The Education Revolution

Disillusioned

2009-04-15T22:57:00.008-06:00

I haven't written much lately because I have been disillusioned. I have been disillusioned because Bush abandoned the principles of limited government, the Utah voucher legislation that passed in 2007 was defeated in a referendum driven by self-serving teachers unions, and then Obama was elected and increased the momentum of socialism in our government. Bush's expansion of the size and power of the federal government, along with the national debt, was bad enough. But now Obama, after passing his "stimulus" package, which will leave our children and grandchildren an inheritance of unprecedented debt, and probably a depression at some point, is trying to socialize our health care system. It turns out the Republican and Democrat parties really are the same--at least on the federal level. I'm a precinct chair in the Republican Party, and if it wasn't for the good leaders in Utah and the anti-tax tea parties, I would be seriously considering the Libertarian Party now. It stands for smaller government, lower taxes, and individual freedom, and is the third largest party in the United States. It is the only third party that has any chance of competing against the Democrats and Republicans. If the Republican Party doesn't get back to its roots, it will face a serious challenge from the Libertarian Party.

What frustrates me is that American voters are naive enough to believe it when politicians promise the government can solve all of their problems. Well, what can be expected of an electorate educated by a government school monopoly? Of course the curriculum is going to be biased toward government as the solution. It is a vicious cycle. With each generation that is educated by the government school monopoly, more voters support socialist-leaning politicians. These politicians continue to strengthen and expand government programs (including government schools) and our dependence on them. Those who are indoctrinated by and dependent on these programs continue to vote for more of the same politicians. Are we really free if the government has a monopoly on our education system? Sure, we can vote, but only after the government education system is through with us. The only way to stop this cycle is by breaking the public school monopoly and empowering parents and students through school choice policies.

Our current assembly line, lowest common denominator public education system also lacks the individualization, specialization, and innovation that a competitive system would offer. Most traditional public schools offer a very generic education and they don't challenge students because if they do, they will lose students and the funding that goes with them. Our higher education system is the envy of the world because in it, public schools compete against private schools. Students can shop around for the school that fits them best in terms of majors, academic rigor, environment, political and religious leanings, etc. But what choice do students have before college? By that time, many students have already been lost in the system.

A few years ago, I watched a documentary on UEN in which random students were chosen from a random public school to participate in a math education experiment. Throughout their years in public school, they were given additional hands-on math problem solving opportunities. The students were greatly challenged and saw the activities as games. By the time they graduated, every one of them had passed advanced calculus. Do you think that would have happened if these students had been educated solely by our lowest common denominator public education system? I don't. I believe that many students with the same potential are being left behind. We are losing potential Einsteins, Edisons, Franklins, Jeffersons, and Lincolns to our assembly-line education system.

Students need choice, innovation, and specialization. Students learn in different ways and some are ready for greater challenges, while others have disabilities and need to slow down a little. One size does not fit all. At the university level, you have everything from trade schools and junior colleges to MIT and Harvard. These schools specialize in different areas and greatly vary in their level of difficulty. Other than some charter schools, public schools do not specialize and must adjust their curriculum to the lowest common denominator. At the virtual school where I work, we have seen that because we have a more challenging curriculum, we lose some students. If we were a traditional public school, we would be tempted to dumb down our curriculum; however, we have the ability to customize our curriculum. Strangely, though, we cannot expel students for not trying--even though we have a large waiting list for students to get into our school. It is against the law. I would like to see a rigorous application process, like many universities have, so that only those who can handle our curriculum would be accepted and an academic probation system that would eventually expel students who weren't trying. Of course, other schools could focus on those students who cannot handle our curriculum--just as ivy league schools focus on the gifted and harder working students and many junior colleges focus on a different group of students. This may sound elitist, but it just makes sense. For example, many students would not want to go to MIT. MIT specializes in areas that are not their strengths and is more academically rigorous than many might be able to handle. It's just like sports. I love to play basketball and consider myself competitive. I believe that competition helps me to improve. But if you put me in the NBA, I would quickly learn to hate it because I could not handle that level of competition. On the other hand, an NBA player would probably become bored with basketball if he could only play against those on my level. Of course, that NBA player might be terrible at baseball. We all have our strengths and our interests, and schools should compete to meet those needs.

I look forward to the day that school vouchers, tuition tax credits, or other forms of substantive school choice policies will offer such an education system. Because this now seems to be in the distant future for my state (if that) I remain somewhat disillusioned, but am striving to overcome it.

School Vouchers in a Nutshell

2009-03-28T17:45:00.010-06:00

Why is it that the American university system is the envy of the world, but our pre-college public education system performs poorly in international testing? The major difference is that public universities don't have a monopoly like public schools. Unlike public schools, public universities have to compete against each other and private universities. Only those universities that meet students’ expectations attract the students and funding they need. This competition causes both public and private universities to become more responsive to the needs and wants of students. Monopolies stifle competition, progress, innovation, quality, and efficiency. When there is no competition, there is no incentive to improve. The public school monopoly (note: not public schools, per se, but the monopoly they have) is contributing to poor academics, behavior, and values in American youth. School vouchers are the solution. They allow parents to choose the best school for their children, whether public or private (even religious), and the funding follows—providing an incentive for schools to compete to meet the academic, behavioral, and moral expectations of parents. The Friedman Foundation is the largest and most effective organization promoting this cause. Probably one of the easiest ways to make a difference in the fight for school choice is to join the cause on Facebook (and make a contribution, if you choose).

Break the public school monopoly

2008-11-09T10:45:00.022-07:00

"Every experience God gives us, every person He puts in our lives, is the perfect preparation for the future, that only He can see." --Corrie ten Boom

I lived in the former Soviet Union from 1995 to 1997. While there, I had the opportunity to teach English as a service in a public school. I was assigned fourth, fifth, sixth, and twelfth grade students. The fourth graders were perfectly behaved and excited about learning and life. The fifth graders were a little less so. Quite a few had dropped off by sixth grade. Unlike the younger students, the twelfth graders didn't seem to have any real dreams or aspirations. All they seemed to care about was partying. When a teacher there said, "They pretend to pay us and we pretend to teach," it reminded me too much of my experience in California public schools. (I know there are good public schools and teachers out there, but too few of them. And the system is obviously broken because the worst teachers are impossible to get rid of once they have tenure and are paid the same as the best.) I thought, "No wonder kids become apathetic." It made me sad to think that the younger students who were so well behaved and excited about learning would end up just like the twelfth graders.

It surprised me that so many American public schools were so similar to public schools in the former Soviet Union. In general, our products and services were far superior to theirs. Why wasn’t our education system similarly superior? And why was the United States performing so poorly in international testing? I knew that the free market was the reason that our products and services were superior. I also knew that the free market had no part in American public schools. I continued to ponder this puzzle when I returned to the United States. I discussed it with my uncle, who is a professor of economics. He gave me an article on school vouchers that he had published. They would allow parents to choose between public and private schools with the funding following the child. It made complete sense. The consumer’s check on American businesses is what keeps them competing, progressing, and responsive. If parents could have a similar check on their children’s education, maybe American academic, behavioral, and moral standards would rise to meet parents’ expectations. In fact, education is the one area of socialization where parents do not have a check. They can ensure that the home environment is safe and positive. They can protect their children from influences in the media. They can bring their children to church. But their tax dollars will go to public schools whether or not they agree with their academic, behavioral, or moral standards (or lack thereof). That sounds like a monopoly to me. It also sounds wrong.

As a result of my experiences with education in the U.S. and in the former Soviet Union, I chose to study political science and education (I now have an educator license in government and history teaching and am working on a master's degree in education with an administrator license). I wrote a number of papers on the concept of school choice, including open enrollment, charter schools, magnet schools, vouchers, tuition tax credits, private schools, home school, etc. The more I learned, the stronger I felt that our system must change to empower parents to choose which school is best for their children. While pursuing my bachelor's degree, I worked as a legislative assistant for a representative who was a school choice advocate. There, I met members of Parents for Choice in Education, the major organization fighting for school choice in Utah. I was very impressed with them and ended up becoming a member. I was later elected as a county delegate. (After that I became a state delegate and a precinct chair--which allowed me to vote at the state convention for who will go on the ballot for governor, and state and congressional senators and representatives, etc.) I encouraged my fellow delegates to support the only candidate for the State House of Representatives in our district who supported vouchers. We got him on the ballot and he was elected in 2004. In 2007, voucher legislation passed by one vote in the House of Representatives; however, it was challenged by educrats who support the monopoly and defeated in a referendum.

The public must be educated about vouchers and other forms of school choice legislation so that parents, not educrats, will be able to make decisions concerning their children's education. Educrats would have us believe that they know what's best for children and parents should have no say. However, those of us who don't believe in a one-size-fits-all assembly line education system feel differently. Many of the great leaders in our country's history, including the Founding Fathers, were not educated in the way public schools educate. Abraham Lincoln was mostly self taught. Thomas Edison's mother pulled him from public school because his teacher labeled him, "addled." Public schools don't recognize the individual learning styles, talents, desires, or limitless potential of each child. In addition, the environment of bullying, materialism, immorality, etc, is not conducive to learning. In fact, it kills the natural desire for learning. Many of the great men discussed above may have lost their passion for learning had they been schooled in our compulsory education system.

I taught government and history at a non-profit school that was part of a residential treatment center (I now work for a virtual academy). Our clients used to attend local public schools, but they had too much access to drugs, gangs, pornography, and other things the residential treatment center was designed to help them overcome. Thus, the academy was added. The costs were about half that of similar residential treatment centers, but they were still not cheap. The academy held fundraisers and relied on donations from individuals and organizations to keep costs down. However, was still very difficult for many families to afford. Yet the tax dollars of those who send their children to the academy still paid only for public schools--even though it benefits all students to reform students who have fallen into harmful and illegal behaviors. Why couldn't at least some of their tax dollars go toward the education of their own children? Of course, this doesn't just apply to residential treatment centers. Parents should not be punished by having to pay twice when they choose to send their children to a private school because of better academic, moral, or behavioral standards. School vouchers would help to solve that problem. On the post-secondary education level, public schools compete with private schools and the result is that our post-secondary education system is the envy of the world. (For students who can't afford the tuition, Pell grants can be applied to either public or private schools--this is very similar to the school voucher idea.) I would love to see both public and private K-12 schools benefit from competition in a similar way. Until then, my family has found a great alternative, but I will continue to fight for school choice.

When correctly regulated, the free market leads to competition, progress, innovation, quality, and efficiency. Supply meets demand. Monopolies stifle competition, progress, innovation, quality, and efficiency. When there is no competition, there is no incentive to improve. The public school monopoly (note: not public schools, per se, but the monopoly they have) is contributing to poor academics, behavior, and morals in the youth of the United States. School vouchers are an important part of the solution. They allow parents to choose the best school for their children, whether public or private, and the funding follows--providing an incentive for schools to compete to meet the academic, behavioral, and moral expectations of parents.

Surprisingly, not everyone feels that parents should be able to choose which school is best for their children. The school choice battle is ongoing and needs as many supporters as possible. Don't underestimate your ability to make a difference. Remember that the Utah voucher legislation passed by only one vote. I would never have guessed that my representative would have made the difference--and if the people had been properly educated on the issue, the referendum.

If you agree with the concept of school choice, please continue to study it; find out how to support school choice in your state; contact your governor, legislators, and other political leaders concerning the issue (maybe even run for office yourself); use your vote to support school choice; submit your opinion to newspapers; e-mail others to refer them to this blog and other similar sites; put links on your blog if you already have one; or create your own blog if you don't. If you can just do one of these things, it will make a difference, but the more you do, the more difference you will make. Think about the ripple effect that would continue through those you influence as well. I would also like to learn about your stories. If you have any questions or concerns about school choice, please let me know, and feel free to post comments.

