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Catholic schools are closing their doors all across America, leaving future generations with nowhere to turn for the high-quality academics and values-based education so many families are seeking. The number of students attending Catholic schools in the US fell from about 5.2 million in 1965 to around two million in 2008.

Pioneer Institute believes these schools are worth preserving. For over a decade, we have raised our voice in support of these excellent academic options, and tools such as tax credit scholarships that would enable more families to attend.

Pioneer has held public forums, published research on the benefits of Catholic education, on successful models such as Cristo Rey, and on policy changes that would stop the Massachusetts education department from depriving religious school students of special needs services and school nurses. The Institute has also convened key stakeholders, appeared in local and national press, filed amicus briefs, produced a feature a documentary film, and much more.

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Carlos Castro: From Crossing the Border to Owning a Business

December 9, 2021/in Economic Opportunity, Featured, JobMakers /by Editorial Staff

This week on JobMakers, host Denzil Mohammed talks with Carlos Castro, president and CEO of Todos Supermarket in Woodbridge, Virginia, a successful business employing more than 200 people. He describes the perilous conditions in his native El Salvador, why he crossed the border to America, and why immigrant business owners tend to hire people like them, in this week’s JobMakers.

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Guest

Carlos Castro is the president of Todos Supermarket, which specializes in foods and services to immigrants from Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa at stores in Woodbridge and Dumfries, Virginia. Castro immigrated to the U.S. when he was 24, and worked a variety of odd jobs as a cleaner, cook and dishwasher, before he took classes, learned English, and started a construction business. In 1990, 10 years after leaving El Salvador, he became a U.S. citizen and opened the first Todos Supermarket. Since then, he has repeatedly been named one of the Fantastic 50 businesses of the year by the Virginia Chamber of Commerce and expanded to a second store in Dumfries. In addition to employing nearly 200 local residents and serving thousands of customers, he’s become an important community leader. Castro is a founder of the Hispanic Organization for Leadership and Action, and served on the boards of the Prince William Chamber of Commerce, Youth for Tomorrow, Potomac Health Foundation, Hylton Performing Arts Center, Northern Virginia Community College Education Foundation, and the Norther Virginia Workforce Development Board.

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Read a Transcript of This Episode

Please excuse typos.

Denzil Mohammed:

I’m Denzil Mohammed, and this is Jobmakers.

Denzil Mohammed:

What do you know about migrants who cross the Southern border and where they go in life? If their journey is successful, do you know what they’re fleeing? What skills they may have, what their dreams are, what motivated them to take such a dangerous risk for Carlos Castro, president and CEO of Todo Supermarket in Woodbridge, Virginia, it was decapitated heads lined up on fences. It was a civil war. It was no economic opportunity in El Salvador. Carlos took a huge risk as a young man to cross the border without authorization. But in that dangerous journey was a determination to support his family and find them safety as any husband and father would Carlos, who became a us citizen in 1990 is now a business and community leader in Northern Virginia, employing more than 200 people. He explains some of the things Americans find perplexing. Like why do migrants cross the border? Why immigrant business owners tend to hire people like them and what life is really like in the hellish countries, where desperate migrants come from in this week’s Jobmakers, Carlos Castro, welcome to the Jobmakers podcast. How are you?

Carlos Castro:

Very good. Thank you for the invitation.

Denzil Mohammed:

So you are founder, president and CEO of Todos Supermarkets in Woodbridge Virginia. Describe your business for us. When did it launch and where is it today?

Carlos Castro:

I was at a party with a friend of mine, for a friend of mine and, and she came to me and she said, look, there is a need for a grocery store here. Why don’t you start one? And I go like, why me? You know, I don’t know anything about grocery store, but later in, you know, couple of a year later, I was talking with some friends about starting a business and we went through many, many ideas. And then I remember what my friend told me and we, it to open to supermarket because it was only a tiny Mexican store, you know, I mean, tiny, like 500 square feet. It was very, very small. And we took 2,500 square feet. It was very, very small, but we didn’t know how to negotiate contract. You know, we just went and signed for whatever they offered me.

Carlos Castro:

So then, my wife was running it. The idea was that my wife was maid, you know, a,uhouse cleaner and that she could have her own business and I would have my own business, of course, you know? And,uand that’s how we started in 1990. And,after I realized that we were actually, I was not doing very good in construction because I was most of the time on the phone with my wife,utrying to resolve issues and figure out why we’re not, we were not selling. Then I did decided to give up my construction business in DC and,come to the store, help my wife. The problem is that she did not have money to pay me a salary. She barely paid herself a salary. So I became a tax preparer, I realized that,upeople were not taking advantage of being homeowner, the home ownership, you know, so I,uI became a realtor and,uand I was working out of the store.

Carlos Castro:

It was, you know, very difficult years, but we start to ask our customers, what would you like us to have, you know, every day since day one and that how we actually became to know that even though we speak Spanish, even though we’re Latinos and everybody thinks we are all Mexican, you know, it, it just not that way, you know, Bolivians have their food, Colombians, you name it. So it was a learning, exciting learning and very difficult time. But,uthe beauty of it is that in some countries, the owner of the businesses are considered very smart people that you can go and get our advice, you know, and,upeople would come to my store and ask for things. And then my wife would tell them, come back at six, my husband is gonna be here. And,uand then by the time I got to the store, I had a line of people that had something, you know, to, to ask and it felt really good and it create that kind of loyalty in our community.

Carlos Castro:

And that went on for five years. Then we decided to move to another a 5,000 square feet in five years. And then another five years, we moved to 10,000 and then to thousand, by the time we were in 20, 20 10, we actually got into this one location at Mar Plaza in Woodbridge that has a total of 75,000 square feet with offices and headquarters. And everything had like 180 employees still have the hundred 80, some of the hand left, you know, and we have hire new people. My attitude has been always that, you know, we hire for attitude. You know, you get the right attitude. I can teach you the business. So my general manager, you know, I found her flipping hamburgers at the McDonald nearby. And she actually took the offer the same day. I put it to her. She’s now my general manager. And her case has repeated on over, over, but my father teaching, he was always helping. He was a builder and he always was observing people. Cause I was a kid always with him. I was his first child. So he was always looking at people and, and giving the opportunity. Todo supermarket have done the same. You know, we give all the people opportunity when we bring new people to the team, nobody gets to worry cause we don’t compete. We complement each other. So

Denzil Mohammed:

Giving people opportunity is key. Especially recently arrived immigrants. They just want, they just wanna crack and they wanna break. And they’re able to develop their skills from flipping hamburgers to becoming general manager of a massive 75,000 square foot store. I mean, that’s, that’s pretty incredible. And you mentioned your father and growing up, obviously you didn’t grow up in, in Northern Virginia. You grew up in El Salvador. Yeah. Most listeners will have no idea what life is like in a place like El Salvador paint a picture for us. What was it like growing up?

Carlos Castro:

We were very poor. My father built his, his house in the capital with salvage materials. You know, pieces of metal. We laugh all the time because I told him that we had the biggest window in the living room. The only problem is that it didn’t have any glass just to hold, you know, so, and, and we used to go and we, we closed our door and we, we, we put like a big piece of pipe to keep it locked. And then of course you, you lock the door and then the window is open where you can run a truck through it. So it was funny. We didn’t have any running water or indoor plumbing. And my father kept reminding us what we needed to do to really survive and reminding us that we didn’t have any inheritance to receive that all we had was, you know, an able body and a good head on them.

Carlos Castro:

And then that we have to do our best. And one thing that happened during those days is that, you know, good jobs were reserved for people that were friends of the owners, of the company or boss in the company and put people like me didn’t have any chance. I work with my dad the first few years and I moved to work at a factory, but, you know, to get a 25 cent salary increase in a year, we almost had to go into a strike. It wasn’t, it was like that. But, you know I enjoyed what I did and luckily I was able to climb the ladder at a very young age, very young age. I was supervising people, you know, by the time I was 19 and I was supervising a production plant of a big factory when I was studying industrial engineering on my first year.

Carlos Castro:

And I was only like, you know, 19, I mean, 20, 20 years old. And well, you were happy. You were all set because you, why, why did you need to move? Yeah, exactly. You know, and then we had a civil war going on really bad. That was the military against the left wing activist from Cuba and Nicaragua. And it become a terrible civil war. You found, you know, people decapitated with the hair stuck on the fences. You know, it was horrifying. And me being the eldest of my siblings, I had the opportunity that some of my middle school classmate gave me to come to the us, of course, illegal because we had no chance of getting a visa. So I thought really quick because he pressed the question on me, you know, why don’t you go to the US work for a couple of years, you know, learn English and maybe by then the war will be over.

Carlos Castro:

And then you can provide for your siblings and your mom and your dad. I had a job there in the unions and the guerrilla were taking over and shutting down the factories. As a matter of fact, my, the factory where I worked, it was actually, you know, one of three that were still open. So I thought this is gonna collapse any minute. And I took that opportunity. You know, I came with a coyote and smuggler and I got caught across the border. So I got deported. After I spent a month and a half in detention, I got to Salvador at midnight when they dropped me there. And then I hid for a week and then got more money. I found my motorcycle and I headed back on my own, just actually with a cousin. And we went across Mexico and, across the border.

Carlos Castro:

And luckily we made it and that’s how I’m here. You know, the first year I all I did was save money to buy my ticket back to a Salva <laugh> because I wasn’t really enjoying my wife was in Salvador with my little kid. That was one year old when I left. So all I wanted is to get back to Salvador and, and but then I got the opportunity of working in construction and I was really good. I am really good in construction. You know, I love it. I enjoyed since I was a little kid, so that was my ticket to success. I was able to save for my house. And then I moved on to set up my own company with the customers that my boss couldn’t serve, he would give to me. So he helped me.

Carlos Castro:

He, he gave us actually, he signed our job certification for my wife. And then by my wife getting her visa, my kid and myself could get a visa. So actually she came a year after I was here. I brought her in again, you know, through the border, she got caught, she was in jail, but we were able to get her out of jail and into, through an organization and into here. And that how she came to work for the architect, my boss, and, and I asked him, and he, he agreed to sign our papers

Denzil Mohammed:

With things being so terrible. I mean, you were, and during a civil war in your country, and as you said, decapitated heads in the streets and, oh, I mean, it’s something that we here in the US can’t even fathom, it’s it, it’s something so distant to us. And yet that was your daily reality who would not want to escape something like that. I would bring it to the present day where you went from 1000 square feet to 75,000 square feet with total supermarket in Woodsbridge Virginia. Yyou basically realized that there was a food desert for recent migrants to that area and ended up taking over the giant supermarket. What we had lost in here call stop and shop. You’re involved in several initiatives in your community. Yeah. And one of them is helping a nonprofit called the Hispanic organization for leadership and action called or Ola, which works to engage in empowered the Latino community. Describe your work with Ola. And why is it important and what benefits have you seen arise from it?

