As concerns mount over the costs and benefits of higher education, it may be worthwhile to glance at the benefits of high school education at present as well. Of course, high school costs, while high, are borne by the taxpayers in general, but it is reasonable to hope that there are sufficient benefits for such an outlay. One of the most…

In this article, the author examines Louise Rosenblatt's "Literature as Exploration," a popular textbook used since 1938 (in five successive editions) in high school English classrooms across America. He discusses how the one-time college roommate of Margaret Mead managed to transform teaching literature into a form of student therapy that…

America's leading historian of education recounts a lifetime in the cause of responsible school reform. Diane Ravitch's blow-by-blow description of run-ins with Afrocentrist firebrand Leonard Jeffries, misguided feminists at the AAUW, the language sensitivity police, and others offers a fascinating perspective on how the education establishment…

Many historians on the left are unwilling to renounce communism and the agents in this country who ran its insidious errands. Despite damning evidence from Soviet archives, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, Alger Hiss, and other traitors remain the darlings of many leaders of the profession. Harvey Klehr documents how, in journals and recent textbooks,…

It's unsettling to hear of credentialed school teachers who--ignorant of our principles and of so much more--are seduced by, and pass on, ludicrous and even subversive accounts of our history. Sandra Stotsky tells of curricula that equate white Americans with Nazis and of officials who discredit the Constitution as a license for slavery. She…

Test results and employer complaints indicate that the average high school graduate hasn't learned enough and that he brings that deficit with him to college. As remedy, Chester Finn argues for uniform educational standards and measurements in a transparent reporting system that gives families the information necessary to scrutinize and accept or…

Advocates of racial preferences from the Harvard Civil Rights Project have criticized an initiative designed to provide race-neutral admissions to universities in Florida. George La Noue rejects their criticism, which, he says, confuses the definitions of affirmative action, establishes nonexistent criteria, and ignores crucial elements that…

Advanced Placement allows a student to apply credits he has acquired in high school to waive basic academic college requirements. It has broad appeal, and by 2003 a million American students were participating. William Casement argues that, despite its popularity, the decreasing selectivity of the program, the immaturity of the high school…

A committee of secondary school and college educators met in 2001 to develop content standards for teaching public school history. Adam Scrupski came away from that meeting amazed at the arrogance with which they imposed on New Jersey students, the firmly held belief that the story of America is predominantly one of capitalist, imperialist…