This teacher wants his students to know that even the smallest act matters.
This October, students at Abbey Lane Elementary School in Levittown, New York, will take on a project that helps make the lives of cancer patients, survivors, and their families just a little bit brighter. They’re writing letters to cancer survivors to give them hope and encouragement. Continue reading
The Science Learning Center at the University of Georgia.
If you need an accurate update on some of the madness at the nation’s institutions of higher learning, check out Minding the Campus, a nonprofit independent organization. John Leo, its editor in chief, says that the organization’s prime mission is dedicated to the revival of intellectual pluralism and the best traditions of liberal education at America’s colleges and universities. Leo’s most recent compilation of campus madness leaves one nearly breathless. Continue reading
I’m working on writing a middle grade book. I love to write. I read loads of middle grade books. I’ve friended every middle grade author I know on Facebook and enjoy reading about them. But when I sit down to write, it’s not that fun. In fact, it’s frustrating and stressful and time-consuming. Because the truth is that hard work isn’t really that much fun. Continue reading
Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806) was an African-American mathematician, surveyor, astronomer, and publisher of a popular almanac. Banneker wrote a now-famous letter to Thomas Jefferson on August 19, 1791, arguing eloquently that “…however variable we may be in Society or religion, however diversifyed in Situation or colour, we are all of the Same Family, and Stand in the Same relation to him [God].”[1]
In his reply to Banneker on August 30, Jefferson wrote,
No body wishes more than I do to see such proofs as you exhibit, the nature has given to our black bretheren, talents equal to those of the other colours of men, and that the appearance of a want of them is owing merely to the degraded condition of their existence bot in Africa and America…I have taken the liberty of sending your almanac to Monsieur de Condorcet…because I considered it as a document to which your whole colour had a right for their justification against the doubts which have been entertained of them.[2] Continue reading
Social Justice Ideology in Education
Conservatives have often noted the leftist bias in education. For example, California Democrats pushed for a mandatory ethnic studies course in high school. This course would mention racial oppression, and make white students examine their ‘privilege’. It also suggests that for an engagement project, students should promote voting rights for undocumented immigrants. Continue reading
William Kamkwamba
We are joining a call from Anonomous who posted a very simple message, they say the media is blacking out the importance of Malawian Teen William Kamkwamba. He taught himself how to build a windmill from junk, brought power to his village, learned from books he read in the library!
He was a simple farmer, he hadn’t see a computer and certainly not many white people in his life. But his mind prevailed and his inventions made lives better. Continue reading
Every October 3rd, students in schools all across America celebrate what is called “Bring Your Bible to School Day” This year legendary NFL quarterback Drew Brees made a video affirming Christian students: “I want to encourage you to live out your faith on Bring Your Bible to School Day, and share God’s love with friends. You’re not alone.”
This is a tender, amiable message from a professional athlete that we should all value considering how often we see the adverse and negative behavior of so many high paid sports icons.
Tragically, encouraging ethical and loving behavior is sometimes met with antagonism. Many critics opposed Brees for making this video stating the New Orleans Saints quarterback was somehow “anti-gay.” Continue reading
‘Happy Birthday, Miss Jone’ ~ Norman Rockwell
As might be expected, the Roman Republic was not to be spared a good many ventures into control of the economy by the government. One of the most famous of the Republican statutes was the Law of the Twelve Tables (449 B.C.) which, among other things, fixed the maximum rate of interest at one uncia per libra (approximately 8 percent), but it is not known whether this was for a month or for a year. At various times after this basic law was passed, however, politicians found it popular to generously forgive debtors their agreed-upon interest payments. Continue reading
In children’s books across the world, history is being tampered with and forgotten.
As everyone knows, the Trail of Tears is a collection of routes the Native Americans followed when they were forced out of their traditional homes, near the east of the Mississippi river. It is estimated that by the end of this journey, sixty to ninety percent of the original population was dead. Continue reading
One plus one may equal two, but if the student says three, you better not correct them, oppressor!
“Sey What?”
Math, in Seattle schools, will become a social justice course. But that’s not all. The U.S. government will be posited as a racist institution that must be destroyed. If this is taught to students, it’s indoctrination at its most destructive.
An Ethnic Studies Advisory Committee (ESAC), under the Seattle Public Schools Superintendent, published a preliminary Math Ethnic Studies framework document populated by district representatives that explains math as a racist study used to oppress students — and if you correct a student’s faulty math logic, you’re guilty. Continue reading
Researchers recently analyzed the impact social media has on young people’s character and moral development.
We have all heard complaints that young people are spending too much time online and not enough time in the “real world” – with studies showing that nearly three quarters of 12 to 15-year-olds in the UK have a social media profile and spend an average of 19 hours a week online. Continue reading
Young people need space to discuss and debate topics without worrying about marks or grades. Shutterstock/Monkey Business Images
If political headlines globally are anything to go by, it seems democracy is at risk. Totalitarian views are on the rise. Far-right parties and leaders have gained voters in many countries. And decisions are being made by law courts or by technical experts from international economic organisations. And people, particularly young people, feel they do not have a say. So it’s not surprising then that governments are turning their attention to schools as a potential cure. Continue reading
(Photo credit NC Values Coalition)
A high school in North Carolina is under fire for an assignment entitled “Diversity Inventory” that left students crying and parents outraged. Heritage High School English teacher Melissa Wilson gave out an assignment to her class last week that asked them to categorize themselves, their parents, their doctor, friends, and more by race, class, sexuality, and religion, among other things.
Students reported that Wilson made them go stand by a sign on the wall that correlated with their sexuality. One student called a parent during the exercise to express her discomfort with it. Another student broke down crying. North Carolina Values Coalition reports.
Students were also asked to stand up, and walk towards posters in different areas of the room that correlated with their sexual identities. Students were traumatized. Some were even brought to tears. Continue reading
Editor’s NOTE: The following was written and published during the Christmas season of 2015 and therefore it begins with that reference, but think beyond this… and think of how all of this affects our children in the public school system. Things need to change. ~ Ed.
In addition to being viewed as a season of religious devotion, Christmas has also become a time of family traditions and togetherness.
But will those traditions and togetherness continue if the American family disappears? Continue reading
The continuous invention of gadgets and the advancement of modern technology made many academic practices obsolete and old-fashioned. Many districts and schools in the world have taken off handwriting in their curriculum. They replaced cursive skills and old calligraphy with proficiency in writing on a keyboard. Additionally, many outdoor activities have been taken out and replaced with more screen time, making Generation Z miss out on a lot of stuff. Continue reading
Walter E. Williams
The New York Times has begun a major initiative, the “1619 Project,” to observe the 400th anniversary of the beginning of American slavery. It aims to reframe American history so that slavery and the contributions of black Americans explain who we are as a nation. Nikole Hannah-Jones, staff writer for The New York Times Magazine wrote the lead article, “America Wasn’t a Democracy, Until Black Americans Made It One.” She writes, “Without the idealistic, strenuous and patriotic efforts of black Americans, our democracy today would most likely look very different — it might not be a democracy at all.”
There are several challenges one can make about Hannah-Jones’s article, but I’m going to focus on the article’s most serious error, namely that the nation’s founders intended for us to be a democracy. That error is shared by too many Americans. Continue reading