Photo Economics: The Power of Property
For release noon July 27 and thereafter (735 words) I suggested in an earlier article that aerial photography of the border between barren Haiti and the heavily forested Dominican Republic was a predictor of the recent Haitian earthquake devastation. Not the earthquake, mind you, but the devastation that followed. The property-rights vacuum that encouraged Haitians Read the full article…
Subsidized Journalism? Not Funny
For immediate release (708 words) “If the press is stopped and the people kept in ignorance, we had much better have the first magistrate and senators hereditary.” — John Adams A delegation from Izvestia sat in our conference room one afternoon in the late 1970s as the long-running regime of Leonid Brezhnev came to a Read the full article…
Principals’ Academy Pushes for Radical Change
For release Tuesday noon July 20 and thereafter (670 words) Lindan Hill, director of Marian University’s leadership academy that will train Indiana principals to transform bad schools, has ideas that may strike fear in the hearts of the education establishment: The fastest way to improve education is to get “powerful teaching” into the classroom. Effective Read the full article…
Soccer Hype Hid Flaws of New South Africa
For release Tuesday noon July 13 and thereafter (539 words) Viewers of the World Cup finals last weekend were treated to the pageantry of the “beautiful game” but little of the reality of post-Apartheid South Africa. That is unfortunate, for it includes important lesson for the rest of the world. Beginning with the obvious, Apartheid was Read the full article…
‘Voter ID’ Is Hardly a Civil-Rights Matter
For release Tuesday noon July 6 and thereafter (663 words)I don’t want 19-year-olds buying alcoholic beverages any more than I want non-citizens or dead people diluting the power of my vote. That’s why I don’t mind showing my driver’s license when I purchase a six-pack or when I go to the polls on Election Day. Read the full article…
‘Advanced Placement’ Deserves Scrutiny
For release Tuesday noon June 22 and thereafter (1,020 words) Newsweek’s ranking of the nation’s best public high schools gives disproportionate attention to one variable of school quality: the percentage of students who take an Advanced Placement or similar test. It should also focus attention on one of the rarely questioned yet more mercenary institutions Read the full article…
