Right Thinking: OU’s hard turn collides with politics
Andrew C. Spiropoulos
If our political and intellectual culture were healthy, it is likely that state legislative leaders would never even have considered interfering in the operation of state universities or how university students are oriented or counseled. The foundation of university education is intellectual freedom – the freedom to study, teach, discuss, and write about any idea, no matter how offensive or dangerous some may think it.
There is no doubt that it is both appropriate and important to expose students to critical theory arguments. When I taught civil rights classes, we read and discussed important critical race theory scholarship, just as we read and discussed different varieties of feminist scholarship in my family law classes. The traditional left-wing bias of the academy doesn’t manifest itself in the exposure of students to progressive ideas – the quality of education is compromised by the inability
Right Thinking: Republicans’ corporate support eroding
Andrew C. Spiropoulos
It’s easy these days for Republicans to feel beleaguered. Aside from losing the presidency and Congress, it feels like all of the power centers of society are arrayed against them. They already knew the press, Hollywood, most lawyers and Wall Street investment bankers, Silicon Valley and the universities are against them and have been for years. Their only solace was that their party, with few exceptions. was backed by the money and power of big corporations in legacy industries like energy, transportation, manufacturing and consumer goods.
But now, it appears, the GOP has lost the support of even these corporate titans. After some Republicans in Congress hesitated to affirm President Joe Biden’s election victory, and party leaders in an increasing number of states decided to revise the voting laws in order, in their minds, to address potential abuses that threatened the integrity of the process, th
Right Thinking: So much more for legislators to learn
Andrew C. Spiropoulos
Some state legislators think they and their colleagues should be trained in the meaning and importance of diversity and inclusion. This is a serious idea that should be given careful consideration. And there are other important subjects in which legislators should receive training.
I would dearly love for legislators to be trained in the meaning of our nation’s constitutional principles. I would like them, for example, to learn, as stated in the Declaration of Independence, the cherished statement of our society’s fundamental beliefs, that our nation is based on the self-evident truth that all people are created equal. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. explained this principle eloquently – we should be judged not by the color of our skin, but by the content of our character. Because we are created equal, we are all endowed with rights, which include the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Right Thinking: OKC schools in crisis well before pandemic
Andrew C. Spiropoulos
We just held school board elections in Oklahoma City and you couldn’t tell by who ran for office or the campaign discussions that the school district is mired in a historic crisis, and if dramatic changes aren’t made, the damage may be irreparable.
Even before the coronavirus landed, the district, in the previous five years, lost 5,000 students, a decline of almost 13%. In the same period, enrollment increased, often significantly so, in the Edmond, Deer Creek, Mustang, Moore, Norman, Piedmont and Bethany districts. Enrollment also rose in public charter schools, especially the online variety, and, again, this increase began before the virus-driven explosion in online school enrollment. The virus has caused enrollment drops even in the previously growing suburban districts, but Oklahoma City’s decline has been generally more severe.