Some think that charter schools are enough. I disagree. Actually, I think it is interesting that they are called "charter" schools because I see a parallel between them and the American colonies that were granted charters by England. They definitely were an improvement because the American colonists were able to experiment with more self government. At the same time, England didn't realize that giving them a taste of freedom was dangerous. In time, the colonists would demand complete independence. I believe the same thing is happening with charter schools. They give parents more say in their children's education, but there is still too much federal and state control. Parents will continue to demand more. School vouchers and tuition tax credits are the next step. Imagine the ideal school for your children (I know it is difficult because public schools have left us with no choice for so long) and imagine if public and private schools competed to meet your expectations. Now imagine if all parents were given that same power. Break the public school monopoly.

Striking at the root

2008-10-06T22:12:00.018-06:00

"There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root."

--Henry David Thoreau

Glenn Beck (who may be gone soon if the Democrats reinstate the "Fairness Doctrine" under an Obama administration) said that the Republican and Democratic parties are heading in the same direction—only one is taking us in a freight train and the other one in a leer jet. I agree. It looks like Obama and Biden are going to win this race. And because we have a Democratic Congress, Obama’s universal healthcare, universal preschool, and universal college (among other huge government programs, including welfare expansion) will pass, sending us deeper and deeper into debt. Many seem to think that Bush has caused the energy and economic crises, Obama’s “change” is going to be a breath of fresh air, and that soon, under the new Obama administration, everything will be back to normal. I’ll agree that Bush definitely contributed (new big government programs like No Child Left Behind didn't help) and that the economic and energy crises may subside for a time (although there is no guarantee of that), but our country has been headed toward a true economic disaster for a long time and eventually it will hit in full force. Even if McCain and Palin win, the national debt will continue to grow. While McCain is willing to greatly increase domestic drilling, promote alternative energy, and would certainly not increase the federal debt as much as Obama, he has his own version of universal healthcare. He also wants federally funded school vouchers. While I am a big fan of state-funded school vouchers, a federal version is the last thing I want. In fact, I believe the national department of education should be abolished. Like Obama, McCain obviously believes that government is the solution, and not the problem. He is not willing to make the cuts that will lead to the elimination of our huge national debt.

If you don't believe me, read this quote from Newsweek: "The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has found that both Obama and McCain are proposing combinations of tax and spending policies that would increase the federal deficit. It found that in 2013, Obama’s proposals would produce a net deficit increase of $286 billion, while McCain's major policies would produce a net deficit increase of between $167 billion and $259 billion. In talking to CNN, CRFB President Maya MacGuineas estimated that McCain's deficit increase would fall midway between the extremes of that range, at $211 billion."

We need true change and neither of the major parties will bring that. Which forces me to ask the question: Is it time for a third party? Historically, third parties have forced established political parties to either change or be replaced. If a party gets too comfortable, it will stop being responsive. I don't think it's good for Utah to always support the Republican Party no matter what--that basically tells us they don't have to listen to us; however, the Democratic Party candidate is usually worse. We need to remember the other parties if we want our elected leaders to be truly responsive and conservative. It will be easy for me to vote third party because I’m in Utah and I know McCain will win here by a landslide. (If it was a close race, I might vote for and even campaign for McCain.) My vote isn’t going to tip the scale toward an Obama win. I couldn’t go Libertarian because I don’t believe in legalizing drugs or prostitution. I could go Constitution Party, though. Chuck Baldwin actually makes a lot of sense, and because Senators Hatch and Bennett both voted for the bailout, when they are up for reelection, as a Republican precinct chair, I will vote against them at the Republican convention. If that doesn't work, I will also vote for the Constitution Party candidate for senator. If we want a real solution to this financial crisis; if we want to eliminate the national debt; if we want to restore our Constitutional Republic, we have to vote for true change. Now I am happy to support Republicans who are true conservatives, like Jason Chaffetz, Senator Madsen, and Representative Sumsion, but Republicans who do not support conservative policies should be replaced.

Now you might ask, if the economy, the national debt, oil independence, alternative energy, and the principles of the American Founding are so important, why is the focus of my blog on education reform? The answer: We have to ensure that future generations learn the principles that this great country was founded upon or or we are just hacking at the branches and it will not last. There is no way our children are going to learn the principles of the American Founding in public schools. How are public schools controlled by a government monopoly going to teach them that government is not the answer? The only way we are going to ensure a solid future for this country is if parents are given the power to choose which school is best for their children. And the options have to include private, religious schools. That way, parents can choose schools that will provide the best academic, behavioral, and moral environment for their children. School vouchers will give them this power. Then maybe we will start seeing well-educated, principled voters who will vote for well-educated, principled leaders. Read how teaching in the former Soviet Union helped me realize this.

The solution to America's financial crisis

2008-10-01T21:32:00.006-06:00

Dave Ramsey was on the Glenn Beck program today, where he presented his alternative to Congress's bailout plan. I think his plan makes a lot of sense. We have to stop Congress from digging us in even deeper. Both McCain and Obama are supporting the bailout! It would be nice if at least McCain would oppose it. Please take a look at Dave's plan and, if you agree with it, encourage your elected representatives (and McCain) to support it. (Update: since the bailout was passed, the next step is to vote out any member of Congress who supported it. We also need to reform our education system--that is at the root of this problem.)

http://www.daveramsey.com/etc/fed_bailout/3_steps_to_change_the_nations_future_10928.htmlc?ictid=mlfrnd&CFID=31912383&CFTOKEN=60919356

The bailout passed, but it is still important for us to study why such actions are wrong for our economy. See what John Stossel has to say:

http://townhall.com/columnists/JohnStossel/2008/04/23/the_skys_not_falling?page=1

The next big thing

2008-08-09T05:29:00.034-06:00

I just got back from a K12.com training in the Washington DC area for my teacher/advisor role at the virtual academy where I work. It was amazing. I have never seen an organization that is so visionary. K12 is a virtual school provider that uses the latest research in cognitive science and educational psychology, as well as a collaborative business model of continuous feedback and improvement, to offer an exceptional and continually improving interactive, multi-sensory, and multi-media education. Yes, I know, what does all that mean? Well, click on this link for a quick sample of their curriculum.

I had already seen much of their curriculum because my children are enrolled in a free public K12 online academy (read the story of how that happened), but I didn't know about the creative process behind it until the training. (By the way, if you are wondering about the social aspect of an online academy or virtual school, click here to read about our story or watch a video of what other families have done.) Because K12 only hires the best curriculum developers, their interactive lessons start out great, but they continually improve too. We have all found errors in textbooks or have had ideas about how to improve products, but don't usually do anything about it. Even if we tried, most corporations are not very responsive to feedback from employees or customers. K12 is different. They value their customers and employees and offer them links throughout the online curriculum and toll free phone numbers for feedback and new ideas.

In fact, I decided I would test K12's responsiveness. At the training, I was in a meeting in which we were discussing how to deal with technical problems. I remembered that a few days ago, I had encountered a technical problem with blogger.com and had gone to a blogger.com help discussion group and posted my concern. In a very short time, I had a number of users provide quick and easy solutions to my problem. I thought that would be perfect for K12. I had also thought a lot about how Challenger School offers computer classes (including programming)--starting in first grade! That got me thinking. My son wants to be an inventor/engineer/scientist. We are always looking for new ways to help him achieve that goal, but I always feel like there is more we could be doing. If Challenger School offers programming to first graders, why couldn't K12 start offering computer classes (or even engineering/technology classes) in first grade? Yes, it sounds a little crazy, but think about it. Math and language are extremely complex, but we start teaching kids the basics in kindergarten. That principle is true with basically any subject--and in fact, students learn much better when they start younger--think of foreign languages (speaking of which, K12 purchased Power-Glide--the foreign language learning program created by my mission president, Dr. Robert W. Blair, and we use Rosetta Stone in our K12 program). Edison had a lab at home and started experimenting at a very young age. How many Edisons are we losing because we don't encourage them early enough? I approached one of the product executives with my ideas. She was very receptive and asked if I knew of any online courses already out there that they could incorporate into their program. I mentioned that I had a friend who is working on his PhD in Engineering Education who would be able to help with that. She gave me her contact information and encouraged me to get her more information. We also had a parent complain about an inappropriate remark having to do with sex and pregnancy in her daughter's health class. I encouraged her to submit feedback on it, which I did as well since I agreed with her, and it disappeared within days. Finally, one of my jobs is to track student progress. I submitted an idea for a tracking tool that would show the time students have spent in their courses (I can see how much time they spend on each page of reading, each quiz or test, etc.) in the form of a graph. That way, students, parents, teachers, and administrators could view the time they have spent versus what the expectation is and their grade. This would allow all of us to easily see the correlations and adjustments that need to be made. A few days later, I learned that they had beat me to the punch--they were already coming out with it. Wow.

Later at the training, I also asked the Vice President of Public Relations whether I could post some of the new ideas they were discussing on my blog. He told me to email him a draft of my blog entry (which I did before posting) and he would let me know. I was amazed at how approachable these people were. I started to think of how this business model could revolutionize the business world. If everyone, both employees and customers, in every business collaborated the way K12 does, progress would greatly accelerate. I then thought about how K12's students were going to be so much better educated than previous generations, and then they would join the collaboration. The progress would accelerate at an even greater rate.

Time Magazine named Gutenberg the Man of the Millenium for his invention of the printing press because it made literacy for the masses possible. Of course, this paved the way for enduring democracy because widespread education led to the creation of a solid middle class, which is necessary for an effective democracy (I came to the conclusion long ago that a major reason our society has so many problems has to do with our education system--it is a good thing that education reforms are happening. I also believe that a lack of proper education, in its broadest sense, is the reason why it is so difficult to establish stable democracies in the Middle East). In our day, Bill Gates is credited with sparking the personal computer revolution. Think about what that has done and will continue to do. This new high technology business model, the "digital nervous system," will bring us to the next level of education, collaboration, and progress. Of course, this combined with the $100 laptop project will bring educational opportunities to even more of the world (speaking of which, it was really cool to meet a lady from Malaysia at the training who was starting a K12 school there). Just as the printing press made literacy more available to the masses at that time, these advancements will bring greater educational opportunities to lower-income groups today.

It is ironic that I just finished reading The 5000 Year Leap on the plane to DC. The book explains how the Constitution and the free market set the stage for the explosion of progress and technology that the world has witnessed over the past 200+ years. I believe there is the potential for this to happen again. Many think that America is on the decline, and that is true in many ways, but there is still much good that can be built upon. There is reason to be concerned about the behavior and lack of morality of the rising generation. A very wise man named David O. McKay once said that if we teach our children without religion, we are just turning them into clever devils. (By the way, George Washington warned against the belief that morality could be maintained without religion.) A K12 education can help in this area too because it gives parents more of an opportunity to protect their children from negative influences, encourage positive relationships (our school has regular field trips and other activities), and teach them correct principles.

K12 is also releasing its own internal version of MySpace, called "the big thinK¹²." However, it will be moderated and kept appropriate at all times. I find the name "big thinK" interesting. It encourages students to think about others and the big picture. Great things will happen when K12 students come together in such a community. (I'm excited because teachers and administrators will have their own big thinK communities as well.)

