Education

Back to the Government’s Clutches

by Sheldon Richman August 1, 1997

Summer's over and throughout the nation, parents are once again surrendering custody of their children to the government. In what nation is that happening? The United States of America. Why are they surrendering custody of their children to the government? Because the government runs most of the schools. Most people ...

Throw the State Out of School

by Jacob G. Hornberger August 1, 1997

In the latest attempt to reform the public schools, President Clinton is calling for national educational standards and national testing of public school students. But Joseph A. Califano, president National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, said that national standars won't do any good because of all the drugs in public schools. A survey recently conducted ...

Public Schools: Turning Children and Parents into Peons

by James Bovard July 1, 1997

Public education is the most expensive "gift" that most Americans will ever receive. Government school systems are increasingly coercive and abusive toward both parents and students. While politicians speak grandly of the supposed benefits of public education, government courts have ensured that parents and children have no legal rights ...

The President Goes Wrong on Education

by Sheldon Richman February 1, 1997

President Clinton has made education the centerpiece of his second administration. In his State of the Union address he introduced a multifaceted program that would cost $51 billion in the coming fiscal year. The program is expensive, but perhaps worse, it is wrong-headed. We need Washington to do less, not ...

The Tragedy of the Public Schools Continues

by Sheldon Richman February 1, 1997

Judging from the newspapers, it's been a rough time for the public schools. Control of the Washington, D.C., schools was taken away from the elected school board by an financial oversight body set up by Congress and turned over to a new board of trustees. At the same time, ...

What’s Wrong With History Standards?

by Sheldon Richman July 1, 1996

The latest fight on the nation's bloody educational battlefield is over the newly released national standards for teaching history to America's schoolchildren. The standards were drawn up by the federally funded National Center for History in the Schools at the University of California, Los Angeles. They are part of Goals 2000, ...

We Need Freedom, Not School Standards

by Sheldon Richman June 1, 1996

Academic standards are all the rage. Nearly everyone thinks they are the key to improving the dismal state of American education. The nation's governors recently affirmed their intention to hold the children of their states to high standards. President Clinton supported the governors' position when he told them, ...

The Education Crisis Is Real

by Sheldon Richman May 1, 1996

A recent book claims that the crisis in government school systems has been manufactured by the enemies of public education. Authors David C. Berliner and Bruce J. Biddle think the widespread concern about what goes on in the schools is based on myth. Judge for yourself. At a school in ...

Public Schools and the Assault on the Family

by Sheldon Richman February 1, 1996

Imagine that you wanted to subvert the institution of the family. What would be the best way to go about it? Well, how about this?: You force parents to surrender to the state the power to make all the big decisions about their children's education. You would make the following announcement ...

A Different Vision for Schools

by Rodney D. Lewis January 1, 1996

Perhaps every one of us might agree that the education of our children is a priority. For that reason, we have entrusted the state to fulfill this need by providing public schooling. But what do we want of a school? Is it to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic? Is it to teach history, philosophy, or logic? Is it to teach foreign ...

Horrors! Maybe the Schools Are Working Just Fine

by Sheldon Richman July 1, 1995

Most people today are convinced that the public schools are failing. Dissatisfaction with public education is at an all-time high. But have the public schools really failed? That depends on what they were originally set up to do. In a profound sense, the public schools are not an American institution. They were ...

What’s Wrong with History Standards?

by Sheldon Richman July 1, 1995

The latest fight on the nation's bloody educational battlefield is over the newly released national standards for teaching history to America's schoolchildren. The standards were drawn up by the federally funded National Center for History in the Schools at the University of California, Los Angeles. They are part of ...