VV Daily Press
September 4, 2016

Wrecking crew against America

President Obama, Hillary and Bill Clinton, and Governor Brown are the primary wrecking crew against America, as follows:

President Obama has damaged the freedoms of Americans with the reckless, unconstitutional actions against our economy, our energy resources, our national security and our domestic security with executive orders and edicts, wars against coal and oil, finance, healthcare, the police – diminishing our border security, military defenses, allowing the proliferation of ISIS terrorism – releasing criminals to prey on the people, and imposing punishing regulations and taxes.

As Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton participated in the proliferation of ISIS terrorism, and used and abused her office for the Clinton Foundation and personal gain. As a candidate for president, she intends to assign the economy to her former president husband, Bill Clinton, who is directly responsible for the 2008 economic collapse, by forcing banks and mortgage lenders to give unaffordable home loans to unqualified buyers in mass.

California Governor Jerry Brown is a major player in the wrecking crew against California and America with economy-busting, punishing taxation, regulations, bullet train and water tunnel bond scams, $billions in the miseducation of students, high energy costs, releasing criminals to prey on Californians, lack of border security, support of sanctuary cities, and threats to our national and domestic security.

Indeed, the unconscionable Democrat Party and the liberal press covers for the un-American trio and all who support continued attacks against the people. Attention voters: wise up and don’t commit voter-assisted suicide by electing or re-electing more of the same poison to our freedom and liberty.

Alas, that they’re doing is tantamount to treason….

Daniel B. Jeffs
Apple Valley

Riverside Press Enterprise
April 13, 2016

Taxpayers lose with hefty raise for CSU faculty

Giving in to the demands of the nation’s largest public university faculty union in California, giving its members a 10.5 percent raise in salaries to avert a strike is an affront against California taxpayers. Particularly when the Cal State system is nothing more than a finishing school for liberal indoctrination taught in schools throughout the nation.

Surely, aggressive teacher unions are prime examples of why there should be no public employee unions or strikes against taxpayers and the public interest anywhere in the United States, for any reason. It’s simply unconscionable and unconstitutional to allow a deleterious ideology to “wag the dog” of government and the American people.

Daniel B. Jeffs
Apple Valley

(Original letter)

No public employee unions

Giving in to the demands of the nation’s largest public university faculty union in California, giving them a 10.5% raise in salaries to avert a strike, is an affront against California taxpayers. Particularly, when the Cal State system is nothing more than a finishing school for liberal indoctrination in public schools, which is prevalent throughout the nation.

Worse, wagging-the-public-dog of miseducation by the intimidation of state teacher unions, the NEA, the federal department of education and the evils of tenure have undermined the minds of America’s students, robbing them of their education by manipulating their minds in factories of ignorance for the sake of a liberal ideology is un-American

Surely, aggressive teacher unions are prime examples of why there should be no public employee unions or strikes against taxpayers and the public interest anywhere in the United States for any reason. It’s simply unconscionable and unconstitutional to allow a deleterious ideology to wag=the-dog of government and the American people.

Indeed, it is simply divisive, insidious politics and a danger to our children, our domestic and national security our freedom and our future….

Riverside Press Enterprise
December 16, 1025

Need for a different kind of climate change

Dwarfing his costly Obamacare failure, President Obama spearheaded his legacy-seeking U.N. conference on climate change in Paris, resulting in a worldwide agreement to avert the worst effects of global warming by shifting economies to cleaner energy sources.

Sadly, the economy-busting climate change deception simply adds to the dangerously corrosive, decades-long social, political and economic climate change in America caused by liberal government, the miseducation establishment and media.

Alas, what America really needs is a reverse climate change -- of good and against evil -- with the strength of determined leadership and limited government. It’s a matter of our survival.

Daniel B. Jeffs
Apple Valley

(Original letter)

Deadly climate change deception

Dwarfing his costly Obamacare failure, President Obama spearheaded his legacy-seeking UN conference in Paris on Climate Change resulting in a worldwide agreement to avert the worst effects of global warming by shifting economies to cleaner energy sources to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

However, beginning with Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth global warming deception backed by climate alarmist scientists, the campaign against greenhouse gases went into overdrive, exacerbated by reckless legislative actions highlighted in California by conference attendee, former Gov. Schwarzenegger’s punishing AB 32 carbon taxes.

Indeed, Ca. Gov. Brown gave a speech at the Paris conference, followed by a scene outside the center, singing along with Barry McGuire’s 1965 song, “We’re on the eve of destruction” as his legacy-seeking anthem to take drastic actions justifying his radical political moves by slashing oil consumption and sounding false alarms against drought, disasters and terrorism. And, of course, L.A. Mayor Garcetti attended the conference and jumped on the environmentalist bandwagon.

Sadly, the delirious economy-busting climate change deception simply adds to the dangerously corrosive decades-long social, political and economic climate change in America caused by liberal government, the miseducation establishment and media bent on social, political and economic suicide.

Clearly evidenced by tyrannical laws and taxes, indoctrination of students robbing them of a real education --the Clinton-government-caused 2008 housing and financial meltdown -- President Obama’s feckless foreign policy and border enforcement resulting the proliferation of terrorism, illegal alien criminals, gangs and drugs -- and the collapse of our national and domestic security.

Alas, what America really needs is a reverse climate change to good against evil with the strength of determined leadership and limited government. It’s a matter of our survival….

Daniel B. Jeffs
Apple Valley

San Diego Union-Tribune
September 19, 2015

Common Core’s federal control of education standards

It is common knowledge and well understood that President Obama’s establishment of Common Core education standards is a direct move for federal control of public education similar to nationalizing health care with the un-Affordable Care Act.

Indeed, it is also common knowledge that ObamaCareless is seriously damaging to health care, the economy and the American people.

Worse, Common Core Is the final blow of what began as the miseducation of teachers and students in the liberal-socialist counterculture revolution of the 1960’s and the subsequent indoctrination of our students, robbing them of a productive education.

Coupled with President Obama’s control of energy, finance and housing, the president’s fundamental transformation of America is reaching completion, which is frightening….

