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We are going to continue to focus on the Importance of strengthening our cultural Institutions with a short panel Discussion Um with Ian Rowe Dr Cade Brumley And balash Orban so I'm going to ask the Gentleman to join me on stage And and while they join me I'm just Going to read their bios very quickly So we can have as much time for Conversation as possible Ian Roe was the founder and CEO of Vertex partnership academies a new Network of character-based international Baccalaureate high schools in the Bronx He's also the author of the book agency And a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute Balash did I get that right perfect the Hungarian is perfect you all didn't know I spoke Hungarian Balaji Orban is the political director For Hungarian prime minister Mr Victor Orban no relation He's also the author of the book The Hungarian way of strategy And chairman of the board at Matthias Corvinis collegium Dr Kane Brumley is the Louisiana state Superintendent of Education Prior to joining the Louisiana Department of Education Dr Brumley Served as superintendent of Jefferson

Parish Schools as well as the Desoto Parish Schools He is an avid marathoner and has raised Over twenty five thousand dollars Through running for organizations such As St Jude's Wounded Warrior Project and The ALS Association So this just to give you a sense of of Who we are talking to today and the type Of conversation we're going to have Um so so let's jump into it because we Don't have a lot of time Ian let me Start with you We just heard Ali best speak about the Importance of families and Faith Institutions can you take a few minutes To explain your free concept and Specifically how you incorporate it into The education of your students yes uh First of all it's great honor to be here In Ali if she's still in the room that Was a fantastic speech because she's Challenging us To reflect on the importance of cultural Institutions as Delano said for the last Really last 20 years I've been running Public charter schools in the heart of The Bronx and we just launched an International Baccalaureate high school And over my career I've worked with many Different types of young people Rich Kids poor kids black kids white kids Asian kids Hispanic kids kids who live In poverty kids in domestic violence

Situations very challenging situations And part of the reason I run schools is I want young people to know that they Can do hard things But they don't have to do it alone and I've been in this work long enough that I've seen young people who are being Raised and extremely challenging Situations dysfunctional environments And as they make their decisions as they Enter young adulthood unfortunately I See young people make the kinds of Decisions that recreate the disadvantage That create this kind of hamster wheel Of poverty of degradation and yet I've Also seen young people in those same Exact situations where they face Domestic violence and other kinds of Challenges and yet they make different Sets of decisions decisions that allow Them to break the cycle of disadvantage And my animating question in my life is What makes the difference what is it That they've been exposed to that allows Them to make more empowering decisions And this is where the role of cultural Institutions is so important Because the difference I've seen for Young people who break the cycle of Disadvantage is that they've had a sense Of agency they've had a sense that they Could control their own destiny but that Sense of agency didn't come from nowhere It came from interaction in my

Observation of four powerful Institutions that I call free my Framework family religion education and Entrepreneurship With the first anchor family young People who break the cycle of Disadvantage are usually on a pathway Following what's called something called The success sequence which many of you May know but that's a set of data that Says if you finish your just your high School degree then get a full-time job Of any kind just so you'll know the Dignity and discipline of work and then If you have children marriage first 97 Percent of Millennials who practice that Series of decisions avoid poverty and The vast majority enter the middle class Or Beyond so the young people I've seen Who've broken the cycle of disadvantage Regardless of the family that they're From They understood the power was in the Family that they form They understood that the the the most Consequential decision that they can Make as a human being is to bring Another human being into the world and That there are different Pathways of Decision making to form strong families So that's the first anchor the second Observation I've witnessed that young People able to break the cycle of Disadvantage typically had a personal

Faith commitment usually forged through Some kind of religious affiliation Christianity Judaism Buddhism it almost Didn't matter but they lived by a moral Code they had a framework for decision Making to help them understand right and Wrong and more importantly they were Also part of a religious community of People that love them that expected them To live up to a moral code so that's a Second anchor I've seen the third anchor And I'll come end quickly but the third Anchor I sell for young people who are Able to break the cycle of disadvantage Was that they usually benefited from Some kind of educational freedom or School choice That they were able to go to an Institution that their parent their Caregiver whomever felt that this would Be the best education for my child again It's one of the reasons I run schools And so for the young people that broke The cycle of disadvantage that I've Observed if they were on the pathway to Form a strong family if they had a Personal faith commitment through some Kind of religious affiliation if they Had gotten benefit of a strong education Through educational Freedom the last e Of Entrepreneurship this idea that they Became a problem solver in their own Lives the sense of agency that they have An Overcomers mindset and for me those

