Free Republic

On NRO in January, Jessica Gavora, author of Tilting the Playing Field: Schools, Sports, Sex, and Title IX, asked, "Will feminist mau-mauing kill Title IX reform?" The answer, we now know, is yes. The game's over as far as the blue-ribbon commission set up by the Department of Education to review Title IX — the so-called women's-equity law that has devolved into a federal quota mandate in high-school and college sports — is concerned. In a letter issued late Friday, the Bush administration upheld the current Title IX guidelines, including the Clinton-era proportionality quota that has been the death knell...

Participate! The Department of Education is seeking participation from a broad audience to provide input into the development of the National Education Technology Plan. For more information, CLICK HERE

Living in a major, ethnically diverse urban area, I as a white man am curious about many of the things that I observe in our nation's African American communities. Many of the most recognizable "Black American Icons" call my city (Chicago) home, and have used this media market to launch a number of ideas and discussions into the national spotlight. In doing so, African Americans have drawn attention to legitimate issues that have bettered their lives and the lives of all Americans. It is my observation, however, that some adverse effects are starting to be felt by these so-called "black...

<p>Education Secretary Rod Paige says he once had a low view of federal workers. He now thinks better of them — perhaps at least partly because of reforms he instituted within his own agency.</p> <p>When he arrived in Washington in 2001, he found an Education Department wracked with charges of criminal fraud, waste and abuse. "The Ernst & Young report said you guys can't count — you can't reconcile your books," he said. "Money was being lost. But all that has changed." Indeed, crimes have been charged, and accountability procedures have been introduced. Not long ago, for only the second time in its quarter-century history, the department received a clean financial audit.</p>

Two national Jewish organizations are apologizing to Education Secretary Rod Paige for their criticisms of him over a public endorsement of schools that teach "the values of the Christian community," after it was disclosed that he had been misquoted. The Anti-Defamation League and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism issued the apologies after an examination of Paige's recorded interview with the Baptist Press showed that he was misquoted. The journalist who interviewed Paige and wrote the story was dismissed. The controversial quote appeared in a profile of Paige, published in the April 7 edition of the Baptist Press, the...

Two weeks ago in this column, I wrote about students who had been suspended from their high school for passing out candy canes because a Christian message was attached, and I also told readers about a preacher who was banned from praying before a state legislature because his prayer mentioned Jesus. Numerous e-mails from readers posed interesting questions: What if the notes attached to the candy canes had a verse from the Koran? What then would have been the school's reaction? What if the preacher had been a Muslim or a Buddhist? In other words, was the bias against religious...

Memo to Christians: Shut up! Should evangelical Christians – whose Bible-based views often counter the so-called mainstream social, political and religious attitudes – be restrained from voicing their beliefs in secular settings? Two recent situations suggest that there is a growing effort to silence Christians who express their perspective on current issues. Secretary of Education Rod Paige found this out last week when he suggested that America's public schools could stand to adopt better values systems, even those based on religious teachings. Asked if schools should embrace religious values, Mr. Paige answered, "Absolutely." Asked why there is animosity toward religion...

<p>Education Secretary Rod Paige set off a firestorm last week when he told the Baptist Press that Christian values are conducive to learning. The Washington Post and New York Times (and many other newspapers) denounced Mr. Paige on their editorial pages. Among those calling for his immediate apology or resignation were some Democrats on Capitol Hill and Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.</p>

This is the drumming season. Male woodpeckers are staking out their territories by drumming on hollow trees. A few more enterprising birds will drum on drainpipes or tin roofs. One hairy woodpecker of my acquaintance discovered a "No Hunting" sign lodged between the twin trunks of a maple and created an exquisite racket. During drumming season, the only rule is to find something hollow and then beat on it incessantly. And that's exactly what a bunch of Democrats and hairy woodpeckers of the cultural Left are doing. The hollow tree they are beating on this time is the pretence...

Anti-Christian forces in our culture are operating with growing boldness in seeking to eradicate Christianity from the public square and from the mouths of public officials. In a recent interview with the Baptist Press, Education Secretary Rod Paige said, "All things equal, I would prefer to have a child in a school that has a strong appreciation for the values of the Christian community, where a child is taught to have a strong faith … In a religious environment the value system is set. That's not the case in a public school, where there are so many different kids with...

<p>So what is it about Rod Paige that's got the nation's editorial pages thundering on as though he were proposing to turn America into a Christian Iran?</p> <p>It begins with his honest answer in an interview picked up in a story by the Baptist Press. There Mr. Paige suggested that one advantage of religious schools is that the values are set, and that this is not always the case in public schools. He added that he'd prefer to have a kid in a school with the "kind of values that I think are associated with Christian communities." A transcript of the full interview put up Friday on the Baptist Press Web site (www.bpnews.net) confirms that he gave this last answer in response to a direct question asking about choosing between Christian and private and public universities -- just as Mr. Paige explained when he first started taking flak.</p>

<p>Education Secretary Rod Paige yesterday stood by his comments favoring schools that appreciate "the values of the Christian community," but said he was not trying to impose his religious views on others.</p> <p>At a hastily called news conference, Mr. Paige told reporters, "I understand completely and respect the separation of church and state." He called himself a "fiery advocate" of public education.</p>

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) --The nation's public education leader has drawn fire for expressing a preference for schools that appreciate "the values of the Christian community."</p> <p>"The reason that Christian schools and Christian universities are growing is a result of a strong value system," Education Secretary Rod Paige said in a story run by the Baptist Press, the news service of the Southern Baptist Convention.</p>

<p>HASBROUCK HEIGHTS -- U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige campaigned for Republican Senate candidate Doug Forrester at a library Thursday, calling for more federal funding for Garden State schools and including moral and ethical lessons in the classroom.</p> <p>"Leadership matters," Paige said, echoing Forrester's campaign theme, that Democratic Sen. Robert Torricelli is ethically unfit for the job. "It is awfully important we have people of very high moral standards. Ethical men and women."</p>