- Chicago mayor not the only one pushing this awful idea: New Mexico lawmakers propose requiring high school grads to apply to college or file alternate life plan [Dan Boyd, Albuquerque Journal]
- “New York’s Bid to Control Religious Schools” [Avi Schick, WSJ/Yeshiva World]
- “Couple’s three girls were taken away after Walmart reported innocent bath time photos” [Derek Hawkins, WaPo/The State, Jacob Sullum, Reason]
- Also soliciting public comment: “Education Department delays Obama rule encouraging racial quotas in special ed” [Jerome Woehrle, Liberty Unyielding; Erica L. Green, New York Times; Hans Bader/CEI last fall] “Civil Rights Commission Takes on Issue of Minorities in Special Education” [Christina Samuels, EdWeek] And: “Federal Special Education Law and State School Choice Programs” [Tim Keller and Nat Malkus, Federalist Society]
- New from Cato, edited by George H. Smith and Marilyn Moore: “Critics of State Education: A Reader.”
- “Everybody Hates DC’s Proposal Forcing Daycare Workers to Get College Degrees” [Eric Boehm, Reason, earlier here and here]
Filed under: Child Protective Services, New Mexico, New York state, occupational licensure, racial quotas, religious liberty, schools, Washington D.C.
6 Comments
With respect to the photos, shouldn’t the CPS people take as a given that their intervention will necessarily cause harm–the only question being whether the harm is a necessarily evil to forestall greater harm. That should militate against rash actions in cases like these.
Instead it looks like we had a bunch of crusaders who were willing to think the worst of these people and obviously didn’t care so much about the consequences of their actions. Those are the worst kind of zealots. I don’t understand how it’s not possible to be completely against exploitation of children but also completely against witch hunts.
The sad thing is–these people probably don’t think they did anything wrong. Not everyone has the same views about these kinds of pictures. But the penalty for not complying with CPS’ sense of taste shouldn’t be a bogus search warrant and having your kids taken away.
New Mexico lawmakers propose requiring high school grads to apply to college or file alternate life plan.
It’s like they’re admitting their education system has failed the students, and at the end they wash their hands of the mess. “Sorry, Felicia didn’t file a life-plan. No diploma for her.”
Why is this the school system’s responsibility anyway? Of course the govt. has taken control of the children (see Seattle Public Schools marine biology fiasco, link below), but they are way overreaching by trying to slot people into “appropriate” tracks. They should buzz off.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/education/in-seattle-teachers-are-going-rogue-just-to-take-kids-on-a-field-trip/
“Having spent a dozen years in the educational system set up by the legislature and having learned nothing of value to myself or anyone else, I have determined that the only role in life I am fit for is to become a member of the New Mexico Government, where I will fit right in and, indeed, excel.”
Bob
Does young Andrew really want to take on the Archdiocese of New York over education? Of course, it might be the thing that finally causes the Archbishop to pronounce him anathema.
Perhaps they should require a life plan for those who do apply to college. In particular, what is the earning potential of your major versus the debt you will accumulate?
Regulating schools?
Parochial and Modern Orthodox Jewish schools are doing fine and should be left alone. Some Haredi (ultra-orthodox) Jewish schools might be another matter, however. In Israel, some of them are notorious for graduates able only to recite religious texts, unable to hold a real job.
To the extent that might be a problem in the USA, it could be diagnosed with standardized achievement tests that representative samples from all schools were required to take. The notion that local school committees would force substandard Haredi schools to improve is laughable; the Haredi make up a formidable local voting blocs, able to dominate local school committees.