Politics and Schools

How Banning TikTok Could Lead to Voter Suppression

March 29, 2023

The Congressional hearings to ban TikTok in the United States have been a hot topic of discussion recently. While there are concerns about the app’s security and data privacy, there is another issue that is not being discussed: the potential for a TikTok ban to lead to voter suppression.

Young people, who are a key demographic in elections, make up a significant portion of TikTok’s user base. By banning the app, the government would be disenfranchising a large group of voters who use TikTok as a platform to express their political opinions and engage with others about elections. It is important to remember that the youth vote is crucial in many elections and can often be the deciding factor in close races.

The Harmful Impact of School Choice Policies and Charter Schools on Public Schools and Students with Disabilities

March 22, 2023

Students in an elementary classroom — Photo by CDC on Unsplash

Last week, in what seems a poor attempt at gaining attention or support for her platform, a lobbyist for the defunding of public education attempted to engage the successful, hilarious, and brilliant Quinta Brunson. Jeanne Allen seemed to take issue with Brunson’s lack of support of charter schools in America, and accused her of being duplicitous, having attended charter schools exclusively for her entire education. Fortunately for petty readers like me — and unfortunately for Allen — Brunson was willing to set the record straight.

But this begs the question: Who even is Jeanne Allen, and what stake does she have in education? (And don’t let that blue checkmark fool you — she paid for it. Her following is nowhere near substantial enough to garner a free one.)

The Damaging Effects of Conservative Policy on Public Schools

March 15, 2023

The education system in the United States relies on public schools to provide a free education to all students, regardless of their socioeconomic background. However, conservative policy has been undermining public schools by promoting charter schools and school vouchers, diverting funds from public schools and undermining their ability to provide quality education to all students. This trend is alarming, and research has shown that these policies have disastrous consequences for public schools. Conservative policy is also responsible for a host of other problems, including opposing comprehensive sex education and LGBTQ+ inclusive curriculum, implementing standardized testing and punitive accountability measures, resisting efforts to reduce class sizes, ignoring the needs of students with disabilities, dismissing the importance of cultural competency and diversity training for teachers, opposing policies that address poverty and income inequality, and denying students admission based on arbitrary factors. These policies harm students’ educational experiences, perpetuate the cycle of inequality, and neglect the needs of some of the most vulnerable students in our education system.

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