I remember a local school administrator telling me about "roll call," the attendance day or period that drives funding for schools.  I thought it was silly.  The objective is a false one.  We are simply trying to get kids to show up during a day or a week in order to meet some funding requirement.  He thought it was silly too but needed to receive the funding. 

The other night night we attended "Title I Parents Night" at our kids' school.  Sounds exciting doesn't it?  A video was placed in the video player so that we could watch the message that I understood drove funding.  During one classroom meeting, one of the teachers explained the importance of something as "that will be on the test," referring to the state proficiency tests.  "Oh, well then we better learn that," I thought.

It seems that the greater the influence of the government that is the furthest away from the source, the more sterile the programs become.  They become built around requirements that are met by "roll call" day or a video message that stifles conversation.  On a related note (and speaking of the government the furthest away from the source, I read this article about Senator Al Franken's Service Dogs for Veterans legislation.  Here is the explanation of a fellow Senator (Mark Begich):

"But it was smart. It was a good, simple bill, with a minimal cost. It was good politics for his first bill."

And there you have it.  More money spent from afar.

Pavlovian.