There are some amazing things in K12's future. In listening to CEO Ron Packard speak about how he came up with the idea (which was very similar to Jordan Clements' story about how he founded Parents for Choice in Education because he wanted the best education for his daughter) and where the corporation is headed, we were able to catch a glimpse of K12's future. We also listened to Bror Saxberg (check out his amazing resume), who left his family vacation in Norway just for the conference and flew right back afterwards. His mind is way ahead of our time. Just as an example, he is discussing the possibility of bringing something like Second Life (a virtual world) into education. Bror also talked about his son's "addiction" to online video games. Bror said that children are constantly learning, memorizing, and becoming experts in online video gaming. He talked about the great potential such principles have in education. Kids could become addicted to education! It was so cool to hear him say that because I have said the same thing about education and video games many times. In fact, I shook his hand afterwards and spoke to him about these ideas for a while. He was very down to earth. I have often thought about how education has been left behind technologically. While kids have moved on to DVDs, cell phones, iPods, laptops, video games, etc, we still teach the same way we taught one hundred years ago. K12 is finally bringing educational technology up to speed.

On the flight home, I was reading an article about a new city in New Mexico that is focusing on alternative energy. That reminded me of Dubai, which has created Dubai Knowledge Village (DKV) and Dubai International Academic City (DIAC). By creating tax free education zones, these areas have drawn many of the world's leading universities and other educational organizations to build satellite institutions there. I think it would be great if the same thing happened in the United States, only including K12 virtual schools as well. Just imagine. It would be filled with museums like the Exploratorium, the California Academy of Science, the NASA Exploration Center, planetariums, aquariums, etc. People who love education would converge on the city and would continually share their ideas. That educational synergy would continue to grow through the generations.

Well, I'm going to go invest in K12.

A friend of mine encouraged me to include in this post some drawbacks of K12, so here are some things I have learned about K12 since I wrote the above.

K12 could have done a lot more training. I have had to figure things out as I go. I have spoken to others who feel the same about their jobs. I must say, though, that when I have a question, it's really easy to go to K12 Teacher Support for help. There, veteran K12 teachers can tell me or show me on their virtual whiteboards what I need to know. I have seen some weaknesses in the curriculum, but again, I can submit feedback on that. (I have to add that the curriculum team called me concerning some feedback I have made. They really listened and are going to make changes in the curriculum. I have never had that happen in any other school where I have taught!) K12 also had a lot of technical difficulties at the beginning of the year. We had too many new students across the country starting at once. Tech support finally doubled the bandwidth to solve the problem. In addition, I realize that virtual school isn't for everyone; however, it is important for parents to have choices. Rather than government providing a one-size-fits-all public school, it is best if parents can choose between public, charter, private, virtual, and home schooling or a combination. That's really the focus of my blog. I think the ideal, at least for my family, would be a hybrid of virtual and brick and mortar (for the more hands-on activities) private school. Actually, the charter school that I was a founding member of was going to be a hybrid. I prefer private because religion can be a part of it and the private sector basically always does it better than government.

One thing we really like about K12 is that our children are able to go at their own pace and speed past lessons (they can "test out" if they already know something--the pre-assessments help the system know what they need and don't need too and then post-assessments tell the system what they may need to review), subjects, or grades. When my son was in kindergarten, my younger daughter loved the history and science lessons so much that she couldn't be kept from doing everything with him. She is now in first grade, but is in third grade history and science. The problem is, I don't see the same thing in high school--at least at the virtual academy where I work. I believe that students should not be held back. If they can fly through lessons, subjects, or grades, they should be able to. If they are ready for college courses in some subjects, but need remedial work in others, that's what should happen. Our head of school says that that may happen in the future, though. For now, we are still trying to figure out the basics--and that is a lot with K12.

Finally, I don't think K12 has gone far enough in catering to the individual interests, talents, and learning styles of students. I believe that will happen in time, though. For example, this country needs great engineers to compete, and looking at the way the Chinese do the Olympics, I'm guessing their engineers are starting very young and will continue to start younger. Of course, they have a bureaucratic, centralized, high pressure system. Our system should also start them out young, but do it more like Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, and George Washington Carver. The parents and kids should be the decision makers--the schools should be consumer driven. My son loves learning about science and technology, but we have to supplement his K12 education in those areas.

A new beginning

2008-07-30T13:24:00.009-06:00

I now have a new job with a virtual academy powered by K12. Last Wednesday was my last day teaching at West Ridge Academy. It was a very challenging job, but also a very interesting experience. It was interesting because West Ridge is a non-denominational Christian residential treatment center and private school that works with troubled youth with issues from depression to addiction to violence. The program includes psychological and recreational therapy, volunteer LDS senior missionaries who meet with the students regularly about their spiritual progress if the students wish (most really like the missionaries, and so they do), religious classes (Mormon specific or Bible Studies), home parents who help students learn to be responsible and keep their homes clean, athletic programs, etc. I was also an advisor and assisted with a team who met with the students monthly to discuss their therapeutic, academic, and spiritual progress.

Strangely enough, I found that the behavior of West Ridge students was usually better than what I had seen in public schools. West Ridge has a system of natural and logical consequences that encourages students to continually improve. For example, students who refuse to do their school work can lose privileges or eventually end up on work crew, where they do menial jobs--a logical consequence because without an education, they could end up with a similar job. Students who fail to show real effort in their therapeutic issues can end up extending their programs.

Although I must admit it is a relief to have a new job, I will miss being able to openly discuss religion and politics (most parents who sent their children there were pretty conservative). I will also miss seeing the changes that take place so quickly in many of the students. I will share one example.

I remember when Michael (name changed to protect identity) entered the program. His posture was terrible (he had a real self-esteem problem), he was overweight, he had a problem with foul language, and he couldn't focus enough to get his school work done. As I got to know Michael, I learned that his mother had fallen into drugs and prostitution. He was neglected (his mother often chose to spend the money she had on drugs rather than groceries), abused--often by his mother's drug addict "friends" as she would leave him with them--and of course bullied in the public schools (Why is it that those who are beaten up at home have to be beaten up in the public schools too?). Michael also didn't believe in God. We quickly learned that all Michael needed was a little guidance. He had a good heart and was not disrespectful, so he progressed faster than any student I had worked with. To make a long story short, by the time he left, Michael had good posture, had lost a lot of weight (he really enjoyed running long distance--for him it was cathartic), no longer had a swearing problem, became an Eagle Scout, graduated from high school with plans to become a therapist, joined the military, believed in God, had baptized a few of his friends in the military, and most importantly, he was happy.

I don't think these changes could have happened so quickly without the spiritual aspect of the program. Michael learned that he was a child of God, that he could turn to God even when it seemed that everyone else had abandoned him, and that as a child of God, he had the potential to become like God. It is interesting that the research shows that faith in God is a very important part of recovery in Alcoholics Anonymous, but very few talk about applying faith in God to help troubled youth in other aspects of their lives. It was extremely effective at West Ridge Academy. You might expect troubled youth to be very cynical and sarcastic about religion, but I found that when I asked students about their experiences at West Ridge, I received responses like, "I have never felt so close to God," and "I have never been so motivated to overcome my problems." West Ridge still has its problems and, of course, not everyone progresses like Michael (In fact, I did see some students get worse--too often those were the tough kids who were coddled because some of the staff seemed to fear them.), but it was great to watch the positive changes. Now that I will be working at a charter school, I will not be able to discuss the importance of religion with the students. I hope that some day I will be able to see the spiritual aspects of West Ridge combined with the academic aspects of a K12 charter school (vouchers would make the creation of many such schools possible). Michael could have been so much happier for so many more years had he originally been able to enroll in a school where he could have avoided the bullying and been taught to have faith in God.

As a side note, when I first got to West Ridge, it seemed to have almost a military atmosphere. Then something happened. The management decided to really focus on relationships and a change of heart. They encouraged us to, rather than argue or push students to behave, be patient and send the message that we really cared and were on the students' side. It was a difficult transition at first, but in time, I saw that most students put their guard down. They stopped resisting because they knew we were on their side. Because the focus changed from external behavior to change of heart, fewer students would fake the program or "work the system" and more started to really change. I learned a lot at West Ridge and plan to always remember those lessons.

Conservative revolution

2008-06-29T22:05:00.008-06:00

Because many politicians in the Republican Party have been abandoning conservative principles, many Republican voters have been joining or at least looking at the Constitution or Libertarian parties. I agree that if the Republican Party abandons conservative principles we should look elsewhere, but there is reason for hope.

As a country, we obviously understand Congress is doing a poor job, as this Gallup poll indicates:

http://www.gallup.com/poll/108142/Confidence-Congress-Lowest-Ever-Any-US-Institution.aspx

What we don't understand is that it is our own senators and representatives that are causing the problem. It's funny how we do this with both Congress and public education. We rate both poorly, but then deny that our own elected representatives or our own public schools are part of the problem. We need to wake up! They are!

Utah conservative radio talkshow host Bob Lonsberry decided to endorse Jason Chaffetz over 12-year incumbent Rep. Chris Cannon at the last minute. Here's the link to his endorsement:

http://www.570knrs.com/pages/bobs_blog.html?page=2

Chaffetz would probably have won anyway, but Lonsberry is a powerful voice for conservatism in Utah and definitely contributed to the 60% of the vote Jason received. Interestingly, now Bob has set his sites on a new target--incumbent Senator Bob Bennett.

http://www.570knrs.com/pages/bobs_blog.html

Now I understand why so many incumbents endorsed Rep. Cannon (just check on YouTube). Once one goes down, we start to understand our power. Lonsberry is right. We gave Republicans the presidency, the Senate, and the House, and what did they do with it? They acted like liberals. They increased the size of the federal government and the national debt, half fought the War on Terror, neglected to protect our borders, and left our rich oil and alternative energy sources untapped. We need to show them that if they want our votes, they will have to support conservative principles and especially the Constitution. I'm on board with Lonsberry. As a precinct chair, I will do all I can to ensure that these so-called conservatives are defeated and replaced by true conservatives. If the Republican Party doesn't get back to true conservative principles, too many true conservatives will stay home from the polls and liberals will have their way with our government and our tax dollars.

Gas prices

2008-06-29T21:35:00.004-06:00

I should be starting a new job as a virtual school teacher in the next few weeks. I'm excited. Not only about the job itself, but I will no longer have to pay those high gas prices to commute to work because I'll be working from home. That made me think--virtual school should grow in popularity as gas prices continue to increase. Imagine how much our gas consumption would decrease and how much money we could save if more people took advantage of virtual school. In order to bring gas prices down and stop empowering the Middle East, we need to drill for oil in the Gulf Coast, Pacific Coast, and in ANWR, and we need to build more refineries. We need to look to alternative energy sources like natural gas/CNG (speaking of which, take a look at this article on Utah's pioneer efforts in CNG), solar, wind, hydrogen, clean coal, tidal power, nuclear, etc. But we need to reduce consumption as well. Online school is one way to do that.

True potential

2008-05-24T21:19:00.025-06:00

I still remember reading a biography of Thomas Edison when I was in fifth grade. He was pulled from public school, which allowed him more freedom to study on his own. From a very young age, he was a voracious reader, set up his own laboratory in the basement of his parents' home, experimented with telegraphy, and of course went on to become one of the greatest inventors of all time. I have often wondered what would have happened to Edison had he remained in public school. I have also wondered what would have happened to Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Alexander Graham Bell, and many other great thinkers and leaders had they been educated in our assembly-line education system. How many potential geniuses have been lost in our rigid education system? We need a system that will allow children to attend schools that are tailored to their learning styles.

