Author Archives: Jeffrey

Bennett: I Challenge YOU…

For these past many years, this author and publisher have tackled many issues, which are of paramount concern to all freedom loving Americans; gun control (the 2nd Amendment), the illegal invasion of this nation (immigration), spirituality (not religion or ‘churchianity, Health Care, the intrusion on our privacy and rights (NSA and complete violation of ALL of the original Bill of Rights) – and so many more issues, which we are not prepared to devote a column to at this time, BUT…

What we are going to devote the Metropolis Café to – is the sorry state of what was once our greatness – the ‘education’ system in America, yesterday, today and tomorrow. Continue reading →

Lost in the Shuffle: The Dramatic School District Decline of the Last 100 Years

While compiling a list of individual, public-school districts in Minnesota the other day, I noticed something curious. My list consisted of around 330 districts … but the district numbers weren’t all consecutive.

The list started with Aitkin (District Number 1*), proceeded to Hill City (District Number 2), jumped to McGregor (District Number 4), and then to Anoka-Hennepin (District Number 11). The numbers continued jumping, eventually reaching Ada-Borup-West (District Number 2910).

“There must have been around 3,000 districts in Minnesota at one time,” I concluded, thinking that going from 3,000 to just over 300 was quite the reduction! Continue reading →

Who Was Jean-Jacques Rousseau?

‘Masochist, exhibitionist, neurasthenic, hypochondriac, onanist, latent homosexual afflicted by the typical urge for repeated displacements, incapable of normal or parental affection, incipient paranoiac, narcissistic introvert rendered unsocial by his illness, filled with guilt feelings, pathologically timid, a kleptomaniac, infantilist, irritable and miserly’.

This is how one scholar has diagnosed Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Harsh though this may sound, the details of Rousseau’s life (1712–1778) bear out this description. Continue reading →

**Angela Davis ‘can’t believe’ Ancestral Lineage After Finding She’s a Descendant of the Mayflower Pilgrim**

Angela Davis appeared on February 21, 2023, episode of ‘Finding Your Roots‘ to uncover the mysteries of her family’s past.

Angela Davis is a 79-year-old author and symbol of the Black Power movement. As a political activist and truth seeker, Davis appeared on February 21, 2023, episode of “Finding Your Roots” to uncover the mysteries of her family’s past. Hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr., the show presented Davis with some answers to questions she’d had for decades. The first question posed to Gates’ team was to find the identity of Davis’ maternal grandparents, whom her mother, Sallye Bell, never knew.

Though they were unable to learn her grandmother’s name, the team was able to trace her father’s identity: John Austin Darden, a white Alabama lawyer. When Davis saw a photo of Darden, she noted the family resemblance, “He has my mother’s lips. It’s so funny, I can see her in him”. The team also learned that Darden had four sons and two daughters, leaving the possibility that her mother had other Black half-siblings. Continue reading →

Homeschoolers Don’t Need Government Regulation

Since 2020, the number of families participating in homeschooling has increased significantly, and with it, discussions about regulations. Currently, regulations of homeschoolers are a state-by-state phenomenon, with Pennsylvania and New York among the states with the most regulations and Missouri, Texas, and Oklahoma with the least. Examples of regulations include requiring parents to submit a letter of intent to homeschool prior to removing their children from the classroom, having teaching qualifications, teaching specific subjects, having evidence of vaccinations, schooling each child for a certain number of hours, and more.

One of the many reasons for the push for regulations has to do with the desire to protect children from isolation, educational neglect, and other more-violent forms of abuse. Continue reading →

Streitel: Public Schools Have No Respect for the Students or Their Parents

Some of us may remember the Helen Lovejoy character in The Simpsons, who would appear any time some catastrophe befell the town and plaintively wail, “Won’t someone please think of the children?!”

The joke here, of course, is that as long as you do something in the name of helping children, it must be right, and you must be virtuous.

Such sentiments are easily ridiculed in cartoons, but unfortunately, they take root in reality like Russian knapweed despite copious evidence undermining their veracity. Consider your own government-school experiences, whether as a student, parent, or interested observer… Continue reading →

Teach the Basics or SEL?

We’ve reached the home stretch of the school year, and by now, most parents, teachers, and even students understand the lay of the land in their schools. It’s pretty apparent whether classrooms are under control, whether students are learning, and whether teachers are getting burnt out by top-down mandates and demands.