Are the institutions that certainly in My schools we're trying to inculcate This sense that you can succeed even Under the most challenging circumstances If you understand the power of the Cultural institutions that are available To you regardless of circumstance thank You for that Ian So now I'll go to Dr Brumley How have you seen schools change Since you first became an educator now I Know it wasn't I may be asking you to go Back three years or so but since you First became an educator and then what Are you doing to ensure that schools in Louisiana deliver the type of education That parents desire and that children Need to succeed thank you and and thanks To Heritage for having me here today Look I've been in this work over a Couple of decades now and uh what I am What I believe are some of the most Important things that we need to be Doing are first making sure that our Kids and our employees are safe every Day it's our primary responsibility that That happens every single day uh Ned's Thinking about school choice and making Sure that every family across our state Has access to the school that makes the Most sense for them whether that's their Traditional public school public charter Non-public school home school learning Pod or any of the other flexible options

That we believe need to grow within our State parents rights family rights Understanding that that children belong To their parents not the government and Trying to expose those beliefs every Single day and put those into practice And beyond that elevating uh the Teaching profession uh as as Professional teachers uh mean so much to Our kids and we need to make sure that They have the ability uh to get the Training that they need and deserve uh We have to make sure that they have the The environment that is conducive to Them teaching without disruption and Kids being able to learn without Disruption But to answer your question I Think that the most present issue that I Am concerned about is just the fact that Schools were never ordained to be social Institutions we were ordained to be Academic institutions and I see a Consistent shift towards the schools Trying to be social institutions And I think what we have to do is return To academic excellence and a Relentless Pursuit to academic Excellence so that Ultimately meritocraty can be achieved And our kids can achieve the American Dream and And I and I worry and I worry that Schools are trying to do things that They were never ordained to do and we're Not doing them well and we should be on

An academic Excellence Pursuit and give Everything that we can to pursue that And pursue that well and so what does That mean I have radical concepts Teach children how to read We're about to we're about to launch an Even more radical concept teach children How to do math Graduate high school ready to do Something whether that means enter a Career go post-secondary go into service And a deliberate handoff between K-12 And that next season of life and so Those are some of the things that we're Working on those are some of the things That we believe and and we believe we Are making progress and we are poised to Further accelerate Thank you [Applause] Balash Tell us a little bit about what Hungary Is doing to support families and Specifically the Child Protection Law That would prevent children from being Sexualized through media propaganda and Other types of forming institutions Thank you very much for having me it's a Privilege to be here as it was said I Came from Hungary and my family name is Orban so what deliberos must be very Scared but probably in this audience I'm Fine uh and thank you very much for Heritage and and the leadership to have

Me we keep forget but the Heritage Foundation is a think tank and the word Original Think Tank means that that you Have to think about politics as a as a Fight as a war and you need institutions Where people are doing the Strategic Thinking and Heritage is um is a leading Institution among the conservative Movements all over the Western Hemisphere so I'm happy to have this Cooperation between the Hungarian Conservative movement and the American One Um Family policy you mentioned two Topics very briefly one is that family Policy Um You know demo demographic decline it's a Problem it's a problem there is a Geopolitical competition and other parts Of the world Um uh the the they are having more and More people meanwhile in this part of The word in western civilization we are Having less and less people this is a Problem this is a disadvantage in the Competition so how to counter it you Have two options one option is mass Migration let people in but then you are Destroying your entire civilization your Identity your country and you're causing More problems than than you can solve Through that people are not just Workforce they are people with identity

