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You Can’t Put Students First if You Put Teachers Last
No, this is not about how teachers should be paid better, though many should and could be. No, this is not at all about how teacher unions should have a bigger say in school policy – they absolutely should not. And no, this is not about empowering teacher committees. It is, though, about empowering teachers by recognizing them as education practitioners and giving them a chance to take charge. Ever seen this on somebody’s bumper? “If you can read this, thank a teacher” The obvious intent is to promote respect and appreciation for teachers, especially public school teachers, since they so often play such a big role in individuals’ educations. But why do some feel the need to call attention to teachers and attempt to guilt us into respecting them? According to one website, teaching is among the most respected occupations in the world. Of 35 countries surveyed for a 2018 publication by the Varkey Foundation, the United States landed just above the middle in how highly teachers were valued. Asian nations dominate in valuing teachers more highly, with the exception of Japan. Some Western nations, including Russia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Greece more highly value...
Three Pillars of Human Flourishing
Human flourishing rests on three pillars. All three are necessary for maintaining our society. Humans are capable of standing on two feet because our muscular and nervous systems provide significant stability for the skeleton – you don't see many skeletons standing upright. Generally, if you want an inanimate object to stay up, you either have to make it bottom-heavy or add a third point of contact with the ground. A three-legged stool is remarkably stable. A two-legged chair won’t stay up on its own and adding a fourth leg doesn’t make a meaningful improvement to a chair’s stability. It's the same with human flourishing. To achieve the overall best for humanity, society requires three pillars, much like the three-legged stool. (No, it’s not income tax, property tax, and sales tax. If one of the legs is evil, it’s worse than instability). The three pillars of society are: Free Markets, Limited Government, and Robust Civil Society. All three are necessary for the long term health and achievement of a society. You might be able to make do without one of them for a little while. However, if you try to make it too bottom heavy, for instance by allowing big government but overloading...
1889 Statement Regarding Calls for Declaration of Emergency
The 1889 Institute, an Oklahoma think tank, has released the following statement in response to the recent clamor over the Delta variant of COVID-19 and increased calls for Gov. Kevin Stitt to issue a declaration of emergency. The state of Oklahoma is currently experiencing a spike in COVID-19 cases that have been largely attributed to the Delta variant. As a result, there is a growing movement calling for Gov. Kevin Stitt to declare a state of emergency. The 1889 Institute believes that such an action is unwarranted and, based on the efficacy of the actions taken under the previous state of emergency, would most likely be ineffective. Considering the economic cost of the shutdowns, the social and developmental impacts from school closures, and the unproven efficacy of mask mandates, one must seriously consider the facts before plunging the state into another costly state of emergency. The facts: Children are largely unsusceptible to the virus. According to data compiled by the New York Times, the chance of a child getting a serious case of COVID-19 is very small, and the chance of them dying is even smaller. To put it in perspective, it is 2-3 times more likely that a child will...
Do Fears of the Delta Variant Justify More Emergency Restrictions?
During Oklahoma’s 2020-21 legislative session, a bill passed that forbade local school boards, career tech boards, or the Board of Regents for higher education from implementing certain Covid-19 related mandates absent a declaration of emergency from the governor. Most notably, they are not allowed mandate vaccines or implement mask mandates. Over the past week, in response to the surging Delta Variant, there has been a growing clamor for Governor Stitt to declare a state of emergency. The Democratic caucus has even called for a special legislative session to repeal the bill, SB 658, which passed with overwhelming support. Parents are concerned. On one hand, they saw the disastrous effects that last years’ “hybrid” schooling model had on their kids. It simply didn’t work. According to the New York Times, there was hardly any developmental difference between the hybrid schooling that took place last year and dropping out of school entirely. On the other hand, for anyone following the news cycle or reading the statements put out by the Democratic caucus and others, the Delta variant is going to be the end of us all if the governor doesn’t declare an emergency. While it is true that...
