Iowa lawmakers are changing the lesson plans for its universities, and John Deere turns 222 in The Cities.

[lively music] [music ends] As America marks its 250th birthday this year.

We mark John Deere's 222nd.

That's coming up.

But first, changing what' taught in the college classroom.

The Iowa House created its higher education committee last year.

Its first big job was to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion programs and create centers for intellectual freedom that will encourage more diverse college debate.

This year, the committee i pushing three big initiatives.

One would overhaul the core curriculum of classes to be mandated for students.

A second would allow colleges to award three year degrees.

And a third would allow Iowa's community colleges to offer four year bachelor degrees.

Well, at the heart of these changes is Mediapolis Republican Taylor Collins.

He's the head of the Higher Education Committee.

I talked with him earlier this month in Mediapolis.

Let me ask you, what are you legislative priorities for 2026?

We're going to have a lo on the agenda.

That first week you're going to see the Higher Education Committee introduce 20 different committee bills.

But you're going to see quite a few main focus is mainly being on community college bachelor degrees.

We had a study for last session that we asked fo will be rolling up our sleeves and looking at that issue this year.

We'll be looking a lot at Core curriculum, really making sure that we are returning that true liberal arts education, that our core curriculum was meant to be.

And then we're also going to be looking at academic programs, making sure that our institutions who are paid for by the taxpayer, are focused on really providing for the workforce needs of our state.

So you're going to see really themes around those three main things.

And I want to start with the community college issue, because that seems to be where a lot of progress could be made in this coming year.

Community colleges were always thought of as trade schools.

And you're saying do not treat them that way?

I think you want to be careful, because we don't want our community colleges to lose the mission that they have been really laid out to do.

So trade schools, we want to make sure they maintain that.

But at the same time we want to provide flexibility to particularly community colleges in rural areas such as down here in southeast Iowa, southwest Iowa, even som pockets of north central Iowa.

By allowing them to offer a limited number of bachelor degrees, particularly in high demand fields.

So really sticking with our community colleges workforce focused mission.

So things like nursing, teaching, things that we really need trained professionals.

I mean that is the focus of the bill.

And I think you're going to see broad support, bipartisan support once we get introduced next week.

Now doing that, does that diminish the Regent universities?

I don't think so, because you're focused o a totally different demographic.

And also you're not going to see all community colleges explore.

And so I think I heard recently this week from the Kirkwood Community College president, she says that we have four year institutions right in our backyard so there's no reason to do that.

But listening to the presidents at, for example, southeastern, Iowa western, Iowa Central, they would benefit greatly by offering a limited number of degrees, particularly addressing, fields that they're facing.

So look at for example, in Burlington here.

You know, if a single mom wants to go ahead and upskill from being an RNN to BSN, let them do that.

Let's not tie their hands.

If you look at the community college and Council Bluffs, for example, instead of losin that student to the Omaha metro, let them get their teachin degree there in Council Bluffs.

That's reall what it's going to be focusing on, is providing for the needs of those individual communit college district, particularly in the rural areas of our state.

And there is a bit of a template from other states that have already done this.

That's the thing is, this really isn't an experiment or something new.

24 other states have already done this.

It looks different in every other state.

But I think that we are in a path now where we've seen it doesn't create competition to the extent that people think it was.

And community colleges don't lose their workforce focused mission that we've charged them with for about 50 years now.

The pie is only so big for higher education spending from the state.

So does that mean money would be diverted elsewhere to help fund some of thes programs at community colleges?

No, I don't think so.

I think really they're gonna have to look internally to see what efficiencies can be made to do this and what demand is going to be.

I mean, a lot of this will be driven by tuition revenue in order to pay for these programs.

We're looking at that study report.

I believe over 70% of the faculty our community colleges currently have the ability to teach bachelor's level programs.

And so you're going to see you see a lot of capability that community colleges already have to do this.

We just have to simply unti their hands and let them do it.

Let's talk about the three universities Iowa, Iowa State and Northern Iowa.

Really looking at curriculum this session, particularly a basic core curriculum.

What do you mean by that?

I mean, what do you really see that has to be changed.

Some people call it core curriculum, some people call it general education.

But really, it's that first year of courses that many students take throughout their career.

And you probably hear from a lot of, parents and students, you know, oh I spent my first year of college not really doing anything productive.

I'm taking the core classes, and looking at the core curriculum.

They've been so degraded over the last 50 years.

You know, you see a lot of requirements, particularly at the University of Iowa and Iow State under that DEI umbrella.

I think I saw one of the classes recently that met that requirement was a course in witchcraft.

You know, that's not what the core curriculum was designed to be.