Daniel B. Jeffs
Carlsbad

Daily Press - Dispatch
June 15, 2014
(unedited)

Striking down tenure law sends huge message

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Rolf M. Treu demonstrated courageous justice in ruling that California teacher tenure is unconstitutional and detrimental to students. Indeed, the setback to California teacher unions is long overdue, particularly when teachers acquire tenure after a mere 18 months on the job, thus protecting them regardless of their competence or job or law violations -- for life.

Tenure was meant for high-level university and college professors who earned it, not summarily granted to every teacher in the state. Teacher union power, buying politicians, jerking around taxpayers and stealing students' education has gone on far too long. California's corrupt union establishment of tenure and miseducation is simply a costly disgrace and a crime against society -- certainly unconstitutional.

Daniel B. Jeffs
Apple Valley

San Diego Union-Tribune
June 11, 2014

Tenure decision: It's about time

Terminate teacher tenure

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Rolf M. Treu demonstrated courage in ruling that California teacher tenure is unconstitutional and detrimental to students.

Indeed, the setback to California teacher unions is long overdue, particularly when teachers acquire tenure after a mere 18 months on the job, thus protecting them regardless of their competence or job or law violations.

Tenure was meant for high-level university and college professors who earned it, not summarily granted to every teacher in the state. Teacher union power has gone on far too long.

Daniel B. Jeffs
Carlsbad

(original letter)

Terminate teacher tenure

San Bernardino Sun
May 29, 2014

Elliot is a product of our failed society

Indeed, Isla Vista has been needlessly added to the mental illness tragedies of Columbine, Virginia Tech., Sandy Hook, Aurora and others.

Alas, too much of our culture has sunken into a superficial society of selfish interests, social aggression, political tyranny and extremes. Now retired from a 41-year career in law enforcement and the criminal justice system since 1960, I have witnessed the deterioration of society first hand, and I am worried about the future of my children, grandchildren and all American families.

One thing is certain: demonizing Republicans and the NRA is a shallow exercise in futility, particularly when big government built by liberal Democrats and the dangerous indoctrination of students by the education establishment are responsible for our failing society. Indeed, guns don't kill people. People kill people is not a hackneyed phrase. It is the sad truth.

Daniel B. Jeffs
Apple Valley

San Diego Union-Tribune
May 28, 2014

Elliot Rodger: product of failed society

Elliot Rodger's rampage in Isla Vista, California is the result of bullying, irresponsible parenting, weak 5150 enforcement, corrosive social media, political blindness, and a failed mental health system replete with the hollow interests of psychologists. Indeed, Isla Vista has been needlessly added to the mental illness tragedies of Columbine, Virginia Tech., Sandy Hook, Aurora and others.

Daniel B. Jeffs
Carlsbad

The Washington Examiner
May 30, 2013

Holder is investigating himself again

Re: "Justice investigating IRS targeting the Tea Party," May 15

From the time presidential candidate Barack Obama campaigned on fundamentally transforming America, we have seen steady growth of government regulations and spending accompanied by insurmountable debt -- all supported by the liberal state media. Years of liberal indoctrination by the education establishment have left most Americans clueless about the Obama administration's insidious machinations to undermine the Constitution, or the deep chilling effect they have had on his opposition, as evidenced by the IRS targeting conservatives and the Tea Party and the Justice Department targeting the Associated Press and Fox News reporters.

As usual, President Obama feigned outrage when it was exposed, then fired the IRS Commissioner and ordered his Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate, even though Holder had signed the order to investigate James Rosen, Fox's chief Washington correspondent, as a co-conspirator on a national security leak.

Just like Holder investigating the "Fast and Furious" Holder about his blatant abuse of power, this is a redundant gesture.

Daniel B. Jeffs
Apple Valley, Calif.

(original letter)

From the time presidential candidate Barack Obama campaigned on fundamentally transforming America, his presidential actions, diversions, distractions and deceptions tantamount to outright lies paved the way to accomplishing his liberal agenda -- beginning with ramming his national health care legislation through a complicit Democrat Congress.

Indeed, from then on it was steady government and regulatory growth, spending and insurmountable debt by leaps and bounds -- all supported by the liberal state media, who got President Obama elected and led him into a second term, but not before he lost the House of Representatives to Republicans backed by the spontaneously formed Tea Party in opposition to the president's health careless laws, spending and insurmountable debt.

No thanks to the liberal press and years of liberal indoctrination of students by the education establishment, most of America is clueless about President Obama and his administration's insidious machinations undermining the Constitution, and the deep freeze chilling effect he has on his opposition -- as evidenced by the IRS targeting the Tea Party, conservative groups and individuals -- and the Justice Department targeting Associated Press and Fox News reporters.

Of course, as usual, President Obama feigned outrage at the exposures, fired the IRS Commissioner, and ordered his Attorney General Eric Holder to review policies and investigate, even though Holder had signed the order to investigate FOX's Chief Washington Correspondent, James Rosen as a co-conspirator on a national security leak. Surely, Holder investigating "Fast and Furious" Holder and his blatant abuse of power is a redundant gesture.

Alas, lest we forget, it is President Obama's dictatorial regulations, legislative tyrannies, government growth and his gang of liberal Democrats that are limiting our free speech and liberties -- ruining our economy and our culture, not to mention risking our national security by toying with terrorism -- when it is much smaller limited constitutional government that we need to survive.

The Riverside Press Enterprise
October 24, 2012

Reject Props. 30, 38

It's too late to pay now and demand reforms later -- vote no on Propositions 30 and 38.

Governor Brown's Proposition 30 and Molly Munger's Proposition 38 want voters to approve tax increases for the miseducation monopoly. It's bad enough that California is graduating functionally illiterate students. But to ask economically beleaguered voters to pay more for failing education to feed selfish teacher unions adds insult to injury.

California teacher salaries, benefits and retirement costs are among the highest in the country. It's not a matter of too little money. It's the failure of the education. money pit.