Clean Energy Loans Pollute Innovation
"The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design." – F.A. Hayek Financing that improves the value of commercial property and helps pay for itself with no upfront costs sounds like a late-night infomercial gimmick. However, this is precisely what Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (CPACE) loans claim to do. CPACE financing is used for improvements that could help lower upfront costs for energy efficiency, use less water, or make buildings more resilient to extreme weather conditions and natural disasters. It does so by funding projects such as heating ventilation air conditioning (HVAC) upgrades, installation of solar thermal capture systems, and irrigation-free landscaping upgrades. The first of these loans in Oklahoma was made in southeast Tulsa for a new hospital. The loan funded many improvements including LED lighting and energy-efficient windows. CPACE loans use private funding to pay for these improvements. The private loans (CPACE) payments are made as an addition to county property taxes and are paid annually. Combining the payments with taxes grants these loans a unique...
What Civil Society Means, and Why It’s Threatened
After World War II, the United States did more to rebuild and enrich the rest of the world than the Marshall Plan for Europe and the rebuilding of Japan during its occupation. As private citizens, Americans gave away untold wealth for the benefit of others around the world, and helped to transform the lives of millions for the better. Even now, we give more through private charitable aid to people in other countries than our government gives in foreign aid. Unfortunately, evidence is that this type of giving by Americans reached its zenith in 2014 and has been falling ever since. Why? What’s changed? The 1889 Institute’s mission is to develop policies that encourage flourishing through limited government, a robust civil society, and free enterprise. While we talk a lot about limited government and free enterprise, we often neglect robust civil society, which is not about bringing up our children to be civil and to therefore have a society where civility predominates. While civility is important, it is not an institutional structure in society. Civil society is an institutional structure, just like limited government and free enterprise are institutional structures. In fact the...
Oklahoma City’s Retro-Transit Revival
Misguided state, local, and tribal leaders are pushing hard to lead Oklahoma and the nation into 21st-century transportation. Determined to realize progress, they’ve deployed programs to boost aerospace engineering, planned smart cities, and subsidized the manufacture of odd-looking electric cars. But one mayor has the vision, the courage and the wisdom to see past the pageantry. He has not been bamboozled by the gimmicky future of transportation. Forget about drone taxis, autonomous vehicles, and electric cars. That’s the stuff of cartoons and science fiction. Only the wise realize that the real future is in the past. Mayor David Holt (R – Oklahoma City), is on the precipice of a true retro revival in Oklahoma City transportation. And I don’t mean a modest nod to the best decade of American muscle cars. Ford, Chevy, and Dodge are already doing that. No, that’s not the mayor’s style. He’s a visionary. We’re talking about a big, bold retro revival. We’re talking about reaching way, way back. Change that predates the previous century. During a recent meeting with President Joe Biden, Mayor Holt hinted at this vision. He explained that many of Oklahoma City’s prospective...
Emergency Implies Urgency: Why Covid-19 in Oklahoma Never Qualified
In March of 2020, New York experienced a health emergency in the form of the Covid-19 virus. In just a few days’ time, and with very little warning, they went from a few confirmed cases to several thousand cases. On March 13 there were fewer than 100 new cases. A week later, on March 20, there were almost 2,000 new cases. This was a true emergency. It arrived without warning. There was little time for deliberation. Something had to be done immediately to stem the tide. Oklahoma was in a very different position. As late as June 8 there were fewer than 100 new cases a day. Oklahoma had three months to prepare for a potential crisis. Perhaps the numbers would have been higher sooner if not for the late-March lockdown order. (Remember when it was supposed to be three weeks to flatten the curve? Boy did they fool us with that one.) Even so, there were three weeks between New York’s emergency and the first “emergency” steps Oklahoma took to slow the spread. So why did the Governor need emergency powers? Do we really believe the legislature couldn’t convene (they were already in session) and come to a consensus regarding the best way to combat Covid? You don’t have to look far back in...
