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What’s Really Wrong with American Schools0
- Education
- February 7, 2017
With the confirmation of Betsy DeVos to head the U.S. Department of Education, it’s a good time to think about what’s wrong with our schools and what will have to be done to fix them. DeVos is most notable for her efforts in support of school choice. School choice is important, but it is only
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This Overlooked Statistic May Explain America’s Education Problems0
- Culture
- February 7, 2017
It’s often said that America’s education system hasn’t changed much in the last 100 years. Supposedly it’s stuck in the industrial age and needs to be revamped to keep with the times. But while that may be true, it’s not the case that the education system has avoided all changes. It has changed… and perhaps
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The NEA’s 14 Principles–From 19080
- Culture
- February 7, 2017
Have you ever wondered what the Nation’s largest teacher union (the National Education Association or the NEA) thinks about religion, the Bible, and character education? I honestly don’t think I’d ever given it much thought until the other day when I unearthed a set of the organization’s 14 principles from 1908. They were so surprising
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Happy 150th Birthday, Laura Ingalls Wilder0
- Culture
- February 7, 2017
Laura Ingalls was born on February 7, 1867, in a log cabin in Pepin, Wisconsin. The family’s trip from Pepin to their ultimate destination in DeSmet, South Dakota would take less than seven hours today; for Laura Ingalls and her family – Pa, Ma, Mary, Carrie, Baby Grace, and the faithful bulldog Jack – the
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Battling Porn With Virtue Education (and Common Sense)0
- Culture
- February 7, 2017
For more than four decades, my work as a developmental psychologist and educator has focused on helping schools and parents develop good character in youth. I direct a character education center at the State University of New York in Cortland, New York. Among many things, our Center’s work includes teaching young people how to respect
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America’s Public Schools Are No Longer Serving the Public0
- Education
- February 7, 2017
Betsy DeVos, the new U.S. Education Secretary, is an advocate of school choice. As such, her confirmation hearings have generated warnings that Trump wants to “destroy” public education. The very adjective “public” is a marketing advantage for those who support the current government-run school system. For many Americans, it still connotes a non-elitist form of
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The Civics Lessons They Never Teach Anymore0
- Culture
- February 6, 2017
Following Neil Gorsuch’s nomination to the Supreme Court, my morning commute was wall-to-wall with it, including plenty of weasel words (e.g., Senator Schumer’s fixation on tarring him as “outside the mainstream”) and heat (e.g., Congresswoman Pelosi’s assertion it was “a very hostile appointment”). One talking head quipped that the acute divide was because Americans weren’t
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Should we Subsidize Universities that Restrict Free Speech?0
- Culture
- February 6, 2017
Trump has threatened to cut-off Federal aid to the University of California, Berkeley, after protests and property destruction on and around the campus blocked right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos from speaking. The University of California system “receives billions of dollars from the federal government to fund a variety of programs, notably research, student aid and healthcare programs.”
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Should Teachers Have a Working Knowledge of the Constitution?0
- Culture
- February 6, 2017
Given that only 1 in 4 American high school seniors are proficient in civics and 1 in 10 are proficient in U.S. history, one would think that schools would sense an urgency to beef up their offerings and emphasis in these areas. But while that may be the case in some states, it doesn’t seem
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