MASSON: Consider the key community effects of public schools
Schools help create a knowledgeable citizenry that can be economically productive and civically involved.
Forefront
Articles
MEREDITH: Election has much at stake for public education
Our kids’ futures are at a crossroads in Indiana, and Hoosier voters have a choice this election season on which direction the state takes. It is now more important than ever to support candidates dedicated to advancing public education and the education profession. The state is facing a crisis: a shortage of qualified candidates for […]
BOEHM: Move politics out of redistricting with outside commission
Unless the courts intervene, redistricting reform in Indiana requires a statute or a constitutional amendment, both of which require approval of both chambers of the General Assembly, which has lacked the will to add Indiana to the growing list of states that have achieved redistricting reform.
McCORMICK: Use collaboration to come up with less time-consuming test
After ISTEP+ ends, Indiana must still have a gauge of how students are progressing toward their targets. These state-mandated summative assessments must be shortened and take less than 1 percent of instructional time per grade level.
RITZ: Replace high-stakes ISTEP with smaller tests throughout year
Indiana needs an assessment system that is student-centered, transparent and provides quick and valuable feedback about how students are performing throughout the year.
HILL: Enforcement, treatment, prevention all part of opioid addition strategy
The demand for opioid drives the supply, and Indiana falls woefully short ontreatment options to curb demand.
ARRENDONDO: State must crack down on overprescribing doctors
Many, if not most, of the people I meet have been touched in some way by the prescription-painkiller epidemic plaguing our state and our country.
Virtual reality’s increasing grip on how we live
Since the 1990s, we’ve seen two broad social changes that few observers would have expected to happen together. First, youth culture has become less violent, less promiscuous and more responsible. Childhood in the United States is safer than ever before. Teenagers drink and smoke less than previous generations did. The millennial generation has fewer sexual […]
A stand against political correctness in Chicago
We have gotten so used to seeing college presidents caving in to so many outrageous demands from gangs of bullying students that it is a long overdue surprise to see that at least one major university has shown some backbone. Dr. Robert J. Zimmer, president of the University of Chicago, has spoken out in the […]
Why Trump has no hope of winning over black voters
So now Donald Trump is campaigning for the black vote. (Long, awkward pause.) Like so much of what Trump has said and done, this new outreach forces writers like me to conduct scatological studies, framing Trump’s actions in their historical and intellectual absurdity. But, here we go. Trump, who got just 1 percent of support […]
ROOB: Storm outages expose vulnerability of electrical system
Cut the trees. Bury the lines. Do what needs to be done.
SHEPARD: State’s manufacturing strength is something to celebrate
The modern reality is that Indiana continues to lead the nation in the percentage of our workforce employed in manufacturing. And the level of employment in such jobs has risen continually since the Great Recession began.
SHABAZZ: There’s a lot of good news in Indiana’s jobs numbers
The state’s economy added more than 11,000 jobs in July and more Hoosiers were working than ever before. Unemployment is at 4.6 percent and the state’s workforce participation rate is 65.4 percent—the national average is 62.8 percent.
MASSON: Don’t be fooled by nostalgia: Things are getting better
An honest look at kids these days suggests they are probably doing a little better than we were.
SEAT: Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to ‘cross the streams’
We won’t always agree. How boring would that be? But we can, and should, at the very least listen.
BOEHM: Trump needs real plans to go with his goals
Trump has given us no basis to judge what we can expect from a his presidency on the major issues facing the country.
BARLOW: Bayh and Gregg practicing the art of deception
This year in Indiana, we are seeing some of the most amazing paint and polish jobs I’ve ever seen in my life.
WAGNER: Young’s attempts to rebrand Bayh ring hollow
Bayh swept into office in his early 30s eager to solve problems and work across the aisle. Not only did he balance the budget, but he turned it into a surplus.
IRELAND: Conservatives have led way on disability issues
Conservatives have led the way on critical federal and state legislation designed to empower those once living in the shadows. From deinstitutionalization to civil rights, we have been at the forefront.
DIETER: Gabby Douglas, Hillary Clinton and white male privilege
Even in 2016, white male privilege is so ingrained and insidious in American culture that it goes unnoticed by many, particularly its beneficiaries.