Alas, the liberal Democrat monopoly in the executive and legislature has a stranglehold on business, taxpayers and schools, the grip of which can be broken only by ballot initiatives to reduce regulations and taxes, to outlaw teacher unions and other public employee unions, to repeal Prop. 98's grip on half of the budget, and to privatize public education.

Daniel B. Jeffs
Apple Valley

(Original letter)

It's too late to pay now and demand reforms later -- vote no on Propositions 30 and 38

Governor Brown's Proposition 30 and Molly Munger's Proposition 38 want voters to approve tax increases for the miseducation monopoly. Surely, it's bad enough that California is already the third highest in taxes -- behind New York and New Jersey -- and ranks 47th and 48th of 50 states in math and reading skills, graduating students who are functionally illiterate.

But to ask economically beleaguered voters to pay more for failing education to feed the selfish interests of teacher unions is adding insult to injury. Particularly, when the salaries, benefits and retirement costs are among the highest in the country. Indeed, it's not a matter of not enough money heaped on miseducation. It's the nonfeasance, misfeasance and malfeasance of the miseducator money pit.

Alas, the liberal Democrat monopoly in the executive and legislature have a stranglehold on business, taxpayers and schools, the grip of which can only be broken by ballot initiatives to significantly reduce regulations and taxes, to outlaw teacher unions and other public employee unions, to repeal Proposition 98's grip on half of the budget, and to privatize public education.

Lastly, we need to pass ballot initiatives to reduce the over-reaching powers of the state -- with a population of 12 percent of country and 33 percent of the welfare recipients -- that support and educate illegal aliens and the undeserving at taxpayer expense, and usurp the powers of local government.

California Constitution Article II, Section 1 gives voters the power of initiative, referendum and recall to wit: "All political power is inherent in the people. Government is instituted for their protection, security and benefit, and they have the right to alter or reform it when the public good may require." Indeed, with California crashing, the public good certainly requires it.

The Apple Valley Review
(Victor Valley Daily Press - Tuesdays)
Commentary
October 2, 2012

Parent-trigger for all?
by Daniel B. Jeffs
Apple Valley Review

There is much more than concern about dividing families at the troubled Adelanto Desert Trails Elementary School. The 'Parent-trigger' law for transforming the school into a charter school for six years of 70 percent of sixth-graders not being proficient in English or math reflects a long history of California's failing schools, and ample reason that most, of not all, California K-12 public schools should be parent-triggered into charter schools.

As a former community college instructor, I was appalled by the lack of students' English and math skills as early as the 1970's, which was the reason my wife and I assisted our three children with their K-12 schooling, and the reason why most students still graduating from California high schools are functionally illiterate.

Indeed, during Jerry Brown's first term as governor, he approved the unionization of California teachers. That, along with costly top-heavy school district administrations, Proposition 98 guaranteeing the lion's share of the state budget to schools -- and (with few exceptions) former/retired teacher-heavy local school board members -- are the primary reasons the selfish interests of the rich and politically powerful teachers union use campaign funding, bully tactics and school bond measures to wag the dog of public schools. Lest we forget, teacher unions fight all school choice and vouchers by any means necessary.

Of course, Adelanto's school board's open defiance of a court order to transform the school into a charter school smacks of teacher union dirty tricks and the school board's abuse of power. Coupled with the overall failure of public schools in California and general failure throughout the country is why home schooling has been on the rise for years. Surely, parents -- not the miseducation establishment, or the federal Department of Education -- should be in charge of their children's' education. Our children and grandchildren's future -- and the country's future -- depend on excellence in education.

There is, however, hope out there. Direct education over the Internet. The Khan Academy is excellence in education, for anyone, everywhere -- and it's free! 60 Minutes reviewed the Khan Academy, supported by the Gates Foundation, and recently did an impressive update on the program. Parents should check it out for themselves at khanacademy.org.

Los Angeles Times
Opinion L.A.
September 21, 2012

Don't county your chickens, Gov. Brown

Lastly, we need to pass ballot initiatives to reduce the over-reaching powers of the state -- with a population of 12 percent of country and 33 percent of the welfare recipients -- to support and educate illegal aliens and the undeserving at taxpayer expense, and to usurp the powers of local government.

Daniel B. Jeffs
directdemocracy
Apple Valley

The San Francisco Examiner
August 28, 1012

States should handle public-school issues

The San Bernardino Sun
September 1, 2012

Miseducation

Pouring money into public education is an exercise in futility. Particularly with the checkered history of the miseducation of teachers and students, and the malpractice of teacher unions.

Indeed, considering the latest education political barbs being thrown by President Obama accusing Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney of wanting to cut education funding is instead a perfect example of Obama's wasteful spending on education to keep the support of teacher unions.

Clearly, most of President Obama's spending of $96 billion of stimulus funds on national education was to save teachers' jobs, and he wants to spend another $70 billion to do the same thing. Then there is his the enormous increase in college Pell Grants to $36 billion. Pell Grants were intended for poor students, however, Obama has expanded it to most, if not all students for nothing more than their votes.

Considering the failures in education, and the destructive, selfish interests of teacher unions and the NEA, the Department of Education should be abolished. Public education is a matter for the states to handle, or mishandle as in the case of California -- not the federal government.

Daniel B. Jeffs
Apple Valley

San Diego Union-Tribune
August 21, 2012

In response to "In Sacramento, bogus education 'reform' " (Editorial, August 12, 2012):

Governor Brown and the California Teachers Association are largely responsible for Sacramento's bogus education "reform"

It was, however, encouraging to read that Michael Mishak's Front Page L.A. Times August 19th report has exposed the California Teachers Association union for what it has become. A political thug which, as former teacher and state senate leader, Don Perata said, the union views itself as "the co-equal fourth branch of government."

Indeed, as a former community college instructor and father of three children who attended California public schools in the 1970's and 80's, I witnessed the rise of teacher union power and cost of education since the union was authorized by Governor Brown in his first term, and the steady fall of public education as the result.

