How Helpful Are Those Education Assessments?

The school year comes to a close this week on an encouraging note: American fourth-graders rank second in the world in science and sixth in math, according to an international study.

Last year’s figures on eighth-graders weren’t so rosy, though. What, if anything, do these reports tell us about the progress of school reform efforts in this country?

Lifelong job guarantee

He’s against capital punishment, but Wells Longshore of Spokane clearly isn’t for convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.

“With his skills,” said Longshore, “he can make a lot of license plates for the rest of his life - 40 or 50 years. Put him to work.”

And if McVeigh refuses to perform the labor? “No work, no food,” says Longshore. “Let him starve.”

Textbook example of government arrogance

Last Friday, The Spokesman-Review published a front page story about Carole Ward, a Colorado woman who won a $325,000 judgment against the Internal Revenue Service. She had insulted an IRS agent during an audit; shortly thereafter, the agency seized and padlocked her son’s clothing store and later publicly disclosed confidential information about the family’s affairs.

That episode demonstrates why there is so much public anger against government, wrote Fred Ebel of Colbert.

“As a taxpayer, I not only am subject to such audits but also have to pay the $325,000 settlement to the Wards,” he said.

In Ebel’s view, the IRS should fire the three IRS agents involved and they should have to cough up the $325,000.

“The big picture is that regulation and government intrusions are simply out of hand,” Ebel said. “Power has been transferred from the people to the government in ways that erode our basic freedoms and challenge how we conduct our lives. In short, government has become too big for the average citizen to deal with.”

Ebel was responding to last week’s “Bagpipes” column, which asked not only what makes people so mad at government but also what government does well.

“That’s easy,” said Ebel. “We have the best military in the world. But given a little more time, our president and members of Congress, plus those who don’t understand the function of the military, will have it reduced to a third-rate force.”

, DataTimes MEMO: “Bagpipes” appears Tuesdays and Thursdays. To respond, call Cityline at 458-8800, category 9881, from a Touch-Tone phone or send a fax to 459-5098 or e-mail to dougf@spokesman.com. You also can leave Doug Floyd a message at 459-5577, extension 5466.