Concerns over what schools teach date back to World War II

Plus: The Crown and the best nonfiction books of 2023 |

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By Made by History / Produced by Olivia B. Waxman The battle over schools has seemingly grown ever more pitched. Politicians and activists charge that the other side's ideas about what to teach, what values to inculcate, and what rules ought to govern schools threaten the wellbeing of children. But as Diana D’Amico Pawlewicz explains in Made by History, the politics of fear surrounding schools are nothing new. Especially since World War II, politicians, activists, and pundits have realized that scaremongering around schools is a good way to boost one’s career, one’s fundraising, and one’s agenda. Yet, what ends up happening — whether the panic is about communist infiltration of schools or failing schools and plummeting test scores — is that politicians react with “solutions” that do more harm than good. They pour money into the wrong things and impose requirements that limit creativity and critical thinking. What children and schools really need is protection from politicians and groups who have turned them into pawns.

HISTORY ON TIME.COM Why America Still Doesn’t Have Fast Trains By David Alff / Made by History For 70 years, the U.S. has failed to achieve faster trains—because it refuses to do what it takes to make them work. Read More » 'Atoms for Peace' Was Never All That Peaceful—And the World Is Still Living With the Consequences By Tommy Song / Made by History The U.S. sought to rebrand nuclear power as a source of peace, but this message helped mask a violent history. Read More » The National Remorse That Follows Wartime Actions Against Civilians By Zachary Shore / Made by History The U.S. learned this lesson during World War II—and it should guide those countries at war in 2023. Read More » The Crown Was a 6-Season Argument for the End of the Monarchy—Even if It Didn’t Know It By Judy Berman Creator Peter Morgan calls himself a monarchist, but his TV epic was, in effect, a six-season argument for the end of the institution. Read More » The 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2023 By Annabel Gutterman From 'Doppelganger' to 'King,' these are the most impactful nonfiction books published this year. Read More »

FROM THE TIME VAULT This week in 1985: Halley's comet TIME The Dec. 16, 1985, cover of TIME “After a 75-year sojourn through the solar system, Halley's (rhymes with valley's) comet had again swung into view, but just barely. At Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson one night last month, several large telescopes tracked the approaching comet, projecting images that flickered across television monitors. But like countless amateur stargazers around the world, the astronomers wanted to see the cosmic celebrity with their own eyes. Huddled in the chill mountain air outside an observatory dome, necks craned, binoculars raised, they and a group of visitors searched a patch of sky…And there it was. The sight, however, was decidedly unspectacular. Because it was still too far from the sun to sport a visible tail, and 58 million miles away from earth, the comet looked like little more than a smudged and dusty fingerprint.” Read More » This week in 1994: Dogs RENEE LYNN-TONY STONE IMAGES The Dec. 12, 1994, cover of TIME magazine “The appalling truth is that as many as 25% of the 20 million purebred dogs in America -- 1 in 4 animals -- are afflicted with a serious genetic problem. German shepherds, for example, run an even higher risk of hip dysplasia than do golden retrievers. Labrador retrievers are prone to dwarfing. At least 70% of collies suffer from genetic eye trouble, and 10% eventually go blind. Dalmatians are often deaf. Cocker spaniels tend to have bad tempers. Great Danes have weak hearts. English bulldogs have such enormous heads that pups often have to be delivered by cesarean section. Newfoundlands can drop dead from cardiac arrests. Chinese Shar-Peis, the wrinkly dogs that don't seem to fit into their skin, have congenital skin disorders…Bad genes are a universal hazard of life, of course; practically every species suffers from inherited diseases. But golden retrievers and other purebreds are not like most other animals. They are in a very real sense artificial, molded over thousands of years through selective breeding to satisfy human needs.” Read More » This week in 2011: Mitt Romney BROOKS KRAFT / CORBIS FOR TIME The Dec. 12, 2011, cover of TIME “If the current Republican orthodoxy on social issues seems a natural fit for Romney, the party's rightward rush on issues of governance is a markedly less comfortable proposition for him. Romney began to get interested in politics at a moment of centrist creativity--the start of the 1990s. There was a new synergy on policy issues among moderate Democrats (led by Bill Clinton) and so-called Empowerment Republicans (led by Gingrich, amazingly enough). There were fierce differences on some issues, like taxes. But there was a surprising agreement on a new formula for domestic policy: the use of conservative means, like market incentives, to achieve liberal ends. Some of the best ideas were born in the Republican Party and adopted, with modifications, by the Democrats: a cap-and-trade system to control carbon emissions, an individual mandate and progressive government subsidies to create universal health insurance, the earned-income tax credit to bolster the paychecks of the working poor. Romney seemed to fit very neatly into this new, dynamic centrism as governor of Massachusetts.” Read More »

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