Was Trump's Inaugural Weekend the Worst Ever, Did the Women's March Succeed, and Is School Choice Unstoppable? [Reason Podcast]

Nick Gillespie, Katherine Mangu-Ward, and Robby Soave debate and discuss one of the wildest weekends in Washington's history.

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Was Trump's Inaugural Weekend the Worst Ever, Did the Women's March Succeed, and Is School Choice Unstoppable? [Reason Podcast]

Nick Gillespie, ITV

In the newest Reason podcast, Reason magazine Editor in Chief Katherine Mangu-Ward and Reason.com Associate Editor join me to talk about the spectacle and substance of Donald Trump's inaugural address, the size and force of the Women's March (which pulled an estimated 500,000 people), and the start of National School Week, an annual event promoting the ability of parents and students to have greater options in K-12 education.

School choice—whether via charter schools, education savings accounts, vouchers, or other measures—has been growing by leaps and bounds over the past 20 years, even in the face of a powerful establishment that mostly wants to keep things the way they are. Whatever else you can say about President Trump, he is full-throated in his support of choice and his controversial pick for Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, is a high-profile activist in the school-choice movement. Will the Trump era be the moment when letting parents and kids choose where to go to school becomes the norm? Or will the toxicity of Trump on other issues kill the momentum in favor of choice?

Produced by Ian Keyser.

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National School Choice Week runs from through January 28. Over 21,000 events involving almost 17,000 schools from all 50 states will take place over the coming days. Go here to get more information about events and data about how increasing school choice—charters, vouchers, educational savings accounts, and more—is one of the best ways to improve education for all Americans.

As a proud media sponsor of National School Choice Week, Reason will be publishing daily articles, podcasts, videos, interviews, and other coverage exploring the ways in which education is being radically altered and made better by letting more people have more choices when it comes to learning. For a constantly updated list of stories, go to Reason's archive page on "school choice."

Comments

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Reason is firing posts from a tee-shirt gun today.

[Pan Zagloba]

At least they threw some bones to us West Coast scum!

[R C Dean]

the size and force of the Women's March (which pulled an estimated 500,000 people)

Estimated by who?

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

The Washington rally alone attracted over 500,000 people according to city officials.

So the people that can't fix an escalator.

[Charles Easterly]

Dean,

President Trump, in my opinion, will prove to be yet another inferior president. I also think that you and others will likely dispute the approximate number of protestors involved in the "Women's March" regardless of who makes the estimation.

[R C Dean]

I thought crowd sizes were supposed to be super-important again, is all. A bunch of hard-core Dems estimating the size of a hard-core Dem march doesn't inspire confidence. I'm wondering if there might be a less . . . invested number out there.

Will Trump be an "inferior" President? Probably, but that kinda begs the question of "inferior to whom", no?

[Fist of Etiquette]

On the bright side, Trump's term can only go up from here. Right?

[esteve7]

Let's see ---- the marchers did absolutely nothing. It was just a gathering of sore losers that have no power in any branch of government and almost no state governments.

Trump has both houses of congress, a soon to be Supreme Court, and the senate has 8 GOP vs. 25 Dems up in 2018, many in states Trump Won.

School choice is already here. The rich progs already send their kids to private schools or move to areas with great public schools. Just expanding that choice to others.

[Paper Wasp]

The women's march had no goals, so it was a wild success.

Unless you ask any of the perpetually-butthurt identity politics victim cultists, who felt left out because the marchers were overwhelmingly white and cisgendered, and didn't pander enough to trannies. Then it was not a success.

[Pat (PM)]

No

Depends on your definition of success

No

[Pat (PM)]

Trigger warning: WorldNetDaily

Mom convicted for homeschooling not backing down

In its defense of an Ohio mother convicted over homeschooling, the Home School Legal Defense Association is charging a state "bureaucracy gone awry" is responsible for the hell she suffered.

Last September a common pleas judge in Warren County, Ohio, imposed a guilty verdict on Valerie Bradley for being "criminally reckless" in her son's education, according to Jim Mason, vice president of litigation for the world's premiere homeschooling advocates.

She was convicted even as a state official praised her for her success, evidenced by her son's high academic achievement.

But the fight really is over the state's "red tape," HSLDA contends, as state officials penalized the mother for missing a non-existent deadline.[...]

[Pat (PM)]

The case developed after David and Valerie Bradley began homeschooling their son in January 2015. He had a "different learning style, which made it difficult for him to focus in the classroom," they decided.

The parents told school officials and got an excuse for the rest of that year. But then, in the summer, they received a form letter requesting a notice of intent and an assessment by Aug. 1.

"A short time later, Mrs. Bradley spoke with a school employee who told her, correctly, that there is no deadline for the student assessment. By late October, the Bradleys had filed their notice of intent but were still arranging to have their son tested to meet the assessment requirement. It was then that the state filed a criminal complaint against Mrs. Bradley, alleging that the delay in filing her homeschool paperwork had contributed to the delinquency of her child," Mason said.

The charge carries the potential of a jail term.

School choice = inevitable. Yessiree.

[Hyperion]

'Did the women's march succeed?'

If you mean convince nearly everyone that they're a bunch of idiots, then yes it did.

[flye]

Heard the march called "a good cry after a breakup with normal America." So in those terms, success.

[Swiss Servator]

Perfect.

[DOOMco]

I feel bad for people I went to high school with. Some of them have clearly been brainwashed, it's the only way. It's sad watching them spit things they heard without thinking.
my opinion isn't valid, though. That much has been made clear.

[Charles Easterly]

my opinion isn't valid, though. That much has been made clear.

I have not ignored your comment and by not dong so I have also read your opinion.

[DOOMco]

aww
*hug*

[GILMORE?]

one of the wildest weekends in Washington's history.

I was about to go, "oh come on that's ridicu....." then i realized how boring Washington DC normally is.