SOUTH DAKOTA STRAIGHT TALK

Straight Talk Commentary – “The World Is Flat” Tom Friedman wrote the following very instructive piece today on democracy, capitalism, and free enterprise. Friedman’s presentation is instructive – it puts our world into perspective.

Without question for America to compete, we must invest more in our schools and in future generations. More money for schools is necessary but it is not the sole investment. Parents must invest more time to their children and take prime responsibility for their education. Citizens and School Districts need to invest in a longer school year.

With the increased investment we must require more accountability and results.

People vs. Dinosaurs

By Thomas L Friedman

The New York Times

June 8, 2008

Tefen Industrial Park, Israel

Question: What do America’s premier investor, Warren Buffett, and Iran’s toxic president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have in common? Answer: They’ve both made a bet about Israel’s future.

Ahmadinejad declared on Monday that Israel “has reached its final phase and will soon be wiped out from the geographic scene.”

By coincidence, I heard the Iranian leader’s statement on Israel Radio just as I was leaving the headquarters of Iscar, Israel’s famous precision tool company, headquartered in the Western Galilee, near the Lebanon border. Iscar is known for many things, most of all for being the first enterprise that Buffett bought overseas for his holding company, Berkshire Hathaway.

Buffett paid $4 billion for 80 percent of Iscar and the deal just happened to close a few days before Hezbollah, a key part of Iran’s holding company, attacked Israel in July 2006, triggering a monthlong war. I asked Iscar’s chairman, Eitan Wertheimer, what was Buffett’s reaction when he found out that he had just paid $4 billion for an Israeli company and a few days later Hezbollah rockets were landing outside its parking lot.

Buffett just brushed it off with a wave, recalled Wertheimer: “He said, ‘I’m not interested in the next quarter. I’m interested in the next 20 years.’ ” Wertheimer repaid that confidence by telling half his employees to stay home during the war and using the other half to keep the factory from not missing a day of work and setting a production record for the month. It helps when many of your “employees” are robots that move around the buildings, beeping humans out of the way.

So who would you put your money on? Buffett or Ahmadinejad? I’d short Ahmadinejad and go long Warren Buffett.

Why? From outside, Israel looks as if it’s in turmoil, largely because the entire political leadership seems to be under investigation. But Israel is a weak state with a strong civil society. The economy is exploding from the bottom up. Israel’s currency, the shekel, has appreciated nearly 30 percent against the dollar since the start of 2007.

The reason? Israel is a country that is hard-wired to compete in a flat world. It has a population drawn from 100 different countries, speaking 100 different languages, with a business culture that strongly encourages individual imagination and adaptation and where being a nonconformist is the norm. While you were sleeping, Israel has gone from oranges to software, or as they say around here, from Jaffa to Java.

The day I visited the Iscar campus, one of its theaters was filled with industrialists from the Czech Republic, who were getting a lecture — in Czech — from Iscar experts. The Czechs came all the way to the Israel-Lebanon border region to learn about the latest innovations in precision tool-making. Wertheimer is famous for staying close to his customers and the latest technologies. “If you sleep on the floor,” he likes to say, “you never have to worry about falling out of bed.”

That kind of hunger explains why, in the first quarter of 2008, the top four economies after America in attracting venture capital for start-ups were: Europe $1.53 billion, China $719 million, Israel $572 million and India $99 million, according to Dow Jones VentureSource. Israel, with 7 million people, attracted almost as much as China, with 1.3 billion.

Boaz Golany, who heads engineering at the Technion, Israel’s M.I.T., told me: “In the last eight months, we have had delegations from I.B.M., General Motors, Procter & Gamble and Wal-Mart visiting our campus. They are all looking to develop R & D centers in Israel.”

Ahmadinejad professes not to care about such things. He was — to put it in American baseball terms — born on third base and thinks he hit a triple. Because oil prices have gone up to nearly $140 a barrel, he feels relaxed predicting that Israel will disappear, while Iran maintains a welfare state — with more than 10 percent unemployment.

