Post by dcho on Mar 22, 2012 13:35:21 GMT -6
It wasn't too long ago that I learned about the history behind Greece's economic woes on NPR radio. Of course, there's a high likelihood that there are many variables that led to Greece's need for their austerity measures, but from what I gathered, it goes something like this:
Greece wanted to be part of the Eurozone so they manipulated their economic data to meet qualifications to be part of the Eurozone. Once they were accepted, their financial credibility increased tremendously and were able to borrow and spend money. A decade later, after a new government had been elected, it was found out that the economic data was fabricated and Greece was in much greater debt relative to its GDP than it had formerly claimed. The results were catastrophic.
The chapter of the book dedicated to accountability reminds me of this very scenario. Just as Greece had incentives to join the Eurozone, teachers and administrators have an incentive to get students' grades up. With the widespread, systematic problem of cheating that goes into bolster student test scores, it makes me wonder what will happen when these students reach colleges and then the workplace. If we can agree that our students are our form of human capitol for our economic/social/cultural future, what's going to happen when we find out that these people are not properly trained problem-solvers/leaders/innovators? If we think that Greece had it bad, how bad will it be for us? I know it's not a perfect comparison, but I was just thinking about how scary that could be.
Greece wanted to be part of the Eurozone so they manipulated their economic data to meet qualifications to be part of the Eurozone. Once they were accepted, their financial credibility increased tremendously and were able to borrow and spend money. A decade later, after a new government had been elected, it was found out that the economic data was fabricated and Greece was in much greater debt relative to its GDP than it had formerly claimed. The results were catastrophic.
The chapter of the book dedicated to accountability reminds me of this very scenario. Just as Greece had incentives to join the Eurozone, teachers and administrators have an incentive to get students' grades up. With the widespread, systematic problem of cheating that goes into bolster student test scores, it makes me wonder what will happen when these students reach colleges and then the workplace. If we can agree that our students are our form of human capitol for our economic/social/cultural future, what's going to happen when we find out that these people are not properly trained problem-solvers/leaders/innovators? If we think that Greece had it bad, how bad will it be for us? I know it's not a perfect comparison, but I was just thinking about how scary that could be.