free to run (and staff) themselves, attended by choice, expected to meet high standards, and accountable for their results.

Consider the more than 50 schools in the acclaimed Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) network. We don't have nearly enough today, but we're likelier to grow more of them outside the traditional system than by trying to alter the system itself.

Finally, content matters. Getting the structures, rules and incentives right is only half the battle. The other half is sound curriculum and effective instruction. If we can't place enough expert educators in our classrooms, we can use technology to amplify the best of them across the state or nation. Kids no longer need to sit in school to be well educated.

Far from delivering an undeserved insult to a well-functioning system, the authors of "A Nation at Risk" were clear-eyed about that system's failings, and prescient about the challenges these posed to America's future. Now that we're well into that future, we owe them a vote of thanks. But our most solemn responsibility is to keep the reform flag flying high in the wind that they created.

Mr. Finn, a senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution and president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, is the author of "Troublemaker: A Personal History of School Reform Since Sputnik," published in February by the Princeton University Press.

I have a dilemma that is outlined below.

1. Issues in Accounting Education (IAE) is one of my favorite journals, in part because it is more open to wide ranging research methodologies than all other research publications of the American Accounting Association (AAA)
    

2. The current February 2008 issue has an excellent printed Teaching Case:
   
   "Accounting for Derivatives and Hedging Activities: Comparison of Cash Flow versus Fair Value Hedge Accounting" Issues in Accounting Education, Vol. 23, No. 8, February 2008, pp. 103-117 --- http://aaahq.org/pubs.cfm
    

3. A Teaching Note (case solution) is available AAA members who pay a fee for an electronic subscription to this publication. There are no restrictions on who can be an AAA member and subscribe to IAE. Hence anybody in the world can download the Teaching Note as an electronic subscriber --- http://aaahq.org/pubs.cfm
    

4. I studied this Teaching Note carefully and found, in my opinion, both serious errors and misleading assumptions. I communicated these as an error-correcting working paper to both the authors of the published Teaching Note and to the Editor of IAE. I suggested that my error corrections be appended at the end of the original Teaching Note. This would not be hard to do since the Teaching Note can only be downloaded on the Internet. Unlike the Teaching Case itself, the Teaching Note was not distributed in hard copy.
    

5. The IAE Editor informed me that my working paper would be appended to the Teaching Note. However, weeks turned into months and nothing happened. When I inquired the IAE Editor informed me that he’d had a change of heart. What was rude is that he never bothered to inform me of this until I inquired why no appendix was added to the Teaching Note.
    

6. The Editor of IAE  later informed me that he will not append my error corrections to the end of the Teaching Note until I pay a submission fee to have my submission formally refereed. It makes perfect sense that the working paper should be refereed before IAE publishes it as an appendix to the Teaching Note. However, it's ludicrous that, if I want the IAE to correct the IAE's own mistakes, I must pay the IAE to merely consider correcting its own mistakes."
   Submission fees range from $75 to $100 --- https://aaahq.org/AAAforms/journals/iaesubmit.cfm
    

7. I might add that I'm willing to make referee-suggested corrections to my own errors. However, this is not a mainline publication, and I refuse to spend more time word crafting this error-correcting working paper. One of the most difficult aspects of publishing mainline journal articles is satisfying referees who often have differing viewpoints on how the paper should be word crafted. I've just signed a contract to write a book on derivative financial instruments and hedging activities and do not have the time or inclination to word craft this error-correcting working paper. I think the editor of the IAE feels that my use of the word "errors" will embarrass the Case authors. I did make an effort to only use the word "error" when there was what I consider to be an outright error such as using cash flow hedging journal entries for a hedged item that has no cash flow risk. I refuse to call outright errors differences in assumptions when they are in fact errors. When there were differing assumptions I did not call those "errors."
    

8. The Editor may one day have a change of heart about making me pay a submission fee to get the IAE to correct its own mistakes and to word craft the paper to take out the word "error" wherever it appears. Otherwise what are serious errors, in my viewpoint, will live on forever in the Teaching Note to what is otherwise a very good Teaching Case. The Case authors could also rewrite their original Teaching Note, but across several months of communications between us they've never proposed doing so to me or the IAE editor. It would take a substantial effort to rewrite the Teaching Note, and there are complications that arise in that some problems in the Case itself are impossible to correct since the Case has already been distributed as hard copy.
    

