education

Is Oklahoma's Religious Charter School Good News for Secularists?

by Jacques Berlinerblau

Oklahoma recently approved the first publicly-funded religious charter school in the United States. Is it possible that this ambitious move will backfire when schools representing all denominations and faiths demand equal treatment? 

American Students Deserve Better than the AP System

Annie Abrams: "If we want to expand access to college, why aren’t we doing that by employing Ph.D.s? If we want to support high school teachers and strengthen curriculum, why aren’t we fostering collaboration? Instead, we’re outsourcing that work."

Mary Wollstonecraft's Diagnosis of the Prejudices Holding Back Girls' Education Remains Relevant Today

by Victoria Bateman

Since Wollstonecraft's 1792 condemnation of the strictures of modesty and sexual purity as unjust impediments to the education of girls and women, they remain principal justifications for keeping girls out of school. 

Right-Wing School Culture Warriors Lost the Last Election Cycle

Although midterm elections aren't always a reliable indicator, educators believe that the appeal of "parents' rights" doesn't extend to efforts to undermine public schools. 

A Proponent of Technified, Skills-Based Higher Ed is Out, but His Soulless Vision Lives On

by François Furstenberg

Jason Wingard's presidency at Temple is over, but his vision of higher education shaped by the skills needs of business and the diminishment of the value of subject experts has enough backing among moneyed interests in tech and education reform to remain dangerous. 

Why LAUSD Teachers Walked Out

At the heart of the walkout of 60,000 education professionals is the reality that the school district's policies are keeping teachers and students in poverty that makes it harder to teach and learn, says a union official. 

Civics Education is at Rock Bottom. We Can Raise it Back Up

by Danielle Allen

Both disinvestment in the civics curriculum and political fights over what to teach mean that US children learn little about the democratic process at all.  A new project aims to rebuild consensus about the need for civics and lay out guiding principles. 

US House "Parental Rights" Bill Threatens to Take Book Banning Nationwide

Each of the five “common sense principles” the bill's sponsor articulates are already granted to parents. What the bill really seeks is to empowe political groups to dictate the content of education and advance the privatization of public schools. 

DeSantis Moves to Expand "Don't Say Gay" Law Coverage to all Grades

The move would exempt lessons in state-mandated health instruction, but such courses would require allowing parents to opt out of them. The change could be implemented by the state board of education without legislative approval. 

Neoliberalism: Why is the Market Involved in Your Hallway Hangout?

by John Patrick Leary

A guide for teens and others to start thinking about how the big political and economic systems we live under shape our lives. Hint: it's about the conflicts between capitalism and democracy.

Why Burned-Out Teachers are Heading for the Door

America's teachers are a diverse group, and the sources of their frustration likewise. But it's clear that a flood of educators out of the profession is a risk for America's schools as the pandemic is being followed by political interference with curriculum and book selection. 

In Florida, the Question is WHOSE Parental Rights

Although right-leaning "parental rights" groups have been prominent advocates for state legislation affecting how schools handle race and gender issues, it's clear that those groups don't represent all parents in the state. 

If Conservatives Want to Use "Choice" to Punish Schools for "Wokeness", What Happens to the Kids?

The annual "School Choice Week" has always been about trashing public schools and teachers unions. This year, it's also trying to scare parents about "woke indoctrination." 

"Classical Christian" Education Movement Can and Must Clean House of White Nationalists

by Jessica Hooten Wilson

The classical educational tradition can be more than a vehicle for reaction and defense of hierarchy if educators recognize the diversity that already exists in the non-male and non-European thinkers represented among its foundational texts. 

The Culture War on Public Education

by Peter Greene

The multifront culture war beseiging schools has one unifying principle: undermining trust in public schools so they can be privatized, without regard for the best interests of children. 

School Politics at the Center of DeSantis's Conservatism

by Lauren Lassabe Shepherd

Although contemporary conservatives tend to malign public schools and teachers, they are tapping into a long historical legacy in which widespread education was conditioned on the promise that schools would inculcate nationalism and the morality of conservative ruling elites. 

Scholars Weigh In: Is a Comprehensive US History Course Still Possible?

A Gilder Lehrman Center panel examined the potential and problems of trying to teach a comprehensive history of the nation in light of multiculturalism and the growing diversity of historical perspectives on slavery, emancipation and equality. 

Disrupt the March of "Disruptive Innovation"

by Kevin Gannon

The economy of innovation and publicity in higher education often rewards people who claim credit for ideas over the people who work to develop, test, and implement them. Academia needs a collaborative model of innovation. 

The Selective Politics of the "Learning Loss" Debate

by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

Discussions of the disruption to learning caused by COVID-related school closures often ignore the endemic inequalities in American education and exposure to harm from COVID, and sideline the voices of teachers who have been sounding the alarm about the dangerous state of their facilities for years. 

Parental Rights Crusades Often Conceal Other Motives

by Edward Larson

Public schools have always been about more than academics, so it's important to look carefully at the actions of any group claiming to represent the parents' role in education.