Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on Progressive Politics, News, Culture, Economics and Democracy #1767 Wars Are Won By Teachers and Trump is Attacking Them Like a Foreign Adversary
Jan 25, 2026
Mohsen Madawi, a Palestinian-born Columbia student who faced detention over campus protests, and Randy Weingarten, longtime AFT president and labor leader. They discuss attacks on public education, curriculum rewriting to erase history, federal moves to weaken the Department of Education, and the chilling effect of detaining student protesters. Short, urgent conversations about schools as a frontline for democracy.
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Liberal Arts Are Democracy's Seedbed
- Liberal arts colleges and humanities are essential to democracy because they train critical inquiry not found in authoritarian systems.
- Attacks on liberal arts signal a preference for an education model like China or Russia, not democratic pluralism.
Teachers Resisted Occupation In Norway
- Norwegian teachers resisted Nazi occupation by teaching secretly and using symbolic acts like wearing paperclips.
- That example shows teachers' role in preserving community and pluralism under threat.
Use Primary Sources To Build Media Literacy
- Teach students to analyze primary sources and corroborate evidence to build critical media literacy.
- Apply those skills to evaluate modern digital and AI-generated content for authenticity.
