Layarteb
07-10-2005, 21:28
(Layarteb City) - The Emperor announced on Friday that mild reforms would be introduced throughout the Empire. Most of these reforms center on education with some on commerce. Educational reforms include the upping of national standards for tests and cirriculum, meant to boost the average IQ of the average citizen. The current average IQ is 110 with the goal of 120 being introduced. In order to obtain such a large boost, reading assignments are to be doubled, problem solving and critical thinking is to be made more difficult, and standardized tests will include more of the above.
In addition to this, the Emperor has announced a plan to move the Empire to the metric system. The metric system is currently only used by the scientific community and, at the moment, the push to move the remainder of the Empire to the metric system will take place on a gradual basis. All students will be taught the metric system in conjunction with the imperial system and will be required to use the metric system on all standardized tests, along with the imperial system. This change may take up to one full generation to be seen but efforts to make sure it is not a disaster are being undertaken.
A third set of reforms will affect commerce. Businesses will be encouraged to keep outsourcing curtailed. The increase in outsourcing for some technical jobs such as computer jobs will be countered with an increase in education. Technical schools will be given more aide and support and individuals who major in technical studies will be given top priority for jobs.
Lastly, the Empire is continuing its push away from oil dependency. Currently, nuclear power accounts for over 50% of the source of power with geothermal, solar, wind, and hydroelectric making up the rest. Oil dependency for power is down to 12% and a move to get it under 4% is underway with a new "microwave" program that is kept rather secret. Details are that satellites in orbit beam down heat from the suns' rays, which is then used to create steam to drive turbines. The government plans to increase taxes on crude oil by 4%, which would raise the cost of a gallon of gasoline from the average of §3.54 to §3.68. Newer standards are to be instituted for car efficiency and any car recieving less than 24 miles per gallon in town will be subject to penalties. The current national average is 28 miles per gallon city and 36 miles per gallon highway. The national average is expected to increase.
In addition to this, the Emperor has announced a plan to move the Empire to the metric system. The metric system is currently only used by the scientific community and, at the moment, the push to move the remainder of the Empire to the metric system will take place on a gradual basis. All students will be taught the metric system in conjunction with the imperial system and will be required to use the metric system on all standardized tests, along with the imperial system. This change may take up to one full generation to be seen but efforts to make sure it is not a disaster are being undertaken.
A third set of reforms will affect commerce. Businesses will be encouraged to keep outsourcing curtailed. The increase in outsourcing for some technical jobs such as computer jobs will be countered with an increase in education. Technical schools will be given more aide and support and individuals who major in technical studies will be given top priority for jobs.
Lastly, the Empire is continuing its push away from oil dependency. Currently, nuclear power accounts for over 50% of the source of power with geothermal, solar, wind, and hydroelectric making up the rest. Oil dependency for power is down to 12% and a move to get it under 4% is underway with a new "microwave" program that is kept rather secret. Details are that satellites in orbit beam down heat from the suns' rays, which is then used to create steam to drive turbines. The government plans to increase taxes on crude oil by 4%, which would raise the cost of a gallon of gasoline from the average of §3.54 to §3.68. Newer standards are to be instituted for car efficiency and any car recieving less than 24 miles per gallon in town will be subject to penalties. The current national average is 28 miles per gallon city and 36 miles per gallon highway. The national average is expected to increase.