Utah Education: Low Marks and Sacred Tradition

I have recently been reading Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers.  If you haven't read the book yet, I highly recommend it.  There are some fascinating lessons on life and success in the book.

One of the chapters deals with the American school system and some of the dynamics that are at play in helping students perform well.  He describes circumstances that have laid the groundwork for education in Western culture versus the education of students in countries like Japan and China.  Attention is drawn to the remarkable difference in test scores between American students and their Asian counterparts.

One of his conclusions is that the rice cultivation culture that has dominated Asian nations for centuries has created a fertile environment to students to perform well in school.  But why?

To answer this, lets look at some data.  Karl Alexander from John Hopkins University conducted a study of students in the Baltimore Maryland area from high, low, and middle income backgrounds.  Using standardized tests, they tracked the students for 5 years with them taking tests at the beginning and end of each school year.  Here is a table of the results:

Lets discuss his findings one section at a time.

This chart is derived from the table at the top.  The blue line is children from high income households.  The red line is low income.  Notice that the test scores are not terribly different in the 1st grade.  However, as time goes on, the difference grows greater and greater.  What is causing this difference?  Are poor children unable to learn as much a their affluent counterparts?  Queue the next chart please:

To find out if the kids were learning or not during the school year, Mr. Alexander tested the children at the beginning of the school year and at the end.  Do you see a broad divergence between the three groups here?  I don't.  In fact, in the 4th and 5th grade, affluent children were tracking just below their middle income and poor counterparts.  If that is the case, how could affluent children be out performing their peers as we saw in the first chart?  Our third chart holds the answer:

  
Because Mr. Alexander tested the children at the beginning and end of the school year, he was able to compare their scores before summer break and after summer break.  Take a look at the above findings.  With negative scores, the poor kids actually lost information over the long summer break after 1st and 2nd grades.  Both the middle and low income kids both show low gains the rest of the time.  However, the affluent kids show tremendous increases over this same period.

The study revealed a compelling and unsurprising reason for the difference.  The answer?  Affluent parents can afford to keep their children busy with learning opportunities during the summer months.  The leisurely summer days spent by the low and middle income kids just aren't filled with the same learning opportunities.  Their parents often plop them in front of the TV or mind numbing distractions.  Meanwhile, the affluent kids are getting training in music, language, and other extra-curricular activities during the summer.

Regardless of income, the kids demonstrate equal intelligence.  The difference is the opportunity for learning.  Kids that come from well off homes in America tend to have more opportunity, via parental intervention, than those that don't.  This brings us back to the difference between American students and those from Japan and China. 

The average American school year is 180 days.  South Korea has a school year of 220 days and Japan tops out at 242 days.  With so much opportunity for learning, is it any wonder that these countries excel at educating their children?

This education ethos from the Orient stems from work ethos forged by centuries of cultivating rice patties.  Unlike America's ancestors from the European feudal order of agriculture, where peasants spent only a third of their time in useful work during the planting and harvesting seasons, Oriental peasants harvested and planted year round and were self-employed in doing so.  The incentive structures and work ethics for these historical cultures couldn't be more different from one another.  Strikingly, as is detailed on Outliers, this cultural heritage telegraphs to societies today...for better or worse. 

The trick to competing and improving in America is to recognize the inherent weaknesses in our system and adapt to them.  Many schools have extended school days or more teaching days per year to increase the opportunities for learning and student improvement.  Perhaps it is time for us in Utah to review some of our time honored traditions, such as summer break, and seek other ways to provide excellence in education.            

Utah's Sex Education: Abstinence, Advocacy, and Abomination

 
The House Education Standing Committee heard a recent bill proposed by one of my colleagues that would change Utah's sex education curriculum by presenting an abstinence only message without the discussion of contraceptives.

This bill provides the opportunity for an interesting discussion about the role schools play in the sexual awareness and attitudes of our rising generation.  Certainly, schools play an important part in the dissemination of this information which is central to the perpetuation of our society.  Without reproduction, our civilization would collapse in 40 years.  Thus, this issue is of paramount importance for the future existence and prosperity of Utah and our nation.

So, with that in mind, why are children taught about sex in our schools?  Who ultimately bears responsibility for this kind of education? One thing is certain, children only know what they are told.  Yet, there are many competing voices for children to listen to on this subject.  Parents provide the best and most influential instruction, schools provide another voice in providing information, and the media provides a third very sensationalized and misinformed voice.

Indeed, today with many parents unable or unwilling to engage their children on the topic, children are often left to the schools and the media to learn about sexual behavior.  Unfortunately, the media provides a powerful and transfixing medium to learn from.  Just like freshly cut potatoes that are dipped in hot grease and changed into french fries, our children today are immersed in a media awash in the corrosive and transformative influences of pornography.  This extra-curricular menace provides nothing of meaningful value to children but instead lays the insidious foundation of serious anti-social behavior, inhibits the formation of long lasting relationships, and deteriorates the bonds of trust in future existing relationships.  This is the great foe that schools and parents have to face in our day.  