9. This could be success arising from troubles turned inside out. In my viewpoint comparing my error-correction working paper with the original Teaching Note has value-added beyond what a perfectly rewritten Teaching Note would make to the Teaching Case. In other words, students and instructors can learn more by studying the errors themselves in the original Teaching Note. This is what I mean by turning troubles inside out to create success. For this reason you should download the current Teaching Note to keep in your own archives just in case it gets laundered later on --- http://aaahq.org/pubs.cfm 
    

10. I think both teachers and students may be misled by the current Teaching Note that can be downloaded from http://aaahq.org/pubs.cfm
    If you are using this Teaching Note, you may download, for free, my error corrections at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/CaseErrors.htm
     

11. My error-correcting working paper is designed to be used alongside the electronically published Teaching Note. My working paper will not make much sense to readers who do not have both the Teaching Case and the original Teaching Note for comparative purpose. The original Teaching Note has many things that are very good. I did not find errors in everything contained in the Teaching Note.
     

12. Of course my proposed error-correcting working paper contains only my opinions and could itself have errors that I do not yet know about.
    You be the judge at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/CaseErrors.htm
    Please let me know if you find errors in my work since my working paper can be easily corrected at this point.
     

13. Even if the IAE Editor has a change of heart and is willing to have my error-correcting working paper refereed for free, the process could take many months, possibly over a year, before my working paper is appended to the Teaching Note. If you are using this Teaching Case, you probably should take a look at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/CaseErrors.htm
    That in fact is my main purpose for writing the above message!

    Postscript 01
    After I circulated this message among some friends, one wrote back and wondered if Science Magazine and the the New England Journal of Medicine charges for correcting their mistakes? We're in deep trouble if that's the case.

Business schools, eager to impart ethics, are paying white-collar felons to recite the error of their ways

"Using Ex-Cons to Scare MBAs Straight," by Porter, Business Week, April 24, 2008 --- Click Here

Bob Jensen's threads on white collar crime include the following links:

http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudRotten.htm

http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Fraud.htm

http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Fraud001.htm

http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm

April 30, 2008 reply from Elliot Kamlet [ekamlet@STNY.RR.COM]

We had a very successful presentation by:

http://www.whitecollarfraud.com/

And when you invite him to come, you cannot pay him a thing – not travel costs, not honorarium, nothing.

You may want to add him to the list.

Elliot Kamlet
Binghamton University

Question
What is Walter Bagehot's Rule for our faltering economy?

Bagehot's Rule: "very large (domestic) loans at very high rates are the best remedy for the worst malady of the money market when a foreign drain is added to a domestic drain." The Fed, and the U.S. government more generally, have so far got it only half right.
Ronald McKinnon (see below)
Also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Bagehot

"Bagehot's Lessons for the Fed," by Ronald McKinnon, The Wall Street Journal, April 25, 2008; Page A15 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120908336730343529.html?mod=djemEditorialPage

No one needs to be reminded about the bad financial-market news. Sharp cuts in the federal funds rate down to 2.25% have provoked a flight from the dollar, and a weakening of the dollar against most foreign currencies. Every day brings word of new write-downs and write-offs, and the Federal Reserve has rolled out a bewildering variety of stratagems to help. But the economy is not responding positively.

What strategy or rule should the Fed be following to help the economy recover from recession, or curb what is now a spectacular inflation in commodity markets?

For a decade before 2003, the Fed more or less did follow a rule, which was formulated by my colleague John Taylor of Stanford University. The Taylor Rule specifies how the fed funds interest rate by itself can smooth mild business cycles.

It presumes that the Fed aims for 2% annual inflation in the CPI. Thus, with an average short-term real interest rate of 2%, the fed funds rate should average about 4% in the "steady state."

At the top of the business cycle, or to combat a surge in inflation, the rate should be raised by 1.5 percentage points for every one percentage point of inflation above the 2%. It should be lowered during a cyclical downturn accompanied by deflation. The Taylor Rule worked well in facilitating high, noninflationary growth through the two-term Clinton presidency and most of the first term of George W. Bush.

