5 Promising Alternatives to Escape the Grasp of Socialized Education

Learning is crucial. Education is just the structure. So the question is: what is the best education we can provide for quality learning to take place among future generations?

Parents and teachers complain about students being less motivated because schools either cause too much stress or too much boredom among kids. Despite what some politicians and celebrities seem determined to achieve, a one-size-fits-all education simply won't work in this country. Americans come from highly diverse backgrounds, ethnicities, incomes and cultures, which means successful education cannot be dictated by standardized government institutions.

Flexibility and autonomy are key ingredients to success.

Thankfully, alternatives do exist for parents to take charge of their children's education. PragerU recently released a video about how one girl's life was transformed and how she achieved success all because of school choice.

Here are five alternative options to escape the federal government’s grasp on your children’s education.

1. Online

Whether on laptops or smartphones, students are taking advantage of virtual schools popping up all over the internet. And why not? Taking online courses is convenient, cost-effective and practically limitless in terms of available subject matter. Online schools offer varied curriculums and formats that cater to many styles of learning. Today's technological revolution broadens and enhances this educational alternative continually.

Prior to enrollment, be sure to do your research on the programs, instructors and overall quality of the school. Organizations like SR Education Group can help you navigate by providing comprehensive lists of most affordable, most recommended and even top military friendly online schools.

2. Charter

Like school districts, charter schools are monitored and accredited under the statewide testing and accountability system due to the strings attached to the federal government. Despite this required state protocol, this type of structure still provides teachers the autonomy to run their classrooms as they see fit. This means curriculums are often founded on solid principles, while teachers have the flexibility to specialize in certain areas and switch things up as needed for the benefit of the students.

According to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, there were more than 6,900 charter schools in the United States, enrolling an estimated 3.1 million students from 2016 to 2017.

3. Private

Private schools can be a smart way to get a personalized education of your liking. Finding a private school that supports your religious views or other values in its curriculum is often worth the financial investment when it ensures a healthy learning environment for your child. In a report shared by the Council of American Private Education, 80 percent of parents with enrolled children reported being "very satisfied" with their child's education as well as the academic standards of the private school.

An advantage of a good private school is that smaller class sizes, qualified instructors and curriculums based on your values promote a challenging, but intellectually rewarding experience for your child.

4. Homeschool

Homeschooling offers one of the most personalized educational experiences possible. In this setting, you don't have to rely on a government institution (or any institution, for that matter) to influence your child's learning. As a parent, you can teach your child the art of learning by absorbing and mastering materials in all of life, not only in academics --- something often overlooked and difficult to achieve in regular schools. This option is becoming more and more practical with the development of new curriculums and homeschooling communities.

In addition to being the most personal education you can give your child, homeschooling is also much less of a burden on taxpayers. Brian D. Ray, Ph.D. with the National Home Education Research Institute, observed taxpayers fork out an average of $11,732 per public school student (K-12), while homeschooling families pay only an average of $600 per child.

If you are a confident parent and ready to go through an education again yourself, homeschooling is an inventive experience where you get to be with your growing child every step of the way.

5. Trade School

When it comes to higher learning, our society tends to assume a four-year degree at a prestigious university or college is the only way to sprout wings and become successful. Trade schools provide an environment where students learn the actual skills they need for real-life work experience, instead of a vague, standardized route that often lacks foundational knowledge for many possible careers.

Not only do trade schools provide a head start in the hiring field, they are often much more financially manageable than college. In a recent article, The Simple Dollar highlighted the statistic that trade school students graduate with 70 percent less debt than the average four-year degree student. The departments and work specialization of these schools cover careers in the fields of entertainment, culinary arts, film-making, radio and television broadcasting, business, paralegal studies, graphic design, nursing, radiology technology, computer technology, mechanical engineering, welding, electrical work, carpentry and more.

Television host and actor Mike Rowe has been a big proponent of trade schools as a valuable option for secondary education. His mikeroweWORKS Foundation helps high school graduates pay their way through a trade school where they can learn the skills necessary for "jobs that actually exist." These schools teach habits of hard work and discipline as well as the readiness to be hired into a career that they have been trained for. A four-year college experience certainly offers skills needed for careers in the future, but trade schools can provide an extra head start, getting students into the workforce sooner than many of their peers.

