Cheers and Jeers
MetroCreative
Jeer: Roger Daltrey, the lead singer of The Who, is also the curator of a long-running series of concerts in Britain benefiting teenage cancer victims, and he announced this week he is stepping down from that role. That’s a not surprising turn of events for someone who is rapidly closing in on his 80th birthday. But what is eyebrow-raising is Daltrey’s deeply cynical view of scientists who are working to unlock a cure for cancer. He told The Times of London, “I don’t think they’ll ever find a cure for cancer. I don’t think they want to find a cure. … scientists look after the science but they also look after themselves. You do imagine if they did find a cure tomorrow it would be fabulous for the country, but there’d be an awful lot of scientists out of work.” Huh? There’s no doubt scientists would be more than glad to find a cancer cure because they would be garlanded with prizes and honors and they would be world historical figures. Also, scientists would be glad to find a cure because, like most of us, they have friends or family members who have been claimed by cancer. As to scientists being out of work if a cancer cure is uncovered, is Daltrey unaware of other maladies that might preoccupy them? Heart disease? Dementia? Excessive ear wax? There would be plenty for scientists to do.
Cheer: The expectation for years now is that people retire when they reach their 60s, but a story in the Observer-Reporter and 蘑菇视频 this week outlined how more and more people are staying in the workforce well after that point. The cohort of workers aged 75 and older has been the fastest-growing in the U.S. workforce, and it’s becoming more and more common for workers to retire “gradually” – perhaps leaving a full-time position they have long held, and taking on a job that is less stressful, or becoming a part-time employee. Other older workers don’t want to abandon the structure and socialization that comes with work. The downside of this, however, is that there are some workers still punching the clock who don’t want to but have to because they haven’t been able to save for retirement or inflation has nibbled away at their savings. Nevertheless, if older workers want to keep working, and have the health and ability to do so, their presence should be welcome in any workplace.
Jeer: Since the buck stops at the desk of a school superintendent on issues ranging from curriculum to transportation, personnel and budgets, it’s a stressful job, and so it perhaps shouldn’t be surprising that there is some attrition among superintendents. But the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported this week on a Penn State study that found superintendent attrition rates in Pennsylvania in the 2022-23 academic year were close to 17%. The rates are almost the same at charter schools. The study found this can impact the retention of teachers and principals, employee morale and student achievement. Ed Fuller, an associate professor in Penn State’s Department of Education Policy Studies, told the Post-Gazette, “It’s a really, really tough job. It’s probably tougher now than it has been for a long, long time. … I think the job’s gotten harder, which may explain the uptick recently.”