Duly noted: Nov 23 – Nov 29, 2009

President Obama announced an initiative to promote and encourage math, science, and technology education, and asked corporations and non-profit organizations to help.  He also annouced an annual science fair at the White House. Officials in Oregon said that teachers in Oregon are likely to win the right to wear religious clothing, such as yarmulkes, head [...]

Giving thanks for public education

Our public education system has been criticized for many things, but today, I want to pause to think about what a remarkable system it is. This year, a record number of 49.8 million students will be attending about 99,000 public elementary and secondary schools.  Altogether, our public school systems employ 3.3 million teachers and spend [...]

The God problem with the Pledge of Allegiance

Will Phillips refused to say the Pledge of Allegiance because the country did not guarantee “freedom and justice” for all. But inaccuracy is not the worst problem of the Pledge. Unconstitutionality is.

Duly Noted: Nov 16 – Nov 22, 2009

Citing drastic cutbacks in state funding and a $1 billion budget gap, the University of California increases tuition by 32% on Thursday, a decision that was met by opposition, protest, and anger by students and parents in California.  Berkeley student protesters occupied a campus building briefly on Friday.  Dozens were arrested, but the occupation ended [...]

California vs. Nebraska: two models of university governance

Two important education news items today both have to do with public universities. They invite interesting comparisons of the types of governance structure in our public universities. First, the University of California is set to increase undergraduate tuition by 32%.  The increase is meant to make up for large cuts in state funding. Second, the University [...]

10 things you should know about Race to the Top

The biggest story in education last week was the release of the final application for the $4.35 billion “Race to the Top” funding that the federal government has made available for states. But what is the fund?  What are its objectives?  How do states actually receive the money?  Here are 10 things you should know [...]

Duly noted: Nov 9 – Nov 15, 2009

Department of Education officially opened the competition for the “Race to the Top” Funds, where states can apply and compete for a piece of the $4.35 billion to create “innovative” programs that can be replicated throughout the country.   Justice Anthony Kennedy, “one of the court’s most vigilant defenders of First Amendment values,” insisted on pre-approving a [...]

The rehabilitative powers of education: a matter of faith?

My previous post discussed the issue of providing education services to juvenile offenders in prison who are serving life sentences. But the case of Graham v. Florida and Sullivan v. Florida, which were argued before the Supreme Court on Monday, raised broader questions as well: to what extent do we believe in the transformative and [...]

Religious schools and church-state relations

As is well known, the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides, among other things, that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”. This is usually understood to mean, in Jefferson’s words, that there should be a “wall of separation” between the church and the state. [...]

Should they learn?

The Supreme Court heard two cases today concerning life sentence without parole for juveniles.  In Graham v. Florida, a 17-year-old boy was sentenced to life without parole for his participation in a home invasion robbery.  In Sullivan v. Florida, a 13-year-old boy was sentenced similarly for brutally beating and raping a 72-year-old woman. Although both [...]