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Center for Education Policy |
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Dear Colleague,
Welcome back. We are excited to share the latest from The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Education Policy.
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Washington Times, Jay Greene
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Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona recently said the quiet part out loud when he tweeted, “Every student should have access to an education that aligns with industry demands and evolves to meet the demands of tomorrow’s global workforce.” At heart, progressives tend to view education as preparing a person to be a worker. Whether those workers serve the needs of corporate titans or the vanguard of the proletariat is but a quibble. Jay Greene explains, "The predominant understanding of education on the left is that a human being is a tool, and education should shape that tool to be productive and serve the needs of others."
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Wall Street Journal, Jason Bedrick and Matthew Ladner
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Several red states appear poised to adopt expansive school-choice policies this year, prompting the teachers unions and their allies to claim that the sky is falling, especially in rural areas. As Jason Bedrick and RedefinED's Matthew Ladner argue, "Corey DeAngelis is right to call out the Chicken Littles for their scaremongering pointing to copious evidence that choice and competition have a positive effect on public-school performance."
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ArcaMax, Jason Bedrick and Jonathan Butcher
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As a classroom teacher and mother of 10 children, Esther Fleurant knows that every child has different needs. And she knows how important education is for their futures. But finding the learning environment that’s the right fit for each child can be tough. Jason Bedrick and Jonathan Butcher write, "Fortunately for Esther, she and her kids live in New Hampshire, where they have access to Education Freedom Accounts (EFAs). This has allowed her family to explore a variety of options, including different private schools and homeschooling."
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The Federalist, Adam Kissel
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The fight against critical race theory in schools, colleges, and companies took a leap forward in December 2021, when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced a legislative proposal to prohibit discriminatory teaching and training around the state. Adam Kissel explains, "Although he signed the bill into law in April, a federal judge last month found key clauses of the Individual Freedom Act, also known as the Stop W.O.K.E. Act, to be unconstitutional with respect to higher education. But that does not mean the fight is over."
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Fox News, Jay Greene and Ian Kingsbury
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There is a growing disconnect between the values and priorities of America’s public education system and the families that system is supposed to serve. Educators increasingly see their role as rescuing children from the backward values of their parents. As Jay Greene and the Educational Freedom Institute's Ian Kingsbury write, "As we see reports of clashes between parents and public schools over the teaching of controversial topics, such as critical race theory and gender identity, we imagine that these are problems confined to big cities, mostly located on the coasts. But the disconnect between the values and priorities of educators and the communities they serve has spread across the country, including into rural Texas."
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The story of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah is actually the story of a culture war — one similar in many ways to the conflicts raging in modern America. The need to engage in and prevail in a culture war is a central lesson of the holiday, and the fact that ancient Israelites did so paved the way for Jewish continuity and survival over the last two millennia. Jay Greene argues, "If we want to ensure that the unique and positive aspects of the American Experiment will similarly persist, we need to remember this Hanukkah lesson."
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President Biden’s latest student loan repayment extension is probably unlawful. While the earliest delays were at least plausibly tied directly to the pandemic emergency, as the HEROES Act requires, each successive delay has been less and less reasonable. Adam Kissel explains, "With this latest delay, tied to litigation instead of the emergency, the Biden administration has clearly lost the thread."
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