Education

A water drop and ripples

“Equity” hurts vulnerable people.

By Justin Katz | January 3, 2024 |

Imagine taking successful schools away from children and their families in the name of a cult-like belief like “equity”: I know an education student who had the opportunity to be paid much-needed income from a school that would satisfy her final requirement for a degree, but her college told her she couldn’t. Other students aren’t…

A water drop and ripples

Looks like progressives are finally managing to drag down East Greenwich to rest-of-RI status.

By Justin Katz | November 30, 2023 |

Accept no rationalizations. This is the result of the rising tide of typical Rhode Island bad governance finally reaching the state’s high points: Classes have been canceled for students and staff again at East Greenwich High School. The superintendent sent an email to parents Wednesday night with the announcement. According to the superintendent, the school…

A man in a suit starts a fire against a government building

Politics This Week: RI Moves Further into Thugocracy

By Justin Katz | November 20, 2023 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz discuss the deteriorating civic structure of Rhode Island.

A water drop and ripples

Our first imperative is to figure out how to reconvince young Americans that learning how to think is desirable.

By Justin Katz | November 1, 2023 |

I believe in humanity’s ability to adapt and recover, but it typically comes at the expense of a lot of waste and pain.  I’m increasingly worried that we’ve cheated younger generations of the ability to think.  Not only are schools failing to teach it, but our emphasis on schooling has drawn many children and young…

A girl walks through a haunted graveyard whistling

Politics This Week: Whistling Past a Changing Political Environment in RI

By Justin Katz | October 23, 2023 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz dig into important developments that the RI mainstream doesn’t want to address.

A water drop and ripples

Miserable RICAS scores won’t mean any response from Rhode Island.

By Justin Katz | October 18, 2023 |

Dan McGowan notes that new standardized test scores are out for Rhode Island public schools, and they’re not good. Elsewhere, he finds a silver lining in the fact that English-language learners do better at English and are nearly caught up in math, but it seems like an indication of how poorly the schools are doing…

A water drop and ripples

Education is the place to start trying to fix what’s wrong in RI and America.

By Justin Katz | October 13, 2023 |

As people newly look up from their lives to wonder about the craziness with which we’re surrounded — from collegiate support for Hamas to economic ignorance to scientific illiteracy to an inability to grapple with logic — they should turn their gaze toward our schools. Consider this recent Boston Globe column from Dan McGowan: The state’s most…

A girl resembling Anne Frank sitting and covering her face

You could argue including the hidden parts of Anne Frank’s diary is a secondary violation.

By Justin Katz | October 9, 2023 |

A recent teapot tempest in the Censorship Wars (at least the skirmishes over keeping arguably pornographic and sex-promoting work out of elementary school libraries) has to do with parents’ objecting to a graphic novel version of Ann Frank’s diary.  You can dig multiple layers into the story, though, for a more-full picture. The first layer,…

A sunken boat surrounded by sharks

Politics This Week: Land of No Chance for Improvement

By Justin Katz | September 25, 2023 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz review several of the dead ends to progress in the Ocean State.

A water drop and ripples

Think of it as a great opportunity for lower-income Americans to charitably step aside.

By Justin Katz | September 20, 2023 |

I know of at least one Massachusetts town where these new residents are about to enter an understaffed school system en masse.  Even more, they are getting free preschool and free transportation to preschool, which for residents is an additional cost that some are deciding is too expensive. We need to understand — and explain…