George Rebane

Most of our neighbors continue to believe that liberty and equality can always increase in tandem.  Unfortunately, as our Founders and these posts have pointed out, liberty fosters inequality as the natural order of life – attempting to raise one always lowers the other.  Even as we all line up equally on the starting line, those who are most free to use their individual skills and natural capabilities will quickly pull ahead of those who lack the skills and capabilities.  Equal opportunity has never guaranteed equal outcome.

These thoughts arise again in the wake of TechTest2009 which was given last Saturday (4 April) at Nevada Union High School to a small cadre of seniors from all the county’s high schools.  The interested reader can download the nine question test here to see what these young people had to deal with during the four-hour merit scholarship exam.  Only their test scores will determine how this year’s $15,000 of scholarships will be awarded.  The checks will be handed out in the upcoming countywide scholarship awards convocation that is held every May.

The young students who took TT09 are all headed for technical careers, an extremely discriminating line of work which has not been properly recognized nor rewarded by the people we have elected to govern us during most of the last forty years.  Today this bias against people who can create wealth that benefits all is at its historic height, and the future of our technology lead is rapidly eroding as skilled youngsters all over the world enter the field to compete with the United States.

Two years ago I wrote a short piece on income inequality and education that is even more relevant today than it was then, and, given our current course, promises to be more so tomorrow.  (Download ‘Income Inequality and Education‘)