The concern that seems to be raised at the Legislature regards balancing the roles of parents and the schools in providing good information.  Many parents are missing-in-action when it comes to educating their children on the powerful consequences that come from engaging in sexual activity. So, is there a policy position that can be taken regarding sex education at schools that will act as the surest and best safe guard of information for our children?

I believe there is and that answer is advocating abstinence while teaching awareness of contraception.  Advocacy of any behavior other than abstinence simply opens the door to heart ache, public health problems, and societal ills.

Abstinence is a concept that environmental conservationists should understand very well.  The concept of preserving and maintaining pristine virgin wilderness without despoiling it is something of great value.  If a landscape is worthy of such a noble effort, then certainly the the virtue of our children commands even greater treatment.  The teaching of Abstinence is an Innocence Conservancy Initiative.   

The negative consequences of early sexual activity are broad and poignant.  Single mothers are thrust into poverty; unwanted children grow up on welfare roles; the fragmentation of the nuclear family places ever heavier burdens on schools, police, and corrections facilities.

The individual liberty we each enjoy becomes a burden to all when it is abused to licentiousness.  The consequences are heaped on all our shoulders in the form of larger government, greater taxes, and pervading human sorrow.

Therefore, it is my hope that greater emphasis is placed on abstinence in our schools.  While children need to know of contraception, the details of how they are used should be left to the parents and guardians of the children. The existential basis of our society is the power to reproduce ourselves.  May we treat this power with the reverence it deserves.

December Caucus 2011

We met as a Republican Caucus today to review some up and coming issues regarding state business.  Here are some highlights:

The Budget

The Governor made his budget proposal recently.  Interestingly, his budget contains about $30 Million more than our consensus budget figures show.  This is an interesting discrepancy.  It appears that the Governor believes that there are accounts somewhere that can be tapped to cover this difference.  If so, the House and Senate are not privy to the whereabouts of these funds and will be allocating funds accordingly.

The State is now at 90% of our constitutional borrowing limit due to a 7% decline in property tax assessments statewide this year.  The state is also running at a $52 Million ongoing budget deficit that needs to be corrected.  Also, student population growth increased 12,000 that needs to be funded.  Even though it is widely reported in the press that we have a $120 Million surplus this year, this "surplus" will likely be consumed entirely in funding student growth, correcting our ongoing budget deficit, and paying down our debt.

Interestingly, a comparison was also given to us today showing how much we have eroded away at our Rainy Day Funds.  In 2007 our Rainy Day Funds and reserves totaled $1.56 Billion.  Today we have just $348 Million.  Rainy Day Fund renewal should be a budget priority as well if possible.

Health Care

We heard a presentation on the Affordable Care Act (i.e. Obamacare).  I didn't like what I heard.  You won't either.  Here is what you have to look forward to:

• Those aged 25-34 will have their premiums increase 40% by January 2014.
• Those who choose not to purchase a policy will be fined 1% of their yearly income.
• If an employee chooses a wrong policy, their employer will be fined.
• Transgender assignment surgery will be covered in all policies.
• As your premiums increase, the Feds will subsidize your premiums (with money they taxed from you.)
• ...and more unsettling regulations.

We also discussed that Utah has 600 individuals on high risk state funded insurance called HIP.  This small group of people have consumed $40 Million in just two years ($33,360 per individual per year).  The Federal government granted Utah the $40 Million to help this group a couple years ago with the idea that the funds would last through 2014.  Today, the money is gone and rather than discontinue the program, the Federal Government has cut Utah a check for another $40 Million in order to prevent embarrassment and discrediting of the program.   

Public Education

The Legislature discussed the concepts of merit pay for school teachers and some of the dynamics at play.  Although no details were discussed, it appears that the body is leaning toward this type of compensation plan for teachers.  Of course, the devil is in the details.  Keep your eyes peeled on this issue in the weeks to come...

Note:  Federal funds equal just $280 Million of our $3.4 Billion public school budget.  Is it worth the strings that are attached?  Let's figure out a way to jettison Federal dollars and exercise freedom to teach under our own recognizance.  

Land Issues

In a big push back at Federal overreach, Ken Ivory is proposing a bill that will force the Federal Government to sell public lands to private owners.  The National Parks would be deeded to the U.S Government but the remaining land would be sold off with 5% of the proceeds going to school funds.  The remainder would be revenue for the U. S. Government (and hopefully would pay down the debt.)

It's a bold idea.  I support it.

Look for more updates to come....

Ogden School District vs. UEA - KSL SUNDAY

The Ogden School District performance pay debate continues...

Bruce Lindsay does an excellent job asking pointed and direct questions.  Superintendent Zabriskie does an excellent job handling those questions.  In trying to get her message across, Ms. Gallagher-Fishbaugh seems to become mired in legal jargon that was probably lost on most of the audience.   (Click Segment 2 to watch) 

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

It appears that the Ogden Education Association was asleep at the wheel while allowing the teachers to operate without a contract this past school year.  The union seems to recognize the implications of that mistake and is now demanding a last minute renegotiation.  I am curious how this dynamic would appear if the School District and UEA changed seats.  Would the UEA be as amenable to watering down its negotiating advantage as it is asking the Ogden School District to be today?