The Virginia Tech shootings are all the rage, now . . . everyone of note has an opinion . . . everyone of no note is being interviewed by the media . . . it now appears to the writer that the media's mindless meddling is producing more useless information that simply adds to the work of the authorities who then have to try to see if there is any factual evidence or if it is simply media grandstanding, trying to assure that the public sees what a great job they, the media, are doing of ferreting out the facts!
Now, the media has decided to focus in on the school authorities in an effort to manufacture a sensation that proves that the school authorities failed to properly protect the students!
The school authorities should refuse to be interviewed, and should simply tell those nosy reporters who are only adding to the confusion that they must get their facts from the constituted authorities who are conducting the investigation.
But, no, everyone wants to be seen on national television, so that they can make a tape of the on-air interview to put in their memoirs, or to show to their friends to prove that they are an important part of the investigation, when they know nothing but what the media has already told them! The trouble is that much of what the media has been putting out is NOT FACT, but is simply hype to build their own image in the public's mnd!
Hearken back, you readers of a more advanced age, to the days of World War two, during which time the media was required to clear all releases with the government, and got no information that they could release without doing so! That is what is needed in the case of these investigations! There needs to be a central clearing agency who tells the media what they can say and what they cannot say! As it is, the media is causing confusion with their release of facts that should be kept confidential and of non-facts that should not be discussed openly, as well! Freedom of the Press has gotten out of hand, and is doing more to hamper the investigation than to convey truthful information to thepublic! How many times in similar situations have we found that the media was releasing information that could prove helpfull to the perpetrators, and that, therefore, should be kept in confidence and not published for all to see and hear?
It strikes me as patently evident that some control over the media must be exercised in order to keep important facts from being broadcast all over, to the advantage of the conspirators, and to the disadvantage of the investigative authorities! As it is, it seems that as soon as the investigative authorities interview someone in the hopes of getting a lead to the perpetrators, the media immediately collars that person and tries to get them to say something that the media can use to demonstate that the investigative authority missed something or failed to get an important fact! The media may then find out something that the authorities do not want made public, and mess of the entire investigation! The numbers of media persons working on this case far outnumbers those of the investigating authority that are available to solve the crime, and so, the media can then race ahead of the investigation, and inadvertantly tip off the guilty person(s) without even being aware that this is what they are doing!
What we have is mass confusion fostered by the media whose only interest is to get the jump on competition, a "scoop", to use the old expression!
It seems that the human animal rarely resists the urge to connive to foster his own self-interests at the expense of all other interested parties! Man is his own worst enemy! We will be lucky if we ever find the truth!
There needs to be a law passed to make it a crime for anyone to take any action that could be interpreted as interfering with the investigation of a crime while investigation is in process! Once the investigation has been completed, then the media can be allowed to report such information as will not adversely affect the prosecution of the parties guilty of the crime. After all, the successful prosecution of the perpetrators is the most important part of the investigation of any crime, and nothing should take precedence over that fact!
These investigations take time. None take so much time as the investigation of a crime after which the perpetrator then kills himself! He is no longer able to answer questions for the authorities, and so now they must make a list of all of his friends, relatives, and associates, and interview each of them to try togather facts as to whether more than a single person was involved in planning and executing the crime, an, if so, who were the others! Such investigations are usually conducted by a relatively small number of investigators, whereas the entire media community may have many more than a hundred persons out there, trying to ferret out the facts for themselves, and, inadvertently, tipping off the co-conspirators that such an investigation is going on!
Well, I've had my say . . . does anyone out there wish to challenge these remarks?
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Friday, April 13, 2007
No child held back . . .
This was our president's recognition that something was seriously wrong with our educational system!
This was also our president's failure to understand just what it was that was wrong!
Fundamentally, the system as presently designed does not work in a manner that develops the child to his maximum potential. In fact, the system holds back the brighter students and restricts the speed at which they learn to that of the slowest students in the class! At the end of each study year, all students are passed on to the next higher level without regard to whether they had actually learned all the subjects that had been a part of the curriculum of the class from which they were graduating! Worse yet, the brighter students who could have learned a great deal more were restricted to learning only as much as was taught at a speed at which the slower students, hopefully, could become proficient.