Unfortunately, it seems the individuals smart enough to decipher these signs aren’t liking what they’re seeing, for according to a new poll from Pew Research, only 16% of Americans believe the public education system is going in the right direction. Continue reading →

Who is Mount Rushmore named after?

If only everything was this easy…

There are few American heritage sites as well known as Mount Rushmore. The colossal statues, which can be found in the Black Hills of South Dakota, are known as “The Shrine of Democracy.”

It’s been nearly a century since the controversial monument was started and left unfinished but despite its unfinished status, the monument attracts more than 2 million visitors per year. While the Native Americans who call the land home have a much more spiritual name for the landmark, the mountain was renamed for a dandy New York lawyer. Continue reading →

Jimmy Carter Built a Solar Farm in His Hometown and It Now Powers Half of the Entire City

NOTE: The following was published on February 18, 2020. Mr. Carter will be 100 years old on October 1, 2024 – and in my personal opinion – and no – I did not vote for him – he is the ONE President in our life-time who NEVER quit working FOR America. A very fine Human being in so many respects. ~ Editor

Jimmy Carter was way ahead of the rest of America when he put solar panels on the White House. On June 20, 1979, he made a proud proclamation:

In the year 2000 this solar water heater behind me, which is being dedicated today, will still be here supplying cheap, efficient energy…. A generation from now, this solar heater can either be a curiosity, a museum piece, an example of a road not taken or it can be just a small part of one of the greatest and most exciting adventures ever undertaken by the American people.

The 32-panel system was designed to heat water throughout the presidential residence. Continue reading →

Homeschool Moms: It’s Time to Kick Your Inferiority Complex

You’re more qualified to teach your kids than you think you are.

Homeschooling parents who learn alongside their children often share their enthusiasm as well. (LightField Studios/Shutterstock)

I had lunch with a friend the other day, and it wasn’t long before our conversation drifted to her role as a homeschool mom. In essence, she was frustrated and overwhelmed, convinced that she was doing a terrible job teaching her children, and desperately wondering if she should put them in a traditional classroom.

“Well, I wouldn’t put them in a public school – on an academics basis alone,” I said, working my way through lunch. Being an education researcher has its perks, because when she asked what I meant, I started citing the proficiency statistics for a public school district near her own. “Did you know that only 23 percent of kids in that district can read proficiently?” I asked. “Think your kids can do better than that?”

“Oh,” came her response, and as a hint of a smile played at her lips, I knew she’d suddenly realized that maybe her kids were doing way better than she thought. Continue reading →

Seese: Did the Founders Understand the Constitution?

Is the above just a stupid question? Did our founders, the ones who hammered out the Constitution of the United States, several of whom became presidents, fail to understand the Constitution of the United States of America? Why would anyone even ask a question like that?

Because either the Founders misunderstood the Constitution they drafted and the states ratified, or the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals is clueless as to the meaning and intent of the Constitution and our founders, as is evidenced by the order to Roy Moore, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama, to remove the Ten Commandments from public premises.

That makes the title question valid. Either the Founders had no idea what they meant, or the federal courts and the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) has invented another document out of what our forefathers wrote, and meant when it was written! Continue reading →

Walker Percy on How to Recover Education

Why is it that so many students in the modern American education system say that school is “boring”? Aren’t they learning about the most fascinating aspects of our world? Isn’t part of human nature, as Aristotle teaches, to desire to know? Continue reading →

Making a Case for Cursive

Recently, I asked my fifth graders if they enjoyed writing in cursive. Students at the all-boys Catholic school where I work start training in cursive penmanship in third grade, so my students had been practicing it for the better part of three years. I expected them to say that it is boring, that they do not like it, but they all said that they preferred cursive to printing. Continue reading →

A Hybrid Homeschool That Gives Control to Parents, Focuses on Tradition — and Includes God

(Courtesy of Renae Zentz)

Ten years ago, a visionary mom embarked on a homeschooling journey with a heartfelt admiration for traditional American values, a never-ending love of learning, and a mission to spread kindness. Many families came on board, one after another, and together they are creating a subtle yet significant difference in our society.

I know this woman and her family personally and feel honored to be one of the teachers at this hybrid homeschool. Let me take you on an educational adventure to this institute that embraces God and prioritizes families. Continue reading →

Fun Rainy Day Activities Your Kids Will LOVE

Rainy days can put a damper on outdoor playtime, leaving parents scrambling for ways to keep their kids entertained indoors. Fear not! With a bit of creativity and resourcefulness, you can turn a gloomy day into a fun-filled adventure right in the comfort of your own home. In this article, courtesy of Metropolis.Cafe, we’ll go over some engaging activities to keep your little ones happily occupied when the weather keeps them from playing outside. Continue reading →

Can John C. Calhoun Save America?