Then – with CPI inflation at the putative target of 2% and moderately robust real economic growth of 2.7% – the Fed began cutting the fed funds rate in 2003. It was down to 1% at the end of the year and into early 2004 – a full three percentage points less than what the Taylor Rule would have prescribed. Worse, the Fed failed to raise interest rates fast enough or far enough in 2005 into 2006, even as inflation gained momentum, with a surge in output from unsustainable household spending stimulated by the housing bubble.

Now with rising inflation, falling output and the flight from the dollar, the U.S. economy has been knocked off the moorings that the Taylor Rule had provided. Although the Taylor Rule still correctly shows that the Fed cut interest rates too much in 2007-2008, it understates the appropriate level of the interest rate. Moreover, its two key implicit assumptions – that equilibrium interest rates can always be found to clear markets, and that the foreign exchanges can be ignored – are no longer valid. At least temporarily, when so many financial markets have now seized up, Taylor's Rule has lost its ability to provide an unambiguous guide to the Fed.

But all is not lost.

Fast backward 135 years to 1873, when Walter Bagehot, the eminent Victorian institutional economist and constitutional scholar, wrote "Lombard Street." The London capital market was the center of world finance under the gold standard. Bagehot described the intricacies of how money markets worked, including counterparty risks and all that – but he also prescribed how the Bank of England should confront major financial crises.

Bagehot called a seizing up of internal markets "a domestic drain" (of gold), and the flight of capital abroad "an external drain." He wrote that "The two maladies – an external drain and an internal – often attack the money market at once." And what, he asked, should be done when this happens?

"We must look first to the foreign drain, and raise the rate of interest as high as may be necessary. Unless you can stop the foreign export, you cannot allay the domestic alarm. . . . And at the rate of interest so raised, the holders – one or more – of the final bank reserve must lend freely.

"Very large (domestic) loans at very high rates," Bagehot advised, "are the best remedy for the worst malady of the money market when a foreign drain is added to a domestic drain. Any notion that money is not to be had, or that it may not be had at any price, only raises alarm to panic and enhances panic to madness. But though the rule is clear, the greatest delicacy, the finest and best skilled judgment, are needed to deal at once with such great and contrary evils."

How does Bagehot's Rule apply to today's credit crunch? Bagehot was worried about gold losses to foreigners that would cause domestic credit markets to seize up even more and, worse, weaken the pound in the foreign exchanges. Now, foreigners are disinvesting from private U.S. financial assets, which itself worsens conditions in American markets. Additionally, foreign central banks, to stem the appreciations of their currencies against the dollar, are building up large dollar exchange reserves – much of which are invested in U.S. Treasury bonds.

But U.S. Treasurys are the prime collateral for borrowing and lending in the multitrillion dollar U.S. interbank markets. Thus there is a foreign "drain" of prime collateral from the already-impacted private U.S. markets. The depreciating dollar also greatly exacerbates inflation in the U.S.

Consequently, there is a strong case for raising the fed funds rate as much as is necessary to strengthen the dollar in the foreign exchanges – as Bagehot would have it – and to cooperate with foreign governments to halt and reverse the appreciations of their currencies against the dollar.

By slashing interest rates too much in 2007-2008, the Fed has accentuated the foreign drain and thus made the alleviation of the domestic drain more difficult. Yet, despite this mistake, Bagehot would approve of other actions the Fed has taken to deal with the domestic drain by unblocking specific impacted domestic markets. These include (1) swapping Treasury bonds for less safe private bonds, (2) opening its discount window to shaky borrowers, and (3) maybe even rescuing Bear Sterns. He would also approve of the relaxation of capital constraints on Fannie Mae, Freddy Mac and so on, for mortgage lending. Yet these measures will be insufficient if the foreign drain continues.

To repeat Bagehot's Rule: "very large (domestic) loans at very high rates are the best remedy for the worst malady of the money market when a foreign drain is added to a domestic drain." The Fed, and the U.S. government more generally, have so far got it only half right.

Mr. McKinnon is a professor at Stanford University and a senior fellow at the Stanford Institution for Economic Policy Research.