It was provided really to be a to broad spectrum of courses, that gave everyone a civic mindedness.

And so what I'll be doing particularly, is removing the ridiculous requirement I think we can all agree with.

And then really introducing a core curriculum that requires courses such as those in American history and American civics.

And those are two areas I want to get to.

But the overview is becoming much more a legislative issue rather than letting the Board of Regents do this.

Why do you think it's importan for the legislature to step in when the Board of Regents has it?

Well, I think the legislature stepping in because the Board of Regents hasnt really.

And a lot of this has to be done in partnership with the Board of Regents.

You're going to see in the bill introduced next week, we're going to empower the boar to review the core curriculum.

This has really been something the board stayed totally out of so far.

They've really left it to the faculty at the faculty Senates.

We're going to go ahead and require certain, minimum standards as the General Assembly and many other states do, this.

So this is not outsid of any kind of regular bounds.

But then we're going to empower the board to review the entire core curriculum, to really make sure that we're returning it to the true liberal arts education that it was meant to be.

Well, as you know, there's two new members of the Board of Regents.

You have a new president of the Board of Regents, they all I've been appointed by the governor.

They both or all three have conservative viewpoints.

Do you think thereby the legislature doesn't have to work so hard?

Because, in other words, you have the people in place that you want in the Board of Regents?

I don't think so.

I think we still need to roll up our sleeves and make sure that we're providing good oversight.

You know, it's important for us to have universities that we give over half $1 billion to a year to make sure that they're focused on the issues that are important to Iowans.

But I'm really encouraged by the direction that the board has taken over the last year.

It seems like they've recognized that there is a public opinion problem when it comes to higher education, and that they need to wor with us rather than against us.

So I'm been very encouraged by the new president, Robert Cramer, and the new appointment of Steve Lacy and Peter Cownie.

I think they'll be excellen appointees, and I look forward to working with them in the coming session.

And as you pointed out, the core being history as well as civics.

Let's talk about history, because one person's history is another person's history.

It's not all the same.

And it's not all about white men wearing powdered wigs anymore either.

I mean, there has been great strides toward getting minority representation.

Do you still want to see that?

Because the way it sounds is that not necessarily that you want to see that?

No.

We want a broad look at history.

I mean, we really want to cover everything.

The good, the bag and the ugly.

And you're going to see a pretty broad, requirements when it comes to American history that really will be figured out by the universities.

But we need to make sure that we actually are acquiring an American history course.

I mean, right now we require nothing to that extent.

And that really builds on the progress that we've mad when it comes to K-12 education.

We just reviewed the social studies standards as a state.

Really beef those up because you're seeing across the country reall a lack of basic civic literacy.

And if we want to improve that, we really need to make sure that it's a priority when it comes to not just K-12 education, but also higher education as well.

I was going to ask that is, shouldn't that be better served in the high schools rather than in college?

It's a good question, but I think that if we didn't se such a lack of civic literacy, we wouldn't be lookin at the higher education level.

But looking at these courses, you know, this is not going to be an exact requirement.

I really want the universities to build on the education that these students are getting at K through 12 level.

And I think we can do that if we all work together.

There are certain other things that you plan on issuing in January.

You were saying that, you do want to do, I'm sorry This is from the last session.

The combating terrorism.

Terrorist Sympathizers Act, that never got out of committee, correct?

That's correct.

Yeah.

Okay.

Is that somethin that you plan on pushing again?

And why do you feel that bill so important?

We'r certainly taking a look at it.

You know the attorney general has set up her, anti-Semitic task force.

I believe it is.

And so she's really looking at that issue.

I introduced a bill related to start the conversation, because I believe there is anti-Semitism going out on campus, and it's absolutely inappropriate.

Some of the comment that are being made by faculty and students, and the fact that we see some of these protester are basically supporting Hamas, that's ridiculous.

I think symptomatic of a larger issue we're seeing on campus.

You had all school had planned, to introduce in January, a, Charlie Kirk discussion series, so to speak.

Yep.

It's a requirement at three universities.

Do you still plan on introducing that?

Well, really, building on the progress we've made when it comes to the center for Intellectual Freedom at the University of Iowa and the centers for Civic Education that UNI and Iowa State, I believe those centers really should serve as our starting point when it comes to starting some of these conversations on campus.

That's one of the complaints I hear from students is they don't really feel like there's any much debate going on on campus.

And that's the whole poin of college, right?

Is to debate these good issues and get them out there.

And so I will be requiring that the center be offering a lecture and debate series, bring speaker to campus, debate these issues, just like Charlie did on campus.

What would that mean, though?

I mean, isn't that already done?

Not really.