Conclusion

To resist an encroaching federal government that limits choices for our children's education, Americans must get involved to improve our nation's education system for future generations to thrive. While considering school choice, it's important to remember successful education results in the desired outcome of learning for our children. Anything that inhibits or prevents this desired outcome contradicts a healthy education.

PHOTOS: Glenn’s rare tour reveals White House history

Image courtesy of the White House

In honor of Trump's 100th day in office, Glenn was invited to the White House for an exclusive interview with the President.

Naturally, Glenn's visit wasn't solely confined to the interview, and before long, Glenn and Trump were strolling through the majestic halls of the White House, trading interesting historical anecdotes while touring the iconic home. Glenn was blown away by the renovations that Trump and his team have made to the presidential residence and enthralled by the history that practically oozed out of the gleaming walls.

Want to join Glenn on this magical tour? Fortunately, Trump's gracious White House staff was kind enough to provide Glenn with photos of his journey through the historic residence so that he might share the experience with you.

So join Glenn for a stroll through 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with the photo gallery below:

The Oval Office

Image courtesy of the White House

The Roosevelt Room

Image courtesy of the White House

The White House

Image courtesy of the White House

Trump branded a tyrant, but did Obama outdo him on deportations?

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MSNBC and CNN want you to think the president is a new Hitler launching another Holocaust. But the actual deportation numbers are nowhere near what they claim.

Former MSNBC host Chris Matthews, in an interview with CNN’s Jim Acosta, compared Trump’s immigration policies to Adolf Hitler’s Holocaust. He claimed that Hitler didn’t bother with German law — he just hauled people off to death camps in Poland and Hungary. Apparently, that’s what Trump is doing now by deporting MS-13 gang members to El Salvador.

Symone Sanders took it a step further. The MSNBC host suggested that deporting gang-affiliated noncitizens is simply the first step toward deporting black Americans. I’ll wait while you try to do that math.

The debate is about control — weaponizing the courts, twisting language, and using moral panic to silence dissent.

Media mouthpieces like Sanders and Matthews are just the latest examples of the left’s Pavlovian tribalism when it comes to Trump and immigration. Just say the word “Trump,” and people froth at the mouth before they even hear the sentence. While the media cries “Hitler,” the numbers say otherwise. And numbers don’t lie — the narrative does.

Numbers don’t lie

The real “deporter in chief” isn’t Trump. It was President Bill Clinton, who sent back 12.3 million people during his presidency — 11.4 million returns and nearly 900,000 formal removals. President George W. Bush, likewise, presided over 10.3 million deportations — 8.3 million returns and two million removals. Even President Barack Obama, the progressive darling, oversaw 5.5 million deportations, including more than three million formal removals.

So how does Donald Trump stack up? Between 2017 and 2021, Trump deported somewhere between 1.5 million and two million people — dramatically fewer than Obama, Bush, or Clinton. In his current term so far, Trump has deported between 100,000 and 138,000 people. Yes, that’s assertive for a first term — but it's still fewer than Biden was deporting toward the end of his presidency.

The numbers simply don’t support the hysteria.

Who's the “dictator” here? Trump is deporting fewer people, with more legal oversight, and still being compared to history’s most reviled tyrant. Apparently, sending MS-13 gang members — violent criminals — back to their country of origin is now equivalent to genocide.

It’s not about immigration

This debate stopped being about immigration a long time ago. It’s now about control — about weaponizing the courts, twisting language, and using moral panic to silence dissent. It’s about turning Donald Trump into the villain of every story, facts be damned.

If the numbers mattered, we’d be having a very different national conversation. We’d be asking why Bill Clinton deported six times as many people as Trump and never got labeled a fascist. We’d be questioning why Barack Obama’s record-setting removals didn’t spark cries of ethnic cleansing. And we’d be wondering why Trump, whose enforcement was relatively modest by comparison, triggered lawsuits, media hysteria, and endless Nazi analogies.

But facts don’t drive this narrative. The villain does. And in this script, Trump plays the villain — even when he does far less than the so-called heroes who came before him.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Can Trump stop the blackouts that threaten America's future?

