Kevin Roberts, Ph.D., is the former Chief Executive Officer of the Texas Public Policy Foundation. A lifelong educator, Roberts earned his Ph.D. in American history from The University of Texas, thereafter serving as a history professor, and ultimately starting his own K-12 school, John Paul the Great Academy in Louisiana.
In the days immediately following the horrific attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, a poem was left at a makeshift memorial near Ground Zero in New York. It began simply, “You rushed up the stairs of the towers, as we rushed down…” I took my son to the official memorial just a few weeks ago. As...
The debacle in Afghanistan is still unfolding, but it is already one of the signal disasters of American history. It’s usually premature to assess contemporary events in history’s light, so it’s a sign of just how bad things are in Kabul that I — a historian — am ready to put it alongside the Bay...
Even as educrats continue to tell us critical race theory isn’t taught in K-12 classrooms, two news stories from different parts of the country demonstrate that this divisive and destructive philosophy is already undermining the educations of far too many U.S. children. In Atlanta, a Black mother was horrified to learn her daughter was shunted...
The culture wars are alive and well, deep in the heart of Texas. The latest battle, which flared up last week, involves the recently published and controversial book, “Forget the Alamo.” The book received fanfare from the expected left-of-center outlets, but the state history museum’s preservation board canceled a promotional event due to what board member and...
Numbers matter. Illegal immigration into the U.S.—particularly across the Texas border—is at levels we haven’t seen for two decades. But the heartbreaking video that emerged earlier this month of human smugglers abandoning a 5-year-old child at the border sums up the crisis better than any statistic can. As the child screams for help, one of...
The definition of critical race theory is a mystery, according to many educators—but they sure know what isn’t critical race theory: whatever they’re teaching. “School boards, superintendents, even principals and teachers are already facing questions about critical race theory, and there are significant disagreements even among experts about its precise definition as well as how...
Rising health care costs continue to be a major frustration for Americans. Nearly 60% of the country wants Congress to make lowering health prices the top priority. There are differing opinions about a solution: Some want bigger subsidies and more government spending, while others say the key is removing mandates and regulations to open the...
In a very different time — yet in similar economic straits — then-presidential candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke of the “forgotten man,” the American left behind by seismic trends and sweeping changes beyond his control. “These unhappy times call for the building of plans that rest upon the forgotten, the unorganized but the indispensable units...
I spent many years in the classroom, with a roomful of students looking to me for knowledge, instruction and guidance. I can’t imagine looking back into their eyes and telling them that they’re irredeemably bad, that their nation is built on a lie, and that some of them are worth more than others—depending on the...
There’s a very telling subhead in the Dallas Morning News story on “backlash” to election protection laws: “If bills are viewed as discriminatory, Texas could lose NCAA and professional sporting events.” The Morning News isn’t wrong (about that, at least); it’s not about whether proposals such as Senate Bill 7 actually are discriminatory; it’s about...
Engineers and mathematicians would call it an elegant solution. Texas is facing two problems: heavily encumbered “stimulus” dollars coming from the federal government, and a surge of migrants at our southern border that’s reaching crisis proportions. The solution to both is simple. Let’s use stimulus funds to build more wall. President Biden paused construction on...
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is worth an estimated $4.3 billion. The team’s players have salaries ranging from $449,114 to $29 million for star Kristaps Porzingis. Yet the team ceased opening its games with the National Anthem for several weeks, in what Cuban later said was an experiment. He has said not because they don’t...