Новости за 17.01.2017

Ahead of Betsy DeVos’s confirmation hearing Tuesday to be President-elect Donald Trump’s secretary of education, multiple media outlets offered helpful explainers on the “loaded lingo” and specialty terms in debates about America’s schools. The language in these fights is hotly contested, whether it’s private school voucher advocates adopting the term “opportunity scholarships” or charter school critics suggesting charters aren’t really public schools. (They are in fact publicly funded, though... Читать дальше...

The largest college alumni group in the country consists of people who have student debt and no degree. There have always, of course, been more students entering college than graduating, entrants who found freedom or beer or Math 101 too challenging to surmount. But the United States’ massive effort over recent decades to send more low-income students into two- and four-year institutions has not been matched by a realistic understanding of what those students need to succeed, or to survive. The result is wasted time and wasted hopes... Читать дальше...

The constitutional pardon power is best known for its association with historic events like Watergate, which is why it is generally discussed in terms of the worthiness of its beneficiaries, rather than the god-like authority it vests in the president alone. There are only theoretical restrictions on the scope of federal lawbreaking the president has the power to forgive. But precisely because the power is so broadly applicable, and so narrowly held, its potential for abuse is tightly circumscribed by politics. Читать дальше...