It is interesting that, as a society, we tend to start our children out very young in activities like sports, dance, or music if we expect them to excel, but many children are still confused about their future careers by the time they are in college. We know what might have happened to Michael Jordan had he waited until college to start playing basketball, but what if Edison had waited until college to pursue his interests? I guess what got me thinking about this was a conversation I had with my neighbor. He started pursuing his interests when he was very young. He now has his own very innovative and successful company. Read his story here:

http://sonicweld.com/about.html

We have chosen to educate our children using K12.com, which is a great online multi-media approach to education (our children are also learning Spanish using Rosetta Stone through K12.com), but we are also attempting to encourage them to find their talents and passions. For example, our eight-year-old has shown great interest in science and inventing. We have encouraged this and other learning by purchasing things like robot building kits, How Things Work, an energy kit, the Explorabook, The World Record Paper Airplane Book, books on the human body, the Encyclopedia of World History, Stompin' K'NEXosaurus, Crazy Machines, and many others. We have also set up a system of earning money and saving for our children to spend on their wish list. They earn money by doing things from their everyday chores, being extra helpful, working on an electronics kit, or finishing a book, to trying something that they would otherwise shy away from (maybe jumping off the high dive, for example). We will double their money if they choose to purchase an educational item. I also try to talk to them about current events, like the War on Terror, the energy crisis, alternative energy sources, the national debt, school choice, etc. But I always feel like there is more we could be doing. I would love to start a private school that would give our children more hands-on learning opportunities. Our university system offers a variety of schools, both public and private, that are tailored to different learning approaches and interests. Why doesn't our K-12 public education system? Find out.

He came within one percent

2008-05-24T19:35:00.004-06:00

With what has been happening to our country, sometimes it's difficult to stay motivated and politically involved. It seems like all politicians are the same. Government keeps getting bigger. The national debt keeps growing. Our elected leaders refuse to give us access to the domestic oil drilling and refining capabilities that we need during this energy crisis. No one will take the steps necessary to stop illegal immigration. The list goes on. Needless to say, it was a breath of fresh air to finally find a candidate with the moral courage to stand up for conservative principles--and one who actually represents a significant challenge to the status quo.

At the State Convention of the Utah Republican Party, Jason Chaffetz beat the incumbent congressman, Chris Cannon. Fifty-nine to forty was the final vote. Sadly, sixty percent was needed to avoid a primary. It will be more difficult to defeat a rich and powerful incumbent in the primary, but Jason's chances are looking pretty good.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700227979,00.html

http://www.jasonforcongress.com/page/page/5011447.htm

By the way, I also spoke with Parents for Choice in Education while at the convention. I pointed out that even though vouchers were soundly defeated in the referendum, there were a number of areas that voted in favor of them. I asked whether there was a way the state could give these local areas the authority to institute their own voucher programs. They said they were looking into the possibility. I hope it goes somewhere.

My political involvement

2008-04-17T21:46:00.006-06:00

I was elected Republican Precinct Chair in my area a couple of weeks ago. I was previously a county delegate and state delegate. A precinct chair is both and has a number of other responsibilities. Because we vote in convention to determine who goes on the ballot for the general public, candidates for governor, congress, state legislature, etc, are constantly contacting us, meeting with us, and trying to encourage us to vote for them. It is time consuming, but very interesting. Why would someone commit to so much responsibility without pay? Everyone has their reasons, but my number one reason is school choice. I believe that education is the foundation of society. If we are trying to solve other problems and ignoring education, we are "hacking at the branches of evil" rather than the root. Should we ignore the other issues? Of course not, but I believe our focus should be on empowering parents to choose the best education for their children, whether it is public, charter, private, home, virtual, etc. Empowering parents to do so will force schools to compete to provide the best academic, moral, and behavioral environment.

Read how I became a school choice supporter:

http://theeducationrevolution.blogspot.com/2008/02/end-public-school-monopoly.html

I'm glad I don't live in California anymore

2008-03-22T15:59:00.010-06:00

I'm glad I don't live in California anymore. Should we call it the nanny state or Big Brother? Either way, it's no place for conservatives.

Its courts are now questioning the rights of parents to homeschool
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=59467

California attempts to control thermostats in private homes
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59639

Last summer, I was in California and a police officer pulled me over because my dad wasn't wearing his seat belt. The officer explained to me that we would both be ticketed, even though I was wearing my seat belt. He told us that we would not have to pay the new $80 ticket amount for it (however, we each got an $80 ticket in the mail). The officer explained that they were in the process of hiring a number of new officers just to enforce the seat belt law. I'm glad California has taken care of all other crime so that they can devote so much time and money to controlling all aspects of people's lives (and remember that it's not just the ticket that has to be paid for--California taxpayers are also covering the cars and salaries of the new officers along with their office space, and new bureaucrats they will hire to take care of these tickets, court costs, paperwork, etc.). At that time I thought, "I'm glad I don't live in California anymore," but they obviously aren't finished trying to control people's lives. What will California do next? Glenn Beck said that San Francisco was looking at hiring "garbage police" who would fine you $200 if they found recyclables in your trash!

Oh, but California will argue that they are all about freedom. This is the kind of freedom they support:

A California librarian was recently fired for reporting child pornography
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=59457

The moral collapse of public schools

2008-01-26T21:58:00.001-07:00

The number one search term that brings people to my blog is, "the importance of religion in schools." The removal of God from and the moral collapse of American public schools--how did it happen? John Taylor Gatto answers this question in this chapter of The Underground History of American Education:

http://johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/14a.htm

God, family, and country

2008-01-14T17:22:00.003-07:00

Of all the topics to choose from, why did I choose education as the focus of my blog? The education of children is the foundation of society and the Education Revolution refers to education in its broadest sense. The problems we are facing in America have a lot to do with a lack of education on the most important issues. What are those issues and why are Americans so uneducated about them?

I believe that too many have forgotten about the principles upon which this country was founded. We must relearn them and press our elected representatives to return to these principles. The Constitution teaches us that the powers of the national government are very limited and that the remaining powers belong to the states and the people. Moving away from these principles has led to a growing national debt and a "nanny state" mindset. We must stop looking to the federal government to solve all of our problems. It is unbelievable to me that we are even considering universal healthcare! If the government is obligated to provide healthcare for us, what about the other essentials--food, clothes, shelter, transportation? Will it ever stop? If anything will destroy our economy, it's that kind of thinking. What a terrible thing to pass on to our children and grandchildren. We must remember that when we give up personal responsibility, an equal amount of freedom goes with it. That should be obvious by the amount of taxes we are paying. Individuals, organizations, and states must act to forestall the national government's attempts to encroach upon the powers that were reserved to the states and to the people by the Constitution.

We must hold onto our belief in God, in the principles of the Constitution of the United States of America, and in the traditional family as the foundation of society. The reason I have chosen vouchers as the focus of this blog is that public schools seem to be teaching atheism, attacking America and the principles upon which it was founded, and undermining the traditional family. Also, too many look to public schools as a daycare. They hand over their responsibility to raise their children to the schools. We see what is happening to the morals and behavior of this generation as a result. These trends can be reversed if parents are empowered to choose the best public or private/religious schools for their children. There are many ways to educate people, but there is no education more important than the education of our children.

"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." (Prov. 22: 6)

Please read this great article on our responsibilities as United States citizens and comment on what you think we need to do to reverse the negative trends that are taking place in America right now.

Research shows that vouchers help both public and private school students

2008-01-12T21:45:00.000-07:00

This voucher article at Economist.com is a must read. Check
it out:

FEW ideas in education are more controversial than vouchers—letting parents choose to educate their children wherever they wish at the taxpayer's expense. First suggested by Milton Friedman, an economist, in 1955, the principle is compellingly simple. The state pays; parents choose; schools compete; standards rise; everybody gains.

Simple, perhaps, but it has aroused predictable—and often fatal—opposition from the educational establishment. Letting parents choose where to educate their children is a silly idea; professionals know best. Co-operation, not competition, is the way to improve education for all. Vouchers would increase inequality because children who are hardest to teach would be left behind.

But these arguments are now succumbing to sheer weight of evidence. Voucher schemes are running in several different countries without ill-effects for social cohesion; those that use a lottery to hand out vouchers offer proof that recipients get a better education than those that do not.

Read the complete article at the Economist.com:

http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9119786

The future of online courses and project-based learning in K-12 education

2007-11-29T22:26:00.002-07:00

I have been talking to a friend of mine who is working on his PhD in Engineering Education about the following idea. The research shows that as much or more learning can take place in about 3 hours of home schooling (we use K12.com virtual school, which is a great program) as can take place in a full day of public school. If children were able to take care of those basics in about 3 hours, that would leave a lot of hours that could be used for more learning opportunities. For example, my son wants to be an engineer/inventor. We have tried to purchase educational books and kits to give him opportunities to progress toward that goal, but there is just not enough out there. However, if K12.com were to be combined with a project based learning program like Project Lead the Way, the potential would be limitless. Whether the child’s passion is engineering, science, computers, or whatever, I see this as a great opportunity to bring more motivation and fun into education (and the research shows that children learn and retain much more when those factors are brought into play).

As another example, I teach troubled youth who are very intelligent, but many have chosen to use their intelligence to manipulate and get into trouble. The other day, I was thinking about one junior high student in particular who has Asperger's (which Einstein is speculated by some to have had). He loves science and can explain complex scientific theories in detail. I sometimes catch him reading articles from Popular Science or books by Stephen Hawkings when he is supposed to be working on history. I hate to stop him because he is so passionate about studying science. He is also easily distracted by other students. It would be great if he could use a program like K12.com to quickly complete the basics without the distractions of a crowded classroom and then do project-based learning the rest of the school day. How many Edisons or Einsteins out there might reach their potential with such opportunities who otherwise might not do so? Perhaps many gifted students and those who have been diagnosed with Asperger's and other forms of autism, ADD, ADHD, dyslexia, or other learning disabilities would do much better with more multimedia and interactive/hands-on educational approaches.

A criticism of compulsory education

2007-11-23T16:43:00.000-07:00

For a long time, I have cosidered Milton Friedman to be one of the great education reformers of our time. Another great reformer is John Taylor Gatto. He taught in the public schools for 29 years. He was New York City Teacher of the year in 1989, 1990, and 1991, and New York State Teacher of the Year in 1991. At that point, he quit, saying that he was no longer willing to hurt children. I think what he meant was that he no longer wanted to be part of a system that hurt children, rather than helping them to develop a love for learning and realize their potential. He didn't stop there. He is now a well-known speaker and author, promoting true learning without compulsion (unschooling).

Learn more: http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/index.htm

It's not over

2007-11-11T22:01:00.001-07:00

The dust has settled and teachers unions have claimed victory over vouchers after Referendum 1 was defeated in a 62 to 38 percent margin. What they don't realize is that was not the end of the war--it was only a battle. If a business had 62 percent satisfaction from its customers, would we consider it successful? We should not be satisfied with mediocrity--especially concerning the education of our children. If public schools work for most children, that's great, but if some children's needs could be better met in private schools at around the same cost or less, why not? In addition, charter school legislation failed more than once in Utah before it passed. Vouchers have much more support now than they did before the referendum and the support will continue to grow until it passes. More parents now realize that if they are not satisfied with the academic, behavioral, or moral environment of public schools, vouchers would give them new options.

The main reasons for the opposition could easily be eliminated. They included lack of:

an income cap
an accreditation requirement
a teacher minimum education/licensure requirement
a religious prohibition

The major complaints seemed to be lack of an income cap and a minimum education requirement. Those could easily be changed (although Bill Gates is a college dropout and probably could do alright teaching technology courses, so it might make sense to include an "or equivalent" caveat to a bachelors degree requirement). The accreditation and licensure requirements continue to give the unions too much influence and set up unnecessary barriers to entry. Unless we are willing to eliminate laws that allow Pell Grants, Stafford Loans, and Utah's Carson Smith Special Needs Scholarships (vouchers) to go to religious schools, there should be no religious prohibition. Opponents argue that public schools need more money for teachers, but if they will cut back on administrative costs and set up a merit pay system, there should be plenty of money available for the best teachers. As the last legislative session showed, legislators will also be more likely to put more funding into public education if they see effective reforms taking place. For now, though, it might be good to focus on increasing the quantity and quality of charter schools, teacher performance pay, and other education reforms. Take the poll to the left and vote for which reform you feel would be most effective. Here are some examples of options that are already out there:

Utah County Academy of Sciences

K12.com virtual school

Coming soon: K12.com technology charter school

Why we should all support vouchers

2007-11-05T14:00:00.000-07:00

Lincoln Fillmore, former Challenger School principal, current charter school principal, and Communications Director for Parents for Choice in Education, sent out the following e-mail to voucher supporters. I think it summarizes very well why vouchers are so important:

Why I support vouchers

You all know where I stand. I have worked to reform education through parental choice for many years, both in schools and in the public policy arena. I have forwarded you many emails that explain many of the reasons that vouchers make sense, but I don’t know that I have ever really explained to you why I am so passionate about this issue and why I have spent my entire professional career working to empower parents and introduce more choice into education. This letter is my best attempt to explain my reasons for supporting Referendum 1, and why I am asking you to do the same.

