Can My Generation Make More Zuckerbergs?
Galatea’ is a columnist writing about her experience looking for work after her recent downsizing. Previous entries in her series can be strong> read here
He Went to Kansas to Say That?
In my column for The Week , I discuss how Obama's speech on income inequality fell short: The Kansas speech was composed of two main parts: a critique of the performance of the U.S. economy over the past generation, and a program for "rebalancing" in the years ahead. The trouble is that …
Don't Reform Law School; Abridge it
The New York Times published an editorial several days ago which discussed the need for reform of legal education in the United States. This editorial took particular aim at the casebook method approach to legal education (sometimes also called the case method, as in the article) and …
Yes, You Can Get an Affordable Education
Noah Kristula-Green and David Frum have written articles in the past week about the high cost of college tuition and its linkage to student loan debt. Noah aptly points out that one way affluent parents can pass along wealth to their children is by paying for college so their children won't have …
An Idea For Republicans
In the 1990s, many Republicans took the problem of hard-core poverty seriously. (One of those poverty-conscious Republicans was Sen. Rick Santorum, now the one presidential candidate who takes seriously the data on faltering upward mobility in America.) In 1999 and 2000, candidate George W. …
The Children Still Left Behind
In National Affairs , Fred Hess makes the point that over-emphasis on racial/class/ethnic "gaps" risks shunting aside most of what Americans should expect their schools to do. [D]isadvantaged and advantaged children have different educational needs and stand to benefit from different kinds …
Res Judicata: The Poisoning That May Save The 10th Amendment
img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-102551" title="Arne Duncan Obama schools" src="/files/wxrimport/2011-08/arne-duncan-obama-schools.jpg" alt="" width="440" height="280" />Unironic Advice for a Struggling President
Like most readers of this site, I read and study the political polls every day. No matter how one feels about the president, the polls for Obama are not good, and recent decisions on key issues may soothe certain political interest groups, while simultaneously poking a finger in the eye of others. …
Would You Defend THESE Teachers?
Steve Brill writes at reuters.com about the "Rubber Rooms" in which New York stashes teachers who have been removed from the classroom pending arbitration of complaints about their performance. How to know whom to believe? I could read the thousands of pages of testimony offered by both …
Hold Students Accountable in Testing
While many people blame teachers for the decline in test scores, scrutiny needs to be placed on students as well. The results just came back, and just 31 percent of my tenth grade English students passed their state high school exam this year. This was my first year teaching a tested …Testing Can Make Teachers Cheat
The revelation of systemic cheating on tests in the Atlanta's Public Schools is sad, but not surprising. Like everyone else who follows the world of public education, I was disgusted and saddened at the report issued by the office of Georgia Governor Nathan Deal this past Tuesday. The report, …The GOP's Hardest Sell
Using social issues to rally the base isn't enough. Eventually, the GOP has to speak to middle-class anxiety and actually sell their proposed spending cuts. A few weeks back, I wrote for Frum Forum on the ongoing battle in Alabama between Republican legislators and the state’s two largest …Amnesty Debate Drowns Out Education Talk
Wednesday, Brookings hosted a panel on the education gap and immigrant children. But, the talk quickly devolved into a debate over the DREAM Act. On Wednesday, the Brookings Institute hosted a panel on the poor educational attainment of immigrant children entitled “Immigrant Children Falling …The Fat Diaries: Boot the Brown Bag Lunch Ban
A public school in Chicago has instituted a ban on lunches from home. But is dissing parents really the way to push healthy eating? If you don't eat yer meat, you can't have any pudding! How can you have any pudding, if you don't eat yer meat? - Pink Floyd, Another Brick in the Wall …
Creationism Gains Ground in Tennessee
Creationist friendly legislation has passed the Tennessee House with overwhelming support of all Republicans, except one. Tennessee House Bill 368, the creationist friendly legislation that we have previously covered on Frum Forum , has passed through of the Tennessee House on a vote of …Creationism Makes a Comeback
The wave of GOP state legislature victories has led to a more favorable environment for creationist friendly legislation. The wave of Republican victories in state legislatures has led to a more favorable environment for creationist friendly legislation to advance. Most of those bills will die …New G.I. Bill Chops Student Vet Benefits
Congress’ new G.I. bill seems more concerned with budget balancing than with actually helping our veterans. On August 1st, an update to the G.I. Bill will come into effect. Its most important provision though will do more to satisfy Congress’ sudden concern for budgetary restraint than actually …College Degrees: No Longer Recession-Proof
In this recession, even a college degree won't protect you from joblessness. The recession is proving that even a college degree does not protect you from joblessness. This may fly in the face of the conventional wisdom but the evidence backs it up. A chart from a Cleveland Federal Reserve report …