Tim pointed out an interesting point in a recent post. He found that 78% of prison inmates in New York did not complete high school.
I have always been a fan of numbers, and that is an interesting one. I believe the proper use of this knowledge gives our new city leadership a chance to make a statement to the rest of the country, indeed the world. I believe it is time for Minneapolis to stop all racial profiling, and initiate a system of educational profiling. The details will have to be worked out, but perhaps we could play off the old slogan, "the education state". I can see the signs on 35W now, "Welcome to Minneapolis, City of Brains." Recognition of ones education status by the police will of course be difficult, but what if we all agreed when in public to wear our graduation caps. We all keep the silly things, why not wear them once and awhile. Perhaps some sort of ear muff could be added for winter months. This concept might be extended to include other benefits for the educated. I'm thinking those "sane" lanes really aren't used that much, how about changing them to "education" lanes? I bet Ted Mondale would buy into this whole concept and take it regional. Isn't he a big fan of "smart" growth? I believe this could could help us deal not only with our educational problems, but would help lower crime rates in Minneapolis and even assist with affordable housing. Think about it. If you were in school, and knew you would be hastled by every cop that saw you on the street if you didn't have a graduation cap on, wouldn't you study a little harder? And if you didn't graduate, you would probably leave the city anyway. Either you would commit a crime and be arrested, or you would just get tired of being stopped by the police all the time. Once all the uneducated were driven from the city, crime would have to drop if Tim's number is correct. The beauty of all this is that these uneducated types that don't make any real money would quit bugging us about providing them affordable housing. Heck, everyone left would be so educated I'm sure housing prices would keep going up and with all the brainiaks in town everyone would have enough money to pay for housing at whatever price. Drop the stadium idea RT. Let's get going on something that could have real impact! Bob Gustafson Chair, Minneapolis Mushy Middlers PS: Dave, I tried to incorporate Minneapolis into the text as much as possible. If you don't think this quite makes it as a Minneapolis Issues post then I would like to add that I am also in favor of the Monty on January 2nd. Will we be meeting in one part of the restaurant, or will this be a Full Monty type party? __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Check out Yahoo! Shopping and Yahoo! Auctions for all of your unique holiday gifts! Buy at http://shopping.yahoo.com or bid at http://auctions.yahoo.com _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
