You're welome!

I'm surprised they put this together and put it out there. And, honestly - I'm surprised at how many state seem favorable to private schools. One that did surprise me a bit was TX - they are a bit more tight on the private schools than WV, FL, & KY (the ones I read more carefully). I may look at Tennessee too - I believe if I am not mistaken that they also have no income tax - but would have to check whether or not that's true and if it applies to business and/or individuals.

Thanks - I will look at this as well.

Thanks. No I haven't. We are aware of them - and maybe my wife has. We are a fan - in general - we looked at Montessori for our son early on - but couldn't afford it - but we liked the impression we got of it. I was reading a bit on the Vandamme Academy too. Definitely more research ahead of us if we proceed.

I like it. That would be something pretty well in line with what I would be thinking. I am very pro - "more people being in business". Too many people today are separated from business ownership. A few generations ago - many more people had small business where the family was involved. That has mostly gone away to the big box stores, malls, etc and they just have no concept of what it is to run a business, to understand a business owners perspective, to understand even simple things like write-off's in relation to taxes. Or taxes in general. It makes it very easy for the progressives present businesses & business owners into 'evil businesses' / 'evil 1%ers'.

The IT guy in me would definitely have computer programming woven it - definitely in the Secondary level - but probably all the way through. It is such a good method of getting logical problem solving skills into their thinking processes as well as to build real typing skills. I started programming and repairing computers when I was around 10 - so in 1981.

I think that had a very strong impact on me very early on. I consider myself to be a pre-Objectivist Objectivist in that I felt like Rand and Objectivism just helped to more clearly define why I think the way I do. But it was, and is, something I did not have to convince myself of in any way.

Anyway - your idea for getting your students to move forward with opening their own satellites sounds good and makes sense - they would already be trained in the teaching style. methods, and know business. If we do a school it would be similar - once we feel like the bugs are worked out - I'd like to do it as a franchise - where we have the ability to monitor and pop-up on them to make sure everything is being done to our guidelines. That's more where I was talking about separating the business. Would probably have a for profit for the curriculum and franchising side of the operation - and then have the school be non-profit. The profit side can issue franchises to the schools (including ours) - and to any others along with the curriculum, resources, materials, etc... and then the school would just be the non-profit and handle donations and the scholarship side of things.

I like your last comment - it could be "The Objectivist Mafia Academy" :) - But, seriously, you are correct!

Funny!

If you have not read The Montessori Method, you might find it very helpful here. Maria Montessori developed her techniques while working with allegedly mentally handicapped orphans. Within a short time, her pupils were outperforming their peers in conventional schools.

It is available at archive.org

There is an excellent introduction to Montessori from the Objectivist perspective by Beatrice Hessen, "The Montessori Method." It is available online, but I cannot find anyplace to download it from other than Scribd.org.

I agree with your points.

I can still kick with both feet - just getting a little harder :)

We are very remote here. Our county only has 7000 population. 2 middle schools and one high school. The high school has - I think - under 400 kids. And the population here is mostly poor. Really no very feasible here - again - unless considering a boarding school in which the land prices here would make that route optimal.

We really have a lot of potential options to consider. My wife actually currently works at a Juvenile detention center for the state teaching math and science. There is one private school in that system - and she probably has the connections to even consider that route - BUT - MOST of the kids are special ed on the lower end of the spectrum. Some not hard to work with - but others just nearly impossible. But even that is an option. We are thoroughly convinced that some of them have been taught into their classification and having the right education could bring them out of that label with time.

There's even state based facilities for wards of the state - due to no family and not related to criminal activity. We just have to really get our heads around everything we need to put into this and decide if we're up for it. Home based projects have been an additional ware on us. I think I'm willing - but I'm not sure about my wife. We have had 12 years of a massive renovation/house rebuilding project that has us financially, physically, and mentally drained. And it is still not done. Maybe next year. Then refi and our financed open back up quite nicely. But - I don't know if when that monster finally gets off our back if my wife is going to be ready to jump into a new major project. If not - then I would need to decide if I want to do it by myself. It would be harder without her - she is the teacher with 30+ years of experience - and I'm just the IT guy - she's a better sell.

Our curriculum closely, but not exactly, follows Peikoff's:

Elementary

Reading
Writing
Arithmetic
General Science

Secondary

Literature
History
Mathematics/Logic
Business

That bottom item is our 'special sauce'. The goal is to have the graduates start and operate businesses. One business option that we want to be available to all is opening satellite campuses.

Why reform the corrupt public school system, when you can start your own private school mafia?

The Miami/Fort Lauderdale region is 2/3 Democrat. Granted, they are the kind of Democrats who have Concealed Carry Permits and buy one-way tickets out of town for the homeless, but they've banned plastic straws to stop sunspots or somesuch.

