This week, we saw scores of Hollywood liberals rushing to the defense of Roman Polanski, a man who has admitted to sexually assaulting a 13 year old girl in 1977 and running from justice ever since. The most cited excuses were: It was a long time ago; she forgave him (after a large civil settlement); the judge was too strict and the most concerning…he said it was consensual. Whoopi Goldberg went as far as to not call it a “rape-rape” and rationalize that many other cultures find sexual intercourse between a 44 year …
Parents across the country have raised alarm about President Obama’s planned “back to school” address to American students. When the Department of Education released a lesson plan that included asking youngsters—how can you help President Obama?—parents’ concern that their children were being “organized” for political purposes was justified. Since Thursday, the Department of Education’s “lesson plans” have been scrubbed of potentially political questions. When President Obama speaks to American students later today, we’re likely to hear a positive message that few will disagree with—about the need for students to stay …
It’s back-to-school for American families, and the Obama administration is marking the occasion with an unprecedented venture. In a move that steps far beyond the role of the federal government in education policy and shows a disregard for the guidance of parents in their children’s political formation, the Department of Education has released lesson plans for teachers in grades pre-K-12 to accompany an upcoming speech on education by President Obama on September 8th. The lesson plans – one plan for pre-K-6 students and another plan for students in grades 7-12 …
In a cover story today, the Washington Examiner highlights the continuing exodus from traditional public schools in the D.C. school system: By Monday’s first school bell, charters project at least 28,000 students, or about 2,400 more than last year, while D.C. Public Schools expect about 45,000, or 2,000 fewer than in spring.dc This year’s decline follows a trend that has continued for decades. According to the Examiner, nearly 30,000 students have left the city’s public school system. Much of the exodus has been into the charter school system, which has …
The Cartel is a new documentary film that should be seen by everyone who cares whether children in this country get a good education. It should especially be seen by anybody who thinks that merely shoveling more money into the schools will make them better. The Cartel reveals the story behind the story of educational failure in the United States: Teachers’ unions are special interest groups, and, just like any special interest group, the unions exert a disproportionate influence on the public policies that most affect their members. Candidates for …
Friday’s Wall Street Journal highlights the increasing bipartisan support towards charter schools around the country. Due to rapid growth, many states have limited their expansion by placing caps on the number of charter schools. But Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has suggested that lifting charter school caps and instituting merit pay are essential steps in receiving grants under the “Race to the Top Fund” created by the Obama Administration’s stimulus bill. Now even those who previously opposed charter schools are realizing the real hindrance to charter school expansion is special …
Writing in Forbes yesterday, the Goldwater Institute’s Clint Bolick argues that the Supreme Court’s ruling in Ricci v. DeStafano should result in renewed attention to education reform and the need to improve educational opportunities for all people: “[The ruling] also brought the nation closer to an important day of reckoning. When blacks and Hispanics flunk examinations, the cause is less likely to be discrimination than the appalling educational conditions to which most economically disadvantaged black and Hispanic children are consigned. “Affirmative action” programs that leap-frog less-qualified minorities over more-qualified non-minorities …
Yesterday, state lawmakers in Indiana passed a scholarship tax credit program—making the Hoosier state the latest to offer private school choice. Under the plan, people or corporations who make donations to non-profits that award tuition scholarships will be eligible for a 50-percent tax credit off their state bill. A total of $2.5 million in tax credits will be awarded. The program has the potential to help hundreds of families choose the best school for their children. A recent analysis by the Friedman Foundation found that this program also has the …
The York, Pennsylvania, school district has decided to eliminate the practice of honoring the top-achieving students as “valedictorian” or “salutatorian.” According to school board officials, this practice may promote unhealthy competition. Students, however, appear to have a different view of such honorifics. Caroline Klidonas, a 17-year-old rising senior asked in an interview on Tuesday with the York Daily Record, “How would anybody succeed at anything if there’s not competition? You get what you work for and that’s all there is to it … Why wouldn’t the school want us to …
In case you weren’t reading the New York Times front page today, we wanted to point you to an especially disturbing story. The Times wrote about The Story of Stuff, “a 20-minute video about the effects of human consumption, [which] has become a sleeper hit in classrooms across the nation.” What classrooms? Very likely the school your child attends, since over 7,000 American schools or churches have ordered the DVD. The Story of Stuff highlights the very extreme left’s Greenpeace view of America. Essentially it tells the story of how America …
