America is ranked #16 in the world for broadband penetration, speed and price. Where high-speed service is available, it is often expensive and unreliable — and frequently there is only one monopoly service provider.
The United States needs new leadership at the Federal Communications Commission to help establish a competitive regulatory climate and to encourage new entrants into the market. Susan Crawford has spent her career studying the global telecommunications industry and has a keen sense of the history that brought us to this point.
Ms. Crawford would facilitate changes at the Federal level which could help America become the leader in global telecommunications innovation again. President Obama, please appoint her as FCC Chairman in 2013.
Yep, I'm aware of that, having spent a lot of time in Berlin. However, to convince Americans of anything, you have to first let them think it happened here first. :)
Regional self sufficiency is exactly what I was writing about; did you miss the part about disconnection from place?
And no, it doesn't contradict notions of comparative advantage. It puts a value on connection to place that the current system has valued at zero. By valuing connection to place you neutralize notions of competitive advantage achieved by absolute mobility.
This doesn't mean physical mobility is a bad thing, it just means that long term connection to a place should be valued. As such it acts as a tempering force against mobility. There's a reasonable middle ground and our system denies that.
I am not suggesting that people shouldn't move out of their parents' house. I do think, however, that the system is built in such a way that a false-choice of specialty encourages people to move outside of their native regions for no particular reason.
Staying within a region is not the same as saying that someone should continue to live with their parents. Undoubtedly we have too much of that right now.
I'm the author of this piece. For what it's worth, I had a pretty good experience in our educational system. I excelled in high school and was voted most likely to succeed, graduated with honors from Johns Hopkins, then went on to form a tech startup which I sold at age 32.
What I object to is the design of the system and particularly to the denigration of sense of place.
I should point out that I have a series of articles in mind to write, and this particular article was something foundational that I needed to get out in order to make some later arguments.
Ken Ronbinson's label of "agricultural" model for education is perhaps less than ideal, particularly because it creates associations with pre-industrial economics. I think perhaps what he means is something more like "organic" education.
Thanks for all of the comments; wish they were directly linked to my blog so others could more readily benefit from them.
America is ranked #16 in the world for broadband penetration, speed and price. Where high-speed service is available, it is often expensive and unreliable — and frequently there is only one monopoly service provider.
The United States needs new leadership at the Federal Communications Commission to help establish a competitive regulatory climate and to encourage new entrants into the market. Susan Crawford has spent her career studying the global telecommunications industry and has a keen sense of the history that brought us to this point.
Ms. Crawford would facilitate changes at the Federal level which could help America become the leader in global telecommunications innovation again. President Obama, please appoint her as FCC Chairman in 2013.
About Susan Crawford: http://ti.me/WWIMhU