Western Heights Fiasco Highlights Need for Reform
Last Monday the State Board of Education voted unanimously to amend the conditions of accreditation for the Western Heights school district, effectively taking over the district, substituting state control for local control. For the next year, every action taken by the district will be subject to review by the State Board. In addition, the district will be led by a State Board appointed interim superintendent. This seems to resolve a months-long struggle for power between the district board and the State Board, with the district board choosing to ignore repeated recommendations, suggestions, and mandates of the State Board. Accusations of serious impropriety were leveled against the Western Heights school district during the March 25th State Board of Education meeting, including financial discrepancies, failed audits, abysmal student outcomes, and vindictive and retaliatory actions from district superintendent Mannix Barnes. The Board subsequently required Western Heights to appear at the April 9th board meeting, which they refused to do. At the April 9th State Board meeting, the Board voted to accredit the district with probation. In essence, the district was given 90 days from...
Can Kids Handle CRT?
On Monday Oklahoma’s State Board of Education approved rules to implement HB 1775, a bill that bans critical race theory from public schools. The announcement renewed debate about CRT and whether it belongs in public school curricula. A fresh batch of op-eds in the Oklahoman criticize the bill as being rooted in unfounded fear. One piece, by the Editorial Board, entreats opponents of CRT to explain their opposition: “Exactly what are they afraid of?” Rhetorical questions like this only work if your interlocutor has no ready answer. That’s not the case here. CRT may be harmless as an academic hobby, but there is reason to be anxious about CRT being taught in K-12 schools. Reasoning about matters of fundamental importance in politics - such as whether CRT is a productive way to analyze racial disparities - requires great mental discipline. Human psychology is feeble. “Each man’s stock of reason is small,” Edmund Burke once wrote. Our natural inclination is to form opinions in crudely biased ways, and resisting this inclination - especially in the domain of politics - is hard enough for adults. For kids and young people, it’s even harder. There’s consensus about this in our...
Restoration of First Amendment Rights in Sight for Oklahoma Lawyers, Weakening Monolithic Bar Association
Oklahoma lawyers - at least those who make a living doing lawyerly things - are currently required to join the Oklahoma Bar Association (OBA). However, recent developments in legal challenges to various mandatory bar associations are likely to shake up this arrangement. The legislature should be ready to react to these changes in the next couple of years, as it seems likely that Oklahoma’s scheme will be held unconstitutional. Better yet, the legislature should take the initiative and proactively reform the OBA next session. The requirement to join the bar creates tension for several reasons. Aspiring lawyers, like other professionals, don’t want to jump through a bunch of hoops just so they can practice their trade. The OBA’s hoops are more burdensome than most, but this general arrangement is fairly common among licensed professions. The tradeoff with mandatory licensing is that you can charge more for your services than you could if your profession was open to everyone. You’re joining a cartel. This is why so many trade associations support licensing. Often, when licensing is enacted, longtime practitioners are grandfathered in, so there is no cost to them, only increased...
Lowering Taxes is the Best Economic Incentive
The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest possible amount of feathers with the smallest possible amount of hissing. - Jean-Baptiste Colbert Around 20 years ago Oklahoma had the idea to be on the cutting edge of commercial space travel. Rocketplane, the company that was supposed to make this happen, was given $18 million in tax credits. Now, broken windows and crumbling walls are fairly common at the spaceport they built along with a few demolished warehouses. Though given money to make space travel happen, it failed. This malinvestment of tax dollars is common since the government acts with imperfect information to invest tax dollars. There is clearly room for improvement in the level of taxation for Oklahomans. If the government has spaceport money, they have too much money. There are no good taxes and some are worse than others. Taxes alter production, limit economic growth, and hurt both consumers and sellers. A tax distorts pricing, not letting the market decide what a fair price should be. The increased cost of a tax changes what the market provides. Therefore, it’s imperative that taxes are their lowest feasible rate. An average...
Will Higher Education Funding Become a Partisan Wedge?
