The new superintendent of public schools in Oklahoma has formed a “turnaround team” to help restore public education in the state after the departure of Christian nationalist leader Ryan Walters. Veteran educator Lindel Fields was appointed to the position by…
To fight for democracy, act locally, Perryman advises
The way to win in the global fight for democracy is to think locally, according to Skye Perryman, president of Democracy Forward. In a keynote address to a summit on religious freedom in public schools held in Dallas Sept. 15,…
Stephen Miller, we know what you’re doing
Recently, I read that in 1988, a decision was made in Russia to stop giving their more than 50 million school children history examinations because they did not wish to continue to spread the “lies” the history was spreading. When…
These teachers taught me how to do nothing
My undergraduate Baptist college adviser was looking over his glasses at me as I prattled on and on about all I was doing. In my final semester, I was taking 18 hours in an attempt to pull a final-semester 4.0…
Pro-Life Groups Prioritize Education
Sixty years ago, Life magazine showed the world what a baby in the womb looks like.
The war on Black women: Silenced, sidelined, still strong
In today’s increasingly polarized political climate, one fact is undeniable: Black women — despite being the most educated demographic in America — are being strategically and systematically undermined, erased and excluded. This is not a conspiracy theory. It is an…
Religious liberty groups oppose federal school voucher plan
Dozens of religious groups and hundreds of faith leaders are speaking out against a federal school voucher program currently under consideration in the U.S. House of Representatives. If approved as part of a legislative funding package, the Educational Choice for…
100 Days into the Trump presidency, we are living in the Upside Down
In Netflix’s Stranger Things, the residents of fictional Hawkins, Ind., live right above a parallel dimension known as the Upside Down, a frightening, alternative version of reality. A portal into the Upside Down brings the show’s characters to a place…
In oral argument, U.S. Supreme Court wrestles with the limits of public school parents’ opt-out rights
In oral argument in the case of Mahmoud v. Taylor, the U.S. Supreme Court probed the issue of whether and to what extent parents of young schoolchildren enjoy a right under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to opt…
The MAGA Paradox: When political symbols in schools become tools of exclusion
Walking into my son’s Atlanta-based Jewish school, I was immediately confronted with a sight that left me unsettled: a child dressed as President Donald Trump, complete with a white MAGA hat, for Purim. As I processed my reaction, I considered…
Vouchers damage religion
I am opposed to school vouchers for a number of reasons. First, I am opposed for financial reasons. The Texas Legislative Board reports that the cost of vouchers as currently being considered in the Texas Legislature will increase from $1…
A small act of resistance: On teaching while woke
I remember well the day I heard the word “woke” for the very first time. It came from the mouth of a Black scholar addressing a conference on “Public Theology and Racial Justice” at Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville. It…