Tag:Education
The Privatization of School: Who Oversees the Education of Youth Today?
Almost 10% of K-12 students – approximately 4.7 million children – were enrolled in private schools as of the fall of 2021. Families today are increasingly attracted to private schools amid rising concerns about the academic quality and safety of public schools. However, a key barrier to private schools is the cost, with 59% of parents stating they would send their children to private schools if vouchers could cover full tuition. In an effort to ease this burden, the Trump administration passed the “Educational Choice for Children Act” (the Act). This program allows parents to receive a tax credit up to $1,700 for donations made to scholarship granting organizations, increasing families’ ability to afford private schooling. However, the Act does nothing to help or subsidize families in the public school system, where a vast majority of American students still reside. Thus, with the Act, the federal government may be lessening the financial burden of private schooling, but it is doing so at the expense of public-school funding.
Turning the Page on Censorship: The American School Book Ban Controversy
Across the United States, waves of book bans are reshaping student’s access to literature. Libraries have been transformed from quiet places to explore new topics into battlegrounds for parents and policymakers to impose their ideological beliefs. During the 2023 – 2024 school year, the United States saw book ban numbers triple from the year prior. The most frequently attacked books were those written by minorities and those providing representation for marginalized students. These important materials address pressing issues, such as racism, gender inequality, identity formation, and the effects of personal trauma. Book bans do a great disservice to the next generation, robbing them of opportunities to explore new ideas and develop crucial critical thinking skills.
College Tuition Payment Plans Are Putting Student Borrowers at Risk
Doria Keys Associate Editor Loyola University Chicago School of Law, JD 2025 College is typically the first instance in which many Americans encounter debt collection, lending, and credit reporting. The most common way that students borrow is by acquiring student loans, either from the U.S. Department of Education or from private financial institutions. A less …
Read more
The Supreme Court Striked Affirmative Action: Now What?
Following the Supreme Court’s decision striking down affirmative action in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, higher education institutions face challenging decisions in their admissions process. Although this may be a frightening time for many, California and Michigan have eliminated affirmative action years prior. These states may provide some insight as to how universities may maintain diversity. We may not see the implications of this decision until years to come. However, universities have the opportunity to collectively work together in order to maintain diverse student bodies and better represent the diverse individuals who help compose the United States of America.
Secret Shoppers Not Just in Stores: Use of Secret Shopping in Higher Education
Federal Student Aid (FSA), and the office of the Department of Education, announced on March 14th their plans to better monitor and enforce universities’ practices such as enrollment and the use of federal student aid to ensure that all regulations are being complied with. Secret shopping is used by enforcement agencies to scope out violations and get a better idea of how organizations, institutions or businesses are non-compliant with regulations. FSA hopes that this plan will incentivize universities to follow procedures and policies accordingly and will help determine which schools are being predatory by not complying with regulations. The main goal of sending out secret shoppers is to protect current and future students from harmful and predatory practices that are prohibited.
Regulating the Black Experience
Taelor Thornton Associate Editor Loyola University Chicago School of Law, JD 2024 Advanced Placement (AP) Music History, AP World History, AP Art History, AP European History, and now AP African American History. The College Board (the Board) offers 39 AP classes on many different subjects, and has recently added an African American history course. The …
Read more
The Legal Fight for Student Debt Forgiveness Is Underway
In August, President Joe Biden announced that his administration would be implementing a one-time student loan debt relief program for Americans with student loan debt. Since the announcement, the administration has posted guidance on the Department of Education’s website that explains the plan in detail and attempts to answer some FAQs. The website outlining the plan states that $10,000 worth of debt would be forgiven for Americans making less than $125,000 a year who have outstanding federal student loans. For those who received Pell Grants to pay for college, up to $20,000 worth of student loan debt would be forgiven. The website states that “the Administration will launch a simple application in October” that must be completed by the end of the year to determine whether borrowers qualify for debt forgiveness. That application is now available on the Federal Student Aid website.
Department of Education Reinforces Protections Under Title IX
It has been more than 100 days since the overturning of Roe v. Wade. In the wake of this decision, on October 4, the Biden administration reinforced guidelines regarding legal protections related to abortion and pregnancy under Title IX.
Possible Pitfalls in Michigan State’s Certification of Title IX
On Friday, September 30th, the Michigan State University Board of Trustees released an audit conducted earlier this month on the Title IX certification process. This audit was conducted after concerns arose regarding failure of compliance with the state-mandated Title IX certification process last year. Michigan State University President, Samuel Stanley, is at the forefront of the investigations.
Protecting the Freedom of Reading during the Rise of Book Censorship
This year, September 18th marked the start of Banned Books Week, which ran through September 24th with the purpose of bringing awareness to books that have been banned in libraries and classrooms across the United States. With the recent rise of politicization of education in America, the movement to ban books has skyrocketed. This year is already seeing record numbers of restrictions on books being taught in schools, with the American Library Association citing close to 700 book challenges that have already been brought. The rise of book censorship is being fueled by organizations with a focus on censoring books they deem should be banned from schools, who are compiling lists of hundreds of books with themes they disagree with.