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If America wants to remain a global leader in the coming decades, we need more energy fast.

It's no secret that Glenn is an advocate for the safe and ethical use of AI, not because he wants it, but because he knows it’s coming whether we like it or not. Our only option is to shape AI on our terms, not those of our adversaries. America has to win the AI Race if we want to maintain our stability and security, and to do that, we need more energy.

AI demands dozens—if not hundreds—of new server farms, each requiring vast amounts of electricity. The problem is, America lacks the power plants to generate the required electricity, nor do we have a power grid capable of handling the added load. We must overcome these hurdles quickly to outpace China and other foreign competitors.

Outdated Power Grid

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Our power grid is ancient, slowly buckling under the stress of our modern machines. AAI’s energy demands could collapse it without a major upgrade. The last significant overhaul occurred under FDR nearly a century ago, when he connected rural America to electricity. Since then, we’ve patched the system piecemeal, but it’s still the same grid from the 1930s. Over 70 percent of the powerlines are 30 years old or older, and circuit breakers and other vital components are in similar condition. Most people wouldn't trust a dishwasher that was 30 years old, and yet much of our grid relies on technology from the era of VHS tapes.

Upgrading the grid would prevent cascading failures, rolling blackouts, and even EMP attacks. It would also enable new AI server farms while ensuring reliable power for all.

A Need for Energy

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Earlier this month, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt appeared before Congress as part of an AI panel and claimed that by 2030, the U.S. will need to add 96 gigawatts to our national power production to meet AI-driven demand. While some experts question this figure, the message is clear: We must rapidly expand power production. But where will this energy come from?

As much as eco nuts would love to power the world with sunshine and rainbows, we need a much more reliable and significantly more efficient power source if we want to meet our electricity goals. Nuclear power—efficient, powerful, and clean—is the answer. It’s time to shed outdated fears of atomic energy and embrace the superior electricity source. Building and maintaining new nuclear plants, along with upgraded infrastructure, would create thousands of high-paying American jobs. Nuclear energy will fuel AI, boost the economy, and modernize America’s decaying infrastructure.

A Bold Step into the Future

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This is President Trump’s chance to leave a historic mark on America, restoring our role as global leaders and innovators. Just as FDR’s power grid and plants made America the dominant force of the 20th century, Trump could upgrade our infrastructure to secure dominance in the 21st century. Visionary leadership must cut red tape and spark excitement in the industry. This is how Trump can make America great again.

POLL: Is K2-18b proof of alien LIFE in the cosmos?

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Are we alone in the universe?

It's no secret that Glenn keeps one eye on the cosmos, searching for any signs of ET. Late last week, a team of astronomers at the University of Cambridge made an exciting discovery that could change how we view the universe. The astronomers were monitoring a distant planet, K2-18b, when the James Webb Space Telescope detected dimethyl sulfide and dimethyl disulfide, two atmospheric gases believed only to be generated by living organisms. The planet, which is just over two and a half times larger than Earth, orbits within the "habitable zone" of its star, meaning the presence of liquid water on its surface is possible, further supporting the possibility that life exists on this distant world.

Unfortunately, humans won't be able to visit K2-18b to see for ourselves anytime soon, as the planet is about 124 light-years from Earth. This means that even if we had rockets that could travel at the speed of light, it would still take 124 years to reach the potentially verdant planet. Even if humans made the long trek to K2-18b, they would be faced with an even more intense challenge upon arrival: Gravity. Assuming K2-18b has a similar density to Earth, its increased size would also mean it would have increased gravity, two and a half times as much gravity, to be exact. This would make it very difficult, if not impossible, for humans to live or explore the surface without serious technological support. But who knows, give Elon Musk and SpaceX a few years, and we might be ready to seek out new life (and maybe even new civilizations).

But Glenn wants to know what you think. Could K2-18b harbor life on its distant surface? Could alien astronomers be peering back at us from across the cosmos? Would you be willing to boldly go where no man has gone before? Let us know in the poll below:

Could there be life on K2-18b?

Could there be an alien civilization thriving on K2-18b?

Will humans develop the technology to one day explore distant worlds?

Would you sign up for a trip to an alien world?

Is K2-18b just another cold rock in space?