Now all that we hear is that our school system is not working! Each year, the statistical evidence from all the countries in the world indicates that the students in our schools are graduating to each next higher class without having learned each subject to the same or higher level as did the students of many of the other countries throughout the world!
No one has the guts to publically identify the reasons why this is true!
I have the guts!
All children are not born with the ability to learn at the same speed!
All parents are not capable of teaching their pre-school children the fundamentals that they need to know in order to maximize their ability to learn!
Many parents do not even try to teach their pre-school children those fundamentals!
Any educational system that does not work in a manner that allows the faster learners to progress at their most challenging speed will invariably hold them back to the speed at which the slower learners seem best able to learn.
This is ridiculous! Such a system fails to bring out the best in each student!
Such a system fails to recognize that each child has a different learning speed, and that this different learning speed is different for each subject being taught!
Such a system fails to recognize that each student will tend to like and excel in those subjects that he finds most interesting!
We need to go back and re-examine the educational system that was in effect during and prior to the 1930's . . . prior to the Great Depression!
At age six, when the child first began his formal education, they were lumped together in the same class, commonly referred to as "Kindergarten." In that class they were exposed to various subjects that allowed the teacher to observe both their mental and mechanical dexterities. Usually, the teacher was a woman, and she kept records on each student, and she used an honest grading system that became a part of that record. Periodic tests were given to assess the degree to which each student was learning each of the subjects. At the end of the school year, some of the students were recognized as being "A" students, who were consistenly at the head of the class. Some were recognized as being "C", or average students. Some students were found to be at the bottom of the class, and received failing grades.
This system performed the job of sorting the students into performance groups, allowing those who did very well to carry additional subjects, or to be given additional assignments, keeping them busy and not bored, and allowing them to be recognized for what they were capable of doing.
Initially, the subjects being taught were primarily related to the three "R's" . . . reading, writing, and arithmetic. These subjects were considered to be the most important for the child to learn because they would be needed in the daily activities that all of us engage in for the rest of our lives, but, also, were very important in preparing the child to continue his education in his choice of our higher educational facilities after he had completed the requisite 12 years in the public school system. By this time, the students had been segregated into groups relating to their ability to learn, so that the faster learners were able to progress faster, and carry more subjects, while the slower learners were still given the necessary attention to see that they learned the essential three "R's."
Then the "do-gooders" got into the act!
They ignored the fact that the students in the slower learning groups would actually be competing amongst themselves . . . that, because the faster learners were in a different group, they were not considered by the students to be a part of the competition. In each group, the students were able to learn at about the same speed, and so the group, as a whole did much better than is the case in the system used today, where the brighter students languish in the doldrums of the teaching pace that is slow enough that the slower learners are mostly able to keep up.
In today's system, the under-challenged brighter students find themselves with time on their hands, and, very often wind up as problem students who are always getting into trouble, or are causing distractions in the class that makes it difficult for the teacher to give the other students the necsssary attention.
In a nutshell, this whole educational mess in our schools is directly related to the fact that some students learn faster than others and need to be taught at a correspondingly faster pace. Such students are the ones most likely to go on to higher education after public school. Some students will display an inclination toward the physical skills, and those students will do their best if they are directed to a school where they can learn various trades . . . where they can learn to become electricians, plumbers, carpenters, and all the various skills that will prepare them to become solid citizens who earn their own living raise their families, and without having gone to a more formal institution of higher learning.
People are not the same, cast from the same mold! Each of us has his own special interests, and tends to develop along a track that is most suitable to his particular talents and interests.
Our educational system needs to be designed to teach each student in a manner that holds his interest and lets him progress at a pace that maximises his educational opportunity!
This is not accomplished by lumping all students into the same class system where they spend 12 years of their lives, each year being passed on to the next higher level whether they learned the subjects they were being taught or not!
It is time that we pulled our heads out of the sand and developed an educational system that competes with those of the countries that are rated highest in the annual performance studies. Until we do, we will continue to go downhill, and eventually wind up at the bottom of the list!
This was also our president's failure to understand just what it was that was wrong!
Fundamentally, the system as presently designed does not work in a manner that develops the child to his maximum potential. In fact, the system holds back the brighter students and restricts the speed at which they learn to that of the slowest students in the class! At the end of each study year, all students are passed on to the next higher level without regard to whether they had actually learned all the subjects that had been a part of the curriculum of the class from which they were graduating! Worse yet, the brighter students who could have learned a great deal more were restricted to learning only as much as was taught at a speed at which the slower students, hopefully, could become proficient.
