Topic: education

I’d like to encourage everyone who voted FOR referendum 1 to please go to the Parents For Choice in Education website and register as a supporter. If the voucher concept ever resurfaces to sees the light of day in Utah (and I think it will since we only needed to sway an additional 12% of voters), we’re going to need people on the ground to pass out fliers, place yard signs, and host neighborhood meetings in their homes.

There was just too much misinformation out there. The opposition spent millions of UEA dollars to send daily mailers and buy up something like 6x the TV spots, and those anti-voucher ads were full of lies. The only way you can combat that kind of FUD campaign is to have a groundswell of grassroot support, willing to do what it takes to make sure that every citizen has the facts.

Please sign up now so that next time we can know our supporters and better coordinate our efforts. Help us ensure that parent’s choice in education never gets railroaded by union special interests again.

This is not over.

Here’s a campaign status update from Parents for Choice in Education:

Some polls done by the media show that the school voucher law is behind in statewide opinion surveys. While we always knew this Referendum would be an uphill battle against a wealthy entrenched special interest union with millions in out-of-state cash, we remain confident.

This election will be decided by turnout. Normally, odd-year elections have very low turnout. Conventional wisdom has been that Referendum 1 would lead to higher turnout, but early numbers show that voters have been less than expected.

We have the votes to win, if those voters will show up and cast their ballots. The most important thing you can do is to get to the polls on Tuesday, and take other Referendum 1 supporters with you. We can win this election if you show up and vote!

This really is about turnout, so please take the time to get out and vote. Call your family. Call your friends. Let them know that this is important to you.

I’m going to repost this ad, because I think it may be helpful for some of the undecideds.

If you haven’t done your homework, these people have. Which side do you tend to agree with?

Powerful Union interests have spent millions of dollars on dishonest ads to try block this good legislation. But if you believe in low taxes; limited government; free market principles; and parents’ fundamental right to let their children learn how, where, or what they may; you really need to vote FOR referendum 1.

—–

If you would like to hand out fliers and talk to undecideds near voting stations please call Deb at 727-460-2853 and she can get you some materials.

Here it is in its entirety.

Wall Street Journal
Union Libel

November 5, 2007
REVIEW & OUTLOOK
Utah’s children may not excel in math or English, but their teachers are very good at instructing them in how to run a political campaign. As 2007 achievement test data show another disappointing year for the state’s children, the teachers union is running a multi-million-dollar campaign to insulate itself from competition.

On Tuesday, Utahns will vote on whether to proceed with a statewide voucher program enacted in February. The plan passed both houses of Utah’s legislature after a rough-and-tumble debate, and was signed by Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr. But the teachers union immediately launched a ballot initiative to overturn the law and succeeded in blocking it from taking effect prior to Tuesday’s vote.

A new report from the Utah Foundation shows the state’s public education could certainly use a shake-up. The states most similar demographically to Utah, by measures such as student poverty and parental education, are Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Utah finishes last in this group, based on eighth-grade scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Utah youngsters trail the pack across the range of core subjects — last in math, last in reading, last in science.

Still, the unions are banking that fear of the unknown will trump demonstrated incompetence. The opponents have raised a bundle to disseminate their predictions of doom, including more than $3 million from status quo headquarters, the National Education Association. They’re stoking that fear with antivoucher TV ads that aren’t winning high marks for honesty. Salt Lake’s KSL-TV, an NBC affiliate that has editorialized against vouchers, nonetheless felt compelled to label as “false” the central claims in two recent attack ads against vouchers.

One ad featured the “Utah teacher of the year” claiming that vouchers “take resources away from public schools.” In fact, the law provides only up to $3,000 per child toward private school tuition, depending on family income, and the voucher money comes from the state’s general fund, not the education budget. The average voucher will cost $2,000, but the state now spends $7,500 per student. The public schools get to pocket the difference, $5,500, without an obligation to provide any services. So the more parents choose vouchers, the higher per-student spending will rise in the public schools.

Another attack ad claimed that private schools would have “no accountability,” when in fact they are required under the law to report to parents how their children in voucher-supported schools do each year on nationwide achievement tests. Market-based competition will force exactly the kind of accountability that the unions fear in public schools.

