Free Republic

Every year, almost every industry improves. We get more choices -- usually better choices, for less money. "But of all the products we make and the services we provide, there's one that stands out as an exception," according to the Cato Institute's Andrew Coulson. "One activity in which excellence doesn't spawn countless imitators or spread on a massive scale: schooling." Why not? What can be done about it? These questions are asked and often answered by Coulson's new PBS TV series "School Inc." It's a wonderful three hours, reaching back years to America's first experiments in education and traveling the...

A Syracuse University professor recently urged students and colleagues to help “finish...off” the “fascists” who were demonstrating against Sharia law. “We almost have the fascists in [sic] on the run,” Professor Dana Cloud tweeted Saturday, referring to the local “March Against Sharia” demonstration taking place that day. “Syracuse people come down to the federal building to finish them off.” A self-proclaimed socialist, Cloud has been featured on Turning Point USA’s Professor Watchlist for blaming the U.S. for 9/11 and for rewriting the Pledge of Allegiance to the people of Iraq, Palestine and Afghanistan.

A Christian preschool in Sweden has banned children from saying grace at mealtimes, talking about the Bible, or saying “Amen”. The decision to forbid children at the school in Umea to engage in religious practices was reached after a school inspection. The municipality’s supervisors in charge of education noted that the Christian activities violate Sweden’s educational policies, Swedish National Broadcaster STV reported. Sweden’s Education Act prohibits schools from having confessional elements during school time and says children should be able to opt-out of religious practices. Inspectors believed the preschool, run by the Salvation Army, didn’t give children a choice as...

America doesn’t have an unemployment problem – it has an education and skilled worker problem. Right now, there are millions of available jobs all around the country with top companies offering good pay and benefits. However, the problem for these potential employers is a lack of skilled or properly educated workers. This is a massive issue in America, which President Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos are working to address. Recent figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show the number of potential jobs in America at an all-time high – roughly six million available jobs - but...

Try a thought experiment: Consider immigrants in the U.S. from Algeria, Israel and Japan and rank them, from highest to lowest, by educational attainment. Here’s the correct order, according to data from the Census Bureau: Algerians have average schooling of 14.7 years, followed by Israelis with 14.5 years, and Japanese with 14.3. Surprised? Consider an additional fact: Algerians represent about 1 in 2,500 immigrants in the U.S., whereas Israelis are 1 in 350 and Japanese 1 in 100. Here’s another counterintuitive result: The average educational level in Mexico, 8.5 years, is almost twice that of India, 4.4 years. Yet Indian...

The nation owes about $1.5 trillion in student loans today. Nearly $1 trillion of this was added during the last president’s term. Student loan debt has skyrocketed past credit card debt, and all other revolving consumer debt combined. By the end of next year, the country will pass the $2 trillion mark. This debt is strapped to 44 million people in the country, who carry an average debt of $34,000. Interest alone on this amount is about $90 billion per year. In President Trump’s joint session address last night, however, he said absolutely nothing about the student loan problem.

An appellate court in Arizona ruled that DREAMers cannot receive in-state tuition. Each state can determine whether it can give these tax-supported benefits, the court held. Under the ruling, illegal immigrants that have Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status may not pay the in-state tuition rate. “The decision is key because in-state tuition is yet another benefit that acts as a magnet for illegal aliens choosing to make the reckless and irresponsible decision to bring their children illegally across our sovereign borders,” Immigration Reform Law Institute’s (IRLI) executive director and general counsel, Dale Wilcox told Breitbart Texas. Arizona...

I teach in a mixed comprehensive in a constituency where on 8 June over two-thirds voted Labour, where an overwhelming majority voted Labour in the most recent mayoral vote, and where Labour has been the largest party on the local council for decades. A large majority of staff at our school vote Labour. As a Labour supporter, this thrills me; as a teacher, it makes me question whether my school is doing enough to help our students appreciate other viewpoints. As teachers, we are bound by the 1996 Education Act to present different political beliefs impartially and to not promote...

READING, Pennsylvania, June 23, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – Massive outcry from pro-life students and activists caused a Pennsylvania school board to pull a proposal for the establishment of a Planned Parenthood-run "sexual health counseling center" inside a high school. However, the fight isn't over. The board will likely debate the proposal at another time and vote on it in August. The pro-abortion group AccessMatters suggested the creation of a "sexual health counseling center" inside Reading High School and run by Planned Parenthood. This center would focus "primarily [on] counseling services and condoms," according to the Reading Eagle, and "Planned Parenthood Keystone...

"Catholic" School Introduces Gender Neutral Uniforms Edit: this is from the blog "Listening in the Desert", where the allegedly Catholic Diocesan school in the United Kingdom has introduced a gender-neutral uniform. St Anthony’s Catholic primary school in Southwark Diocese UK announced yesterday that it will be introducing a “Gender Neutral” school uniform from September 2017.In its weekly newsletter via the school’s website, Head teacher Mrs. Jane Day says:  “I am pleased to announce that the Governors have approved the introduction of a gender neutral uniform which will be introduced in September. Rather than having a separate uniform for girls and boys,...

