Happy Banned Books Week

by David Safier Banned Books Week is here: September 24-October 1, celebrating noting the ignoble tradition of banning books, and, as the American Library Association puts it, "Celebrating the Freedom to Read." (Ever notice, no matter how quiet and mild mannered a librarian may be, how heated s/he gets when it comes to the topic … Read more

Jeb Bush, Rupert Murdoch and the “business” of education

by David Safier I could easily begin and end this post with the following sentence: Rupert Murdoch will deliver the keynote address at the Jeb Bush's National Summit on Education Reform. What more needs to be said? And yet, I can't resist saying more. Jeb Bush's group is the Foundation for Excellence in Education. Its … Read more

More on Arizona’s new education “empowerment savings accounts”

by David Safier I've written before about Arizona's new and dangerous "empowerment savings accounts," which put money for children's education into individual "savings accounts" — a ploy Republican legislators hope will get around the problem vouchers have had in the courts. By my lights, it is the most dangerous incarnation I have seen of the … Read more