In the classical world, even though Pagans and Christians disagreed about the significance of the world they were studying, nevertheless, both shared similar approaches to pedagogy. What has happened to education since the mid-19th century, however, is nothing short of a revolution . . . Continue reading →
Democratic education, says Aristotle, ought to mean, not the education which democrats like, but the education which will preserve democracy. Until we have realized that the two things do not necessarily go together we cannot think clearly about education. For example, an . . . Continue reading →
I submit that given a library of about 300 well chosen books, a chalkboard/dry erase board, a supply of paper, pencils, and pens, a cadre of dedicated, well educated teachers, who had authority to discipline students, produce outstanding high school graduates who, upon examination, could gain entrance into any university in the West. A substantial percentage of what, after Dewey is reckoned education is, in fact, a waste of time and energy. Continue reading →
This outsized influence of the university on K–12 schools occurs not without precedent. Once before, our nation’s dominant philosophy of education universally altered. Prior to the 20th century, American education was almost universally classical in nature — great books, grammar and rhetoric, . . . Continue reading →
Public schools across the USA are actively grooming elementary students for the LGBTQ movement. Continue reading →
The Immediate Danger There is much to bemoan about Twitter as a social media platform. There is much to bewail about social media, which task your dutiful servant has performed in this space. Nevertheless, there are some benefits. One of them is that . . . Continue reading →
This is a bold and indeed a risky undertaking, but one that we wholeheartedly support. The educational establishment in this country is worse than moribund. It is a disaster—and not (to adapt an image from the philosopher David Stove) a static disaster . . . Continue reading →
Incensed parents now make news almost daily, objecting to radical material taught in their children’s public schools. But little insight has been provided into the mindset and tactics of activist teachers themselves. That may now be changing, thanks to leaked audio from . . . Continue reading →
Christina Wyman has published an OpEd on NBCnews.com in which she argues that parents who insist on influencing the education of their children do not understand how education actually works. She observes that the latest crisis, focused on the schools in Loudon . . . Continue reading →
The genesis of CRT in education is arguably Gloria Ladson-Billings’s seminal essay “Just what is critical race theory and what is it doing in a nice field like education?” In it, she repudiates the slow progress of the civil-rights movement and concludes . . . Continue reading →
By May, at the risk of violating state truancy laws, Wrobel had stopped fighting and let her kids log on (or not) whenever they felt like it. It was, she said, “the darkest hour before dawn.” That September, she started homeschooling. She . . . Continue reading →
A Sacramento area high school teacher indoctrinates students in Antifa ideology. Continue reading →
As the man said about the Grateful Dead, academic year 2020-21 has been a “long, strange, trip.” For part of the year we have been online only and for part of the year we have been in hybrid mode, with some of . . . Continue reading →
In classics, two major changes were made. The “classics” track, which required an intermediate proficiency in Greek or Latin to enter the concentration, was eliminated, as was the requirement for students to take Greek or Latin. Students still are encouraged to take . . . Continue reading →
Regular readers of this space will know that I have warned about the dangers of sending children to public schools. There is a quiet crisis occurring inn public schools: sexual abuse. Nearly every day in America a public school teacher or staffer . . . Continue reading →
I do not typically read website comments. There are exceptions. Continue reading
Note: Things are only getting worse in the public schools across the USA. When I first addressed this it was out of alarm about the amazing but largely ignored problem of sexual predators roaming the halls in public schools across the USA. . . . Continue reading →
Most Americans were illiterate before the creation of our public education system in the 1830s. That seems to be a popular assumption, but is it true? If you’re looking for statistics, they’re notoriously hard to get when it comes to literacy rates . . . Continue reading →
As cultural and political polarization reaches more and more areas of American life, one still holds out hope that schools can remain a relatively apolitical oasis where children can learn to read, write, and develop skills of socialization. The NCTE insists, however, . . . Continue reading →
