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Blog 3 Columns

  • If Voting Rights Are Sacred, Why Are We So Sacrilegious?

    If Voting Rights Are Sacred, Why Are We So Sacrilegious?0

    We are now entering the “silly season” of electoral politics. As the presidential campaign gets closer to Labor Day, the race begins in earnest. Candidates and their surrogates attack each other, and campaigns aren’t above using scare tactics to motivate voters. It seems to get worse with each successive election cycle. While hardly a novel

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  • Has Mass Media Reduced Our Esteem for Politicians?

    Has Mass Media Reduced Our Esteem for Politicians?0

    Respect for politicians of either party continues to decline with each passing month. Of course, their performances on cable news and talk radio shows don’t help, for we see them in real time, their flaws and foibles continuously on display.  In a 1975 interview on Firing Line, British journalist Malcolm Muggeridge speculated that if the highly esteemed

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  • France Rules Out Lockdown Despite Surge in COVID Cases

    France Rules Out Lockdown Despite Surge in COVID Cases0

    The long summer of 2020 just keeps getting longer, but some world leaders are showing a reluctance to keep marching to the drumbeat of the all-consuming war on COVID-19. Public health officials in France last week announced the nation experienced 3,776 new COVID-19 infections on Wednesday, the largest daily total it had seen in three

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  • ‘Nice White Parents’ Responsible for Failing Public Schools, Says NYT

    ‘Nice White Parents’ Responsible for Failing Public Schools, Says NYT0

    Why does the public education system continue to fail America’s children? Policy experts have pondered this question for decades. Most say the answer is complicated, requiring a nuanced, collaborative approach. But not The New York Times. It found the problem, and it’s simple: white parents. The solution? “Try, whenever possible, to suppress the power of

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  • How to Recognize a Bad Teacher

    How to Recognize a Bad Teacher0

    The sign of a good music teacher, I was told as a teenager, is a willingness to allow parents to sit in on lessons. A teacher willing to have parents observe their lessons demonstrates that she has nothing to hide, is open to critique or comments, and is one who partners with parents in helping

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  • Google’s Disruption of Higher Ed Is Just What Students Need

    Google’s Disruption of Higher Ed Is Just What Students Need0

    My wife and I recently hired a financial advisor who is helping us map out our financial future. He seemed stunned that we didn’t want to take advantage of the U.S. tax code’s 529 provision, which helps parents save for their children’s education. “You have three kids,” he said. “Odds are at least one will

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  • Excellence: Race, Merit, and Our Young People

    Excellence: Race, Merit, and Our Young People0

    When Joe Biden and crew were seeking a vice-presidential candidate for the ticket, Biden stipulated that he would only look at women of color. A curious voter might ask: Isn’t such a requirement sexist and racist? Suppose you were running for president. You appear on national television and state you would only accept a white

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  • A Closer Look at the States that Stayed Open

    A Closer Look at the States that Stayed Open0

    I’m sure we all remember that fateful month of March. One after another states began to issue lockdown orders, closing businesses, restricting travel, and ordering people to stay home. That was the month when the United States went from viewing COVID-19 as a minimal threat to issuing some of the most draconian lockdown measures in

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  • ‘Racism’ Is a Matter of Definition

    ‘Racism’ Is a Matter of Definition0

    Discrimination is part of everyday life, and though it often carries a negative connotation, it is an essential practice. For example, we discriminate against the kinds of TV programs or people we don’t like, between fact and fiction, and among activities of varying risk. But discrimination is an act; before that, it is an opinion.

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