Carlos Castro:

Well, well, Ola was created like 20 years ago by a visionary chairman of the board here in inland county that he saw the need because of the growth of the community. He said, you need to have an organization. And, and basically our idea is to develop leadership, to get people into the community, to be part of the mainstream community, little but little. So we have, we have focused our effort in being a center of information and bringing information to the community by creating events where the community show up and, and the agencies that are in the county show up. And then we, we talk about everything that is at their disposal fall in the county or state government. And we want to focus in leadership development. We want to make sure that we create resilient community, that ourselves self dependent that are non dependent of, you know, other organizations or the government, but actually on their own, you know, the basically leaders. So the result

Denzil Mohammed:

Of that has been recently arrived or almost recently arrived migrants to the area, be being part of building up the community, by taking on these leadership roles. It brings me to a point that, that I is a sticking point for a lot of us born people. I read a recent article, well from 2017 that mentioned 90% of your employees are Hispanic. Respond to questions about why you and other business owners tend to hire people of similar ethnic background. Does that tie into what you’re just talking about, building a resiliency, meaningful job opportunities and that kind

Carlos Castro:

Of thing. Generally, you want to have people to work with you that you trust and the people from your country, the first people that you trust, or whether it’s a relative or friend or somebody, and it takes a while to build a business. So that’s how ended up hiring people that speak Spanish. But the other problem that we have as immigrant companies, or what do you call it? International companies or ethnic, you know, companies let’s say regular Americans or, people from other countries. I mean, from, from other groups that are not used to work with Latinos, they don’t see, or any other, any group, they don’t see their future in any company. And then me give you an example, you know,uonce I hire a, the daughter of one of my customers as my,upersonal assistant, and,she was asked, why would you go to work there? You know, why don’t you go to another American company that you have a better future? And, and, you know, at some point I ran a campaign, I thought this is in order for me to grow. I need to attract more people or different groups. So I run a campaign to hire managers, and I had a good response of people.

Carlos Castro:

By the time we set up the first interview, it was kind of sad to see that people park their car, go around, look into the store, walk around, walk around the store, and then walk back out. At that point, I realized, you know, I’m not gonna attract American people to work for me. I mean, we’re a little grocery store, you know, what do I think? You know? And then I decided I’m gonna put my efforts to make sure that my people get the opportunity.

Denzil Mohammed:

That is so interesting. And I don’t think any US born person would, would be thinking like that. Like, would an American want to go to work for the, the Hispanic grocery store out there in Woodsbridge? What do they know about oxtail, for instance, uwhat do they know about halal meat? I mean, that is really interesting. So thank you for shedding light on that as,uimmigrant and minority business owner. That, that was really great. UI wanna quote, thank you. I wanna mention one, you, you mentioned your father earlier and it’s clear he’s had a very profound impact on your life as not just a business owner, but as a man. Uwhat has been the influence of him on your, on your work? I know from previous interactions with you, you mentioned he was very strict, but he also had a, a, a set of principles and values, right?

Carlos Castro:

Yes. You know that’s pretty much it’s about principles and values. My father didn’t have the opportunity to go to school. He actually rebelled against my grandparents because he was the son of a maid. So he wasn’t really part of the family and they wouldn’t give him the opportunity to go to school. So he, he left the house and he was probably 12. And then he met people along the way, cause he was very charismatic and he made some good friends and people taught him. He was, he was a genius in a way, you know, he learned to be a builder and he never went to, to 12th grade. And actually he finished 12th grade when he was married to my mom. And he was like 40 some years ago. And I enjoyed so much when they put his boss was probably a young architect or a young engineer.

Carlos Castro:

And when they taught me like, whatever, I know, I know it because your father, you know, I went to school, I have a lot of knowledge, but I don’t know how to do these things. And he taught me. And so he was very good at that at, at particularly in the structures, you know, his study at night and he kind of look at everything. He was able to go through a set of blueprints and have a list of all the errors that were in those blueprints and give it to the architect. We need to fix it, you know? And like I said, he was a perfectionist, so he demanded from us kind of like the same thing that he demanded from himself.

Denzil Mohammed:

And I’m, I’m so happy that, that you came here to the US, you know, as you say, with a coyote illegally detained, deported came back, you had that persistence and that led to you being able to have the opportunity that you would not have, obviously did not have in El Salvador at the time, to be able to put your hard work to use and let it result in something. And it resulted in, you know, dishwashing and janitorial, and then construction then owning your own construction company than owning your first small supermarket. And now Todos is a giant, let’s put it that way. What are your views on America? The United States as a home for immigrants,

Carlos Castro:

It’s a place that I dream about. You know, I didn’t think that the, that the sidewalk where, you know, an idea where you get a shovel and you shovel dollars into your pocket, right. But I thought that it was a place where there is good people that can help you succeed. And and that has been my experience. You know, people helped me along the way. I was not asking a lot of the time that people came to my rescue, very good hearted people in America. And I think we need to keep that spirit. As new immigrant, we need to help others to, to achieve their dreams, you know, so that we give others opportunities, the opportunity that were given to us, you know, for immigrants right now is very difficult. As we all, you know, there is people driving their cars into a crowd, you know, or just shooting somebody or hating you for no reason. You know? I think as immigrant, we have the obligation to make sure that we get enculturated with the rest of the community that live around us. I think it’s still the best place on earth. If you want to actually succeed. If you want to make something about yourself, it’s still the best place on earth. You know, as long as you don’t find anything to come up with excuses, you know, excuses are not allowed. If you want to succeed in the US.

Denzil Mohammed:

Jobmakers is a weekly podcast about immigrant entrepreneurship, contributions and research produced by pioneer Institute, a think tank in Boston and the Immigrant learning center in Malden, Massachusetts, a not for profit that gives immigrants a voice, got comments, questions, know someone. We should talk to email Denzel that’s D N Z I L, at jo makerspodcast.org. That for joining us for this week’s incredible story of one immigrant’s resilience, success and contribution. Next Thursday at noon, we talk with Jeff Farah general counsel for the national venture capital association about why immigrants and job makers like Carlos have virtually no avenue of migrating or remaining in the US an outdated, but fixable immigration system that doesn’t adequately serve America’s needs. I’m Denzil Mohammed. And thank you for listening to Jobmakers.

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Dr. Marc Seifer on Nikola Tesla, Pioneer of the Modern Electrical Age

December 8, 2021/in Featured, Podcast, US History /by Editorial Staff

This week on “The Learning Curve,” co-hosts Gerard Robinson and Cara Candal talk with Dr. Marc Seifer, author of the acclaimed biography Wizard: The Life & Times of Nikola Tesla. He reviews what teachers and students should know about the life of Nikola Tesla, the world-renowned engineer, physicist, and inventor who is more widely known nowadays for the electric car and clean energy companies named for him. Dr. Seifer describes the remarkable variety of world-changing gadgets Tesla invented, along with his hundreds of patents, including the alternating-current electricity system (AC), the induction motor, radio-controlled technology and what students today can learn about STEM, inventions, and innovation from studying his work. They explore Tesla’s bitter rivalry with Thomas Edison, their “war of the currents,” and Tesla’s deep struggles with the business and commercial aspects of his work. They also delve into Tesla’s experience as a Serbian immigrant, interacting with a variety of powerful, Gilded Age elite figures, and the renaissance that his reputation has more recently enjoyed. The interview concludes with a reading from Dr. Seifer’s biography of Tesla.

Stories of the Week: What will President Biden’s Build Back Better plan mean for universal pre-Kindergarten education? Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is launching a five-year, $750 million effort to open access to charter schools for 150,000 more children in 20 cities across America. The Department of Education is expanding the Second Chance Pell program, allowing 200 colleges and universities to participate in prison education programs that can transforming lives and help people reenter society.

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Guest:

Dr. Marc Seifer is a writer, university lecturer, and also a handwriting expert. Dr. Seifer has been featured in The Washington Post, Scientific American, Publisher’s Weekly, Rhode Island Monthly, Investor’s Daily, MIT’s Technology Review, and The New York Times. In Europe, he has appeared in The Economist, Nature, and New Scientist. With publications in Wired, Cerebrum, Civilization, Extraordinary Science, Lawyer’s Weekly, Journal of Psychohistory, and Psychiatric Clinics of North America, Dr. Seifer is internationally recognized as an expert on the inventor Nikola Tesla (the subject of his doctoral dissertation). He is the author of the acclaimed biography Wizard: The Life & Times of Nikola Tesla.

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Read a Transcript of This Episode

Please excuse typos.

[00:00:00] Cara: Well, Gerard it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, I thought, since you always saying, I would open with a little bit of, I know not all of our listeners celebrate the Christmas holiday, but at least here in New England it is getting cold and Hanukkah is over. It was, it seemed to be quite early this year, but maybe not.

[00:00:42] but that there’s a stretch of the world’s going to shut down at least for a day or two coming up between the new year and those of us that celebrate the Christmas holiday. And, it feels like it’s nothing but a sprint right up to that point. It’s like you’re spending money on gifts.

[00:00:57] People are asking you for money in the form of [00:01:00] donations before the end of the year, and it’s just nonstop. So that’s where I’m at my friend. How are you doing?

[00:01:07] Gerard Robinson [GR]: First of all, it was great to hear you sing. So listeners, I think this may be only the second time this year, and probably the first, where you’re saying lyrics.

[00:01:18] So

[00:01:23] GR: So much of a Renaissance woman.

[00:01:25] Cara: I have to tell you I was the lead in the Canton middle school. I don’t remember which one. Maybe central middle school. Production of Bye. Bye. Birdie, Gerard.

[00:01:37] GR: I’m not shocked.

[00:01:40] Cara: Speechless. Yeah, there you go. There you go. Yeah, go with it.

[00:01:45] Well, I listen, I’m glad you’re doing well. We’ve got a couple of stories to get to it. And as I said, I have some general asked about the holidays, but I have some general angst about another thing. Tell you what that. What would that be? That would be the implications [00:02:00] for universal pre-kindergarten in the build back better bill that is now sitting with a Senate, has passed the house.

[00:02:06] Looks like it’s going to pass question is in what form? Probably the form it’s in now. And then the other question is when some are saying, I think that, , Schumer and others would like to see it happen. now, others are saying, yeah, right. We’ve got like, we don’t have other things to do.

[00:02:19] We’re going to get to this in January. Been digging into this a little bit, Gerard, and here’s the deal? some of the provisions around childcare and universal pre-K I think because this went through reconciliation are very confusing and some of the omissions, it seems to me, you could drive a truck through, but our friends at the United States conference of Catholic bishops and other places.

[00:02:40] Are reminding us that there are huge implications for faith-based providers, especially in the universal pre-K portion of the bill. it’s kind of misleading because it leads with like, Hey, we want a healthy, strong, mixed delivery system, which I will say in some of the states, in the states that have [00:03:00] done universal pre-K and by universal pre-K, I mean, free preschool for.

