Regarding the proper role of education, the following Ayn Rand quote explains:

“The only purpose of education is to teach a student how to live his life—by developing his mind and equipping him to deal with reality. The training he needs is theoretical, i.e., conceptual. He has to be taught to think, to understand, to integrate, to prove. He has to be taught the essentials of the knowledge discovered in the past—and he has to be equipped to acquire further knowledge by his own effort.”

That means the child must start from the building blocks of logic which dictate the learning of any subject must require starting from the essential basic conceptual building blocks, then connecting them in logical order to build the pyramid of understanding that subject matter, e.g. mathematics, science, history, geography, reading, etc. Continue reading →

Like the proverbial elephant in the living room, the most powerful concern that Democrats never raised against Betsy DeVos following her confirmation hearing was her unwillingness to promise Democrats – during the hearing – that she would keep President Obama’s fraudulent narrative on the false campus rape crisis campaign against college men in the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.

The false narrative of the campus rape crisis deprived male students of their due process rights in campus kangaroo courts, expelled them based on false accusations and ruined their lives — all in the service of maintaining the supremacy of identity and gender politics in the national political order. This is the real reason Democrats pulled an all-nighter just prior to the senate confirmation vote in an attempt to unseat her. They did not want to lose their most powerful weapon against men – false sexual abuse allegations. Continue reading →

The united States Constitution grants absolutely zero authority in the matter of education to the central government. Article ten of the Bill of Rights states, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” So, why are so many conservatives cheering the confirmation of Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to the position of an unconstitutional department rather than being outraged that it continues almost 40 years after it was illegally created? Congressman Thomas Massie is taking it sitting down and has introduced legislation to abolish the unconstitutional department, and it only took one sentence to write it. Continue reading →

In the words of the old song by the Gershwin brothers, “Nice Work If You Can Get It”… ~ J.B.

Is she ‘devious’?

On Tuesday, Vice President Mike Pence broke a tie in the U.S. Senate to confirm President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Department of Education, Betsy DeVos. Liberals have launched numerous attacks on DeVos, even protesting her nomination with a 24-hour “speechibuster” reminiscent of Ted Cruz’s anti-Obamacare message in 2013.

Liberal attacks have branded her an elitist, a religious extremist, and a foe of public education. But what will DeVos actually do as secretary of Education? Here are 5 things to expect from the newly confirmed secretary. Continue reading →

To oppose the appointment of Betsy DeVos to Secretary of Education, opponents have brought out the old race card. DeVos is seen as being open-minded to the idea of private schools. She desires that more parents should have the option of choosing private schools for their children. With that in mind, we get this opinion piece published by CNN, authored by Felicia Wong: A Vote For DeVos Is a Vote For Resegregation:

School choice is not really about freedom. Freedom, of course, is a bedrock American value. But the kind of “freedom” associated with the flight away from integration and toward racial isolation will never lead to a more truly free United States.

In her condemnation of private schools, Ms. Wong only makes one argument. She claims that private schools cause greater racial segregation. Continue reading →

It has nothing at all to do with mathematics, but a great deal to do with leftist ideology

Once again we return to our neighbors from the North – and compare the same deplorable conditions in their ‘public’ school system as we face here in the States. ~ J.B.

(This columns tends to focus) on the apparent determination of the Alberta Department of Education to apply what is called the “Discovery” method to the teaching of elementary mathematics. Put simply, it means that the student “discovers” on his own the multiplication table rather than learning it by rote memory. What is rarely if ever explained, however, is why so-called “progressive” educators are so persistent in the student “discovering” the tables rather than simply memorizing them. Continue reading →

Fiscal Consequences of Higher Spending on K-12 Public Schools

The economic woes of the public school system in Canada seem to handle their school funding just as badly as we do in the States. ~ J.B.

Governments across Canada could have collectively saved $12.7 billion in 2013/14 – and lessened their debt and deficit burdens – if they had restrained spending increases on public schools to changes in enrollment and overall prices (inflation) during the previous decade, finds a new study by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank. Continue reading →

I begin with a critical analysis of one of those open letters that naïve people post on websites that will not be read or visited by the target audience to whom the letter is supposedly directed.

These letters are not to the listed targets. They are letters that reinforce a particular worldview among holders of the worldview. In other words, these letters are known as preaching to the choir. They establish a person’s bona fides, proving to the readers, who are not the supposed targets of the letter, that the writer of the letter is a true believer, firmly committed to the program of the actual readers.

