Last week was the 4th of July and I hope (like myself and all of us at Locke) you had a great time celebrating our country’s independence...
Hi there,
Last week was the 4th of July and I hope (like myself and all of us at Locke) you had a great time celebrating our country’s independence with family, friends, grill outs, and, of course, fireworks!
Unfortunately, many in academia, public policy, and the media forget (or even worse, ignore), the vital history we celebrate on the 4th of July.
Today, there seems to be more of a commitment to apologizing for America than celebrating it.
We Need to Celebrate Our History and Heritage
When “experts” and political pundits minimize America’s history, what important lessons are they overlooking?
That individuals can make a difference
That the free market is America’s best problem-solver
And that the ideals of liberty and justice are available to all, even if American Founders were imperfect in their pursuit of these goals
What does it mean?
When history is taught today, the impact of these ideas is often woefully misunderstood, misrepresented, and misdiagnosed as the source of our problems today.
That means our students don’t grow up learning critically important lessons from our history.
What is happening to preserve the real history of America and North Carolina?
The NCHP works to restore the cultural and historical knowledge we are in danger of losing. The knowledge that is being swept under the rug:
Fills a critical void in historical scholarship,
Encourage the free exchange of ideas,
Presents overlooked or forgotten historical themes:
Including the centrality of entrepreneurship, problem-solving by the private sector, the importance of individuals and ideas, and the positive role of free markets
So how does that help ensure our children learn the real history of America & North Carolina?
The latest NCHP effort is to create lesson plans for elementary, middle, and high school students.
We’re regularly adding lessons that highlight the diverse and brilliant ingenuity of North Carolinians, including:
We’re proud to provide these free resources to teachers across North Carolina. They highlight what makes our state and country so special. And they ground our students in the fundamental ideals that gave us this amazing state and country.
The North Carolina State Constitution still includes a literacy test that was historically used to prevent black North Carolinians from registering to vote.
Article VI, Section 4 of the North Carolina constitution states:
“Every person presenting himself for registration shall be able to read and write any section of the Constitution in the English language.” It was added in 1899 to prevent blacks from voting in future elections.
It’s been functionally irrelevant for almost 60 years because the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) effectively banned literacy tests.
But sadly, the literacy test requirement is still in the North Carolina constitution.
Okay...this is weird, so what should we do about it?
The General Assembly should give voters the opportunity to repeal it.
Removing it would be a strong, symbolic break with our state’s past and (importantly) prevent it from coming back into force in the unlikely event that Section 4 of the VRA is repealed or struck down in a lawsuit.
A poll taken in April found that most North Carolina voters favored repealing the literacy test.
Okay, that makes sense…why haven’t we already done this?
That’s a good question.
Since 1970, legislators have attempted to repeal the literacy test several times, but none of the bills to do so have passed the General Assembly.
Part of the problem is the language of the literacy test doesn’t seem that bad.
When voters who don’t know its history read a section stating that voters “shall be able to read and write any section of the Constitution in the English language,” they don’t think it’s an unreasonable rule.
But given its historic use, repealing the literacy test sends a powerful message about North Carolina’s future and its desire to be a state that believes all citizen’s rights matter.
Do people really want to be philosophers? (And what are the “humanities”)
The humanities are political theory, history, philosophy, classics, and English
For the first time in decades, some of these have become a “growth sector” in higher education.
And this expansion is being driven by state legislatures and governing boards dominated by Republicans.
Public colleges in red and purple states like Arizona, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah, about 200 tenured and career-track faculty lines are being created in new academic units devoted to civic education.
Why does this matter?
Because Republicans have (at times) been critical of higher education, some people are afraid that they will “debase academic standards”
i.e. prioritize political imperatives,
or constrain teaching within certain ideological boundaries.
And while we get the concern, it’s absolutely critical that we get more students to understand this civic life, and this new investment in higher ed civics, needs time.
And we should all celebrate that we’re seeing a reinvestment in these long-underprioritized (but critical) areas of learning!
So what’s going on with NC’s budget and why are there two of them?
Both chambers decided to release a budget for the next Fiscal Year (FY).
Recently, both the North Carolina House and Senate released their fiscal year 2024-25 budget proposals.
Both budgets allocate funds to important things, like school vouchers and child care subsidies, but the Senate’s proposal shows more fiscal restraint.
How are they different?
One big difference is that the Senate’s proposal allocates $400 million less to economic development reserves than the House’s proposal.
Another is that the Senate’s budget is almost $300 million less than the House’s budget and does not provide additional raises to teacher and state employee pay.
The Senate’s proposal also doesn’t give $17.5 million to UNC-Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) to begin establishing a STEM program on campus.
The Senate also gives less or no money to a few smaller items:
The Senate’s proposal does not apportion funds to the NC Policy Collaboratory.
The Senate’s proposal does not increase the Film and Entertainment Grant Fund from $7 million to $20 million per movie.
Okay, so $300 million is a lot of money to disagree about…what do they agree on?
Both proposals give an additional $248 million to the Opportunity Scholarship program.
This amount will give everyone access to an Opportunity Scholarship.
Both proposals hope to alleviate the reported child care subsidy cliff by providing approximately $135 million in child care stabilization grants.
Both proposals recommend transferring $150 million from the Economic Development Project Reserve to the Randolph County Toyota Factory Megasite.
Both proposals allocate funds to important reserve accounts (like the Rainy Day Fund).
Neither proposal recommends any additions or changes to the set of current tax laws.
And unfortunately, both continue to fund the corporate welfare scheme NCInnovation
