A Guest Blog – by John Broesamle For years, critics have been sounding alarms over the state of American colleges and universities. We hear, in… Read More »What Ails American Higher Education, and Some Suggested Cures
In our last blog, we were critical of the format and the performance of the moderators at the debate conducted by CNBC. Since that time there has been extensive discussion and “debate about the debate.” While numerous suggestions have been made by the candidates and various observers, most of them have been little more than tweaking. We have something a bit more radical (or “modest” in the Swiftian sense).Read More »Special Bulletin. Can a Future GOP Debate Be More Informative and Entertaining? A Modest Proposal.
The Obama Administration has not had many good days in quite a while, and with the arrival of the crisis in Ukraine, it may not have many for some time. Yet last Thursday, February 27, just before Vladimir Putin invaded Crimea, it was a day at the White House that deserves to be remembered with favorable nods to both the President and First Lady.
For his part, President Obama spoke eloquently of the circumstances of black and Hispanic young men and announced a new initiative, “My Brother’s Keeper,” to address those circumstances. Later that day, Michelle Obama appeared with the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, and the Secretary of Health and Human Services, to announce proposed new rules for food labeling, a project that she had been working on for several years. Each announcement, we believe, was one that Republicans can applaud (or at least quietly approve).Read More »Blog No. 30. A Good Day at the White House: “My Brother’s Keeper” and Food Labeling.
One of the earliest offerings of RINOcracy.com was “Blog No 3. Common Core State Standards: A New Cause for the Tea Party.” Since then, controversy over the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) has grown rather than diminished, and has become more complex. While the CCSS are the centerpiece of political debate, there are also disputes at federal, state and local levels over charter schools, vouchers and teacher tenure.
These are important issues that deserve the attention of RINOs and other Republicans. As we struggle with the challenges of income inequality and economic mobility, very few dispute that improving education is an essential ingredient of any successful approach to meeting those challenges. Moreover, it is increasingly apparent that first-rate education is vital to the ability of the United States to compete globally. But improvements are not easy to come-by. Different constituencies have differing perspectives, and attempts at reform that challenge the status quo inevitably generate resistance. Education reform is no exception.Read More »Blog No. 29. The Politics of K-12: Common Core, Charter Schools, Vouchers and Teachers’ Tenure.
Our friends in the Tea Party have a new cause. A May 30 article in The Washington Post expanded on earlier press reports that Tea Party groups have mounted a nationwide campaign against the Common Core Standards. Some readers of the blog will doubtless respond “Hunh?” But if you are aware of the Standards only vaguely, or not at all, and are not familiar with the growing controversy surrounding them, now’s the time to catch up.Read More »Blog No. 3 Common Core State Standards: A New Cause for the Tea Party