Our society made a commitment many years ago to provide an education for every child. That is a good decision because it benefits everyone. Children are better off because they have the knowledge and skills to succeed. Society is better off because these same children will become the skillful workers of tomorrow, who hold good jobs, provide for their families, and keep our economy strong. They are also the leaders of tomorrow, who will be the guardians of our liberty in the future. I feel a strong commitment to prepare these children for that responsibility, and a quality education is among the most important things society can provide them.

In that context, there are two main reasons that I support school choice as a concept, and Referendum 1 as an application of that concept. 1) Since we have committed to provide education for children, it goes without saying that we ought to provide the best we can. 2) Our commitment is to every single child—every child has value to society, and that value does not decrease if he struggles in public school.

THE BEST EDUCATION WE CAN

If our commitment is to provide a quality education for every child, we aren’t doing it very well. That shouldn’t be read as an indictment of teachers, nor of the public school system in general. Rather, it’s an indictment on the reality that follows from the way education is currently structured.

It is natural for any enterprise to respond to the desires of its customers. Today, the “customer” for public schools is not children nor parents, but the government. All funding for public schools comes from the government, and so the school system is structured to respond to the interests of that bureaucracy, rather than to the interest of the families it serves. That in turn has led to the problems we face today.

And what are those problems? Surely, our schools can’t really be failing so badly. People generally have a very high regard for public schools, and especially for school teachers. By many standards, and when compared to schools in other states, Utah public schools do fine. In fact, most students do well in public schools. But, our commitment is not to most students; it is to every single child. And we are failing many children.

Consider this: there are about 540,000 students in Utah ’s public schools today. If current trends continue, in the 13 years it takes for today’s kindergartners to graduate, about 20 percent of those students will drop out. That’s more than 100,000 kids. Of the students that remain, 26 percent will fail the Basic Skills test required to demonstrate competency before graduating. Another 100,000 kids.

Of the 540,000 kids currently in school, more than 200,000 of them will leave school without the knowledge and skills they need to be successful. I cannot imagine the standard by which that is judged to be successful. As alarming as this is, the statistics are even worse for minority children, who dropout and fail at twice the rate of their white peers.

Are we satisfied with that? If not, what is the solution? I believe that it goes back to addressing the inherent problem of having a government bureaucracy, rather than parents, as the primary customer of the system. Before satisfying parents, schools must first satisfy several layers of politicians and bureaucrats, from the legislature to school boards and from superintendents to pencil pushers. The ones most affected by the schools—families—are the ones with the least influence.

Referendum 1 will change that dynamic by empowering parents with real choice and purchasing power to make that choice. That shift will put parents on equal footing with bureaucracy, requiring schools to respond to the needs of parents, or risk losing customers and their money.

That creates a powerful incentive for schools to meet the needs of the children in their school before they kowtow to political agendas or bureaucratic welfare. In fact, it creates incentive for the bureaucracy to release schools from the red tape that keeps them from innovating and offering creative programs that meet the needs of the students in the classrooms.

I believe that as schools respond to the needs of parents, education will improve. Schools that fail year after year will either improve or lose their customers (students) to schools that do perform. In either case, the children are better off. Parents want good schools, and when they have the power to choose good schools with money that follows children, the entire education system will improve.

A COMMITMENT TO EVERY SINGLE CHILD

It is not reasonable to expect a single school system to be the best option for every child in a group of more than a half million diverse learners. Even if the system’s structure improves so that it is more responsive to parents and children, the best school for your child may not be the best school for someone else’s. It may not even be the best environment for your other child.

At the core of Referendum 1 are two ideas: 1) that children have challenges, personalities, and learning styles that make them unique, and 2) that parents are best qualified to make wise decisions about what educational environment is right for their own children. For most children, the best school may be the one they are assigned by the government. But that is clearly not the best option for all students. It simply can’t be. Children are too unique and diverse to all fit in the same hole.

If your child struggled in public school, wouldn’t you try to find ways to improve the situation? You might try to find other public schools where he might do better. You might try and get a new teacher. You might also focus on the child, and see if he can’t change to fit better in the environment where he is. One or more of those might work.

But what if it doesn’t? When I was a teacher I had students in my classes who had struggled in many other schools, but who fit wonderfully in mine. In particular I think of B.J. McCalister and Carter Monson. Both had struggled in their previous schools—several schools in B.J.’s case—but my teaching style and the school’s curriculum matched them better, and they both improved, gaining knowledge and confidence. I saw the same things happen with many more children when I became a principal.

Sometimes, the best option for a certain child may be in a private school. If that is the case, does that child’s education lose its value to society? Do we give up our commitment to provide him the best education we can? Is our obligation to the public school system stronger than our obligation to that child?

I have met many people in the last few months who believe the answer to all the above questions is “yes.” Some people, including many employed by the public education system, believe that our commitment to the schools outweighs our commitment to the children. They believe that no matter the unique needs a child has or how much he struggles in public school, to provide that child with a different education cannot be done because it would hurt the system.

I am part of that system now, but I do not understand the attitude that the needs of a school are more important than the needs of the children in it. Public schools are a tool we use to provide an education for children. We don’t have schools for the sake of having the schools nor for the sake of employing teachers. We have them to accomplish a goal—a well educated population that has the knowledge and skills to hold good jobs, provide for their families, and protect society’s values.

There are other tools available that can help us reach that goal, and we should be unafraid to use them. We have some choice and options within the public system, including charter schools where I work. Having some choice is good, and having more choice is better. The greater the variety from which families can choose, the more likely they will be to find the best option for their children. Referendum 1 puts more tools at parents’ disposal and will help society better meet our commitment to provide the best education we can for every child.

MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

That is the best case I can make to you, my friends, colleagues, and family, about why I am so strongly committed to education reform in general, and Referendum 1 specifically. I have not focused on responding to arguments from opponents of such reform. Suffice it to say, this bill is not perfect, and if I got to choose, I would make some changes, especially in the amount of help the program provides to low income families. I wish the voucher amount for those families was higher.

No system is perfect. If we let imperfections keep us from doing the best we can, we would close down all public schools. No school will be perfect, and no program will be as long as people are involved in running it. Yet, despite the imperfections in both public and private schools, having real choice can mean that a family can find the best school for their children.

Referendum 1 moves us in the right direction. It places parents in the forefront of the education discussion, where they ought to be. It gives parents purchasing power and provides powerful incentive for schools and the system to respond to the needs of parents and children. Parents will be able to choose from more options, making it more likely that they will find the best option available for their children.

On Tuesday, please vote with me FOR Referendum 1. It will help us meet our commitment to provide the best education we can for every single child.

Lincoln

Are school vouchers welfare for the rich? Hardly.

2007-11-04T21:31:00.002-07:00

Some claim that school vouchers are a form of welfare. If that's the case, then public schools are welfare without a choice. At least school vouchers allow parents to choose between public and private schools--much like Pell Grants allow students to choose between public and private universities.

Many believe that school vouchers are unnecessary because the public schools are meeting their children's needs, but what about parents who feel that the public schools are failing their children? Do their voices not matter? Voucher supporters are not necessarily saying that public schools are inherently bad. Some of them are better than others and some of the teachers are great. However, one size does not fit all and without vouchers, only the wealthy can afford private school tuition in addition to taxes for public schools. See the following examples:

http://choiceineducation.org/families.php

Low-income families seem to be the hardest hit by the education crisis:

A Promising Start for the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (only available to low-income families in failing public schools which receive some of the highest per-pupil funding in the country):

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Education/wm710.cfm

In addition, Black, Latino, and other minority groups are concerned about the graduation rates of their children. Many of them are turning to vouchers and other school choice options.

"In Salt Lake City this morning, several business leaders joined with Competitive America to pledge their support in solving the Latino education crisis in Utah. Latinos, who comprise 12% of Utah’s population, drop out of high school at astounding rates – approximately 40 to 50 percent each year.

"This is a state crisis, which is why these Latino business leaders are coming together. Ask any business leader and they’ll tell you the negative impact an uneducated workforce has on their company,' said Julio Fuentes, vice president of Competitive America. 'Failing so many Latino students by not getting them the education they need will be a drain on the state’s economy for decades to come.'"

http://endthecrisis.blogspot.com/

The Black Alliance for Educational Options is fighting for school choice to give hope to parents who feel that public schools are failing their children.

http://www.baeo.org/

Why do more public school teachers send their children to private schools?

2007-11-01T19:44:00.000-06:00

Why do more public school teachers send their children to private schools than other parents? Maybe because they know more about both of them. I was actually unsure about vouchers and often had people tell me I couldn't understand without being a public school teacher, so I tried it. After teaching in public schools in both Salt Lake and Utah counties, there was no doubt in my mind. In fact, the environment was even worse than I thought. I now know why more public school teachers send their children to private schools.

http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=15818

Why has the public education monopoly become so top heavy?

http://www.fee.org/publications/the-freeman/article.asp?aid=2860

George Will Supports the Utah voucher legislation

"Intellectually bankrupt but flush with cash, the teachers unions continue to push their threadbare arguments, undeterred by the fact that Utah's vouchers will increase per-pupil spending and will lower class sizes in public schools. Why the perverse perseverance? There are two large, banal reasons -- fear of competition and desire for the maximum number of dues-paying public school teachers."

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?articleId=65e331b5-9394-49f6-8e9a-b326a852552c&headline=George+F.+Will%3a+The+teachers%27+unions+see+trouble+in+Utah

Referendum 1 is about power

2007-10-29T20:46:00.000-06:00

Referendum 1 is about power. Allowing the NEA to keep its monopoly is allowing it to override parental concerns and promote its own agenda. It is a good idea to be skeptical whenever the NEA is asking to keep or increase its power. What is the NEA's agenda? After reading this, you just might decide to empower parents and vote for Referendum 1:

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/PhyllisSchlafly/2006/07/25/nea_keeps_tilting_to_the_left

The research supports vouchers

2007-10-28T16:22:00.000-06:00

Research shows that parents are unaware of the poor quality of their own children's education:

http://www.mackinac.org/article.aspx?ID=7091

A reasonable argument for choice and the research that supports it:

http://www.mackinac.org/article.aspx?ID=4455

A Recent Post in the Salt Lake Tribune

2007-10-25T17:37:00.002-06:00

I have friends who just had to pull their daughter from a private school because they couldn't afford it. They are far from wealthy. They just found a school that better matches their academic, behavioral, and moral expectations than the public schools. They are really hoping that vouchers pass, because it would make the difference for them.

On the subject of rejecting students on the basis of disabilities, the Carson Smith bill that passed in 2005 provides larger vouchers for such students. In addition, they can be used at religious schools and have not been challenged in the courts. I think it is because they are religiously neutral. The parents can use the voucher at either secular or religious schools:

http://www.choiceineducation.org/carsonsmith.php#cs5

On the subject of behavior, I worked at a charter school where most of the children were very well behaved, but we had some violent and sexually reactive students who interfered with the education of other children. When we politely suggested to some parents that they try a special school that would better meet the needs of their child, we got a call from their lawyer. It would be nice if we could ensure a safe learning environment for our children, but unless vouchers pass, my friends will be out of luck and our children will have to deal with violent and sexually reactive kids in the public schools (along with the drugs, bullying, immorality, etc.).