Now all that we hear is that our school system is not working! Each year, the statistical evidence from all the countries in the world indicates that the students in our schools are graduating to each next higher class without having learned each subject to the same or higher level as did the students of many of the other countries throughout the world!
No one has the guts to publically identify the reasons why this is true!
I have the guts!
All children are not born with the ability to learn at the same speed!
All parents are not capable of teaching their pre-school children the fundamentals that they need to know in order to maximize their ability to learn!
Many parents do not even try to teach their pre-school children those fundamentals!
Any educational system that does not work in a manner that allows the faster learners to progress at their most challenging speed will invariably hold them back to the speed at which the slower learners seem best able to learn.
This is ridiculous! Such a system fails to bring out the best in each student!
Such a system fails to recognize that each child has a different learning speed, and that this different learning speed is different for each subject being taught!
Such a system fails to recognize that each student will tend to like and excel in those subjects that he finds most interesting!
We need to go back and re-examine the educational system that was in effect during and prior to the 1930's . . . prior to the Great Depression!
At age six, when the child first began his formal education, they were lumped together in the same class, commonly referred to as "Kindergarten." In that class they were exposed to various subjects that allowed the teacher to observe both their mental and mechanical dexterities. Usually, the teacher was a woman, and she kept records on each student, and she used an honest grading system that became a part of that record. Periodic tests were given to assess the degree to which each student was learning each of the subjects. At the end of the school year, some of the students were recognized as being "A" students, who were consistenly at the head of the class. Some were recognized as being "C", or average students. Some students were found to be at the bottom of the class, and received failing grades.
This system performed the job of sorting the students into performance groups, allowing those who did very well to carry additional subjects, or to be given additional assignments, keeping them busy and not bored, and allowing them to be recognized for what they were capable of doing.
Initially, the subjects being taught were primarily related to the three "R's" . . . reading, writing, and arithmetic. These subjects were considered to be the most important for the child to learn because they would be needed in the daily activities that all of us engage in for the rest of our lives, but, also, were very important in preparing the child to continue his education in his choice of our higher educational facilities after he had completed the requisite 12 years in the public school system. By this time, the students had been segregated into groups relating to their ability to learn, so that the faster learners were able to progress faster, and carry more subjects, while the slower learners were still given the necessary attention to see that they learned the essential three "R's."
Then the "do-gooders" got into the act!
They ignored the fact that the students in the slower learning groups would actually be competing amongst themselves . . . that, because the faster learners were in a different group, they were not considered by the students to be a part of the competition. In each group, the students were able to learn at about the same speed, and so the group, as a whole did much better than is the case in the system used today, where the brighter students languish in the doldrums of the teaching pace that is slow enough that the slower learners are mostly able to keep up.
In today's system, the under-challenged brighter students find themselves with time on their hands, and, very often wind up as problem students who are always getting into trouble, or are causing distractions in the class that makes it difficult for the teacher to give the other students the necsssary attention.
In a nutshell, this whole educational mess in our schools is directly related to the fact that some students learn faster than others and need to be taught at a correspondingly faster pace. Such students are the ones most likely to go on to higher education after public school. Some students will display an inclination toward the physical skills, and those students will do their best if they are directed to a school where they can learn various trades . . . where they can learn to become electricians, plumbers, carpenters, and all the various skills that will prepare them to become solid citizens who earn their own living raise their families, and without having gone to a more formal institution of higher learning.
People are not the same, cast from the same mold! Each of us has his own special interests, and tends to develop along a track that is most suitable to his particular talents and interests.
Our educational system needs to be designed to teach each student in a manner that holds his interest and lets him progress at a pace that maximises his educational opportunity!
This is not accomplished by lumping all students into the same class system where they spend 12 years of their lives, each year being passed on to the next higher level whether they learned the subjects they were being taught or not!
It is time that we pulled our heads out of the sand and developed an educational system that competes with those of the countries that are rated highest in the annual performance studies. Until we do, we will continue to go downhill, and eventually wind up at the bottom of the list!
Thursday, April 5, 2007
The Protestant Work Ethic . . .