The greatest pleasure in life is doing what other people say you cannot do.
Walter Bagehot (1826-1827)

"A Research Paper Introduces Better Google Image-Search Technology," by Hurley Goodall, Chronicle of Higher Education, April 28, 2008 --- Click Here

Google unveiled a prototype algorithm at a conference in Beijing last week that will add precision to the search engine’s image-search technology, The New York Times says.

Two Google researchers presented a paper describing the prototype, which is called VisualRank. It uses image-recognition technology to help rank the relevance of images found in a search.

Currently, Google Image Search results are ranked using the text around the image on the page. The new method will use the visual characteristics of the image itself, and rank search results by comparing similarities among them.

Also see a slightly more detailed news announcement at http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/080428-095720

Google Image Search is at http://images.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi

Bob Jensen's search helpers are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Searchh.htm

Community College Open-Textbook Project Gets Under Way
Especially note the open sharing sources for free online textbooks

The Community College Open Textbook Project begins this week with a member meeting in California," by Catherine Rampell, Chronicle of Higher Education, April 29, 2008 --- Click Here

At the meeting, representatives of institutions around the country will start reviewing open-textbook models for “quality, usability, accessibility, and sustainability,” according to a news release. They will initially review four providers of free online educational resources: Connexions, run by Rice University; Flat World Knowledge, a commercial digital-textbook publisher that will begin offering free textbooks online next year; the University of California’s UC College Prep Online, which offers Advanced Placement and other courses online; and the Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources, which was founded by the Foothill-De Anza Community College District and the League for Innovation in the Community College.

The open-textbook project was paid for by a $530,000 grant to the Foothill-De Anza Community College District from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Bob Jensen lists other free online textbooks in various disciplines, including accounting textbooks, cases, and free online tutorials, at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm#Textbooks

Bob Jensen's threads on open sharing are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI

Bob Jensen's threads on free online tutorials in various academic disciplines are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Tutorials

Question
This is what happens when you give unauthorized course credit for four MBA courses under the table (allegedly for work experience according to Ms. Bresch) at a major university?

Fallout from a politically charged scandal at West Virginia University now includes resignations, with the announcement on Monday that both the provost and dean of the university's business school are stepping down. But it appears unlikely that the president, Michael S. Garrison, will resign or be removed by the university's governing board, despite an increasing number of calls for his ouster by faculty members. An independent panel last week criticized university administrators for their hasty and flawed decision to retroactively award an unearned executive M.B.A. to Heather M. Bresch, the state governor's daughter (The Chronicle, April 24). The two departing officials, Gerald E. Lang, the longtime provost, and R. Stephen Sears, dean of the College of Business and Economics, were mentioned prominently in the panel's report.
Paul Fain, Chronicle of Higher Education, April 29, 2008 --- http://chronicle.com/daily/2008/04/2658n.htm

Jensen Comment
The academy does not smile upon giving academic credit for work experience (aside from a small amount of internship/practicum credit administered by the college. It especially scowls at under-the-table awarding of such credit to a privileged student (or possibly even to a handicapped student).

The academy frowns even more on colleges that give academic credit for “life experience” to applicants who apply for a degree program. All God’s children have life experience before applying to a college. Older applicants may have a bit more experience, but that should not, in my viewpoint, substitute for academic study that is assessed for the amount of learning.

Doctoral students in accounting do pretty well with stipends for five years of study, but their support looks a bit puny compared to medical school study at Central Florida

When the University of Central Florida’s medical school opens next year, every member of the inaugural class will receive a full scholarship. The university, citing the Association of American Medical Colleges, said that no other medical school has awarded full scholarships to every member of a class. There will be 40 students admitted for the first class, and each will receive scholarships worth $160,000 over four years — half for tuition and half for living expenses and fees.
Inside Higher Ed, April 29, 2008 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/04/29/qt

Do any accounting doctoral programs do better than $40,000 per year?

"Grade Entitlement," by J. Edward Ketz, SmartPros, April 2008 --- http://accounting.smartpros.com/x61526.xml

I have been teaching for many years, and I have observed lots of changes in the world of education. The differences between the students I taught 30 years ago and those I teach today are huge and growing. In this column I mention a few of these differences; perhaps I can discuss some of the others in later columns. To facilitate this discussion, I examine one student's email as a case study of this phenomenon.