Our target market is children who age out of Montessori and the children of the beleaguered conservatives, libertarians, and objectivists in the area.

Thank you for this link. While Florida is not the Libertarian Republic of Utopia, it's about as close as one might hope for, with regard to private schools and homeschooling.

https://www2.ed.gov/about/inits/ed/no...

But I am looking at it from the angle we are now. Start private schools. Create thinkers. Some of those thinkers could do exactly that - go into education - at the college level. They could start impacting the new teachers, admins, politicians, etc...As they get worked into the public and private schools, and government - things could start to change. It would be a slow process - and really only able to succeed with private schools our their getting support from the producers to make a large enough impact.

But I also get your point - I'm not hold my breath for that - but the more thinkers we can produce the better off we would be as the public schools have almost completely ceded that responsibility. You find pockets that are better than others and individual teachers that are better than others in terms of trying to create thinkers - but even those that do - don't really know how - because they were never taught.

In the long run - the more Progressive government grows and the worst the educators are that are spit out of the college system - they will eventually ban/shutdown/regulate out of existence/etc private schools and home schools that are opposing them and getting in their way to keep control. Any left over will be forced to teach the way of the progressives.

Probably in the end - we will be the Reardens and Dagnys - struggling up until the very end to just have it taken or destroyed. But our thinkers will be out there. And maybe they can start it over again when the looters and moochers finally collapse under their own weight.

But it would be really awesome - if we could stop it before it gets there.

General observation:

Ray Kroc got involved with McDonald's at 52, and Mary Kay Ash started Mary Kay Cosmetics 45.

If you're still mean enough to kick with both feet, when you fall flat on your back, then you're young enough to make a go of things.

(I'm older than your wife.)

The IT angle could make for an after-school program that could grow into a proper school. Give it some kind of snappy name like Startup Apprenticeship and pitch it to the local schools and churches. Maybe connect with a local Junior Achievement chapter. ...or something.

Whatever you do, I strenuously recommend that you play up the Appalachia angle.

That's how I came across the US Dept of Ed document I found. We're not even sure if we would want to pursue it in WV. WV is great on property taxes compared to many states - but they make up for it in state income tax. If doing anything with the intention of making a large amount of money - this is not the place to be. BUT, if we went at this from the perspective of a non-profit, that would be a moot point. And, land, comparatively is cheap. Considering the income levels of people in the immediate vicinity (almost anywhere in the state) - people would not be able to afford tuition. This also comes back to the non-profit - if able to get enough - we could offer scholarships. The other option - would be a boarding school - where people would send their kids to live at our facility. More money upfront for buildings, staff, etc... So considering if it would be more practical to go back to FL or a similarly favorable state where more people could afford the tuition outright - thus limiting what we would need in donations as we could substantially scale down on needs for scholarships and less upfront costs on land, buildings, and staff.

Free buildings here - not likely - cheap - maybe - but if so due to the need for expensive renovation. We have some of that in a small town near us. They would almost give it away - but being in a flood zone - would require complete retrofitting of electrical, plumbing, A/C, roof work, floor elevations, etc... I would assume similar in other areas. And again, if the areas are that run down - not likely locals could afford tuition.

"We do not have the money do do anything of scale. We cannot even afford to leave our jobs. Just for us to get started would require enough initial funding to at least allow us to get the doors open and start transitioning into it full time."

One rule-of-thumb is to lay out your budget as honestly as you possibly can. Once you are satisfied with it, double your expected costs and halve your expected revenues. Once you can afford to operate at those levels, perhaps subsidizing the project in the early stages, then you should be good to go.

People have started schools on shoestrings.

However, nothing good happens fast. If any of this were easy, then we'd all be right by now.

"Our initial thought is to seriously consider setting up as a non-profit. The idea really irks me too - but consider a few things: 1. You are not required to take anything from the state/fed. 2. You don't have to pay taxes to the state or fed :) . 3. You can still sell yourself on the merit of the school you setup and can then ask for donations from those with the funds that would be happy to support such an initiative. 4. Rand was not opposed to charity - it just had to be voluntary and worth it to the grantor of the charity."

heh... When I wrote "irks" above, I did not mean refuse, as such. My wife and I started a non-profit organization several years ago to promote cryptocurrency under the umbrella of 'fair trade' with producers in the Developing World (which we prefer to think of at the Emerging Middle-Income Regions of the world, as we haven't seen actual famines there in decades, and they all have mobile phones with Internet access now).

We've renamed it, and we plan to use it as the custodian of the scholarship fund. It might also be the operator of the school, as well.

