Free Republic

As school funding became a matter of standardized test scores in reading and math, the budget tightened for classes that taught woodworking and printmaking. From the 1990s to the early 2010s, students took fewer credits in shop class — or as it is now called, Career Tech Education — according to data from the National Center of Education Statistics. Instead, the priority turned toward securing students spots in four-year degree programs. But with more job openings in the trades and more questions around the value of a four-year college degree, high schools are turning their attention back to equipping the...

President Bush has just concluded his obligatory speech from New Orleans to tell us how we're all going to be heavily involved and invested in the rebuilding of the Crescent City. Let's take a quick look at his laundry list -- a list for which he neglected to name a price tag. • The federal government will "do what it takes" and will "stay as long as it takes" -- great, just what I wanted to hear. • States will be reimbursed for their efforts in responding to Katrina. Does that include states like North Dakota, Wisconsin, Minnesota, or Montana...