A Modern Parable Imagine that you are incredibly wealthy. This is not just the kind of wealth that allows you to have a half dozen homes. It’s a fortune that you will never use in your lifetime. From your detached perspective, you can see that things in the nation are not going as you think … Read more
How to Educate an American is a collection of essays edited by Michael J. Petrilli and Chester E. Finn, Jr. that embraces a serious task. The subtitle set out its goal – The Conservative Vision for Tomorrow’s Schools. Unfortunately, this book cannot deliver something that does not exist. There is no unified conservative vision for … Read more
Public schools can represent the most socialist aspect of American life. The New York Times is trying to make sure that your child becomes a committed leftist. Recently, The Times released its “1619 Project.” The web page that the Times produced to support it shows a seascape and begins, “In August of 1619, a ship … Read more
The world of American education is replete with catchphrases. Even those outside the education establishment have probably heard, “If you can read this, thank a teacher” or “Build schools now or build prisons later.” One catchphrase that got some traction at the end of the Cold War was: “It will be a great day in … Read more
A recent article by Dana Goldstein in the New York Times about the Common Core displays a common tendency among liberals. They never acknowledge that their pet programs can fail. When a “progressive” proposal fails, the left never goes back to construct an entirely new scheme. They return to their overriding goals, tweak the old … Read more
The American educational system is always awash with proposals for “change” or “reform.” There are plenty of opportunities. Every time the legacy of John Dewey fails, the educationists rework Deweyism and call it “change” and “reform.” Only the ideas of Karl Marx have failed more often than those of John Dewey. Common Core is only … Read more
The Hoover Institution just issued two studies that should be keeping education policymakers up at night because they fly in the face of the ideology of American education. Many critical assumptions that underlay the “Common Core” debacle are also challenged. One study shows that the “achievement gap” has been mostly unchanged since the mid-fifties. The … Read more
Anyone involved in education over the last decade has had to adjust to a program known as Common Core. It was a cornerstone in President Barack Obama’s “Every Student Succeeds Act,” passed in 2015. School administrators throughout the United States trumpeted the brilliance of Common Core as the hope of the future. Both major national … Read more
The American education system has long been in crisis. It seems every administration seeks to reform the system, but it usually ends up making matters worse. The book, Can America’s Schools Be Saved? How the Ideology of American Education Is Destroying It? helps explain what has gone wrong. Author Edwin Benson has seen it all. … Read more
The real education of the child begins very early in the child’s development. New research is finding that firm foundations set early are the best guarantee that children will experience success later in life. Liberal educators really do not want to hear such truths. They would prefer to parrot over and over again the mantras … Read more