Many years ago, our illustrious government recognized the plight of the school dropouts who were forced by their illiteracy to work at the lowest paying jobs in the country . . . typically, fast-food purveyors!
"Those wages are too low!", they said. "Let's have a law that allows us to tell the employer what he must pay as a minimum hourly wage. That way, those who must work at the lowest paying jobs will be able to earn enough to be able to support themselves and their families."
So they repealed the law of supply and demand (tongue in cheek)! At the same time they destroyed the principle incentive for kids to stay in school. By artificially raising the wages of those whose educational and/or capability level limited their opportunities to enjoy a better than lowest standard of living, they proved that one does not even have to have a high school diploma in order to be able to hold a job that will pay enough to keep them in drugs, booze, and ladies of the evening. And by scrupulously avoiding the marriage vows, the females of the species can get additional help from the government to provide for their offspring born out of wedlock.
Sound like socialism? How about Hitler's children? Of course! Is it any wonder that our high school age kids opt to take one of these low paying jobs instead of attending high school, thus making it impossible for them to be able to hold an even higher paying job?
But wait! There's more! Almost always, when the scales are tipped in one direction, something also comes into play to tip them back again.
Since fewer kids are graduating from high school and looking forward to a college education, we are now depriving many of our institutions of higher learning of the opportunity to teach those no longer prospective students the really finer points of socialism.
Ever notice that most of these institutions of higher learning seem to pander to a staff of deans, professors, and other instructors who teach so far to the left that the student can actually graduate from that institution without being able to spell capitalism, let alone to define it? And, of course, socialism has now been redefined as democracy because socialism's relationship to communism has made the use of that term as unpopular as a number of other unsavory words like pimp and whore. And now the drive is underway to place such terms as conservative and Republican in that same category!
Does this signal the demise of the Republican party? Quite possibly, unless, of course, they are wise enough to change its name to something more acceptable to the product that our educational system has been spewing forth for at least the last fifty years! It is now quite apparent that mainstream thinking is oriented toward a government that taxes the rich and gives to the rest of them. A sort of modern day Robin Hood! No one wants to pay taxes anymore, and many of them do not! Those of you who are addicted to the boob tube will be able to attest to the number of assorted accounting firms that specialize in helping those behind on their income taxes to work out a settlement with the IRS for a small fraction of what they should pay. Gosh, I wonder what Al Capone would think of this . . . Born fifty years too soon! Those of you who do not recognize the name will appreciate the fact that Al was a very clever member of the lawbreaker group of the 1930's who was able to avoid the electric chair that he so richly deserved, but was too stupid to pay his fair income taxes, and so he wound up in Alcatraz for having cheated the government out of its due! Never happen in today's society!
Of course, there are a good many of our citizens who do pay taxes, and each of those who read this that think that what I have described above is acceptable behavior, should get down on their knees and thank whichever diety suits them, because it is the taxpayers of this country that make it possible for the government to be able to afford to send out all those relief checks!
But, all you high school drop-outs should save your money, because it can't go on forever. One of these days, those who do not work for a living will outnumber those who pay their taxes, and the screams from the taxpayers will be heard all the way to Washington!
So hearken unto me, brethren! Even in these days, a person who is willing to work can get along with no more than a high school education, and is probably better off without having attended an institution of higher learning. But if you aspire to a higher standard of living, you are in for a big surprise: Most employers pay lip service to the socialistic measures forced on them by the Federal Government, but all of them have found that they must still run their business with an eye peeled for profit, or they are going to go out of business!
As for taxing the rich to pay all those special benefits to the drop-out generations, you might want to give some thought to this: All of the large employers in this country are owned by their stockholders. When the tax load becomes so high that those companies can make only marginal profits, or even post losses, their stock goes down on the market, the companies are then down-rated in their credit ratings and if they do not turn things around, the stockholders demand a change in management and/or force a sellout to a competitor. You see, it is the profits that a company makes that make it possible for that company to grow, creating more jobs. No profits, no jobs! Maybe even no more company! So, as you can see, this gives the lie to all the socialistic educational institutions, because ours is a capitalistic society, depending on capitalism, not socialism to provide all the jobs that our citizens need.
And, finally, the concept of the free ride can only take you so far . . . after that, you still have to work to go further . . . if you have the education to allow you to do so!
