Independent Women's Forum - Allison Kasic

More on Palin

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 13:20:00 EDT

IWF's Michelle Bernard weighs in on the experience debate over at Townhall.com.

The Need for More School Choice

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:28:00 EDT

A protest in Chicago has sparked a debate over school funding. But it should also spark a debate over school choice. Why do we continue to force kids into failing schools based on their zip code? Parents deserve more choice and control over where their kids go to school.

If you agree, check out our Women for School Choice petition.

IWF Podcast: Gender Parity in STEM fields

info@iwf.org (Amy Watson) info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:51:00 EDT

Allison Kasic and Amy Watson discuss discrimination in higher education and the push to apply Title IX to increase the number of female faculty members in STEM fields.

Just How Bad Has the Media Coverage of Gov. Palin Been?

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:01:00 EDT

Amanda Carpenter rounds up some key quotes.

Scaring Us To Death

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 14:26:00 EDT

It never ends:

According to a new survey, nearly half of women are in the dark about what they should and shouldn't do during pregnancy. And of all the areas of confusion - from hair dye to airplanes - diet was ranked at the top of the list. It's no wonder. Even the healthiest foods, like fish, have received the skull-and-crossbones treatment in recent years. Sadly, the Americans most harmed by this bad advice are also the most vulnerable. As the Center for Consumer Freedom has shown in a new report now available at MercuryFacts.com, the victims of the mercury-in-fish hype are our poorest children.

More here.

I'll Second That

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 12:21:00 EDT

From today's New York Post:

The only question we should be asking is: Can Sarah Palin do the job?

Questioning whether it is appropriate for a mother of five to run for office doesn't strike me as the best way to get at that answer.

More here.

Scared to Death, Part II

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 11:42:00 EDT

The Chilling Effect just posted part two of their interview with Scared to Death authors Richard North and Christopher Booker. Check it out here.

Part one available here.

Independent Women

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 10:20:00 EDT

Forbes just released its annual list of the 100 most powerful women in the world. Former IWF Woman of Valor Condoleezza Rice clocks in at number seven.

Check out the full list here.

Duke Lacrosse Update

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 10:58:00 EDT

Here's the latest.

Scared to Death

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 10:55:00 EDT

The Chilling Effect recently posted part one (hopefully that means we'll get a part 2?) of an interview with Christopher Booker and Richard North about their fab book Scared to Death. Check it out here.

The blog also recently gave a shout out to Michelle Bernard's article in the Washington Examiner about climate change.

I'll Second That

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 10:53:00 EDT

From Grace Marie Turner via the Wall Street Journal:

The slide toward a government-dominated, taxpayer-supported health sector will continue unless the 45.7 million Americans who don't have insurance now are given more opportunities to buy private coverage.

States could help by lightening their regulatory burdens to encourage greater competition for more attractive and affordable coverage. The federal government needs to do its part by updating today's tax policies to better fit a mobile, 21st-century economy.

More here.

The Steve Largent Show: The Option of Single-Sex Education

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:18:00 EDT

Allison Kasic joined The Steve Largent Show for a discussion on single-sex education.

Duke Lacrosse Rape Accuser Gets Book Deal

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 09:23:00 EDT

Details here.

What's next, a book deal for Mike Nifong?

More on Title IX and the Olympics

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 09:22:00 EDT

Phyllis Schlafly weighs in over a Townhall.com with a good column on the subject. As Phyllis points out, in many ways U.S. athletes won in spite of Title IX, not because of it. Take gymnastics and wrestling for example:

Title IX regulations have forced educational institutions to eliminate men's teams until the number of men and women on sports teams is the same ratio as the number of men and women enrolled in academic classes. In the numerous colleges that are now 60 percent female in academic enrollment, Title IX requires that men's teams be eliminated until only 40 percent of the athletes are men.

Title IX quotas have caused the elimination of all but 19 men's college gymnastics teams. This deprives boys of the scholarship incentive to take up gymnastics as a sport in high school and takes away the competition needed to improve their skills in college.

The effect of this injustice hit us hard in Beijing. The Chinese (who are not restricted by feminist nonsense) destroyed our men's gymnastics team and won seven out of eight gold medals, while our men's gymnastics team failed to win a single gold medal in eight events.

Then there is men's freestyle wrestling, a sport that the United States had repeatedly dominated at the Olympics. Over the years, we had won a very high percentage of medals in wrestling.