[00:03:03] Three and four year olds or four, and five-year-olds are all of the year olds if you’re you’re doing it well. which states aren’t there yet? you can be a school district that has a pre-K program, or you can be a childcare provider or private childcare provider in yes, you can be a faith-based institution and a lot of families across this country, whether or not they are people of faith rely on.

[00:03:25] Different kinds of faith-based institutions childcare and for preschool. So the concerning part of this bill is it looks like, , unlike. Childcare development block grants, which is how we usually fund the federal portion of [00:04:00] pre-K in this country. the build back better plan. Does it mention childcare development, block grants in the universal pre-K section?

[00:04:09] Which is leading folks to believe that this is going to be direct receipt of financial aid for any private institutions with choose to participate. And as you know, Gerard, if private institutions that are facing. Our direct recipients of federal funds, meaning they don’t get them through an indirect route.

[00:04:29] then they can’t, teach or actively engage in religious activities. So for a lot of faith-based providers that could cause them to say, Hey, states, if you take this, build up better money, we’re not going to participate in the program. And that could mean big changes to the landscape of how we deliver.

[00:04:45] Pre-kindergarten. In this country. So, , something that I wanted to make all of our listeners aware of lots of folks that are sort of writing about this as it comes up to the last minute. So that’s, that’s the bad news today. Juror that’s where it, this morning, my brain is [00:05:00] going for the bad news, but kiss your brain because there is some good news that I wanted to support.

[00:05:04] I wanted to shout out an article in the wall street journal. , mayor Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York. And he made an announcement that I am sure you’ve read that he’s making a big bet, a big investment, 750 million in charter schools. very good to hear, , the article is great because it sort of goes with.

[00:05:26] What you and I already know, which is that, parents need charters as an alternative. Many of them are high-performing when they’re not high-performing the clothes. and that, especially now we need to, charge has been sort of up against the wall for awhile. We really need to make investments in them.

[00:05:42] One thing I will say to mayor Bloomberg, who is saying he’s investing in new seats is please, sir, could you also maybe. Some money in helping states that have draconian charter school cats get those lifted because we can’t take your money and create new seats. When our legislature won’t allow it as happens here in [00:06:00] Massachusetts, in a place like Boston with a waitlist of way, upwards of 20,000 kids.

[00:06:03] So I’ve said a lot, Gerard, I’m sorry to ramble on you. I know you’ve got stories of the week to get to, to what are you thinking?

[00:06:11] GR: Question

[00:06:11] for you because you know, way more about pre-K investments than I do for the program. Are you saying, or am I hearing that possibly private faith-based providers

[00:06:23] will be left out

[00:06:24] Cara: indirectly.

[00:06:25] Indirectly. Absolutely. That’s what it’s looking like. And like I said, you can drive a bus through the emissions, but this is like, what’s not in the bill speaks louder. And so, , advocacy groups for faith-based schools are saying, whoa, let’s be careful. We should be doing this while we always have by giving faith-based providers certificates, which are essentially an indirect way of them receiving federal funds so that they can operate, but not having to give up.

[00:06:51] Ability to engage in religious activities. And it’s looking like under build back better. If they choose to participate, it’s a big trade-off, which will push many of them [00:07:00] out of the pre-K market.

[00:07:01] GR: And we know

[00:07:02] that with a lot of the cares money that trickle down to the states, we know that private schools weren’t given, let’s just say the fair share or the benefit of investments.

[00:07:14] And so something like this could be seen as yet another. possible as you say, unintended consequence. So as , not to put any intention of ban wheel on what may come of this, but we do know that there are people who are anti faith-based schools for a host of reasons. let’s just say it a better angels of our nature.

[00:07:29] Say, no, it’s not that it’s a procedural change. Well, if it’s a procedural change, Listen to the people on the ground. We actually have to implement the work because they’re telling you don’t go that route. They’re saying it for a reason. So

[00:07:43] Cara: this is what we’re hoping. And you’re optimistic. Thank you for that.

[00:07:47] GR: Michael Bloomberg 700 million. , is it two to three organizations? Is it to states? Is it his own foundation? You applied to it?

[00:07:56] How’s that? And

[00:07:56] Cara: he’s going to be, he’s going to be helping mayors, invest in high [00:08:00] quality charter school seats. Yeah.

[00:08:02] GR: Got it. Well, mayor, as you know, we have a new governor here in Virginia, governor elect Younkin who wants to expand what he calls innovative schools, which can include charter schools.

[00:08:13] And while we only have seven charter schools in the state mayor, what I would say is. If Virginia decides to apply for funding in terms of mayors

[00:08:22] include the innovative school as part of your

[00:08:26] concept for charter, because it’s going to take a couple of years to move the needle in ways that we want.

[00:08:33] And in the interim mayors want to do things that are innovative, that could include public schools that are charter. But until we get to, actual charter schools consider Virginia for some of that money. So my 2 cents,

[00:08:48] Cara: it’s a really good suggestion. And I think that there are a couple of organizations that would get on board with that.

[00:08:53] and something that I hope he’ll listen to. I should also add that this money is to. make needed improvements, it supporting charter schools in [00:09:00] ways to help them expand, serve more kids, existing charter schools instead of just new seats as well. So it’s pretty exciting stuff.

[00:09:06] You’ve got a, different story of the week. This week, Gerard what’s on your.

[00:09:10] GR: So my story is build back

[00:09:13] better, but from a different institution. So this story is about a mirror cell Garcia. She’s a 44 year old woman who is going to graduate soon from Trinity college.

[00:09:24] Initially people were clapped

[00:09:26] because a she’s a woman who’s finishing high red.

[00:09:29] And while we know that there are more women in higher ed than men, that’s a relatively new phenomenon. So, so yes, we still clap for the number of women who are earning. The fact that she is 44, in and of itself is something to celebrate. , she’s also a Latina or another reason. And then you’ll find out, well, one reason that she’s graduated in 44 is because she spent two stints in prison for a crime.

[00:09:55] And so she was a good student in high school. She said she wanted to go to [00:10:00] college. And like so many of us, when she finished high school, she realized two things. Number one, College costs a lot of money. And number two, I don’t have the funds to go. She said she received it through scholarships. So that still wasn’t enough to close the gap.

[00:10:15] And he even looked at a local community college. So she decided like millions of students do every year. You know what? I’ll always go back to college, let me go to work. And it makes a lot of sense. You and I’ve talked about the importance of having students go directly into the workforce to save money.

[00:10:29] To build, social skills to build all the skills. So when you go to college, if you choose to do so, you’re going in not only with more money, also better skillsets. Well, during that time period, her mom was diagnosed with cancer. And so she worked at a law firm and then used her inside knowledge to embezzle $40,000, , from the company that led to her getting a six year prison sentence.

[00:10:55] And she began to serve time. she started taking a few classes while she was in there and [00:11:00] wanted to better herself. She then left and within five years she was Leah arrested for violation of her parole because of larceny and some other activities. So she’s in prison again, and she decides, you know what, I’m going to get pretty serious about college.

[00:11:15] So Trinity college, , at a program where she could have. And as you know, I’m a big supporter of education in prison. So she’s one of the people who said, I’m going to use this to advance myself so fast forward, when she went back to prison the second time, get what she said. She said I was surrounded by the daughters of the women.

[00:11:39] Who are

[00:11:39] incarcerated with me the first time. And I

[00:11:42] said like you, wow. And I’m pretty sure a lot of our listeners are saying, wow, but let’s put this in

[00:11:48] perspective at

[00:11:50] the same time. Children of incarcerated on average are six times more likely to be incarcerated themselves. We currently [00:12:00] have at least one, four miners in the United States.

[00:12:02] That’s 5 million children. Who’ve had a parent incarcerated in prison or in jail at some point in their life. And so at some point from a research perspective, I’m not shocked. I also realized. This from the research of doctor behind Muhammad at Howard university, who’s written a lot of research on children of incarcerated and why some students, in fact, through resiliency and other things don’t go to prison, do well.

[00:12:27] Here’s the instance where she said, Hey, I was surrounded. And so she’s going to graduate the article. They also talked about the second chance pill program, which, , was put to an end in 1994. With the 1994 crime bill that basically said if you’re incarcerated, even if you qualify for a Pell grant because you meet the income requirement.

[00:12:47] And right now the Pell grant program for freeworld students is the largest post-secondary grant program in the country. Working for students from lower income homes. If you’re a state or federal prisoner,

[00:12:58] you no longer

[00:12:59] [00:13:00] qualify. For a Pell grant. And so they talk about that in the article. Well, through some private and public investments, she was able to, , go to school.

[00:13:08] She also talked about the importance of having a live. there as well. So her story is a good one. It’s a story about second, third chances, but it also raises other things that we as taxpayers, we, as people who want to better, our society have to think about, there are a lot of people who don’t support providing pilgrims to people who are incarcerated.

[00:13:30] They believe that in 2021, and people believe that in 1994, they believe that free world. who didn’t commit a crime or taking second work, just when their holes send their children to school. While people who are incarcerated are going to college for free, there are two myths. Number one, many people who voted college even without a Pell grant are going for free.

[00:13:51] Many students are self. They bring in money from their family. And then number two, you have private and public sector, philanthropic groups and [00:14:00] organizations and alumni of universities who invest money into places like for example, Bard college, , to make that move forward. Well, we know that right now, the U S department of education, , is meeting with to talk about students in prison and Pell grants, the several members on that committee, two of them are formerly incarcerated.

[00:14:17] One of them, Stanley Andrews is a professor at Harvard medical school. So this is a good feel, good story, but not everybody buys into the fact

[00:14:27] that we should pay for people. What are

[00:14:29] Cara: your thoughts? my thoughts arrive a question, and that is Gerard, and I’m sure you probably know the answer to this question.

[00:14:35] So this is, yeah, it’s a feel good story. It’s an exceptional story. It’s a story that needs to be told, but for the skeptics, for those that say, no, no, no, this is a program that shouldn’t be, , what’s the return on investment? , for giving Pell grants and college giving second chance grades, helping folks who haven’t had the opportunities, right.

[00:14:54] Helping to break that cycle so that you’re not seeing , the same women you were with in prison. You not seeing their daughters. what’s the [00:15:00] ROI. Can we quantify?

[00:15:02] GR: That’s actually a good question. So let’s look at what scholars at the Rand corporation has said. they conducted the largest analysis of correctional education programs in the country covering 30 years and by correctional education programs, that includes adult basic education, adult secondary education.

[00:15:20] Vocational as well as post-secondary.

[00:15:23] So your question

[00:15:24] here for returns are four things to consider. Number one, incarcerated people who participate in correctional education have a 43% lower likelihood of returning to prison than their peers who did not

[00:15:36] participate in the program.