Last week the University of Oklahoma’s disregard for students’ free speech rights was displayed yet again. A disquieting recording, publicized by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, shows faculty presenters at a recent pedagogy workshop encouraging participants to “call out” students who use “problematic language” or reference “white supremacist ideas or sources” in their speech or writing. The “Anti-Racist Rhetoric and Pedagogies” workshop was one of several offered to first-year English composition instructors, who must attend one workshop each semester. One presenter can be heard saying, “One of the fears is that we’re going to get in trouble for this, right? Like we can’t tell students that they can’t say something in class. But we can. And let me tell you how.” Another says, “I, in this case, usually look for my students who might be, like, entertaining the idea of listening to a problematic argument. Then I say, ‘we don’t have to listen to that.’” This marks the second time in just a few months that OU has been exposed by FIRE, a nonpartisan group that defends student and faculty rights at American universities. The first instance involved mandatory...
Why the Hammer Thrower (Gwen Berry) Is Wrong
Gratiis – Latin word meaning “for thanks” and often contracted to “gratis,” meaning “without recompense, for nothing.” Roots for “gratitude,” “grace,” and “gracious.” Pushing for positive change, for justice where it has long been compromised, for right where wrong has been accepted, for restraint where largesse seems generous, and for discipline where indulgence has been easier always causes discomfort. It feels rude to call people to account. It’s complaining. It’s almost unseemly in tone. It certainly doesn’t sound thankful. But in an imperfect world, it’s necessary. Improvement doesn’t automatically just happen. In the movie Ford versus Ferrari, one of the antagonists, race car driver Ken Miles (played by Christian Bale) is quick and outspoken in criticizing whatever might be wrong. This is true whether it’s the car or Ford’s bureaucratic ways that has drawn his ire. He’s considered rude in his lack of conformity, but he knows his stuff. When he’s squeezed out, the Ford team loses. When he is included and drives, the Ford team wins. There is nothing inherently wrong with pushing for improvement where something less than perfection prevails. Vocal perfectionists with...
Oklahoma Public Trusts Violate the Constitution and Inflate Government
Across our state, county and municipal governments are exploiting public trust laws to accomplish ends that would otherwise be impractical and unconstitutional, not to mention immoral and discriminatory. Consider a few examples. The Oklahoma City Public Property Authority (OCPPA) – a public trust in Oklahoma City that oversees the Cox Center and Chesapeake Arena – recently announced that it was leasing out 254,500 square feet of the Cox Center, to a film production company for the astounding price of one dollar for an entire year. Resigned to dealing with sunk costs or a vacant building, failing to see, or even solicit, viable alternatives, OCPPA believed the film production studio was a godsend that fell from the sky. But is this really in the best interest of the city’s taxpayers? As I’ve argued in a previous blog, simply selling the property, and letting the market decide its most efficient use, could have offered far superior options than essentially gifting the property to a private company. This is a textbook illustration of crony capitalism. Take another example. In recent weeks, two more trusts have made headlines for abusing their power. First, consider the Central...
Oklahoma Innovation Expansion Program: Oklahoma’s Shark Tank?
In the show Shark Tank, an entrepreneur gives a presentation in hopes of receiving funding for a new venture or product. The investors (sharks) decide if the innovations are worthy of their investment, with an average approval rate of 56%. The Oklahoma Department of Commerce has decided to give this method a shot. While they are not filming a TV show, they are investing in companies claiming they can produce something innovative that will propagate growth and employment. At 78% approval, the odds of getting funding through the program are significantly better than Shark Tank. The state’s program provided $7.74 million in funding to those programs chosen and claims to have created 680 jobs (about $11,000 per job). The companies applying must have a payroll of $625,000 and at least $50,000 designated for capital investment. While requiring this higher level of payroll does favor companies that are less likely to fail, reducing the risk of the investment, it does distort the innovation process to favor bigger companies at the cost of smaller companies. In order to qualify, the project must be innovative, a project that shortens or strengthens the supply chain, or a project that...
