The Ripon Society...The Home of Ideas

A Note From the Chairman Emeritus By Bill Frenzel Washington produces more reports than any other city on Earth. Most of them, even the good ones, end up collecting dust on a shelf somewhere. Occasionally, one is released that commands attention. Twenty five years ago this spring, the Reagan Education Department.......MORE	The Changing Face of American Students By David Longanecker Wow, is the face of the American student changing. Recently, the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE), of which I am the President, published its seventh edition of Knocking on the College Door. This report examines.....................MORE
What are "World Class" Schools? By Stephen Joel Trachtenberg Let me begin to answer the question proposed to me — are American high schools world class? — by muddying the waters with some facts and figures. There are 17,662 school districts in the United States, 98,579 schools, 49,588,626 students, and 3,145,078 teachers..........MORE	The American Classroom in 2028 By Rod Paige Today’s classroom looks nothing like that which greeted bright-eyed students twenty years ago in the mid 1980s. Way back then the model for educating children was little changed for over 150 years –students sitting at desks dutifully taking notes, teachers in front of a chalkboard......MORE
Six Years After No Child Left Behind By Howard P. "Buck" McKeon Ask any voter or policymaker for their top legislative priorities and improving their children’s schools will almost surely appear on the list. Ask these same individuals how that education reform should be accomplished and the number of different answers is likely to match the.............MORE	The Unheeded Threat By Newt Gingrich I was proud to help create the Hart-Rudman Commission on National Security and later serve on it once I stepped down as Speaker. Our report, released in early 2001, stated that the greatest threat to America’s national security was a weapon of mass destruction.............MORE
Is Merit Pay for Teachers Good? Yes. By Marc Lampkin Performance pay is a powerful policy lever to reward teachers who perform exceptionally in the classroom and to attract new talent to the teaching profession. The traditional teacher pay schedule, which is used by approximately 95 percent of schools, not only lacks a..............MORE	Is Merit Pay for Teachers Good? No. By Reg Weaver At the center of a national debate about the quality of public education is the subject of teacher compensation. The issue among many is not whether to increase teacher salaries, but rather who among teachers should receive an increase and how...........MORE
Mortgaging Our Future By R. Vedder and A. Gillen Americans in general and college students in particular are showing concern about the rising college student loan debt burden and the growing possibility that students will have difficulty borrowing funds this fall. While the immediate causes of the loan crisis are...........MORE	On Teaching War: Military Education By James Jay Calafano Dickens was right, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” No statement better captures the state of professional military education and the prospects for the future. Professional military education encompasses all the Pentagon’s efforts to imbue the...........MORE
Time to Rethink Ethanol By Jerry Taylor Rising food and fuel prices have prompted many to reconsider America’s bipartisan campaign to ram corn ethanol down the market’s throat via ham-handed consumption orders and subsidies galore. This is all to the good; little thought has been given to the unintended..............MORE	The Ripon Profile: Jon M. Huntsman, Jr. Governor of Utah

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