March 2004 PRI Ideas in Action
Policy Update and Monthly Impact Report

PRI continues to impact public policy in California, the nation, and abroad. The following is just a sample of PRI's recent contributions.

EDUCATION STUDIES KEY ISSUE: MATH EDUCATION

Policy Briefing
Worried that some high-school students will not be able to pass algebra, which is required in order to receive a diploma, school districts are asking the state to waive the requirement. The California Board of Education has decided to grant waivers to districts on a case-by-case basis. This action comes on top of the state’s decision to reduce the difficulty of the math portion of the high school exit exam, which students in the class of 2006 need to pass in order to graduate.

PRI Perspective
California’s retreat on math requirements comes at a time when America’s economic rivals are ratcheting up their efforts to improve the high-tech skills of their students. For example, China is in the process of opening 35 software colleges at universities across that country. Many of these colleges receive financing from American high-tech companies. The global economic race is going to be won partly on the quality of education of countries’ workforces. While our foreign competitors focus on meritocratic strategies, too many American educators swoon over feel-good fads or see retreat at the easiest and best option. By failing to see the bigger economic picture, these educators are consigning our nation to a very scary future.

PRI Impact
• March 19, the Orange County Register published Lance Izumi’s op-ed “The Danger in Dumbing Down” on California’s retreat on math requirements.

• March 23, Californiarepublic.org reprinted Lance’s Capital Ideas column “The Scary Future,” on March 26 it was reprinted by the San Francisco Business Times, and on March 27 Tech Net placed it on its weekend reading list.

• March 5, Matt Cox was interviewed by the Orange County Register on the algebra requirement for high school graduation.

• Lance’s work on other education issues was published in the Orange County Register, Human Events, and by the California Public Policy Foundation.

• March 8, Lance and Matt met with Assemblyman Rick Keene and his chief of staff to discuss state education issues.

• March 9, Lance addressed the Northern California Grantmakers on education issues.

• March 22, the Claremont Review of Books published Lance’s review of two education books: There Are No Shortcuts by Rafe Esquith and $100,000 Teacher by Brian Crosby.

• In March, PRI released Matt Cox’s briefing paper “Not College Material: How to Better Prepare California Students for College.”


TECHNOLOGY STUDIES KEY ISSUE: ESTAMPS AND SPAM
Policy Briefing
Seventy percent of email users say spam makes their online experience unpleasant and it’s been estimated that spam cost U.S. corporations 8.9 billion in 2002.

PRI Perspective
The law isn’t an efficient response to spam because spammers are very good at hiding themselves and often send messages from outside the country where American laws can’t be enforced. Technology, such as spam filters that attempt to recognize junk mail based on indicators in the message, have proven too easy for spammers to beat.

The reason spam is such a problem is that it travels for free. This creates incentives to send as much unsolicited email to as many people as possible. The solution, therefore, is to create conditions to make spammers pay for their follies. One method to do this is called estamps. Email stamps would allow each user to charge senders whom they don’t know for sending them mail. Email addresses of family and friends could be placed on the user’s “free list,” so that free communication among willing individuals would continue unfettered. Accidental charges could be refunded with the click of a button.

PRI Impact
• March 1, Sonia Arrison's op-ed on spam ran in Silicon Valley Business Ink.

• March 4, Sonia was quoted on spam in a news story by the Associated Press (the story ran in 1,800 news outlets).

• March 8, Sonia was quoted on spam on CNN.

• March 11, Sonia was quoted on spam by Investor's Business Daily.

• March 13, Sonia gave a speech on cognitive modification and politics to a bioethics conference at Berkeley.

• March 18, Sonia was quoted on spam in the Richmond Times Dispatch.

• March 25, Sonia was quoted on the EU's Microsoft decision in USA Today.

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