School reform flies high with Huizenga

The Claremont Institute and XJet World hosted a full house as we welcomed J.C. Huizenga, founder of National Heritage Academies, for an executive briefing on educational excellence through entrepreneurship, Thursday, Nov. 29, at Centennial Airport south of Denver. Here's more on Huizenga's charter-school success story across the country... more on his company's first Colorado school at Reunion in Adams County... and more on the XJet concept, which founders Josh Stewart and Alex Cranberg say has taken wing on the same competitive market principles as parental choice in education.

Claremont president Brian Kennedy helped John Andrews keynote the event, as guests lunched in a gleaming hanger with Citation and Falcon jets parked a few steps from the tables.

Unionize for productivity? Right

The uproar over Governor Ritter’s executive order setting all state employees on a path to unionization has been extraordinary. Business outrage, legislative indignation, and editorial denunciation all indicate a political event of seismic proportion. Politics aside however, thoughtful observers were even more astonished by the governor’s bold assertion that his decision was a sure path to improved service and greater productivity on the part of state workers.

Unfortunately there is no persuasive evidence in this state, in this country, or for that matter the world that supports this assertion. In fact the preponderance of evidence points in precisely the opposite direction – poorer service and lower productivity. The historical record makes this quite clear.

Unions reached their peak a half century ago when nearly one in three American workers were members. During the first half of the 20th century unions provided a much needed corrective to the excesses of the capitalist system. Their valuable role in bringing about a reasonable equilibrium between labor and management cannot be denied.

Time however has passed unions by – a helpful influence in the first half of the last century became a dragging anchor in the second. Having outlived their usefulness to the American economy and American workers alike, unions have seen a steady decline in membership. Yet concurrent with this fifty-year union decline, the American economy, and the well-being of the American worker has soared to hitherto unimaginable heights. Positive developments in technology, competition, trade, deregulation, and management have fueled this astonishing explosion of productivity; unions have only hindered it.

Today, fewer than one American worker in seven belongs to a labor union, and it is most instructive to see where you find them.

Unions in the private sector are almost an endangered species, and those industries where they remain prominent – such as auto manufacturing- are in deep trouble owing to utterly unsustainable union contracts. In the public sector, however, union membership, wealth and political clout is thriving. Absent the public, sector unionism in America is a non-entity.

It is most useful to ask what explains this stark dichotomy between private and public sector unions.

Joseph Stalin famously described his success in disposing of political opponents with the phrase “No man, no problem”. In the union context that might read “no competition, no problem”.

What school districts, municipalities, state and federal government have in common is that all are essentially monopoly enterprises with no competitors.

Let us be clear that public service has been an honorable, satisfying, and worthwhile calling long before it encountered unions and will continue to be with or without unions.

It is equally clear that union leaders understand better than anyone that competition for them is the kiss of death and they will do absolutely anything in their power to snuff it out before it can demonstrate its inherent popularity and effectiveness. An example of this “preserve the monopoly at all costs” behavior is the recent flood of union money and manpower that poured into Utah to pass a ballot initiative overturning a new law that granted school vouchers to poor children.

This behavior and all the history that proceeds it should tell us all we need to know about any connection between unions and either productivity or the public interest.

Bill Ritter is a decent and sincere man who obviously wants what is good for Colorado. No doubt a case can be made for his recent executive order but trying to justify it as promoting improved service and productivity flies in the face of all history and common sense.

Not long ago Governor Ritter wisely and courageously vetoed a naked union power grab that had been jammed through the legislature by the usual suspects. Though incurring the furious wrath of his party’s left wing which had long viewed him darkly, Ritter caught the eye of the nation and suggested that Colorado had elected a truly “New Democrat” who harkened to the better angels of his party’s distant but honorable past, a man ready to defy the special interest on behalf of the public interest.

On a bleak Friday afternoon these illusions were shattered. We must all hope that for our governor and our state better days are ahead.