[00:15:38] Number two, incarcerated people who participate in correctional education had 13% higher odds of post release employment compared to those who didn’t.

[00:15:49] Third incarcerated people who participate in vocational

[00:15:51] programs at odds of obtaining post-release employment that were 28% high of an individuals who did not, or did not. And [00:16:00] lastly, a $1 investment in correctional education reduces incarceration costs by four to $5 through the first years. And that’s just across the board.

[00:16:11] If you look at the research for, , Vera Institute, , who has a contract from the department of ed to evaluate, the a hundred plus programs that are part of the second chance program, , you’ve got over 22,000 people, who’ve gone through the program and they’ve earned associate degrees, baccalaureate degrees, certificates, and they’re.

[00:16:30] So we’re getting jobs. Some are going into post-secondary institutions, but here’s something we overlook the parole officers and the wardens who say these programs make their prisons safer. It makes those reg involved, incarcerated

[00:16:45] students,

[00:16:45] more productive, and it even gets, , parole officers and guards also involved in, we build station, in ways that we see education and really prison is only, , for punishment, not be able to.

[00:16:58] Cara: Wow. I mean, so, see to [00:17:00] me, those are some staggering. Statistics. And I think that, , too often, we don’t , here framed that way. Right. And so for those who aren’t swayed or compelled by a heart argument or a moral argument or an emotional argument, just the data on economic return on investment should be compelling enough.

[00:17:19] I have to tell you, Gerard, I’m very proud to say, and she’ll be, calling you for an interview. My sixth grade daughter, they have to do a sixth grade research project that they spend the whole year doing. And it culminates in a presentation and she chose to study the criminal justice system. She chose to study some of these issues that you’re talking about.

[00:17:37] So I’m going to take all of this information and pass it on to her. So thank you for that. that’s a really enlightening article and. Yeah, we need to get this woman as a guest on our podcast. So no problem. So if you

[00:17:50] GR: need more resources, as you know, Elizabeth English Smith, and I coauthored a book in 2019, and it’s called education for liberation, the politics of [00:18:00] promise and reform inside and beyond America’s prisons.

[00:18:04] you can find it on a number of sites, but it is one place. And it’s an edited book with really good smart people from different walks of life, including people who were incarcerated and talked about what education did for them.

[00:18:18] Cara: That’s amazing. I think I met some of those people at your conference a few years back.

[00:18:22] You.

[00:18:23] Okay, Gerard coming up after this, we’re going to be talking to Dr. Marc Seifer. So cool. I’m going to lead with this guy is a handwriting expert. He’s also a very accomplished author. So I don’t think we’re going to spend much time talking to him about handwriting because he is like the definitive biographer of Nikola Tesla.

[00:18:42] So looking forward as always to that conversation coming up.[00:19:00]

[00:19:03] Welcome back, Learning Curve listeners. We are here with Dr. Marc Seifer. He is a writer, university lecture, and also a handwriting expert, which I find to be really neat. Never met one. Dr. Seifer has been featured in the Washington post scientific American publishers, weekly Rhode Island, monthly investors.

[00:19:21] MIT technology review and the New York times in Europe, he’s appeared in the economist nature and new scientists with publications in wired, cerebrum, civilization, extraordinary science lawyers, weekly journal of psycho history and psychiatric clinics of north America. Dr. Seifer is obviously internationally recognized as an expert on the inventor Nikola.

[00:19:46] There’s also the subject of his doctoral dissertation. He is the author of the acclaimed biography, wizard the life and times of Nikola Tesla, Dr. Seifer, welcome to the.

[00:19:57] Marc: Thank you for having me.

[00:19:59] Cara: Yeah. We’re excited to [00:20:00] have you. I mean, I feel like I could probably ask you lots of questions about being a handwriting expert, but I do want to talk to you about the work that you were so very well known for.

[00:20:09] and these days now I have to say I’ve been, my husband has a long commute and I’ve been bothering him that we need to see. So that he can get a nice clean electric car. , and that’s what the name Tesla is normally associated with these days. But you have your leading expert biographer on the man, the physicist, the inventor.

[00:20:29] we have a lot of just education minded folks, teachers, and others who listen to this show. Could you give them sort of the highlights, if you will, of what you would want students especially to know about Tesla?

[00:20:40] Marc: Well, Tesla was born in 1856 in Smulian Croatia, which as the Crow flies, it’s about 150 miles from Rome across the Adriatic sea, but I’ve been there.

[00:20:52] It’s a really, a backwards place, way up in the mountains. And he lived along a long plane and way in the distance was [00:21:00] the generic Alps. So I think he definitely saw lightning storms in the Alps and then travel across the plane towards his home. And I think that influenced him. His father was , a Greek Orthodox priest and his mother was related to the regional Bishop.

[00:21:15] So she was, in the higher echelon. So he was part of the educated elite. And, , , after high school, he went to the university of grads, which is like the MIT of, , Austria at the time, very, important, college. And, uh, in fact, one of the teachers, there was Ernst Mach. influenced Albert Einstein.

[00:21:36] And then later he went on to the university of Prague. He was in advanced mathematics, student. And in fact, the math teachers would give him extra problems. I’ve seen the calculations that he’s done, and he was pretty incredible. So at the time there was a problem of the day. And the problem of the day was that alternating current could only travel, , about a mile.

[00:21:56] And the reason was because. , [00:22:00] electricity by its nature changes its direction of flow at thousands of times a second. So think of, let’s say a stream going downstream than upstream than downstream and upstream at thousands of times of second, how do you make that go in one direction? That was the problem.

[00:22:16] So what they did was they eliminated the upstream and just created the downstream and that’s called direct current. And that was, there was a commutator which removed the up So that was the problem of the day in Tesla Feld, you could remove the commutator and somehow harness alternating current unencumbered and his, professor professor said that this was,, a situation that was impossible to do and that it could not be done.

[00:22:43] And you are wasting your time. I know you’re brilliant Mr. Tesla, but this is a waste of time. So Tesla spent the next five years, working on that problem and he saw. By essentially creating two, circuits out of phase with each other. And that created the induction motor, , which changed the world. but [00:23:00] it took a brilliant scientist, , to really look at this and, have the intuition to, feel that.

[00:23:04] the electricity by its nature, we should be able to harness electricity by its nature. We didn’t have to send out, alter it to direct current to do that. And so that really is a lot of his background.

[00:23:13] Cara: love that story in part, because I, hope that all of the teachers and parents and others out there are listening because it feels like with so many great minds and great adventures, there was always somebody that told them, like, it’s impossible.

[00:23:24] Don’t bother, , quit while you’re ahead kid know. the great minds that persist, past all of that. So, you’ve talked about alternating current, which is what Tesla is, very well known for. And you mentioned a couple of his other, , like the induction motor, but there were 300 patents.

[00:23:40] He had 300 patents worldwide and tons of gadgets. I’m looking here at our notes that say radio-controlled technology. , my two little boys who just got a remote control car, one of the first person. I don’t know if that helps. Maybe it’s not the same thing at all, shows you how much I know about science, but could you tell us about a couple more of his [00:24:00] inventions?

[00:24:00] And I wonder too, if you could give us a little insight into what you would have teachers and others take away about like how we focus on stem and innovation in school, how do we get kids essentially to think and behave more like.

[00:24:16] Marc: Well, I think in terms of today, , what is the problem of today?

[00:24:20] And the problem of today is how to kill this COVID virus, how to kill any virus, really. And I’m working on another book it’s called Covitz Achilles heel, and it has to do with those own therapy. That ozone is Another derivative of oxygen. Oxygen is owed to when ozone is owed three and this oh three will kill viruses.

[00:24:39] So that’s the problem of today. The problem today is how do we stop this pandemic? How do we cure cancer? How do we cure? This virus, the problem of that day was how do you harness alternating current and Tesla figured that out. And before I get to some of his other inventions, I just want to tell you a little about his induction motor.

[00:24:57] He calculated how many man [00:25:00] hours he would save on the planet. , when the motor came into being, so instead of having a horse, plow the field, you would have a motor plowed the field. So motors would do the work instead of animals and humans. And so he actually calculated how many man hours per person for the entire planet that he was saving.

[00:25:18] That was his mindset at that time. , which to me was, mentioned, you know, the remote control, car that , you’ve gotten your son. Here is Tesla’s genius. Tesla invented remote control robotics. What Tesla understood was that when you have, he had a remote control boat, the kids that are playing with these cars, they don’t think that the cars have intelligence inside them.

[00:25:41] They think, oh, I’ll make a right. Tell it to go right. Or tactical level about tell it fast or slow. But Tesla saw the machine itself as a primitive thinking machine. And so he’s the first person. To invent a robot. And it’s out of that, very device that you port your son. So he looks at [00:26:00] what we see is just a toy.

[00:26:01] He sees the inherent intelligence inside that toy as the basis of how all learning takes place. So I think that is one of the most brilliant insights.

[00:26:10] Cara: It’s sort of like a change of a shift of mindset, , so talking about, , character traits and how one thinks about a problem. we have had recently on this show, , not to be provocative here, but a biography of Thomas Edison, who of course was, a rival with Tesla at the time.

[00:26:27] And they’re both. Great renown inventors that gave our world our society. So, so much can you tell us a little bit about their relationship, like the war of currents, and I’m also curious to know what is it that you see in both men? Like what similarities did they possess and what.

[00:26:44] Marc: Yeah, Edison at the time was known as the Napoleon of invention, the wizard of Menlo park and Tesla couldn’t wait to meet him.

[00:26:52] He was actually working for Edison in Paris. And in my book wizard, I discovered a trip that Edison took. That’s never been written any of the [00:27:00] biography that he went to Paris and met Tesla in about 1880. 1883 and Tesla came to the United States in 1884 to work for Edison and he wanted to, give him his alternate and current machine.

[00:27:13] as I mentioned a little bit before the induction motor, was it, wasn’t just an induction motor Tesla is the inventor of what we can call the hydroelectric power system. So, if we’re looking at what’s happening in 1884, when Tesla comes to New York to work for Edison, electricity is all direct current.

[00:27:31] They’re all using commutators, they’re all eliminating the upstream. So by eliminating the upstream, you actually lose 90% of the efficiency of, , transmitting electricity. So Edison and Westinghouse and Elihu Thompson. These were three major companies had about 3000 power plants throughout the 1880s.

[00:27:51] They were only transmitting electricity, about one mile with power dropping off of a distance and only for lighting homes. So if you were [00:28:00] near the power plant, which would be running on call, your lights would be bright. And if you were, , a mile away, your lights would be dimmed. You couldn’t run refrigerator, a toaster, you could only light light bulbs.

[00:28:10] That was the situation. Before Tesla. So Tesla now meets the great wizard of Menlo park and he wants to talk Edison into using both an incurrent. Well, how can you harness a current that’s changing its direction of flow at thousands of times per second. That was Edison’s thinking. So what his son didn’t want to hear anything about it.

