To those itching to leave Iowa: The grass is not always greener | Letters

• Research on DEI is clear: It’s ineffective or worse
• For those itching to leave Iowa, the grass is not always greener
• Social Security is failing
• Tax credit that covers heat pumps should be retained
• I have no faith in the federal government to keep promises
• My daughter is disabled. Government assistance used to give me hope.
• Congress has given up its independence
• There’s nothing scholastic about 'college' athletes

Research on DEI is clear: It’s ineffective or worse

MIT Professor Thomas Kochan is upset that I quoted him saying that the multi-billion-dollar diversity industry is “built on sand” (March 24). Kochan was referring to his own research that concluded “there were no significant direct effects of race or gender diversity” on measures of team performance in the businesses he studied. In some types of businesses he found that diversity was negatively associated with performance. 

Kochan said all of this in 2003, before DEI was a major political issue. He is now a Davos regular and Trump administration critic, so his 20-year-old anti-diversity research is probably inconvenient for him. There is nothing wrong with being politically partisan, but partisanship should not lead researchers to directly contradict their own research. 

In my Jan. 7 Register essay, I gave several examples of research showing that DEI programs are ineffective and counter-productive. Kochan’s reply on March 23 did not take issue with any of the research I cited. He claims that I misused his “built on sand” comment, because he was only saying that some types of training were ineffective. But Kochan’s research came to a much stronger conclusion – that diversity itself conveyed no overall benefit and caused harm to some businesses. This finding calls into question basic underpinnings of the DEI movement.  My quotation of him, and my interpretation of what he said, was accurate.

Kochan cites newer research claiming that some DEI programs are effective.  But the main paper he cites begins by describing DEI programs that caused deep distress in program participants and significant problems for organizations. That paper, which reviewed hundreds of studies of DEI, did not find that diversity improves the performance of organizations. It showed that participants in some DEI training programs learned and retained the material they were taught, but it did not show that there was any real positive effect for the organizations conducting the training. It reported that changes in behavior and attitudes were small and decayed quickly after the training was complete.  

Common sense suggests that employers should hire based on merit – simply put, the ability of an employee to do the job. Organizations of all types are learning that focusing on identity politics is at best a distraction from their missions, and at worst a source of division and discrimination.

David Barker, partner at Barker Cos., co-founder of Promising People, Iowa Board of Regents member, Iowa Republican Party state central committee member

For those itching to leave Iowa, the grass is not always greener

With great interest I read the “12 reasons to leave Iowa” letter published March 20.

Flashback to 1979 when I matched a California residency in Family Medicine. Elated to get out of my 25-year home state and see something “better,” my spouse and myself did indeed enjoy those three years but in the end decided that the grass was not greener on the other side of the fence. The training received in Cali was second to none. The experiences eye-opening. The return to Iowa a no-brainer.

The points made by the writer are valid, but unless you are going to settle in a rural isolated area, I’m certain similar problems exist in other states and elsewhere.

A few points to consider:

First, if going to a large metropolitan area, plan to spend hours daily in your car getting places. Believe me, this is huge and intolerable on a daily basis. I believe today’s generations coined the phrase “work/life balance.”

Elsewhere, housing costs are inordinately higher. Simple fees like parking, enrollment for kids’ activities, childcare and for social clubs are astronomical in comparison with Iowa.

Parents have always been responsible for their children’s education. Today’s parents need to be on top of not only this, but also all other governmental, environmental, and yes, medical malfeasances. Get involved.

Did our 50-plus generation fail Iowa, or for that matter the country? We could have done better. Iowa is not a polluted, undereducated draconian quagmire of problems that are not fixable. Blame is easy to spread.

I urge the younger readers of this diatribe not to adopt the writer’s attitude.

Florida, the Northeast, Arizona – any will show you your options. A different kind of pollution: crowded, costly and a higher degree of unsafety, as well as real environmental pollution.

Insist on more town hall meetings, ask questions and then ask them again.

Rick Bratkiewicz, Clive

Social Security is failing

The writer of a recent letter asserts that Social Security is not a scam and it should not be referred to as a Ponzi scheme.

OK; then what is it? It is a program by which current contributors cannot support beneficiaries. It has had its eligibility requirements become more strict. Is that a description of a program that has had "a pretty good run" but needs to be "shored up" by congressional action? I wait for the day when we hear the announcement that "Social Security is such a success that we can reduce what is taken from your paycheck." Not very likely.

