Free Republic

Union leaders shame parents, arguing that equity gaps will widen if parents pull their children out of public schools. Parents who bring their children together in small learning groups during the pandemic not only get labeled as eccentric, but also as segregationists guilty of promoting racial division in a nation with an ugly history of "separate but equal." The National Education Association lays out the talking point in a recent policy paper, and industry insiders have repeated the claim on dozens of platforms. Using loaded terms like "radical" and "unqualified," they have sounded the alarm about a massive parental revolt.

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), America's largest and most powerful LGBT lobby organizations, is pushing Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to target Christian educational institutions, demanding that the Biden Administration strip colleges that adhere to rules and positions opposing homosexuality of their accreditation. The HRC's "Blueprint for Positive Change," which offers 85 recommendations, proposes eliminating non-discrimination exemptions for religious colleges if they refuse to abandon the biblical position on marriage. Al Mohler, a theologian and president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, sounded the alarm on the HRC's push in an essay titled "A Direct Threat to Christian Education." The...

Lawmakers in at least eight states are pushing legislation this year that would require high-school seniors to complete federal or state financial-aid applications before they can graduate, part of a broad effort to guide more high-school students toward college. Supporters say the mandates would bring postsecondary education within reach for millions more young adults by helping them claim billions of dollars in grants for which they are already eligible, and ultimately help improve the economy by creating a more educated workforce. They also hope that requiring the forms—or even compelling students who want exemptions to meet with guidance counselors—would provide...

Even though it may not boast any dreaming spires or belong to the Russell Group of leading universities, there was a time not so very long ago when Leicester University punched well above the weight of its provincial rivals. Named Britain’s ‘University of the Year’ in 2008, with a heritage that encompassed great thinkers such as novelist Malcolm Bradbury, a former student, poet Philip Larkin, one of its old librarians, and Sir David Attenborough, who lived on the attractive campus as a child, it was home to nearly 23,000 students. Exactly a decade ago, Leicester came 17th in the Guardian...

The 1776 Commission was removed from the White House website about an hour after President Joe Biden was sworn into office on Wednesday afternoon. Biden had already prepared to reverse key policies of the Trump administration through executive orders on his first day in the White House. One of those policies to be reversed was the 1776 Commission, according to a report by CNN. The 1776 Commission had released its final report on Monday, fulfilling Trump’s request to reaffirm the importance of America’s founding principles in the daily life and education of its citizens. Now, a search for “1776 report”...

I didn't walk out of my classes or forsake my responsibilities as an act of defiant protest. I will perform my daily duties to the best of my ability, as a sign of commitment to the values I hold dear.Four years ago, students across America walked out of class (if they had shown up in the first place) in protest of the perceived horror that was the inauguration of President Donald Trump.Students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill walked out of class to protest Trump’s inauguration. More than 100 students at Boston’s Northeastern University walked out of...

Over 14,000 school boards, with about 100,000 members, set the course for instruction in classrooms across the country. To understand the views of parents and school board members in debates about K-12 content and policy, The Heritage Foundation commissioned a nationally representative survey.

The newly formed President's Advisory 1776 Commission just released its report. The group was chaired by Churchill historian and Hillsdale College President Dr. Larry P. Arnn. The vice chair was Dr. Carol M. Swain, a retired professor of political science. (Full disclosure: I was a member of the commission.) The unanimously approved conclusions focused on the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the historical challenges to these founding documents and the need for civic renewal. The 16-member commission was diverse in the widest sense of the familiar adjective. It included historians, lawyers, academics, scholars, authors, former elected officials and past public...

In Look to Windward, a science fiction novel from the late Scottish author Iain M. Banks, perfectly clear video and audio can be instantaneously transmitted across vast interstellar distances, yet people still vie to be physically present at a concert. This is something to consider the next time your local school board assures you that the classroom experience can be recreated on Zoom. Last spring, the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic forced schools across the country to adopt “online learning,” a euphemism for teachers yelling impotently at the disembodied heads of 20 students on a flickering video screen. The...

People To Have More Babies Republicans must become not just the party of workers but also the party of families. They should do it by upping Joe Biden’s proposed child tax credit into something bigger.As the Republican Party charts its path during a Joe Biden presidency, there will undoubtedly be calls from the corporate wing to return to the neoliberal orthodoxy that defined it under the Bushes, Mitt Romney, and Paul Ryan. This would be a profound mistake.President Donald Trump has repositioned Republicans as the party of workers with his focus on trade, industrial, and immigration issues. By crafting an...

