RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH ••• THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2019 A15 OpiniOns

Digital agE But two? Solving Just in time for Halloween — the new an October surprise literacy of which may be to finally give local government a freer hand in managing finances. crisis And it may have a friend in Northam. oday’s undergraduates are the He’s anything but tax- most sophisticated users and con- Jeff E. Schapiro phobic, winning, almost ef- T sumers of technology colleges fortlessly, higher levies for have ever seen. This is not surprising. [email protected] highways. Also, Northam Generation Z, those born after 1996, n politics, what’s October vetoed Republican legisla- are digital natives. They have never without a surprise? tion that would have pro- known an analog world. I But two? spectively limited localities’ Their intelligent, in- On Tuesday, the Rich- authority; in this instance, quisitive faces glow in mond Times-Dispatch re- to shelter illegal immigrants the near-constant il- ported that the Northam from federal law enforce- lumination of smart- administration — in building ment, though not one has phone, tablet and laptop the two-year budget that it said it would declare itself a screens. But in terms of will introduce in December so-called sanctuary city. Barbara D. the language of the com- — wants to know how and BOB BROWN/TiMES-DiSPATCH But there’s a missing piece Boyan puters that define much where state agencies can do House Minority Leader Eileen Filler-Corn, D-Fairfax, greeted in this potentially historic of their generation, more with less. supporters during the General Assembly’s special session on realignment in the relation- many are in a dark age. That this got out a week July 9 to address gun legislation. If Democrats gain control of ship between the statehouse In the current world, with big data, before the legislative elec- the House of Delegates in Tuesday’s elections, she is among and the courthouse: a Demo- machine learning and artificial intel- tions created the impres- the candidates mentioned for speaker. cratic majority in Richmond. ligence dominating more and more sion — intentionally or not There is little doubt that “structural imbalance” be- tion, which, the State Board professions and intellectual disciplines, — that the administration Democrats, particularly the tween revenues and expendi- of Education said last week, we can no longer leave the language of is anticipating an economic national strain increasingly tures; that even as the former requires another $1 billion a computing to specialists. Digital liter- downturn and scrambling abundant in the General As- increases, it can’t keep up year. Also, localities could be acy is a new essential literacy. for savings with which to bal- sembly, won’t be more sym- with increases in the latter. freed to control their own fis- Whether engineering, art or Eng- ance the budget. pathetic to local government lish major, a fully literate person today The last time a Democratic cal fate. It’s not a story Democrats than Republicans. must have a basic command of com- governor used that term — It could be done by repeal- want to tell ahead of the And the prospective House puter science. In Virginia, higher ed Mark Warner in 2004 — Vir- ing the Dillon Rule, a legal elections, if only to keep the Democratic leadership sig- and industry are coming together to ginians were with a $1.4 principle — named for the focus on hostility to Donald nals as much. Eileen Filler- help make this happen. billion tax increase for edu- Iowa judge who crafted it in Corn, the early favorite for Thanks to partnerships such as the Trump, worries about health cation, law enforcement and 1868 and adopted by Virginia Washington, D.C.-based Capital Col- care and resentment over the social safety net. in 1896 — that has limited speaker, is from Fairfax, a laborative of Leaders in Academia and Republican inaction on gun Helped by a split among the powers and prerogatives county long frustrated by the Business (CoLAB), students no longer control after the May massa- Republicans, Warner — of local government. state’s tether. Lashrecse Aird, have to be tech majors to gain digi- cre in Virginia Beach. who, as a candidate in 2001, Those restrictions, which another candidate, repre- tal literacy. Five Virginia universities Also Tuesday, the grape- vowed not to raise taxes — only the General Assembly sents another locality simi- — George Mason, the University of vine reported that House battled the legislature into could lift and does so on a larly discomfited by the state, Richmond, the University of Virginia, Democrats will be meet- May before prevailing. The case-by-case basis, can be Petersburg. Virginia Tech and Virginia Common- ing in Richmond the Satur- tax rise convinced a jittery silly as well as significant. Ditto in the Senate, where wealth University — are part of a Vir- day following the elections Wall