I mean, we're seeing many speakers coming to campus that are formed by, student organizations.

Right.

But not university sponsored.

And we need to be bringing not just left wing speakers to campus.

Let's bring some conservatives to.

It's okay to hear some of those conservative viewpoints and provide a little bit of balance to the college.

You are an ISU graduate.

That's right.

Proud, I assume.

I should have said that ahead of time.

I mean, you turned out all right.

I mean, well, it's get good.

Well, it depends on who you ask, I guess.

Right?

Your wife says you turned out okay.

But that leads me to the question is.

I mean, you survive this liberal, university system.

I, did you thin there was a problem back then?

100%.

And that's really, Jim, why I' so passionate about reforming it And I'm one of my colleagues, and one of the youngest in my caucus, and I know exactly what's going on these college campuses, because it wasn't too long ago I was there.

I graduated from Iowa State in 2018.

In fact, I, I just I walked across the stage and shook presiden Wintersteens hand at graduation She just wrapped up, her service.

And so, you know you look at our college campuses and, you know, there's just so many ridiculous things that are going on.

I had to take all kinds of ridiculous core curriculum classes, and it's just really a missed opportunity because instead of me being required to take a course in US diversity and global diversity and DEI, whatever it was, I would have really benefitted from being able to take another accounting course, for example.

And so I hear from students all the time that we could do so much better.

Well, there's many good things going on.

We can do a lot of good if we really, roll up our sleeves and take care of the issues we see on campus.

Did you see any good in DEI programs?

Not much.

I mean, while, the might have had good intentions, I certainly didn't see a positive result.

I mean, really look at those centers.

And they divided people much more certainly than they did, unite them.

You don't think that it was a way to learn of other culture and learn of other perspectives?

No, I think that happens in the classroom, honestly.

I mean, when I see DEI programs, they're requiring pronoun trainings and ridiculous things like that.

That's not the kind of productive environment that we want on our college campuses.

At the end of 2025, is DEI officially dead, then?

We're getting pretty close.

But when it comes to the core curriculum, I think we need to deal with that next.

And so other than the core curriculum, is there anything in particular that you still think needs to be accomplished when it comes to getting rid of DEI?

We're certainly watching and making sur that all the bills we pass over the last few years are being followed.

For example, over the interim, we ran into an issue at the University of Iowa where they were still offering DEI programing.

We had, university employees that were on camera basically admitting they were still doing that.

And that prompted, the governor to request an investigation by the attorney general.

And so when it comes to those kind of issues, it's really making sure that, we are following through and making sure these laws are being followed at this point, rather than, pieces of legislation being thrown out there.

As you have heard time and time again, aren't you just replacing one ideology with another?

No.

The point is really to provide balance, okay.

And we don't want really students feeling like their professor has any kind of ideological bent.

Right.

I mean, the best, professors I had in college are the ones where I didn't know what their politics were.

I think that's always a good gauge of, a really good quality education.

But isn't there also professors that play devil's advocate that they make yo think by taking that opposing?

In other words they try to ruffle the feathers so that you do have to think.

Oh, those were good ones too.

But even those I didn't know their political leanings, because they were the devil's advocate on both sides.

Anything else?

Well, I just really look forward to the, work.

We're going to have the higher education committee this next session.

You know, I would just remind folks that these institutions, they don't belong to the faculty, they don't belong the overpaid administrators.

They belong to the people of Iowa.

And we have a vested interest in making sure that they are running efficiently and that they're providing for the workforce needs of our state.

And that' what we'll be focusing on again this next legislative session.

And what about the future of four year institutions, the brick and mortars?

As you know, I mean, budget cutbacks have occurred.

College has gotten more and more expensive then Covid hit, and people weren't learning necessarily in the brick and mortar.

There is a future, but is it going to b a much more slimmed down future if you're thinking decades ahead.

It could be.

It really depends on the return investment that the institutions are providing.

I tell the presidents all the time, you know, if you're providing a quality product, people are going to want to go there.

And so higher education is going to look different.

I think that's why we need to be looking at things like three year degree programs as something that's coming down the pike.

And we required it this last legislative session.

You're also going to see a more focus on work plus programs, you know, down here in Des Moines County, we have an excellent program with the hospital in the community colleg where the hospital actually pays for the tuition for those students as long as they sign up to be a nurse once they're done with their education.

And so you're going to see higher education change from what it used to be, but I think it's still going to have a tremendous role.

Our thanks to Iowa Stat Representative Taylor Collins, Republican from Minneapolis.

Legislation to change the core curriculum was among the first bills introduced on the first da of the Iowa legislative session.

Just ahead John Deere's birthday.

There's a lot of candles on that cake.

