Heh, great photoshop work from the folks at the Voice for School Choice in SC.

I’ll be speaking for the Freedom and Free Societies Program at Cornell University next Thursday, September 10. Details here.

I’ll also be speaking at Vanderbilt and in Nashville on September 29. Details to come.

NRO points out that, after criticism from pundits and the blogosphere, the Obama administration has revised its suggested curriculum activities tied to his speech to schoolchildren next Tuesday. Originally, the Department of Education’s “Menu of Activities” recommended that elementary school children “write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president.” The new guidance suggests that students should write letters about realizing their own education goals.

It’s a relief to see the administration redress the Orwellian undertone of its original curriculum guidance. But the real problem isn’t what the president or the education department have to SAY. The problem is what they are actually doing.

If the president really wants to improve academic achievement and raise graduation rates, why did he kill the federal private school choice program in Washington DC? His own education department reports that this program significantly raises students’ academic achievement, and it’s doing so at one quarter the cost of the city’s public schools. Several scientific studies also show that private schools significantly raise the high school graduation rate over the level of public schools, especially for inner-city African American students who are at a high risk of dropping out. And that holds true even when the public and private school students being compared come from similar families.

Instead of just telling kids to get good grades and stay in school, president Obama should support policies that are proven to achieve those goals. Actions speak louder than words, Mr. president.

Since Neal McCluskey and I weighed in on the president’s planned address to public school students this morning, we’ve been getting a whole lot of calls and e‑mails from parents who aren’t too keen on the prospect. They’ve been asking us how to let their school districts know that they don’t feel comfortable with the president as “Educator in Chief.”

If you’re in the same boat, here’s how to contact your district officials and (politely, of course) voice your opinion. Go to this school district search page at the Department of Education and type in the name of your district and the state that it’s in. Click the button and it will display your district’s telephone number.

I’m sure the president would approve of helping parents to become more actively involved in their own children’s education.

• Convicted pedophile in the United Kingdom given taxpayer-funded Viagra through the National Health Service.

• Cato senior fellow Tom Palmer filing a lawsuit to legally carry firearms in Washington D.C.

• How it all came crashing down: The causes of the financial crisis.

• A few things you should know to better understand the elections in Afghanistan.

• Podcast: How some on the right-wing are doing everything they can to defend torture. Let’s just call them “enhanced justification techniques.”

There’s been much interest in the blogosphere recently over spiraling college costs. Niraj Chokshi kicked things off at the Atlantic, and the discussion was picked up by Andrew Sullivan and Ezra Klein, among others.

We’ll be hosting a debate on the causes of and solutions to this problem at Cato on the 6th of October, but in the meantime, it’s worth noting what the blogosphere has thus far overlooked: the epic productivity collapse in k‑12 schooling over the past 40 years.

As I noted in Investors’ Business Daily last month, k‑12 spending has risen by a factor of 2.3 since 1969, while achievement at the end of high-school is flat. The scary details can be found here.

If public school productivity had merely stayed where it was in 1970, instead of collapsing as it did, Americans would enjoy a permanent $300+ billion annual tax cut.

State-run schooling has become so profligate and inefficient, in fact, that one recent study finds higher public school spending is associated with LOWER subsequent economic growth.

Oh, and regarding the education vs. health care debate that started all this: k‑12 productivity trends seem worse than those in health care.

A Washington Post reporter describes the rigmarole Washington D.C. residents must endure to purchase a gun and keep it in one’s home for purposes of self-defense. Snippet:

It took $833.69, a total of 15 hours 50 minutes, four trips to the Metropolitan Police Department, two background checks, a set of fingerprints, a five-hour class and a 20-question multiple-choice exam.

It’s a fair-minded article–not only about the government regulations, but also the factors that play into the decision to keep a gun–risk of crime, risk of accident, the personal willingness to use deadly force (not to mention getting approval from the spouse!)

Cato Chairman Bob Levy, the prime mover of the landmark Heller ruling, discusses the next legal fight: Whether one can carry a firearm outside of the home for purposes of self-defense. Tom Palmer is suing the DC government on this. For more on the Second Amendment and gun control, check out the new Cato book, Gun Control on Trial, by Brian Doherty.