1) Depending on one's target market, one might pursue government grants, but one should be very careful to avoid having those become a large enough proportion of one's income to be devastating, if those sources dried up. For example, if one were focused on at-risk pupils, then one might approach law enforcement agencies, which often have grant money that needs to be distributed, with a promise to keep X young persons out of jail for Y years. I've heard that this is a much easier source of government funds than, say, grants for basic science, which are extremely competitive.

While this is not my first choice, if Peter Theil or Charles Koch showed up on my doorstep with a donation check in hand, I probably would invite him in for coffee, and not exercise my Stand Your Ground rights.

2) One must be very diligent about complying with the operating rules and filing requirements with a non-profit organization. Too many think themselves crafty and IRS inspectors stupid, and it gets them in to trouble. I've worked for large and small non-profit organizations, and it has made me very leery of trying to behave too cleverly.

3) Agreed. (See my comment on Peter Thiel and Charles Koch above.)

4) Ayn Rand on Charity vs Altruism: Yes. Even if I disagreed with her, as I do on a couple of her positions—smoking, self-defense, and intellectual property—I still might consider might accept donations for the same reason that I would bend over and pick up a $100 bill on a sidewalk: if the benefit exceeds the cost, then the action is profitable. However, one has to weigh the short run against the long run, as well. One of my greatest fears is what I taught my students to think of as The Wal-Mart Contract. You never want any single customer to represent more than 5-10% of your total business. (This also the danger of having a conventional job, versus running your own shop.) One large customer or employer can represent 100% of your revenue, while you represent 1/n of its vendors. In such a relationship, you have a lot more to lose from severing the relationship than your counterparty does.

No problem - glad for the response! BTW - You probably already have it - but here's a link to the site where you can look at that document put together by the US Department of Ed.
https://www2.ed.gov/admins/comm/choic...
The link for the doc is very near the top of the body of the page - then there is a link to a page with a map and you can click on the state of interest to get the data - it's a little quicker than jumping around in the nearly 350 page pdf.

"WV is also pretty open to private schools."

If you created an Objectivist beachhead in Appalachia, then that could get people's attention!

As much as I prefer to avoid getting entangled with government, I wouldn't turn up my nose at a free building in a town suffering from braindrain.

"I think Peikoff is correct that it has taken decades for the education systems to become so completely screwed up that it will take as long to fix it - but only by educating people properly and to truly think - and have them work their way back into the education of children and into politics to help that happen can this succeed in mass."

And, great good luck with that!

Education has been subverted through a self-conscious Long March through the Institutions that began more than a century ago. Those opposed to this kind of thing are much more likely to pursue careers in the trades, engineering, science, or business than bureaucratic careers, while radical activists are hopeless with their hands and with math, and they don't mind spending their days attending meetings and filling out TPS Reports with the new cover sheet.

The only way to reform the system, without resorting to outright revolution—and those things are messy and loud, with unpredictable outcomes—would be to reverse the process and have radical activists pursue careers in the trades, engineering, science, or business, while those inclined to be productive are conscripted into the educational bureau-crazy. Such a plan would be absurd on its face.

Consider, also, that the Colleges of Education are where both school teachers earn their teaching degrees and school and university administrators and educrats earn their PhDs in Education Administration. The lunatics have completed their takeover of the asylum. It would take more than a flame thrower and a fire hose to clean out that infestation.

One alternative is to give up on trying to save the world and to focus on one's own children, maybe also the children of one's neighbors, and perhaps some few children from the surrounding community. If everyone did that, then there would be no need for a revolution. And, if hardly anyone does that, then that creates an opportunity for those of us who do.

"My wife is a teacher. We have seen the inside of the current mess that is public education and it has made up cringe for years."

My eponymous BS is in Education. (My MA is in Economics, with specializations in Austrian School and Public Choice; my PhD is in Finance.)

Back when I was finishing my undergraduate degree, the program already was too lefty for my tastes. It was basically a parade of platitudes, pandering, and stereotypes. Nonetheless, the emphasis back then was Internal Locus of Control and Critical Thinking. Internal Locus of Control is all about accepting personal responsibility for one's own fate. Born with a plastic spoon in your mouth? Play the cards that you've been dealt and walk it off. Critical Thinking was mostly lip-service to avoiding logical fallacies and contradictions. The emphasis was still more on Marxist/Pragmatist confusion than on the Postmodernist/Intersectionalist rot that dominates today. For example, I do not recall every having heard the term "social justice" during my program. That self-negating anti-concept did not come into common usage until much later.

Today, Internal Locus of Control has been upended into Victimhood Culture, and Critical Thinking has been upended into cynical, anti-rational nihilism. Roll in No Child Left Behind/Every Student Succeeds Act, Common Core, and the whole "Math is racist" mindrot, and it is no wonder that teenage depression and suicide rates are exploding today.

