Several related questions underpin much of the discussion about the growing presence of Muslim immigrants and their children in the United States. Will these immigrants and their children become loyal Americans? Will they instead emerge as a permanently disloyal opposition and a potential source of . . . . Continue Reading »
Last June, I was in Ukraine advising civil society groups that are seeking to ensure that the new Ukrainian education law promotes religious and educational freedom, including the rights of parents. Ukrainian policy-makers are eager to align their country with the West, so a number of times I . . . . Continue Reading »
Just about everyone agrees that one reason religious belief and practice have flourished in the United States, in comparison with Western Europe, is that one state after another in the early republic ended the “establishment” of a preferred denomination and allowed all religious groups to . . . . Continue Reading »
Kingdom of the Children: Culture and Controversy in the Homeschooling Movement by Mitchell L. Stevens Princeton University Press, 238 pages, $24.95 A recent government report documents a remarkable growth in the number of school-aged children now being educated at home and provides reassuring . . . . Continue Reading »
Independence won, George Washington faced a near-mutiny of his officers, unwilling to return to civilian life until their arrears of salary had been paid. Washington appeared unexpectedly at a meeting of the officers and gave an impassioned appeal to reason and moderation, to the men’s duty, . . . . Continue Reading »
Battleground: One Mother's Crusade, The Religious Right, and the Struggle for Control of our Classrooms by stephen bates poseidon press, 365 pages, $24 The 1983 protest by a group of parents in Hawkins County, Tennessee, against certain stories and themes in the public school reading . . . . Continue Reading »
Why Johnny Can’t Tell Right from Wrong: Moral Illiteracy and the Case for Character Education by William Kilpatrick Simon & Schuster, 336 pages, $23 Reclaiming Our Schools: A Handbook on Teaching Character, Academics, and Discipline by Edward A. Wynne and Kevin Ryan foreword by James S. Coleman . . . . Continue Reading »
An Aristocracy of Everyone: The Politics of Education and The Future of America by Benjamin R. Barber Ballantine Books, 370 pages, $20 “In the spring of 1988,” writes Benjamin Barber, a professor of political science at Rutgers, “[University] President Edward Bloustein gave a . . . . Continue Reading »
Ed School Follies: The Miseducation Of America’s Teachers by Rita Kramer Free Press, 228 pages, $22.95 In her lively new study based upon fourteen schools of education across the country, Rita Kramer skewers two quite distinct forms of folly. One form of folly is the attempt by a few of the . . . . Continue Reading »
“My brother Esau is an hairy man, but I am a smooth man,” Jacob said. There have been too many “smooth men” in the Episcopal Church over the years who have cared more about avoiding offense than about the truth. Give me Esau any time!This reflection was inspired by my latest . . . . Continue Reading »
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