Why vote for Referendum 1?

2007-10-20T17:09:00.000-06:00

Time is running out. The vote is on November 6. We need as many people as possible to go to http://votefor1.com/, learn more about why they should vote for Referendum 1, and e-mail the link to their friends and family. Referendums can be won by very narrow margins. You could make the difference.

Frequently asked questions about vouchers/school choice:

http://choiceineducation.org/schoolchoice_faq.php

Utah voucher referendum

2007-09-14T20:30:00.000-06:00

Family is the foundation of society, not government. Parents should be able to decide which school is best for their children, whether public or private. As we've learned from the university system, competition between public and private schools leads to greater responsiveness and progress in both. As a result, our university system is the envy of the world. Why not extend that to our K-12 education system? (Currently, our public schools perform quite poorly in international testing.) The wealthy already have the ability to choose between public and private schools. Vouchers extend that opportunity to lower- and middle-income families by allowing them to transfer a portion of their tax dollars to the school of their choice--whether public or private. Because it is only a portion (less than half of the per-pupil cost of educating a student in Utah public schools), anyone who receives a voucher leaves more funding for other students remaining in the public system. Vouchers will also relieve the public schools of some of the overcrowding, which is a major problem in Utah.

On the question of constitutionality, the United States Supreme Court ruled vouchers constitutional in Zelman_v._Simmons-Harris, and religious universities like BYU and Notre Dame already receive public funds in the form of government grants and loans, so it obviously never was a constitutional issue in K-12 either. Vouchers are also consistent with the Utah Constitution.

Read the text of the voucher bill:

http://le.utah.gov/~2007/bills/hbillenr/hb0148.pdf

BYU NewsNet article on the advantages of vouchers written by a BYU professor:

http://newsnet.byu.edu/story.cfm/64522

The historic dilemma over Utah's education identity (Can vouchers help to bring traditional family values back?):

http://www.sutherlandinstitute.org/uploads/vouchersvows.pdf

If you live outside of Utah, learn what you can do to support vouchers in your state:

http://www.heritage.org/research/education/schoolchoice/schoolchoice.cfm#map

K12 Virtual School

2007-08-30T22:27:00.010-06:00

The deadline for school registration was approaching. My wife and I had to decide how we were going to educate our five-year-old son. We were unhappy with the academics, behavior, and morals in the public schools in the area, couldn't afford some of the excellent private schools, and saw home schooling as a very difficult and time-consuming option. We kept praying about what we should do.

Around this time, I went to the mall to buy some basketball shorts. I walked through the Deseret Book store entrance--with no plans to buy a book. However, as I was walking through, a book called The Broken Hearth: Reversing the Moral Collapse of the American Family seemed to jump off the shelf at me. It was also on sale, so I had to buy it. I took it home and read it, and was very impressed by its message.

I learned that the author was co-founder of K12, a virtual education company. That sounded very interesting to me, so I went to the website. I learned that there were districts in Utah that offered publicly funded K12 virtual school programs. I was disappointed to find that our school district did not offer it. But having studied Utah education policy, I knew that Utah had open enrollment. If you could get your child to the school, you could enroll in any school in the state (In theory, anyway. In reality, the best public schools usually have no room.). Obviously we could get our child to a virtual school, so we contacted Davis School District. We were able to enroll him in the program.

I then contacted Alpine School District (in our area) and asked them whether they were aware of K12.com. They were not. I told them that because our son was enrolled in a different district, Alpine would be losing money. We wanted our own district to receive the funding for our son. I then contacted my representative and asked him to contact Alpine as well. He e-mailed them and sent a copy to me. Soon, Alpine started up the program and we registered with them.

We are very happy with k12.com. Our children enjoy it too. The curriculum is engaging, interactive, and backed by the latest research. The program has online multimedia curriculum as well as books, science kits, and other great materials that are sent in the mail. Also, if you are wondering how a child develops social skills in a virtual school, they have regular activities (we just went to the planetarium, for example) and my son is very involved in sports, scouts, and church, and has many friends in the neighborhood. In fact, I feel that his social interactions are much better than mine were growing up. In the public schools, I had to learn to fight to protect myself from bullies, heard a lot of inappropriate things at a very young age, was offered drugs for the first time in fourth grade (the boy who offered it to me ended up getting murdered when we were in high school) and alcohol in seventh grade (luckily, I didn't give in to either), and became very cynical as a result of my experiences there. I have had to struggle to overcome my cynicism. It makes me wish K12 had been available when I was a kid. We would recommend it to anyone. We really feel our prayer was answered.

By the way, k12.com also has other options, including k12's digital classroom to bring their great program into brick and mortar schools. I really wish the school where I teach could afford to offer it to our students (update: I now work for a school that has it). I think kids sometimes need a little more, like multimedia and other innovative teaching tools, to motivate them and help them reach their potential.

Ideas for the new charter school

2007-08-17T17:51:00.005-06:00

For months, I've been talking to my wife about how great it would be to start a private school in our area using k12.com's digital classroom curriculum. I was planning on contacting the company with the idea. A couple of weeks ago, we received an e-mail from k12.com that said they were planning a charter school in our area. I was very surprised. They invited me to attend the first meeting. I did so and became a founding member. I was very impressed with those in attendance: Excel Education Group (now called Highmark School Development, which "was founded to help grass-roots parent organizations start and successfully operate world-class charter schools"), a representative from K12 Inc., a former Challenger School principal/current charter school principal/representative of Parents for Choice in Education, and others. As a founding member, I am looking for ideas to make this the best charter school possible. Here is a list of some of the ideas we have discussed and some ideas I plan on suggesting.

-Challenge students by setting high academic standards.
-Use an innovative and inspiring curriculum: k12's digital classroom with SMART Board technology.
-A math/science/technology focus (perhaps offer computer programming in elementary like Challenger School does).
-Separate science and technology labs with games and other fun activities (including educational software).
-Encourage self-reliance and independent thinking.
-Track progress through regular pre- and post-assessments of learning
-Allow students to move at a faster pace if they want to (many homeschoolers move through their curriculum very quickly and go to college early).
-Teach effective study skills to all students.
-Create a safe and structured learning environment and set high behavioral standards.
-Academic and technology competitions.
-A lot of hands-on activities and written reports.
-Reality Town-type activity (kids' grades translate into a salary and they play sort of a game of life with that salary--really helps kids to see the value of education).
-music, choir, Spanish, art, debate, martial arts (jujitsu)
-Because parental involvement is the number one factor in the academic success of students, perhaps encourage a minimum of volunteer hours from parents (although according to Utah law, they cannot be required).
-Ensure ongoing communication of academic and behavioral progress with parents.
-Involve parents in discipline and use a written agreement system to help students think about their behavior.
-Small class sizes are also a major factor in both academics and behavior--maximum classroom size of 20 students?
-A modest and conservative dress code.
-Require student service hours (in and out of school). Mentoring younger students could fulfill this requirement. We could also encourage humanitarian aid projects. Service helps children to become more altruistic. In studies, "American children were the least altruistic on all measures and the most egoistic. The most altruistic children came from societies in which children are assigned many tasks... These children knew that their work made a genuine contribution (Wade & Tavris 480)."

We have some great architects to choose from and would like to hear some more ideas about what you would like to see in the school building and any other ideas you might have. After attending the mandatory meeting for charter school applicants yesterday, and listening to some of the ideas there, I am also looking at the idea of a virtual academy. A virtual academy could greatly increase parental involvement, but could also take care of the downside of homeschooling with things like science labs, hands-on projects, field trips, service projects, sports (could sports be done through existing city leagues?), etc. These would allow for positive group interaction while avoiding negative peer influence or bullying (see paragraph below). It also costs taxpayers less to educate a child through virtual school than conventional school.

Parents need other options because there is way too much negative peer influence in public schools today. In studies of adolescents, research seems to show that most “had ’secret lives’ and private selves that they never revealed to their parents (Garbarino & Bedard, 2001). Most reported committing crimes, drinking, doing drugs, and having sex without their parents’ knowing anything about it.” Also, when “the peer group’s values clash with the parents’…who wins? The answer, typically, is peers” Once we are among them, “most of us go along with them, molding facets of our personalities to the pressures of the group (Wade & Tavris 475).”

Wade & Tavris. Psychology. 8th edition. Prentice Hall. 2006.

(Update: Highmark School Development pulled out of the deal because they found out that a public elementary school was already coming into our area. They are now taking the school to a different city. The board members were left with no compensation for all the time we volunteered. Although the charter school will benefit families in its new location, this experience increases my support for vouchers because it is unfair for board members to have to volunteer their time and money for a charter school that is supposed to benefit everyone and that may be moved at any time. Although this charter school was looking very good, free market incentives would also lead to higher quality schools. There have been some charter schools that have been started by amateurs, and it has shown.)

Growing drug and bullying problems in public schools

2007-08-17T17:34:00.002-06:00

The tragic consequences of bullying in schools

"Experts say bullying is a serious and widespread problem that can lead to school shootings and suicide. At the same time, they say, it is dangerously underrated, as schools and adults are not taking the problem seriously enough.

"'For the child who's been targeted by a bully, their life is a living hell,' said Glenn Stutzky, a school violence specialist at Michigan State University. 'Bullying is probably the most frequently occurring form of violence in American schools today and it's really the engine that's driving the majority of violence. It's a huge problem.'"

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Story?id=123984&page=1

U.S. teens say drug problems are getting worse in schools

"Teenagers say drug problems at school are getting worse, and parents express doubts about ever making such schools drug free, a new study says. The percentage of teens who say they attend high schools with drug problems has increased from 44 percent to 61 percent since 2002, and the percentage in middle schools has increased from 19 percent to 31 percent, according to the survey to be released today by Columbia University's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. Four in five teens in high school told researchers they have witnessed the use, sale or possession of illegal drugs on high school grounds or seen someone who was drunk or high on campus." http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695201267,00.html

Too much bullying in public schools

"More than 1 in 6 sixth- through 10th-graders say they are bullied sometimes, and more than 1 in 12 say they are bullied once a week or more (Journal of the American Medical Association, 2001).

In Utah, 93 percent of fourth- through ninth-graders surveyed by the Utah Behavioral Initiative said bullying was the biggest problem facing schools -- far ahead of drugs and gangs."

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4188/is_20060729/ai_n16646105?lstpn=article_results&lstpc=search&lstpr=external&lstprs=other&lstwid=1&lstwn=search_results&lstwp=body_middle

John Stossel: Health Insurance Isn't All It's Cracked Up to Be

2007-07-24T21:58:00.001-06:00

Universal health care is about the worst thing that could happen to American medicine. Read John Stossel's article about how free market principles, including health savings accounts and high-deductible catastrophic insurance, will do much more to improve healthcare and decrease costs. After reading the article, ask your employer about changing your health insurance to save you and your company money.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/PrescriptionForChange/Story?id=2574980&page=2

What does this have to do with education? OK, it's not really related, but have you ever seen this?:

John Stossel's 'Stupid in America': How Lack of Choice Cheats Our Kids Out of a Good Education http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Stossel/story?id=2383857&page=1

High schools should be more like universities

2007-07-22T21:55:00.001-06:00

There is a science and technology charter school in Orem, Utah that was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Students graduate from the high school with an A.S. degree. High schools should be more like universities. Kids should be able to choose a major or trade and finish with a degree. There should be a choice between public and private, religious and nonreligious, and conservative or liberal. The school the student chooses to attend should receive the funds for that student.

