Making Minds Matter with Bill Costello

Superman’s Not Coming, Schools Need Iron Man

By Bill Costello • October 3, 2010 at 6:14 AM

The new documentary Waiting for Superman currently playing in theaters around the nation explores the failures of American public education: it serves adults instead of kids, teachers’ unions impede progress, and teachers need better training.

However, the movie offers little in the way of solutions.

Perhaps what’s needed is a sequel that offers solutions for fixing American public education. The sequel would be titled Becoming Iron Man.

Solutions do not lie in passively waiting to be rescued by Superman—who is unlikely to show up—but in actively embracing concepts that Iron Man represents: the free market, the hard sciences, and creativity.

The Federal Takeover of Education

By Bill Costello • September 22, 2010 at 5:53 AM

Federal control over education has been growing since the 1960s despite the fact that the word education does not appear in the Constitution of the United States.

Now, as the current administration pushes for national education standards, federal control over education is about to expand considerably at the expense of state and local control.

Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott described the push for national education standards as “a step toward a federal takeover of the nation’s public schools.”

A little more than a year ago, state leaders launched the Common Core State Standards Initiative to develop a common set of K-12 standards in English and math. The standards they developed, known as the Common Core, are the first and only common education standards.

The Schools Scandal

By Bill Costello • September 6, 2010 at 4:43 AM

American spending on public education, adjusted for inflation, has more than doubled over the last three decades. What did taxpayers get for their money?

The average math and reading scores of American 17-year-olds have not improved since the early 1970s according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

Twice the money. Zero progress.

Yet students in other countries have been improving their test scores.

The Program for International Student Assessment 2006 measured the math and science literacy of 15-year-olds in 29 countries that belong to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The results? American students placed in the bottom quarter in math and in the bottom third in science.

National Education Association Selling its Saul

By Bill Costello • August 30, 2010 at 6:24 AM

The National Education Association (NEA), the U.S.’s largest labor union, is promoting communism to the millions of American public school teachers it represents. Teachers who are influenced by their union’s efforts are more likely to indoctrinate American children into communism.

For the past several months, the NEA website has recommended that its members read books by communist sympathizer Saul Alinsky. And, for a time, the website listed October 1 as a day for teachers and students to celebrate the anniversary of the Communist takeover of China by Mao Zedong.

Saul Alinsky, who has been described by his biographer Sanford Horwitt as a “Communist fellow-traveler,” wanted to transfer power from the so-called Haves to the so-called Have-nots and transform the U.S. into a communist state.

The Fiscal Burden of Educating Children of Illegal Aliens

By Bill Costello • August 23, 2010 at 7:35 AM

According to a new report from the Federation for American Immigration Reform, the single largest cost of illegal immigration is educating the children of illegal aliens. Of the estimated $113 billion the U.S. spends on illegal immigration annually, roughly $52 billion goes toward educating the children of illegal aliens.

The report, The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on U.S. Taxpayers, estimates that state and local governments spend nearly $49.4 billion per year to educate the children of illegal aliens while the federal government spends about $2.1 billion.

Here’s how the $49.4 billion breaks down: $40.9 billion for K-12 education, $8.3 billion for English language instruction for limited English speakers, and $244 million for subsidized post-secondary tuitions.

Here’s how the $2.1 billion breaks down: $1.3 billion for supplemental funding to improve the academic performance of students from poor families, $538 million for supplemental education programs for Limited English Proficient students, and $237 million for supplemental education programs for migrant students.

Fixing American Dumbocracy

By Bill Costello • August 16, 2010 at 7:10 AM

The world has been turned upside down: socialism is on the rise in the U.S. and capitalism is on the rise in China. The former is a result of an uneducated electorate that fails to understand socialism’s history of producing poverty; the latter is a result of pragmatic leadership able to put aside communist ideology to embrace capitalism because it produces prosperity.

Thomas Jefferson, recognizing that the cornerstone of democracy rests on the foundation of an educated electorate, said that “whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.”

Unfortunately, Americans are not well-informed about economics. If they were, they would have learned from the economic failures of socialism—in China, Cuba, Eastern Europe, and all of the other places where socialism took root—and elected a pragmatic leader who supports capitalist policies.

The Last American Skill

By Bill Costello • August 10, 2010 at 7:31 AM

According to a recent Newsweek article titled “The Creativity Crisis,” research shows that American creativity is declining for the first time. If this trend continues, the nation’s economic and national security will be at risk.

The research is based on results of the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking, which has been used to test American creativity for half a century. Dr. Kyung Hee Kim, assistant professor of education at the College of William & Mary, analyzed the data and found that American creativity scores began to fall in 1990 after having risen steadily for decades. And they have been falling significantly ever since. The reasons why are not clear.

For centuries, the U.S. has been the world’s creativity leader. It’s critical that it maintains that position.

Creativity leads to innovation and entrepreneurship. So when it declines, it drags innovation and entrepreneurship down with it.

The Architect of China’s Quest for Military Dominance

By Bill Costello • August 9, 2010 at 7:49 AM

What if Deng Xiaoping, the architect of China’s economic rise, was also secretly the architect of China’s quest for military dominance? It’s not a far-fetched theory. Two decades ago, Deng advised his colleagues to “hide your brightness, bide your time.”

The way to move stealthily would be to focus on economics first. A strong economy is a prerequisite for a strong military.

By personally handpicking all of the top leaders who have succeeded him—Hu Yaobang, Zhao Ziyang, Jiang Zemin, and Hu Jintao—Deng increased the likelihood that his long-term plan would be carried out.

Deng’s plan would have been shaped by the large body of historical evidence that supports the concept that empires rise or fall based on their economies.

China Exports Chinese Language

By Bill Costello • August 8, 2010 at 7:42 AM

In an effort to promote its language and culture, China is funding Chinese education programs in the U.S. While critics question Beijing’s motives and view the programs as propaganda vehicles to spread China’s influence, the U.S. should embrace this opportunity to learn more about its largest creditor, trading partner, and competitor.

Funding from the Chinese Ministry of Education supports programs such as the Confucius Institute and the Confucius Classroom in which U.S. students receive Chinese-language instruction and learn about Chinese culture.

Hanban, a public institution affiliated with the Chinese Ministry of Education, is sending teachers from China to U.S. schools and subsidizing their salaries by roughly $13,000 a year. U.S. school districts pay the rest.

Hanban is also subsidizing travel costs to send U.S. educators to visit schools in China with the hope they will start Chinese education programs upon their return.