Teddy Bloggie Blog Blogging

The principle of self-interest is what our economic system is built upon. So the wisdom passed from John Locke to Adam Smith to me is that I should pursue the biggest paycheck I can get my grubby hands on. In light of such profound wisdom, I interviewed for a job tutoring junior high and high school kids today. It pays $18/hr. while charging the parents $40/hr. God bless them for wanting their kids to outperform their fellow classmates and paying me for the services. I've helped out in West Oakland and Oakland Chinatown on a volunteer basis before, but the urgent need to actually have cash in my pockets necessitated a move uptown, right up to Piedmont.

After the interview, during lunch I picked up the morning run of the Oakland Tribune. On the front page is the article Whites Shun Public Schools. It turns out "In San Francisco, one of the most dramatic examples, 57 percent of white elementary and middle school students go to private school, compared to 9 percent of blacks." Now, the conclusions were not surprising to me but the magnitude of the disparity was. Further, I was now going to participate in this perpetuation of unequal access to quality education by being pimped out to the highest bidder. Assume I can help make the crucial difference in whether a student goes to college (play along for a minute). That would mean, based on current research, the student with the college degree will earn 50% more than a high school graduate. He then has a family and hires a tutor. Will this cycle perpetuate? Forget estate taxes as a means of reducing the caste system in the U.S. since Bush is wiping them out with Oprah's help (she's the one who called them death taxes. Hmm... does she have something to gain from the removal of the estate tax?) Anyway, the question is: Will my tutelage drive a wedge in society?

Don't answer that. Today, a huge-ass Roadway truck backed into my motorcycle as I sat on it honking in disbelief so I really need my $18/hr.