I was an average student in high school. I wasn't very motivated--mostly because I felt like I was being forced to do something I didn't want to. However, I loved college and graduated with a 3.9. I think the difference was that I got to choose what I wanted to do. I have a brother-in-law who wasn't very motivated in school either. Now he is an excellent aviation mechanic. Why do we drag kids through the current public education system? It can frustrate them and make them feel inferior, angry, and rebellious. Of course, even in a system where kids could choose a major or a trade, generals would still be required, but more freedom would motivate kids and help them to prepare to be contributing members of society. What if we were forced to study mechanics? Wouldn't many of us be frustrated? That's how many students feel in high school. If kids pursue their dreams in high school and start focusing on their careers, they will no longer feel they are being forced to do something they don't want to do. They will start working toward becoming productive members of society. And the earlier we start specializing in something, the better we will become at it. Thomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and other great thinkers started when they were very young. Maybe if our engineers started specializing in that area earlier on, Asian engineers wouldn't be beating our auto makers.

Article on the Utah County Academy of Sciences

school's website:

http://www.ucas.k12.ut.us/index.html

The American public education system has not kept up with technology. Why would it? It is a monopoly. They receive our tax dollars whether or not they innovate, keep costs down, or meet our academic, behavioral, and moral expectations. If our education system operated in more of a free market system, we might see more schools implementing programs like Project Lead the Way. The following is its philosophy:

"PLTW 's curricula make math and science relevant for students. By engaging in hands-on, real-world projects, students understand how the skills they are learning in the classroom can be applied in everyday life. This approach is called activities-based learning, project-based learning, and problem-based learning (or APPB-learning, for short). Research shows that schools practicing APPB-learning experience an increase in student motivation, cooperative learning skills, higher-order thinking, and student achievement."

http://www.pltw.org/about/about-us.html

Vouchers will empower parents to bring respect and morality back

2007-07-14T20:15:00.003-06:00

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

-Edmund Burke

"[I]t is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. Religion and virtue are the only foundations...of republicanism and of all free governments."

"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion... Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

-John Adams

Most people focus on academics when discussing vouchers. I do believe that sound voucher legislation that empowers parents to choose the best school for their children will improve academics, but I have greater concerns--behavior and morals. Before public schools, traditional family values were passed on because parents and children worked together and spent a lot more time together. Now, especially since God was banned from the public schools, religion and traditional family values are disappearing. But parents who really care want to do something about it.

Morals are gone in the public schools. Drugs, sex, bullying, materialism, focus on popularity, etc, seem to have become the norm. Being LDS, and coming from California, I really thought things would be different here in Utah, but they weren't. I have taught in the Salt Lake and Utah County areas. In schools where I have taught, many girls have been sexually harassed by students and teachers (when I have reported incidents, I have been told to keep it quiet--which I refused to do), the students' language and behavior is terrible (even a fellow teacher admitted to me that he literally tells his classes to shut the f--- up, and pretty much all the teachers at that school referred to the students as "little s---s" when in the teachers lounge), traces of cocaine have been found in the restroom, boys have pressured girls to "give in" and let them grope them and abuse them in other ways--and more and more girls are giving in (or are forced to), etc, etc. Not long ago, I talked to a teacher in Idaho and he told me these things were happening there too. The girls are emotionally scarred by the sexual pressure. I've seen it. They feel like they have to give in to fit in.

My wife grew up in a small town, in a small school, in a small district and her friends became sexually active and started drinking and doing drugs. And it wasn't just her friends. That became the norm there. One of the teachers was a lesbian. The principal had an affair and remained principal. My wife's parents pulled her from the school and sent her to a private school. My wife had no problem with that because she was quite upset with what was going on. She turned out fine and went to college early. I'm just glad they had the means.

I just came back from a discussion with a neighbor of mine. Talking to her is what made me decide to finally be a little more specific about this stuff. She was telling me some of the horror stories from her Colorado public school. Her mom, a public school teacher, caught kids having sex in the closet. The neighbor also said that boys at her school pulled a girl into the wrestling room and raped her. Others grabbed her sister, taped her down, and had their way with her. When she reported it, other students and parents actually got mad at her and ostracized her. A public school teacher was talking to us as well and agreed with us about the environment of public schools. I was first offered drugs in the fourth grade. I remember years later seeing that boy kicked in the face repeatedly in a fight at school. I also remember bullies in junior high urinating on the restroom floor and then telling mentally handicapped kids to "breakdance" on the floor. Other kids laughed and encouraged it. What kind of environment is in the public schools? My brother had learning disabilities and had a hard time finding friends. He ended up in the wrong crowd. He is still recovering from the years of alcohol and drug use that followed. He has said to me many times that he wishes he could go back. Although you could argue it was his own choice and his own fault, I really don't think children should have to face such environments in their formative years. I wish my brother had never been around such bad influences. I could mention numerous other incidents of bullying, drug abuse, and sexual predation. And I'm sure you've seen the disgusting "hazing" that has been increasing in public schools throughout the country. Most parents are unaware of these things because their children are afraid or too uncomfortable to say anything. No wonder public school teachers are much more likely than the average parents to send their children to private schools.

There is way too much negative peer influence in public schools today. In studies of adolescents, research seems to show that most “had ’secret lives’ and private selves that they never revealed to their parents (Garbarino & Bedard, 2001). Most reported committing crimes, drinking, doing drugs, and having sex without their parents’ knowing anything about it.” Also, when “the peer group’s values clash with the parents’…who wins? The answer, typically, is peers.” Once we are among them, “most of us go along with them, molding facets of our personalities to the pressures of the group (Wade & Tavris 475).”

Wade & Tavris. Psychology. 8th edition. Prentice Hall. 2006.

Now compare all of that to a school like this: http://www.american-heritage.org/index.html

With all this stuff going on, I'm surprised more people aren't supporting vouchers. Those who want to protect their children and bring them into a safe and moral environment should be able to do so. The wealthy already have that ability. Vouchers would extend that opportunity to other parents.

Conservatives and libertarians should embrace vouchers

2007-07-11T22:10:00.001-06:00

Conservatives and libertarians should embrace vouchers. They will break the public school monopoly and introduce free market principles to empower parents to choose the best school for their children--academically, behaviorally, and morally. The competition will cause both public and private schools to better meet the expectations of parents. They will also wean us from government control and lead to increased efficiency.

http://www.independent.org/pdf/tir/tir_07_2_bast.pdf

Vouchers do not violate the constitutional separation of church and state

2007-07-09T20:33:00.001-06:00

The Supreme Court's ruling that vouchers do not violate the separation of church and state (which is a myth anyway--read about the myth of the separation of church and state) in Zelman_v._Simmons-Harris is further supported by this article:

The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." The courts have come to interpret this clause in a way that falsely sets up a wall of separation between church and state. Philip Johnson, a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley argues that the clear and unambiguous language of the First Amendment was intended "to prevent the federal government from making laws about religion, and thus to leave this subject to state and local authorities."

During the last half of the Twentieth-Century, however, a succession of Supreme Court rulings have effectively turned the establishment clause upside down. As Johnson explains, "Intended as a restriction on the federal government, it became instead an open-ended charter for the federal judiciary to impose on local school boards its own vision of the proper relationship between religion and the people. Of course, that vision has turned out to embody the agnostic viewpoint of the knowledge class. The public schools, which are the only schools available to most non-wealthy people today, are resolutely secular....Since the 1960s the triumph of a more militant secularism in the public schools has been consolidated. The superficial signs of this consolidation include the banning of school prayers, Bible readings, and Christian programs. The much more profound change is in the adoption of a moral and intellectual relativism that affects every aspect of school life.... Public schools are increasingly perceived as anarchic, drug-ridden, politicized, and permissive."
Continue reading: http://www.acton.org/ppolicy/education/school/crisis/ch4.html

Vouchers will bring educational opportunities to the poor

2007-07-05T22:27:00.000-06:00

"Why vouchers? Parents, more so than in the past, want education for their children. The public sector is unable to meet this demand, while the private sector is increasingly able to fill in for the dysfunctional public sector. Even the poorest are willing to forego free but useless public education for costly but (slightly) better private education.

"Yet, the fact that the poorest are paying for education and foregoing other necessities is unfair and unjust. India is therefore ripe for a voucher system that would combine public financing with the private provision of basic education. A voucher scheme would simply accelerate an ongoing market-driven trend towards the spread of basic education. A successful voucher scheme will require deregulation to allow the private sector to meet demand, but the government will have an important role in ensuring quality through effective certification and accreditation procedures.

"Why graduated vouchers? First and foremost, by providing more money for children from backward groups, it would appease the clamour for equity. Politicians will be seen as doing more for the downtrodden. Second, bigger vouchers might even be necessary to overcome any discrimination by private providers against enrolling children from backward castes."

http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?autono=287921&leftnm=4&subLeft=0&chkFlg=

Make a comment

2007-07-04T20:27:00.000-06:00

I have had visitors from every continent (except for Antarctica, of course). I see vouchers as the new American Revolution--bringing the principles of the American Founding a step further, but I would like to know what you think. Please make a comment. Do you agree? Disagree? Do you think this is a worthwhile cause? Or is this just the worst, most boring blog you've ever seen? I'd really like to know what I can do to improve it. Do you have any really good links or stories? Thanks.

The public school nightmare

2007-07-01T16:47:00.000-06:00

You make decisions about what kind of house you buy, what kind of car you buy, what kind of groceries you buy, but the government is making the decisions about something much more important--what kind of "education" your child receives. Who is more fit to make decisions about the education of your children, the government or you?

http://www.tysknews.com/Depts/Educate/public_school_nightmare.htm

Are schools necessary?

http://edurev.com/blog/2007/08/23/are-schools-necessary/

The importance of religion in our schools

2007-07-01T13:38:00.000-06:00

Although it is unjust for our government to continue to use our taxes exclusively for an amoral (at best) education system and discriminate against those of us who would like to use at least a portion of our taxes to educate our children in a better environment, I think we must accept the possibility that the opposition may be too strong for now. We should look at other ideas as well. This article discusses the importance of religion in our schools and how low-income families may be able to obtain that option without vouchers.

Religious Education Should Be Free
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1183053078018&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

With Democrats controlling Congress, struggling families in DC may lose school vouchers

2007-06-25T22:45:00.002-06:00

This article discusses the possible fate of the DC voucher program. "We had hoped that the mandate of a rigorous trial would help to better frame the debate about improving the schooling of children trapped in terrible schools. Certainly, test scores are important, but so, too, are the experiences of parents in knowing what is best for their children. This week's Education Department report found parents satisfied with safer and better schools. That finding echoes a recent report by Georgetown University researchers in which parents said that their children were working harder and that they themselves were getting more involved in the schools. Many of those who will be deciding this issue have never known what it's like not to have options. They might want to listen to people such as Nikia Hammond, another D.C. parent, who has four children in the program. As she told The Post, 'Without the scholarship fund . . . I'd be out of luck.'"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/22/AR2007062201789.html

Never forget

2007-06-22T22:08:00.001-06:00

Although it is not the focus of this blog, this cause deserves attention. Relatives of mine died in the Holocaust. We must do all we can to stop genocide.

http://www.ushmm.org/conscience/alert/darfur/contents/01-overview/
http://www.savedarfur.org/pages/unity_statement

The history and future of public education

2007-06-20T19:22:00.000-06:00

"Although parents are charged with the responsibility of making critical, even life and death, decisions concerning their children’s welfare, most Virginia parents are unable to make a true choice with respect to one vital aspect of their children’s lives. Their children are sent to a government-mandated, government-assigned, government-controlled educational institution. It was not always this way. Until fairly recently parents had much more control over the schools that their children attended, and parental questions and concerns were not filtered through layers of bureaucracy. Unfortunately, the history of the public school system in American is one of centralization, consolidation, and standardization. It is perhaps not surprising that parents are searching for a way to regain control of their children’s education.