"We just finished Leonard Peikoff's Teaching Johnny to Think as well."

Jamin Carson's PhD dissertation is a good source, as well. Mind, I would have edited it differently, but the best dissertation is the one with all of one's doctoral committee members' signatures on the cover.

https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/b... (PDF)

Thank you for taking the time to post such a comprehensive reply!

I'm going to break up my response into posts that address specific points above. Bear with me, as I probably will not do this all in one sitting.

@Pecuniology me and my wife are seriously beginning to look at the idea of starting our own school as well. I've done a brief review of the issues before - and like you said it is a tedious and difficult road to take on. We just finished Leonard Peikoff's Teaching Johnny to Think as well. My wife is a teacher. We have seen the inside of the current mess that is public education and it has made up cringe for years. We already thought much of what Peikoff brought up - but he added some epistemological considerations that were hadn't been aware of as well as a few other base level concepts. I have really gotten into Rand and Objectivism over the last few years. Rand put much better words, analysis, and concretes behind what I have thought almost my whole life - it's very refreshing. Anyway, I think Peikoff is correct that it has taken decades for the education systems to become so completely screwed up that it will take as long to fix it - but only by educating people properly and to truly think - and have them work their way back into the education of children and into politics to help that happen can this succeed in mass.

I found an interesting document put together by the US Board of Ed giving a lot of details on all 50 states in terms of their rules, regs, requirements, etc... for private schools - and as you said FL seems very friendly to them. We moved from FL about 12 years ago to WV. WV is also pretty open to private schools.

I do have one suggesting that you should consider. I don't know your finances - but starting a school of any significance is obviously very costly. Our initial thought is to seriously consider setting up as a non-profit. The idea really irks me too - but consider a few things: 1. You are not required to take anything from the state/fed. 2. You don't have to pay taxes to the state or fed :) . 3. You can still sell yourself on the merit of the school you setup and can then ask for donations from those with the funds that would be happy to support such an initiative. 4. Rand was not opposed to charity - it just had to be voluntary and worth it to the grantor of the charity. Would it not be worth is for those producers out there - the Reardens, the Dagny Taggarts, the d'Anconias, the Galts to help establish a proper school system to try to combat this collectivist expansion? I think they would. It would be of great value to them. But they are busy - doing whatever they are doing - they do not want to setup the schools and spend their time running them. To people in that position - to help someone else that is willing to do that would be a fair trade - especially in the long run.

Just my thought. We do not have the money do do anything of scale. We cannot even afford to leave our jobs. Just for us to get started would require enough initial funding to at least allow us to get the doors open and start transitioning into it full time.

My background is in IT and running multiple small businesses over the years. Some of that being specialized in customer services for other businesses. I learned a lot from dealing with other businesses - in terms of the people, the work ethic - the disrespect given by their employees. I did conversions from paper based accounting systems to computer based. Setup the networks, built and sold the computers, setup their accounting system software, inventory management systems, point of sale software and equipment, general troubleshooting, servers, etc, etc. So I REALLY knew their businesses well.

Long story short - I know the regulatory part of this could be a pain, I know how to deal look at the numbers - incomes, expenses, tax issues, etc...

Many of the standards for private schools is very flexible - no teacher certifications required in many if not most cases - unless going after accreditation. Pros/cons there - not sure yet which way I lean on that - but probably not. Seems an open door to doing things their way - instead of the right way. But, it definitely means having to take the time to put together a large curriculum, having enough staff willing to follow the methods prescribed for teaching that curriculum, etc. It's scary to consider - but if successful would be so rewarding. And, even from a non-profit stand - you can still be paid well. Not to mention that there are ways that could be considered for breaking it up into multiple companies - profit and non-profit to take advantage of their respective traits to make good money on it if successful - yet allow for tax exempt donations as well.

Glad you are working on this too. I think you are ahead of us though - and we are not sure if we want to do it. I'm late 40's and my wife is early 50's and this is a long term task - and a large one. So we're not 100% sure. Issues at my wife's teaching job makes us consider it more and more. Exactly what you said earlier - the schools are getting absolutely pathetic. Education and doing good by these kids is not the goal of too many involved.

Some are Objectivists, some aren't. No one is openly hostile to Objectivists.

Are your administrators on board with being affiliated with Objectivism? If so, then that could be a major marketing coup.

Engineering should be full of Objectivists, but wayyy too many embrace totalitarian worldviews.

We are doing what you want to achieve at Florida Tech already. Welcome to the underground resistance against the establishment intellectual elite.

The reason I advertise in the Gulch is to attract future Galts, D'Anconias, Danneskjolds, Reardens, Dagnys, etc. Welcome to the world of my "shrug job", and a pretty nice one it is.