by Randall Balmer | Oct 27, 2023 | Feature, Opinion
When I was in ninth grade, my family moved from Bay City, Michigan to Des Moines, Iowa. As a preacher’s kid, I had grown accustomed to dislocation—changing towns, neighborhoods and schools—but this one was especially difficult. Ninth grade in Michigan was high...
by Wendell Griffen | Oct 6, 2023 | Feature-, Opinion
I remember how private schools were imagined, established, financed and operated to prevent all children from being educated together. I remember how the supporters of those private schools complained that their hard-earned tax dollars were spent to maintain public...
by Wendell Griffen | Oct 5, 2023 | Feature-, Opinion
I am a product of public education. I was born September 23, 1952—making me now 71 years old—when Jim Crow public segregation was required by law in Arkansas. Although my family lived less than three miles from Delight High School in Pike County, I didn’t know where...
by Jack Moline | Oct 22, 2021 | Opinion
A decent education teaches you to think. In my life, that statement has been as self-evident as the unalienable rights in the Declaration of Independence. After all, an effective education is not just the transfer of information from book to brain but includes the...
by Barrett Owen | May 25, 2021 | Opinion
There is not a demographic on the planet that has been unaffected by COVID-19. With summer fast approaching, I want to focus on educators, administrators and support staff who have had to balance stress, fatigue, learning-curve and anxieties – all with a chipper smile...