Judging from recent polls, the scare campaign is winning. Still, supporters of school choice say that the voucher law could still survive, thanks to expected low turnout among the general population and higher-than-normal turnout among Utah Latinos, who make up roughly 12% of the population. Nonprofit Hispanics for School Choice reports an aggressive get-out-the-vote effort of personal visits and phone calls, and increased attention on Spanish-language radio, and at community events and church services.

Allowing the landmark voucher law to go forward would be a victory for students of all races, with more choices for parents and more opportunities for students. Halloween is over; Utahns should ignore the horror stories from unions trying to protect themselves, no matter the consequences for kids.

I’m going door to door talking to people again today. On the one hand, it’s rewarding to meet so many people that are FOR parents’ choice in education, but it’s easy to see how this has been and continues to be a real uphill battle. It takes a long time to educate people on a new policy, but it takes only a few seconds with some empty bullet points to create doubt.

That’s why the opposition is spending so much money on ridiculously inaccurate FUD campaigns. According to KBYU’s public affairs documentary, the anti-voucher people have at least 3x the budget (thanks to our national teachers’ unions) and they’re using it to buy up between 5 and 7 times more TV and mail ads.  Those ads, in my opinion, are flagrantly misleading.

That’s why it’s crucial that every voter in Utah take the time to get the facts about Referendum 1. Right now the polls are just too close to be complacent about your right to choice in your children’s education.

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If you’re interested in taking it to the streets either today or tomorrow, please contact Deb, a grassroots coordinator. Her number is (727) 460-2853. Otherwise, call your friends and family. We need every vote.

Conner notated the following quote, which I thought would be an interesting Sunday post for the LDS folks who follow my blog.

I am opposed to free education as much as I am opposed to taking property from one man and giving it to another who knows not how to take care of it… I do not believe in allowing my charities to go through the hands of robbers who pocket nine-tenths themselves and give one tenth to the poor… Would I encourage free schools by taxation? No!

Author: Brigham Young, Source: Journal of Discourses Vol. 18, p. 357

Now there’s something to chew on. I don’t know about you, but I’m with Brigham. Referendum 1 would take us one step closer to this conservative ideal.

I should clarify that (to me) this is not a religious issue. A conservative catholic or a libertarian Baptist might have said the same thing, and I’d still agree 100%.

It’s easy for normal folks to get lost in an issue with so much rhetoric.

That’s why I was thrilled to get this ad in the mail:

This ad makes it easy for people like my mother-in-law to feel safe in a Parents’ Choice vote, despite claims from voucher opponents that

The real “bureaucrats and liberals” are the subsidy advocates and out-of-state voucher pushers looking for Utah to save their faltering national movement.

and

The issue isn’t about choice, is a liberal subsidized entitlement program that competes for scarce resources.

(Both those quotes come right out of the “against” portions of the 2007 Utah Voter Information Pamphlet, with my emphasis added.)

So, wait a minute… Sean Hannity, Mitt Romney, & Focus on the Family are liberal? What does that make Hillary, Atheists United, and the Rainbow Coalition? Can you ever be so far left that you actually wrap around? Voucher smearers, I think you may have a beam in your eye.

I only wish the pro-vouchers list had included the Utah Taxpayers Association and the late, Nobel prize winning economist Milton Friedman, from whose stellar essays the voucher bill is based. I think a lot of questions on the fiscal and tax impacts of Referendum 1 could have easily been answered by their inclusion.

BTW, I think that perhaps the dumbest statement I heard at Provo High School’s voucher debate was when an anti-voucher lady (whose name I don’t know) declared that she thought it was offensive that the Choice in Education side was citing some economist when these were Utah’s kids we were talking about it.

Some Economist –> Milton Friedman, arguably one of the greatest thinkers of our time.

Utah’s Kids –> Your Kids

In case you’re worried about the tax implications of Utah’s referendum 1, please take a moment to read the Utah Taxpayers Association’s most recent newsletter or watch the “Truth by the Numbers” video they put together.

