Free Republic

While Charles de Montesquieu’s The Spirit of the Laws was an oft-cited source during the federal convention of 1787, his observations weren’t limited to the balance of powers in government. He also touched on the nature of educational systems in republics and despotisms. Parents and educators form our first impressions. They prepare people for civil life in republics and for servitude in despotisms. From previous chapters, Montesquieu had explained the springs, the forces which propel nations. Public Virtue is the propellant in republics, while the bayonet of fear prods despotisms. Education in despotic countries debases the mind. The mind of...

The United Nations and its “human rights” bureaucracy are unhappy with American education — especially President Trump’s policies and proposals.Instead of local or parental control, the UN is pushing for radical changes: more federal power, less educational choice, government oversight of private schools, and the promotion of controversial ideological content — all at taxpayer expense. It also wants education globally redefined as a UN-backed “human right.”UN Investigates U.S.The UN’s latest attack on U.S. education, parental rights, state and national sovereignty, and the Constitution came in the form of an investigation and “country report” to the UN’s dictator-dominated “Human Rights Council.”...

Before I wrote about Second Amendment stuff most of the time, I wrote a lot about education. From Title IX abuse to woke administrators and teachers, I covered a lot. AdvertisementThen I came here and started writing about this, which is at least as important as reforming our educational system.Yet I always knew there would be some opportunities to return to talking about colleges. After all, they're notoriously anti-gun, too, as we see from a situation in Maine.A Christian student in a class apparently talked previously about finding Jesus. So far, so good, apparently.Yet the student wanted to talk about...

Clueless beach goers in this throwback video have NO CLUE what the 4th of July is, who we gained our independence from, or who the first president was!

#ArmyOfParents #IStandWithRiley @ArmyOfParents. Who in Northern Virginia has children at @NysmithSchool for the gifted? If you do, you need to demand the resignation of the headmaster or pull your children out immediately. The rapid rise of antisemitism has emboldened antisemites, who are singing the praises of Hitler and targeting Jewish students. This is not only disgusting, but a blatant violation of civil rights. @JasonMiyaresVA MUST address this immediately and @GovernorVA MUST condemn the actions of Nysmith School. @EndAntisemetism @StandWithUs @JCRCgw @Yael4Hanover @KatzForChair @WMALDC @JulieGunlock @LarryOConnor @ChrisPlanteShow @marklevinshow @wapo @dcexaminer Quote: Marina Medvin 🇺🇸 @MarinaMedvin · Jul 1. A northern Virginia...

A jury on Wednesday found a former Chicago Public Schools dean guilty of multiple felony counts for sexually abusing a student, after the young woman testified that he coerced her into a relationship years earlier while she attended a Little Village high school. But after deliberating for nearly three hours, the jury also acquitted Brian Crowder, 43, of three of the seven felony sex charges he faced. Earlier in the afternoon, Cook County prosecutors had asked jurors to hold Crowder accountable for using his position of power to prey on a 15-year-old girl. On Tuesday, jurors began hearing testimony in...

Founded in 1845 and claiming 16,000 students, Baylor University is the world’s largest Baptist University and also one of the oldest. Like many that have gone before, Baylor is deeply compromised despite seeking to be our theological betters. Baylor repeatedly touts their Christian creds, but the game is nearly up. Despite affirming that “The mission of Baylor University is to educate men and women for worldwide leadership and service by integrating academic excellence and Christian commitment within a caring community” and “the biblical understanding that sexual relations of any kind outside of marriage between a man and a woman are...

Parents are concerned after a third teacher in Albuquerque, New Mexico, was arrested in a month for inappropriate behavior with students, KOB 4 reported. Albuquerque police arrested Julian Gunther on Tuesday and transported him to the Metropolitan Detention Center. Gunther, who taught seventh grade social studies at Rio Grande Academy of Fine Arts, is accused of sending sexual messages to someone he thought was a child, according to the report. A detective with Santa Fe police reached out to Gunther posing as a 12-year-old girl after Gunther allegedly posted online searching for women between the ages of 18 and 35...

The Next Generation Accreditation pilot program aims to offer faster, more affordable, and more flexible routes for emerging schools.As a mother of nine in Tennessee, Sarah Fagerburg tried a variety of different schooling types, from public schools to homeschooling, but she always felt there had to be something better. In the spring of 2023, she discovered Acton Academy from listening to a podcast, and knew that this was the educational model she had been seeking.“My mind was blown,” said Fagerburg. “I had no idea education could be this good.”She applied to open her own Acton Academy, and was accepted into...

