Education

Child on computer in parents' bed

Should we add “media literacy” to the list of must-teach topics for schools?

By Justin Katz | October 25, 2021 |

The perspective of a parent produces a different reaction to URI’s Media Education Lab study of “media literacy” in Rhode Island schools than the perspective of a policy theorist, although they can come together for a conclusion.  An interview with lead researcher Rene Hobbs by Alexa Gagosz in The Boston Globe gives a good overview, but…

A water drop and ripples

Education policy is a massive opportunity for Republicans across demographics, and justifies boldness and risk.

By Justin Katz | October 24, 2021 |

Of course, having said the same for many years, I think that Newt Gingrich is completely right here: Education is increasingly a policy issue which favors Republicans. … The fight over school performance has expanded as the Big Government Socialists move on multiple fronts to undermine traditional learning. Honor programs are being eliminated, and grading…

Shadowy RI State House

Alex Cannon would definitely be an improvement on the East Side of Providence.

By Justin Katz | October 23, 2021 |

Alex Cannon is the Republican candidate in the race for the open Rhode Island Senate seat representing the East Side of Providence, but progressive journalist Steve Ahlquist conducted a lengthy, interesting, and fair interview with him on Uprise RI. Cannon, who hails from Las Vegas, Nevada, and arrived in Rhode Island in 2017, describes himself as…

A water drop and ripples

This ought to be the dominant rule on teaching “white privilege.”

By Justin Katz | October 22, 2021 |

We need to order some of this attitude from across the Pond: The British government has instructed schools not to “teach contested theories and opinions as fact,” including contested views about so-called “white privilege.” The government on Thursday published its response to a report from the UK Parliament’s Education Select Committee, which said that the…

A water drop and ripples

We have to stop taking offense at the drop of a feather.

By Justin Katz | October 22, 2021 |

Here’s the key paragraph in this Epoch Times article about a California teacher who’s been put on leave after wearing a paper headdress and dancing in a (let’s say) indigenous fashion to drive home a math lesson: “It is damaging and disheartening to see Native American and indigenous culture represented in such a trite and…

A hoodie on a beaten school bus

Let’s have P-Tech-type innovation instead of critical race theory.

By Justin Katz | October 21, 2021 |

Providence schools don’t necessarily have to sign up with Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH), but doesn’t this seem like the level of innovation and drive that we ought to have seen after the dreadful John Hopkins report more than two years ago? Founded in 2011 by IBM and the Bloomberg administration in…

John Carlevale and Beth Leconte on State of the State

State of the State: Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at URI

By John Carlevale | October 19, 2021 |

Beth Leconte, Director of R.I.’s chapter of OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute) talks with host John Carlevale. 

The Carmagnole (Dance Around the Guillotine) by Kathe Kollwitz

URI is helping a powerful celebrity destroy the life of one of its students.

By Justin Katz | October 19, 2021 |

It’s never an easy call to side with people on principled grounds when you vehemently disagree with something mind-blowingly stupid and offensive they’ve done or said, especially in an environment prone to witch hunts and cancellations.  But that’s the sort of thing principled people have to do in a free society. So, I have no…

Scene from Field of Dreams

A pornographic young-adult graphic novel in North Kingstown High School is another slip down the spiral.

By Justin Katz | October 19, 2021 |

Nicole Solas of South Kingstown has widened her efforts to return sanity to Rhode Island schools to North Kingstown, where she has filed a police report highlighting a very graphic graphic novel that North Kingstown High School provides to its students, most of them minors.  Following her reports can be challenging, if you have children…

A water drop and ripples

How does Terry McAuliffe think lying to parents should be accomplished?

By Justin Katz | October 18, 2021 |

The Democrat candidate for Virginia governor, Terry McAuliffe, agrees with Democrats in Rhode Island that schools should engage in a conspiracy to lie to parents whose children may be exploring a change of their gender.  I’ve long wondered what the mechanics of this deep deception would look like, and it’s frightening to know it’s a…