[00:28:29] Westinghouse was dabbling in AC and Westinghouse was a company. Of Edison’s. So Westinghouse said, I don’t want to hear anything about this. So Tesla said, well, I’ll do the best I can with your direct current. I think I can increase its efficiency by 15 or 20%. He said, if you could really do that is $50,000 in it for you.

[00:28:48] And of course, Tesla achieves all that. And Edison was said, I was just joking. I was really going to give you 50,000. I mean, to American joke. So Tesla quit. And that was the basis of the, , animosity that [00:29:00] existed between them. But , the two brilliant scientists, the two brilliant inventors. And when Tesla’s laboratory burnt to the ground in 1895, Edison provided a laboratory for him, , in the interim until the time that he could find his own way.

[00:29:15] So after the war, the consequence Edison realized that he was wrong. Eventually. Because once the hydroelectric power system was put in, which was Tesla’s system at Niagara falls, you could transmit energy, hundreds of miles and you could run factories. So the DC system that they were using that Edison was using in the 1880s as compared to Tesla’s AC system, I think is kind of comparing or worse in buggy to a jet plane.

[00:29:41] There’s just no comparison, whatever. Tesla created a quantum leap, in the field of energy , transmission. And on top of that, if you look at the hydroelectric power system, it’s free energy in the sense that the waterfall you don’t have to pay for the waterfall and it’s non-polluting and it’s running.

[00:29:59] Because [00:30:00] as long as Niagara falls falls, as long as the waterfall continues, you can continue to run electric power without polluting the world. So Tesla was very aware of not sapping the earth of oil and coal of its natural elements of running on what he called the wheel work of nature. His invention eliminated the need for 3000 power plants operating on coal.

[00:30:22] So we also helped clean the environment. And I think he’s the single most important person to helping slowing down global warming, because if he had not come in, when he did, we’d still be using perhaps now, , coal operated power plants, and still some DC equipment. Even when I was a kid, it was still some DC, equipment out there, , that was being used.

[00:30:42] So that was the basis , of the animosity that existed between them. before, Niagara falls was a Westinghouse, won the contract by buying Tesla’s patents, Edison began, electrocuting cats and dogs and a horse, and even an elephant with AC to try and show that it was dangerous.

[00:30:58] But in fact, people were dying with [00:31:00] DC machines as well as AC machines. And that’s when Tesla decided to send electricity through. Just show that it was safe if you knew what you were doing. So he would send hundreds of thousands of volts through his body. It was very weak, current, and his body would be lit up and was away.

[00:31:15] It was a PR campaign to show that if you knew what you were doing, AC was fine. And so that’s some of the, , , unusual experience between Tesla and Edison. They were friends and they were enemies. And then they were friends again.

[00:31:27] GR: I want to follow up on that because Tesla lived in an era in which big American businesses were on the assent and they were colliding with the world of inventions and patents.

[00:31:38] Could you talk about Tesla’s deep struggle with business and commercial aspects of his work and what students today could learn about scientific discoveries and their relationship with the hard realities of finance and.

[00:31:50] Marc: Yes. Well, I always talking about Tesla’s invention of the remote control robot, which leads into all of this, what Tesla did to, in order to control his [00:32:00] remote control boat, which was an 1898.

[00:32:02] He created two different frequencies. And when Tesla realized. Was that the problem would be, let’s say you had a, you know, a torpedo when you send it to another ship, what would prevent the enemy ship from using their own electrical machine and have the torpedo turn around and come back and hit your ship.

[00:32:19] So you wanted selective tuning. You wanted to create separate channels. And what Tesla realized was that you could multiply the frequencies. So we created oscillators. He’s the inventor of they call it hurts in waves, but they’re really Tesla wave. The oscillators that are used for the frequencies for wireless communication.

[00:32:36] So we invented wireless communication. Not only did he invent wireless communication, he invented the ability to create an unlimited number of wireless channels, cell phone technology. So he goes back to, you know, it was in Colorado Springs in 1899. sending electricity around the world and then it comes back to New York and forms a partnership with JP Morgan.

[00:32:57] Who’s the richest most powerful man in the [00:33:00] world. There’s nobody comparable today to Morgan. You could put bill gates, Elon Musk, Ted Turner, and a couple other people together. And you’d still would not have the. That Morgan had. He controlled everything. I have cartoons where you see Morgan as a giant, and you see the president of United States, the Kaiser of Germany and the king of England is all small people underneath Morgan that’s who tests the phones, a relationship with.

[00:33:24] , he goes to build a wireless communication system, a worldwide wireless communication system out on one island. And, , he gets $150,000 from Morgan. I don’t know what 150,000. In today’s dollars in 1901, but , it’s in the millions and he runs out of. And one of the reasons he runs out of money, he’s in competition with Marconi.

[00:33:46] And once he finds out that McCone is pirating, his apparatus, he decides to double the size of the tower without telling Morgan Morgan was in Europe at the time. And he figures if I double the size of the tower now, Can I send electricity, wireless [00:34:00] impulses to Europe. I can send it across the Pacific, around the entire world or Australia, you name it.

[00:34:05] So just by doubling the size of the tower, the revenues would come in and a geometric rate. And he tries to tell us to Morgan, but Morgan sees it as a breach of contract and Morgan refuses to give him money to complete. his tower. The sad thing about this story, you’re talking about, , business relationships, Tesla definitely breached the contract with Morgan.

[00:34:25] There’s no doubt about it, but Morgan, but he’s trying to say, Morgan, we’re talking about changing the world. He’s envisioning exactly what you and I are doing right now. You’re in Virginia, I’m in Rhode Island. We’re speaking. He said, , we be able to speak from here to Australia. If you sitting across the room from each other, I’m trying to create a world communication system.

[00:34:44] So, right. I doubled the tower, but look, I’m advancing the world of century can’t we transcend the contract and Morgan said, no, I promised you 150. I gave you the 150,000. You didn’t do it. But what Morgan also did was he blocked other investors. [00:35:00] From investing in the project, then Jacob Schiff, Thomas fortune Ryan, , William Henry, clay Frick, Morgan had given Frick $60 million.

[00:35:09] His percentage of, us steel Carnegie got another 300 million. So Frick was very, very wealthy to Frick to come and give tests. Or another a hundred, 200,000 was pocket change, but Morgan prevented him. So that’s the sad story of. What happened in big business? , so I would say that the lesson is don’t breach a contract that you have with somebody.

[00:35:30] I mean, I think that’s the ultimate lesson here,

[00:35:32] GR: just to follow up on the idea of the contract and is contained to his relationship with big business or they, with he, we’re also talking about Andrew Carnegie and Western house and others, knowing what you know now, is there something Tesla could have done differently?

[00:35:49] if you say, you know what, don’t breach the contract, that’s one thing let’s just say he did not breach it. Do you think the business community would have treated

[00:35:57] him better or is there

[00:35:58] something about [00:36:00] geniuses and being ahead of their time, that makes the kind of master non master relationship like this critical.

[00:36:08] Marc: I think, , people resent people that are outstanding in certain ways. That was part of it. Tesla claimed he received impulses from outer space that didn’t help his PR. I think though he was really trying to change the mind of one man. And had he changed Morgan’s mind how we would have had cell phone technology in the early 19 hundreds.

[00:36:29] We didn’t have radio 20 years ahead of its time. , so I think that, is really, what could have happened. there’s individual people. Let me look at Steve jobs, for instance, he creates apple computer. He lost his company that he was basically kicked out of the company.

[00:36:44] And for various reasons, fortunately for the world, he was let back into the company. So even, the. jobs, gets thrown out of their own company for various reasons. So I agree with you that oftentimes the genius is thrown out of a company, , or, , put on the [00:37:00] outs because they’re not understood, but look at the monies.

[00:37:03] Wireless communications generated. , I love football. I watched all the time. I mean, I can’t believe, fallback or a linebacker will make 40, 50, $60 million. Where’s those money coming from it’s coming from advertising, but really it’s coming from Tesla’s invention of, wireless communication and global communication.

[00:37:22] so. He’s trying to tell Morgan, the money’s gonna come in , and fistfuls, and Morgan doesn’t understand that it’s a whole different paradigm. , and that was , the real sad story underneath this all.

[00:37:33] GR: I’m a football fan as well. I’m in New York here in Charlottesville at the university of Virginia where we’ve been invited to a bowl game , , in fact in Boston and you’re right.

[00:37:43] Advertising pays for a lot. For pro football, but college football as well. But you’ve given me a research project in terms of looking at wireless or communication advertising and what role it’s funds are used to generate, this big thing we call [00:38:00] college football and

[00:38:00] pro football.

[00:38:01] So, let me go to my last question.

[00:38:03] Since you’ve published your work in the mid 1990s, Tesla’s reputation has moved from relative obscurity to real notoriety. they’re not like cars named after him, but when you think about someone who’s smart, They’ll say Tesla. In fact, at one point it was always Edison Reinstein. Well, not Tesla.

[00:38:22] it’ll come up. Will you talk about how the betters and their works gained fame over

[00:38:26] time and why schools children today should know about famous mentors and

[00:38:32] how maybe their stories can encourage them to do something great in genius in their lifetime.

[00:38:38] Marc: Yeah, , Tesla’s been my life’s work.

[00:38:40] I’ve studied him since the 1970s and I’m continually learning new things about him. I have a new book called Tesla wizard at war, which is now out in audio and will be out as a physical book. And then I discussed, Tesla’s dynamic theory of gravity. I had studied them for 20 or 30 years before. I started to get into [00:39:00] his dynamic theory of gravity.

[00:39:01] And I now think that I understand what it is, and it’s a whole different way of looking at what gravity is. So you continually learn new things about Tesla. Another thing I learned, recently about Tesla. the run-up to world war II, he had a particle beam weapon, of course, which I knew about, but we’ve now uncovered.

[00:39:21] I’ve uncovered, , let us between, , the president of the United States, Franklin Roosevelt, wanting to meet with Tesla, because of the particle beam weapons during world war two, there was a fear that the Nazis would have the atom bomb. How would we stop an atom bomb from being delivered to the United States?

[00:39:37] And one possibility would be this, later. star wars kind of a thing that Tesla was inventing I’ve discovered the Tesla was negotiating with the higher ups in a secret weapons development in Canada and the British, , military, It was general McNaughton was the head of secret weapons development for Canada.

[00:39:56] And Vannevar Bush was secret weapons development for the United States. [00:40:00] And Tesla was negotiating with both these guys, after Tesla died, John, , G Trump looked at his papers. Trump was happened to be a president Trump’s uncle sound believable story. but , , it was at MIT and, , they were trying to figure out was there really something to, the particle beam weapon?

[00:40:18] Tesla was constantly growing as a person. So he’s in his eighties negotiating with a gentleman, one who was a third in line to be head of allied forces, Eisenhower got the job, but he was third in line for that position in negotiating with Franklin Roosevelt, , I have declassified stuff from the Soviet union.

