Free Republic

An intriguing ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court could re-open discussion about the brainwashing that occurs in all-too-many public school classrooms these days. The High Court this week issued a thumbs-down to so-called "diversity" plans in two large school districts that use race as a factor in assigning students. According to an Associated Press report, the ruling could affect not only schools in Seattle and Louisville, but could impact like-minded plans in hundreds of school systems around the country. Chief Justice John Roberts said the school districts involved "failed to show that they considered methods other than explicit racial classifications...

WASHINGTON, June 28 — With competing blocs of justices claiming the mantle of Brown v. Board of Education, a bitterly divided Supreme Court declared Thursday that public school systems cannot seek to achieve or maintain integration through measures that take explicit account of a student’s race.

WASHINGTON - Education and business leaders urged an overhaul of the U.S. school system, including ending high school at the 10th grade for many students. Current teaching is failing to prepare young Americans for the global economy, members of a bipartisan panel said Thursday. Beginning teachers should earn more, according to the group, and money for this idea could come from the scrapping of conventional teacher pension plans in favor of other benefits such as 401(k)s. "People have got to understand what we've got is not working. It's not working for kids, but it's not working for teachers either," said...

The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island and the Portsmouth School Committee have asked the state's education commissioner to weigh in on whether high school student Patrick Agin's medieval-style portrait can be published in the school yearbook. The ACLU sued the School Committee last week on behalf of Agin, a senior at Portsmouth High School, and his mother, Heidi Farrington, after Principal Robert Littlefield banned Agin's photo from the yearbook. In his senior portrait, Agin, a member of the Society of Creative Anachronism, is wearing a chain mail coat and holding a prop broadsword. With a Feb. 28 deadline...