I can’t tell you how often Abby (7 going on 14) has gone into our library/office to find a book to read (or how often Oz, 4, or Ann, 2, carries them around, pretending to read). We’re still accumulating our collection, but she’s never come away without a book or three. Usually, I’ve got to […]
The Beautiful Tree by James Tooley is a Powerful Look at Education in the Poorest Neighborhoods on Earth
December 31, 2014 by
Perhaps we’re doing third world development all wrong. That was the thought that stuck with me most after I finished reading James Tooley’s The Beautiful Tree: A Personal Journey Into How the World’s Poorest People are Educating Themselves, a surprisingly readable book about the role of private schools in education in some of the world’s […]
Tuesday Night Notes on the Granite School District Town Hall
September 10, 2014 by
Tuesday night was the Granite School District’s annual town hall. At least, I think it’s annual, since it finished with Superintendent Martin Bates telling us he would “See you next year!” (If the rumors are true that Bates has put his application in for the state superintendent job, and if he gets that job, then […]
The Utah Education Bureaucracy Could Use a Dose of Transparency
September 3, 2014 by
Last week, the Utah Legislature was recognized for its efforts at transparency by an award from a national group. While “how a bill becomes a law” is still an obtuse process to most Utahns, it has to make Jason Williams proud to see the Legislature make efforts to inform citizens. Meanwhile, elsewhere… Perhaps a similar […]
What is the Cost of Not Extending the NCLB Waiver?
July 21, 2014 by
On July 17, the Utah State Board of Education met to discuss whether to extend the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) waiver, or the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Waiver. It allows Utah to avoid certain aspects of NCLB while still receiving federal dollars for education. I recommend reading Karen Peterson’s treatment of the topic (here) for […]
Will Prosperity 2020 reach its goals? [Contributor]
May 29, 2013 by
Rhett Wilkinson is a lead project manager for The Exoro Group, a public affairs firm in Salt Lake City. A senior in journalism and liberal arts at Utah State University, he has previously interned in Utah Congressional and Gubernatorial offices and for the Deseret News. Opinions are his own. Prosperity 2020 has a few […]
Larry Correia on gun regulation and arming teachers
December 20, 2012 by
The more I hear, the more I think we need not only need a conversation about guns and mental health, but we probably ought to learn more about what we are talking about before we go around maligning them. In the last couple days, I’ve heard people in the news attack “semi-automatic” weapons (newsflash: almost every single gun in the world is a semi-automatic weapon–it just means that after you fire a round, a new round is pushed into the cylinder so you can fire another round) and “assault” rifles, a term that didn’t really exist until the mid-1980s and which creation only served to popularize the Bushmaster.
If you read nothing else, you should set aside a few minutes and read author Larry Correia’s (see a review of his first book, a best seller, here) two-bits. A former gun store owner and a Utah Concealed and Carry Weapon permit trainer, he provides some interesting insights to the debate
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