Alas, things went from bad to worse with the passage of Proposition 98, which gave the education establishment the bulk of the state budget, regardless of the performance of teachers and the quality of education. Then, as parents and others supported a ballot measure for a school voucher system to increase the quality of education, the CTA opposed it with political ads and the direct intimidation of petition gatherers, which I witnessed. Clearly, the CTA and the public education establishment's gangster politics will continue California's costly miseducation disgrace until the union grip on the budget is broken.

Surely, when the union's selfish interests surpass the best interests of students, it's time for concerned parents and voters to act. Indeed, it's past time for a ballot initiatives to repeal Proposition 98, establish a voucher system, raise the standards of education, and disband the union.

Daniel B. Jeffs
Apple Valley

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Los Angeles Times April 28, 2012

Re: UC education hurt by leftism, report finds
by Larry Gordon
L.A. Times, A30, April 1, 2012
Though it has taken me nearly a month to realize that the article, "UC education hurt by leftism, report finds," was not an April Fool's joke, buried on page A30 of the L.A. Times, I'm encouraged to see that it was at least reported -- temporarily delaying the cancellation of my subscription.

I am indeed deeply concerned about how the education establishment of the left has infected not only college students for decades, the jack-boot of political correctness and indoctrination of students has metastasized to secondary education and even elementary schools.

Surely, it comes as no surprise that the Democrat Party left has maintained power in government over most of the last half century and beyond with the creation of college "indoctrination mills" as former presidential candidate Rick Santorum put it -- and was quickly excoriated by the media and liberal pundits.

As a former officer in the criminal justice system for 41 years, and a community college instructor during the 1970's, I experienced with dismay, the rapid transformation of education to political indoctrination, which my wife and I had to begin dealing with during our children's elementary and secondary education, by supplementing their education at home to ensure their core academics were attended to.

A recent PEW study confirmed our ongoing fears, reporting college students favor socialism over capitalism by disturbing numbers, particularly increased over the last two years, which comes as no surprise with President Obama's increased socialist agenda for college education. Indeed, with college loan debt surpassing a $trillion, and controlled entirely by government, something must be done to resolve the undermining of our constitutional republic.

When our overly expensive public education systems are intentionally turned into socialist factories of ignorance, warehouses of indoctrination, and classrooms of suppressed thought and speech, there is only one reason to be reckoned with. Socialism controls the masses with institutions of ignorance. And when socialism is responsible for our social, political and economic collapse, as it has throughout recorded history, it is the enemy of freedom.

If we are to recover, and prosper, America will have none of that.

The Washington Examiner
November 25, 2011

Occupy anger should be directed at colleges

If the disgruntled college students who started and expanded the Occupy Wall Street movement ever come to realize they are the victims of indoctrination by the socialist college and university establishment -- to the exclusion of America's founding principles and conservative thought -- the mass deceit should really make them angry. Indeed, their anger over the constant rise in tuition ought to be directed at the cause: to fund the rise in professors' and bloated administrative salaries, benefits and tenure.

And their anger and blame directed at banks, corporations and the wealthy should be directed at the cause of the housing and financial crash: Democrats growing government and insurmountable debt. Surely, socialist deception comes at a devastating social, political and economic price, certain collapse into authoritarian government, and the loss of freedoms. When certain free speech is the only speech, it is certainly not free.

Thankfully, we are not there yet, and we have much to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving Day, including Americans' unique, innate ability to turn wrong around and make it right.

Daniel B. Jeffs
Apple Valley, Calif.

VP Joe Biden indoctrinating 4th-graders
By Daniel B. Jeffs, founder DDC
October 23, 2011

VP Joe Biden campaigning for President's jobs bill to 4th-graders should be an invitation to expose the liberal indoctrination of students, from elementary schools to college -- by the NEA, teacher unions, tenured professors, and the Department of Education -- at great taxpayer and property owner expense -- while graduating functionally illiterate students and robbing them of a core academic education.

It's simply a crime against the fiber of America. Indeed, the 'Occupy Wall Street' movement is a direct result of the socialist '60s cultural revolution, the takeover of the education and political establishment, and the unbridled growth of government. Free market Capitalism is the only thing keeping our unique constitutional republic from social, political and economic extinction.

Indoctrnated students hurt America
by Daniel B. Jeffs, founder DDC
October 3, 2011

The reckless travel of Berkeley graduate student hikers -- held hostage by Iran -- then expressing their anti-American beliefs, is a national disgrace.

Coupled with the militant "Occupy" anti-capitalism student movement spreading from Wall Street across our country, it is more clear and convincing evidence of the insidious long term socialist indoctrination of students by the vast majority of American colleges and universities since the cultural revolution of the 1960's and 70's.

Worse, the power of the National Education Association expanded to the unionization and miseducation of public education teachers, which have overwhelmed diligent and dedication teachers with social justice nonsense, politically correct, and extreme environmental curriculums -- sacrificing core academics -- and graduating functionally illiterate students.

It is simply criminal that the failed education monopoly has consumed state and local budgets with costly institutions, top-heavy administrations, salaries, tenure, retirement costs, and the confiscatory taxation of property owners -- with limited to negative results, increased violence, and no apologies.

Is it any wonder then, that concerned parents are turning to private education and home schooling to save their children from schools, which once held our faith and trust, and now -- shamelessly -- our fear and disgust.

The Faculty Lounges: And Other Reasons Why You Won't Get The College Education You Pay For

by Naomi Schaefer Riley
Publisher: Ivan R. Dee
June 2011

Overview

Veteran journalist Naomi Shaefer Riley contends that tenure—the jobs-for-life entitlement that comes with a university position—is at the heart of so many problems with higher education today. She explores how tenure—with the job security, mediocre salaries, and low levels of accountability it entails—may be attracting the least innovative and interesting members of our society into teaching.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

For Riley (God on the Quad), the problem with our university system lies with the concept of tenured faculty. Although allowing that "tenure is not the reason why college costs so much," Riley's energies are largely devoted to arguing that "tenure... is eroding American education from the inside out." As a safeguard for academic freedom, Riley argues that there are areas of study where academic freedom is "an almost irrelevant concept." The path to tenure encourages "trivial research and publication," and once achieved, tenure means that professors "can simply neglect their students with little or no consequence." While "not the primary cause of the financial problems" facing higher education, it is "one reason colleges will have such a difficult time digging themselves out." Tied with this harangue about tenure, Riley considers the ambiguous role of "industry-sponsored research," the problems faced by adjunct faculty, and the threat posed by unions. That "military schools and religious institutions are places where tenure is least prevalent" is not an reassuring argument. In any event, according to Riley, "faculty off the tenure track make up about 70 percent of the total and more than half the undergraduate classes," which makes much of Riley's quarrel tangential. Unfortunately, as Riley's tone becomes acerbic, readers who might glean something noteworthy may just tune out.

