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…or maybe it was the plaid?
Students in class at St. John Villa Academy Catholic School
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Now available from Oxford University Press! What have you always wanted to know about creationism in the USA?
Now available from Oxford University Press!
Winner of the History of Education Society’s Outstanding Book Award, 2015
Available now from Harvard University Press.
Why are we STILL fighting about evolution?
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Find ILYBYGTH around the Web:
- SCOTUS just chucked the Lemon test–now coaches and teachers can preach while they teach. More important, they said they were respecting the beliefs of the Founding Fathers, but they totally ignored the real history, the real reasons Americans have walled up public schools from Jesus. At The Atlantic (July 2022)
- Conservatives will tell you they’re fighting a “war” for public schools. They’re not. They lost the war a century ago. Today’s attacks are something different. Washington Post (May 2022)
- Attacks on universities in the 2020s sound a lot like the ones in the 1920s. I lay out the century-old lessons in Nature. (April 2022)
- Freaked out by all this talk of banning and burning schoolbooks? At The Atlantic, I reviewed the history of the greatest school ban movement of all time. (Nov. 2021)
- Remember all that talk about the University of Austin? The alternative to “woke” cancel culture? For Slate, I took a look at the relevant history of conservative attempts to start alternative universities. (Nov. 2021)
- Post-pandemic, Black parents are more likely to want to keep the homeschooling going. And guess what? Some pundits say those parents don’t value education highly enough. As I wrote for the Washington Post, that’s the oldest mistake in the history of US public schooling. It’s not any truer or fairer today than it was in 1821. (July 2021)
- As the world stumbled out of the covid pandemic, it wasn’t clear what schools would look like. But one thing was pretty obvious: desperate school administrators would be tempted to make the oldest mistake in schooling. I worked with Prof. Cain again to explore the sad long story of schools that tried to replace expensive teachers with cheaper technology, at Washington Post. (March 2021).
- The covid pandemic is leading to an unprecedented crisis in education…right? Well, there IS a ton of precedent. I teamed up with the brilliant historian Victoria Cain to look at the history of over-hyped tech panaceas in times of crisis, at Kappan. (February 2021).
- Dr. Miguel Cardona is just about as different from Queen Betsy as anyone can be. But in one thing, he is making the same kinds of statements. Can he get over the centuries-old curse of politics in ed policy? My view from the archives at Washington Post. (February 2021).
- At Kappan, I take on the myth of the “eternal monkey trial.” It might seem like America keeps fighting the same fight about creationism, but in fact evolution education has made huge strides.
- No one mentioned rats or stinking ships, but Betsy DeVos leaped out of the Trumpster fire at the last minute. Her tenure leaves us with questions. Mainly, how could someone who was so bad at her job keep it for so long? In Salon, I give the historical perspective. Spoiler: hard-line conservatives have always used the politics of fear when it comes to public schools. DeVos was only the latest. (January, 2021).
- In the aftermath of the 2020 election, we’re seeing some truly strange behavior in the White House. There’s a precedent for this, sort of. It doesn’t make me optimistic. In the Washington Post.
- Creationism fact #1: Americans don’t actually disagree about evolutionary theory. We just hate each other. I make the case from my new creationism book at Patheos.
- The Harris/Pence debate included eighteen angry looks, fourteen interruptions, and one housefly. It also included two candidates who have emphasized their connections to very different types of colleges. At the Washington Post, historian Marybeth Gasman and I talk about the higher-ed history involved.
- What’s wrong with SCOTUS’s decision in Espinoza? Bad history led to bad results, in Washington Post
- Inject bleach? Magic cures for covid-19 based on Trump’s hunches? What Trump is saying these days is dangerous and bizarre, but it is not exactly anti-science. I make the case–based on the history of creationism–at History News Network.
- Why would Liberty University go against all advice about coronavirus? History gives us a clue. At Washington Post.
- Democratic candidates need to look to this historical lesson when they evaluate charter schools, at Washington Post
- Of course historians should be talking about politics. History itself makes the case. In this case, the history of creationism can teach us a thing or two, at Washington Post.
- Why would a Christian creationist tell kids to cheat? At Righting America.
- How do we know Betsy DeVos plan for public education won’t work? Because we’ve tried it before. My view from the archives at The Washington Post
- Teachers! Surprised at the recalcitrance of administrators? Don’t be: the first generation of public-school administrators tried to force their teachers to work without pay. The lesson from the archives at History News Network.
- Why Christian schools can’t defend anti-LGBTQ policies as merely “historic Christianity,” at Washington Post
- What’s wrong with dunking on D’Souza? Lessons from the history of creationism at History News Network.
- The CCCU might not like to admit it, but Liberty University is fulfilling their oldest, fondest dreams. My piece at HNN.
- What should non-evangelicals think about evangelical higher education? Listen to my interview with Friendly Atheist Hemant Mehta for a few ideas…
- Professor Barry Hankins on Fundamentalist U, family feuds, and Wrestlemania in Christianity Today
- Naomi Schaefer Riley in WSJ: Fundamentalist U is “a fascinating and careful history.”
- A talk about Fundamentalist U with Prof. Andrea Turpin at Religion in American History
- Why would conservative Liberty University invite liberal Jimmy Carter to give its commencement speech this year? My two cents at The Conversation.