[00:40:36] He was negotiating with Joseph Stout. So Tesla constantly grew. And the more you study. The more you yourself grow because you start to learn all these new things. , this thing about the dynamic theory of gravity, , its direct relationship to the God particle and what’s happening in Seren and the supercollider.

[00:40:55] So I would say that it’s very good for students to study, , highly [00:41:00] intelligent individuals. They in the recent biography of Einstein, certainly worth reading by Isaacson, , Edison. You know how he invented. And of course, Tesla, Tesla invent an electric car. That’s what the car was named after him.

[00:41:14] And, Elon Musk is, the Tesla of today. and that’s why you to test. That’s one of the main reasons Tesla’s name is, has come back, but you know, a lot of kids today, , they don’t know that it’s named after a person. They just know the name, Tesla that it’s a car. They don’t know that it’s an inventor underneath at all.

[00:41:30] So. He’s a fascinating guy that you just never stop learning , once you really get into his life.

[00:41:35] GR: You mentioned earlier

[00:41:36] that Tesla of course, was an immigrant. we know that

[00:41:39] many leaders of startup companies, people who are already patents are also immigrants

[00:41:44] to the United States. in fact, mainland China a couple of years ago passed the United States for the first time.

[00:41:50] And the number of international patents, , file. Is there something about the immigrant experience? leads into this and, or is there [00:42:00] something about the American experience that is not encouraging

[00:42:04] enough? That kind of entrepreneurial.

[00:42:07] Marc: Yeah, I taught for 40 years in college. And, , I agree with you that kids from the other countries, we live in a great country.

[00:42:13] I don’t know. I certainly think of it as the greatest country in the world. But I think Americans over time get complacent on and the new kids on the block that they come from. Other countries, they come to this great country and they want to work in and make a name for themselves. , we also get, you know, the people that go to college from other countries here , are the cream of the crop.

[00:42:35] Sergei Brin, , helps starts Google. , So I agree. I think that we should not be complacent. we should, I think that the cost of college is way too high, but it’s very important for people to continue to learn. And that was one of the reasons why Tesla invented the induction motor, he actually writes about this.

[00:42:53] He said the less time people have, , manual labor, the more they can get. To school so that the [00:43:00] intelligence of the planet will increase geometric proportions. He actually wrote on that very level, that it’s very important to be highly educated. I love reading. I love learning new things. And I think studying these kinds of individuals who are enlightening, we went to the UN to try and get Tesla’s birthday as an international holiday.

[00:43:21] I thought it was a way that the whole world could get around one, like Thanksgiving here, it would be one, event that the entire world would celebrate together. I said, why not? Tesla’s birthday? So that’s some of my thinking along those lines.

[00:43:34] GR: Well, speaking

[00:43:36] of reading would love for you to read a passage.

[00:43:38] Yeah. it’s, early in my book, , it’s a quote from Tesla himself, and you really get into his genius here. So this is Nikola Tesla, The progressive development of man is vitally dependent on invention. It is the most important product of his creative brain. Its ultimate purpose is the complete mastery [00:44:00] of mind over the material world.

[00:44:02] The harnessing of the forces of nature to human needs. This is the difficult task of the inventor is often misunderstood and unrewarded, but he finds ample compensation in the pleasing exercises of his powers. And in the knowledge of being one of that exceptionally privileged class, without whom the race would have long ago, perished in the bit of struggle against pitiless elements.

[00:44:24] Speaking for myself, I have already had my full measure of this exquisite enjoyment so much that for many years, my life was little short of continuous rain. I think what he’s saying here is, , he just loved his work. And I think that, , speaking to students, whatever you love, that’s what you should do, whatever it is.

[00:44:43] If you love something, do that, that will give you passion. And so he, didn’t see it as work. He saw it as enjoyment. And I certainly have tried to live my life that way to, do what I had a passion. , so that’s what he’s telling us. He’s also telling us without the inventor, humans would have never made it.

[00:44:59] [00:45:00] think of, the movie 2001, and you see the invention of the tool and how it evolves into the rocket ship. It’s that concept, I think that he’s really talking about, ,

[00:45:10] Cara: Dr. Seifer, what a great, sentiments, Conclude on today. Thank you so much for your time and your insight. It was just a pleasure to speak with you.

[00:45:20] Marc: Thank you, Karen. Thank you, Gerrard. It was a great pleasure be on your show.[00:46:00] [00:47:00]

[00:47:33] Cara: And this week’s tweet of the week is from education. Next. It is a quote from a study of Florida’s tax credit scholarship program. and it says, quote, we find that students attending schools with more competitive pressure made larger gains as program enrollment grew states. Then did students at schools with less market competition, this difference was more pronounced for low income students.

[00:47:58] So for those of you who have [00:48:00] absolutely no idea, what I am talking about, this is a study by David Figlio and colleagues, about the better. Of Florida’s tax credit scholarship program. So a program that uses tax credit, donations that, , corporations give in exchange for tax credit to fund scholarships for eligible children, low-income children to attend private schools in this study, found in the study was published several years ago and then updated, but it found that there are benefits for the student.

[00:48:31] Who remain in public schools as well. So this is very similar to some of the competitive effects studies that we’ve seen of charter schools and what they do is really, really neat. And they look at school districts where there’s a lot of quote unquote market competition, because a lot of kids qualify and have private schools nearby that they could use with a tax credit scholarship.

[00:48:51] And what. Not surprising to those of us have watched this for a while and know that not always, but man, a lot of the time market competition can work. , [00:49:00] the private school competition made the public schools sort of rise to the occasion and do better for those kids in terms of academic outcomes.

[00:49:07] So always great to read education next and thanks to them for doing such great work. , and Gerard, next week, we’ve got a really exciting show.

[00:49:17] We’re going to be talking about the case being heard. By SCOTUS. , I think the day that this podcast is being released on Wednesday in that case is out of Maine it’s Carson. The Macon many are calling this the follow-up to the Espinosa case that really, , opened up the opportunity for states to enact private school choice programs in many states though, not all Michael Bendis, who we’ve had before on the show is the senior attorney for the Institute for justice, who is involved in the case.

[00:49:44] He’s going to be. And we’ll also be speaking with David and Amy Carson, who are the lead plaintiffs in the Carson, the Macon case. So looking forward to that, , folks who are interested in school choice, please be sure to tune in until then, [00:50:00] Gerard, I will look forward to chatting with you next week. Stay warm, stay well.

[00:50:06] GR: . I will. And let me give a quick shout out to Jamie and McKayla for getting us, , the plaintiffs to talk about. There are very, in fact, I don’t know if there’s another education podcast. That’s actually had an attorney and the lead plaintiffs in two Supreme court cases of note recently on one show.

[00:50:27] This is why you have to come to The Learning Curve.

[00:50:29] Cara: You have to come to the learning curve and Jamie and Micaela also , the unsung heroes we get to do all the talking. They do all the hard work. We should just own that. Right?

Recent Episodes:

Pioneer Institute Files Amicus Curiae Brief in U.S. Supreme Court School Choice Case

December 8, 2021/in Featured, News, Press Releases, Press Releases: Choice Programs, Press Releases: Education, Press Releases: PioneerLegal, Press Releases: Religious Education, Press Releases: School Choice, School Choice /by Editorial Staff

Challenges Maine statute that excludes religious schools from school tuitioning law

BOSTON – Pioneer Institute has filed an amicus curiae brief in Carson v. Makin urging the Supreme Court of the United States to strike down a provision of Maine law. The Court will hear oral arguments in Carson this morning (December 8) at 10 am. The Maine law being challenged allows districts that don’t have their own schools to contract with a school or pay for students that choose to attend public or private schools, but explicitly excludes religious schools.

Hear Oral Arguments Live Feed

The Court’s 2020 ruling in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, a case in which Pioneer also filed an amicus brief that was cited by Justice Samuel Alito in his concurring opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in his majority decision that “A state need not subsidize private education. But once a state decides to do so, it cannot disqualify some private schools solely because they are religious.”

“Maine law allows parents to access the public or private education that best suits their children – except if the school is religiously affiliated,” said Pioneer Institute Executive Director Jim Stergios. “We believe Espinoza makes it clear that such a provision runs counter to the Constitution.”

For over a century, until the early 1980s, religiously affiliated schools were included in the Maine school tuitioning program, under which communities that don’t have their own schools can either contract with a school or allow parents to use the per-pupil spending allotment to attend the public or private school of their choice.

The Maine state legislature, driven by the Senate chair of the education committee, re-codified the program in 1982 to prohibit parents and students from using the law to access religious schools, as was originally intended in 1873.

The Pioneer brief was co-authored by Michael Gilleran of Fisher Broyles and Ryan McKenna. Gilleran also was the lead attorney in Pioneer’s amicus brief in the landmark Espinoza case.

“We believe the Maine law clearly doesn’t pass constitutional muster under Espinoza, Gilleran said. “I hope this case will reiterate the Court’s position and open educational opportunity to more students across the country.”

The Court is expected to rule on the case before its current term ends at the end of June 2022.

For well over a decade, Pioneer Institute has used its legal work, research, events, polling, and op-eds to highlight nativist, anti-Catholic educational and legal barriers to school choice in Massachusetts and across the country. In 2018, Pioneer produced a 30-minute documentary, “Big Sacrifices, Big Dreams: Ending America’s Bigoted Education Laws,” that chronicles the struggles of four families in Massachusetts, Michigan, and Georgia, all states with so-called Blaine amendments that prohibit public money from flowing to religiously affiliated schools, to send their children to parochial schools.

About the Author

Michael C. Gilleran is a litigation attorney in Boston, and a partner in the national law firm of FisherBroyles, LLP, who has been active for many years in the cause of educational choice. He is currently Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees of Thomas More College in New Hampshire and Rome. Formerly he was Chair of the Advisory Board of Catholic Charities of Greater Boston. For many years he has received the SuperLawyer© designation from Boston Magazine as well as the AV rating (preeminent) from the national Martindale-Hubbell attorney rating service. He is the author of a leading book on Massachusetts law, published by the largest national legal publisher, which is frequently cited by Massachusetts courts including the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. His many legal articles have appeared in such publications as the American Bar Association Journal. He is frequently asked to give presentations on important issues of Massachusetts law with leading judges.

About Pioneer

Pioneer’s mission is to develop and communicate dynamic ideas that advance prosperity and a vibrant civic life in Massachusetts and beyond. Pioneer’s vision of success is a state and nation where our people can prosper and our society thrive because we enjoy world-class options in education, healthcare, transportation and economic opportunity, and where our government is limited, accountable and transparent. Pioneer values an America where our citizenry is well-educated and willing to test our beliefs based on facts and the free exchange of ideas, and committed to liberty, personal responsibility, and free enterprise.