It used to be the case that grades were the vehicle by which a professor would communicate his or her evaluation of competency and quality. If the student did well, the professor would reward the student with a high mark. These grades would also provide a signal, admittedly noisy, to prospective employers about the quality of the student in the class.

Unfortunately, the value of grades as an indicator of competency has declined over time. Students feel that they should get good grades for nothing; teachers capitulate so they can spend time on their research; and administrators add pressure to pass unqualified students to avoid confrontations and lawsuits.

I am currently teaching an Introductory Accounting class, and the Financial Accounting portion will have two exams and homework. I recently gave the first exam and had a mean of 73. I announced there would be no curve. Among other reasons, the students are averaging in the mid 90s on their homework. Here is one student's response to the exam and to the announcement about no curve.

"I do not mean to be disrespectful by any means, but I would greatly appreciate an answer to my inquiry. If the average score of the first exam is 73 percent, why would you deem such a low score as acceptable? Many students like myself are required Accounting 211 for our majors and are required a 70 percent. With an average score of 73 percent, many students have obviously scored below a C on this exam. Personally, I studied a tremendous amount of hours only to receive a 72 percent. I feel as if an average score on an exam on such an important class should certainly be above a C-. Furthermore, for there to be no curve at all is a disprespect (sic) to the students in this class. We are all paying a considerable amount of money to attend this University. Therefore, I expect our professors to take in consideration our wellbeing during our duration here. I would appreciate any insight into this situation, and any explaination (sic) as to why you deem a 73 percent average is suitable for this course. Thanks for your time."

This email is delicious. (I have more.) Notice that the student has an opinion on the grading scheme despite his lack of a teaching degree and any teaching experience. He offers nothing more for his credentials other than his status as a student. Other students have also told me what topics I should exclude (everything boring like the accounting cycle and financial statements) and what I should include (such as Enron). I wonder what insights into the profession they have to supply such opinions, and, if they cannot understand simple journal entries, on what basis do they think they are ready to discuss the SPEs at Enron.

I replied that a 95 on the homework and a 73 on each of the two exams would yield a grade of (95+73+73)/3 or 80, which is a B-. I suppose that a B- is insufficient in his eyes, given his work ethic and his financial contributions to the university.

Perhaps I should have added that I don't care that he "studied a tremendous amount of hours only to receive a 72 percent." I realize that many of my colleagues like to reward effort, but I disagree. In addition to the problem of not knowing whether he is telling the truth, I have the problem of knowing whether he understands what hard work is. What he calls hard work may be what I call barely trying. It is possible to spend many hours on a topic without expending much real effort. Besides, I doubt that many employers would reward their employees for hard effort if it yielded poor results.

I also have discovered the self-fulfilling nature of curves. With a curve, the average student doesn't worry about failing and studies less vigorously. The threat of flunking the course, however, creates a fear that necessitates studying longer and harder. The students may hate the course and dislike me, but they have a greater chance of actually learning something. Of course, it is good that I have tenure -- my teaching evaluations take a hit when I enforce a no-curve policy.

The email is fascinating for its assertion of a direct linkage between tuition and grades. Note his comment, "We are all paying a considerable amount of money to attend this University. Therefore, I expect our professors to take in consideration our wellbeing during our duration here." Admittedly he did not state what he meant by the consideration of his well being, but in the context of his demanding an "explaination" for my policy of no curve, his motive and his argument are clear. I wonder when and how our society evolved into this philosophy that paying one's tuition should guarantee a passing mark. Talk about taking the student-as-client metaphor too far!

As the reader will note, the document is not well written, has grammatical errors, and has several errors that any spellchecker would have caught. Accounting education might as well go the way of English composition. Students can't write, so English courses no longer require term papers; in like manner, students cannot account, so let's forget financial reporting.

Continued in article

Jensen Comment

High grades are now about as easy to get as the Good Housekeeping Seal in many colleges and universities.

I think the three major causes of grade inflation in accounting courses are as follows:

1. College-required student evaluations of instructors at the end of each course and the question asking for a rating of the instructor have become huge opportunities and/or stumbling blocks for tenure decisions and evaluations for pay raises. It's a point of fact and virtually all statements by administrators and faculty to the contrary are lies.
   
