Joanne Jacobs
School bans 'only 2 genders' T shirt: There's only 1 acceptable opinion
A 12-year-old boy's free-speech rights to say "there are only two genders" on a T shirt is trumped by classmates' rights to feel...
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Joanne Jacobs
- Jul 10
- 2 min
Universities talk 'diversity,' demand conformity
Requiring would-be professors to swear allegiance to a political ideology is a free-speech violation, charges a lawsuit filed in May....
Joanne Jacobs
- Jun 6
- 1 min
No sex shows for kids in Texas: Why is this controversial?
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is expected to sign a bill that would ban staging "sexually explicit shows in front of children," reports William...
Joanne Jacobs
- May 27
- 2 min
High school debate's decline: No arguing allowed
High school debate competitions no longer value debate, writes James Fishback, a debater turned debate coach, on The Free Press. Until...
Joanne Jacobs
- Apr 13
- 2 min
Was Anne Frank bisexual? Graphic novel -- with breasts! -- is out of school library
The Diary of Anne Frank remains in the Vero Beach High School library, but the Florida school has removed a retelling of the story, Anne...
Joanne Jacobs
- Feb 12
- 2 min
Don't risk freedom, privacy to protect kids from social media
In their zeal to protect children from social media, Utah legislators are debating legislation that would usurp parents' rights and...
Joanne Jacobs
- Feb 3
- 2 min
It's only Schoolhouse Rock (but I like it)
I'm so old I don't know the words to Conjunction Junction. Schoolhouse Rock, animated musical shorts on grammar, history, civics,...
Joanne Jacobs
- Feb 3
- 2 min
Teach civics -- not activism
"Fixating on activism misses the point of civics education," write Frederick M. Hess, a former civics teacher now education policy...
Joanne Jacobs
- Dec 23, 2022
- 1 min
AI is learning to censor social media, and your taxes are paying for it
President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan includes half a million dollars for research in technology to detect and remove...
Joanne Jacobs
- Dec 23, 2022
- 3 min
Mastering newspeak at Stanford
Will Stanford continue to award master's degrees? Will my daughter's major -- American Studies -- need a new name? Stanford's IT...
Joanne Jacobs
- Oct 16, 2022
- 2 min
Diversity is skin deep at Harvard
Stanford discriminated against Jewish applicants in the early 1950's, admitted President Marc Tessier-Lavigne, who issued an apology last...
Joanne Jacobs
- Sep 3, 2022
- 2 min
School can't ban Christian club, OK 'Satanic Temple'
You don't have to be Christian to join the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) at Pioneer High School in San Jose. You don't have to...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jun 14, 2022
- 1 min
‘Proud Boys’ interrupt Pride event
Drag Queen Story Hour was starting at a Bay Area library when a group of men entered shouting homophobic and transphobic slurs, reports...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jun 7, 2022
- 2 min
Teens back free speech for unpopular views
U.S. high school students and their teachers agree that people should be allowed to express unpopular opinions, according to the Knight...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jun 7, 2022
- 3 min
FIRE expands free-speech advocacy
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education is renaming itself the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (still FIRE) as...
Joanne Jacobs
- May 22, 2022
- 1 min
If you want to speak up, you’d better be a saint
Princeton’s president wants to fire a tenured classics professor, but claims it’s not because he criticized “anti-racist” proposals,...
Joanne Jacobs
- May 22, 2022
- 2 min
‘Loyalty oaths’ return as ‘diversity statements’
Professors who want tenure or promotion at the University of Illinois will have to submit a statement declaring how they support...
Joanne Jacobs
- May 15, 2022
- 2 min
The young Puritans
Overprotected by their parents, Gen Snowflake demands that college “make them comfortable,” argued Greg Lukianoff, a First Amendment...
Joanne Jacobs
- May 10, 2022
- 2 min
Causing discomfort remains legal
Lessons that cause students discomfort remain legal everywhere, even in Florida, writes Peter Minowitz, a Santa Clara University...
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