Get Updates on Our School Choice Research

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Read Our Commentary

Carlos Castro: From Crossing the Border to Owning a Business

December 9, 2021/in Economic Opportunity, Featured, JobMakers /by Editorial Staff

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Guest

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Read a Transcript of This Episode

Please excuse typos.

Denzil Mohammed:

I’m Denzil Mohammed, and this is Jobmakers.

Denzil Mohammed:

Carlos Castro:

Very good. Thank you for the invitation.

Denzil Mohammed:

So you are founder, president and CEO of Todos Supermarkets in Woodbridge Virginia. Describe your business for us. When did it launch and where is it today?

Carlos Castro:

Denzil Mohammed:

Carlos Castro:

Denzil Mohammed:

Carlos Castro:

Denzil Mohammed:

Carlos Castro:

Denzil Mohammed:

Carlos Castro:

Denzil Mohammed:

Carlos Castro:

Denzil Mohammed:

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Dr. Marc Seifer on Nikola Tesla, Pioneer of the Modern Electrical Age

December 8, 2021/in Featured, Podcast, US History /by Editorial Staff

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Guest:

Tweet of the Week:

"We find that students attending schools with more competitive pressure made larger gains as program enrollment grew statewide than did students at schools with less market competition. This difference was more pronounced for low-income students." https://t.co/1xeDiqfXdr

— Education Next (@EducationNext) December 6, 2021

News Links:

Michael Bloomberg: Why I’m Backing Charter Schools

https://www.wsj.com/articles/michael-bloomberg-why-im-backing-charter-schools-covid-19-learning-loss-teachers-union-11638371324

Marisol Garcia has been incarcerated twice. Now on track to graduate from Trinity College in May, she witnesses to the power of prison education

https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-news-trinity-student-education-incarceration-20211128-vita7a3evrem3bjzbxpvsacitu-story.html

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Read a Transcript of This Episode

Please excuse typos.

[00:00:57] People are asking you for money in the form of [00:01:00] donations before the end of the year, and it’s just nonstop. So that’s where I’m at my friend. How are you doing?

[00:01:18] So

[00:01:23] GR: So much of a Renaissance woman.

[00:01:25] Cara: I have to tell you I was the lead in the Canton middle school. I don’t remember which one. Maybe central middle school. Production of Bye. Bye. Birdie, Gerard.

[00:01:37] GR: I’m not shocked.

[00:01:40] Cara: Speechless. Yeah, there you go. There you go. Yeah, go with it.

[00:06:03] So I’ve said a lot, Gerard, I’m sorry to ramble on you. I know you’ve got stories of the week to get to, to what are you thinking?

[00:06:11] GR: Question

[00:06:11] for you because you know, way more about pre-K investments than I do for the program. Are you saying, or am I hearing that possibly private faith-based providers

[00:06:23] will be left out

[00:06:24] Cara: indirectly.

[00:07:01] GR: And we know

[00:07:02] that with a lot of the cares money that trickle down to the states, we know that private schools weren’t given, let’s just say the fair share or the benefit of investments.

[00:07:43] Cara: this is what we’re hoping. And you’re optimistic. Thank you for that.

[00:07:47] GR: Michael Bloomberg 700 million. , is it two to three organizations? Is it to states? Is it his own foundation? You applied to it?

[00:07:56] How’s that? And

[00:07:56] Cara: he’s going to be, he’s going to be helping mayors, invest in high [00:08:00] quality charter school seats. Yeah.

[00:08:13] And while we only have seven charter schools in the state mayor, what I would say is. If Virginia decides to apply for funding in terms of mayors

[00:08:22] include the innovative school as part of your

[00:08:26] concept for charter, because it’s going to take a couple of years to move the needle in ways that we want.

[00:08:48] Cara: it’s a really good suggestion. And I think that there are a couple of organizations that would get on board with that.

[00:09:06] You’ve got a, different story of the week. This week, Gerard what’s on your.

[00:09:10] GR: So my story is build back

[00:09:13] better, but from a different institution. So this story is about a mirror cell Garcia. She’s a 44 year old woman who is going to graduate soon from Trinity college.

[00:09:24] Initially people were clapped

[00:09:26] because a she’s a woman who’s finishing high red.

[00:11:39] Who are

[00:11:39] incarcerated with me the first time. And I

[00:11:42] said like you, wow. And I’m pretty sure a lot of our listeners are saying, wow, but let’s put this in

[00:11:48] perspective at

[00:11:50] the same time. Children of incarcerated on average are six times more likely to be incarcerated themselves. We currently [00:12:00] have at least one, four miners in the United States.

[00:12:58] you no longer

[00:12:59] [00:13:00] qualify. For a Pell grant. And so they talk about that in the article. Well, through some private and public investments, she was able to, , go to school.

[00:14:17] One of them, Stanley Andrews is a professor at Harvard medical school. So this is a good feel, good story, but not everybody buys into the fact

[00:14:27] that we should pay for people. What are

[00:14:29] Cara: your thoughts? my thoughts arrive a question, and that is Gerard, and I’m sure you probably know the answer to this question.

[00:14:54] Helping to break that cycle so that you’re not seeing , the same women you were with in prison. You not seeing their daughters. what’s the [00:15:00] ROI. Can we quantify?

[00:15:20] Vocational as well as post-secondary.

[00:15:23] So your question

[00:15:36] participate in the program.

[00:15:38] Number two, incarcerated people who participate in correctional education had 13% higher odds of post release employment compared to those who didn’t.

[00:15:49] Third incarcerated people who participate in vocational

[00:16:45] students,

[00:18:18] Cara: That’s amazing. I think I met some of those people at your conference a few years back.

[00:18:22] You.

[00:18:42] So looking forward as always to that conversation coming up.[00:19:00]

[00:19:46] There’s also the subject of his doctoral dissertation. He is the author of the acclaimed biography, wizard the life and times of Nikola Tesla, Dr. Seifer, welcome to the.

[00:19:57] Marc: Thank you for having me.

[00:20:40] Marc: Well, Tesla was born in 1856 in Smulian Croatia, which as the Crow flies, it’s about 150 miles from Rome across the Adriatic sea, but I’ve been there.

[00:24:16] Marc: Well, I think in terms of today, , what is the problem of today?

[00:26:01] He sees the inherent intelligence inside that toy as the basis of how all learning takes place. So I think that is one of the most brilliant insights.

[00:26:44] Marc: Yeah, Edison at the time was known as the Napoleon of invention, the wizard of Menlo park and Tesla couldn’t wait to meet him.

[00:31:27] GR: I want to follow up on that because Tesla lived in an era in which big American businesses were on the assent and they were colliding with the world of inventions and patents.

[00:35:30] I mean, I think that’s the ultimate lesson here,

[00:35:49] if you say, you know what, don’t breach the contract, that’s one thing let’s just say he did not breach it. Do you think the business community would have treated

[00:35:57] him better or is there

[00:35:58] something about [00:36:00] geniuses and being ahead of their time, that makes the kind of master non master relationship like this critical.

[00:38:00] pro football.

[00:38:01] So, let me go to my last question.

[00:38:22] it’ll come up. Will you talk about how the betters and their works gained fame over

[00:38:26] time and why schools children today should know about famous mentors and

[00:38:32] how maybe their stories can encourage them to do something great in genius in their lifetime.

[00:38:38] Marc: Yeah, , Tesla’s been my life’s work.

[00:41:30] So. He’s a fascinating guy that you just never stop learning , once you really get into his life.

[00:41:35] GR: You mentioned earlier

[00:41:36] that Tesla of course, was an immigrant. we know that

[00:41:39] many leaders of startup companies, people who are already patents are also immigrants

[00:41:44] to the United States. in fact, mainland China a couple of years ago passed the United States for the first time.

[00:42:04] enough? That kind of entrepreneurial.

[00:42:07] Marc: Yeah, I taught for 40 years in college. And, , I agree with you that kids from the other countries, we live in a great country.

[00:43:34] GR: Well, speaking

[00:43:36] of reading would love for you to read a passage.

[00:44:59] [00:45:00] think of, the movie 2001, and you see the invention of the tool and how it evolves into the rocket ship. It’s that concept, I think that he’s really talking about, ,

[00:45:10] Cara: Dr. Seifer, what a great, sentiments, Conclude on today. Thank you so much for your time and your insight. It was just a pleasure to speak with you.

[00:45:20] Marc: Thank you, Karen. Thank you, Gerrard. It was a great pleasure be on your show.[00:46:00] [00:47:00]

[00:49:07] So always great to read education next and thanks to them for doing such great work. , and Gerard, next week, we’ve got a really exciting show.

[00:50:27] This is why you have to come to The Learning Curve.

[00:50:29] Cara: You have to come to the learning curve and Jamie and Micaela also , the unsung heroes we get to do all the talking. They do all the hard work. We should just own that. Right?

Recent Episodes:

Pioneer Institute Files Amicus Curiae Brief in U.S. Supreme Court School Choice Case

Challenges Maine statute that excludes religious schools from school tuitioning law

Hear Oral Arguments Live Feed

The Pioneer brief was co-authored by Michael Gilleran of Fisher Broyles and Ryan McKenna. Gilleran also was the lead attorney in Pioneer’s amicus brief in the landmark Espinoza case.

The Court is expected to rule on the case before its current term ends at the end of June 2022.

About the Author

About Pioneer

Get Updates on Our School Choice Research

Related Posts

Watch: Catholic education forum highlights

Help preserve Catholic education!

Big Sacrifices, Big Dreams:
Ending America’s Bigoted Education Laws

In Massachusetts, the Know-Nothing amendments prevent more than 100,000 urban families with children in chronically underperforming school districts from receiving scholarship vouchers that would allow them access to additional educational alternatives. These legal barriers, also known as Blaine amendments, restrict government funding from flowing to religiously affiliated organizations in nearly 40 states and are a violation of the first and fourteenth amendments.

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case this year, Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, that could end these amendments. In 2018, Pioneer produced a 30-minute documentary on the impact of the Blaine amendments on families in Massachusetts, Georgia, and Michigan.

“She’s a good girl. She helps me a lot. She has big, big dreams. I don’t have the money, but she has big dreams. I hope she’s going to get everything, but she works so hard. She works so hard in school.”

Arlete do CarmoFramingham, MA

“Our family is needing to make some really big sacrifices because we believe this is important, and so, we’re basically going to do whatever it takes… Sometimes we look at each other and go ‘I don’t know if I can do it again another month…’”

Nate and Tennille CostonMidland, MI

“A lot of the families have to sacrifice and work multiple jobs… And just scraping together enough money to just make tuition, just the basics.”

Sarah MorinFall River, MA

“It is discriminatory, that parents who want to choose an alternative to public school for their children, would not in any way receive any compensation for that, whether it be tax credit, whether it be a voucher…”

Father Jay MelloPastor, St. Michael and St. Joseph Parishes

Watch the Film

History of Blaine Amendments

Nativist sentiments were, like slavery, a part of the original fabric of the United States.

