Trump Restores Order in Schools

In 2012, a report found that black students got suspended from school at higher rates than white students. The Obama administration blamed racial bias for the disparate discipline numbers and threatened federal investigations. In response, schools became reluctant to crack down on classroom disorder.

But, as Carolyn Gorman points out, this presidential guidance completely ignored reality. Many factors contribute to varying discipline rates, including family structure and socioeconomic status. “Black students are three times more likely to grow up in poverty than white students, so it is unsurprising to see racial disparities in misbehavior, just as we see them in academic achievement,” she writes.

Schools’ hands-off approach to discipline has eroded academic achievement and made it harder for struggling kids to get the help they need. That’s why President Trump’s recent executive order calling for more discipline in schools is a positive step forward. Read more about the order here, and why Gorman is hopeful it will help students get back on track.

Yale professors have (seemingly) had enough.

In a new open letter, nearly 100 of them called for the university to get back to its academic mission: prioritizing “intellectual vitality over bureaucratic inertia.” To do that, they suggest an audit, which would aim to cut or restructure administrative roles. As they note, faculty hiring has stagnated while administrative ranks keep growing.

John D. Sailer writes that the letter “could inspire faculty at other schools to follow suit and potentially provide a roadmap for a tacit alliance between reform-minded liberal professors and the Trump administration.” Read his take here.

In our spring issue, Martin Gurri admits that during the 2016 election, he missed the consequential dimension of President Trump’s character. “I understood the forces that propelled him forward—I thought that they were of world-historical importance. But I never gave much credit to the man himself,” he writes. Read his attempt to correct the record.

On the campaign trail, Donald Trump repeatedly pledged to “back the blue” and support America’s beleaguered police officers. On Monday, he took a meaningful step toward fulfilling those promises, signing an extensive executive order that calls for funding and protecting cops.

According to Rafael A. Mangual, the order is a big win for law enforcement—and the country. Coming after years of anti-cop rhetoric following George Floyd’s death, Trump’s action calls for funding to boost recruitment and retention, enhance training, and expand legal protections for police officers. If the White House “follows through on Monday’s order,” Mangual writes, “law enforcement—and the American people—can begin to put this dark chapter behind them.”

Read the rest of his piece here.

“Does anyone doubt for a moment that if a judge had helped a January 6er escape arrest, the judge would have been apprehended and thrown in prison in a heartbeat, & Democrats would have cheered?”

Photo credits: Maskot / DigitalVision via Getty Images