"Vouchers and tuition tax credits are two ways to increase school choice. Under a voucher system, all students would receive vouchers for a specified amount of money good at any school, public or private. The school admitting the student would redeem the voucher for payment. Depending on the amount of the voucher, the student’s tuition bill would be partially or completely paid by the government. This system expands school choice in a simple and straightforward manner."

http://www.virginiainstitute.org/tax.html

Taxpayer advocacy groups support vouchers

2007-06-15T22:17:00.000-06:00

Quote from the Utah Taxpayers Association:

"We’ve always been supporters of school choice, which includes charter schools and education vouchers for low-income families. Taxpayer groups nationwide support school choice because what American K-12 education really needs is more choice and competition, not necessarily more money.

"Since 1970, U.S. per student spending has increased more than 100% after inflation. Despite this infusion of tax dollars, twelfth grade NAEP math, reading, and science scores are virtually unchanged, and the U.S. still performs below many industrialized countries on international math and science comparisons. And yes, these international comparisons are apples-to-apples comparisons and are not comparisons between average American students and elite European and Asian students (http://utahtaxpayer.blogspot.com/2006/10/charter-schools-hitler-and-godwins-law.html)."

China has more honor students than we have students. The education of children (in its broadest sense) is the foundation of society. If we don't set up a more competitive system, our economy and military will suffer. For example, what happens if the Chinese create an effective missile defense system before we do?

Becoming informed and politically involved

2007-06-15T18:56:00.003-06:00

Not long ago, I was speaking with a friend of mine--who happens to work in city management--about vouchers. We found that our beliefs about education and politics were pretty similar. I e-mailed him a link to my blog. A short time later, someone called me at work and told me that my friend had recommended me to be a state delegate. I had already been elected as a county delegate and helped a voucher supporter get elected to the House of Representatives. I accepted the appointment. Since then, I have taken extra time to educate myself concerning important political issues, attended the state Republican convention and cast my votes, and contacted the governor as well as senators and representatives about the issues. They really listen to delegates. It's interesting how educating yourself and getting involved can open doors.

Some of the issues I'm focusing on as a delegate:

Energy Independence
http://www.heritage.org/Press/Commentary/ed050108b.cfm

Transportation (After the huge snow storm traffic jam, this has to be a priority.)
http://www.udot.utah.gov/mountainview/maps.php#uc

Securing the border http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20070622/cm_usatoday/wewontbefooledagain;_ylt=AhouF0Hu3y6OlpAt8010qfXMWM0F
Self-reliance, family, and limited government
http://www.sutherlandinstitute.org/

Paying off the national debt
http://www.heritage.org/research/budget/index.cfm

Self-reliance in education (after they failed in the referendum, vouchers don't have much of a chance, but there are many other school choice options)
http://choiceineducation.org/
http://www.sutherlandinstitute.org/sitePages/index.asp?section=9&page=42

Lower taxes
http://www.heritage.org/research/ (see federal budget and spending for this issue, but the Heritage Foundation has great information on all the conservative issues)
http://www.utahtaxpayers.org/

The gathering storm

2007-06-03T21:45:00.000-06:00

The rising generation must be prepared for great challenges. We must do more in order for this to happen.

Rising Above The Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future

"It is the unanimous view of our committee that America today faces a serious and intensifying challenge with regard to its future competitiveness and standard of living. Further, we appear to be on a losing path. We are here today hoping both to elevate the nation’s awareness of this developing situation and to propose constructive solutions."

http://www7.nationalacademies.org/ocga/testimony/Gathering_Storm_Energizing_and_Employing_America2.asp

American Education Not World Class

"The schools systematically let kids down. By grade 4, American students only score in the middle of 26 countries reported. By grade 8 they are in the bottom third, and at the finish line, where it really counts, we're near dead last. Its even worse when you notice that some of the superior countries in grade 8 (especially the Asians) were not included in published 12th grade results."

http://4brevard.com/choice/international-test-scores.htm

Perilous Times

"[I]f a number of the following events take place concurrently or in close succession, it will mean nothing less than the end of the West as we know it."

http://www.glennbeck.com/perfectstorm/index.shtml

The Perfect Day (in terrorists' eyes)

Terrorists are working on horrific plans to enter schools and torture and murder children. It has already happened in Beslan, Russia. The intelligence indicates they are planning to do the same thing here in the US--only it will be a coordinated attack in multiple locations across the country.

http://www.glennbeck.com/news/09112007a.shtml

A recent response to an opponent of school choice

2007-05-03T17:50:00.000-06:00

What if there was a government grocery store (or car dealership, computer store, etc.) that, whether or not you liked their products or services, took your money anyway? Then you had to pay again if you preferred the products or services of a private company. If you were happy with the government business, then you wouldn't complain. In fact, you might be irritated if anyone complained that the government business took their money even though they preferred a private business. But if you were unhappy with the products and services of the government business, you would want a choice and would consider it unfair that your money went to the government business despite your dissatisfaction with it. Public schools currently operate under such a system. Why should parents have to pay twice (in taxes, then tuition) when they send their children to a private school because of better academic, moral, or behavioral standards? We wouldn't stand for it if it was any other kind of business, but because we have long been in the rut of tradition, we don't see the problem with the public school monopoly.

Because you believe that the academics, behavior, and morals of the public schools are right for your kids, you feel I have no right to complain. But while you deny me the right to choose the school that is best for my children, you are happy to use my tax dollars for your choice. Yes, even when you accept the status quo, you are exercising choice. And I will not argue with that. But I would ask you to allow me the same right.

Our economy is the envy of the world because of choice. Our university system is the envy of the world because of choice. You can choose a public or private school that aligns with your academic, behavioral, and moral standards (and public funding has gone to private universities--even religious, like BYU--as a result of Pell grants and the GI Bill). Public and private schools compete for students and both continually improve because of that competition.

Ideally, everyone would be able to pay for their children's education without government assistance. They would be able to choose the best school for their children--whether public or private. Because many can't afford that, only the wealthy currently have school choice. A means-tested voucher would extend that opportunity to lower-income families. In fact, because public schools in Washington DC were consistently failing lower-income families despite some of the highest per-pupil funding in the country, Congress recently passed such a voucher there. It has given many families the ability to escape the dangerous and poorly performing public schools and transfer their children to much better private schools. (See the link below for more information on the Washington DC voucher program.) But a school shouldn't have to be dangerous to justify a voucher. Everyone should have the freedom to choose the school that is best for their children.

2007-04-26T17:54:00.000-06:00

Education or indoctrination?

2007-04-22T15:58:00.000-06:00

"How many teachers have been fired because they do not know how to teach our children how to read? How many have been disciplined because high-school graduates do not have a clue what the Constitution says, how their government works, or what capitalism is all about? How many pay raises, promotions and increases in benefits to teachers and administrators have been withheld or reduced based upon a failure to perform? The reason our schools do not improve is obvious: They are run by a government-controlled monopoly that spawns, protects and rewards bad management and mediocrity. It is an insidious, self-serving system that survives and thrives because education labor unions pay off politicians for protecting them from accountability, competition and reform.

The National Education Association is the most selfish and destructive special interest in America. We made a great, perhaps fatal mistake by allowing government to take control of education. It should have been foreseeable that, sooner or later, the opportunity to shape and mold the thinking of children to conform with political agendas and social causes would be irresistible. We should not be surprised that while our children are not being educated, they are being indoctrinated. While they are not accumulating knowledge, they are accumulating attitudes. They are being instilled with anti-constitutional, big government values, and anti-religious, heathen mind-sets.

http://www.dadi.org/lb_educ2.htm

Excellent school choice links

2007-04-16T18:06:00.000-06:00

In America today we have a two-tiered system of education. Parents with financial resources can afford the option of moving their children to better-performing school districts, but millions of children who come from disadvantaged families are forced to attend schools that leave them behind. All Children Matter is dedicated to changing that.
http://www.allchildrenmatter.org/mission.php

The Sutherland Institute: Self Reliance in Education
http://www.sutherlandinstitute.org/sitePages/index.asp?section=9&page=42

A Promising Start for the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (only available to low-income families in failing public schools which receive some of the highest per-pupil funding in the country) http://www.heritage.org/Research/Education/wm710.cfm

Parents for Choice in Education (Utah)http://www.choiceineducation.org/getinvolved_member.php

Excellent Article on Utah's Revolutionary New School Voucher Program http://www.heritage.org/Research/Education/wm1362.cfm#_ftn4

The Milton & Rose D. Friedman Foundation: The Best Education Possible (Nobel Laureate economist who started arguing for school choice in the 1950s) http://www.friedmanfoundation.org/

School Choice Progress Report (Find out what's going on in your state, and how you can get involved.)
http://www.heritage.org/research/education/schoolchoice/schoolchoice.cfm#map

John Stossel's 'Stupid in America': How Lack of Choice Cheats Our Kids Out of a Good Education http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Stossel/story?id=2383857&page=1

Article about the effectiveness of vouchers in developing countries http://www.unesco.org/courier/2000_11/uk/doss22.htm

The Ongoing School Choice Debate
http://64.71.179.146/friedman/newsroom/ShowArticle.do?id=35

The Case for Choice in Schooling: Restoring Parental Control of Education
http://mackinac.org/article.aspx?ID=3236

Vouchers are Necessary for Religious Neutrality (This article is a little dated, so it does not mention that vouchers allowing parents to choose religious private schools have already been ruled constitutional by the Supreme Court, but it is still a very good article.)
http://www.lancelotfinn.com/religious_neutrality_vouchers.htm

High schools should be more like universities

2007-04-12T21:35:00.001-06:00

k12 virtual school

2007-04-11T20:26:00.002-06:00

The deadline for school registration was approaching. My wife and I had to decide how we were going to educate our five-year-old son. We were unhappy with the academics, behavior, and morals in the public schools, couldn't afford some of the excellent private schools in the area, and saw homeschooling as a very difficult and time-consuming option. We didn't yet know how we were going to do it. We kept praying about what we should do. The answer came in an unexpected way.

I went to the mall to buy some basketball shorts. I walked through the Deseret Bookstore entrance--with no plans to buy a book. However, as I was walking through, a book called The Broken Hearth: Reversing the Moral Collapse of the American Family seemed to jump off the shelf at me. It was also on sale, so I had to buy it. I took it home and read it, and was very impressed by its message.

When I looked at the inside flap of the back of the book, it said that the author was co-founder of k12.com, a virtual academy. That sounded very interesting to me, so I went to the website. I learned that there were districts in Utah that offered the program without cost. I was disappointed to find that our school district did not offer it. But having studied Utah education policy, I knew that Utah had open enrollment. If you could get your child to the school, you could enroll in any school in the state (Usually in theory only. In reality, the best public schools have no room.). Obviously we could get our child to a virtual school, so we contacted Davis School District. We were able to enroll him in the program.

I then contacted Alpine School District, in our area, and asked them whether they were aware of K12.com. They were not. I told them that because our son was enrolled in a different district, Alpine would be losing money. We wanted our own district to receive the funding for our son. I then contacted my representative and asked him to contact Alpine as well. He e-mailed them and sent a copy to me. Soon, Alpine started up the program.

We are very happy with k12.com. Our sons enjoys it too. The curriculum is brand new and backed by the latest research. The program has multimedia as well as books and other materials that are sent in the mail. It makes me wish it had been available when I was a kid. We would recommend it to anyone. We really feel our prayer was answered.

By the way, k12.com also has other options, including k12's digital classroom to bring their great program into schools. I really wish the school where I teach could afford to offer it to our students. I think troubled kids sometimes need a little more (like multimedia and other innovative teaching tools) to motivate them to want to learn.