Street to affirm Virgin- Henry Howell, the populist Dick Saslaw of Fairfax tops ginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. to discuss organization and ia’s highest-possible, triple-A Democratic firebrand who the long-settled Democratic initiative to offer a digital credential to leadership, with many in credit rating. ran three times for gover- leadership lineup. students in all majors. their ranks — confident Among the reasons War- nor four decades ago, com- This intersection of issues To earn the digital credential, stu- they’ll be restored to the ma- ner broke his no-new-taxes plained that his hometown, and individuals, one would dents complete a suite of introductory jority — expecting to choose pledge: the ever-rising cost Norfolk, required the legis- think, would have been a computer science courses covering a speaker, floor leader and of the car-tax rollback won lature’s consent to adopt a powerful opportunity for Re- fundamentals of data science, cyberse- caucus chair. by his Republican prede- pooper-scooper ordinance. publicans to press — even curity and software engineering. These It’s not a story that Demo- cessor, Jim Gilmore. It now But the Dillon Rule also at this late hour — the anti- students graduate with digital literacy crats want to tell ahead of costs nearly $1 billion a year prevents cities and coun- tax theme that, at minimum, as well as the skills to be self-support- the elections, if only to avoid to make whole local govern- ties from closing their build- arouses their base and piques ing immediately after graduation. They queering the chances the ment for reductions in a tax ings to firearms, taking down the concerns of late-to-tune- also receive exclusive hiring advan- party takes total control of they still impose and — some Confederate monuments in independents. tages with 14 participating companies Virginia government for the — still increase. and fully deciding what to tax Talk about an October including Capital One, J.P. Morgan first time in a generation — Democratic majorities and at what rate to tax it. surprise. 26 years, to be precise. Chase and Northrop Grumman. in the House of Delegates Republicans say the Dillon Contact Jeff E. Schapiro at (804) 649- The digital credential goes to the On the budget, Aubrey and Virginia Senate could Rule blocks localities from 6814 or jschapiro@timesdispatch. heart of an age-old question: Is under- Layne, Gov. Ralph Northam’s do away with this clumsy becoming a high-tax hell. But com. Listen to his podcast, Capitol graduate education for gaining higher secretary of finance, has been scheme. They could di- Republicans also say state Chat, on Richmond.com. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter, @RTDSchapiro. learning in the world of ideas, or is it warning the General Assem- rect the state to spend that government hasn’t a mo- Listen to his analysis 8:45 a.m. Friday for gaining job skills? This credential bly money committees of a money on, say, K-12 educa- nopoly on sound ideas, one on VPM News, 88.9 FM and vpm.org. program answers with a question of its own: Why choose? Students can now gain highly marketable skills without having to sacrifice their avocation in the arts or humanities. MinD Your MannErs This opportunity matters because nobody wants to see young people leave college without a way to create prosperity for themselves and their In baseball, the most valuable families. The cost of an undergradu- ate education is rising and the student debt crisis is real. It would be a bleak rules are unwritten world if everyone who will need to repay college loans had to major in a STEM discipline to do so. The digital WASHINGTON Which is an infectious . done 20 times in more than credential program offers all families a n the rush of the passing virus. In the fifth inning, Juan Football has been blighted a century of major league way to encourage their college student seasons, sports memo- Soto, the Washington Na- by endzone dances by play- baseball. Then first base um- to study what he or she loves while also Iries fade like photographs tionals’ 21-year-old prodigy, ers who are pleased with pire James Joyce made an forging a path to self-sufficiency. left in sunlight. But before crushed a monster home themselves for scoring obvious mistake, calling the This issue is personal to me. I am memories of the 2019 World — and carried his bat to first touchdowns. They should 27th batter the dean of an engineering college and Series are bleached by time, base because he thought this be reminded of what Vince safe when he was clearly out a biomedical engineer, but I earned let us hope that one episode was “pretty cool.” Lombardi supposedly said to on a ground ball. With noth- a bachelor of arts degree (BA) with a from Tuesday’s After the game, Bregman, one such preener: “The next ing more demonstrative than minor in art history. I care passionately sixth game will who carries baseball’s cul- time you make it to the end a wry smile, Galarraga stoi- about the arts and humanities and the be indelible. ture in his DNA, apologized. zone, act like you’ve been cally went about getting the foundation that literature, philosophy A nation that Then did so again. Then a there before.” 