Colorado Education Commissioner from 1997-2007, Dr. Moloney is also a former member of the NEA and the Teamsters Union

Radio links from 10/14 show

The Colorado Civil Rights Initiative, which Ward Connerly told us is now petitioning for the 2008 ballot after a close call in the state Supreme Court, is here. And here is Armand Fusco's checklist for citizens and school board members on stopping school corruption.

Look who got buried

"We will bury you," Nikita Khrushchev famously threatened the United States in the late 1950s. His cockiness, and the concern of many liberals that he might be right, stemmed in part from the Soviet Union's supposed lead in science and technology as epitomized by their launch of Sputnik, 50 years ago last week. But news stories about the anniversary took insufficient note of who ended up getting buried -- first Khrushchev himself, then the Evil Empire, then its Marxist-Leninist totalitarian ideology. The cause of death for the latter two included not only democratic capitalism's inherent superiority in political governance, economic productivity, and moral vitality, but also the decisive advantage of a free society over a slave society in education, research, and innovation.

A Denver Post wire story on Oct. 5 reported: "Goose-stepping guards and medal-bedecked space veterans laid flowers at the tomb of the father of the Soviet space program, Sergei Korolyov, at the foot of the Kremlin wall." Wrong tomb; the wreath should have been laid on the grave of world communism and its vaunted historical inevitability -- except that the grave is unmarked and the death unmourned.

A local piece in the Rocky was headed, "Coloradans recount Sputnik's impact on science, classrooms." Quotes from three scientists and science educators who were in school back in 1957 made it sound as though gravity and the heliocentric theory had barely been discovered before the Russian launch embarrassed big government into turning things around, leading to the great things our schools and their graduates have begun accomplishing in latter years.

Nice try by the revisionists, but the sad fact is that the union-dominated, money-corrupted US education system at all levels today is turning out poorer-prepared young people -- in engineering, math, science, and technology particularly -- and far fewer entrants to such careers, than either the America of Ike's day or our leading competitor nations of today. It would appear that the US military and space innovation which loomed so large in Reagan's winning of the Cold War twenty years ago, and the info-tech revolution which has kept our economy booming ever since, occurred in spite of, not because of, all those ballyhooed science-education programs after Sputnik.

Meanwhile, as we also read in last week's papers, Democrats running the state legislature continue stiff-arming sensible proposals (inconveniently offered by Republicans) to toughen Colorado's math and science requirements for high-school graduation. And you gotta love their rationale for keeping ours among the five(!) states with few or no such requirements:

Committee chairman Rep. Michael Merrifield, D-Colorado Springs, said he is still opposed to "making students into widgets."

"Where is the opportunity for students to experiment and grow their multiple talents with a day that is going to be so regimented?" he asked.

Colorado should focus on making students well-rounded, creative and able to use the right sides of their brains to solve problems, said Merrifield, a former music teacher.

But don't worry, be happy -- with Maestro Mike leading the band, at least we can sing, dance, and fiddle our way down the slope of international mediocrity.

Constitution Day at my son's school

On Sept. 17, the 220th anniversary of the US Constitution, I had the great privilege to talk to two separate fourth-grade classes at Summit Elementary, the school our son Spencer attends in suburban Denver. I was impressed there was so much fanfare scheduled. It renewed my hope that perhaps our heritage has not been lost on the young or at least not on the school. My focus was on the Constitution’s basic principles (underlain by the Declaration of Independence) that all men are created equal and that we therefore have the unalienable right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

I began by asking the students, "What is liberty?" I received some creative answers: we are to treat each other with respect, we live in a country where we say a pledge, liberty it is a statue or it is a bell, and finally, it is freedom.

It took a while but the concept of Freedom is where I was headed with the discussion. To get there I wanted to lay a foundation of basic Western Civilization principles as well as history. So where does one start with fourth-graders? With the idea of Natural Law and John Locke, of course.