In other words, these letters have nothing to do with persuading the supposed recipients of the letters. They are to reconfirm the confession of faith of the letter writer, and to persuade the faithful readers that the letter writer has not deviated from the confession of faith. Continue reading →

Cong. James G. Blaine, 1884

The passage of the Blaine Amendment* in 1970 destroyed the nationwide parochial school system.

Before that, working class parents could send their many children to the parochial school of choice and take the tuition off their taxes.

This paid for itself in the long run because the children excelled and went on to higher learning and professions that their parents could never reach.

But the public school officials recognized all the extra secularist propaganda and tax money they could control if they could include all those children in public schools.

And so it began. Continue reading →

So why are so many liberal teachers bullying and brain-washing children with their own intolerant views?

NOTE: The following was extracted from a lengthy column out of Great Britain, however it applies to the American ‘education’ system in so many ways – including the fact that the teacher has made her personal views of Donald J. Trump well known – to the detriment of the students.

I am making no statement in this post, other than that posted in the headline above, posted by the author herself. It is not the purpose of Metropolis Café to get embroiled in left vs right politics here – only to find a better, more tolerant way to TEACH – hence – the body of this article is posted on one of our other sites. You’ll be able to follow the link below.

Jeffrey Bennett, Publisher

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In just a matter of days — perhaps next Monday — a decision will be made in Washington affecting the futures of millions of children in low-income communities, and in the very troubled area of race relations in America.

An opportunity has arisen — belatedly — that may not come again in this generation. That is an opportunity to greatly expand the kinds of schools that have successfully educated, to a high level, inner-city youngsters whom the great bulk of public schools fail to educate to even minimally adequate levels.

What may seem on the surface to be merely a matter of whether the U.S. Senate confirms or rejects the nomination of Betsy DeVos to be head of the U.S. Department of Education involves far bigger stakes. Continue reading →

January 22, 2009 – The new economy is awash in contradictions, but few are more troubling than this one: At the very moment that brainpower is more important than ever, education seems more backward than ever. We have a new economy but outdated schools.

Out of this disconnect has emerged a quiet grassroots rebellion aimed at reinventing both the form and the function of American education. Charter schools – publicly funded startup schools that operate mostly free of regulation – have boomed. In 1992, there was one charter school in the United States. Today, there are more than 2,000. The fastest-growing education movement is homeschooling. Today, roughly 1.5 million children learn at home. Just as Internet startups and free agents rattled big business, charter schools and homeschooling are shaking up “big schoolhouse.”
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OLYMPIA, Washington ~ The Senate has narrowly approved an education funding plan that seeks to replace local school levies with a statewide uniform rate earmarked for schools.

The chamber passed the Republican proposal on a 25-24 vote, with no Democrat – except one who caucuses with Republicans to give them their majority – voting in favor of it. The measure now heads to the Democratic-controlled House, where it will be negotiated as both sides continue to work toward a compromise. Continue reading →

Once upon a time an ‘art’ form of writing was in vogue. It was called, “cursive” and it taught patience, the desire to make one proud of an accomplishment, and the completion of a task – in addition to being a true work of art….

Today, this is what our children are being told…

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“In a slave state, vocational training may be education enough. For the education of free men, much more is required.” ~ William Pearson Tolley, Chancellor of Syracuse University; 1943

U.S. education is being transformed in purpose and content — propelled by federal laws such as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act), Goals 2000: Educate America Act of 1994, and Carl D.Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Act Amendments. This massive undertaking is commonly called School-to-Work (STW) or School to Careers (aka workforce training or human resource development).

{NOTE: The above was later revised and much of it enveloped into what is now known as Common Core. The 44 page read is well worth your while in order to have a better understanding of “what went wrong“! Once again – it’s long past time to get the Federal Government out of our public school system. The following will give the reader an intense understanding of what ‘THEY” have in mind for our children. The PDF for the author’s complete document will be found on the next page. ~ Ed.}

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You could be better off than you are…

You know that it’s up to YOU… Not your parents (although a bit of guidance and caring and sharing is good); it’s not up to your teachers – it’s up to YOU!

‘Old school’ you say? It’s what got me to where I am today…

You could be swingin’ on a star…

At the start of 2017, the Atlantic author Ta-Nehisi Coates self-importantly announced he was taking a year-long sabbatical from Twitter to focus on that old-fashioned long-form genre: the book. He’s not the only one taking a Twitter hiatus; lots of celebrities and writers have taken temporary breaks from the social media platform. But the compulsion – or addiction – to tweet is often too powerful to resist for very long.

To be sure, one can appreciate the cleverness of those who can stir the pot—or get a good laugh – with merely a few characters. Succinctness has its power. Continue reading →