September 22, 2023
Repairing the Damage Columbia’s Teachers College Did to American Kids Will Take Years
I’ve come to bury Lucy Calkins, not to praise her. Columbia University’s Teachers College announced this month what once seemed unthinkable: It’s “dissolving” its relationship with Calkins, sending the controversial literacy guru and her cash-cow publishing and consulting empire packing. The divorce came a few months after the New York City Department of Education made the…
September 21, 2023
The Two-Parent Advantage
“Isn’t divorce less of a big deal for kids these days?” A colleague’s wife asked me this question as we hiked down Parkman Mountain last summer, while taking a break from an academic conference. She asked the question after she learned that I studied American families. “After all,” she added, “we’re more accepting now of…
September 21, 2023
How Health Policy Laws Are Hurting College Students and Their Families
In the midst of all our discussions about what is causing the youth mental health crisis, it might be worth examining the public policies that are making it worse. One such policy is the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or at least colleges’ interpretation of that law. A recent article in The New York Times documented the…
September 21, 2023
How Health Privacy Laws Are Hurting College Students and Their Families
In the midst of all our discussions about what is causing the youth mental health crisis, it might be worth examining the public policies that are making it worse. One such policy is the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or at least colleges’ interpretation of that law. A recent article in The New York Times documented the…
September 20, 2023
Do Two Parents Matter More Than Ever?
The share of American men and women who think that marriage and a stable family are not important for children in our contemporary world is growing. Either because they adhere to progressive ideas about family diversity, discount the unique value of marriage, or believe that single parents are just as capable of raising children as two parents,…
September 19, 2023
It’s OK to Like Both Public Schools and School Choice
Education savings accounts. Universal voucher programs. Charter schools. These are words guaranteed to inspire heated debates among policymakers, parents, and educators. Teachers’ union leaders denounce school choice as part of a malicious “war on public education.” School choice advocates rail against “failing government schools.” These debates manifest themselves as morality plays in which one is either for…
September 18, 2023
West Virginia Budget Cuts Are a Taste of Higher Ed’s Future
Gordon Gee thinks higher education is at a “crossroads.” If it takes the wrong turn, it will head over a demographic and financial cliff. To save West Virginia University, of which he is president, in February he announced significant cuts, including the elimination of 169 faculty positions and some 30 academic programs and departments that were…
September 18, 2023
A GOP Plan to Raise the Minimum Wage Is Also a Bid for Immigration Reform
Republicans have talked a lot in recent years about becoming a “workers party,” without having much of an agenda to match the rhetoric. A new Senate proposal aims to start changing that. The bill would raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $11 per hour while also requiring employers to check that their employees are legally…
September 18, 2023
There’s an Easy Fix That Would Solve Our Housing Crisis: Light Touch Density
We’re living through one of the greatest housing crunches the U.S. has ever known. It’s resulted in record numbers of homelessness and entire generations certain they will never become homeowners, that critical milestone of the middle class. But there is a simple solution to the problem. The answer to our housing crisis is to legalize…
September 18, 2023
No Culture Wars, Please, We’re Academics
A few years ago, Melissa S. Kearney got into a taxi cab and asked the driver about a photo of a young girl on his dashboard. The driver confirmed it was his daughter and then proudly showed her more pictures. The girl lived with her mother, he explained. Kearney, a professor of economics at the…