I became an education reform activist fifteen years ago. My daughters and tax money were subjected to endless education fads from open classrooms to whole language. During the early 1980s, I asked school officials for empirical data showing that open classrooms improved learning. Walls had been torn down at taxpayer expense. When kids came home … Read more
One day after the November 1996 election, USA Today reported that President Clinton “has told political reporters in Arkansas that he will devote a lot of time going after detractors” who pursued him on Whitewater and other ethical questions. He also called his attackers “a cancer” and vowed to “cut them out of American politics.” … Read more
Forty-four governors and forty-nine chief executives met at IBM’s palatial Palisades, New York, conference center March 26-27 to reach consensus on the need to set high academic standards for the nation’s 50 million children enrolled in government schools. Business has a right to be fed up. We are a nation of 90 million functional illiterates, … Read more
During 1990 and 1991, Hillary Clinton was paid $102,000 by the National Center for Education and the Economy (NCEE) for her alleged work on the center’s “Workforce Skills” program. NCEE is an education thinktank created in 1988, jump-started by Carnegie Foundation funds as well as $5.5 million of New York state taxpayer money, sold to … Read more
During 1994 I was Guest Coordinator for Prodigy Interactive Computer Services, responsible for scheduling experts on Prodigy’s Education Bulletin Board. As part of a barter arrangement, I utilized my education “connections” to help Prodigy develop their bulletin board business in exchange for complimentary use of the service. I was free to select any guest, as … Read more