Dear Neighbor,
The Utah State Legislative Session has begun and is already in full swing. There is a lot going on at Capitol hill that I'm excited to share with you. To address concerns raised at the last City Council meeting, I have included a brief summary of Representative Ken Ivory's mission to take back our Utah state lands, below. This really is wonderful work and we are all behind him and wishing him the greatest success. First off however, we had a very provoking presentation delivered in the Committee of Higher Education that I'd like to share, on the potential usurpation of higher learning.
The future of Higher Education?
In the Committee of Higher Education this week, we were privileged to hear from Professor Clayton Christensen, a Professor of Business at Harvard University, who delivered a very interesting presentation on his projected views for the future of higher education. According to Professor Christensen, higher education is now in a position to be disrupted by developing institutions such as the evolvement of online learning. In other words, the growth of online learning is on track to compete with prestigious universities and higher education. The University of M.I.T. provided a perfect example of this when they recently allowed their courses to be taken online. Students around the world are now able to complete coursework taught by the brightest Professors in the country and they do not have to be full time students of M.I.T. to do so. And so this raises the question: What does this development mean for Professors and classes of introductory curriculum? In other words, why would students want to attend a public university Physics 1010 class when they could take Physics 1010 from the most capable Professor of physics in the country? It will be interesting to see how this idea progresses as the world of online learning continues to grow exponentially. In fact, Professor Christensen had a very amusing story about the University of Phoenix that he used to emphasize this conclusion.
Taking back Utah State Public Land
As promised, I'd like to give you a brief overview of Representative Ken Ivory's work to take back our state lands from the federal government. Take a look at this map to see how outrageous the issue really is. Notice Utah is number three on the list of the top ten states of federally owned land. Also note the drastic differences between the two coasts. Representative Ivory is currently working with lawmakers in five western states to pass similar legislation: Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Idaho, and Wyoming. It is absolutely essential that the states control the majority of their public lands.
On a lighter note,
A friend of mine sent me this link that I found to be amusing in light of today's current debt crisis.
Local Political Blog
LOCAL POLITICAL BLOG: A neighbor of mine recently uploaded a local political blog to keep up to date with current legislation and important events in Utah, specifically in the Orem District. Check it out here.
LOCAL POLITICAL BLOG: A neighbor of mine recently uploaded a local political blog to keep up to date with current legislation and important events in Utah, specifically in the Orem District. Check it out here.
- Brad Daw
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