Time and time again we come across elected officials who conclude the public school system is inadequate, and because they have the means, remove their kids. Liv Finne discovered prior to the election that our new mayor and her opponent did exactly that. As Mayor Durkan acknowledged in an interview, it was a “great privilege” […]
Goodbye Seattle Public Schools
We were wrong about Seattle Public Schools. Moving our daughter to a private school was not our plan. Two grandparents were public school teachers, as was my mother. My wife, our siblings and I are products of a public education. In New Zealand, where I grew up, the best public schools were as good as […]
Steve Jobs on education
I recently read the biography Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. It was an excellent portrait of one of the 20th century’s most creative entrepreneurs. Some of the stories – such as Apple’s complex history with Microsoft – were familiar, while others were new to me, including those of Pixar and NeXT. But I was also surprised to […]
Bernie Sanders, Sweden and New Zealand
I survived socialism. So it’s always surprised me that Bernie Sanders is fond of saying America should look more like Scandinavian countries such as Sweden. Because what’s made Sweden the success it is on many of the metrics Sanders loves to point to aren’t the policies Sanders espouses. On the contrary, the reforms he wants […]
Universal preschool – a universally bad idea
As with so many ideas for government expansion into areas of the economy, the concept of universal preschool seems appealing. However, once you consider whether government should have a role educating children below school-age and think about the policy implications of it doing so, it immediately becomes clear that this idea fails every test. As […]