Dale

These research results on homeschooling. Sources are Kunzman and Gaither’s “Homeschooling: A Comprehensive Survey of the Research” (2013, Other Education: The Journal of Educational Alternatives) and others listed below.  First, homeschooling has opposite effects on verbal versus math scores: Given this persistent corroboration across two decades we might conclude, tentatively, that there may be at least a modest

Some recent examples of fallout from increases in the minimum wage in California (eventually to $15 an hour): 1. Sacramento’s “Almost Perfect Bookstore” is closing its brick-and-mortar store due to rising labor costs from the “Way-Far-From Perfect $15 Minimum Wage Increase” in California, see details here. 2. Iconic LA Diner Pann’s (est. 1958) To Stop Serving Dinner, Cites Rising

Just as playing the lottery is for people who are bad at math, minimum wage is for people who are bad at economics.  From Michael Saltsman and Mark J. Perry: “The Fight for $15 Will Hit North Philly Hard“ in the WSJ:  Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders may not be the Democratic presidential nominee in 2016,

Over at Watts Up With That, Andy May provides a fascinating graph of Greenland temperatures over the last 4,000 years.  There are some interesting things to note: The climate cycles periodically and regularly.  The current warming began back in 1750.  The current warming began before the Industrial Age and before CO2 levels rising.  Our current temperatures

Compared to teachers in other countries, U.S. teachers are “perfectly mediocre” in cognitive skills, writes Dick Startz, a University of California at Santa Barbara economics professor, on Brookings’ Chalkboard. “American teachers seem to be a touch above average in literacy skills and noticeably below average in numeracy,” he writes, citing a paper based on data from the Programme for

Americans’ job approval rating of the Supreme Court fell slightly to 42% in July, tying the low point in Gallup’s 16-year trend. Democrats are still much more likely than Republicans to approve of the court, but the party gap has narrowed. The U.S. Supreme Court’s 42% job approval rating is down slightly from September and

You know that there’s a huge problem in the system when a first year kindergarten teacher is paid the same as a first year high school physics / calculus teacher. And that’s all the fault of the unions.  Teachers should be paid what their degrees are worth. STEM majors can get starting jobs for $40-60k

The Young Americans for Liberty National Convention is drawing college students from across the country to the Catholic University of America for four days of presentations and speeches, including a keynote speech by Ron Paul. Young Americans for Liberty is the largest libertarian student organization, with more than 700 chapters and 204,000 youth activists nationwide. The group grew

The general rule of thumb regarding college studying has been that for each hour they spend in class, students should spend approximately 2-3 of study time. So if you are taking a 15 hour load, you should be in class 15 hours/week, and studying 30-45 hours/week over and beyond that. Is there any doubt why

Forget “free college” — now embraced by Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, writes Will Swaim in a Los Angeles Times op-ed piece. First, “deliver universal high school education.” The idea of free college education is seductive. There’s the fact that many Americans aren’t in the financial place they’d like to be, vis-à-vis their progeny’s impending high school graduation and the

Nine out of 10 college students think “slavery is a uniquely American invention,” according to Duke Pesta, a professor at University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh who says he quizzes his students every year. “Moses, Pharaoh, they know none of it.” Let alone the history of slavery around the globe. What do they teach students these days?

Earlier this year, we chronicled the 10 best-paid union bosses in terms of salary and total compensation. Some earned more than $600,000 in total disbursements in 2015. According to the union’s filings with the Department of Labor, Air Line Pilots Association President Timothy Canoll took home $693,534 (Weingarten’s $500,000 payday wasn’t far behind.) By contrast, the average “chief

In front of Pine Ridge High School in Deltona, Fla.  The “scohol” can only hope that the painter was not a Pine Ridge graduate… 

In what experts are describing as the most marked improvement in American academic performance in decades, a study released Friday by the U.S. Department of Education has found that the majority of the nation’s students have attained the skills necessary to recognize math. “We were encouraged to find that when presented with a series of

Idaho’s faith-healing exemption dates to 1972. The year before, the Legislature approved a top-to-bottom rewrite of state penal code, adopting changes recommended under a model advocated by a national legal group seeking to standardize and modernize American laws. Among other changes, the new code that took effect in January 1972 decriminalized consensual gay sex. That

This is well worth your 5 minutes. Larry Elder discusses his conversation with Kweisi Mfume about black fathers.  This goes back to the decision in the 1960s that “father’s don’t matter.” We’ve seen where that’s gotten us.  Which poses a bigger threat to black communities: Racism? Or the absence of fathers? Drawing on a sea

Update via AP:  A computer service used by the campaign of Hillary Clinton was hacked as part of a broader breach of the Democratic National Committee, an intrusion for which the Russian government is the leading suspect, the campaign said Friday. The breach affected a DNC data analytics program used by the campaign and a