The Utah Taxpayer’s Association is very pro-voucher.

If you’re still researching Referendum 1, I highly recommend Utah’s choice in education website.

There are also a number of voucher debates being held (and broadcast) all over Utah.

Whichever your persuasion, please put in the time to do the research and become an informed voter.  If you’re just relying on what lands in your mailbox, you’re not getting the full picture.

I’m a big proponent of parents’ choice in education, so I was initially discouraged a few weeks ago when I saw a that a telephone survey showed a majority of Utahns opposed to Referendum 1.

Since then, however, I’ve become convinced that it can pass, partially because many of the people opposed to the legislation simply won’t vote. (Think about it –have you seen more signs FOR or AGAINST referendum 1? Those are voters.)

I was also encouraged to learned that normally standard questions like “Do you plan on voting this year?” and “Did you vote in municipal elections last year?” were not asked in the survey, possibly leading to a numbers bias as far as votes are concerned.

Lastly, I’ve also seen a TON of anti-voucher ads appearing in my mailbox. That’s a condition that would not occur if the opposition felt the cat was in the bag. Rather, they’ve done their research and know it’s dangerously close; and thus the deluge of expensive ads.

The question, therefor, is can we get out the vote? I think we can and will; but if we want to get the voters to the polls, you and I need to go a little outside of our comfort zone and talk to our friends, family, and neighbors. If we want to win (and win we must) we need to beat the ads by getting the word out on a very personal level.

So - I’m putting my mouth were my mouth is: from now until election day (just over a week from now) I will vary (as is my right) from my normal biz and tech format to blog exclusively about why I think Referendum 1 must pass –and what we can do to ensure that it does. I’ll outline its merits, debunk some common misconceptions, and hopefully I’ll win some of you over at the polls.

As a side note, I know that this is a hotly debated issue. It’s in my nature to avoid those, but to me (personally) this is just too important to ignore. I’ll try to keep a level head about it, and I hope you will too.

Please feel free to post your thoughts and comments –just know that I probably won’t be able to respond to them all. If you do comment, try not to be belligerent since I will be moderating every post, but do free to challenge my opinion as long as you’re nice about it. I welcome niceness regardless of its source! :)

And now, without further ado: let the posts begin!

This last week I spent some time checking up on some projects that I have been following over the last number of years. While looking at some projects that I was aware of, I came across one that I had not seen - Scratch. I have to admit that after playing with Scratch for a few days, and showing it to my son, nephew, and niece, I am thoroughly impressed.

Scratch is a project being worked on at MIT, with some affiliation with UCLA, and sponsored by a wide range of backers … and it is an impressive development tool … for kids! Their own website describes it as:

Scratch is a new programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art — and share your creations on the web.

Scratch is designed to help young people (ages 8 and up) develop 21st century learning skills. As they create Scratch projects, young people learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while also gaining a deeper understanding of the process of design.

Coupled with the Scratch language and environment, there is also a “social” site where Scratch users can upload programs and sample code, and download these same programs to then learn from them, modify them, and re-upload them.  I sat down and wrote my SpiroSprite program in maybe 10-15 minutes … and uploaded it to my Scratch account.
The environment and language is influenced by the Logo and Smalltalk languages, and presents a very simple, yet powerful way to learn login, event-driven programming, and create fun software.  From what I understand it is written in Squeak … which seems to be continuing to slowly gain momentum.

For anyone that wants to explore the concepts of programming, with or without their kids, I’d suggest downloading a copy of Scratch and beginning to experiment.  It’s really an impressive project!

On Friday evening this week, I'm hosting a little gathering to talk to people about Utah's Referendum 1 regarding private school vouchers. 

There is a lot of vitriol in the debate, which I wholeheartedly regret.  I understand emotions running high because the issue is so important.  What is more important than our kids and our state's future?

Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com and Jordan Clements of Peterson Partners will be making the presentations on vouchers and will be available for some one-on-one discussions following their presentations.

If you would like to come to my home on Friday evening to learn more about vouchers, we'd love to have you.  Please visit our on-line invitation to learn more and RSVP.

This from CNN:

U.S. citizens Mario R. Capecchi and Oliver Smithies and Sir Martin J. Evans of Britain won the 2007 Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday for groundbreaking discoveries that led to a technique for manipulating mouse genes.

The widely used process has helped scientists use mice to study heart disease, diabetes, cancer, cystic fibrosis and other diseases.

Capecchi, 70, who was born in Italy, is at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Smithies, 82, born in Britain, is at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Evans, 66, works at Cardiff University in Wales.

They were honored for a technique called gene targeting, which lets scientists inactivate or modify particular genes in mice. That in turn lets them study how those genes affect health and disease.

Utah faces a referendum on November 6 regarding vouchers for private school education.  The actual language for the ballot from the Voter Information Pamplet is as follows:

In February 2007, the Utah Legislature passed H.B. 148, Education Vouchers. This bill will take effect only if approved by voters. The bill:

• Establishes a scholarship program for:

• qualifying school-age children who newly enroll in eligible private schools; and

• lower income school-age children who continue their enrollment in eligible private schools;

• Provides for scholarships within that program of $500 to $3,000, depending on family size and income, increasing those scholarship amounts in future years; and

• Allows school districts to retain some per-student funding for scholarship students who transfer to private schools.

Are you for or against H.B. 148 taking effect?

I will vote yes. 

As a merchant and a customer, the credit card industry has been a difficult one for me to understand, but as a merchant, a necessary evil, and as a customer, a convenient and safe way to purchase. I recently read a clear explanation of where credit card fees come from by Braintree Financial. Thanks for the write up!

As a merchant and a customer, the credit card industry has been a difficult one for me to understand, but as a merchant, a necessary evil, and as a customer, a convenient and safe way to purchase. I recently read a clear explanation of where credit card fees come from by Braintree Financial. Thanks for the write up!

Graduation was last Friday. The David Eccles School at the U graduated approximately 1,100 students with bachelor’s, Master’s, and Ph.D. degrees. I love graduation. It is a truly joyous event for everyone involved. Everybody is happy, families and graduates are rightly proud of the accomplishment graduation represents, and we had a huge crowd in the [...]

I’ve always loved Dick Eastman’s newsletter and I invited him to dinner last Thursday when I was in Boston. He took me to the Union Oyster House, the oldest continuously operating restaurant in the U.S.

Besides great food and a great evening, I learned from Dick and from a document at the restaurant that Charles Forster from Maine was the first U.S. citizen to manufacture toothpicks. To jumpstart business, he hired Harvard Law Students to eat at the Union Oyster House (the “in” place to eat in Boston) and ask for a toothpick. When the restaurant admitted they didn’t have toothpicks, the Harvard boys were instructed to make a scene about it. After 5 or 6 Harvard boys complaining about the lack of toothpicks, the Union Oyster House placed an order. Apparently, when the oldest restaurant in town carried toothpicks, the rest of the restaurants in Boston followed suite. From Boston, toothpicks spread throughout the country. Nice marketing idea.

I’ve always loved Dick Eastman’s newsletter and I invited him to dinner last Thursday when I was in Boston. He took me to the Union Oyster House, the oldest continuously operating restaurant in the U.S.

Besides great food and a great evening, I learned from Dick and from a document at the restaurant that Charles Forster from Maine was the first U.S. citizen to manufacture toothpicks. To jumpstart business, he hired Harvard Law Students to eat at the Union Oyster House (the “in” place to eat in Boston) and ask for a toothpick. When the restaurant admitted they didn’t have toothpicks, the Harvard boys were instructed to make a scene about it. After 5 or 6 Harvard boys complaining about the lack of toothpicks, the Union Oyster House placed an order. Apparently, when the oldest restaurant in town carried toothpicks, the rest of the restaurants in Boston followed suite. From Boston, toothpicks spread throughout the country. Nice marketing idea.

I fulfilled a life-long dream of boarding the U.S.S. Constitution. I built a scale model of the ship when I was young and I’ve always wanted to visit it. The Navy launches the ship about 8 times per year. They have a raffle for those who get to launch with her. I’m going to enter the raffle until I get to ride that beautiful ship.

Interesting facts given by the tour guide:

1. 500+ crew.
2. 9-11 sailors needed for operating each gun.
3. 44 guns.
4. Originally called the U.S.F. (United States Frigate) because of the number of guns on the ship.
5. All ships today are U.S.S. (United States Ship) because there are so many different sizes and combinations of guns today.
6. Oldest commissioned Naval vessel in the world.
7. Had 33 engagements during its day. Never lost one.
8. Rudder weighs 5,000 pounds.
9. Masts have been replaced 4 times.
10. The ship was originally commissioned to protect young America’s merchant fleet which found itself unprotected by the Royal fleet following the Revolutionary War.

I can’t believe I didn’t have a camera when I was there. It gives me an excuse to go back.

I’d like to hear Seth Godin speak in Utah. If entrepreneurship or marketing or sales interests you, I’d recommend participating in this. $50 means you hear Seth speak, have a book and four books to give as gifts. Not a bad deal. Good idea Seth.

I’d like to hear Seth Godin speak in Utah. If entrepreneurship or marketing or sales interests you, I’d recommend participating in this. $50 means you hear Seth speak, have a book and four books to give as gifts. Not a bad deal. Good idea Seth.

I knew the labor shortage was acute when I started seeing signs out on the street advertising for employees. The University’s parking services as signs in all the parking lots describing “great jobs” for students on campus, retail stores are trying to persuade customers to become workers, and companies are using signs out by the [...]

Written by the President of Sarah Lawrence College. Interesting dilemma. What should the College do? The Cost of Bucking the College Rankings

It seems like just about everything is ranked these days. Best dog park, best 10 all night diners, and best sweaty workouts seem to appear weekly in every news outlet. Of course there are also best and worst dressed at the Oscars, what is in and what is out listings, and all manner of ratings [...]

I presented to a community group Friday evening on technology/innovation and economic development, and during the Q&A someone asked a question that used to come up frequently but has fallen off the radar in the past couple of years: What are business schools doing about the terrible state of business ethics in America? During the [...]

Jeffrey asked me to write about why people are more important than material at a University.

As a freshman in college, I worked my tail off to understand each and every course completely. I practically memorized the texts. I answered questions in class. I studied long, hard hours on my own. I got great grades.

During my junior year I took a class from Dr. Ed Green in the school of education. When he announced that he’d recently attended conferences that have made him question the way the U.S. runs its public education system, I couldn’t help but like the guy from the start. He started talking about Home School as a viable alternative in the School of Education (a real no-no given the politics at BYU). When he asked any in the class for help on some projects he was working on, I immediately volunteered and found myself at his house talking about my non-public school past, he drinking in my every word. We became fast friends and worked on tons of projects together in Home School curriculum, ESL, reading, etc. He even hired me to work at Family Literacy Centers, Inc. right out of school. He made me successful. He also knew that my success meant his success.
Dr. Green didn’t have the research record of some of his peers. He would be the first to say that he’s not an expert in any material. In my years watching him, I’ve learned that he IS an expert in relationships with people. I see time and time again how many people he knows and connects with in all of his interactions. I didn’t understand how important this is until I applied for graduate school and took the GSE examination. I bombed it at BYU’s standards and shouldn’t have gotten into the program, but I wanted to study in the Instructional Psychology and Technology department, which was in the school of education. I applied and became the lowest score in the department. I don’t think my score even qualified. Dr. Green was on the committee and vouched for my character and skills, both of which didn’t show up on the test. The department didn’t regret Dr. Green’s recommendation; I was the first of my group who graduated. I moved through the program in one year and thoroughly enjoyed my Master’s Program.

Later, planning to attend Penn State for a Ph.D., the Penn State chair visited BYU for a conference. I volunteered to give her a ride from the airport. We hit it off well and when I applied to Penn State, I was admitted without having completed the entire application. They, however, told me I’d need to complete the application over the next year to meet their requirements (bureaucratic formality). They let me in because they knew me. They even offered a full-tuition intership with salary. I was beginning to see things differently.
One day, Dr. Green told me the story of a man who helped him through his Ph.D. program. Dr. Green associates all his success with people. He honors his mentor in giving him the break that made his career. He knows that subjects and materials go obsolete very quickly, but relationships never do.

I realize, looking back, that I passed up the MOST IMPORTANT PART OF MY EDUCATION…PEOPLE. Today, now that I understand the web and its capabilities, it makes sense. Why put people physically together at all? We can learn the material without being in the same room. But cyber friendships have a different strength of cement than in person friendships. If I were to do it again, I would have spent my time and energy building lasting relationships with my peers and professors like Dr. Green built with me. Those relationships are the vehicle for accomplishing any meaningful cause in life. I also look back at people I admired in school (Bryan Johnson, Richard Culatta and others) and I think that they understood this principle better than I.

Want a crash course in creating lasting relationships and real value for causes in which you’re involved? Here are my favorites (in no particular order):

• Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi
  
• How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
• Love is the Killer Ap by Tim Sanders
  

Enjoy! Please share any other insights or great books related to this topic.

Jeffrey asked me to write about why people are more important than material at a University.

As a freshman in college, I worked my tail off to understand each and every course completely. I practically memorized the texts. I answered questions in class. I studied long, hard hours on my own. I got great grades.

During my junior year I took a class from Dr. Ed Green in the school of education. When he announced that he’d recently attended conferences that have made him question the way the U.S. runs its public education system, I couldn’t help but like the guy from the start. He started talking about Home School as a viable alternative in the School of Education (a real no-no given the politics at BYU). When he asked any in the class for help on some projects he was working on, I immediately volunteered and found myself at his house talking about my non-public school past, he drinking in my every word. We became fast friends and worked on tons of projects together in Home School curriculum, ESL, reading, etc. He even hired me to work at Family Literacy Centers, Inc. right out of school. He made me successful. He also knew that my success meant his success.
Dr. Green didn’t have the research record of some of his peers. He would be the first to say that he’s not an expert in any material. In my years watching him, I’ve learned that he IS an expert in relationships with people. I see time and time again how many people he knows and connects with in all of his interactions. I didn’t understand how important this is until I applied for graduate school and took the GSE examination. I bombed it at BYU’s standards and shouldn’t have gotten into the program, but I wanted to study in the Instructional Psychology and Technology department, which was in the school of education. I applied and became the lowest score in the department. I don’t think my score even qualified. Dr. Green was on the committee and vouched for my character and skills, both of which didn’t show up on the test. The department didn’t regret Dr. Green’s recommendation; I was the first of my group who graduated. I moved through the program in one year and thoroughly enjoyed my Master’s Program.

Later, planning to attend Penn State for a Ph.D., the Penn State chair visited BYU for a conference. I volunteered to give her a ride from the airport. We hit it off well and when I applied to Penn State, I was admitted without having completed the entire application. They, however, told me I’d need to complete the application over the next year to meet their requirements (bureaucratic formality). They let me in because they knew me. They even offered a full-tuition intership with salary. I was beginning to see things differently.
One day, Dr. Green told me the story of a man who helped him through his Ph.D. program. Dr. Green associates all his success with people. He honors his mentor in giving him the break that made his career. He knows that subjects and materials go obsolete very quickly, but relationships never do.

I realize, looking back, that I passed up the MOST IMPORTANT PART OF MY EDUCATION…PEOPLE. Today, now that I understand the web and its capabilities, it makes sense. Why put people physically together at all? We can learn the material without being in the same room. But cyber friendships have a different strength of cement than in person friendships. If I were to do it again, I would have spent my time and energy building lasting relationships with my peers and professors like Dr. Green built with me. Those relationships are the vehicle for accomplishing any meaningful cause in life. I also look back at people I admired in school (Bryan Johnson, Richard Culatta and others) and I think that they understood this principle better than I.

Want a crash course in creating lasting relationships and real value for causes in which you’re involved? Here are my favorites (in no particular order):

• Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi
  
• How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
• Love is the Killer Ap by Tim Sanders
  

Enjoy! Please share any other insights or great books related to this topic.