Library Journal

Riley (God on the Quad: How Religious Colleges and the Missionary Generation Are Changing America) from the outset takes issue with the "lifetime job security" enjoyed by tenured faculty and suggests that faculty who focus on getting tenure often ignore the institutional mission. She quibbles with the argument that tenure protects academic freedom and questions whether professors who teach "vocational subjects" need those protections. Riley admits that the dire financial situation faced by many colleges has not been caused by tenure but argues that "tenured faculty are among the least concerned with an institution's bottom line." The afterword provides a compelling snapshot of Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering near Boston, where the "culture of innovation" precludes tenure of faculty members, the curriculum is overhauled every seven years, and present and past students are asked for feedback about the quality of their educational experiences. VERDICT The title of this work makes it sound like it is tailor-made for parents and prospective students. Rather, this thought-provoking book will appeal to higher education administrators and change agents. Recommended for specialized collections.—Elizabeth Connor, The Citadel, Military Coll. of South Carolina, Lib., Charleston

Meet The Author

Naomi Schaefer Riley was, until recently, the deputy Taste editor of the Wall Street Journal, where she covered higher education for the editorial page. She is the winner of the 2006 American Academy of Religion's Newswriting Contest for Opinion Writing. Ms. Riley graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University. She lives in the suburbs of New York with her husband Jason and two children.

Table Of Contents

Preface ix

Acknowledgments xiii

1 A New Look at an Old Question 3

2 The Battle Cry of Academic Freedom 17

3 Stop the Academic Presses: Get Teachers Back in the Classroom 45

4 The Academic Underclass 73

5 The Unions Are Coming 95

6 University Politics and the Politics of the University 119

7 Following the Money 143

Afterword: The Olin Experiment 171

Suggested Readings 177

Index 181

About the Author 195

Going Broke by Degree: Why College Costs Too Much

Author: Richard Vedder
Publisher: AIE Press
June 2004

Book Description

Economist Richard Vedder examines the causes of the college tuition crisis and explores ways to reverse this alarming trend.

About the Author

Richard Kent Vedder is a professor in the department of economics at Ohio University. His op-ed pieces have appeared in such papers as the Wall Street Journal, Investor's Business Daily, Washington Times, Washington Post, USA Today, and Christian Science Monitor. Vedder has written several books including The American Economy in Historical Perspective (Wadsworth, 1976) and Out of Work: Unemployment and Government in Twentieth-Century America (coauthored with Lowell Gallaway) (New York University Press, updated edition 1997).

San Diego Union Tribune

August 9, 2011

Gay history should include Frank fiasco

As if California’s public schools were not indoctrinated enough with a liberal agenda at the expense of core academics, Gov. Jerry Brown is taking it another step further. He signed a law requiring the inclusion of the contributions of “sexual minorities” in California public school history lessons and textbooks to sensitize students as early as kindergarten.

Surely, the history lessons and textbooks should begin with the contributions of Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., for being largely responsible for the affordable housing bubble that burst and took the housing and financial industry down with it, causing the collapse of the economy, loss of jobs and the deepening recession currently upon us.

Daniel B. Jeffs

Apple Valley, Calif.

REED: Revolutionizing education, Hoosier-style

School reform measures expand choices for parents and kids

By Jeff W. Reed

The Washington Times

Monday, June 20, 2011

States are a lot like stores. In both, top-level decision-making can influence whether they attract business or lose it. Understanding this, Indiana is upgrading one of its key “products,” which too often collects only dust on other states’ shelves.

This year, Indiana lawmakers made dramatic improvements to the state’s K-12 education system to empower teachers and principals, put students on a path to success, use taxpayer money more effectively and provide families with new schooling options.

One of those acts reformed collective bargaining so that only school employees’ wages and benefits can be negotiated. No more will school leaders be hamstrung by such inane contractual provisions as “faculty meetings are limited to one per month.” If principals and teachers are held accountable for school performance, it is only right to let them run those schools as they see fit.

Also, “last in, first out” was ended. Now, if teacher layoffs occur, the “last in” and oftentimes younger faculty - some of whom might be great teachers - won’t be indiscriminately fired first. Rather, they (and their principals) will be measured, compensated and retained based heavily on student learning and growth. If poor-performing schools can’t improve after five years, Indiana’s Department of Education can hire private firms to turn them around.

In addition, Indiana lawmakers created a statewide entity to authorize charter schools and lifted the cap on the number of students wanting to attend online schools - both public services. Now, Hoosiers who find traditional public schools unsuitable, will have more educational options from which to choose.

Private schools also play an important role in serving families; however, those schools typically are accessible only to parents who can afford them. In response, Indiana enacted what will be the nation’s largest school-voucher program, making nearly 60 percent of Hoosiers currently in public schools eligible for vouchers that can be used to cover private-school tuition. Passing such a large program was historic because now middle-class families will qualify for vouchers, too. Political concessions kept it from being 100 percent.

Parents already sending their kids to private schools without vouchers - while paying taxes for public schools they’re not using - will be able to receive a $1,000 tax deduction for tuition and other educational accessories. Home-school families will be eligible as well.

Recognizing that tuition also can be a burden in higher education, Indiana state leaders passed a measure allowing Hoosiers to leave high school early and use part of their senior-year public funding for public and private colleges. Why hold kids back if they’re ready to learn more and move on? That will give teachers more time to assist struggling children.

