Many year ago now, when we lived in West Virginia, the church we attended used a hymnbook that contained “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” At the time I didn’t know much about that song (I won’t call it a Christian hymn because it isn’t) but when folks got to choose what hymns they wanted to hear in the Sunday evening service that song was often chosen. At that time the pastor in that church was from Georgia, and I can imagine he cringed every time that song was chosen in a service. I remember one time, one of the congregation said to him, in jest, “We can’t sing Dixie. It’s not in the hymnbook.” If the truth be known The Battle Hymn of the Republic should not have been in a Christian hymnal either, but unfortunately it is still in many. Continue reading
Author Archives: Jeffrey
How America’s Teachers Colleges Make Teachers and Their Students Dumber
No law, executive edict, funding package, or curriculum restriction will fix the teacher quality problem.
More than three years after Covid-19 began, explanations abound for ongoing “learning loss” in schools. But these discussions often miss one of the most obvious explanations: outdated and ineffective instruction.
It’s been repeatedly shown that teacher quality is the primary thing affecting student achievement. Shouldn’t teacher quality be our primary concern? Given how far behind we’ve fallen in teacher quality, you would think so… Continue reading
Randi Weingarten Gets Educated About Exactly Who Is to Blame for the Rise in Homeschooling
The American Federation of Teachers union boss shared an article on ‘What’s behind the increase in homeschooling’
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten got more than she asked for after she posted an article about the rise in homeschooling in America on social media Sunday.
“What’s behind the increase in homeschooling,” Weingarten posted on X along with an article with the same title from Axios, which included experts attributing the rise to kids needing specialized services and the pandemic.
Some X users, however, blamed Weingarten and the agenda the AFT has pushed for in education. Continue reading
Holmquist: Why Progressives Hate Memorization
As a student, I was a whiz at memorization, so much so, that I remember basically memorizing two lead roles for different plays – one at age 13 and one at age 16 – after only one serious and focused read-through of the scripts. As an adult, I see myself mirroring my mother’s shock at such a feat, but at the time, such ease in memorization was simply second nature.
But while memorization was a hugely beneficial learning device for me as a student, it often seems like a sidelined and disgraced learning technique in the contemporary education system. Continue reading
Whatever Happened to Kids’ Innocence – and Parental Rights?
Parents from coast to coast are working to have their voices heard in local public schools and continue to fight while being met with resistance along the way – in courtrooms and on Capitol Hill.
In Maryland, a group seeks to have sexually explicit books removed from school libraries and is being portrayed as enemies of speech and enlightenment. Meanwhile, in California, parents believe they should be informed if their child shows signs of gender confusion while at school – an argument with which the state disagrees. Continue reading
Far Left Alarmed Home Schooling on the Rise, Which Should Set Off Alarm Bells at Every Kitchen Table
New figures confirm home schooling is rocketing in popularity but a home school advocate warns that means an unhappy government will try to smash its independent-minded competitor.
The Washington Post this week reported on eye-opening school data from 32 states and Washington, D.C. Its findings show home school students have increased by 51% since the 2017-2018 school year, defying predictions that most families would return to public schools after COVID-19 restrictions went away.
The increases are especially high in states with large urban centers but not limited to those states.
California’s five-year increase in home schooling is 78%, New York’s is 103%, and Washington, D.C.’s figure is 108%, according to the Post.
Citing the National Center for Education Statistics, the Post said the number of home schooling children has jumped from 1.5 million before the COVID pandemic to as many as 2.7 million during the current school year. Continue reading
Benson: The Ongoing Battle Over Public School Books
It’s History Repeating Itself
It seems like the public schools in Hillsborough County, Florida have been having problems similar to those experienced in Kanawha County, West Virginia public schools 49 years ago now. Considering the true agenda of the public education system in this country – indoctrination rather than education – should anyone really be surprised?
And it looks as if this has been going on for while. In an article published back in March of this year in the Tampa Bay Times it was noted that “This Book Is Gay” a non-fiction book that offers guidance to LGBTQ youth will no longer be available at any Hillsborough County middle school. Continue reading
Why Homeschool Fearmongering Should Be Taken With a Grain of Salt
Movie music is the subtle cue that tells you how to respond to a certain scene. Happy, sad, afraid, angry – you name the mood and the composer will ensure that the desired emotion is accomplished.
I sometimes wonder if news articles work the same way. Take the recent and widely shared Washington Post article on the explosion of homeschooling occurring since Covid. “In 390 districts,” The Post explained, “there was at least one home-schooled child for every 10 in public schools during the 2021-2022 academic year.”
That 10 percent mark, also known as “the tipping point,” helped inch the numbers of homeschooling students up to a high of 2.7 million – 1 million more than the number of students in Catholic schools, according to The Post.
Such numbers, although still relatively small, appear to have The Washington Post worried. Very worried.
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Holmquist: The Recipe for a Happy Nation Requires Religious and Moral Instruction in Schools
A Founding Father’s vision for American education included a strong foundation of religious and moral instruction.
As a grade school student, one of my favorite field trips was spending a day attending the one-room school at a local historical site. My friends and I would pack our noontime meal in lunch buckets, dress in aprons and bonnets, and participate in a spelling bee at the close of the day.
But our lessons in the classroom covered more than just the three Rs. Continue reading
Vigilance Is Not Optional: Be Wary of Your Local Public Schools
Parents once looked forward to having their children reach the age of five. At that time, children enter kindergarten, usually a half-day session either in the morning or in the afternoon.
At age six, children enter the first grade with school hours, something on the order of 8:00 a.m. to 2:15 or 2:30 p.m. Parents did their business while ensuring that the children were dropped off and picked up at appointed times.
