[FRIAM] Open Letter

[Nick Thompson]

Hi Marcus, 

 

I have never thought about it the way you state it.  It seems, off the top of my head, that they are very different conflicts of interest.  Let’s say the money runs out in the medical world.  There is rationing.  A decision has to be made as to whether an 81 year old former college professor should be given a second bypass or 10 young women be given adequate healthcare for their troubled pregnancies.  It’s an unfortunate decision to have to make, but not a difficult one.  I always thought “death panels” was one of the great political ideas of all time, assuming that all suicides would be voluntary and the means for a peaceful death provided. 

 

Now that you mention it, I do see some parallels with higher education.  We’ve all known people who will take all the higher education they can get and don’t get that much marginal benefit from it.  I suppose these folks are like the multiple, multiple bypass patient.  Also, I see the parallel that rising costs for all are being driven largely by catering to the wealthy.  But education, to a very large degree and in the very long run, pays for itself in economic benefits to the educated, themselves, and to the communities where they live; medicine, by and large, does not.   We pay for education because it enriches our lives; pregnant women aside, we pay for medicine mostly because it preserves and extends life.  

 

So, while I can see a crisis in medicine between our values about the preservation and extension of life and the costs of medicine, it’s harder to see a crisis between the short term losses incurred in paying for higher education and the long term benefits to society in fostering it. It’s a crisis only if we are unwilling to invest in our common future.                     

 

Thanks, Marcus, for giving me the opportunity to think this through. 

 

Nick

 

 

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology

Clark University

 <http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/> http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

 

From: Friam [mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com] On Behalf Of Marcus Daniels
Sent: Monday, October 22, 2018 12:29 PM
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <Friam at redfish.com>
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Open Letter

 

The cost of education is going to be unsustainable just like the cost of advanced medical treatments.   A crisis is coming.    

 

From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com <mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com> > on behalf of Nick Thompson <nickthompson at earthlink.net <mailto:nickthompson at earthlink.net> >
Reply-To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <Friam at redfish.com <mailto:Friam at redfish.com> >
Date: Monday, October 22, 2018 at 12:20 PM
To: Friam <Friam at redfish.com <mailto:Friam at redfish.com> >
Subject: [FRIAM] Open Letter

 

Dear local congregation, 

 

Is there a chance that any of you would like to join me in sending this letter to the New Mexican, or some version of it? 

 

To the New Mexican

 

We are writing to urge all Santa Feans to be sure to vote this year, particularly if you are a recent high-school graduate or are related to one.  Our higher-educational systems are under stress, and our elected officials need to know you are paying attention. We are retired college professors and industrial researchers, living in Santa Fe.  Every day, we talk to young people as smart and as dedicated to learning as our best research students in the 70’s and 80’s, yet are working as cashiers, ride hail drivers, waiters and waitresses.  Under present conditions, these young folks cannot afford to go to university and, without that training, will never take up the leadership positions their talent deserves.   As more and more of my generation retire from our institutes, government laboratories, colleges, and universities, our nation will desperately need these talented young people.  Please take time to vote and to let your representatives know that you care about education at every level.  The future safety and prosperity of our nation depends on it.    

 

Lemme know. 

 

Nick 

 

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology

Clark University

http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

 

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