Finally, lawmakers ensured that tax dollars for education reach their intended purpose, i.e. funding students. Through something called the “de-ghoster,” Indiana school districts with declining enrollments were receiving temporary funds to ease the loss of students who weren’t even there. That would be like giving Target money for every customer it loses to Wal-Mart. It is costly and unnecessary, so lawmakers eliminated it.

How did Indiana engineer all of these major changes?

State leaders simply focused on students and their needs. In the hierarchy of whom public education is supposed to serve, somewhere along the way, students fell from first place. Faculty, programs and buildings took priority, which compromised education’s chief purpose.

Successful enterprises always concentrate first and foremost on their customers’ wants and needs. To that end, building stores and rewarding employees - although integral - are ancillary. The customers come first.

By employing these reforms and choice-based measures, Indiana is reshaping public education. After all, the best barometer of customer satisfaction is whether they’re coming or going. If other states’ leaders want to know whether their schools are meeting residents’ needs, they should open the doors and find out.

Jeff W. Reed is a state programs director with the Indianapolis-based Foundation for Educational Choice, the legacy foundation of Milton and Rose Friedman.

Sacramento Bee

May 16, 2011

Teachers wield much power

California teachers union employees demand extended tax increases. This is the same union that has defeated every attempt to restore quality public education.

Indeed, teacher unions, the education establishment and the Department of Education have controlled the miseducation of our teachers and children far too long. Graduating functionally illiterate students is simply an unacceptable national disgrace.

Individual devoted teachers are not at fault here. They are merely the instruments of an insidious system. Parents, not government, should decide the education of their children.

Daniel B. Jeffs, Apple Valley

Who works for who in public education?
May 14, 2011

Following the example of Wisconsin's insurgent government employees taking over the Capitol building, California government teachers' union employees stormed the Sacramento Capitol building, and is protesting throughout the state demanding extended tax increases and additional taxation of the rich to support their jobs and increased benefits at any cost. This is the same union that has defeated every attempt to restore quality public education.

Indeed, state teacher unions, the National Education Association, the education establishment and the Department of Education have controlled the miseducation of our teachers and children far too long -- at enormous waste and expense. Graduating functionally illiterate students is simply an unacceptable national disgrace.

Worse, this has not been the unintended consequences of the failures of good intentions. It has been an intentional dumbing-down of teachers and students processed through factories of ignorance and liberal indoctrination. It is indeed an ideological agenda that has abdicated the constitutional duties and responsibilities of public employees.

Individual dedicated teachers are not at fault here. They are merely caught-up in paying for the selfish interests of an insidious system that is bordering on criminal injustice to sustain the monopoly of a failed education system that should be re-structured and privatized. Parents, not government, should decide the education of their children.

Daniel B. Jeffs
Founder, DDC

Feds In The Classroom:

How Big Government Corrupts, Cripples, and Compromises American Education

By Neal P. McCluskey

Challenges the constitutionality of how deeply entrenched the feds have become in the classroom, which was, until recently, the function of state and local governments.

About the Book:

Thomas Jefferson warned that "the natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." American elementary and secondary education shows how right he was. Two centuries ago the founders rejected federal participation in education and even rejected George Washington's plans on establishing a national university. It should be of little surprise, then, that the term "education" appears nowhere in the Constitution. Few early Americans would have considered providing education a proper function of local or state governments, much less some distant federal government. Federal control of the nation's schools would have simply been unthinkable. This view was the prevailing one well into the 20th century. In the 1980s, Ronald Reagan campaigned, in part, on a proposal to close the federal department of education. How things have changed in a few short decades. Today, every state requires children to attend school, and most dictate precisely what the children will learn. Parents, in contrast, are able to make very few choices about their children's education.

And what role does the federal government have now? It has drilled deep into almost every public classroom in America. Washington can now tell public schools whether their teachers are qualified, their reading instruction acceptable, and what they must do when their students do not achieve on par with federal demands. At the outset of his presidential administration, for example, George W. Bush pushed for the largest federal encroachment in education in American history. Through his No Child Left Behind Act, the federal government can dictate what will be taught, when, and by whom, to most of the 15,000 public school districts and 47 million public school children. Why the change? Is it a change? What's the cost to the taxpayers? What are the benefits to public school students? To public schools?

Today, with the almost-complete consolidation of education authority in the hands of policy makers in Washington, the last of our educational liberty has been pushed to the brink of extinction. Thankfully, there is still hope: Over just the last decade-and-a-half, school choice - public education driven by parents, not politicians and bureaucrats - has become a force to be reckoned with. Feds in the Classroom will challenge much of the conventional wisdom surrounding federal involvement in education. The author considers all federal activities-legislation, funding, regulations, and judicial oversight-and then makes a cost-benefit and constitutional assessment.

About the Author

Author:

Neal McCluskey is a policy analyst with Cato's Center for Educational Freedom. Prior to arriving at Cato, McCluskey served in the U.S. Army, taught high school English, and was a freelance reporter covering municipal government and education in suburban New Jersey. More recently, he was a policy analyst at the Center for Education Reform, where he published papers on subjects ranging from cyber charter schools to class size reduction.

List of political science degree programs in the U.S.
http://www.politicalsciencedegree.com/

Foundation for Educational Choice
Robert Enlow, chairman
Milton Friedman, founder

http://www.edchoice.org/

The Washington Examiner
September 9, 2010

Crisis in education is worse than economy

(Re: "Higher education bubble poised to burst," Sept. 3)

Michael Barone's analysis of America's higher education problem is on the mark, particularly in exposing the academic elite and bloated sinister dilemma: dumbing-down students, socialist indoctrination, and creating armies of young social justice activists.

Higher education did not simply abandon a coherent content-rich general education curriculum. It was as intentional as anything could be. Indeed, students who manage to graduate from high school without being functionally illiterate and go on to college are the meat and potatoes for academia to dupe and consume.

The education crisis is far more dangerous to our free society than the current economic crisis. It's a combined social, political, economic and education crisis that, if not corrected and overcome, will eventually enslave us with the tyranny of government. Alas, it has been planned and slowly carried out for a century.