Iran has invented nothing of importance since the Islamic Revolution, which is a shame. Historically, Iranians have been a dynamic and inventive people — one only need look at the richness of Persian civilization to see that. But the Islamic regime there today does not trust its people and will not empower them as individuals.

Of course, oil wealth can buy all the software and nuclear technology you want, or can’t develop yourself. This is not an argument that we shouldn’t worry about Iran. Ahmadinejad should, though.

Iran’s economic and military clout today is largely dependent on extracting oil from the ground. Israel’s economic and military power today is entirely dependent on extracting intelligence from its people. Israel’s economic power is endlessly renewable. Iran’s is a dwindling resource based on fossil fuels made from dead dinosaurs.

So who will be here in 20 years? I’m with Buffett: I’ll bet on the people who bet on their people — not the people who bet on dead dinosaurs.

We Americans for the most part learn our way into economic success rather than are born into it. The key is the availability of good quality public education. Many government programs would not be necessary if the average citizen had the ability to act and think for himself. A good education could do that.

We would not need the myriad of programs that supposedly enables the government to protect us if we (individual citizens) were capable of understanding and thinking for ourselves.

Government must invest more in human capital and demand better results from our institutions. The money could be made available by eliminating a few cradle to grave programs that in effect tear people down. Education builds people.

The result would be good for our people.

Reviving The Hamilton Agenda

By David Brooks

The New York Times

June 8, 2007

These days there seem to be four schools of political economic thought. First, there are the limited government conservatives, who think taxes should be low and the state should be as small as possible. Second, there are the Hamiltonians, who believe in free market capitalism but think government should help people get the tools they need to compete in it.

Third, there are the mainstream liberals, who think government should intervene in small ways throughout the economy to soften the effects of creative destruction. Fourth, there are the populists, who believe the benefits of the global economy are going to the rich and we need to fundamentally rewrite the rules.

If you are reading this column, you’re keeping company with somebody in group No. 2. We Hamiltonians disagree with the limited government conservatives because, on its own, the market is failing to supply enough human capital. Despite all the incentives, 30 percent of kids drop out of high school and the college graduation rate has been flat for a generation.

Just when it needs a more skilled work force, the U.S. is getting a less skilled one. This is already taking a bite out of productivity growth, and the problem will get worse.

We Hamiltonians disagree with the third group, the mainstream liberals, because their programs haven’t worked out. Retraining programs for displaced workers have flopped. Tax code changes to reduce outsourcing are symbolic. Federal jobs programs aren’t effective. Moreover, the high taxes you need to pay for these programs sap the economy. There’s now a pile of evidence showing that higher taxes mean reduced working hours. In the face of Chinese and Indian competition, we don’t need Americans working less.

We Hamiltonians disagree with the populists because we don’t find their storyline persuasive. The populists argue that global trade is creating a race to the bottom that is leading to stagnant wages and vast inequality. But when you look at the details, you find that most inequality is caused by a rising education premium, by changes in household and family structure, by the fact that the rich now work longer hours than the less rich and by new salary structures that are more tied to individual performance. None of this can be addressed by changing global trade rules.

The global economy radically decreased poverty and increased living standards. It’s crazy to upend this complex system to return to some nostalgic vision of a 1950s industrial wonderland.

When it comes to what Hamiltonians are actually for, two big themes stand out. First, the overall economy has to remain dynamic. The biggest threat is the looming wall of entitlement debt. We Hamiltonians would break the current campaign silence on the issue by raising the retirement age and tackling medical inflation to make Medicare affordable.

The second big theme is a human capital agenda. No one policy can increase the quality of human capital, but a lifelong portfolio of policies can make a difference.

Children do better when raised in stable two-parent families. Bigger child tax credits and increasing the earned income tax credit can reduce the economic strain on young families (and shift the tax burden to older, affluent ones). Extending government income support to young men in exchange for work would make them more marriageable.

Nurse practitioners who make home visits can stabilize disorganized, single-parent families. Quality preschool can help young children from those disorganized homes develop the self-motivation skills they’ll need to succeed.