Do you know what’s going on in your kid’s school? The three R’s – reading, writing, and arithmetic – have taken a back seat to a fourth R. Max Eden, Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, explains what that fourth R is, and why it’s so destructive.

The President Trump-backed 1776 Commission released a report on the state of American education Monday in what the White House described as a "rebuttal" to the New York Times "1619 Project" and other historical accounts that take a critical view of the country’s earliest days. "The 1776 report," released on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, was developed in response to Trump’s call to promote "patriotic education" in schools. In the report, the commission argues that schools "should reject any curriculum that promotes one-sided partisan opinions, activist propaganda, or factional ideologies that demean America’s heritage, dishonor our heroes, or deny our...

Popular entertainer Demi Lovato posted a video on her Instagram page showing comments critical of diversity efforts in the Carroll school district that has generated more than 2 million views. “It is horrifying to see how some of the parents at Carroll ISD in Southlake, TX are literally FIGHTING to uphold white supremacy and are resisting the anti-racism work that is so needed. @southlakearc keep pushing for change, this work is more important than ever,” Lovato wrote. The video is a compilation of comments from parents who attended Carroll school board meetings and who were critical of the school district’s...

You can’t be serious, Dude. There was a time in the US when you could get a great job if you earned a bachelor’s degree in “anything.” The catch is that JFK was president at the time. Most parents (and their students) are oblivious to how college really works today. In some ways it is hard to blame them. Colleges and universities have a powerful public relations team, pushing the message 24/7 that "college is for all." The team is made up of educators, guidance counselors, financial aid officers, politicians, pop culture, special interest groups--like the College Board, and college...

New standards proposed by the Minnesota Department of Education would banish lessons about World War I, World War II, the Holocaust, the Civil War, the American Revolution, communism, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Replacing those significant history topics will be "systemic racism," how democracy has "excluded certain groups," an "awareness" of "the LGBTQ+ community" and how the disenfranchisement of freed blacks during Reconstruction connects to "persistent discrimination and inequity" today.

CLEVELAND — A new School of One, run by the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, is focused on creating a space for students who identify as LGBTQ+. During the pandemic, classes are online, but once hybrid learning is available, leaders at the school hope to have some students at the LGBT Community Center on Detroit. CMSD says it is the first of its kind in the country. "It blows my mind. I didn't honestly think it was going to be this easy," said DaJon Battle, a program administrator with the district. Battle, who identifies as Queer, said representation in schools is...

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) released new coronavirus guidance Thursday, as President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration approaches, insisting “schools need to be open.” State agencies are now prioritizing in-person instruction, reported Richmond.com, after months of the Trump administration urging states to reopen schools.

What this young woman does not understand is that parents have been giving children up to RE EDUCATION camps for the last 35 years. What is new is that it is being sent out loud. From Library Strip clubs for preschoolers to the International Baccalaurate program, the children have been co-opted and re-educated. The little kids walking through the airport or the state fair wearing leashes disguised as monkey backpacks signal every parent’s worst nightmare: losing their child. That nightmare increases ten-fold when the loss is inflicted upon parents via so-called authority figures such as Child Protective Services or other...

The lawsuit goes on to say that during a meeting with the school’s principal, Jeannie Steenberge, and a faculty member, the two adults allowed the black students to berate and scream at their daughter, calling her “the biggest known racist in the school,” and accusing her of being “in love with Trump” because she owned Trump decals and other merchandise. “Everyone knows ALL Trump supporters are racist,” the petition claims one black student said. During another meeting, the parents’ petition says the principal told their daughter she was a racist, and that “we are all racists, we are white.” According...

Black children across Illinois are a step closer to being ensured a quality education under a plan led by Senate Majority Leader Kimberly A. Lightford (D-Maywood) that passed the Illinois Senate today. The legislation is part of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus’ plan to rid Illinois of systemic racism. ... Rooted in equity, House Bill 2170 pivots away from teaching history from a Eurocentric perspective by reforming the state’s history curriculum through an Inclusive American History Commission that will make sure students learn about people from all backgrounds. “For so long, we’ve taught American history in a way that ignores...