    
2. Accounting recruiters generally set gpa thresholds quite high for accounting majors such that C grades can be devastating terms of getting an opportunity to be interviewed for employment. As a result students fight tooth and nail over grades.
   
    
3. C grades can be devastating when applying for graduate school and law school In most states students want to get into a masters of accounting or tax program in order to qualify to take the CPA examination. In some schools, like Trinity University, students have to be admitted to the masters program in order to get the requisite courses and credits beyond the bachelors degree to sit for the CPA examination in Texas. 

It's a fact that a C grade is essentially a failing grade as far as students are concerned.

Instructors, especially those not yet tenured, are afraid to antagonize students with median grades at the C level in courses that used to have median grades of C sixty years ago. For example, the median undergraduate grade at Harvard was C in the 1940s, and in recent years about 80% of the grades given in Harvard undergraduate courses are A grades. Even Harvard students with C-average gpas can find it tough to get into graduate school, medical school, and law school.

RateMyProfessor found that the number one concern of students is grading --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#RateMyProfessor

Formal research studies indicate that required course evaluations have led to significant increases in grade inflation --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/assess.htm#GradeInflation
Interestingly, a high percentage of students report that getting an "A grade" is easy (but possibly boring and time wasting) in courses.

I have several suggestions along these lines:

1. Colleges should make grading distributions for each course known to other faculty in the division, such as the College of Business.
   
    
2. Grading distributions should be required information for Promotion and Tenure Committees as well as power centers for performance evaluations.
   
    
3. Colleges should set limits on the percentage of A and A- grades allowed in lower division courses and possibly even upper division undergraduate and graduate courses where only A, A-, and B grades are normally given.
   
    
4. Colleges, especially prestigious universities, should consider the college-wide grading controls used by some universities like Princeton and Evergreen.

Do as I say, not as I do:  Professor who criticizes Wikipedia plagiarizes from Wikipedia

"University chief lifted text from Wikipedia," by Mark Sainsbury, The Australian, April 26, 2008 --- http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23600451-12332,00.html

GRIFFITH University vice-chancellor Ian O'Connor has admitted lifting information straight from online encyclopedia Wikipedia and confusing strands of Islam as he struggled to defend his institution's decision to ask the repressive Saudi Arabian Government for funding.

Professor O'Connor also appears to have breached his own university's standards on plagiarism as they apply to students' academic work - a claim he denies. And he appears to have ignored his own past misgivings about Wikipedia and internet-based research.

In September, The Australian revealed that the Queensland university had accepted a grant of $100,000 from the Saudi Government. Last week, it was revealed that Griffith had asked the Saudi embassy in Australia for a $1.37million grant for its Islamic Research Unit, telling the ambassador that certain elements of the controversial deal could be kept a secret.

Griffith - described by Professor O'Connor as the "university of choice" for Saudis - also offered the embassy a chance to "discuss" ways in which the money could be used.

Professor O'Connor's response to The Australian's revelations, which was published as an opinion article in the newspaper on Thursday, contained whole passages of text "cut and pasted" from Wikipedia.

"The primary doctrine of Unitarianism is Tawhid, or the uniqueness and unity of God," Professor O'Connor wrote. "Wahhab also preached against a perceived moral decline and political weakness in the Arabian peninsula and condemned idolatry, the popular cult of saints, and shrine and tomb visitation."

The Wikipedia entry for Wahhabism reads: "The primary doctrine of Wahhabism is Tawhid, or the uniqueness and unity of God ... He preached against a 'perceived moral decline and political weakness' in the Arabian peninsula and condemned idolatry, the popular cult of saints, and shrine and tomb visitation."

Professor O'Connor, whose academic credentials are in social work and juvenile justice, appears to have substituted the word Unitarianism for Wahhabism.

Continued in article

Bob Jensen's threads on Professors Who Plagiarize --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Plagiarism.htm#ProfessorsWhoPlagiarize

Question
What are the top ranked universities in terms of first-time passage rates on the CPA examination?