Statesman John Calhoun, often vilified by modern sophisticates for the Confederacy’s embrace of his political philosophy, was in fact one of the greatest and most articulate champions of states’ rights, limited government, and strict federalism subsequent to the Founding Fathers.

A two-time vice president and one of America’s greatest senators, John C. Calhoun was also one of the most eloquent proponents of limited government and states’ rights… Continue reading →

Feeling Unqualified to Homeschool? 8 Resources to Get Started

If you’re feeling unqualified to homeschool, you’re not alone. The question of what and how to teach stressed me out early on in my homeschooling journey.

I found that having a good curriculum did a great deal to reduce my fears of not being qualified to teach. I wanted to strike a balance between bookwork, memorization, and fun interactive activities. I wanted to make sure to impart to my kids the basic body of knowledge necessary for a good education, yet I didn’t want to burn them out with endless worksheets. Continue reading →

George Washington Family Secrets Revealed by DNA From Unmarked 19th Century Graves Really!

President George Washington had no children of his own, but new research has identified the remains of two of his grandnephews and their mother. ~ Bildagentur-online/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

Genetic analysis has shed light on a long-standing mystery surrounding the fates of President George Washington’s younger brother Samuel and his kin. Two of Samuel’s descendants and their mother were recently identified from skeletal remains found in unmarked burials dating back to the 1880s. The investigation also provided the first patrilineal DNA map for the first US president, who had no children of his own. Continue reading →

**Claude Frédéric Bastiat: The LAW (June, 1850)**

~ PREFACE ~
THE LAW, first published as a pamphlet in June of 1850, and published on the first generation of The Federal Observer in 2001, is now a hundred and 174 years old. When a reviewer wishes to give special recognition to a book, he predicts that it will still be read “a hundred years from now.” And because its truths are eternal, it will still be read when another century has passed. These truths are particularly true and evident today. Frédéric Bastiat was a French economist, statesman, and author. He did most of his writing during the years just before – and immediately following – the French Revolution of February 1848. This was the period when France was rapidly turning to complete socialism. As a Deputy to the Legislative Assembly, Mr. Bastiat was studying and explaining each socialist fallacy as it appeared. He explained how a system of socialism must inevitably degenerate into a system of communism, totalitarian despotism, and from there, when the system becomes intolerably oppressive, into lawlessness and anarchy, inevitably to revolution and war. But most of his countrymen and the world have chosen to ignore his logic. Kettle Moraine Publications through Metropolis.Café, presents Bastiat’s THE LAW to the Sovereign Citizens of the Web because the same situation exists in the United States and the World today in the 21st Century as existed in the France of 1848. The same socialist-communist ideas and plans that were then adopted in France have now swept America. The explanations and arguments then advanced against socialism by Mr. Bastiat are – Word For Word – equally valid today. His thoughts on THE LAW deserve a serious hearing by all concerned and honorable citizens of the United States and the World. We cannot long afford to continue to ignore his logic.

~ The Translation ~
This 1950 translation of THE LAW was done seventy-four years ago by Dean Russell of The Foundation For Economic Education, Inc., Irvington-On-Hudson, New York. Mr. Russell’s objective was an accurate rendering of Mr. Bastiat’s words and ideas into twentieth century, idiomatic English. A nineteenth century translation of THE LAW, made in 1853 in England by an unidentified contemporary of Mr. Bastiat, was of much value as a check against this translation. In addition, Dean Russell had his work reviewed by Bertrand de Jouvenel, the noted French economist, historian, and author who was also thoroughly familiar with the English language. While Mr. de Jouvenel offered many valuable corrections and suggestions, it should be clearly understood that Mr. Russell bears full responsibility for the translation. ~ Jeffrey Bennett, Kettle Moraine Publications
Continue reading →

The Inspiring Front Lines of the 20th-Century Homeschool Revolution

“We’re having a Revolution uh-huh…”

When she was a young girl, Sandra Day O’Connor began her education at home. Her early years of schooling on an Arizona ranch were sitting at the kitchen table with her mother, learning to read, and taking long nature walks.

I read this, and this scene of serenity, this future Supreme Court Justice, beginning her education at home, formed an image in my mind of what might be possible. Continue reading →