Time to take a good look at whether the changes we’ve endured — mass privatization, real-dollar funding decreases, high-stakes testing, and loss of local school board authority — gets us closer to carrying out our constitutional duty to our children.
Commentary
Homeschooling: Not So Eccentric Anymore
The number of American K–12 children educated at home increased from 1.09 million in 2003 to 1.77 million in 2012. That means they make up 3.4 percent of the nation’s school population.
Does Arabic Offend You?
When a traveler’s stupidity and racism lead to a fellow-traveler being searched, interrogated and kicked off a plane for speaking Arabic, not only do we all have a problem. We are the problem.
Poll-Tax Redux: Millions Free From Jail Are Barred From Voting By Criminal Debt
Debt from fines starts at sentencing and can grow at interest rates of 12 percent or more while inmates serve their sentences. It continues to grow after they’re released and face the numerous barriers to finding work and housing.
Give Tax and Spend a Chance
The astonishing momentum of Bernie Sanders’s presidential candidacy reveals that millions of taxpayers are willing to entertain the idea that some of us aren’t taxed enough, and that it’s hurting the rest of us, argues Isaiah J. Poole.
Islam’s Contempt for Self-Criticism: From Salman Rushdie to Kamel Daoud
When the Algerian journalist Kamel Daoud linked rapes in Germany on New Year’s Eve to Muslims’ extreme sexual deprivation and “unhealthy relationship with women, their body, and desire,” he was vilified, and silenced.
What Cara Jennings and Black Lives Matter Protesters Don’t Get
Progressive ideals and values are strong, they don’t need to be shouted or paired with epitaphs to pack a punch. Our jobs are already challenging, and you are making them worse, argues Catherine Durkin Robinson.
Rick Scott’s Shout Show
To trade public punches with another politician or a media critic is an accepted part of the game. To defame a private citizen — one who wasn’t even responsible for publicizing the original incident — is out of bounds.
Benghazi Syndrome: Obama Learns the Wrong Lesson
There was clear support from Security Council members for the initial military action, which unquestionably spared thousands of innocent lives in Benghazi, argues Gareth Evans.
Gateway Drug Bunk: No, Smoking Pot Doesn’t Lead to Harder Drugs
Smoke pot and be merry. Cops’ and politicians’ claims that pot is a gateway drug is baseless fear-mongering intended to stop the legalization of marijuana. But it’s time to dispense with the lie once and for all.