But first events that will ge your mind off the cold weather thanks to Visit Quad Cities.

Check out the things to do this week in the Quad Cities.

Start your week off by skatin with Quad City Storm athletes.

You'll also get the chance to meet their mascot Radar.

Next, take a cocktail class at the Mississippi River Distilling Company.

You'll learn a little bit of history and how to sharpen your drink making skills.

Then grab your besties and head to Candy's Backbar for specialty cocktails, cute photo ops, and so much more.

Then support downtown Rock Island businesses by shopping, participating in in-store activities and enjoying local food and drinks.

Finally head to the John Deere Pavilion for family activities, deals and so much more.

For more events like these, check out our events calendar at VisitQuadCities.com Happy 222nd birthday, John Deere.

The man behind the steel plow was born 222 years ago on February 7th in Rutland, Vermont.

But he left his mark o the landscape of the Quad Cities and the farm and prairies throughout America and the world.

Historian Neil Dahlstrom has extensively studied the life of John Deere, and he sat down to talk about it with us.

John Deere's 222nd birthday is obviously, as you said, that's your Super Bowl.

Yeah.

John's birthday every year.

It's my Super Bowl.

Why are you such a nerd?

What is it about John Deere?

Well, it's funny, I, I, when I joined John Deere, I didn't know a whole lot about John Deere, the man.

And just the more I learn, he's such a fascinating, interesting guy.

He's more than developing a steel plow entrepreneur, politician, philanthropist.

He's just got a great backstory.

What, and his backstory also involves, his father was a tailor.

Right.

So, I mean it wasn't a farming background.

No.

He started in Vermon and then moved to Grand Detour.

Right.

He, served a four yea apprenticeship as a blacksmith.

So, he went to trade school, essentially learned how to be a blacksmith.

Went into business for himself twice.

Both shops burned down.

Fairly common problem for for blacksmiths, working at the forge.

And the after a couple of false starts, made the decision to head west in Illinois in 1836.

1837 is the edge of the frontier.

The steel plow still by far an amazing invention.

Right.

But as as, sorry, you kind of look back and go, well, yeah, it's so obvious.

Why wasn't it more obvious back then?

Yeah.

It's really har to put ourselves there and say, okay, a plow that looks like al the other plows was so unique.

The difference was soil.

Here in the Midwest today, soil is very thick.

It's sticky.

Cast iron and wood mold board plows were, kind of the plows of the day.

If you're out east, the soi would kind of scour off of those because it's just a looser sandy or soil.

In the Midwest, it would stick to the blade, which meant if you're a farmer, you're walking behind your furrow, you're carrying a stick or a paddle.

Every 5 or 10 steps, you bend over your scraping all that soil off.

So what John Deere did with the steel plow was it was two things, really.

One was the shape of the mol board, kind of the scoop of it.

Right?

The curvature of it and the material.

Steel was really rare and scarce in this part of the country.

And so because of those two innovations, the soil just scoured right off of it.

They called it the singing plow because of the noise it made sometimes when the soil, kind of just came right off of that blade.

Now, he had a partner for a while... Right.

But when he came to Moline, he did it on his own.

I mean, that was par of the separation, right?

Right.

Right.

He actually came to Moline with two partners.

Okay.

Robert Tait and John Gould.

They both came with them from Grand Detour.

And this is.

It's hard to build a business on the frontier in the 1830s and 40s.

Right?

So you're trying to bring in capital.

You bring in a partner for six months, eight months.

They find out there' no money in the plow business.

They move on and go further west.

He moves to Moline in 1848 with Tait and Gould, and they stay together for the next four years until they dissolve in 1852.

And then history is made.

Yeah.

And really, you know, John Deere is a company.

Today we go back to thi disillusion in 1852, Robert Tait says customers are going to buy whatever we make.

And John Deere says they're no going to buy whatever we make.

We have to continuously improve our product or we will lose our trade.

This idea of continuous improvement of machines is something that we trace back to John Deere himself.

But after that disillusion, it kind of becomes a family business.

Several John Deeres daughters marry, names like Velie and Mason and Weber, which become staples in the compan for the next three generations.

They enter the business.

And they're not just, sons in law, they're attorneys.

They run foundries, they're bankers.

So they bring skills to the table.

And that kind of forms kind of a more modern version of the company in the 1850s and 60s.

When you think of the innovation, as you said, of the extended family, I mean, we're talking about automobiles, right?

Are we talking about airplane engines as well?

Yeah.

Mono coupe airplanes from from the Velies.

It's just it's just an amazing story of how this extended family all kind of were innovators.

Yeah, absolutely.

