Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ recent interview with Lesley Stahl on “60 Minutes” caused quite a bit of backlash from critics. As my colleague Jonathan Butcher has written, “60 Minutes” ignored many of the facts about the state of education in America. Response to the interview drew quite a bit of criticism of DeVos and her
READ MOREFollowing the release of the latest numbers from The Nation’s Report Card, City Journal columnist Ray Domanico made an interesting observation: the low math and reading scores of eighth grade students parallel the national rates of college completion. In other words, the students who will succeed in college are the ones who are currently succeeding
READ MOREIn 1990 Pope John Paul II, troubled over the decline of traditional religious views on Catholic campuses, published Ex Corde Ecclesiae, an apostolic constitution that aimed to define and reestablish the identity and mission of Catholic institutions of higher learning. Among the document’s many provisions was a call for Catholic universities to foster ”fidelity to
READ MOREImagine being born during the bloody Cultural Revolution in China and growing up in a country with little economic or personal freedom. Few Chinese citizens had the knowledge that human rights are not granted by government, and those few who knew could not say. Few knew that government is not the source of economic progress;
READ MOREIt’s no secret how important good reading ability is. With only one-third of American school children reading at a proficient level, a student who not only reads but understands a book has a clear advantage over the rest of his peers. It is for this reason that many engaged parents follow the 1862 exhortation of
READ MORENo one is surprised when teenagers withdraw from their parents’ religious practice. It’s often looked upon as a rite of passage. But, according to a study from Stanford Graduate School of Education no one should be surprised either if their grades suffer. Adolescents who are committed to their religious beliefs do better academically than those who are
READ MOREJust how much imperialism is in the DNA—so to write—of the American character? When Frederick Jackson Turner delivered his famous address, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History,” on an outrageously humid Chicago afternoon, July 12, 1893, he warned that what had been a healthy frontier expansion might well turn into bald-faced imperialism with
READ MOREIt’s hard to look at a TV, phone, magazine rack, or computer screen and not see the mug of James Comey right now. The former FBI Director is not only promoting his controversial new book A Higher Loyalty; he also finds himself in the crosshairs of President Trump’s Twitter account. Slippery James
READ MOREI was recently in a bar having dinner with a friend when Gerry Rafferty’s hit 1978 song “Baker Street” came on. When my friend mentioned that he loved the song, I agreed and noted the song’s powerful lyrics. “Really?” he responded. “I never paid much attention to the lyrics.” Most people, of course, remember “Baker
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