The most important thing in a school is quality teachers. That means there should be merit pay for the best, and a change in the certification rules (we should allow more people into the profession and weed out the mediocre ones, regardless of their certification).

Senior citizen groups could mentor students to keep them emotionally engaged during college years. National service should be a rite of passage, forcing city kids to work with rural kids, and vice versa.

Middle-aged workers need portable pensions and health insurance so they can move and take risks. The immigration system should reward skills, like the college admissions system. The government should increase funding for basic research, especially in math, engineering and physics.

The list could go on. My goal here is merely to describe the different economic policy schools that are out there, and to emphasize my favorite, the one least represented by the current presidential candidates.

Government is really bad at rigging or softening competition. It can do some good when it helps people compete.

Thinking of Jim Abbott and USD brings to mind the fact that Abbot does not have an academic background. While he does have a Juris Doctor degree, he is a businessman not an academician. This is becoming not an uncommon trend.

Just up the road from Abbott is Augustana President Rob Oliver another successful businessman who is doing a great job.

Sidebar – During news reports last year on USD becoming NCAA Division 1 (a move I believe USD did not want to make but was forced into), Oliver said that Augie would remain Division 2, his goal being one of five best (academically) “Church” Colleges. I applaud Oliver who understands the merit of understanding who you are and being the best you can be rather than trying to be something you are not.

Sidebar 2 - My favorites list of University Presidents include, Father Theodore Hesberg (Notre Dame), John Silber (Boston University), Arnold Weber (Northwestern), and Bart Giamatti (Yale) who went on to become President of the National League and then all too briefly Commissioner of Baseball. The President I like least is Myles Brand (Indiana University) who is now President of the NCAA.

The best Non Academic President though is General Earl Rudder of Texas A & M University. At the time Rudder was the head of A & M he was the only President of a major university in America without a PhD.

Rudder though was not without qualifications. He was the Commanding Officer of the 2nd Army Ranger Battalion at D Day Invasion. At A & M that was all the qualifications you needed.

Rudder was a leader. As the Wikipedia biography below notes, he transformed Texas A & M from a small Land Grant College to a major university.

It again shows that vision and leadership count and not always who is the smartest guy in the room.

James Earl Rudder

Military Career - Rudder was the hero of D Day as Commander of the United States Army's 2^nd Ranger Batgtalion. Rudder's U.S. Army Rangers stormed the beach at Pointe du Hoc and, under constant enemy fire, scaled 100-foot cliffs to reach and destroy German gun batteries. The battalion's casualty rate for this perilous mission was greater than 50 percent. Rudder himself was wounded twice during the course of the fighting. In spite of this, they dug in and fought off German counter-attacks for two days until relieved. He and his men helped to successfully establish a beachhead for the Allied forces.

Six months later, Rudder was assigned to command the 109th Infantry Regiment, which saw key service in the Battle of the Bulge. Rudder became one of the most decorated soldiers of the war, with honors that included the Distinguished Service Cross, Legion of Merit, Silver Star, Bronze Star Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster, French Legion of Honor with Croix de Guerre and Palm, and Belgian Order of Leopold with Croix de Guerre and Palm. By the end of the war he was a full Colonel and was promoted to Brigadier General of the United States Army Reserves in 1954 and Major General in 1957.

Poliitician and Educator - Rudder served as mayor of Brady, Texas from 1946 to 1952 and was vice president of Brady Aviation Company in 1953. On January 1, 1955, he assumed the office of Land Commissioner after the abandonment of the position by James Bascom Giles. At that time the Veterans Land Program was under scrutiny for mismanagement and corruption. Rudder undertook the task of reforming policies, expediting land applications, and closely supervising proper accounting procedures. He also oversaw the proper leasing of state lands by employing more field inspectors for oil and gas sites and adding a seismic exploration staff. In addition, he improved working conditions for his staff and instigated a program to preserve the many deteriorating General Land Office documents.

