Academic Rants

  Last week, President Trump provided the next soundbites in the cultural wars. This time he focused squarely on education and the teaching of American history. Education Week, an online educator periodical, captured and highlighted aspects of the president's comments. "We must clear away the twisted web of lies in our schools and our classrooms, and teach our children the magnificent truth about our country," Mr. Trump stated. He also said that teaching the 1619 Project and ideas like Critical Race Theory "is especially harmful to children of minority backgrounds who should be uplifted, not disparaged. Teaching this horrible doctrine to our children is a form of child abuse in the truest sense of those words."  The president feels that educators are confusing students about the legacy of our nation, and he called for schools to "teach American exceptionalism" because schools are teaching kids to "hate their own country."  The presiden...

 The Silent Crisis With over 200,000 souls lost, COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on the United States. Since the pandemic hit these shores in late January, America has faced its greatest medical challenge since the Great Flu Pandemic. Despite the fact that the United States has about four percent of the world's and roughly a quarter of the world's positive tests, there isn't an overwhelming sense of fear or panic throughout the nation.  This national optimism is due in part to poor messaging through the media, elected officials, and social media. The press, depending on its affiliation, is stressing that the virus is deadly or that it is benign. Additionally, there is a false sense of national confidence that America is immune to this plague and that we are somehow protected from its impact. Part of this confidence is based on our legacy in fighting flu epidemics, polio, and HIV-AIDS. People like to point out that the Great Flu Outbreak occurred during World War I and...

  It is interesting to hear countless political figures struggle when discussing systemic racism. There is a need to deny the existence of racism when we all know it is historical in nature. The quest to “Make America Great," and to "Make America Great, Again” is a search for a mythical time when America was perfect. A simple survey of the twentieth century proves that no such era ever existed. America, in the minds of most social scientists, was always a contested space. None-the-less, the quest to find that “special time” continues.  Some social commentators have described it as a time when whites dominated the suburbs and were able to keep blacks and other minorities out. A deeper dive would reveal that the suburbs were never perfect for any group. See Richard Rothstein's seminal work, The Color of Law to see how the government provided the tools for segregating America. Neither the city, suburb, or rural countryside gave rise to the ideal American residence. Various ...