"Passing the CPA exam on the first try: Top colleges are ranked," AccountingWeb, April 17, 2008 --- http://www.accountingweb.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=104988
 

Kansas is known for its bumper crops but who knew they were growing accountants? At Kansas University's School of Business, 72 percent of students without advanced degrees passed the CPA exam on the first try, which is much higher than the average considering most people take the exam more than once. Kansas's Lawrence Journal-World reported that of the 69,259 candidates who took at least one portion of the exam in 2007, only 21,893 were taking it for the first time.

This puts KU in some lofty company, ranking number four in terms of the rate of accounting students without advanced degrees who passed last year's exam on the first try. Number one is the University of Texas at Austin with 76.8 percent and number two is a tie between Texas A&M University and the University of Iowa with 73.3 percent.

"This ranking reflects well on the quality of the accounting program and the KU School School of Business," said Paul Mason, a senior lecturer in forensic accounting at KU. "There is no question that we have some of the best students in the country, and this ranking helps highlight that fact."

Mason told the Lawrence Journal-World that corporate recruiters from the area often seek out students for employment and students go on to pursue jobs in Atlanta, Chicago, and Dallas.

Rounding out the top 10 schools were: University of Georgia at 71.7 percent; University of Wisconsin at 70.3 percent; University of Virginia at 68.4 percent; Auburn University at 67.4 percent; and a tie for ninth place with the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and the University of Washington, Southern Methodist University, at 66.7 percent.

Continued is article

Jensen Comment
Only three of the above "top 10" CPA exam passage rate schools are among Business Week's recent 2008 rankings of undergraduate business programs --- the Universities of Texas, Michigan, and Virginia.

The "top 10" undergraduate business programs for 2008 according to business week are (in order) Wharton, Virginia, Notre Dame, Cornell, Emory, Michigan, BYU, NYU, MIT, and Texas.

"America's Most Overrated Product: the Bachelor's Degree," by Marty Nemko, Chronicle of Higher Education, May 2, 2008 --- http://chronicle.com/free/v54/i34/34b01701.htm

Among my saddest moments as a career counselor is when I hear a story like this: "I wasn't a good student in high school, but I wanted to prove that I can get a college diploma. I'd be the first one in my family to do it. But it's been five years and $80,000, and I still have 45 credits to go."

I have a hard time telling such people the killer statistic: Among high-school students who graduated in the bottom 40 percent of their classes, and whose first institutions were four-year colleges, two-thirds had not earned diplomas eight and a half years later. That figure is from a study cited by Clifford Adelman, a former research analyst at the U.S. Department of Education and now a senior research associate at the Institute for Higher Education Policy. Yet four-year colleges admit and take money from hundreds of thousands of such students each year!

Even worse, most of those college dropouts leave the campus having learned little of value, and with a mountain of debt and devastated self-esteem from their unsuccessful struggles. Perhaps worst of all, even those who do manage to graduate too rarely end up in careers that require a college education. So it's not surprising that when you hop into a cab or walk into a restaurant, you're likely to meet workers who spent years and their family's life savings on college, only to end up with a job they could have done as a high-school dropout.

Such students are not aberrations. Today, amazingly, a majority of the students whom colleges admit are grossly underprepared. Only 23 percent of the 1.3 million high-school graduates of 2007 who took the ACT examination were ready for college-level work in the core subjects of English, math, reading, and science.

Perhaps more surprising, even those high-school students who are fully qualified to attend college are increasingly unlikely to derive enough benefit to justify the often six-figure cost and four to six years (or more) it takes to graduate. Research suggests that more than 40 percent of freshmen at four-year institutions do not graduate in six years. Colleges trumpet the statistic that, over their lifetimes, college graduates earn more than nongraduates, but that's terribly misleading. You could lock the collegebound in a closet for four years, and they'd still go on to earn more than the pool of non-collegebound — they're brighter, more motivated, and have better family connections.

Also, the past advantage of college graduates in the job market is eroding. Ever more students attend college at the same time as ever more employers are automating and sending offshore ever more professional jobs, and hiring part-time workers. Many college graduates are forced to take some very nonprofessional positions, such as driving a truck or tending bar.

How much do students at four-year institutions actually learn?

Colleges are quick to argue that a college education is more about enlightenment than employment. That may be the biggest deception of all. Often there is a Grand Canyon of difference between the reality and what higher-education instituti