With beliefs and it cannot be changed in A short way so then If you really think strategically then You have to turn toward the family Policy you have to encourage people not To have more children but have as many Children as they want this is the Hungarian experience is to if you ask The people if if you make public opinion Polls among young ladies how many Children do they want they actually they Say higher numbers than at the end of This their their life or the road they Will they will have so so the state Responsibility comes in that we have to Encourage families and young women to Have as many children as they want and The state should be involved in that Very actively very proud of that in Hungary we spend six percent Our GDP direct financial support to Families to make them life easier make Them life easier if they have more Children than if they don't have it's Three times the military spending of of Hungary we are also increasing the Military spending but but family policy Support programs should always be three Times higher as military spending and Then you are on the good track And the other thing the Child Protection Law I had the privilege to talk about it Yesterday with with um with Tucker Carson as well that

You know we realized In Two years ago that something is coming Something dangerous is coming because Because originally education is a Conservative thing because what is the Purpose of Education the purpose of Education is to pass the knowledge which Was collected by the previous Generations to the Future Generations so It's a it's it from originally if Naturally it's a conservative Institution and in in in we realize that Some ideology some political ideologies Is is coming and it's changing Everything it's and it's extremely Dangerous and it's it it makes the Identity in a very uncertain word of our Children weaker Meanwhile the the the obligation of Education should be the other way around Strengthening the identity Of of our children And then we realized that this is pushed By the mainstream media pushed by the Liberals pushed by Brussels uh we have a Brazilian bureaucracy to fight against It And where you can turn you can turn Towards the people we organize the Referendum four million people which is Compared to America's size which would Be 130 million people they voted against Gender ideology in media and in schools

For minors they voted in favor of Banning this whole thing Banning Banning that's why we accepted the Child Protection Law but obviously the as I Said The Empire Strikes Back we are on The legal charges Brazilian bureaucracy Is is stealing the money if we don't Change but you should keep up the fight And you should be aware of the fact that The people are always I mean ordinary Citizens they are behind you so it's a It's a fight which was to take it thank You Thank you So we have about five minutes left in Our discussion that we're going to have Q a but I just want to make sure I ask a Question Um when you talk about having children I Assume that if from the Hungarian Government's perspective you want those Children to be born within the bounds of Marriage correct sure okay I just want To make sure so and when we say marriage We're defined this as one man one woman One lifetime correct it's part of the Hungarian Constitution okay so I just Want marriage is between a man and woman And the father is a man and woman a Mother is a woman so simple end of Discussion in Hungary it's end of Discussion okay because because what We've learned over the last 60 years of cultural changes social

Policy is that Uncle Sam is an absent Father and a terrible husband because he Has way too many households to support So we we don't want that model here here In the state so a question for each of You if you could take about 90 seconds To answer before we get to q a What is one thing That everyone in this room can do to Strengthen our cultural institutions Pick whatever institution you want what Is one thing that we can all walk away From walk away from this session knowing Learning that we can do to strengthen Our institutions I'll start with you Ian Uh okay so one very quick thing so that Was an important follow-up you just made About the clarity of children being Raised in family one slight disagreement With Kate I used to be a similar Education leader that I thought just Focusing on math science reading was Should all we needed to do but in my Sixth year of running a charter school In the Bronx we encountered something Called the who's your daddy truck which Was a mobile DNA testing center where Low-income folks are spending somewhere Between 350 and 500 dollars to get Paternity tests to answer questions like Could you be my sister are you my father And was a fundamental realization of me That running great schools academically Necessary but not sufficient and that we

Had to have a deliberate effort to help Young people understand the likely Rewards and consequences of some of the Biggest decisions in their life which is Why we teach things like the success Sequence Absenting yourself from those kinds of Topics in my view as an injustice to Young people because if they're not Getting that kind of information from Our schools unfortunately the Institutions through which you normally Learn that kind of Life script aren't Always doing their job so that's one of The reasons we've decided to Deliberately attack these issues in School as far as the number one thing to Produce or Promote our cultural institutions Frankly it's Having the courage to Preach what you are likely practicing Your own lives so often the people I see Who rail against things like marriage This is exactly what they're doing in Their own lives right they have finished Their education they've gotten full-time Jobs they've had kids within marriage And are getting the benefits of all of Those lifestyle choices and yet somehow Not thinking uh that it's hypocritical To not promote that to the rising Generation so so in other words they Walk right but talk left exactly okay Thank you again Dr Bromley what's one