Frank Hayer, Adel

Tax credit that covers heat pumps should be retained

I recently bought my first home: a fixer-upper with no heating. When it came time to install a heating system, I compared the costs of heat pump mini-splits versus a traditional furnace with ductwork. The difference was staggering: $5,200 for heat pumps instead of $20,000 for a furnace and full duct installation. We would have almost paid more for the furnace and ductwork than we did for the house.

What’s more, when tax season came around, I got about $1,500 back for installing the heat pumps through the 25C Energy Efficient Home Improvement Tax Credit. That money went right back into improving my home. I used it to build a chicken coop and buy new chickens and gardening supplies. As someone who values self-sufficiency, this tax credit made a real difference for me.

The heat pumps have been a game-changer. They heat and cool the house year-round, are easy to operate with their own remote and app, and are a perfect solution for smaller spaces like mine. Most importantly, my mini-split system didn’t require me to do any ductwork.

But now, Congress may put the 25C tax credit on the chopping block. That would be a big mistake. Eliminating this credit, especially when energy and HVAC costs are so high, would hurt homeowners like me. I urge my fellow Iowans to contact their representatives and tell them to protect the 25C tax credit.

Isaiah Dykeman, Kellogg

I have no faith in the federal government to keep promises

Can we trust them? I have worked for 56 years, the majority as a federal employee. Every year I contributed to Social Security, Medicare, a pension and paid my taxes.

I will draw my first Social Security payment this month. My children and their spouses are contributing as well. My son-In-law is a National Guardsman who is scheduled to be deployed overseas soon. I have friends who work full-time but need some government assistance to cover their monthly needs.

We all have bought and paid for these benefits. They are not benevolently being handed to us. I have struggled to use the word “benefits” as it has been treated as a dirty word lately, but they are benefits. My parents bought and paid for these benefits as well and they were able to count on the government to provide them with subsistence and health coverage until they passed away.

Iowans have elected a president, four members of Congressn and two senators, all Republicans. They currently support an administration that is taking a chainsaw to the agencies that protect and pay those benefits.

Will my family be able to count on them to pay my full Social Security and medical benefits? Will my pension be cut or not paid at all? Can my son-In-law count on a president and his Cabinet to protect him when they have demonstrated that they are frivolous with classified data? If he is hurt or wounded, will there be a VA to support him as he recovers?

Our current administration’s stated goal is to cut overhead, yet at the same time to give a tax break to the wealthy and it is paying millions of dollars a month so that our president can play golf. When the time comes, can we trust our representatives to support us or them?

Jonathan Say, Ankeny

My daughter is disabled. Government assistance used to give me hope,.

When my daughter was diagnosed nearly 24 years ago with a neuromuscular disease that would affect her movement, breathing, and ability to speak, I grasped for hope.

When she was enrolled in an Area Education Agency preschool program affording her learning and therapy opportunities, I became more hopeful.

When her IEP and access to special education allowed her to learn and participate with others, I gained more hope.

When her condition required 24/7 monitoring, special equipment, and a multitude of medical specialists, Medicaid coupled with our private insurance afforded her care, and I was hopeful.

When the nursing shortage in Iowa forced us to consider other care options, I was hopeful that ChildServe, a facility dependent upon Medicaid funding, could answer our needs.

When I wonder about her care into adulthood, my hope is wary.

After the Reynolds and Trump administrations over the last few years have stripped away critical supports for the disabled and may cruelly cut billions of dollars from area education agencies, the Department of Education and Medicaid, my hopes have been dashed.

Is America the last best hope of earth?

Julie Simanski, Ankeny

Congress has given up its independence

We used to have three independent branches of government at our federal level. We are now down to two. Members of our Congress have chosen to abdicate their constitutional powers to simply rubber-stamp the wishes of our president.

Of our four representatives and two senators, no one has the spine to question or go against the executive power. This is a very dangerous situation, a constitutional crisis. We must hope that the judicial branch is not intimidated into submission as well.

Mark Hanawalt, Waverly

There’s nothing scholastic about 'college' athletes

Collegiate sports and university-branded professional sports are not the same thing. Change my mind.

Marty Stutz, Des Moines