1.     Putting Parents in Jail

2.     A Not-So-Divine Comedy, Part 8

3.     Announcements

4.     Fun Facts about Michigan

5.     The Flashback Quarterback:  Putting Parents in Jail   

6.     Beware and Share:  Are You a Quiz Wiz?

7.     About Montebello E-News and “My Montebello”

Putting Parents in Jail  

Shocking?  No.  The story in this issue’s “Flashback Quarterback” should be read first.  This is real.  

There are a number of issues which arise:  

·        why, after many notifications, parents would not immunize their children?  Would this amount to child neglect or endangerment?

·        should parents be threatened with jail for not attending to such a simple activity as an immunization of a child?

·        how important is immunization against chicken pox?  Is immunization important to the child?  Or important to a school district trying to avoid absences, so that it collect its state money for average daily attendance?

·        to which extent should a school district be held accountable for failing to update records and wasting the time of parents whose children have been vaccinated?

·        what does this ongoing incident say about the relationship between parents and pedagogues? About the fitness of parents to parent?

·        what does this ongoing incident say about thinking outside the box?  Might it have cost less to send nurses to homes to give vaccinations?

·        should parents who have immunized their children have a say as to what to do about parents who have not immunized their children?  

The ongoing incident is fascinating—and worrisome—as to what it says about a community and its local government.

If you answer the multiple-choice questions below and e-mail to lessonanswers@mymontebello.com with “Lesson answers” in the subject field, you will be credited toward a “certificate of recognition in community affairs” to be awarded in 2007 by a local nonprofit organization.  

1. As to a parent’s failure or refusal to vaccinate a child, which should be the first question asked?

(a) Does the school district make it difficult to get a vaccination?

(b) Does the parent have a good reason for not vaccinating the child, a reason which is stronger than any reason to vaccinate the child?  

2. Which question should be asked for which there are no answers in the story in “Flashback Quarterback” below?

(a) Is there not a better way to get compliance without spending money to send out letters threatening jail time?  Do we know that the US Postal Service delivers one hundred percent of the time or that the school district’s list of addresses is up to date?

(b) Is the community defined by the boundaries of the school district too large, too diverse, for any policy to work for everyone?  If so, what should be done?

  No one can earn a million dollars honestly.
William Jennings Bryan, 1860 – 1925,
an American lawyer, statesman, and politician, three times the Democratic Party nominee for President of the United States.

The decadent international but individualistic capitalism in the hands of which we found ourselves after the war is not a success. It is not intelligent. It is not beautiful. It is not just. It is not virtuous. And it doesn't deliver the goods.
-----  
Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest [sic] of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone.
John Maynard Keynes, 1883 – 1946,
a British economist whose ideas, called Keynesian economics, had a major impact on modern economic and political theory, as well as on many governments’ fiscal policies.  

So far, we have noted many deficiencies in the capitalism which we practice.  The purpose behind such a look is to encourage thought and action about how to make capitalism work better.  So we look at more deficiencies.  

Capitalism wants to keep growing, to keep generating wealth, because more and more people are living long and spending much time in retirement.  In other words, retirees do not generate wealth, so somebody else has to do so that there be money to care for them.  There is another reason for capitalism to keep growing:  many of those among us who are driven to be businessmen and businesswomen want to keep enlarging their businesses.  Also, consider:  if we built items which were durable, there would be less manufacturing work, so we need to build items which are throw-away or whose life is shorter than ours, so that we keep people employed as we go shopping for replacements.  

Unfortunately, this comes at a time when we are depleting non-renewable resources, driving flora and fauna to extinction, and bringing down the quality of life for humankind.  And the problem exists not just in the industrialized world.  People in developing countries want to catch up with us as quickly as possible, and that means doing so in the cheapest way possible, which means that the depletion of non-renewable resources will increase.  

It is interesting to note the following and consider how the ideas might apply to the United States .  

