Free Republic

Morgan Freeman picked up his bullhorn and baseball bat to star in the 1989 Warner Bros. movie. Joe Clark, the uncompromising New Jersey high school principal who employed a bullhorn and baseball bat to round his students into shape en route to becoming the subject of the inspirational Morgan Freeman film Lean on Me, has died. He was 82. Clark died Tuesday after a long illness at his home in Gainesville, Florida, his family announced. Soon after taking over as head of Eastside High School in Paterson, New Jersey, Clark expelled 300 students for fighting, vandalism, abusing teachers and drug...

Few Americans who entered polling booths for the Nov. 4 election and pulled the lever for their favorite candidate for Senate realize that for most of American history, senators were chosen by the state legislatures. It wasn’t until 1913 that the 17thAmendment was passed, granting American voters the constitutional right of directly electing their senators.While this important amendment may seem innocuous, the reality is that few other changes to our Constitution have had the same detrimental effect on our nation than this single, nearly forgotten alteration.The passage of the 17th Amendment was driven largely by the populist movement of the...

<p>Attorney General Eric Holder recently made comments suggesting that Zero Tolerance policies in US schools place minority students at an unfair advantage.</p> <p>Education experts blasted a recent Department of Justice directive, which they say seems to advocate a racial quota system for punishing school kids for such transgressions as being late or chewing gum in class.</p>

Jonathan Kozol has a devoted following, and "The Shame of the Nation" will not disappoint his fans. It's vintage Kozol -- a jeremiad. His core complaints are familiar: American public schools are segregated, and those that have few whites in them are financially starved. He adds only one new element: The standards, testing and accountability "juggernaut" has crushed the "humane and happy" education we once had.... "The Shame of the Nation" is basically an updated version of Mr. Kozol's 1991 book, "Savage Inequalities."... To be sure, Mr. Kozol has a seductive formula: Ignore most social scientists, listen to the children...