On the strength of his many reforms, Rudder won the election for land commissioner in 1956 and served until February 1, 1958. That year, he became vice president of Texas A&M University. He became president in 1959 and president of the entire A&M System in 1965. In 1967 President Lyndon B. Johnson presented Rudder the Distinguished Service Medal, the highest peacetime service award. Since his death in 1970, an annual service has been held in Normandy, France in his honor.

While President of Texas A&M, Rudder is credited for transforming the University from a small land-grant college to a renowned University. Specifically, he made membership in the Corps of Cadets optional, and allowed women to attend. There are many reminders of Rudder on campus, including Rudder Tower, next to the Memorial Student Center, and a statue. Additionally, a special training unit within the Corps of Cadets known as "Rudder's Rangers" is named in his honor. Cadets within the Corps of Cadets at A&M are expected to be able to recite an excerpt from the inscription on Rudder tower, a "Campusology" that reads:

“In memory of James Earl Rudder, 1910-1970, Class of 1932, Heroic Soldier. Commissioner of the General Land Office of Texas… Sixteenth President of Texas A&M University… Third President of the Texas A&M University System.

Earl Rudder was the architect of the dream that produced this center. In this, as in all he did, he demonstrated an uncommon ability to inspire men and lead them to exceptional achievement.”

James Earl Rudder Monument at Point Du Hoc

The Argus has taken up the cause of quotas and racial diversity.

Following up on Randall Beck’s Sunday column (that is clearly branded as opinion) today’s Argus story on the School Board candidate interviews, the Argus through their questions proposes a 10 percent minority faculty by 2010.

Diversity is the issue. Last year in the Sioux Falls Schools faculty employment of minorities was about 1 percent while minority student enrollment was about 17 percent. It is desirable that there would be more diversity in employment but setting deadlines and quotas is not the way to go.

The School District should hire the most qualified teachers with the ability to teach with results.

It appears that the Argus Leader is letting their predilection for quotas push their agenda from the Editorial page onto the news page.

Does the Argus Leader have a diversity policy ? Do they use quotas? What percentage of  minorities do they employ?  How many women are in top management? How many minority members do they have on their editorial board? Hell I wonder how many Republicans and Independents they have on the ed board.

Sometimes cleaning house best starts at home even if you do live in a glass house.

Dr. James Hansen was reappointed by Governor Rounds to the Board of Regents for a third term.

Jim Hansen who is from Pierre and one of the few Regents not from a town with an Institution governed by the Regents brings a broad (and needed) perspective to the Regents.

Dr. Hansen served for several years as South Dakota Secretary of Education. He was an able schoolman. He is always focused on what is best for the students making other agendas secondary.

When he served as Secretary of Education he sometimes expressed his frustration about the priorities of communities and school boards on their priorities, by lamenting lament the most important question in South Dakota education was which attribute was more important the forward pass or the dribble.

A thought provoking picture of today and tomorrow. Click On

http://www.scottmcleod.org/didyouknow.wmv

(about six and one-half minutes, be sure to enlarge the screen)

Initiated Measure 3 proposes to prohibit schools from starting before September 1 each year. It has already been certified to appear on the ballot.

This measure comes as a result of a coalition of tourism operators claiming they can’t afford to lose their student hospitality workers in their venue before the end of the season when they return to school. They further argue that holding off the beginning of school lengthens the tourism season, a positive thing for the South Dakota economy.

This is a step in the wrong direction.

Tourism operators already hold special privileges as an industry in South Dakota. They enjoy their own tax used to promote their industry - no other industry has such special treatment or advantage. I support the State promotion of tourism, but the State should not limit education for any reason – certainly not to give a special economic advantage to the tourism industry.

The State should be encouraging education rather than limiting it.

Schools taking an extended break through the summer months are a holdover from the Agrarian Age, when children were needed at home for farm work. Since the Age of Agriculture, our society moved from Industrial Age, rapidly through the Electronic Age, and now into the Information Age. Our education system needs modernization not moving backward.

