What’s Wrong with the Housing Market?
If you’ve been in the market for a home recently, you know prices are through the roof. Prices went up...
Reading Alone
The St. Louis County library system has announced it is making social workers available at several libraries as a standard...
Banning Books? Everyone Is a Censor
A version of this commentary appeared in the Columbia Daily Tribune. How do you feel about book-banning? This question was recently...
Part Three: Does Kansas City Have an Affordable Housing Problem?
(You can read part one and part two of this series here.) One of the primary problems in the affordable...
Flood of Federal Money Is Not a Free Pass for a Spending Binge
A version of this commentary appeared in the Columbia Daily Tribune. Jefferson City is awash in taxpayer cash. Missouri’s state...
Complete the Idea: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion—and Convergence (DEIC)
As I’ve shared before, my immigrant-turned-native-born family enjoyed and endured both the best and worst of America’s story. But my...
Yes, We Should Be Concerned About Critical Race Theory
Caroline Cureau was my great-great-grandmother. In 1902, Caroline married Onesiphore Sarafin Manade, my great-great-grandfather, and the couple moved from Louisiana...
Are Occupational Credentials the Answer to Educational Polarization?
As a scholar of education policy, three related facts have troubled me recently: Fact #1: Our economy and society are...
Action Civics: Teaching Students to Become Activists (Part 3 of 3)
In my previous two posts on action civics (which you can find here and here), I have suggested that this...
Action Civics: Teaching Students to Become Activists (Part 2 of 3)
In my previous post, I introduced readers to a concept known in education circles as action civics. As I noted...
Chesterfield Quick to Demand More from Taxpayers
Apparently, Chesterfield lawmakers are feeling the financial stress of the COVID-19 crisis and the subsequent economic downturn. In the latest...
The Danger of an Equity Only Lens in Education
There is a danger in looking at life through only an equity lens. Kurt Vonnegut shows this exceptionally well in...
COVID Makes it Clear – We Need Educational Options
A universal system of public education would be easy if we all agreed on what it should look like. COVID-19...
Will Missouri Reform Its Health Insurance Regulations in 2020?
Over the last few years, I have talked at length about the importance of choice in health care. One of...
Movie Review: The Pursuit
If you’ve never watched Milton Friedman’s 1979 appearance on the Phil Donahue show, go watch it now. It is required...
Cyclical Poverty Is a Problem in Missouri-What Can Be Done About It?
Imagine the Game of Life played under different rules—with everyone randomly assigned at birth to one of two paths. One...
There Is More Than One Way to Measure Poverty
Back in 1980, 13 percent of people were living below the federal poverty line, and 13 percent had standards of...
What Type of School Do You Like?
What type of school do you like? Do you prefer those that use Maria Montessori’s approach, which is based on...
How and Why Prop A Will Boost Jobs and Growth
Outside of Missouri, the most closely watched contest in the Aug. 7 elections here will not be any of the...
Edward Glaeser to Discuss War on Work in St. Louis
Harvard economist and Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow Edward Glaeser will speak at St. Louis University on May 9. As part...
