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
Over the past few weeks, the United States has been hit hard by a crisis that is unparalleled in recent history. The coronavirus crisis is affecting all aspects of American daily life from the shutting down of local businesses to the introduction of “stay at home orders.” When institutions break down… When the crisis started, … 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
“Education is the only field in which the fact that something worked fifty years ago means that we cannot possibly do it now.” During the last decade of my career in public education, I repeated this sentence many times. My colleagues in the faculty’s lunchroom must have grown tired of it. Nonetheless, it was true … Read more
“And many false prophets shall rise, and shall seduce many.” Matt. 24:11 A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn is one of the most popular history books of all time. Over two million copies of its various editions have been sold since it was first published in 1980. Amazon’s page for the … Read more
A prized asset of the left is what might be called willing amnesia. Americans tend to have limited memories. Except for cataclysmic events like 9/11, anything that happened more than five years ago recedes into the dim mists. For instance, most have only hazy recollections of President Obamas’ statement, “If you like your healthcare plan, … Read more
I recently joined a few colleagues debating abortion on the sidewalk at a major state university. The debate was heated and varied as we talked passionately about God, morals and absolutes. However, it seemed we were swimming in a sea of relativism where right and wrong, truth and error do not exist. A subjective vortex … Read more
Emptiness is defined negatively as the absence of something. It can involve structures which are not occupied or filled, as in empty bottles. Emptiness can refer to situations lacking reality, substance or meaning, as in empty pleasures. Actions can be empty when they have no consequences, as in empty gestures or threats. As the presidential … Read more
Americans are a generous people ready to lend a hand to those in need. When God blesses us with prosperity, we naturally want to practice acts of charity to help the less fortunate. However, this charitable spirit is now threatened. There are those who hate this charity and desire to destroy the structures from which these … Read more
Many young people who espouse socialism never actually define it, much less examine it. Some might wonder where these youth got these strange ideas. The answer is that it reflects the ideology of modern education, which focuses on developing opinions, rather than teaching facts. This educational mindset comes from John Dewey, often referred to as … Read more