South Dakota’s education Resources are not operating at anywhere near capacity. At best, schools are open a minimum of 175 days or 35 weeks. This equates to a little over 8 month - about 9 months when breaks, holidays and snow days are included. Yet, we are paying for overhead (plant and equipment, maintenance and administrative costs) for 12 months. Additionally, our teachers want higher pay and yet only work a little more than the nine months. Lengthening the school year would increase operational efficiencies and give teachers higher pay.

Most importantly lengthening the school year would give our children much needed increased instruction and classroom time. Nine months of school for our children to have a world-class education is inadequate. The world is flat - a world-class education is essential to maintain quality of life.

We need to face up to the stark facts our politicians are not getting the job done in the education arena. Special Interest ballot initiatives that look to exploit the education of our children should be roundly defeated.

The lead story on the front page of today’s Argus Leader (above the fold) was a nice story about two sisters on the Roosevelt Rough Rider track team. The girls deserve the attention and recognition but this wasn’t nearly the biggest story in Sioux Falls.

The BIG STORY yesterday was the kick off of Forward Sioux Falls V. Forward Sioux Falls is the marketing effort of the Sioux Falls Development foundation. Forward Sioux Falls V, a five-year program is a significant commitment by area businesses to the future of the City. Over 5 million dollars has been pledged to date with community leaders like Sioux Valley Health Systems, Wells Fargo Bank, and First Premier Bank taking the lead.

The focus of FSF V is workforce development and the target is to keep younger workers in Sioux Falls. The marketing campaign that is planned to recruit young adults “to live, work, and play” in Sioux Falls.

A prominent story did run on the Argus Business Page but this story deserves page one prominence. The following story did appear this week in the Argus’ companion Sioux Falls Business Journal.

Forward Sioux Falls Dreams Big

By Rob Swenson

Sioux Falls Business Journal

May 24, 2006

$8.5 million fund-raising goal is program’s largest

Business and civic leaders are launching the fifth, multiyear phase of the economic development program Forward Sioux Falls with their most ambitious fund-raising goal ever and a high level of confidence in the future of the city.

“The business-climate confidence-measure looking out five years from now has got to be at an all-time high. People are enthusiastic about where we’re going,” said Sioux Valley Health System executive Kelby

Krabbenhoft, co-chairman of the fund-raising campaign for Forward Sioux Falls V.

Fund-raising co-chairman Dana Dykhouse agrees. He is an executive with First Premier Bank and the chairman of the Sioux Falls Development Foundation.

“I’ve never seen a more positive attitude of the Sioux Falls business community, across the board,” Dykhouse said.

Phase V leaders hope to raise $8.5 million during the next few months to fund a variety of programs, including a new marketing effort designed to retain and attract 17- to 30-year-olds.

Forward Sioux Falls is a joint venture of the development foundation and the Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce. The program was launched in 1987. It was renewed with new fund-raising drives in 1991, 1996 and 2001.

The marketing campaign aimed at young adults that will be part of the next phase of the program is called Opportunity City. The marketing campaign kicks off May 24, the same day as the formal fund-raising drive for Phase V. Other programs will be phased in during coming months.

The Opportunity City program begins immediately with a series of regional TV ads and the launch of a related Web site: stayclose-gofar.com.

The youth campaign is designed to complement existing work-force development programs Forward Sioux Falls started years ago.

“We’re not short of jobs in this city. We’re short of people,” said Tom Everist, chairman of Forward Sioux Falls.

“I think this Opportunity City is something that really has potential to bring in young people to the city for job opportunities, educational facilities and to live here and grow with the city,” Everist said.

Recruiting good, talented workers is a major task for employers in Sioux Falls, so the Opportunity City campaign should be a big help to investors in Forward Sioux Falls, said publicity chairman Scott Lawrence, president and chief operating officer of Lawrence & Schiller. His marketing and advertising firm is helping implement the Opportunity City campaign.

“The idea is we’d go after these people who already know something about Sioux Falls,” said Micah Aberson of Lawrence & Schiller.

“The community has the appeal. We just have to tell them (young adults) about it,” he said.