Daniel B. Jeffs
Apple Valley, Calif.

(Original letter):

Re: Higher education bubble poised to burst
By Michael Barone

Michael Barone's analysis of America's higher education problem is on the mark, particularly in exposing the academic elite and bloated college administrations. However, the core of the problem is more of a sinister dilemma of dumbing-down students, socialist indoctrination, and creating armies of young social justice activists.

Surely, higher education did not simply abandon a coherent content-rich general education curriculum. It was as intentional as anything could be. Indeed, those students who manage to graduate from high school without being functionally illiterate -- and go on to college -- are the meat and potatoes for academia to dupe and consume.

Certainly, the education crisis is far more dangerous to our free society than the current economic crisis. It's a combined social, political, economic and education crisis that -- if not corrected and overcome -- will eventually enslave us with the tyranny of government. Alas, it has been planned and slowly carried out for a century.

Re: One size fits all just won't work - letters Los Angeles Times - June 6, 2010
Re: No magic bullet - editorial

Los Angeles Times - May 30, 2010

How can Americans have a helpful tendency to see meaningful education reform when public education has been made meaningless by government and the no-fail miseducation of the education establishment? Indeed, as a former community college and sheriff's academy instructor, I have witnessed nearly a half century of irresponsible "unschooling," failed experimentation and the miseducation of teachers to create factories of indoctrination and warehouses of ignorance.

The result, of course, has been several generations of under-educated parents and teachers, and functionally illiterate children -- who are taught all about environmentalism, social justice, activism, and feeling good about themselves, and little else. The government monopoly of education and the selfish interests of teacher unions, coupled with growing costs and throwing taxes instead of academics at the problem, is the problem -- tantamount to being a crime against our society.

Privatized education -- competing for quality -- creates twice the education at half the cost, subsidized where needed, is the solution.

Daniel B. Jeffs

Founder, DDC

Letter to the editor From: Daniel B. Jeffs, founder The Direct Democracy Center Re: No magic bullet - editorial Los Angeles Times - May 30, 2010 Privatize education How can Americans have a helpful tendency to see meaningful education reform when public education has been made meaningless by government and the no-fail miseducation of the education establishment? Indeed, it has taken nearly a half century of irresponsible "unschooling," failed experimentation and the miseducation of teachers to create factories of indoctrination and warehouses of ignorance.
The result, of course, has been several generations of under-educated parents and teachers, and functionally illiterate children -- who are taught all about extreme environmentalism, social justice and feeling good about themselves, and little else. The government monopoly of education and the selfish interests of teacher unions, coupled with growing costs and throwing taxes instead of academics at the problem is the problem.
Privatized education -- competing for quality -- creates twice the education at half the cost -- subsidized where needed -- is the solution.

The Secret of TSL: The Revolutionary Discovery That Raises School Performance Author: William G. Ouchi http://www.laalliance.org/mission.html Board member - L.A. Alliance charter schools Publisher: Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group September 2009 Synopsis A REVOLUTIONARY ORGANIZATIONAL REFORM IS SWEEPING URBAN SCHOOL SYSTEMS ACROSS THE COUNTRY AND RAISING STUDENT PERFORMANCE DRAMATICALLY. HERE IS THE STORY BEHIND THIS REVOLUTION IN EDUCATION. In his previous book, Making Schools Work, William G. Ouchi reported on school decentralization, aided by a grant from the National Science Foundation. He found that when principals were given autonomy over their schools, the performance of those schools improved measurably. Picking up where that book left off, The Secret of TSL explains what it is that autonomous principals do to improve their schools. Drawing on the author's study of 442 schools in eight urban school districts, The Secret of TSL demonstrates that there is a direct correlation between how much control a principal has over his or her budget and how much that school's student performance rises. School organization reform lone produces a more potent improvement in student performance than any other single factor. When principals control their budgets, they tailor their expenses to fit their schools, and they invariably hire more teachers. With fewer students to teach, teachers are able to develop a stronger and more personal relationship with their students. TSL, or Total Student Load - that is, the number of papers a teacher must grade and the number of students he or she must get to know each term - declines, and student performance, as measured by federally mandated tests, improves, often substantially. TSL is the key to improved student performance. The school districts that Ouchi studied for this book include Boston, New York, Chicago, St. Paul, Houston, San Francisco, Oakland,and Seattle. The Secret of TSL analyzes school performance in each of these cities and shows why the districts that wholeheartedly embraced organizational reform have outperformed those that took more tentative steps. This is a book that every school board member, every principal, and every parent leader must read.


Smart Kids, Bad Schools: 38 Ways to Save America's Future
Author: Brian Crosby
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
July 2008

Synopsis

In Smart Kids, Bad Schools, award-winning author and educator Brian Crosby
draws on his twenty years as a high school English teacher to offer a candid
appraisal of why our schools are failing and what we must do to save them.
Crosby's no-holds-barred critique of the broken education system leaves no
stone unturned: he is unapologetic and uncompromising in his exposé of how
teachers, administrators, unions, and parents all play a part in this
national tragedy.

Crosby offers 38 ideas to save America's future and his proposed remedies
are revolutionary. He recommends bold measures, such as lengthening the
school day and school year, forcing parents to volunteer at schools,
abolishing homework, outlawing teachers unions, and cutting special
education funding. The result is a book that is likely to inflame passions
on all sides of the political spectrum, and, in the process, introduce new
ideas to a debate that is in dire need of them.

Publishers Weekly

Crosby, a California high school English teacher with 17 years experience,
wants America to fix its ailing educational system. His earlier book, The
$100,000 Teacher, focused on paying teachers better to encourage better
performance; this latest proposes a broader range of changes, from student
behavior to a basic rethinking of how quality education should be assessed.
After explaining that he's arguing for a complete overhaul of the system,
not some marginal tweaking of the rules, Crosby sets out his 38-point plan,
in 38 brief chapters. He begins simply: building more inviting-looking
schools, ending social promotion, enticing experienced teachers to troubled
schools and reviving vocational education as an option for the non-college
bound. These widely acceptable ideas buffer the shock from some of his more
heterodox ideas-banning teacher unions, recognizing excellence in teaching
with merit bonuses, ending teacher tenure, cutting special education
spending, ending compulsory education after the ninth grade and giving up on
smaller class sizes, because there simply aren't enough great teachers to
staff twice as many classrooms. Crosby speaks from a world of experience;
his "political incorrectness" may bother some readers, but many will
appreciate his honesty and his willingness to think outside the box.