Thing or if you want to respond to Ian I'm flexible if you want to respond no I Mean I look it's it's a good point and But at the same time I just believe that That we have to focus on academic Excellence and so many of the social Issues that stools are trying to solve Are not theirs to solve And we have we have lost our way in many Ways in in terms of academic Excellence Which ultimately as I said earlier leads The American dream But to answer your Question uh I would encourage people to To stay involved I would encourage People to watch the federal overreach I Can think of three clear areas where I Believe to be Federal overreach within The last year where we've pushed back One the federal Administration Determined that they would over regulate The launch of new charter schools and Instead of providing additional Opportunities for families they tried to Restrict opportunities so we push back But we need help from others the second Area Has to do with school safety and so Bipartisan communities safer communities Act was passed money flowed down to States and so I said you know I want to Use this one-time dollars For one-time expenses to harden our School perimeters we can't be soft Targets we have to make sure that we

Harden our perimeters so that our Schools are safe we control in and out Access to those buildings our Lots work Etc and so we received pushback we Weren't allowed to do that and so we had To fight fight fight and ultimately get The ability to be able to do that and Then the third is is one of the most Extreme overreaches is the new Title IX Stuff you know where where they are Trying to impose their opinion on who Should be on a sports team and so you Know I have communicated to our Athletic Association that they should follow our Law in the state of Louisiana which says Sports in our state are to be divided by Biology and Men participate in men's Sports and women participate in women's Sports And And and should that come to pass and and That law go into place I believe that we Need to challenge that uh and it doesn't Just need to be a challenge from within Our state it needs to be a challenge With other like-minded states who Believe uh that we need to protect the Dignity of female sports in this country Uh and so I would just encourage Everyone within your local environments Uh to to watch that Federal overreach And support your local uh your local Systems and challenging that where Needed

Thank you Um In one minute can you tell us what What's one thing that we can do Um to strengthen our cultural Institutions and then and then we'll Jump to a q a I would I would say that Everything depends on the environment so Because if you if you land in Budapest For example and you you leave the plane You will see Billboards all around you Which are saying that we are a Family-friendly country which means that You know like like like men and women Um and and children and and this is what Family friendly environment means and You walk around the city and you Experience that you you are surrounded With like-minded people and then you Don't have to Feel yourself ashamed if you want to Follow this kind of pattern because you You feel it this is this is the natural Way to do so and And This is this is something which um which Um which should be done and then the Results they could speak for themselves Like the number of marriages double the Number of divorces halved at the number Of abortions without changing any kind Of Regulation halved so so people react On that so if you are able to create an Environment where

Probably we should grab the word from The liberal safe space which is a safe Space for conservatives all over the Country then then then then then you are Winning the game thank you I wish we had more time for discussion But we're going to throw it open to q a We have Interns on either side so if you anyone Has a question please raise your hand Wait for the microphone all I ask is That you say your name and ask a Question because we only have about 10 Minutes and we'd like to get to as many Questions as possible do we have anyone Would um anybody care to comment on the Teachers union as part of the things That we're considering today Did you all have a question uh sure well I uh so we just launched an International Baccalaureate High School In the Bronx uh and in New York City There's a cap on charter schools to Bring more educational freedom to the City and this is a district that we just Opened where only seven percent of kids Who started ninth grade in 2015 four Years later graduated from high school Ready for college meaning 93 percent Start at ninth grade and either dropped Out or did earn their high school Diploma but still can't do math nor Reading without remediation we figured Out a way to open this high school and

Guess who sued us to stop us even before We opened The teachers union but the good news is We beat the teachers union So so we opened in August of 2022 so It's quite possible to go against what Typically seems this unrelenting force And be victorious because we're now Bringing more educational freedom to Kids in the Bronx I would just say one of the things I Frequently remind people is you know our Our Union will try to our unions will Try to stall things they'll try to tell Us why we can't do things Um and people often say the teachers the Teachers in a negative way look we have Some outstanding teachers across this Country I would assume many of you might Be married to one have a daughter or son Have an aunt or an uncle that is a Teacher and so what I try to tell people Is It's not the teacher it's the union and And we have some great teachers in this Country but but but they are not all Believing what the unions are telling Them to do I think we have another question My name is Jansen string I'm from Old Orchard Beach Maine And I think that the first thing that Conservatives need to do to advance Education in this country