- Fundamentalist U: “An invaluable introduction to the esoteric world of Christian higher education.” So says John Compton in the Los Angeles Review of Books.
- Why are evangelical colleges so interesting? Read an author interview at Religion & Politics
- Why are anonymous newsletters so controversial at evangelical colleges? An historical perspective on Taylor at Righting America at the Creation Museum
- Why should YOU care about evangelical higher education? Listen to an author interview at Phoenix’s KJZZ to hear my answer.
- Fundamentalist U in the Chronicle of Higher Education
- Why Fundamentalist U? See the author interview at Inside Higher Ed.
- Bastions of Trumpism? Or citadels of lefty evangelicalism? How about both? At Religion Dispatches, I make the case that evangelical colleges have always had a complicated relationship to political conservatism.
- How does a non-evangelical historian end up writing about evangelical institutions? A Q&A about Fundamentalist U at Righting America at the Creation Museum
- Why Are We So Angry about History? at History News Network
- I don’t know how she knew Harvey is short, too, but in a recent review in Historical Studies in Education, Victoria Cain calls our book “A case study in how to write smart and short.”
- Will new campus free-speech laws help calm down campuses? Not a chance. I make a case from 1920s precedent at History News Network
- Is Trump fulfilling conservative dreams? Not exactly. See my piece at Newsweek.
- Cedarville University demands purity in its classrooms. Is this something new or just the newest version of something old? I make my case at Righting America at the Creation Museum.
- Do you need to read TECN? Read Professor Amy Lark’s review in American Biology Teacher to find out….
- Read Princeton historian Kevin Kruse’s review of The Other School Reformers in The Journal of American History
- Why did Wheaton fire Larycia Hawkins? My two cents at History News Network and the Chicago Sun-Times
- Why should progressives study conservative school reformers? Read Dr. Andrew Petto’s review of The Other School Reformers to find out!
- What are people saying about The Other School Reformers? Read Mike Wakeford’s review at the Society for US Intellectual History blog
- GOP Politics and the Educational F-word, at History News Network and Time
- Podcast with John J. Miller of National Review about The Other School Reformers: What does it mean to be an “educational conservative?”
- Is the Common Core “Conservative?” in the Albany Times-Union
- “Saving Progressive Education from Itself,” in Education Week
- “The Missionary Supposition: Evolution Education and Creationist Culture,” in Reports of the National Center for Science Education
- “To Teach Evolution, You Have To Understand Creationists,” at the Chronicle of Higher Education
- “The Real Wall of Separation in Public Schools,” at the Washington Post’s Answer Sheet education blog
- “Does David Barton’s Flameout Make This a Scopes Moment for American History?” History News Network
- ‘”Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Huckabee,” Creationism in Historical Perspective:’ Adam Laats at EVoS, November, 2011
- Now in paperback: Adam Laats, Fundamentalism and Education in the Scopes Era: God, Darwin, and the Roots of America’s Culture Wars
- “Why Do Conservative Southerners Loudly Insist that Kids Be Taught Lies about the Civil War?” History News Network
- “Kids Are Learning to be Leftists in Public Schools by Historians with an Ax to Grind?” History News Network
Blogroll
- Adam Shapiro at Trying Biology
- Americans United for the Separation of Church and State
- Answers in Genesis
- Answers in Genesis Creation Museum
- BioLogos
- Council for Basic Education
- Cultural Cognition
- Daniel Silliman's Blog
- Daniel Willingham: Science and Education
- Homeschoolers Anonymous
- Institute for Creation Research
- John Fea's Way of Improvement Leads Home
- Larry Cuban on School Reform
- Milton Gaither's Homeschooling Research Notes
- National Center for Science Education
- Peter Greene's Curmudgucation
- Righting America at the Creation Museum
- Sam Blumenfeld's Alpha-Phonics
- Stuff Fundies Like
- TalkOrigins Archive
- The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice
- The Pietist Schoolman
- Us & Them: Trey Kay explores the Culture Wars
- Abortion American Legion Answers in Genesis atheism Betsy Devos Bible Bill Nye Biola University BioLogos Bob Jones University Bryan College Campus free speech catholicism Charter Schools Christian Colleges Common Core State Standards Conservatism Creationism Creation Museum Culture Wars Dinesh D’Souza Educational Conservatism Eric Plutzer evangelical higher education evangelicalism Evolution Evolution education fundamentalism Fundamentalist U Gordon College Henry Morris Heritage Foundation higher education History education homeschooling homosexuality Intelligent Design Jerry Coyne Jerry Falwell Jr. John Fea Jonathan Zimmerman Joseph Lancaster Ken Ham Larry Cuban LGBTQ Liberty University Max Rafferty Mel and Norma Gabler Michael Berkman Moody Bible Institute National Center for Science Education Peter Greene Progressive Education Public Education public schools Racism Richard Dawkins Rod Dreher Ronald Numbers same-sex marriage School Prayer school reform Science Segregation sex education Teacher strikes Teachers Unions Textbooks traditional education traditionalist education Trump vouchers Wheaton College William Jennings Bryan Young earth creationism
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