There was little or no concern about what transpired during the school day as long as nothing happened out of the ordinary. Every now and then, somebody skinned a knee during recess. Or someone got ill during the day and had to go home. Most days, however, were uneventful. Your little ones were learning the ABCs, simple arithmetic, American history, and a few things about society in general… and THEN:
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No, John Oliver, Homeschooling Doesn’t Need More Regulation
Many parents choose homeschooling specifically because of the harms they believe are caused by public schooling.
Those of us who have homeschooled for years are accustomed to periodic calls for greater regulation of homeschooling. Whether it’s a Harvard professor or NPR, the hackneyed hollers to regulate homeschoolers remain unconvincing.
Joining the tired chorus is comedian John Oliver, who earlier this week hosted an episode of his “Last Week Tonight” HBO show calling for more homeschool regulation… Continue reading
Schools: Soul-Crushing on Purpose?
It’s no secret that academic outputs in schools across the nation are pretty abysmal. In fact, things have grown so bad that now it seems we’re praising schools that manage to achieve roughly 50% proficiency. Continue reading
Publius Rutilius Rufus: Rome’s ‘Last Honest Man‘
Publius Rutilius Rufus (158 B.C.-78 B.C.) attempted to reform Rome’s corrupt tax system, and soon found himself accused of corruption and extortion himself.
Banished for debasing the currency from his home city in what is now north-central Turkey, Diogenes of Sinope chose to beg in the streets of Corinth and Athens, live in a clay jar, and eschew wealth of any kind. The story is often told that he walked the streets with a lantern, looking in vain for an honest man. He often confronted people with disparaging hand gestures, including one that involved the middle finger. He is considered a founder of the ancient Greek school of philosophy known as Cynicism. In his 80s, he died in the same year as Alexander the Great (323 B.C.). Continue reading
3 Missteps of the Education System According to Mike Rowe
Putting shop class BACK in session should be number 1 on the list…
Everybody loves Mike Rowe. His matter-of-fact sense of humor, his humility, and his willingness to get involved in the many work sites featured on his “Dirty Jobs” show make him an endearing figure.
But Rowe is also very intelligent. He has his finger on the pulse and problems of America in a way that many others often don’t recognize. Take the recent interview he did with Nick Gillespie of Reason in which he discussed how the missteps of the education system produced a generation of entitled young people who turn up their noses at blue collar or low-paying work. Continue reading
Harnessing Creative Brilliance in Children With Learning Disabilities
In the vibrant tapestry of human expression, art stands out as a medium that transcends words, allowing souls to communicate in colors, shapes, and movements. For children with learning disabilities, delving into the arts unlocks a universe of possibilities, providing them with a medium to express themselves and a bridge to connect, grow, and redefine their potential. Continue reading
Former Public School Teachers Find Happiness In Entrepreneurship
Education entrepreneurs are finding joy in launching their own innovative learning programs and are spreading that joy to their learners.
I spent much of last week in the greater Kansas City area visiting microschools and learning pods, and talking to founders, ahead of the Heartland Hybrid & Microschools Summit, hosted by Kansas Policy Institute.
All of the seven learning environments I visited in Kansas and Missouri were founded within the past three years and all of the founders are former public school teachers who quit and created these alternative programs. They all expressed greater levels of personal and professional fulfillment. Continue reading
A Solution to the Problem of Failed Public Schools
It may be true, as the late, great Andrew Breitbart famously said, that “politics is downstream of culture.” But both are downstream of education. Nothing is more important to our families or to the future of our country than the moral, social, psychological, and intellectual development of our children.
In that regard, the pandemic lockdowns created quite a conundrum for traditionally conservative and “red-pilled” parents. They were on the front lines of the school reopening movement, demanding that children – who were at virtually no risk from covid – be allowed to attend school in person (and without masks). Yet once the public schools did reopen, those same parents found that their children were being exposed to a level of sexual and political indoctrination never before seen. Continue reading
Here’s Why John F. Kennedy Once Passionately Argued To Keep The Electoral College
The days of New York City’s Tammany Hall and the Windy City’s “Chicago Machine” may be technically over, but that doesn’t mean Democrats have given up trying to rig and steal elections in a neverending power grab that would make Mayor Daley blush. Not by a long shot. In fact, you can bet the farm that virtually any cockamamie proposal put out there by anyone with a D beside their name is specifically designed to do one thing and one thing alone – get votes.
Oh, I know they like to pretend they’re all about “virtue” and “values” and helping the “disenfranchised,” the downtrodden, and the disaffected, but these modern day Bolsheviks have “more power” scrubbed into their DNA, and it defines EVERYTHING they do. Continue reading
Schrock Taylor: Now Is the Time for All Good Parents To Come to the Aid of Their Children
Now that parents with school age children are homeschooling – whether they want to or not – I would like to offer some ideas towards teaching important educational skills at home. There is so much that parents can accomplish while families are in these unique “lock down” situations.
You all are very lucky. I hope that you understand that. You may never again have such an opportunity to teach your own children; to influence your children. You may never again have these chances to correct mistakes the schools have made; to fill any gaps that schools have left. Continue reading
George Washington’s Guide to Being a Gentleman
George Washington, it’s famously said, was “First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.” Such firsts undoubtedly contributed to his other great achievements, including his election as president of both the Constitutional Convention and the United States.
In other words, Washington was not an average man. But his above-average nature didn’t happen overnight. At age 14, he copied out more than 100 maxims of good behavior in his school book, likely intending to implement them in his own life. Many of these are still applicable today. Following them can help modern men be true gentlemen who stand head and shoulders above the crowd in both character and conduct. Continue reading