Is to get rid of the Department of Education which Jimmy Carter started and All that's happened since that was Founded is an increase in administration And and is that's when that's when you Can mark the downfall of these schools And I wonder if what you all think of The Department of Education Yeah I mean there's there's certainly an Argument to be made for that in fact Heritage is a release report on exactly How that could happen uh for us for us In our state we're just trying to focus On on doing the right things for our Kids unfortunately we have to push back Against that department way too often Um but there there is a an excellent Paper out there from Heritage that Describes how that process could happen Do you want to add anything in Um I'm I'm often asked you know do I Ever have aspirations to be the Secretary of Education my answer is why Would I want to be the head of something That I don't think should exist in the First place okay All right Another question Hi I'm a comfortable stand up Chuck Willie I'm a 39-year Internal Medicine Physician Still see my own hospital patients next Year uh I'm going to be under the penalty of

One percent of the medical Medicare Spend in my Realm BS to ask all of my senior citizen Patients Uh what was their gender assignment at Birth and how do they identify now And so I'm saying that's Um many of the I know many of my Patients take care of their Grandchildren Whom you are schooling so it's a little Less scans but I want to make this known To the Heritage and fight back there They they get this by softening the Culture they're starting at the Medicare And you'll all be asked next year What gender were you assigned at Birth And what do you identify as now okay and And while you're at it if you could tell Me the difference between ethnicity and Race that's on the they're asking me That too so anyway Thank you for that um well last I'm Curious what role do either Physicians Or medical health Public Health Institutions play in either furthering Or fighting back against sort of the Gender ideology movement in Hungary wow Wow that's a that's a very hard question These I mean I mean I mean Sex and and these kind of gender Things origin gender things not the Gender ideology it's not a democratic

Issue in general I mean mathematics is Not and health care it's not the Democratic issue two plus two is four it Doesn't matter how much of you vote for Five and six and three years you know It's like it's like four it's just facts It's just factually based So so I it's very hard to convince them Because they are not get used to the Situation that they are in a war room I Mean a political ideological worm they Are scientists so they are they they Just don't understand why they should be Involved in that kind of debate but but We are living in times where it should Be done and it should be Sad again and again even if it's Criticized that two plus two is four and It's much better if it's done by by Experts in the name of science than than Politicians so we try to convince them And bring them in the discussion it's Moving very slow thank you another Question in the back yes Steve sass from Baltimore two somewhat related questions Most governments I understand spend more Money on educating the disabled the Handicapped the night spend on the Gifted and The Talented that will help Society one is that true second question Uh relating to the trans I understand There's one international group that has Said trans cannot participate as the Other sex if they pass to puberty at the

Time that they change sex has the Olympic Committee said anything has Europe done anything Okay so I'm less I think the first Question is really good Ian and then Dr Brumley I think well Both questions are really great but can You address sort of Education spending Or the focus of Education both on Children who have special needs as well As gifted and talented children Especially coming out of New York right Well it's definitely a fact certainly in New York City and I think across the Country that far more resources are Afforded to students with special needs Students who have things called Individual education plans or 504s like For example in New York City if you're a Student with what's called an IEP in Certain categories you can get an Additional nineteen thousand dollars of Per pupil allocated to you on top of the 20 or so thousand dollars that comes From General funding I mean New York City education funding is ridiculous so To your point uh the kids in the gifted Or top categories money pails in Um and what the government puts out However that doesn't mean that the kids Who who are getting special education Dollars that you're getting efficacy for That money there's no promise on actual Effectiveness of those dollars but

You're right that there's certainly more Money being spent on students with Disabilities and special needs so to Answer that yeah certainly students with Exceptionalities require additional Resource to get the services that they Need and deserve and that those parents And families need and deserve but I want To talk about the other side of that Which is the the gifted education Component and just our our students who Are proficient and mastering content and Advanced on content altogether you know We saw the situation where governor Yonkin and Virginia pushed back where There was an attempt to hide National Merit Scholars from families you know That that is a sad situation in our Country where Merit is not rewarded and So those are areas where we have to Fight back so we're looking for ways Just just yesterday you know we we Brought together students from Elementary Middle High School in our State for our students of the year we Celebrated them we acknowledge them we Recognize not just them but their Families can you imagine a situation Where you're in car line or before your Child gets on a bus and you tell your Kid do a great job today I know you can Do it you're smart enough and then that Child goes to school and they proves it They prove it they prove that they are