In the 1840s, nativist movement leaders formed official political parties and local chapters of the national Native American Party (later the American Party), although they continued to be commonly known as the Know-Nothing Party. Politicians sought to insert provisions into state constitutions against Catholics who refused to renounce the pope. The Know-Nothing movement brought bigotry and hatred to a new level of violence and organization.

The party’s legacy endured in the post-Civil War era, with laws and constitutional amendments it supported, still today severely limiting parents’ educational choices. A federal constitutional amendment was proposed by Speaker of the House James Blaine prohibiting money raised by taxation in any State to be under the control of any religious sect; nor shall any money so raised or lands so devoted be divided between religious sects or denominations. These were then named the Blaine Amendments of 1875.

in recent decades, often in response to challenges to school choice programs, the U.S. Supreme Court has demonstrated great interest in examining the issues of educational alternatives and attempts limit parental options. Massachusetts plays a key role in this debate. The Bay State was a key center of the Know-Nothing movement and has the oldest version of Anti-Aid Amendments in the nation, as well as a second such amendment approved in 1917. Two-fifths of Massachusetts residents are Catholic, and its Catholic schools outperform the state’s public schools, which are the best in the nation.

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Carlos Castro: From Crossing the Border to Owning a Business

December 9, 2021/in Economic Opportunity, Featured, JobMakers /by Editorial Staff

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Guest

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Please excuse typos.

Denzil Mohammed:

I’m Denzil Mohammed, and this is Jobmakers.

Denzil Mohammed:

Carlos Castro:

Very good. Thank you for the invitation.

Denzil Mohammed:

So you are founder, president and CEO of Todos Supermarkets in Woodbridge Virginia. Describe your business for us. When did it launch and where is it today?

Carlos Castro:

Denzil Mohammed:

Carlos Castro:

Denzil Mohammed:

Carlos Castro:

Denzil Mohammed:

Carlos Castro:

Denzil Mohammed:

Carlos Castro:

Denzil Mohammed:

Carlos Castro:

Denzil Mohammed:

Recent Episodes:

Dr. Marc Seifer on Nikola Tesla, Pioneer of the Modern Electrical Age

December 8, 2021/in Featured, Podcast, US History /by Editorial Staff

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Guest:

Tweet of the Week:

"We find that students attending schools with more competitive pressure made larger gains as program enrollment grew statewide than did students at schools with less market competition. This difference was more pronounced for low-income students." https://t.co/1xeDiqfXdr

— Education Next (@EducationNext) December 6, 2021

News Links:

Michael Bloomberg: Why I’m Backing Charter Schools

https://www.wsj.com/articles/michael-bloomberg-why-im-backing-charter-schools-covid-19-learning-loss-teachers-union-11638371324

Marisol Garcia has been incarcerated twice. Now on track to graduate from Trinity College in May, she witnesses to the power of prison education

https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-news-trinity-student-education-incarceration-20211128-vita7a3evrem3bjzbxpvsacitu-story.html

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Please excuse typos.

[00:00:57] People are asking you for money in the form of [00:01:00] donations before the end of the year, and it’s just nonstop. So that’s where I’m at my friend. How are you doing?

[00:01:18] So

[00:01:23] GR: So much of a Renaissance woman.

[00:01:25] Cara: I have to tell you I was the lead in the Canton middle school. I don’t remember which one. Maybe central middle school. Production of Bye. Bye. Birdie, Gerard.

[00:01:37] GR: I’m not shocked.

[00:01:40] Cara: Speechless. Yeah, there you go. There you go. Yeah, go with it.

[00:06:03] So I’ve said a lot, Gerard, I’m sorry to ramble on you. I know you’ve got stories of the week to get to, to what are you thinking?

[00:06:11] GR: Question

[00:06:11] for you because you know, way more about pre-K investments than I do for the program. Are you saying, or am I hearing that possibly private faith-based providers

[00:06:23] will be left out

[00:06:24] Cara: indirectly.

[00:07:01] GR: And we know

[00:07:02] that with a lot of the cares money that trickle down to the states, we know that private schools weren’t given, let’s just say the fair share or the benefit of investments.

[00:07:43] Cara: this is what we’re hoping. And you’re optimistic. Thank you for that.

[00:07:47] GR: Michael Bloomberg 700 million. , is it two to three organizations? Is it to states? Is it his own foundation? You applied to it?

[00:07:56] How’s that? And

[00:07:56] Cara: he’s going to be, he’s going to be helping mayors, invest in high [00:08:00] quality charter school seats. Yeah.

[00:08:13] And while we only have seven charter schools in the state mayor, what I would say is. If Virginia decides to apply for funding in terms of mayors

[00:08:22] include the innovative school as part of your

[00:08:26] concept for charter, because it’s going to take a couple of years to move the needle in ways that we want.

[00:08:48] Cara: it’s a really good suggestion. And I think that there are a couple of organizations that would get on board with that.

[00:09:06] You’ve got a, different story of the week. This week, Gerard what’s on your.

[00:09:10] GR: So my story is build back

[00:09:13] better, but from a different institution. So this story is about a mirror cell Garcia. She’s a 44 year old woman who is going to graduate soon from Trinity college.

[00:09:24] Initially people were clapped

[00:09:26] because a she’s a woman who’s finishing high red.

[00:11:39] Who are

[00:11:39] incarcerated with me the first time. And I

[00:11:42] said like you, wow. And I’m pretty sure a lot of our listeners are saying, wow, but let’s put this in

[00:11:48] perspective at

[00:11:50] the same time. Children of incarcerated on average are six times more likely to be incarcerated themselves. We currently [00:12:00] have at least one, four miners in the United States.

[00:12:58] you no longer

[00:12:59] [00:13:00] qualify. For a Pell grant. And so they talk about that in the article. Well, through some private and public investments, she was able to, , go to school.

[00:14:17] One of them, Stanley Andrews is a professor at Harvard medical school. So this is a good feel, good story, but not everybody buys into the fact

[00:14:27] that we should pay for people. What are

[00:14:29] Cara: your thoughts? my thoughts arrive a question, and that is Gerard, and I’m sure you probably know the answer to this question.

[00:14:54] Helping to break that cycle so that you’re not seeing , the same women you were with in prison. You not seeing their daughters. what’s the [00:15:00] ROI. Can we quantify?

[00:15:20] Vocational as well as post-secondary.

[00:15:23] So your question

[00:15:36] participate in the program.

[00:15:38] Number two, incarcerated people who participate in correctional education had 13% higher odds of post release employment compared to those who didn’t.

[00:15:49] Third incarcerated people who participate in vocational

[00:16:45] students,

[00:18:18] Cara: That’s amazing. I think I met some of those people at your conference a few years back.

[00:18:22] You.

[00:18:42] So looking forward as always to that conversation coming up.[00:19:00]

[00:19:46] There’s also the subject of his doctoral dissertation. He is the author of the acclaimed biography, wizard the life and times of Nikola Tesla, Dr. Seifer, welcome to the.

[00:19:57] Marc: Thank you for having me.

[00:20:40] Marc: Well, Tesla was born in 1856 in Smulian Croatia, which as the Crow flies, it’s about 150 miles from Rome across the Adriatic sea, but I’ve been there.

[00:24:16] Marc: Well, I think in terms of today, , what is the problem of today?

[00:26:01] He sees the inherent intelligence inside that toy as the basis of how all learning takes place. So I think that is one of the most brilliant insights.

[00:26:44] Marc: Yeah, Edison at the time was known as the Napoleon of invention, the wizard of Menlo park and Tesla couldn’t wait to meet him.

[00:31:27] GR: I want to follow up on that because Tesla lived in an era in which big American businesses were on the assent and they were colliding with the world of inventions and patents.

[00:35:30] I mean, I think that’s the ultimate lesson here,

[00:35:49] if you say, you know what, don’t breach the contract, that’s one thing let’s just say he did not breach it. Do you think the business community would have treated

[00:35:57] him better or is there

[00:35:58] something about [00:36:00] geniuses and being ahead of their time, that makes the kind of master non master relationship like this critical.

[00:38:00] pro football.

[00:38:01] So, let me go to my last question.

[00:38:22] it’ll come up. Will you talk about how the betters and their works gained fame over

[00:38:26] time and why schools children today should know about famous mentors and

[00:38:32] how maybe their stories can encourage them to do something great in genius in their lifetime.

[00:38:38] Marc: Yeah, , Tesla’s been my life’s work.

[00:41:30] So. He’s a fascinating guy that you just never stop learning , once you really get into his life.

[00:41:35] GR: You mentioned earlier

[00:41:36] that Tesla of course, was an immigrant. we know that

[00:41:39] many leaders of startup companies, people who are already patents are also immigrants

[00:41:44] to the United States. in fact, mainland China a couple of years ago passed the United States for the first time.

[00:42:04] enough? That kind of entrepreneurial.

[00:42:07] Marc: Yeah, I taught for 40 years in college. And, , I agree with you that kids from the other countries, we live in a great country.

[00:43:34] GR: Well, speaking

[00:43:36] of reading would love for you to read a passage.

[00:44:59] [00:45:00] think of, the movie 2001, and you see the invention of the tool and how it evolves into the rocket ship. It’s that concept, I think that he’s really talking about, ,

[00:45:10] Cara: Dr. Seifer, what a great, sentiments, Conclude on today. Thank you so much for your time and your insight. It was just a pleasure to speak with you.

[00:45:20] Marc: Thank you, Karen. Thank you, Gerrard. It was a great pleasure be on your show.[00:46:00] [00:47:00]

[00:49:07] So always great to read education next and thanks to them for doing such great work. , and Gerard, next week, we’ve got a really exciting show.

[00:50:27] This is why you have to come to The Learning Curve.

[00:50:29] Cara: You have to come to the learning curve and Jamie and Micaela also , the unsung heroes we get to do all the talking. They do all the hard work. We should just own that. Right?

Recent Episodes:

Pioneer Institute Files Amicus Curiae Brief in U.S. Supreme Court School Choice Case

Challenges Maine statute that excludes religious schools from school tuitioning law

Hear Oral Arguments Live Feed

The Pioneer brief was co-authored by Michael Gilleran of Fisher Broyles and Ryan McKenna. Gilleran also was the lead attorney in Pioneer’s amicus brief in the landmark Espinoza case.

The Court is expected to rule on the case before its current term ends at the end of June 2022.

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Big Sacrifices, Big Dreams:Ending America’s Bigoted Education Laws

History of Blaine Amendments

Nativist sentiments were, like slavery, a part of the original fabric of the United States.

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Learn more about how you can help end bigoted education laws in your state!

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Big Sacrifices, Big Dreams:
Ending America’s Bigoted Education Laws