Japan’s Aging Population Problem - Alternative Solution 
December 14, 2007, by Nick Ramsay  

Japan is facing a crisis. The population is aging and by 2050, one in three people will be past retirement age. Meanwhile, the birth rate is currently at 1.25 babies per woman, much lower than the 2.1 needed to keep the population stable.  

The result is a workforce too small to support the huge number of retirees. Who will do all the work? Will there be enough tax money to pay for pensions? What about the cost of health care? 

How to solve Japan’s aging population problem  

Plan A would be to increase the number of workers, and you could do that by:  

1. Having more babies  

Some companies are offering financial incentives to their employees to have more children. …  

2. Upping the age of retirement  

This might have already been put into action, and I’m sure everyone is thrilled about it (sarcasm). …  

3. Increasing the number of foreign workers  

Easing immigration laws to allow hundreds of thousands of foreigners to live, work and apparently terrorize the natives is not likely to happen. I think most Japanese would rather forfeit their pensions or have robots do the work instead.  

An alternative solution - decrease the number of elderly people! 

...According to my [Japanese] students, a hundred years ago, elderly parents would ask their children to take them into the mountains and leave them there. While this is shocking to hear nowadays, it was considered honorable in the past. We can’t expect and wouldn’t wish to hear such a request from our current generation of pensioners, although putting them in a nursing home might be considered the modern equivalent! ...  

Plan B: If you wanted to secretly reduce the lifespan of millions of people in a few short years, the best way to do it would be to hit them in the wallet. If people don’t have enough money, they can’t take care of themselves. Necessities such as medicine, food, accommodation, heating, transportation, etc. could all be subject to price increases. ...  

To end on a lighter note, one of my students suggested that inheritance tax would cover everybody’s pension because there would be so much of it! Let’s hope he’s right, because that’s much easier to stomach than my alternative solution!

Detroit is known as the car capital of the world.  [Still so?]  

Alpena is the home of the world’s largest cement plant.  

The Upper Michigan Copper Country is the largest commercial deposit of native copper in the world.   

Rogers City boasts the world’s largest limestone quarry.  

Colon is home to the world’s largest manufacture of magic supplies.  [With all these firsts, why is the economy relatively bad in Michigan these days?]  

Although Michigan is often called the “Wolverine State,” there are no longer any wolverines in Michigan.  [What happened to the wolverines?]  

Gerald R. Ford grew up in Grand Rapids and became the thirty-eighth president of the United States. He attended the University of Michigan, where he was a football star. He served on a World War Two aircraft carrier and afterward represented Michigan in Congress for twenty-four years. He was also was an Eagle Scout, the highest rank in Boy Scouts.  

The Kellogg Company has made Battle Creek the cereal capital of the world. The Kellogg brothers accidentally discovered the process for producing flaked cereal products and sparked the beginning of the dry cereal industry.  [“Accidentally”?  That would be an interesting story.]  

Vernor’s ginger ale was created in Detroit and became the first soda pop made in the United States. In 1862, pharmacist James Vernor was trying to create a new beverage when he was called away to serve our country in the Civil War. When he returned four years later, the drink he had stored in an oak case had acquired a delicious gingery flavor.  [Another good accident.]  

Michigan has more than eleven thousand inland lakes and more than thirty-six thousand miles of streams.  

Four flags have flown over Michigan:  French, English, Spanish, and United States.  [Do you know when the Spanish flag flew over Michigan?]  

Isle Royal Park shelters one of the largest moose herds remaining in the United States.  

http://www.gazette.net/stories/112207/prinnew165547_32355.shtml November 22, 2007

Do we have the facts straight about what to do in an earthquake?  Do you know that standing under a door frame is not recommended?  I took an online quiz with ten questions and did not do well.  Try the quick quiz at http://www.nwcn.com/sharedcontent/features/flash/quake/during.html .

To learn about this newsletter, Montebello E-News, and the accompanying, growing Web site, “My Montebello”, visit www.mymontebello.com.  Also, you will find instructions and contact information for submitting announcements for publication in this newsletter, and for submitting stories to "Montebello Memories" at the Web site.