105
votes
Why does having a college degree make a difference to how white Americans vote?
The experience of getting a degree exposes you to a wider circle of people.
I'm white, male, and went to a school near where I grew up. The school and church had an intertwined population, and my ...
- 1,670
83
votes
Why are many college towns so Democratic?
Cosmopolitanism leads to social liberalism. It's been proven time and again since at least the 1950's: the more you're exposed to a variety of people and viewpoints, the more likely you are to have ...
- 17.3k
74
votes
Why are there "bad school districts" and "good school districts" in the US, assuming that the government works hard to increase education standards?
While existing accepted answer is rather popular, it's mostly wrong.
As per commenter's request, TL;DR showing the difference
Accepted answer seems to imply (without evidence to prove that ...
- 93k
65
votes
Accepted
Why did Democrats oppose Ted Cruz's provision to allow funds from 529 plans to be used for homeschooling?
Here is the statement from Senator Wyden (D-Oregon) regarding his opposition to the amendment:
Mr. President, Senator Cruz's amendment expands tax
subsidies for upper income households to aid ...
- 8,299
65
votes
Accepted
How do Palestinian schools teach about the Holocaust?
From what I can tell, it is not part of the education in government-run schools in Gaza or the West Bank (which is not surprising, considering that the Hamas is an antisemitic, terrorist organization) ...
- 37.3k
61
votes
Why is President Trump ending affirmative action in college admissions so controversial?
The article you've linked actually describes Affirmative Action (AA) as controversial, not the ending of it. That said, it's fair to say that anything related to AA -- starting it, ending it, ...
- 3,987
59
votes
Why does the UK government write off student loan debt after 30 years?
Writing the debts off after 30 years is a way of linking repayments to earnings, as well as negating the risk of the loan to the student.
Loan repayments are usually made automatically as part of tax ...
CDJB♦
- 108k
59
votes
Why are US student loans nearly impossible to remove via bankruptcy?
I don't think there's a clear and definitive reason. The Nondischargeability of Student Loans in Personal Bankruptcy Proceedings: The Search for a Theory by John A. E. Pottow of the University of ...
JJJ♦
- 39.1k
54
votes
Accepted
How would one justify public funding for non-STEM (or unprofitable) college majors to a non college educated taxpayer?
After one generation, you would have lots of engineers and lawyers and few, if any, teachers.
After two generations, you would have neither engineers nor teachers.
Our culture is more than just ...
- 113k
54
votes
Accepted
Why are many college towns so Democratic?
Biden did particularly well in two demographics:
Voters under 30 (62% for Biden vs. 35% for Trump)
College educated voters (55% for Biden vs. 42% for Trump)
So the reason why Biden did so ...
- 78.2k
53
votes
What is Critical Race Theory (in the context of the recent flood of news articles that mention it)?
First, some background on where the academic/sociological concept of Critical Race Theory comes from, then I'll address CRT's current invocations directly.
Critical Theory and it's descendants (in ...
- 19.2k
52
votes
Why are countries consistently ranked across "nice" lists?
It just happens that scoring high in the indexes you listed - progressive policies, social mobility, education and income equality - all require the same two things:
A productive economy which ...
- 78.2k
50
votes
Why are UK Prime Ministers educated at Oxford, not Cambridge?
This is a cultural effect. In the 20th century, Cambridge positioned itself as the university of science and technology. Oxford positioned itself as the university of humanities and politics.
A school ...
- 124k
49
votes
Why are there "bad school districts" and "good school districts" in the US, assuming that the government works hard to increase education standards?
Only about half of the funding for public schools in the United States comes from the federal and state budget. The other half comes from local property taxes. The property tax income varies a lot ...
- 78.2k
49
votes
Why do some European countries provide free higher education to foreigners?
There are at least three benefits:
Influence: Some students will go on to become their country's elite and will stay in a touch with the network they build in university.
Expanding the workforce: ...
- 31.6k
49
votes
Accepted
Why is the French Minister of Education's son accused of bypassing the national higher studies selection system by making a single choice of school?
How is the system supposed to work?
In their last year of high school, students are supposed to make a number of "wishes", wishes being for a particular course at a particular school. Based ...
- 1,363
40
votes
Accepted
How does Israel teach the displacement of the Arab population in 1948 (Nakba)?
It depends.
Yes, some schools teach it, some don't, and in varying ways.
First, some context. The word Nakba has a variety of uses. To some people, it refers specifically to the expulsion of mostly ...
- 16.9k
39
votes
Why do some European countries provide free higher education to foreigners?
As a former non-EU student at a Czech university who studied free of charge (and in fact received a stipend from the government), I can answer this for Czech Republic.
At current rates, the ...
- 52.7k
37
votes
How would one justify public funding for non-STEM (or unprofitable) college majors to a non college educated taxpayer?
Everyone benefits from an educated society.
People with an education, even in non STEM fields are more productive: Just ask Lawyers, Teachers, Advertisers, Designers, Business executives, HR ...
- 124k
36
votes
How do Palestinian schools teach about the Holocaust?
Palestinian textbooks do not mention the holocaust directly at all. This is similar to other Arab curricula like in Egypt, Syria or Iraq, where a clear emphasis is put on the 'nakba', the 'catastrophe'...
- 5,009
35
votes
Why did the leftists usually win in the media front and education system?
The simplest answer stems from the obvious point that:
Conservatives tend to like things the way they are, or at least the way they were — the status quo as they see it — and don't want much in the ...
- 73.6k
33
votes
Accepted
Does the Secretary of Education have to support public education?
The Department of Education was created by the Department of Education Organization Act (1979). The description of the Secretary's role is:
The Department shall be administered, in accordance ...
- 23.9k
33
votes
Why does the United States have some of the best universities and tertiary education in the world yet only ranks average in K-12 education?
The simple explanation is that virtually all K-12 schools are funded directly by governments (in other words they are politically-driven entities), while many colleges and universities are funded in ...
- 51.7k
33
votes
Which country has the most cabinet ministers with PhDs?
The Federal government of Ethiopia has 12 PhDs. The names are listed below:
Abiy Ahmed (PhD) Prime Minister
Kene’a Yadeta (PhD) Minister of Defense
Getahun Mekuria (PhD) Minister of ...
- 2,736
32
votes
Accepted
Which country has the most cabinet ministers with PhDs?
Assuming we're allowing past governments - at the beginning of 2011, the second Merkel Cabinet (Germany) included twelve ministers with PhDs or other doctoral degrees.
Unfortunately, only ten still ...
CDJB♦
- 108k
31
votes
Accepted
Can the supreme court decision to abolish affirmative action be reversed at any time?
The Supreme Court is reactive, not pro-active. It can only make law on an issue related to one of its previous precedents, when someone brings a lawsuit that presents an issue related to a previous ...
- 85.5k
30
votes
Why are US student loans nearly impossible to remove via bankruptcy?
The limitations on the discharge of student loans was hardened in the 2005 Act but long predates it.
The basic notion is that the education that you receive in exchange for a student loan is not ...
- 85.5k
30
votes
Accepted
Is the "leftist" tendency in academia restricted to humanities?
It's surprisingly hard to find a detailed by-major breakdown of these numbers. So far, the best I can do is this study based on a “national survey of 1643 (American) faculty members from 183 four-...
- 4,889
29
votes
Why did the leftists usually win in the media front and education system?
Objective Truth
Academia is all about the getting closer to objective truth. The peer review process, where other academics look through your work and offer critical appraisals, is about the most ...
- 2,482
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible