January 11-15, 2012
Jan 11 02:13 League of Women Voters-MN's Democracy for all? 'documentary' is filled with progressive myths, accusations Jan 11 10:56 Overeducated, Underemployed Jan 11 12:05 To: the Mitt Walks On Water Brigade Jan 12 13:50 Will 'King of Bain' kill Mitt's momentum? Jan 13 02:13 Child care providers win another victory Jan 13 01:43 League of Women Voters-Minnesota Photo ID forum was propaganda, not education Jan 14 09:38 Restoring Excellence in Education liveblog Jan 15 07:29 Still Waiting for Mitt's answer
Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
League of Women Voters-MN's Democracy for all? 'documentary' is filled with progressive myths, accusations
Democracy for All? is documentary in the loosest sense of the word. It's being promoted by the League of Women Voters-MN in its anti-Photo ID campaign. Calling it a documentary is insulting to the people who put together documentaries. Here's what Vivian Jenkins-Nelsen, a former president of the LWV-MN, said:
Sharecroppers, poor folks, middle class folks, black folks, took their lives in their hands to exercise their right to vote. The passage of the Voting Rights Act was so critical to the African-American community that, you have to understand that, after slavery and because of slavery, we outnumbered white people in most southern towns. And so you see that supressing the vote was really critical to controlling the vote.
It is not only important to have the legislation, but also to have the public will, to see that it is carried forth so we can have not just the law, but the spirit and the intent of the law.
Many of the things Ms. Jenkins-Nelsen said are historically accurate. What's shameful, though, is that, considering the context of this video, she's hinting that Photo ID will suppress the African-American vote.
It's worth noting that Ms. Jenkins-Nelsen doesn't offer a scintilla of proof that Photo ID will suppress the African-American vote.
Where Ms. Jenkins-Nelsen left off, Gwen Myers continues:
In addition to being costly to implement and completely unnecessary, these bills will deny the vote to United States citizens by adding to the difficulty of same day registration and requiring voters to provide a current government-issued Photo ID. And they will exclude some very specific groups.
Again, this isn't a documentary. Ms. Myers said that Photo ID is "costly to implement and completely unnecessary" without providing documentation for those statements. Melvin Carter III then repeat an earlier theme:
Requiring Photo ID is not only an unnecessary use of scarce public resources and an unfunded mandate on local governments that are already struggling, it's a barrier that could result in countless Minnesotans being denied their right to vote.
Whereas Ms. Myers says that Photo ID "will exclude some very specific groups" from voting, Mr. Carter said that Photo ID "might result in countless Minnesotans" being denied their right to vote. Ms. Myers' certainty is replaced with Mr. Carter's hesitation.
If this was a documentary, they should have an important point like that pinned thoroughly verified so that the truth isn't in doubt. Instead of clarity, Democracy for All? is muddled.
That brings up the most important questions proponents of Photo ID have:
- Is Photo ID really unnecessary? If yes, prove it.
- Will imposing Photo ID verification cause anyone to not be able to vote
According to this lawsuit , the answer to that final question is no:
After discovery, District Judge Barker prepared a comprehensive 70-page opinion explaining her decision to grant defendants' motion for summary judgment. 458 F. Supp. 2d 775 (SD Ind. 2006). She found that petitioners had 'not introduced evidence of a single, individual Indiana resident who will be unable to vote as a result of SEA 483 or who will have his or her right to vote unduly burdened by its requirements.'
In the case that decided the constitutionality of Photo ID, the district judge ruled that the "petitioners hadn't produced evidence" that a single Indiana voter would be unable to vote as a result of Indiana's Photo ID law. The point to all this is to highlight the fact that "Democracy for All?" isn't a documentary, that it's really propaganda presented by the LWV-MN.
What's worse is that the supposedly nonpartisan LWV-MN is repeating the same lines that DFL legislators have relied upon ever since Photo ID became an issue. Democracy for All? isn't a documentary because much of what's said isn't and can't be substantiated. It's propaganda. Election integrity is too important an issue to be decided by propaganda.
Tags: League of Women Voters-MN , Democracy For All? , Documentary , Propaganda , DFL , Democrats , Election Integrity , Photo ID , Elections
Posted Wednesday, January 11, 2012 2:13 AM
No comments.
Overeducated, Underemployed
The title to Nathan Marks' Strib op-ed is "That college degree paid off, for the schools, not for me." It could've just as easily been titled "Overeducated, Underemployed." Here's the part that should bother every parent and student:
After meeting with more than one counselor at that junior college and making clear that I would not make a good high school teacher, I was sold on the idea that I could do anything with a degree in the liberal arts.
"Corporations need good writers and thinkers," I was told. "Just get a degree ... in anything."
I transferred to the University of Minnesota after meeting the Minnesota woman of my dreams and studied history and Latin for three years. I did well enough at the U to gain entry to the University of Chicago's Master of Arts Program in the Social Sciences.
On my visit to Chicago to learn more about this seemingly pointless degree, the director made a comment that has stuck with me. He said that the master's is the new bachelor's.
With this in mind, and with the assurance that a master's from one of the best universities in the world would make me more competitive than the average college graduate, I bit the bullet and filled out another aid application.
The idea that a "new bachelor's" would make me more attractive to those corporations looking for good writers and thinkers was important, as it was by then the depths of the so-called Great Recession.
Now, here I sit, two years after graduating from the University of Chicago and the University of Minnesota, working a menial job in the service industry (luckily, I had contacts, otherwise I fear I would have been seen as an overqualified, underexperienced risk to most human-resources departments).
While I am grateful every day for my job, about half of what I bring in per month goes out in student loan remittance alone.
These chilling words should scare the awareness into parents and students alike: just get a degree in anything. In the Sixties and Seventies, the vast majority of people who went to college got degrees in engineering, other hard sciences and business. In short, universities prepared them for a great career with almost-guaranteed financial success.
These days, colleges offer Masters degrees in Social Responsibility (St. Cloud State), Queer Musicology (UCLA) and Star Trek (George Washington University). That's before talking about the Ecotourism degree offered by Central Lakes Community College, Learning from YouTube offered by California's Pitzer College and The Science of Harry Potter, which is offered by Maryland's Frostburg University.
These apparently worthless degrees are bad enough but it gets worse when factoring in student loan debt on these degrees. Earlier this year, student loan debt topped $1,000,000,000,000. Yes, 1 trillion dollars.
Luckily, that Minnesotan I moved to Minnesota for makes up the difference. The irony of her making as much as me, working a white-collar job with more immediate potential for advancement, and without a college diploma to hang on the wall, is not lost on me.
However, I don't think that the irony of my screening calls to avoid not creditors but my two former universities' continual fundraising efforts registers with those on the other end of the line.
This Saturday, Dr. Richard Vedder will make a presentation titled the Twelve Inconvenient Truths About Higher Education at the Restoring Excellence in Education Forum in St. Cloud. (Follow this link for more information on the event.) Dr. Vedder's presentation is a must see presentation for parents of students preparing to attend college and the students themselves.
Those attending this presentation should read this study before attending. According to CCAP's report, the number of administrators is projected to grow from less than 700,000 in 2007 to almost 1,400,000 in 2022. During the same time period, the number of instructors is projected to grow from approximately 775,000 to 1,200,000.
Mr. Marks can attest to the fact that Higher Education isn't the great value it once was thanks to rising tuitions and the increase in marginal degree programs.
Tags: Op-ed , Strib , Higher Ed , Student Loans , Debt , Star Trek , Social Responsibility , Queer Musicology , Ecotourism , St. Cloud State , UCLA , Richard Vedder
Posted Wednesday, January 11, 2012 10:56 AM
Comment 1 by eric z at 11-Jan-12 03:10 PM
Education is to become educated. Not job training. The things are called different things, for a reason.
Comment 2 by Nick Housmans at 11-Jan-12 04:12 PM
Gary,
Thank you for the great reporting that you've done so far on SCSU's Aviation program. I am an aviation and international business student at SCSU currently creating a website tailored to all faculty, students, alumns, and parents of the program. Could I mention your LFR blog on it?
Comment 3 by LadyLogician at 12-Jan-12 08:06 AM
Eric - your comment is EXACTLY what is wrong with education today. Education is about TEACHING CHILDREN WHAT THEY NEED TO KNOW TO BECOME PRODUCTIVE, INTELLIGENT ADULTS.
I work daily with people who are so "educated" that they don't have the common sense that God gave a goose. They are so overly educated that they are a danger to themselves because they don't know how to handle everyday life situations.
LL
Comment 4 by Seed at 12-Jan-12 05:05 PM
Looks like some of the "degrees" you listed are classes or seminars. There's quite a difference.
Comment 5 by eric z at 12-Jan-12 05:58 PM
LL - Aristotle was Alexander's tutor. Is that what you mean?
Comment 6 by LadyLogician at 12-Jan-12 10:38 PM
If anyone in modern academia was close to being in Aristotle's class we wouldn't be in the state we are in today Eric. Our kids need to be able to think for themselves, not recite NEA approved chanting points.
LL
To: the Mitt Walks On Water Brigade
With many in the national media, especially the formerly conservative outpost at National Review and elitists like Charles Krauthammer, who thinks that Mitt's winning the first two presidential events is proof that Mitt has now mastered the art of walking on water, it might be worthwhile to ask the question why Mitt's dodged questions about Bain Capital.
Their accusations that Newt is anti-capitalist are shameful to the point where I'd almost rate them alongside the Daily Kos in terms of credibility. Why haven't these people criticized Mitt for his anti-conservative, redistributionist Romneycare? Instead, many of them, Krauthammer especially, has praised Mitt for figuring out a better way to defend the indefensible.
NOTE TO KRAUTHAMMER: Mitt is unaccepable because he's intent on defending the indefensible, aka Romneycare's individual mandate.
I don't recall the moderates on the NRO Editorial Board mentioning Mitt's imposing of expensive regulations on power plants for CO2 emissions. They didn't bother mentioning the fact that, after imposing those expensive regulations, Mitt imposed price controls on those power plants.
QUESTION TO THE NRO MODERATES: When did imposing regulations based on junk science become conservative? When did imposing price controls become a conservative's remedy?
The NRO unprincipled moderates and Charles Krauthammer stand to destroy everything that the TEA Party built. They're doing everything possible to pick a moderate based on the electability myth rather than siding with principled conservatives.
In their eyes, Mitt walks on water. In the real world, he's another McCain waiting to happen.
No amount of lipstick will change that pig.
Tags: Charles Krauthammer , Elitist , NRO , Moderates , Mitt Romney , Liberal , TEA Party , Conservatism , GOP , Election 2012
Posted Wednesday, January 11, 2012 12:05 PM
Comment 1 by J. Ewing at 11-Jan-12 01:56 PM
I'm still waiting for an answer to the question, if Mitt is not the inevitable winner against Obama, then what recommends him as our nominee? And who gets to pick our nominee, anyway, is it us or is it the mainstream media breathlessly talking about "mental" and "inevitability" eight months from the convention? You KNOW that the minute Romney has the nomination sewn up the media will turn into attack dogs and rip him to shreds.
Comment 2 by eric z at 11-Jan-12 03:08 PM
Another McCain waiting to happen?
Oh no! The poor bastard's going to pick Palin.
JE - You discount fellow Repubicans voting elsewhere in primaries? I guess some know better but don't live in New Hampshire, Florida, South Carolina.
Comment 3 by Gary Gross at 11-Jan-12 03:21 PM
Jerry, unfortunately, it's a little of both. Elitists like Charles Krauthammer make their declarations from their perch on Mount Olympus, then airheads accept his declarations as fact rather than doing their own research.
When people get intellectually lazy, the squishes win. If we want real conservatives, something that Mitt isn't, then we've got to make the sharpest arguments daily. That's what I've tried to do here on LFR.
It's time that conservatives started discounting elitists like Krauthammer & squishies like NRO. They don't speak for conservatism.
Comment 4 by LadyLogician at 12-Jan-12 07:58 AM
Gary - you didn't get your talking points yesterday did you? LOL - seriously Rush was talking about this yesterday and he commented that now even some of the so-called conservative elites are having second thoughts about Romney....
LL
Comment 5 by Gary Gross at 12-Jan-12 11:55 AM
LL, I don't read talking points. I create them.
Comment 6 by Gary Gross at 12-Jan-12 11:56 AM
PS- LL, Rush is pissing me off today. His 'we must defend capitalism even when it's killing communities' schtick is pissing me off.
Comment 7 by eric z at 12-Jan-12 05:56 PM
Gary, Rush would probably be okay with that. Ratings are likely his big concern, not content or responses to it.
Some time ago Sibel Edmonds wrote about the media defining, indirectly and arguably deceitfully, what makes "a viable candidate." She wrote it in the context of media discounting Ron Paul, but that's more detail than a key factor.
Google = Sibel Edmonds viable candidate
That will get you her post. She is an independent voice. With an interesting whistleblower background.
Comment 8 by eric z at 13-Jan-12 06:17 AM
J.Ewing - The presumption that "an inevitable winner against Obama" can be found in the GOP is premised on what exactly?
Will 'King of Bain' kill Mitt's momentum?
Not everyone has the time to watch a 28 minute documentary. That said, I'd strongly suggest that people make time to watch The King of Bain . The biggest theme of Mitt Romney's campaign is that he's lived in the private sector and that he knows how to create jobs because he's created jobs.
First, it's important to note that this documentary doesn't tell the whole story about Bain. Mitt can point to successes like Staples. Still, it's a reminder that Bain did its fair share of destroying healthy companies.
It's one thing to invest in a company that fails. There's nothing deceitful about that. Buying a healthy company like KayBee Toys, then loading them up with debt until they're forced into bankruptcy, is the definition of deceitful.
Most importantly, this question must be asked: How does that experience with Bain teach him anything about putting together public policy that'll create jobs?
A corporate CEO's responbilities are dramatically different than the responsibilities of the president. A corporate CEO's responsibilities are to the company's shareholders. A president's responsibilities are to the entire nation, not a list of cronies.
During his time at Bain, Mitt's proven that he's comfortable lifting the spirits of his investor cronies. During his time as Massachusetts governor, Mitt showed an affinity of working with the most liberal Democrats in the United States.
At what point did Mitt actually prove that he'd work with conservatives? PS- That isn't the same as saying that he agrees with conservatives. Talk is cheap. It takes actions to prove who you are.
One last thing: The damaging information in 'When Mitt Came to Town' isn't the only thing from Mitt's Bain Capital days. Erin Haust's article about Bain's extensive involvement in carbon credit trading is damaging as well.
Why think that a corporate raider whose company is extensively involved in carbon credit trading is 'the most electable' candidate?
Tags: Corporate Raider , Mitt Romney , Bain Capital , Carbon Credit Exchanges , Green Jobs , Jeffrey Immelt , GE , GOP , Election 2012
Posted Thursday, January 12, 2012 1:50 PM
Comment 1 by eric z at 12-Jan-12 05:49 PM
Is it apparent who produced "King of Bain?"
It could range from Soros to Santorum, with neither of the two that likely.
Do you know?
Comment 2 by Deb S at 13-Jan-12 05:59 AM
A former Romney staffer. What does that tell you? The guy may have been scorned, but the staffer may have just become concerned about a guy like that getting the purse strings of the federal government while his fat cat investors are waiting for the "benefits" of being his buddy.
If you think other politicians paid back their supporters. You aint seen nothing yet. President Romney is going to make his greedy friends even richer and our expense. And yes I have voted republican for 25 years. And I will NEVER vote for this guy. NEVER>
Comment 3 by eric z at 13-Jan-12 06:54 AM
Eric Black at Minn Post seems to suggest that it was not George Soros or any such activist that made the attack item on Romney. He suggests it was Gingrich people. That Newt is what he's been, a nasty man. Some reporting is that the Chamber has taken notice and sent Newt a message. Presuming Romney will be the GOP candidate, is there anything in the item that would help him and the GOP in that event? Would it be more helpful to Obama? What motive exists for the item can only be addressed when the production people are identified, and their affiliation is determined in the course of public inquiry. I have every reason to believe it is the Gingrich camp, not Obama people. Gary, do you have any evidence either way?
Comment 4 by eric z. at 13-Jan-12 01:25 PM
Well that kingofbain.com site had a link-over to winningourfuture.com, and it prominently featured "Newt's Contract." As if Newt had taken a contract out on Mitt, but no, its a "21st Century Contract With America."
So, Newt's fingerprints all over trashing Romney.
Uncool. Tacky. Third-rate. Classic Gingrich mud.
Child care providers win another victory
Last month, child care providers won a decisive victory when Judge Lindman ruled that Gov. Dayton had bypassed the legislative process in ordering child care providers to participate in a unionization vote.
This week, Judge Lindman ruled in the child care small businesses' favor again:
Childcare providers, including St. Michael's Hollee Saville, who sued Gov. Mark Dayton over his executive order calling for an election to unionize their industry recently requested a summary judgment hearing. The move, filed soon after a Dec. 5, 2011 decision to file an injunction, was made to streamline the daycare's case against the state.
This week, Judge Dale Lindman granted their request which should help to streamline the process. As a result, the hearing to file the injuction, originally scheduled for Jan. 17, has been rescheduled to a summary hearing now set for Wednesday, Feb. 22. The hearing begins at 2:30 p.m. at the Ramsey County Courthouse.
This ruling pushes the hearing well into the legislative session. That means Gov. Dayton will have to address this issue, if not in his State of the State address, then in his legislative agenda. Not addressing it isn't an option since it's obvious that it's a priority to his political special interest allies.
Hollee Saville summed things up perfectly:
Saville, who owns an in-home daycare in western St. Michael, said the order was simply a product of Dayton caving to union pressure.
That's precisely what happened. Thankfully, Minnesota's judicial system ruled, correctly, that Gov. Dayton had overstepped his authority.
Tags: Unionization Vote , Executive Order , SEIU , AFSCME , Mark Dayton , DFL , Small Businesses , Child Care Providers , Hollee Saville , Judge Lindman , Legislature
Posted Friday, January 13, 2012 2:13 AM
Comment 1 by eric z at 13-Jan-12 06:22 AM
Neither side appears to be getting traction, i.e., attention, on this contest. When robbers named Wilf want to take millions, a major fraction of a billion dollars from us, why this? Why not a real issue?
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 13-Jan-12 07:58 AM
I'm happy to learn that you think that the gov't can tell small businesses that they're public employees. Shame on you, Eric. This was a major overreach & Gov. Goofy II (Perpich was the first) overreached because he wanted to pay off the PEUs.
Comment 2 by ARay at 13-Jan-12 10:16 AM
I say everyone who reads the internet are in the Internet readers fraternal order union. My vote counts it as... I win. Now everyone owes me their union dues of $5 a month as union president. Pay up now. This is essentially what unions are trying to do everywhere right now. Declare a union then try to collect working people's money for themselves. Audacity...no just unmitigated gall.
League of Women Voters-Minnesota Photo ID forum was propaganda, not education
The St. Cloud chapter of the League of Women Voters hosted Sherri Knuth, the Public Policy Coordinator and lobbyist for the Minnesota chapter of the League of Women Voters for a forum on Photo ID. Approximately 40 showed up, counting the volunteers. The first thing on the agenda was the " Democracy for All? The Barriers of Voter ID " video.
The video was disappointing from the standpoint that Democracy for All? is advertised as a documentary. True documentaries point to research that verifies the statements made in the documentary. By that standard, Democracy for All? is a failure.
Early in the documentary, various speakers, especially Gwen Myers, said that Photo ID is expensive, unnecessary and would "exclude some very specific groups." Late in the forum, Sherri Knuth admitted 'Right now, we don't know how many people would be affected if Photo ID was enacted.'
That matches up with something District Judge Barker said that petitioners had 'not introduced evidence of a single, individual Indiana resident who will be unable to vote" as a result of Indiana's Photo ID law.
In the video, Gwen Myers' tone of voice was as filled with certainty as her statements were without documentation. Joe Mansky sang essentially the same song, saying that the "recounts in 2008 & 2010 prove our system is sound."
The only thing that a recount proves is that the election officials counted the cast ballots correctly. It doesn't prove that the people filling in the ballots could legally vote. The only way to prove that the person filling in the ballot is voting legally is to have a Photo ID.
Initially, Ms. Knuth said that the only voter fraud that Photo ID would prevent was voter impersonation. Ms. Knuth then said that there's no proof that voter impersonation has happened in Minnesota. When asked how they'd know that voter impersonation isn't happening, Ms. Knuth hesitated before saying "I'm relying on those that administer our elections to exercise the proper oversight."
That sounds nice but it's essentially meaningless if "those that administer our elections" don't have the right tools to exercise the proper oversight. Apparently, Ms. Knuth thinks that just trusting people is exercising proper oversight. Most Minnesotans disagree with Ms. Knuth.
Perhaps the most alarming statement of the night came when Ms. Knuth was asked how she'd change the vouching system. Ms. Knuth's reply was that she wasn't sure she'd change it.
As noted in this article , the vouching system has the potential for alot of voter fraud. Prior to the 2004 election, the Bush campaign came into the posession of this email:
Election Day is upon us. You are confirmed to volunteer with ACT (America Coming Together - http://www.actforvictory.org/) on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov 2.
We will be creating name badges that include your Ward and Precinct information for each of the thousands of volunteers that day to make it easier to find a volunteer to vouch for a voter at the polls.
I am emailing you to request your street address, city and zipcode. We've already got your other contact information, but your record in our database does not include this information.
The initial explanation given for implementing vouching was to allow a neighbor to vouch for a new neighbor who hadn't gotten their drivers license or other form of state-issued identification.
According to that intercepted email, ACT developed a Minnesota-specific plan to commit voter fraud. It can't be verified that ACT put their plan into action so they can't be accused of voter fraud. It's more than possible to say that they'd developed a Minnesota-specific voter fraud plan.
In the end, LWV-MN's documentary isn't based on verifiable, documented facts. It's based solely on allegations, not substantiated facts. Their 'gospel' is more propaganda than fact.
Tags: League of Women Voters-MN , Photo ID , Voter Fraud , Sherri Knuth , Joe Mansky , Democracy for All? , Propaganda , Documentary , Elections
Posted Friday, January 13, 2012 1:43 AM
Comment 1 by eric z at 13-Jan-12 06:19 AM
Have you ever thought, Gary, the biggest election frauds are the candidates themselves?
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 13-Jan-12 07:55 AM
Have you ever thought, Gary, the biggest election frauds are the candidates themselves?Only when it's a Democrat. Tarryl was especially good at saying that she's a moderate when her voting record rated with the 5 most liberal state senators.
Restoring Excellence in Education liveblog
Finland recruits teachers from the top 10%, then their matriculation exam & school record.
Next, they're given a written exam.
Primary grade teachers:
Major in education
American approach:
Not recruiting from top academic pool
- Focused on "how" to teach
1) SCSU child-centeredness
2) high expectations for children
3) hands-on learning
Econometrica: "We've seen no evidence that having a master's degree in education improves teacher skills."
Randi Weingarten is right: We need to look at what other countries are doing, such as Finland.
We need a professionalism model like Finland. in which the state aggressively regulates both which
Parent unions: Get parents back in the picture.
Make Minnesota a right to work state.
Erin Haust: "Children love routines." "Did you know that high school students see Al Gore's 'An inconvenient Truth' 3-4 times before graduating?"
Bill Nye, the Science Guy, videos are shown at least once a month in grades 1-6, sometimes twice a month." Bill Nye isn't an accredited teacher but he is a environmental activists.
The new buzzword you'll hear is environmental literacy.
Bruce Watkins, the superintendent of District 742 Schools, leaves, Bruce Hentges is still here from the St. Cloud School Board.
John Kern is now speaking. "I'm an interdisciplinary person." John characterizes himself as a researcher.
Study: "Growing body of research offers little doubt" about short & longterm benefits of Pre-K programs."
Heavily cited:
Clark Cty., NV Pre-K
Tulsa, OK Pre-K
Perry pre-school study
Minnesota school readiness
Michigan
From Minnesota: 91-97% of 5-yr-olds were in-process or proficient.
60% achieved scores predictive of success in third grade.
Underachievement was driven primarily by socio-economic conditions.
Programs have to be targeted. It shouldn't be across-the-board.
RiShawn Biddle of Dropout Nation is next speaker.
RiShawn Biddle: "We don't just need to improve education." RiShawn applauds Pam Myhra's work on A-F grading of schools, then praises John & AJ Kern for their work on putting this forum.
"There is no more moral mission than helping children achieve." "A whole lot of parents are figuring it out that they aren't alone." "Americans spend $591,000,000,000 on education."
Parents in a California school district have implemented a "parent trigger", exercising their right of choice for failing districts.
RiShawn: CT Parent union are lobbying the state legislature for more open enrollment, more school choice.
It's as haphazard now to get a good education as it was during the Great Depression.
If you look at the NAEP for Minnesota, 30% of students are functionally illiterate. That's 18,400 students. "Most students drop out because they can't read, not because
"1 in 5 solidly middle class Minnesota 4th graders are functionally illiterate."
"The best way to reduce the cost of welfare & unemployment long-term, the goal should be to read proficiently ." "We do such a miserable job recruiting teachers."
"Involvement isn't enough if the school isn't working. What's needed when schools aren't working is power." "Parent involvement is worth $1,000 per student."
RiShawn recommendaton: Read book titled Push has come to shove."
"4 out of 5 students in this nation don't have the option of school choice." "Why should a teacher keep her job if she isn't doing her job."
"I went to the Minnesota Education website. It isn't accessable."
Roundtable:
Q: if you empower the parents, how can you judge whether they know what their kids need?
Pam Myhra: I'd like to expand this to a much bigger level. We need to relearn that it isn't just about us. "We have to change our attitudes."
Al Quist: Students coming out of integrated math "are at a disadvantage" in engineering, math, other subjects.
Afternoon session underway. Janet Beihoffer speaking.
Bailey's School
Bottom 5- Fairfax County Outperformed 50% of schools
Timed tests
Work completion start of the year 50, finishing outcome:75 percentile, 25 percentile points higher.
Janet: "you can help them succeed."
Making excuses:
Promotes more excuses,Hurts all students, gives the student permission to fail.
Behavioral:
Set boundaries
Protects students, teachers, possibly school boards.
Encourages real learning
Decreases discipline problems.
Appearance: Send a message of respect.
Dick Andzenge now presenting.
Defining political correctness
origin of political correctness
intended goal of political correctness
Political correctness
making institutions hostile turfs of protected groups
Changing global history
Changing the curriculum
Destroying/denying the foundations & purpose of education
Making academic institutions cultural cleansing centers.
Expanded & shallow curriculum
death of intellectual debates
expanded bureaucracies
threats to academic freedom
academic institutions as arms of leftist political activists
Lost ability to create independent thinkers
Jeff Johnson now presenting on MNSCU Leadership and Citizen Expectations
Real estate bubble popped, the higher ed bubble will pop too.
MnSCU where simplicity ends & complexity starts.
MnSCU board 15 member Board of Trustees.
MnSCU Central Office
Assumption: State universities & prisons are similar in two ways.
Faculty members & prisoners become institutionalized over time, meaning the institution becomes their world.
Far too often, taxpayers don't know what's happening at their university.
Citizen Expectations: the parents.
1) quality degree at affordable price?
2) career possible with this degree?
3) Can #2 reasonably pay off #1 which will be comparable to my mortgage?
Boomerang kids: 85% of college grads move home.
College degree
Hard degrees Chemistry, astrophysics, etc.
Soft degrees Elementary education, philosophy
Junk degrees anything with studies in the degree title
PhD in Ufologyy Study of UFO's
Associates degree in Ecotourism.
Richard Vedder now presenting: topic Center of College Affordability & Productivity
12 inconvenient truths about Higher Education
1. High costs & getting more expensive annually. Unsustainable situation. In 1960, 1 cent of every dollar goes to higher education; now it's 6 cents of every dollar.
2. Higher education isn't the engine of economic growth that it once was. Evidence doesn't support
3. College degrees don't guarantee success. This assumption has historically been true. We are now turning out far more college graduates than there are jobs. 19,000 parking lot attendants with Bachelor degrees.
4. College students work & learn little but party hard. Students spend 900 hrs. studying. A good case can be made that college campuses are country clubs.
5. Undergraduate students are often neglected. Graduate students get much more resources than undergraduate students.
7. Colleges hide from consumers vital information. Do we know if sudents improved their critical thinking skills? Abysmal test measurements & transparency. "I'm a strong believer in do-it-yourself rating" of colleges.
8. College campuses are often citadels opposed to free speech.
9. Universities are not the centers for income equality. In 1970, a larger proportion of college students, pre-Pell Grant, were poor than there is today.
10. Universities are often run more for the benefit of the administrators than for the students. Administrators hire more assistants to do the heavy lifting. Bribe professors with low work load & great parking spots.
11. College assistance doesn't help.
These thoughts will be meet resistance from college special interest groups.
The Higher Ed panel, featuring former Rep. Laura Brod, Dr. Richard Vedder & Janet Beihoffer, is about to begin. King now introducing the panel. Laura Brod now introducing herself. U of M wears 3 hats: access, teachers and research.
Message from the audience: if you eliminate tenure, "people like me (conservatives) wouldn't have a job" because his politics don't match the politics of the administrators.
In 1992, the Center for the American Experiment published a report called Defending the American Dream. It hasn't been fully inmplemented.
Dr. Vedder: three ways to implement DAD: Incent, Information & Innovation
John LaPlante: Have any states gone further in implementing funding following the student, not the university?
Dr. Vedder: Colorado has started.
Laura Brod: The market changes faster than the bureaucracy. Universities that adapt faster should be rewarded.
Dr. Vedder: Con Academy is doing interesting stuff. MIT puts their syllabuses online.
Posted Saturday, January 14, 2012 3:50 PM
Comment 1 by LadyLogician at 14-Jan-12 11:46 PM
"If you look at the NAEP for Minnesota, 30% of students are functionally illiterate. "
Seriously - my kid was on track to be one of them....until I got him the heck out of MN. His vocabulary, his classroom work ethic, his desire to learn have all gone through the roof since coming to Utah - which according to the "we must spend more crowd" is a failure because we are 42 in the nation in spending.....
LL
Comment 2 by Gary Gross at 15-Jan-12 06:33 AM
LL, Saturday's event was incredible. Dr. Kern presented a strong case, based on his statistical analysis, for not implementing a nation- or state-wide all day pre-K system. Dr. Kern said that there's merit to the plan in targeted instances.
That's only one of the things we learned from the presenters yesterday. Yesterday's event was a major success because the content, professionally delivered by activists & academicians alike, was detailed, well-supported by verifiable proof & challenged the unions' status quo practices.
Comment 3 by eric z at 15-Jan-12 07:06 AM
LL and GG - Out of curiosity, are you proficient in any language besides English? The Chinese are. As are the Indians, and Brazilians. I am not. It is an admitted ignorance, and one I regret. I have only lived where only English has been spoken. Were it not for the past success of the British Empire, we'd be cripples in the world of trade and cultural understanding. But others speak and write what we do, often better, and can communicate with us despite our limitations. So, we should narrow our offerings? The fact is so many second and third rate universities exist that a BA proves little, and in the hard sciences you need the PhD to practice. There are PhD level graduates working in other things because of the shortage of academic jobs. And in things besides being a quant on Wall Street where the pay for a computer scientist or PhD physicist is the lure away from academia or from GE or Siemens. Perhaps one problem with the sorry education results in our nation is that dumb people are the ones having all those children. Like Rick Santorum. Take a sow's ear. Make me a silk purse.
Comment 4 by Gary Gross at 15-Jan-12 07:42 AM
Eric, Thanks for making my case for me. During Dr. Vedder's presentation, he cited as documented fact that 19,000 college graduates with Bachelor degrees working as parking lot attendants.
Earlier in the day, we had 2 presenters talk about the damage done by social promotion, where students are moved to the next grade regardless of command of the subject.
Erin Haust's presentation on the indoctrination factor spoke to the need for eliminating green energy from unrelated subjects. For instance, why is green energy & environmentalism being pushed in math classes?
What's the value of an Ecotourism degree?
Why shouldn't we shut programs like this down? What value does this bring to our economy or to the students' career?
Still Waiting for Mitt's answer
It's kind of embarassing to see Mitt Romney throw mud at his GOP opponents rather than prove he's the great titan of industry that he claims he is.
Friday, Winning the Future, the pro-Newt superPAC, fired off this letter putting the onus on the Romney campaign to back up their accusations with proof. Here are the key questions Winning the Future asked:
1. When did you leave Bain for good - full time or part time?
2. When did you relinquish controlling interest in Bain, any Bain projects or Bain funds?
3. When did you resign as the CEO?
4. When was the last Bain document submitted to the government denoting you as an executiveat Bain?
5. When did you receive the final check from Bain for any investment in which you had andinterest?
Gov. Romney's campaign and his willing allies in the somewhat conservative media have criticized the 'When Mitt Romney Came to Town' video as inaccurate because Mitt left Bain in 1999. Winning the Future wants proof that a) Mitt left Bain and b) Mitt didn't destroy the people he's accused of destroying.
Mitt's playing the 'run-out-the-clock' game. He's being secretive about the answers to those questions. Mitt's also trying to tell people that there's no there there by essentially telling them that it's all his opponents' fault for taking the Obama bait. That's what this video is about:
The reality is that Mitt's made his career at Bain the centerpiece of his campaign. Mitt's said that he's a great job creator in the private sector and that he's entitled to the credit for creating new jobs.
That's a nifty trick considering he's now essentially trying to say that he shouldn't be blamed for the bad stuff but get credit for the good stuff.
This article suggests that Mitt was a corporate raider that intentionally caused companies' demises while triggering massive layoffs:
In 1992, Bain Capital acquired American Pad & Paper, or Ampad, from Mead Corp., embarking on a "roll-up strategy" in which a firm buys up similar companies in the same industry in order to expand revenues and cut costs.
Through Ampad, Bain bought several other office supply makers, borrowing heavily each time. By 1999, Ampad's debt reached nearly $400 million, up from $11 million in 1993, according to government filings.
This isn't a lefty website accusing Mitt of running Ampad into the ground. It's government filings filed by Bain stating that they piled up hundreds of millions of dollars of debt as part of Bain's "roll up strategy."
Thus far, Mitt's attempted to innocently explain away that that's the nature of capitalism, that sometimes businesses fail. That's a lovely sentiment but that doesn't appear to be what happened with Ampad. Ampad looks like a company that Bain intentionally drove into the ground.
It's one thing to for a company to fail. It's another to intentionally run it into the ground.
Until Romney's campaign responds to Winning the Future's questions, I'll assume that Romney is guilty of the accusations made in 'When Mitt Romney came to Town."
As for conservatives defending Bain's habit of being a corporate raider, that's their decision, albeit a rather foolish decision.
Tags: Bain , Bankruptcy , Ampad , Debt , Mitt Romney , Layoffs , Republicans , SuperPACs , Election 2012
Posted Sunday, January 15, 2012 7:29 AM
Comment 1 by eric z at 16-Jan-12 08:55 AM
Have you any idea why this question of corporate raider and destructive reorganizations has been an off-limits debate issue? So many debates, so much same old.
There is one scheduled tonight from SC? I think so.
Huntsman out, Buddy Roemer never let in. Any thoughts on either?
Why does Newt not challenge "other candidates" about a constructive-only business record he appears to claim to have in his private-sector days? Something like that?
Will he wait until it is too late, leaving the "... Future" PACs to duel out things? The debate stage seems more natural than attack film release, etc.
If the issue goes without any airing in the debates, and Romney wins, he will face raider-destructor challenges anyway, in the general election. If there are real skeletons to rattle that way, isn't it best to try to vet and defuse that stuff early? Otherwise it looks like a candidate conspiracy to cover up in case "the other guy" gets the ultimate nomination.
Remember, Nixon fell on the coverup, not the offense. Early vetting works, witness Dayton's early statements about having been treated for depression.
Finally, is the Gingrich Future PAC in effect doing the vetting? If that's not the intention, is it yet the effect?
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 16-Jan-12 09:06 AM
Huntsman out, Buddy Roemer never let in. Any thoughts on either?Who?
Why does Newt not challenge 'other candidates' about a constructive-only business record he appears to claim to have in his private-sector days? Something like that?Newt's tried. Mitt's refused to get vetted in GOP debates so he'll get taken to the proverbial woodshed in the general election. Mitt's supporters aren't the brightest in terms of strategy.
Comment 2 by eric z at 16-Jan-12 11:17 AM
From an MSNBC item about there being a GOP debate tonight, on Fox, from Myrtle Beach, this reminder:
Countdown to South Carolina primary: 5 days
Countdown to Florida primary: 15 days
Countdown to Nevada caucuses: 19 days
Countdown to Super Tuesday: 50 days
Countdown to Election Day: 295 days
It looks as if in 15 days things could be closed out, for all intents and purposes.
Super Tuesday, in 50 days, seems to usually be more a coronation of the outside party's candidate choice, than a decider.