"Those wages are too low!", they said. "Let's have a law that allows us to tell the employer what he must pay as a minimum hourly wage. That way, those who must work at the lowest paying jobs will be able to earn enough to be able to support themselves and their families."
So they repealed the law of supply and demand (tongue in cheek)! At the same time they destroyed the principle incentive for kids to stay in school. By artificially raising the wages of those whose educational and/or capability level limited their opportunities to enjoy a better than lowest standard of living, they proved that one does not even have to have a high school diploma in order to be able to hold a job that will pay enough to keep them in drugs, booze, and ladies of the evening. And by scrupulously avoiding the marriage vows, the females of the species can get additional help from the government to provide for their offspring born out of wedlock.
Sound like socialism? How about Hitler's children? Of course! Is it any wonder that our high school age kids opt to take one of these low paying jobs instead of attending high school, thus making it impossible for them to be able to hold an even higher paying job?
But wait! There's more! Almost always, when the scales are tipped in one direction, something also comes into play to tip them back again.
Since fewer kids are graduating from high school and looking forward to a college education, we are now depriving many of our institutions of higher learning of the opportunity to teach those no longer prospective students the really finer points of socialism.
Ever notice that most of these institutions of higher learning seem to pander to a staff of deans, professors, and other instructors who teach so far to the left that the student can actually graduate from that institution without being able to spell capitalism, let alone to define it? And, of course, socialism has now been redefined as democracy because socialism's relationship to communism has made the use of that term as unpopular as a number of other unsavory words like pimp and whore. And now the drive is underway to place such terms as conservative and Republican in that same category!
Does this signal the demise of the Republican party? Quite possibly, unless, of course, they are wise enough to change its name to something more acceptable to the product that our educational system has been spewing forth for at least the last fifty years! It is now quite apparent that mainstream thinking is oriented toward a government that taxes the rich and gives to the rest of them. A sort of modern day Robin Hood! No one wants to pay taxes anymore, and many of them do not! Those of you who are addicted to the boob tube will be able to attest to the number of assorted accounting firms that specialize in helping those behind on their income taxes to work out a settlement with the IRS for a small fraction of what they should pay. Gosh, I wonder what Al Capone would think of this . . . Born fifty years too soon! Those of you who do not recognize the name will appreciate the fact that Al was a very clever member of the lawbreaker group of the 1930's who was able to avoid the electric chair that he so richly deserved, but was too stupid to pay his fair income taxes, and so he wound up in Alcatraz for having cheated the government out of its due! Never happen in today's society!
Of course, there are a good many of our citizens who do pay taxes, and each of those who read this that think that what I have described above is acceptable behavior, should get down on their knees and thank whichever diety suits them, because it is the taxpayers of this country that make it possible for the government to be able to afford to send out all those relief checks!
But, all you high school drop-outs should save your money, because it can't go on forever. One of these days, those who do not work for a living will outnumber those who pay their taxes, and the screams from the taxpayers will be heard all the way to Washington!
So hearken unto me, brethren! Even in these days, a person who is willing to work can get along with no more than a high school education, and is probably better off without having attended an institution of higher learning. But if you aspire to a higher standard of living, you are in for a big surprise: Most employers pay lip service to the socialistic measures forced on them by the Federal Government, but all of them have found that they must still run their business with an eye peeled for profit, or they are going to go out of business!
As for taxing the rich to pay all those special benefits to the drop-out generations, you might want to give some thought to this: All of the large employers in this country are owned by their stockholders. When the tax load becomes so high that those companies can make only marginal profits, or even post losses, their stock goes down on the market, the companies are then down-rated in their credit ratings and if they do not turn things around, the stockholders demand a change in management and/or force a sellout to a competitor. You see, it is the profits that a company makes that make it possible for that company to grow, creating more jobs. No profits, no jobs! Maybe even no more company! So, as you can see, this gives the lie to all the socialistic educational institutions, because ours is a capitalistic society, depending on capitalism, not socialism to provide all the jobs that our citizens need.
And, finally, the concept of the free ride can only take you so far . . . after that, you still have to work to go further . . . if you have the education to allow you to do so!
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Pelosi, defacto secretary of state!