Bob Thimjon, chairman of the chamber, said the growth of Sioux Falls is creating the need for a lot of challenging opportunities for young people who are seeking college degrees or entering the work force.

“At times, the difficulty is that some of the people we have don’t appreciate what we have here,” Thimjon said.

“Just because a student is in town doesn’t mean we don’t have to market to them,” he said.

Other elements of Phase V will include enhancing the “knowledge community.” The Knowledge Community program involves improving the research and educational foundation in the city through such means as building upon the success of the South Dakota Business Technology Center.

Future steps will include an office park to accommodate companies that graduate from the tech center, a business incubator that nurtures new businesses by providing temporary, cut-rate office space and services.

Through the years, Forward Sioux Falls has helped launch programs such as the Sioux Empire Housing Partnership, which increases the supply of affordable housing in Sioux Falls.

Forward Sioux Falls is overseen on a day-to-day basis by Evan Nolte, president and chief executive officer of the chamber, and Dan Scott, president of the development foundation.

The first four phases raised $14.7 million for economic development and community improvements.

The advance phase of this year’s campaign already has secured one record-high pledge of $1 million and several others for hundreds of thousands of dollars, officials said.

Program leaders project that Phase V’s five-year efforts will create 8,600 jobs in the Sioux Falls area – 4,915 directly and 3,685 indirectly. That translates to a total additional payroll of more than $248 million.

In a study completed in 2000 and updated in 2005, Ralph Brown, an economist from the University of South Dakota, calculated that 19 percent of all jobs created in the Sioux Falls area from 1987 to 2004 could be attributed to Forward Sioux Falls. That translated to about 10,500 jobs.

“Forward Sioux Falls did have a positive, strong and statistically significantly impact on employment growth,” Brown concluded.

This year’s fund-raising campaign is being carried out by volunteers with professional help from John Luckie of the National Community Development Services Inc., an Atlanta-based company that has assisted Forward Sioux Falls in the past.

Organizers call businesses and individuals that pledge money “investors.”

“We don’t talk about donations. We don’t talk about contributions. We talk about investments. We like to see someone get a return on that investment,” Scott said.

If $8.5 million were raised for Phase V, the money would be spent in five general areas, all of which would receive more than $1 million: work-force development; technology business enhancement; economic expansion; community and business-climate advocacy; and program communication and administration.

The overall program will retain flexibility to adjust priorities between now and the end of the program in 2011.

Phase IV had 412 investors. Pledges ranged from hundreds of dollars to $500,000. Typically, a business pledge is spread into five annual payments.

Nolte said Forward Sioux Falls probably will not set goals for the number of investors in the program.

He expects a high level of participation because a survey of current investors indicated a high level of satisfaction in the program and confidence in Sioux Falls.

“It’s beyond anything we’ve seen,” Nolte said.

Forward Sioux Falls campaign history

A look at the five stages of Forward Sioux Falls, with the year each stage started and pledges collected, except for stage V, which shows the goal for funds raised.

Phase I 1987 $1.9 million

Phase II 1991 $2.2 million

Phase III 1996 $4.2 million

Phase IV 2001 $6.4 million

Phase V 2006 $8.5 million

Forward Sioux Falls is a joint venture of the Sioux Falls Development Foundation and the Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce. The economic development and community-improvement program was launched in 1987 and is being renewed for the fourth time. Foward Sioux Falls V is being launched now and is expected to last until 2011. Following are some key leaders.

Tom Everist
• Chairman of Forward Sioux Falls
• Co-chairman of the FSF development council
• President of The Everist Co.

Dana Dykhouse
• Phase V fund-raising co-chairman
• Chairman of the development foundation
• President and chief executive officer of First Premier Bank

Kelby Krabbenhoft
• Phase V fund-raising co-chairman
• President and CEO of Sioux Valley Health System

Bob Thimjon
• Co-chairman of the FSF development council
• Chairman of the chamber
• Treasurer and chief financial officer of the Ramkota Cos. Inc.