But Title IX's gender quotas have forced the elimination of 467 wrestling teams from our colleges. This has nothing to do with lack of funding, since wrestling is one of the most inexpensive of sports, it's due to feminist ideology that demands eliminating macho sports in order to meet the foolish Title IX quotas.
The devastating outcome in the 2008 Olympics was predictable. America won only one medal...

More here.

IWF Podcast: The Paycheck Fairness Act

info@iwf.org (Amy Watson) info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 11:55:00 EDT

Allison Kasic and Amy Watson discuss the Paycheck Fairness Act and discrimination in the workplace.

The Amy Oliver Show: Single-Sex Education

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 10:59:00 EDT

Allison Kasic joined The Amy Oliver Show to discuss the option of single-sex education.

Union Disses Students

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 10:51:00 EDT

Exploiting students and secret backroom deals -- just business as usual for the Service Employees International Union. Get the scoop here.

Missing the Point on Title IX

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 09:40:00 EDT

Check out this jab at Title IX reformers in Sally Jenkins' WaPost column about the U.S. women's basketball team:

The next time some fool argues that Title IX should be rewritten, just show them the highlights of the U.S. women's basketball team at this Olympics, and of Lisa Leslie in particular. Twelve years of playing for her country, not a single loss and four gold medals. Think she was worth the funding?

Just three short sentences, but, wow, there so much wrong in there. According to Jenkins, Title IX reformers are "fools" who don't want to fund women's athletics. Sophomoric jabs aside, Jenkins completely misses the point when it comes to Title IX reform. Other than scholarship money, Title IX makes no demands on schools in terms of athletic funding. But it does regulate the number of participants, through it's proportionality requirement. Schools are forced to adapt their programing to this one-size-fits-all quota system and the results have been a mixed bag. As Jenkins alludes to, many female athletes have thrived in the post-Title IX world. But many men haven't had that same opportunity to succeed because their programs have been cut to meet the demands of proportionality.

I don't think it's at all foolish to ask that Title IX's enforcement mechanisms be reformed to allow both sexes to prosper.

The Olympic Pipeline

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:06:00 EDT

Finally, someone notices the affect Title IX is having on the Olympic sports pipeline:

The U.S. won more medals here than it has in any nonboycotted Olympics, but even with that haul, its days of dominance may be numbered.
That is in part because U.S. colleges, the primary breeding ground for the country's Olympians, have eliminated hundreds of teams in Olympic sports in recent years.
"We used to have a lot of kids going for the Olympic dream," says Scott Barclay, coach of the men's gymnastics team at Arizona State University. "Without the carrot of a college scholarship, a lot of kids give up, or their parents won't support them as much," he says. Mr. Barclay took out a personal loan several years ago to build a private gym as a way to keep his team alive as a club sport after ASU cut the varsity program.

More here.

Encouraging News on School Choice

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 10:15:00 EDT

Adam Schaeffer points to polling numbers indicating widespread support of education tax credits.

State Projects Might Create Jobs, But They Don't Create Wealth

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 09:30:00 EDT

Read and learn.

Who's Looking Out for the Boys?

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 08:28:00 EDT

That's the question on Clarence Page's Page's mind:

...what's happening to the guys, especially the underachievers piling up at the bottom end of the grading and test scores?

While some boys' scores have never looked better, others could hardly be doing worse. The days of fretting over lagging girls' achievement have faded into a "boy crisis" headlined on the covers of Time and Newsweek and numerous new books.

Stories and statistics describe unmotivated, easily distractible boys who are falling behind in test scores, forgetting their homework or, when they finish it, forgetting to turn it in -- or unable to find it in their disorganized backpacks.

When their grades slip back and their adolescent concepts of manhood are crushed, they would retreat to video games or even less productive escapes, rather than ask for help.

These problems are particularly acute for black males, judging by studies like the recent report on dropouts by the Schott Foundation for Public Education, an educational think tank in Cambridge, Mass. It found that fewer than half of black male students across the country are graduating from high school.

More here.

IWF on boys in education here.

Title IX at JMU

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:07:00 EDT

The push to reinstate 10 sports teams took a hit in court yesterday.

Alarmist Predictions Won't Solve Climate Change

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 09:03:00 EDT

Bjorn Lomborg explains.

Single-Sex Education in Kentucky

info@iwf.org (Allison Kasic) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 09:02:00 EDT

I have an article in the current issue of the Christian Science Monitor about a lawsuit threatening single-sex education in Kentucky.

Check it out here.