Most readers would agree, I think, that it is desirable to keep politics out of K-12 classrooms. And one would be hard-pressed to find anyone who favors having universities force secondary students to “learn” a particular political agenda. Yet that is what almost transpired in California this past spring. The story of how this came about, and the (at least partial) success of efforts to stop it, is one worth telling. Courses in “ethnic studies” have become a popular offering at high schools across much of the United States. In some school districts, taking a course in ethnic studies is...

On the Amendment (Hirono Amdt. No. 2382 )

Progressives have long wished that the federal government would more aggressively enforce civil-rights law in higher education. Did they wish upon a monkey’s paw? Since Donald Trump retook the White House, his administration has used the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to trap dozens of colleges in the federal equivalent of a headlock, forcing them to submit to sweeping demands or else have their federal funds frozen or foreign students banned. According to Team Trump, it is targeting academics who violate civil-rights laws—by discriminating against Asian Americans in admissions, allowing biological males to compete with females in athletics, tolerating a...

The departure of James Ryan, who had led the school since 2018, represents a dramatic escalation in the Trump administration’s effort to reshape higher education.The president of the University of Virginia is resigning his position under pressure from the Justice Department, which had pushed for his departure amid scrutiny of the school’s diversity, equity and inclusion practices, a person familiar with the matter said Friday.The departure of James Ryan, who had led the school since 2018, represents a dramatic escalation in the Trump administration’s effort to reshape higher education. Doing it at a public university marks a new frontier in...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - A 15-year-old accused of raping a 7-year-old on a school bus in central Indiana has now been charged as an adult, according to NBC-affiliate WTHR. WTHR reported a judge in Jennings County waived Landon Doty, of North Vernon, to adult court. According to court documents, the victim suffers from “moderate to severe autism” and is non-verbal. The family of the victim said he was sexually assaulted multiple times on his school bus. Court documents say the alleged crimes took place on the bus while being taken to school in the morning/afternoon in front of other children....

Maryland parents have a religious right to withdraw their children from classes on days that storybooks with gay and transgender themes are discussed, the court ruled.Public schools in Maryland must allow parents with religious objections to withdraw their children from classes in which storybooks with L.G.B.T.Q. themes are discussed, the Supreme Court ruled on Friday. The vote was 6 to 3, with the court’s liberal members in dissent. The case extended a winning streak for claims of religious freedom at the court, gains that have often come at the expense of other values, notably gay rights. The case concerned a...

ATLANTA — When younger students return to Georgia public schools this fall, they will learn an old-school skill: handwriting. New changes to the state standards for English Language Arts will require the teaching of cursive writing in elementary school. The state Board of Education approved the standards overhaul two years ago but gave teachers until this fall to prepare. Georgia is joining other states, from Alabama to Texas, that are resurrecting a skill that had seemingly gone the way of the dodo after the proliferation of laptops and touchscreen devices. Even California, the cradle of computer keyboards, passed a law...

What do you call a nation where a high school student can graduate with honors—yet cannot read or write?You call it America in 2025.This week, we learned about Aleysha Ortiz, a 19-year-old who graduated from Hartford Public High School in Connecticut with academic distinction—despite being illiterate. She is now suing the school district, alleging negligence, emotional distress, and a complete abdication of duty by the educators and administrators who were supposed to serve her. Her story, reported by CNN, is both infuriating and emblematic of a national crisis that’s been engineered from top down.Aleysha’s early assessments showed severe learning challenges....

The U.S. Department of Education announced Wednesday that the California Department of Education and the California Interscholastic Federation violated the civil rights of female students on the basis of sex by allowing transgender students to compete in school sports according to their gender identity.Having concluded its investigation, the U.S. Department of Education is calling on California to “voluntarily agree” to change what it determined are “unlawful practices” within 10 days or risk “imminent enforcement action.”“Although Governor Gavin Newsom admitted months ago it was ‘deeply unfair’ to allow men to compete in women’s sports, both the California Department of Education and...

Around 6 million student borrowers are 90 days or more past due on their student loan payments, and around a third of them, or 2 million, could start having a portion of their wages garnished by the federal government starting in July to pay back their loans. According to the Wall Street Journal, the number of borrowers at risk of wage garnishments is higher than the 1.2 million that was estimated by TransUnion. Wage garnishments—a legal procedure allowing a portion of wages to be withheld by the government to pay down a debt—could spell lower pay for the student borrowers...

There were hints last week that something was up between the Trump administration and Harvard. Harvard won in court last Friday and instead of attacking the judge, as Trump tends to do, he posted this positive statement suggesting a deal with Harvard was imminent.<span class="fr-mk" style="display: none;">&nbsp;</span>If a Settlement is made on the basis that is currently being discussed, it will be “mindbogglingly” HISTORIC, and very good for our Country. Thank you for your attention to this matter!Did that mean a legal settlement in the two cases Harvard has filed against the Trump administration? Maybe but not necessarily according to...