Why Teachers Are Fleeing Public Schools

Why Teachers Are Fleeing Public Schools by Jeremy Noonan at First Things. In 2007 I turned down a high-paying job in engineering to become a public school science teacher. I believed that making a difference in the lives of kids and maintaining the tradition of Western civilization would give my life meaning and value that money couldn’t measure. But I soon discovered that my ideals were often at odds with the school administration’s priorities. I wanted to teach; my administrators wanted to get the maximum number of students a diploma with the least amount of friction. Read

Book Brings Catholic Social Doctrine to Kids (and Parents Too) by Theresa Civantos Barber at Aleteia. Catholic Social Teaching for Youth offers a ready-to-use script for Catholic parents as we work to teach our children what we believe about all of the modern moral and social issues. Organized around the themes set by the USCCB, Catholic Social Teaching for Youth lays out for families 31 Catholic social teaching topics, from the Dignity of the Human Person, through the Call to Family, Solidarity, Care for the Land, and Workers’ Rights. Read

The Better Way into Plato’s Meno: Keep Searching by Joseph R. Wood at Cana Academy. Why should every high-school student read Plato’s Meno? Plato’s student, Aristotle, opens his Metaphysics with an axiom of human nature: “All men naturally desire knowledge.” In the Meno, Socrates anticipates Aristotle’s insight, then explores its implications: Is the human soul immortal? How do we find claims about truth that will remain stable under the pressure of argument? How do we know something, and what is knowledge? What is virtue? Many of these questions remain unanswered in any final way, leaving the reader frustrated. That frustration, though, can be a source of wisdom. Read

7 Catholic Summer Camps for Your Kids Pt. 2 by Shelby Bland at CatholicVote. CatholicVote is back with more Catholic summer camps to enrich your children’s lives in the upcoming months. With days full of faith, fun, and friendship, these camps will help your child experience God in a new way. Read

California Bill Would Allow Schools to Limit, Ban Use of Smartphones on Campus by Travis Gillmore at Epoch Times. A bipartisan bill that would instruct public schools in California to develop policies to reduce students’ use of smartphones during the school day passed the state Assembly May 23…Highlighting international success stories—with Spain banning all cell phones in schools in 2015 and subsequently reporting increased academic performance—the bill’s authors said the measure could improve educational settings in California if enacted. Read

NewsGuard Primes Children in Public Schools for Life of Leftist Activism by John Tillman at The Washington Times. While public education has long leaned left, the widespread and deliberate steering of students toward liberal media sites has been happening for only the last two years. In 2022, the American Federation of Teachers — a powerful teachers union with 1.7 million members — announced a partnership with a third-party company called NewsGuard. The company wants teachers to ensure that tens of millions of students aren’t “misled by dubious outlets and spam sites posing as ‘news.’” The partnership even makes NewsGuard’s services available to students outside of school on their personal devices. Read

UK Plans to End Gender Ideology in Schools, Set Age-Based Sex Education Rules by Tyler Arnold at Catholic News Agency. The United Kingdom’s Department of Education intends to prohibit the promotion of gender ideology within public schools, set age-based guidelines for sex education, and protect parental rights, according to proposed guidance for schools. Read

Harvard Says It Will No Longer Take Positions on Matters Outside of the University by Vimal Patel and Anemona Hartocollis at The New York Times. Harvard said on Tuesday that it would now avoid taking positions on matters that are not “relevant to the core function of the university,” accepting the recommendations of a faculty committee that urged the university to dramatically reduce its messages on issues of the day. If put into practice, Harvard would no longer issue official statements of empathy, which it did for Ukraine, after the Russian invasion, and for the victims of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in Israel, for example. Read

Throwback Thursday

Chesterton and the Meaning of Education by Joseph Pearce at Intellectual Takout on January 5, 2016. The absurdity of the modern academy’s attempt to build a university in the absence of universals was a topic to which Chesterton would return often. “Take away the supernatural,” says Chesterton, “and what remains is the unnatural.” “Education is only the truth in a state of transmission,” he wrote on another occasion, “and how can we pass on truth if it has never come into our hand?” Read