I confessed to the kids, I really didn’t hear about Natural Law and John Locke until I was in college! Where had I been? But we dove into the idea that there are a set of laws that are natural to mankind – through reason and intellect we can understand these principles to be true.

One of the most important laws John Locke spoke about in his famous writing “Second Treatise of Government” is the idea of all men are created equal and thus

liberty is not a state of license: though man in that state have an uncontrollable liberty to dispose of his person or possessions, yet he has not liberty to destroy himself, or so much as any creature in his possession, but where some nobler use than its bare preservation calls for it. The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges every one: and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind, who will but consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions.

What a big concept! We then talked about liberty as freedom within constraints. Sometimes it is easier to define something when you know what it is not. Kids understand “no” sometimes better than “yes,” so we started with what liberty is not. It is not freedom without rules, for that would be chaos. I cannot pick your pocket; I may be free to pick your pocket, but I know that would be wrong and if I am caught, I will be punished. They understood that. I was able then to link the concept of liberty to the Golden Rule.

But when I asked them who knows what the Golden Rule is, only one child and the teacher raised their hands! What an opportunity to talk about a simple Natural Law! The concept of being nice to someone because you want to be treated nicely is one of the basic components of Western Civilization and Liberty.

So in five minutes, with the understanding of a fourth-grader, I talked about Western Civilization. How privileged we are to live in the United States! Through our Founding Fathers these concepts (life, liberty, happiness) have distilled themselves over time -- and through the filters of religion, tyranny, and war our nation was born.

Through Western Civilization we have propagated the great "self-evident truth" we hold dear: all men are created equal.

Wow! You could have heard a pin drop when I told of other countries where men and women are not assumed equal. I spoke briefly of India and the Dalits; I spoke of religions of the Middle East and how women are forbidden to get an education.

These children understood equality of personhood is a Natural Law, but they didn’t know other countries don’t believe this. They do not know how blessed we are to live in a country where that assumptive law is in our constitution.

I was able also to touch on the difference between equality of personhood and equality of outcome and how it is not the government’s responsibility to make me happy but to get out of my way as I make myself happy!

As I read from the founding documents, I was blessed to see their eyes open up to words they may have never heard, like “And for support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor”!

As a parent I take for granted that the things I teach my son about our American heritage and belief are much the same as what other parents are teaching their children. I will no longer take that for granted. As I stand at the bus stop on school mornings, I will look for ways in my normal conversation with the children to bring out the principles of Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness. I will ask them basic facts about our country and challenge them as they go throughout their day to see those truths played out.

If we are to preserve our uniquely American heritage, a heritage for which those before us (and those after us – I hope) will indeed pledge their life, fortunes and sacred honor, we must tell this generation: Are you investing in your own knowledge of American history? Are you willing to share your insights with the children in your neighborhood? If you don’t, who will?

NOW TEST YOURSELF...

Here is a short quiz I left with the students that day, hoping the teachers would use it to foster discussion. How well would you do?

1- What is liberty? a) A statue in New York b) A bell in Philadelphia c) A principle of freedom within constraints d) A principle of government should make me happy

2- Who was John Locke? a) An English philosopher who wrote about government and social contracts b) A signer of the Constitution c) A man who believed you should not be concerned with anybody but yourself d) A man who said liberty allows me to do anything that makes me happy

3- Who penned the Declaration of Independence? a) George Washington b) George Bush c) John Hancock d) Thomas Jefferson

4-What does the Golden Rule say? a) I can treat you different than me b) If you are born poor you will always be poor c) I can pursue anything I want d) I should treat you as I want to be treated

5- What major concept is part of Western Civilization? a) The United States is the best country b) All men are created equal c) Government supplies my needs d) All laws are good laws

6- Who said, “give me liberty or give me death?” a) Paul Revere b) Abraham Lincoln c) Thomas Jefferson d) Patrick Henry

7- Write your definition of Liberty.