(Cross posted from "For Our Future".)

In recent years, African-American activists have pressured modern institutions with historical involvement in the slave trade to acknowledge their role and make amends. Some have called for companies to pay a form of reparations. Most institutions have rejected this idea, but have made some concessions.

(Cross posted at "For Our Futre.")

A group of student activists recently disrupted an anti-immigration speech at Columbia University. Progressives should immediately distance ourselves from this kind of behavior. It is both anti-democratic and hurtful to the progressive cause.

Free speech is a basic freedom cherished by the vast majority of Americans. It is the basic foundation of a democratic society. We cannot have important debates about the future of the country without a broad sharing of views. No one should be prevented from speaking, no matter how despicable we may find their views. Progressives can win on the power of our ideas--we don't need to shut down our opponents.

Iara Peng, the executive director of Young People For, has written an article outlining the training programs available to conservative youth. She contrasted that with the opportunities offered for young progressives and argued that the left needs to put more money into youth outreach. I wrote about this issue almost two years ago. I agree with the general premise of her article, but I think Peng ignores a major failure of progressive movement's outreach programs for young people.

It's not enough to train youth to be activists and organizers. The left needs to invest in building a training infrastructure that nurtures young people to be strong public of progressive values. Ann Coulter and Michelle Malkin didn't come from nowhere. They were created by the right-wing media machine. If the progressives want to win the battle of ideas, we need to build the next generation of pundits and intellectuals.

(Cross posted on "For Our Future.")

In the coming days, the Department of Education will unveil a plan for national student database. This proposal is a radical expansion of government power and would allow federal officials to track everything from financial aid to standardized test scores. Educators and student activists have raised concerns about the database, but the issue is almost completely shut out of the national media. The major news organizations need to start paying attention to this issue--a national federal database must be carefully scrutinized by the public before becoming policy.

(Links avalible at htpp://benwaxman.blogspot.com)

There is a lengthy article in September's issue of The Washington Monthly about the new national educational database proposed by the Department of Education. It's written by Kevin Carey, who is a research and policy manager at Education Sector. Carey is a strong supporter of the database and believes it will help parents, students, and policymakers accurately judge the effectiveness of institutions of higher education. I think several of his arguments make problematic assumptions about the very nature and purpose of education. He also shows a very startling naiveté about the ability of Congress to protect student privacy.

(cross posted from http://benwaxman.blogspot.com)

A journalism student at Northwestern  University has uncovered a previously unknown effort that used student loan records to track potential terrorists. Known as "Project Strike Back", the program was a joint effort between the Department of Education and FBI. Launched in the days after the September 11th attack, Project Strike Back allowed federal authorities to have access to thousands of student records. The program has allegedly been discontinued, but many questions remain about student rights during wartime.

(Cross posted from http://benwaxman.blogspot.com)

Across the country, dozens of small liberal-arts colleges are dropping the SAT requirement for admissions. This trend started a few years ago and is an extremely positive development. There are a variety of reasons that I oppose standardized tests in college admissions, but I think this quote sums up the issue quite nicely:

"We hope that now that there are more test-optional schools, students will think about not taking it, and putting their time and money into other activities, like music or writing or community service, said Jane B. Brown, vice president for enrollment at Mount Holyoke, which dropped the SAT requirement in 2001. We hope they will have more interesting lives."

(This is cross posted from my blog: http://benwaxman.blogspot.com)

Every college student knows about the high price of textbooks. I have five classes this semester and managed to spend almost $500 on assigned readings. These were almost all politics and history classes, which makes the figure even more amazing. Textbooks for humanities classes actually tend to be cheaper than other subject areas. For example, students studying hard sciences like biology or chemistry often have to shell out over $100 for a single text book. Unless something is done to make college books more affordable, higher education may soon be out of reach for many young people.