Good enough they are smart enough they Can do it and then the school refuses to Acknowledge that Excellence you know That that is a culture that we have to Watch out for and so we have to make Sure that we are we are looking out for That and finding opportunities to Elevate all of our students particularly Whenever they achieve something and they Accomplish it because otherwise we are Robbing kids of their achievements Foreign Our last question Sir Oh me or okay I guess we have a final Two questions so you go first And then and then we'll have one other And then we'll break for lunch hi there My name is Alvin Louis from Courage it's A habit so Dr Brumley talked about Federal overreach one of the biggest Federal overreach in education is the Student data mining usually done through Social emotional learning surveys in Class And they take that data and it's a Self-fulfilling prophecy which justifies Most of the issues that we find in Education especially the trans issue the Cultural responsive teaching that type Of thing And that's the bloodline to all this a Lot of this so what are some of the ways That you guys are looking at to stop

That data mining because it's certainly A big Federal overreach yeah it's a Great question uh actually our state I Think has been a leader in this for for Some time uh we have some of the Strongest student privacy laws in the Country uh our agency in and of itself We're not allowed to have the social Security number of a student we have Student identification numbers and so Where we do share information we have uh Memorandums of understanding and data Privacy agreements but we we in our State I can speak and and certainly uh With confidence we have strong data Privacy rules and if your state doesn't Have those relative to student Information I would encourage you to do That and also this Tick Tock situation Is real like I put out a note to our Systems across the state we should not Trust the privacy of American kids to a Foreign government and and so I asked All of our stools across our state to Remove tick tock as a communication Platform for the families remove it from Publicly funded devices because we are Concerned about not knowing what we Don't know and I just believe that we Have to err on the side of caution thank You Foreign Last question I'm Don runkel from Michigan I'd be

Interested in your discussions on Curriculum America currently if you look At reading science and math ranks Between number 25 and 38th in the world We used to be number one When you dig into the curriculum which I've spent the last two years doing The curriculum particularly in the Science area is flawed it has errors in It These curriculums by and large 45 States Now have approved these curriculums it's De facto national standards even though We don't have the federal government Involved So I'd be interested in are the states Digging into the curriculums and Understanding what is being taught Because we've had this system now for Over two decades And the results are we're in 25th to 38th Place So as Winston Churchill once said in Spite of a fabulous strategy a once in a While might want to look at the results You did you want to uh quickly and then I mean we could have a whole panel just On this topic uh absolutely I mean There's so many reasons I mean it's it's Evident uh reading science uh math as a Country we continue uh to decline part Of it is related to curriculum Educational outcomes part of it is also Related to the degradation of family

Structure because we have we don't have The kinds of environments that we're Supporting kids that may have been Struggling so it's a it's a convergence Of of multiple issues also and I'd love To hear Kate's take on this states are Now not necessarily even incentivized to Focus on outcomes there's a there's a an Attack on Merit you know certainly in New York there's efforts to eliminate Standardized tests because somehow Revealing of the information that young People are behind in math and science is Inherently racist or exposes the fact That the tests are inherently racist so Let's just remove the objective measures Of performance so there are a number of Factors that are driving Beyond just the Curriculum as to why we're getting these Outcomes and we have to have the courage To fight back against these items and Let me just can I just make one plug for Something I'm doing this Tuesday University of Virginia I'm Debating Richard Reeves who's the author Of a book called of boys and men where Richard Reeves is basically advocating That fatherhood because marriage rates Are so low we now need to treat Fatherhood as an institution divorced For marriage which I think is a really Bad idea and so I'm debating him to say That no marriage actually is the Institution that strengthens fatherhood

Absolutely I think it's just one of These examples that where we Collectively and individually have to Have the courage to fight for those Values that we know are so crucial for Our kids thank you Okay Uh well quick housekeeping note Um please enjoy your break for lunch We'll be on The Terraces on both sides And before you do that can you please Join me in giving our panelists a round Of applause [Applause]