Jerry Kirkpatrick

I realize that many teachers today would consider it demeaning to be called a “peddler” — even a peddler of knowledge and ideas. I consider it a badge of honor. In a free market in education, teachers would be sales reps for their schools. Catering to needs and wants is the challenging task of, first, identifying the needs and wants of one’s customers, then carefully crafting products that will meet those needs and wants. The teacher who does this successfully year after year is a peddler par excellence and deserves praise.

This lament is often heard today about medicine and education, among other fields. Business, however, is the last thing medicine and education have been turned into. Bureaus of the government would be...

Four years after the conflagration of 2003, we in southern California once again are enjoying the sight of pink skies not caused by the sun, the aroma of burning chaparral, and the sting of smoke...