In American culture, public schools are praised in public and criticized in private, which is roughly the opposite of how we tend to treat large-scale enterprises like Walmart. In public, everyone says that Walmart is awful, filled with shoddy foreign products and exploiting workers. But in private, we buy the well-priced, quality goods, and long lines of people hope to be hired. Continue reading →

This passionate teacher from Kansas decides to leave her school district after she felt unfair contracts tried to silence the teachers, but not before she delivers a powerful message to the world.

In a 5-4 decision Tuesday, the Supreme Court held that families have a right to seek the best educational opportunities for their children, by preventing states from blocking the participation of religiously affiliated schools in state school choice programs. Continue reading →

In “The Decadent Society,” Ross Douthat’s definition of decadence reaches more deeply into the underlying causes of our present rot. Is American society sick, sclerotic, sterile, and stagnant, as he suggests?

There is a chapter in Ross Douthat’s new book, The Decadent Society, called “Waiting for the Barbarians.” The book came out just before our present summer of discontent in which we’ve seen home-grown barbarians rampaging through our streets. Like the old-fashioned breed of barbarians, their ignorance blends mightily with their violence. The only difference being that they have added to their ignorance and violence a distasteful stench of self-righteousness.

Mr. Douthat analyzes the state of American society by first defining his terms. By “decadence” he does not simply mean moral depravity, the disgusting self-indulgence of a Caligula, or the insane violence of Nero or Idi Amin. He does not exclude these excesses, but his definition of decadence reaches more deeply into the underlying causes of our present rot. He does so with the symbolism of “four horsemen”: Stagnation, Sterility, Sclerosis, and Repetition. Continue reading →

As I have examined the phenomenon of government controlled schooling, it has been a continuing mystery to me why this type of totalitarian enterprise could have been imposed on a country that was ostensibly founded on the primacy of individual liberty and freedom of conscience. I can understand why today’s citizens are generally oblivious to freedom of conscience issues due to the indoctrination and psychological conditioning that are essential components of government schooling – but why would such a system be accepted by citizens who had not been programmed to accept it? As noted in my previous posts, that system was imposed through propaganda and false promises and was often met with resistance, but due to the police power of the state it was ultimately imposed top-down by special interests. However, even considering political manipulation and the raw power of the state, there still seemed to be something missing. Continue reading →