Our Speaker of the House has now hied herself off to Syria to demonstrate to those of us of a more conservative persuasion that one can negotiate with terrorist nations, and, being more clever than the heads of those states, emerge with rock solid promises on their part to no longer pursue their nefarious ways! What a shame that she was not on board one of the planes that struck the towers on 9-11! I have every confidence (tongue in cheek) that she would have been able to talk them into changing their minds!
Ah, but we must be patient with Speaker Pelosi . . . here she is, thrust by an unthinking fate into the very important job as head of the House of Representatives, and of having responsibilities not even dreamed of by most of us, forcing her to learn almost overnight all the duties of that important position, but now, to complicate things, she must also engage in the duties that, heretofore, have been the responsibilities of the more competent, more experienced person who had been carefully selected to handle that job!
What a magnificent ego she must have! But that is understandable . . . after all, is she not now the third in line to take over the job of running the country, should the president and the vice president both become sufficiently disabled that they could not continue in the jobs to which they were elected by the citizens of this country?
Is she not brave to risk her personal well-being on behalf of the citizens of this great nation by sallying forth into the habitat of those ferocious beasts who only plan to use her visit to prove that they have frightened the leaders of the most powerful nation in the world into begging to be permitted to have an audience with their greatness? Surely she must know that daring to expose her face in such a country could place her at risk of being added to the list of hostages that currently are being held in yet another such country?
Ms. Pelosi, please come back and busy yourself with the duties for which you were hired, instead of complicating international relations by assuming duties for which you were not hired! Title notwithstanding, you are simply an employee of the citizens of this great country, and may not assume the responsibility for performing the tasks of other offices which are not within the domain of the position for which you were hired!
Do you not realize that you might be tricked into opening your mouth and putting your foot in it? Admittedly, the accomplishment of that task is not out of the question . . .
More good politicians have shot themselves in the foot by allowing their egos to convince them that they have more on the ball than is, in fact, the case. By this blatant disregard of the advice of the President of thes United States, you have further eroded the prestige of that office, and of this nation! If you think that, by this action, the world will know that you are the person who is now running the country, you are sadly mistaken! You now appear to all the world to be precisely what you are . . . a misguided egotist who should not even be allowed to cross the threshold of the office to which you were elected!
Are the citizens of this great nation upset with you? How can one be upset and laugh at the same time? Now we simply await your opening your mouth to bray, like the symbol of your party that you are!
Ah, but we must be patient with Speaker Pelosi . . . here she is, thrust by an unthinking fate into the very important job as head of the House of Representatives, and of having responsibilities not even dreamed of by most of us, forcing her to learn almost overnight all the duties of that important position, but now, to complicate things, she must also engage in the duties that, heretofore, have been the responsibilities of the more competent, more experienced person who had been carefully selected to handle that job!
What a magnificent ego she must have! But that is understandable . . . after all, is she not now the third in line to take over the job of running the country, should the president and the vice president both become sufficiently disabled that they could not continue in the jobs to which they were elected by the citizens of this country?
Is she not brave to risk her personal well-being on behalf of the citizens of this great nation by sallying forth into the habitat of those ferocious beasts who only plan to use her visit to prove that they have frightened the leaders of the most powerful nation in the world into begging to be permitted to have an audience with their greatness? Surely she must know that daring to expose her face in such a country could place her at risk of being added to the list of hostages that currently are being held in yet another such country?
Ms. Pelosi, please come back and busy yourself with the duties for which you were hired, instead of complicating international relations by assuming duties for which you were not hired! Title notwithstanding, you are simply an employee of the citizens of this great country, and may not assume the responsibility for performing the tasks of other offices which are not within the domain of the position for which you were hired!
Do you not realize that you might be tricked into opening your mouth and putting your foot in it? Admittedly, the accomplishment of that task is not out of the question . . .
More good politicians have shot themselves in the foot by allowing their egos to convince them that they have more on the ball than is, in fact, the case. By this blatant disregard of the advice of the President of thes United States, you have further eroded the prestige of that office, and of this nation! If you think that, by this action, the world will know that you are the person who is now running the country, you are sadly mistaken! You now appear to all the world to be precisely what you are . . . a misguided egotist who should not even be allowed to cross the threshold of the office to which you were elected!
Are the citizens of this great nation upset with you? How can one be upset and laugh at the same time? Now we simply await your opening your mouth to bray, like the symbol of your party that you are!
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