Religion & Liberty Online Archives

Educational Choice

March 14, 2006

There’s no such thing as “free” education

Citing a recent OECD report, the EUObserver says that European schools are falling behind their counterparts in the US and Asia. The main reason: a governmental obsession with equality that prevents investment and innovation in education, especially at the university level. Continue Reading...
March 02, 2006

He said it

Yesterday I recommended Professor Plum’s EducatioNation, and I’ll do so again today. Here’s a tidbit from a recent post titled “We Need More Unions” on Prof. Plum’s blog: “Once again, America’s teachers unions reveal that all their blather about being child centered, about being stewards of America’s children, and about social justice and diversity, is nothing but a disguise for their real interest—which is self-preservation via monopolistic control of the means of education.” Continue Reading...
February 08, 2006

The state of American science and culture, cont’d.

Following Michael Miller’s recent Acton Commentary, “Why Johnny Can’t Compete with Sanjay”, and the resulting comments, two of America’s best political commentators have also weighed in on the subject. First there’s Charles Krauthammer’s Time article, arguing that America is doing fine, partly as a result of less dependence on government-funded research. Continue Reading...
February 01, 2006

Why Johnny can’t compete with Sanjay

The math and science skills of American high schoolers and college students continue to erode. Michael Miller looks at the implications for U.S. economic competitiveness and offers some suggestions for fixing what ails the schools. Continue Reading...
January 09, 2006

A tale of two monopolies

Monopoly #1: I was somewhat shocked the other day when I heard a strong critique of the much-vaunted Canadian national health care system on NPR. I wasn’t dreaming – here’s the link to prove it. Continue Reading...
December 16, 2005

Education optimism

Eugene Hickok and Gary Andres give us an optimistic piece on education reform on NRO today. They see even public educational professionals opening up to the positive potential of reforms that shift the educational enterprise into non-governmental hands. Continue Reading...
December 06, 2005

Keeping the Kalamazoo Promise

I haven’t had a chance to talk about this yet, but early last month, school district officials in Kalamazoo, Michigan announced “The Kalamazoo Promise.” The Promise consists of a group of anonymous donors that have come together to commit to fund the post-secondary education of every student of the Kalamazoo Public School system. Continue Reading...
November 30, 2005

Instant classics

This made me think of this. If the British phone company were really smart, they’d just negotiate a price to use the Book-A-Minute Classics. The versions are a bit different, though. Continue Reading...