27th out. In post-game com- and art provide for meeting life’s chal- now more than third time. His manager, A.J. Baseball inoculates itself ments, Joyce forthrightly re- lenges. I am also the parent of a first- ever needs Hinch, 45, evenhandedly against unseemly behavior gretted his misjudgment, and year college student who is a humanities George a reminder disapproved of both play- by means of rules that, al- Galarraga said, in effect: To and sciences major but will also earn the Will of the role of ers’ comportment. Soto’s though unwritten, are not err is human, and tomorrow digital credential before graduation. manners in manager, Dave Martinez, unenforced, as Hinch and is another game. The next It occurs to me that our era resem- smoothing 55, deplored Bregman’s be- Martinez demonstrated. Just day, the Tigers took the un- bles the rise of literacy in early modern life’s rough edges got such a havior as much as Bregman as the common law is derived usual step of having a player Europe. In the late 1400s, few Euro- reminder. Two young men did, and said: “I didn’t like it from ancient social prac- — Galarraga — present the peans could read and write. The com- did not mind their manners, when [Soto] did it as well. It’s tices and judicial precedents, lineup card to the home plate plex code of letters and sentences was and two mature men put a conversation I’ll have with baseball’s codes are the who, as is standard largely the domain of the church. As aside their intense rivalry of Juan. That’s not who we are.” game’s distilled mores. Their practice, had been the previ- literacy advanced, it brought with it an the moment and firmly af- Or who we intend to remain. unchanging purpose is to en- ous game’s first base umpire. unprecedented era of thinking, ideas firmed some standards. Although baseball once courage players, in the midst Galarraga and Joyce shook and communication. That rate of intel- Alex Bregman, 25, the was unambiguously “the of passionate exertions, to hands. lectual progress would never have been ’ supremely national pastime,” other show respect for opponents Now, which would you achieved if reading and writing had talented third baseman, is sports have prospered as and the game. In baseball, as have preferred, a perish- been left to the experts. so fierce about his craft that, Americans’ leisure time and in the remainder of life, the able memory of what would The language of computing is in a when he was at LSU, his discretionary income have most valuable rules are un- then have been a rare perfect similar transition. Once the property of coaches gave him a key to increased. Competition for written. By the observance game, or this unforgettable scientists, mathematicians and engi- the batting cages rather than sports fans’ attention and of unwritten rules, mostly example of mutual gracious- neers, programming knowledge is now endure calls from him want- dollars has intensified now learned from parents, we ness? Of course. expanding to a broad base of the popu- ing to practice in the dead that there are just six weeks avoid being codified into so- Some say that baseball’s lation. In the short term, this trend will of night. In the first inning between the last NBA cham- cial death — smothered by unwritten standards are advance workforce development and Tuesday night, he hit a home pionship game and the written rules and drowned out of date. But as has been economic independence. In the long run, which was admirable, first NFL preseason game. in formal adjudications as well said (by a character in term, it will spark a new era of creativ- and then did something that Baseball, however, remains learned civility withers. an Alan Bennett play), stan- ity and ideas, just as the rise of literacy was not: He admired it. For unique — and indispensable On June 2, 2010, with two dards are always out of date did centuries ago. the first and surely the last — because it tries to remain outs in the ninth inning, De- — that is why we call them Who knows what wonders await? time in his major league ca- an oasis of reticence in a cul- troit Tigers pitcher Armando standards. reer, he ostentatiously car- ture of exhibitionism. There Galarraga was one out away Barbara D. Boyan, Ph.D., is the Alice T. and William ried his bat all the way to first are those in Washington who from a perfect game — 27 Contact George Will at: H. Goodwin, Jr. Dean of the Virginia Commonwealth [email protected] University College of Engineering. Contact her at: base before discarding it. could learn something im- batters up, 27 down — some- © 2019, Washington Post Writers [email protected] This was preening. portant from the Nationals’ thing that had only been Group