Oklahoma Educators Need to Read, and Follow, Directions
Read all the directions. Teachers used to say this before every test. Read all the directions. Following them was implied. Those who went directly to the first question often made mistakes. Sometimes extra credit was hidden in the directions. Unfortunately, Oklahoma teachers and school districts seem to be having trouble with both sides of that equation: reading and following directions. For example, at a school board meeting on June 7, Oklahoma City Public Schools Superintendent Sean McDaniel talked about the impacts of SB658 on the district’s plans to continue mandating masks in schools beyond July 1. While Dr. McDaniel correctly pointed out that part of the bill requires the school board to put the issue of mask mandates on its agenda at every regular board meeting until they repeal it, he glosses over the fact that the relevant jurisdiction must be “under a current state of emergency declared by the Governor.” Neither Oklahoma County nor any other part of the state is currently under a Covid-related state of emergency. Putting the mandate on the school board’s agenda, consulting with the local health department, and explicitly listing the purposes of the mandate are all...
The Rare Courage of Thomas Sowell
Maverick: A Biography of Thomas Sowell BY JASON L. RILEY BASIC BOOKS, 248 PAGES, $19 Last Juneteenth Fortune Magazine published a list of “19 Black economists to know and celebrate.” Predictably, it fails to include Thomas Sowell, the Hoover Institution scholar and author of over 30 books, including the bestselling Basic Economics. Despite being frequently reckoned among the greatest economists alive today, Sowell continues to be ignored by mainstream media for espousing unwoke views on the merits of free markets and the demerits of liberal policies on poverty and race. But that hasn’t stopped him from educating millions of readers through the years with his dozens of books and innumerable essays and columns. Sowell is owed a great debt, and while his recent intellectual biography, written by the similarly contrarian Jason Riley, may not pay it in full, it’s a good start. Riley makes clear that Maverick is foremost an intellectual biography, an exploration of Sowell’s ideas more so than his life story. Interesting details about his life may surface now and then – he once rented a helicopter with fellow photography buff Steven Pinker to take aerial pictures of the San Francisco...
No, 12-Year-Olds Are Not a Major Threat to Your Safety
“No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.” -Edmund Burke, 1757 Just when you thought it was safe to resume some semblance of a normal life, another danger has appeared on the horizon: children ages 12-17. According to a Tulsa World article published Monday, the very low vaccination rate for that age demographic is cause for concern. Dr. Dale Bratzler, the University of Oklahoma’s chief Covid officer, is extremely worried about a spike in infections and deaths in the fall because of low vaccination rates for children ages 12-17. Citing data posted by the New York Times, he states that only 13% of Oklahomans aged 12-17 have had one dose of the vaccine, and only 6% have been fully vaccinated. This is bad news according to Dr. Bratzler, as it places Oklahoma well below the nation-wide one-dose average of 28% for 12-17-year-olds. While this may sound concerning, one must wonder why he is emphasizing vaccinations for 12-year-olds. Children run the lowest risk of infection, hospitalization, or death out of any age demographic – and it’s not even close. Here is Dr. Bratzler’s argument in a nutshell: currently, children ages 12-17 have...
Best District in Oklahoma; Mediocre Everywhere Else
It probably comes as no surprise to many that the Jenks public school district would be named the best school district in the State of Oklahoma. Not only has this happened before, the district is in a fairly well-to-do community, it has nice facilities, it’s good-sized, and it is decently financed. What the Jenks school district is not, however, is all that good, at least not according to the statistics published by Stacker.com, which reported the best district in every state. Only 44% (4 in 10) of students in the Jenks district are considered proficient in reading. When it comes to math, only 42% (4 in 10) Jenks students are proficient. Compared to the best districts in the other 49 states, only Oklahoma’s best district had a level of reading proficiency under 50%. Most states’ best districts reported more than 60% of their students proficient in reading. Percentages above 70 and 80 are common. In general, other states’ best districts did not fair quite as well when it came to math proficiency. A few others saw percentages below 50%, with at least one reported at Jenks’ abysmal level. But 50%, 60%, and 70% of students proficient in math were common statistics among districts...