Stephanie Trinidad

            In “A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Education Reform” by The National Commission on Excellence in Education and “The Manufactured Crisis: Myths, Fraud, and the Attack on America’s Public Schools” by David C. Berliner and Bruce J. Biddle, shows the two different fights in the fight for public education. In the past 30 years the American education system has gone from something that would have rivaled other countries to being placed in the mediocre category. Both passages address the subject differently in ways “A Nation at Risk” suggesting that there are many changes that should be made to education. As well as Berliner and Biddle saying that there is not enough supporting research to back the need of better education. To Berliner and Biddle’s credit their report was written during the 1980’s as was “A Nation at Risk”. Though written thirty years ago both reports can stand true today as well. Is there an att...

               Since the passing of Brown v. Board of Education (1954) there have been many amendments to the law. Brown v. Board of Education over turned the ruling of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) which was passed in 1896 which allowed racial segregation in schools throughout the United States. The ruling of Brown v. Board of Education stated “in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”(p. 138) After this landmark ruling racial segregation in schools was no longer allowed but there was still discrimination on the bases of disability and language as well as the still growing debate of gender inequality between boys and girls. It would be another 25 years before a law would be passed that would benefit children with disabilities (1975) as well as Lau v. Nichols (1974) which addressed students who didn’t receive specia...

            In the essay “End the ‘War on Christmas’” Edward Grinnan (p. 421) argues that the conflict known as “The War on Christmas” is a foolish argument and a “ceasefire” should be declared over the conflict. Grinnan argues that the holiday itself has roots in pagan culture and was adapted into Christian culture in order to persuade those who lived in their own society into joining Christianity. Also comparing the “War” to that of a “bickering old married couple” that they are arguing about the topic without any side reaching an agreement. Grinnan cites a story published in Guidepost regarding an incident on Christmas Eve during World War I in which the opposing sides in the war spent the night singing carols to one another instead of fighting only to resume “killing each other” in the morning. Grinnan concludes saying that the argument between religious and non-religious groups over the holiday is redundant since it h...