Essex County College has fired adjunct professor Lisa Durden after she made racially insensitive comments in an interview with Tucker Carlson on Fox News, according to a new report by the Associated Press. The college’s president, Anthony Munroe, announced the decision Friday, two weeks after Durden went on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” to discuss an “all-black Memorial Day celebration” hosted by a Black Lives Matter group. When asked by Carlson about the event, Durden interrupted the host, saying “boo hoo hoo. You white people are angry because you couldn’t use your white privilege card to get invited” to the Black Lives...

University of Delaware professor slammed for saying North Korea prisoner Otto Warmbier was a 'privileged, rich, clueless white male' who ‘got exactly what he deserved’ People across the country are calling for a part-time professor to be fired after she wrote on Facebook that she thinks Otto Warmbier 'got exactly what he deserved.' Katherine Dettwyler, who teaches anthropology at the University of Delaware, wrote on her personal Facebook Tuesday, one day after Warmbier's death, that he had the 'typical mindset of a lot of young, rich, clueless males who come into my classes.' The post, which was deleted just after...

A Connecticut college is facing national outrage after a professor posted a series of Facebook messages attacking white people – along with a link to an essay that suggested first responders to last week’s congressional shootings should’ve let the lawmakers “f***ing” die. Trinity College Professor Johnny Eric Williams also reportedly shared an essay posted on Medium that included a photograph of Majority Leader Steve Scalise, titled, “Let Them F***ing Die.” The anonymous essayist opined that the Capitol police officers should’ve let Rep. Scalise and otherRepublican lawmakers die in last week’s ball park attack. “Saving the life of those that would...

A teacher at a public high school in Alabama sent his students home with a summer reading list chock full of conservative authors from which to choose, including Ann Coulter, Ronald Reagan, Walter Williams, Thomas Sowell, and libertarian John Stossel. But parents became concerned that it leaned too far right and so now, the kids don’t have to read anything over the summer.

EDEN, N.C. – “White privilege” training in the Rockingham County school system is causing a lot of headaches. Superintendent Rodney Shotwell told Rockingham Now the state threatened to withhold federal funding when a disproportionate number of minority students were suspended in a special exceptional children’s program in 2012 and 2013, so district leaders implemented mandatory “equity training” for school staff. Now, some teachers are complaining that the training materials focused on white privilege and transgender issues violate their principles, while parents are speaking out about other teachers who are taking what they learned and imposing it on students. At a...

Julius Caesar is dead (again). Long live "Julius Caesar." Whether the famous dead Roman is a lookalike for President Donald Trump, with a blond comb-over and a long red tie; a cool black dude in a tailored suit suggesting former President Barack Obama; or a 1930s Orson Welles with a Sam Browne belt resembling Benito Mussolini, the character has captured the imagination of the public and the players since Shakespeare wrote the play more than four centuries ago. The spectacle changes with fresh costumes and new sets to emphasize contemporary issues for specific audiences, but the words continue to plumb...

Despite spending more per pupil than all but two large school districts in America, at least half a dozen government schools in Baltimore were unable to produce one single student who was proficient in either English or math last year. The shocking results, uncovered by Project Baltimore, show a monumental tragedy unfolding in the city that represents a microcosm of the damage being inflicted on children across America. The proficiency tests put students in five categories, with four and five considered proficient, and one through three considered not proficient.

Parents are outraged that a North Carolina school district which faces a nearly $6 million budget shortfall is paying for so-called “equity training” for school staff which includes topics such as “structural racism” and “white privilege.” Rockingham County Schools is paying OpenSource Strategic Consulting a flat fee of $45,000 and will reimburse up to $1,500 for travel expenses over the course of the training, according to a June 20 report by A.P. Dillon of American Lens. Rockingham County commissioners recently cut the county’s education allotment by $269,000. The district faces around a $5.7 million shortfall, the report said. The Rockingham...

Married teacher arrested for having sex with teen student A married teacher was busted for allegedly raping a 16-year-old student as they carried on a romantic relationship, according to reports. Lindsey Jarvis, 27, allegedly had sex with the underage boy when she worked as a social studies teacher at Woodford County Middle School in Kentucky, according to WKYT. The victim told police that he slept with Jarvis, while his cellphone had evidence that he and the teacher were in a romantic relationship.

TORONTO, June 21, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) — The Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association is tweeting support for the international pro-abortion Women Deliver conference to be held in Vancouver in 2019. OECTA tweeted on June 14: Just announced! @WomenDeliver, the largest global conf. on the rights of women, will be hosted in Canada this year: But Women Deliver, funded in part by the United Nations, advocates for global “sexual and reproductive health and rights” for women. Lest there be any doubt what that means, the Women Deliver website notes: Realizing these rights requires meeting the need for modern contraception, and sexual and...