There's I mean, you just you go from a steel plow to GPS in the 80s and 90s, to autonomous tractors today.

It's not a straight line, but it's really amazing that that traces back to this steel plow.

And there's a lot of things.

Charles Deere went into the automobile business in 1906 and 1907.

And so there's a lo of kind of starts and stops... Right.

...and what we call portfolio extensions today.

You're trying something that maybe isnt appropriate, for the time.

And sometimes you have to wait for the time to catch up to the innovation.

John Deere was also pretty involved in the community.

One term of mayor, wasn't he on the library board?

Didnt he bring in firefighting?

He was a volunteer firefighter, for a time, as was Charles Deere.

The John Deere YMCA existed for quite a long time.

Of course, we have John Deere schools.

I played basketball at John Deere School in East Moline when I was a kid.

My son went to John Deer Middle School, named after him, but he was involved in local churches, fundraising the National Missionary Society.

He was, a lifetime director.

He was a trustee at Knox College for a time.

One of the few letters we have from John Deere was in response to being invited to join the board of trustees of of Knox College, and he said, well, I'll think about it.

I think you can do a lot better than me.

[laughing] I think its interesting also because you literally wrote the book on John Deere.

But the research was difficul because he didn't really leave behind all that muc information, which astounds me.

Right?

He didn't leave a lot behind.

A couple of letters in the collection of the John Deere archives and, few photos.

They're almost all from here up.

So theyre portraits.

And so really, you have to go back and find people who knew him.

You find, Robert Tait's journals.

And we're really fortunate to have his journals that tell us everything that happened on a day to day basis in the 40s and 50s.

John Gould, partners later on.

We do have the good fortune of a three year lawsuit from 1869 to 1872, which is a trademark lawsuit In Moline.

So there were 33 depositions taken, and it was customers, dealers, competitors talking about John Deere, who he was as a person, who he was as an innovator.

So, yeah, lawsuits aren't great necessarily, but historically they're really rich sources of information.

So paint the picture of him as a man.

I mean, was he was he approachable?

Was he, a despot?

What was he?

I think he was very single minde when he when he had a thought.

There's a great story.

His nephew was his private secretary, and they were supposed to have dinner.

And, William Ball came to pick him up and sat in the waiting roo at John Deere's house and just waited and waited and waited and finally went home.

And the next mornin he said, John, where were you?

And he said, oh, sorry.

I had an idea.

And I went down to the shop and spent the night there.

So I think when he had an idea he really went to work it out.

And we know from, from customers what they loved about him.

They loved his products, but they loved that he would come visit.

He would listen to what they said.

He'd go back to the sho and he developed something new.

I was surprised to lear that he had an extensive library when he died.

He seemed to be very well read and, traveled quite extensively.

He owned a lot of real estate.

Opened the first farmer's market in Moline.

So just a really fascinating guy all the way around.

We Mark his 222nd birthday.

And during the year of, the 250th of the nation, he has a place in American history that is unique and is continuing.

He's not forgotten partially or much to the credit of the company, continuing.

But it is a legacy that really is weaved into the American West, or at least the Midwest.

It's really incredible a company that's 189 years old.

The Leaping Deere trademark turns 150 this year, which Joh Deere had a hand in designing.

Thomas Jefferson was president when John Deere was born.

And that's just kind o astounding to me to think about, how long this perso in this company has been around.

So there's, of course, great connections.

And John Deere as a, as a person, as a company has evolved with the United States.

As we celebrate the the US 250th, I love that we're recognizing to 222 for John Deeres birthday.

And there's just a lot more to learn about him as there is about anybody.

Our thanks to John Deer historian, author and lecturer Neil Dahlstrom.

The John Deere Pavilion in Moline is marking Deere's birthda with some goodie bags for kids, and discounts at the John Deere store all happening on February 7th.

Our founding fathers had a spark of an idea that did create a nation.

As we mark the 250th birthday of Independence Day.

We're asking fellow citizens about their Civic Spark, what makes their career a part of the fabric of the cities.

We asked Tyle Mitchell, development director of The Project at the Cities, about his civic spark.

[soft music] I think for me, my Civic Spar is really a love for community.

I can see how, so much joy of what we get out of life is from our ability to be able to connect with each other.

And regardless of what walk of life you come from.

We all have the right to be able to enjoy community and to be in that presence with each other.

So for me and my jo and what I get to do every day, I want to create opportunities for my community and the people in it to be able to connect with each other.

[music ends] Our thanks to Tyler Mitchell, development director of The Project in the Cities.

On the air, on the radio, on the web, on your mobile devic and streaming on your computer.

Thanks for taking some time to join us as we talk about the issues on The Cities.

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