Immigration reform has seemingly become an important part of the agenda. It is good that attitudes of tolerating the presence of illegal immigrants rather than wanting them deported have overtaken the majority. A higher percentage of Americans also favor more immigration rather than less, which is also a happy development. Yet I fear that the...
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The fight for civil liberties continues in San Antonio. The Northside Independent School District recently launched its controversial “Student Locator Project,” which requires students to carry ID badges equipped with radio frequency tracker chips. If they refuse, they could face fines, “involuntary transfers,” or suspensions. John Jay High School officials insisted the trackers were...
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The Independent Institute is delighted to announce the publication of the 25th Anniversary Edition of Crisis and Leviathan: Critical Episodes in the Growth of American Government, by Independent Institute Senior Fellow Robert Higgs. First published in 1987, this classic work introduced to the reading public the notion that national crises—the Great Depression, the two...
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An excellent movie released six years ago, “Amazing Grace,” depicted the life of William Wilberforce and his ultimately successful efforts to abolish, first, the British Slave Trade in 1806, and then slavery throughout the English empire with the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833. He did so entirely peacefully, through the British parliamentary system. It...
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Texas launched its controversial “Student Locator Project” last month. When fully implemented, it will reach more than 100 Texas schools districts and around 100,000 students. Two San Antonio schools are among the first to participate, John Jay High School and Anson Jones Middle School in the Northside Independent School District. Basically students returned to...
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Florida students in government-run schools are being challenged to improve their math and reading performance significantly over the next six years. But some students are being held to higher standards than others depending on their race. The State Board of Education recently voted that by 2018, 74 percent of black students, 81 percent of...
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Love and liberty are the basic building blocks with which decent people build good lives for themselves. Love takes many forms—in personal relations, in work and other creative endeavors, in charity toward the needy, in spiritual commitments that give deeper meaning to life amid its inevitable challenges and losses. Love gives us a reason...
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“Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.” That quotation, often (but probably incorrectly) attributed to Benjamin Franklin, sums up the ethics of democracy. Democratic outcomes are used to justify a majority claiming the right to impose their will on the minority. To prevent the unethical exploitation of...
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A dozen ballot initiatives in nine states focused on K-12 education issues. Also making news was the surprise defeat of Indiana incumbent and reformer State Superintendent Tony Bennett by Glenda Ritz, a former teacher backed by the union. Charter schools won big in Georgia and Washington. Georgia voters passed an amendment allowing a statewide...
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Who’s the biggest spender? That seems to be the education policy debate in a nutshell this presidential election season—and it misses the point entirely. First, let’s put federal education spending into perspective. Funding for public schools comes from local, state, and federal taxes. Historically, the federal revenue share has stayed below 10 percent of...
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