Few topics are as political as education, in which at least basic schooling is compulsory for all Americans. It is fitting, then, that we conclude this week’s focus on change with a look at the changes that presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama each propose for U.S. education. After analyzing educational policy statements on [...]

Our third item this week on the United States’ unstable orbit around mediocrity is a repost of our top ten list of how U.S. education is failing to create students that will succeed in creative, knowledge- and innovation-based economies (first published last June). We apologize for beating a dead horse, but No Child Left Behind [...]

Phil Plait says it better: The Oklahoma House of Representatives has passed a bill that says that a student can receive a passing grade in an Earth Science class if they say that the Flying Spaghetti Monster created the Earth an hour ago, and then planted false memories into every single living creature on Earth [...]

I’ve refrained from commenting on politics up to now, but this is too absurd to be ignored any longer. According to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility: Grand Canyon National Park is not permitted to give an official estimate of the geologic age of its principal feature, due to pressure from Bush administration appointees. Despite promising [...]

Inside Higher Ed has an article on the decrease of political and financial support for American education relative to global competitors. Citing research by John A. Douglass at UC Berkeley, the article states: Douglass says that other nations are using government policy to match or exceed U.S. participation rates and to more fully integrate higher [...]