Biography
Brian Crosby is a National Board Certified, twenty-year veteran high school
English teacher in the Los Angeles area. He is the author of The $100,000
Teacher, which was chosen as the Best Education Book of the Year by ForeWord
magazine. Mr. Crosby, who recently founded the American Education
Association, speaks regularly on education issues and is a frequent
commentator on television. He lives in Burbank, California, with his wife,
two sons and dog.

The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn
Author: Diane Ravitch
Publisher: Random House Inc
May 2004

Synopsis
In this text for educators and concerned citizens, educational historian
Ravitch reveals how interest groups on the left and right of the political
spectrum have pressured publishers to self-censor texts for use in the
classroom. She contends that the removal of potentially controversial words
and passages compromises the educational value of these texts. As an
alternative, she suggests explaining to students that sometimes history
hasn't been very nice while still allowing historical actors to speak for
themselves. Annotation ©2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The Washington Post
It's difficult to exaggerate the importance of this book. Whether The
Language Police will turn out to be one of those rare books that actually
influence the way we live -- Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, John Steinbeck's
The Grapes of Wrath, Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, Ralph Nader's Unsafe at
Any Speed -- remains to be seen, but surely one must pray that it does.
Meticulously researched and forcefully argued, it makes appallingly plain
that the textbooks American schoolchildren read and the tests that measure
their academic progress have been corrupted by a bizarre de facto alliance
of the far left and the far right. - Jonathan Yardley

Biography

Diane Ravitch is a historian of education and Research Professor of
Education at New York University and Nonresident Senior Fellow at the
Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. She was assistant secretary in
charge of research in the U.S. Department of Education in the administration
of President George H. W. Bush and was appointed to the National Assessment
Governing Board by President Bill Clinton. The author of seven previous
books on education, including the critically acclaimed Left Back: A Century
of Battles Over School Reform, she lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Brookings Papers on Education Policy: numerous

Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got
Wrong, Revised and Updated Edition
Author: James W. Loewen
The New Press
March 2008

Synopsis
The national bestseller and winner of the American Book Award, thoroughly
updated for the first time since its initial publication to include
textbooks written since 2000 and featuring a new chapter on what textbooks
get wrong about 9/11 and Iraq.

Since its initial publication in 1995, Lies My Teacher Told Me has gone on
to win an American Book Award and the Oliver Cromwell Cox Award for
Distinguished Anti-Racist Scholarship, and to sell one million copies in its
various editions.

What started out as a survey of the twelve leading American history
textbooks has ended up being what the San Francisco Chronicle calls "an
extremely convincing plea for truth in education" beginning with the
pre-Columbian period and ranging over characters and events as diverse as
Reconstruction, Helen Keller, the first Thanksgiving, and the My Lai
massacre.

In this revised and updated edition, James Loewen surveys six new high
school history textbooks written since the first edition of Lies was
published. In his inimitable style, he adds material to each chapter noting
where the new books have gotten more accurate and where they are still
fatally flawed. Loewen also writes at length about the way these textbooks
treat the 2001 terrorist attacks and our "response" in Iraq. In fact, while
researching this new edition Loewen made the front page of the New York
Times in 2006 when he discovered that publishers were passing off as
original virtually identical passages on important recent events in a number
of history books. And in yet another example of the failure of American
history textbooks, he found that "celebrity" historians whose names appear
asauthors in some cases have never read, let alone written, the texts
attributed to them.

Biography
James W. Loewen is professor emeritus of sociology at the University of
Vermont and the author of Lies Across America and Sundown Towns, both
available from The New Press. He lives in Washington, D.C.

WHEN IT COMES TO HISTORICAL OMISSIONS, LIES AND DISTORTIONS: History professor Alan Brinkley is a leading example of what is and has been wrong with education textbooks, which are amply evidenced in his volumes of "The Unfinished Nation." The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American People: Volume I: To 1877 Author: Alan Brinkley Publisher: McGraw-Hill December 2006 ALAN BRINKLEY is the Allan Nevins Professor of History and former Provost at Columbia University. He is the author of Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin, and the Great Depression, which won the 1983 National Book Award; The End of Reform: New Deal Liberalism in Recession and War; and Liberalism and its Discontents. His most recent books - Franklin Delano Roosevelt and The Publisher: Henry Luce and His American Century will be published in 2010. He was educated at Princeton and Harvard. He taught previously at MIT, Harvard, and the City University Graduate School before joining the Columbia faculty In 1991. In 1998-1999, he was the Harmsworth Professor of American History at Oxford University. He won the Joseph R. Levenson Memorial Teaching Award at Harvard in 1987 and the Great Teacher Award at Columbia in 2003. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the board of trustees of the National Humanities Center and Oxford University Press, and chairman of the board of trustees of the Century Foundation. He has been a visiting professor at Princeton, the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (Paris), and the University of Torino (Italy). He was the 1998-1999 Harmsworth Professor of American History at Oxford University.


Volume II - From 1865
December 2006

The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American People
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
December 2006
One volume edition
Synopsis

Known for its clear narrative voice, impeccable scholarship, and
affordability, Alan Brinkley's The Unfinished Nation offers a concise but
comprehensive examination of American History. Balancing social and cultural
history with traditional political and diplomatic themes, it tells the story
of the diversity and complexity of the United States and the forces that
have enabled it to survive and flourish despite division. This fifth edition
features eight new essays and enhanced coverage of recent events and
developments in the continuing American story.

Annotation
This one-volume history of the U.S. by one of our foremost historians tells
of the country's diversity and complexity and also of "the forces that have
drawn it together and allowed it to survive and flourish despite division."
A superb rendering of the American past that vividly portrays a complex and
great nation.