Civil Squared

School choice is becoming more and more mainstream in 2022.

The Biggest Education Innovation Is Growing Use of School Choice It wasn't long ago that "normal" schooling meant public school, understood as some variation on the theme of classes punctuated...

Many Black entrepreneurs, including celebrities like Pharrell Williams, are getting in on the school choice cultural movement.

Pharrell Williams' New Private School Will Serve Low-Income Students at No Cost This month, Pharrell Williams joined the club of Black celebrities who’ve launched K-12 schools. YELLOWHAB, a new network of private schools in Norfolk, Virginia, will serve lower-income students at no cost. Pharrell’s choice to use his brand, influence, and resources to create private schools w...

From living in poverty and going from one failing school to the next, Denisha thought she was destined to follow in the same steps of so many other black children in her community.

But things dramatically changed when she was given the chance to apply to a school choice program in Florida.

On this episode of the Civil Squared podcast, host Jennifer Thompson is joined by Denisha Merriweather, Director of Public Relations and Content Marketing at the American Federation for Children and Founder of Black Minds Matter. Denisha helps bust the myth that school choice is racist as she shares her deeply personal story about how it changed the trajectory of her life.

The School Choice Cultural Movement Inequalities in the education system affect more than just students’ grades. These inequalities impact every aspect of the lives of many black students attending their government-zoned schools. But…

They surveyed more than 22,000 people in 33 countries about their thoughts on the progress in the fight against Covid, the environment, society, the economy, and alien invasions 👽

Despite COVID, here are five things to be optimistic about in 2022 A new survey shows that people around the globe are feeling more positive about 2022. Undaunted by COVID-19, climate change and inflation, they expect a better year to come.

Are we losing our ability to self-govern?

While extreme polarization is on everyone’s mind these days, what if that is just a distraction keeping people from seeing the real problem: that Americans are losing our ability to self-govern. And we don’t even realize it’s happening.

On this episode of the Civil Squared podcast, Tony Woodlief, author of the recent book I, Citizen: A Blueprint for Reclaiming American Self-Governance, discusses political polarization, incentives of the political class, and practical tips for people to make a difference in their communities.

I, Citizen While extreme polarization is on everyone’s mind these days, what if that is just a distraction keeping people from seeing the real problem: that Americans are losing our ability to self-govern. And…

Building trust often starts with carefully dealing with actions of the past.

On this episode of the Civil Squared podcast, Colleen Murphy, University of Illinois Roger and Stephany Joslin Professor of Law, discusses how transitional justice theory is the process of dealing with widespread wrongdoing and shares several of the key steps of the theory.

The conversation includes background on how transitional justice theory is a practice that has grown outside of the United States in places like Bosnia and Herzegovina and South Africa but presents many opportunities for America to learn from and apply the theory in order for us to move forward on issues of racism and slavery.

Transitional justice theory The impetus to look forward is an American mode of dealing with ugly truths. It’s part of the optimism of America. But we won’t be able to move forward if we don’t deal with the past in the…