Tag: Education
-
Education in America – Part Six
Part 6: Why So Many Parents No Longer Trust Public Education Public trust is rarely destroyed by a single event. It is worn down by repeated contradiction. Parents are told that schools are committed to excellence, yet many see weak academic results. They are told that schools welcome partnership, yet too often experience opacity, delay, and condescension…
-
Education in America – Part Five
The Child Does Not Belong to the State A free society must answer certain questions correctly or it will soon answer many others wrongly. One of those questions is this: who bears the first responsibility for the child? The answer is not the school district, the state agency, the licensing body, the union, or the educational theorist.…
-
Education in America – Part Four
When the Classroom Becomes a Political Stage A classroom is not a campaign office, a protest rally, or a stage on which adults perform their moral identity before a captive audience of minors. Its first obligation is instruction. That does not mean politics must never be discussed. On the contrary, any serious education in history,…
-
Education in America – Part Three
Part 3: From Reading and Arithmetic to Therapy and Activism There was a time when the purpose of a school could be stated without embarrassment. Children were sent there to learn to read, to write, to count, to know something of the world that existed before they arrived, and to acquire habits of mind that would serve them when novelty had…
-
Education in America – Part Two
How Schools Stopped Teaching Children How to Think There are few phrases in modern education more overused, or more carelessly used, than “critical thinking.” It appears in mission statements, curriculum guides, strategic plans, and teacher training materials with almost liturgical regularity. Yet the phrase often conceals as much as it reveals. A student is not…
-
Education in America – Part One
The Real Crisis in American Education Is Not Money, but Mission Ask most parents what school is for, and the answer is usually plain enough. A school exists to teach children to read with understanding, write with clarity, reckon with numbers, know something of history and science, and grow into adults capable of sound judgment. That…
-
The Role of Parents in Education: The Supreme Court’s Stand
The recent divide between the leaders of America’s two largest teachers’ unions over the Supreme Court’s ruling in Mahmoud v. Taylor is as revealing as it is unsurprising. One laments the Court’s decision as a betrayal of professional expertise, while the other somewhat unexpectedly acknowledges the rightful place of parents in the educational process. And…
-
The U.S. Department of Education: A Case for Dissolution
The U.S. Department of Education, established in 1979, was intended to elevate educational standards, ensure equal access, and facilitate national educational policy. Yet, after decades of federal intervention, one must ask: Has it delivered on its promises, or has it become another bureaucratic obstacle to real progress? As we analyze its impact, it becomes clear…
-
The Triumph of Common Sense Over Ideology
In January 2023, Jessica Tapia, a physical education teacher at Jurupa Valley High School in California, was terminated after refusing to comply with the Jurupa Unified School District’s policies regarding transgender and gender-nonconforming students. These policies required teachers to use students’ preferred pronouns, allow them to use facilities corresponding to their gender identity, and withhold…
-
The 1619 Project: Revisionist History Masquerading as Scholarship
Few developments in American historical discourse have been as destructive as The 1619 Project, a politically motivated reimagining of American history that sacrifices accuracy on the altar of ideology. Conceived by Nikole Hannah-Jones and promoted by The New York Times, the project claims that the true founding of America was not 1776 but rather 1619—the…
Seeking Truth in Today's Troubled World 