Education

A farmer in a suit admires his corn with graduation caps

Student loans are another crisis for the benefit of government.

By Justin Katz | March 20, 2024 |

Whatever one’s political leanings, the incentives of government must be understood as simply reality.  Government agencies don’t have to create a product or service that people will voluntarily purchase.  Rather, they must find activities for which they can justify forcing people who are not the direct beneficiaries to pay.  This model is justified, in some…

A water drop and ripples

Plotting degree prices versus earnings 10-years later yields unexpected results in Rhode Island.

By Justin Katz | March 4, 2024 |

This is certainly not where I’d have placed the dots if somebody asked me to guess: That Rhode Island College is the least expensive, and doesn’t seem to produce a great effect isn’t a surprise.  Johnson & Whales, however, is surprising, and New England Institute of Technology is even more so, both in how expensive…

A water drop and ripples

There’s a subtler lesson about the lie of Biden’s loan forgiveness.

By Justin Katz | February 27, 2024 |

Brian’s got this right, but it’s not the entire story: $3.4 million to 450 people is $7,556 each.  That’s not life-changing money; it’s purely a political handout at others’ expense.  Wait until the kids discover how limited this handout is, by the way.  Most of them are actually struggling with their private loans, which tend to…

A teacher Xes out George Washington on the blackboard

We’re crossing the line from inadequate education to malevolent indoctrination.

By Justin Katz | February 27, 2024 |

For those willing to step outside the boundaries of “just the way we do things,” the justification for mandatory schooling backstopped by taxpayer-funded government schools is an interesting question.  I’d pick up the rope and pull for the “yes, justified” side.  A country founded on freedom and individual achievement and held together by abstract agreement…

A water drop and ripples

Education will not improve in RI as long as these folks are setting the agenda.

By Justin Katz | February 27, 2024 |

This is all about ideology and politics, not about truly educating Rhode Island students: Most Rhode Islanders don’t have any idea who these people are, and many of those who do want to avoid the danger and cognitive dissonance of believing they have ulterior motives.  Nonetheless, as long as they have prominent roles in public…

Even By Her Own Metric, Rhode Island’s Education Commissioner Has to Step Down

By Monique Chartier | February 22, 2024 |

The Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity has called for the removal of Rhode Island Education Commissioner Angelica Infante-Green. They make their case here. I echo their call. During her tenure, Education Commissioner Angelica Infante-Green has failed to implement successful education reforms. She has instead prioritized questionable, experimental, non-education initiatives in Rhode Island’s K-12…

Rising tide floods a city

Politics This Week: High Tide for Special Interests

By Justin Katz | February 19, 2024 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz discuss unions, immigration, infrastructure, borrowing, and other ways special interests profit from government.

A water drop and ripples

The problem is teachers’ contempt for their role.

By Justin Katz | February 14, 2024 |

The quotation John pulls from the article is worth highlighting: The disregard of the law is only an incremental worsening of the problem.  Teachers’ going on strike (especially for crass considerations like even higher pay and benefits) has always seemed shocking to me and one of the reasons their unionization seems wholly inappropriate.  If they…

Rhode Island’s K-12 Transgender Policy: Why Are Education Commissioner and Council Silent?

By Monique Chartier | February 1, 2024 |

Following our first inquiry of Education Commissioner Angelica Infante-Green and the Council on Elementary and Secondary Education about Rhode Island transgender policy in K-12 schools and their non-response, Anchor Rising reached out a second time, this time asking, … current RIDE policy permits schools to discuss transgender procedures with students.  RIDE policy also permits schools…

Sketch of Disaster Dan Sitcom

Politics This Week: RI’s Undeclared Disaster

By Justin Katz | January 15, 2024 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz go over the slow-rolling perpetual disaster of RI politics and government.