Evan Nolte
• Full-time president and CEO of the chamber

Dan Scott
• Full-time president of the development foundation

Marshmallows and Public Policy

By David Brooks

The NY Times

May 7, 2006

Around 1970, Walter Mischel launched a classic experiment. He left a succession of 4-year-olds in a room with a bell and a marshmallow. If they rang the bell, he would come back and they could eat the marshmallow. If, however, they didn't ring the bell and waited for him to come back on his own, they could then have two marshmallows.

In videos of the experiment, you can see the children squirming, kicking, hiding their eyes — desperately trying to exercise self-control so they can wait and get two marshmallows. Their performance varied widely. Some broke down and rang the bell within a minute. Others lasted 15 minutes.

The children who waited longer went on to get higher SAT scores. They got into better colleges and had, on average, better adult outcomes. The children who rang the bell quickest were more likely to become bullies. They received worse teacher and parental evaluations 10 years on and were more likely to have drug problems at age 32.

The Mischel experiments are worth noting because people in the policy world spend a lot of time thinking about how to improve education, how to reduce poverty, how to make the most of the nation's human capital. But when policy makers address these problems, they come up with structural remedies: reduce class sizes, create more charter schools, increase teacher pay, mandate universal day care, try vouchers.

The results of these structural reforms are almost always disappointingly modest. And yet policy makers rarely ever probe deeper into problems and ask the core questions, such as how do we get people to master the sort of self-control that leads to success? To ask that question is to leave the policy makers' comfort zone — which is the world of inputs and outputs, appropriations and bureaucratic reform — and to enter the murky world of psychology and human nature.

And yet the Mischel experiments, along with everyday experience, tell us that self-control is essential. Young people who can delay gratification can sit through sometimes boring classes to get a degree. They can perform rote tasks in order to, say, master a language. They can avoid drugs and alcohol.

For people without self-control skills, however, school is a series of failed ordeals. No wonder they drop out. Life is a parade of foolish decisions: teen pregnancy, drugs, gambling, truancy and crime.

If you're a policy maker and you are not talking about core psychological traits like delayed gratification skills, then you're just dancing around with proxy issues. You're not getting to the crux of the problem.

The research we do have on delayed gratification tells us that differences in self-control skills are deeply rooted but also malleable. Differences in the ability to focus attention and exercise control emerge very early, perhaps as soon as nine months. The prefrontal cortex does the self-control work in the brain, but there is no consensus on how much of the ability to exercise self-control is hereditary and how much is environmental.

The ability to delay gratification, like most skills, correlates with socioeconomic status and parenting styles. Children from poorer homes do much worse on delayed gratification tests than children from middle-class homes. That's probably because children from poorer homes are more likely to have their lives disrupted by marital breakdown, violence, moving, etc. They think in the short term because there is no predictable long term.

The good news is that while differences in the ability to delay gratification emerge early and persist, that ability can be improved with conscious effort. Moral lectures don't work. Sheer willpower doesn't seem to work either. The children who resisted eating the marshmallow didn't stare directly at it and exercise iron discipline. On the contrary, they were able to resist their appetites because they were able to distract themselves, and think about other things.

What works, says Jonathan Haidt, the author of "The Happiness Hypothesis," is creating stable, predictable environments for children, in which good behavior pays off — and practice. Young people who are given a series of tests that demand self-control get better at it over time.

This pattern would be too obvious to mention if it weren't so largely ignored by educators and policy makers. Somehow we've entered a world in which we obsess over structural reforms and standardized tests, but skirt around the moral and psychological traits that are at the heart of actual success. Walter Mischel tried to interest New York schools in programs based on his research. Needless to say, he found almost no takers.

Accountability?

Following is a Press Release sent out by the Sioux Falls Education Association last week.

Question Teacher? Are not Legislator’s Accountable to Taxpayer’s also? Is the intention of this Presser and the Report Card to intimidate Legislators? Unlike teachers who have some degree of job security Legislators stand for election every two years. Teachers have every right to lobby but I suggest the adage you will catch more flies with sugar than flypaper.

PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE

To: Sioux Falls Legislators in Districts 9-15

From: The Sioux Falls Education Association Government Relations Committee

Date: Feb. 3, 2006

When it comes to public schools we hear a lot these days about accountability. Schools are held accountable to taxpayers, our local community, and of course standardized test scores. Policy-makers that believe the "status quo" translates to "good enough" have kept SD teachers dead last in teacher salaries for the last 20 years. (Source: states' department of education reports to Washington D.C).

NCLB brought increasing demands for accountability. Teachers across South Dakota and here in Sioux Falls have lived under NCLB regulations that can cause their "qualifications" to vanish over-night We jump through the hoops, required of us by the state and federal Departments of Education. The Report Card on American Education, published by the American Legislative Exchange Council has consistently ranked South Dakota in the top ten states in academic achievement. (Source: SD DOE website) Despite this fact, SD public schools are continually under attack from taxpayers voting down "opt-outs" and legislators that believe there is "fat to trim" and demand even greater efficiency and accountability.

If salaries and benefits make up 85% of the average school budget, and we are already DEAD LAST, how much more sacrifice can be expected of South Dakota's education professionals?

The Government Relations (GR) committee of the Sioux Falls Education Association believes "accountability" is necessary from our representatives as well. Thus we have created a "Report Card for Legislators" on which we will hold you accountable during the 2006 Legislative Session in the following categories:

· School Funding (provide adequate funding for schools)

· Local Control (leave decisions such as curriculum and calendar at the

local level)

· Technology (provide adequate resources for hard-ware, soft-ware,

staff support, and teacher training to enhance technology)

· Teacher Quality (increase quality professional development and not

promote "merit pay" systems based on student test scores)

· Education Enhancement (promote attainable academic achievement goals

aimed at lowering the achievement gap or providing

scholarship opportunities for SD students)

· NCLB (attempts to "fix" and "fund")

The SFEA GR Committee will be meeting on a regular basis throughout the session to select and track important pieces of legislation that will impact education. We will be paying attention to who sponsors and votes for bills we support and who did not sponsor or voted against our position in Committee or on the Floor. The final "Report Card for Legislators" will be issued in March one week after Veto Day.

The intention of this Press Release is to inform legislators of our "Report Card for Legislators" and help them understand that many must be held ACCOUNTABLE if we are to work together to provide GREAT SOUTH DAKOTA PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOR EVERY CHILD.

Ann Tornberg, SFEA President Laura Raeder, SFEA VP, RHS Linda Schulte, Axtell M.S. Rodger Ellingson, Summit OaksSteve Fisher, Axtell M.S. Barry Foster, LHS

Collette Gesinger, Patrick Henry M.S. Nancy Hallenbeck, Anne Sul.

Barb Kavanaugh, Cleveland Becky Kelley, WHS

Dotty Martens, Oscar Howe Elem. Pat McMunigal, Edison M.S.

Bonnie Mehlbrech, RHS Diana Navin, Oscar Howe

Barb Saxton, Oscar Howe Cindy Washburn, Robert Frost

Karen Taylor, L.B. Anderson Elem. Fred Reiner, WHS

Phyllis Schrag, LHS Nicol Reiner, RHS

Sally Rice, Edison M.S.

J A I L Update

The Proponent of the J A I L Amendment testified to the Senate State Affairs on Friday. He read his prepared statement and demonstrated that he does not have a clue what he foisting on South Dakota. Mr. William Stegmeier embarrassed his cause. He refused to answer question from the Committee. The State Affairs Committee deferred action deciding whether to take further action to subpoena Mr. Stegmeier to testify.

HCR 1004 will pass almost unanimously. The Committee while right should not pursue the subpoena against Mr. Stegmeier in that it just places into his hands and gives him additional fodder for his campaign this coming November. He, the people he represents and the Judicial haters are simply wrong. See our earlier post on Vigilante Justice.

For an interesting listen go to the Legislative Research Council’s website and listen to the February 10^th minutes of the Senate State Affairs Committee.