John E. Coons, Author at NextSteps: Step Up For Students

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

John E. Coons

My background story

What I did before joining Step Up For Students

What do I do on my day off?

How to reach out?

05/06/22 | John E. Coons

Dedicated to the proposition

“Matters of fact … are very stubborn things.” Tindal, Will of Matthew Tindal My Catholic elementary school in Duluth, Minnesota, shared a boundary line with a large public school, East...

04/08/22 | John E. Coons

Jack Coons: Childhood responsibility and freedom

Webster defines the adjectives “free” and “responsible” as follows: Free: Acting of one’s own will or choice and not under compulsion or restraint; determining one’s own action or choice. Responsible:...

02/25/22 | John E. Coons

In memory of a champion of school choice for lower-income parents

Stephen Dwight Sugarman died the day after Christmas, interrupting almost 60 years of our friendship and collaboration on this planet. His unique character, personality, and family life I will save...

12/20/21 | John E. Coons

A demerit for ‘merit’

High on a throne of royal state … Satan exalted sat, by merit raised To that bad eminence … — Milton, Paradise Lost I like the Garter; there is no...

12/13/21 | John E. Coons

Hope for our young kin?

Jim and Alice have three children and a modest income. Should their income status justify our forcing these kids into their local assigned public school? Are such parents unqualified to...

09/17/21 | John E. Coons

How will choice affect inner-city public schools?

In any ample, subsidized program of parental choice, the student population of public schools in the inner-city will diminish. What, then, will be the effect upon the education in those...

09/10/21 | John E. Coons

I wonder how many registered Republicans and Democrats agree with all, or even most, of their own party’s declared positions on today’s critical civic issues. Many Democrats are Catholics; more...

09/03/21 | John E. Coons

Choice smeared: Union bunk versus reality

In 1978, Stephen D. Sugarman and I published our third book on school finance, “Education Choice: the Case for Family Control.” That summer, we designed a constitutional initiative for parental...

08/27/21 | John E. Coons

Just another argument for education choice

The late, great Marilyn mothered our five children. As they accumulated over the span of eight years, she retired from teaching in her public elementary school but never lost her...

08/20/21 | John E. Coons

All parents welcome

“I can dare to be poor, which is the only thing now-a-days that men are ashamed of.” John Gay, Polly Consider the probable effects of a state system of subsidized...

07/30/21 | John E. Coons

A letter to President Joe Biden

Dear President Biden, I am an ancient Berkeley law professor, long absent from the classroom but still scribbling, mostly about the schooling of children. My enduring hope for this country...

07/23/21 | John E. Coons

Give us your poor

“It’s the poor wot gets the blame.” — Anonymous There seems a fairly common conviction among us that many, even most, of our lower-income parents, for various reasons, fall below...

07/09/21 | John E. Coons

Playing the prophet for choice

“The wisest prophets make sure of the event first.” — Letter to Thos. Walpole, Horace Walpole Such good advice notwithstanding, let us assume that the state of Montucky adopts an...

06/25/21 | John E. Coons

The powers that be

It’s the same the whole word over, It’s the poor wot gets the blame, It’s the rich wot gets the pleasure, Ain’t it all a blooming shame. — Anonymous Little...

06/18/21 | John E. Coons

A campus of choices

Multitudes in the valley of decision Old Testament, Book of Joel Suppose that the legislature and governor of your state agree that some legal mechanism must be adopted to empower...

04/23/21 | John E. Coons

A word spoken in good season, how good it is! — Proverbs, the Old Testament The various forms of government subsidy for parental choice of a child’s school have been...

04/02/21 | John E. Coons

From where will common sense emerge?

“Confusion now hath made his masterpiece.” — Macbeth, Shakespeare Our national fuddle over the role of government (public?) schools during the pandemic is yet another throwback to the days of...

03/19/21 | John E. Coons

Choice and the civic soul

“Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.” G.B. Shaw, Maxims for Revolutionists Shaw’s wit suggests the primary harvest of our “public” school systems for children of the...

03/12/21 | John E. Coons

Equality, equity and reality

“I am equal and whole.” A.C. Swinburne, Hertha “There is but one law for all … the law of our Creator, the law of humanity, justice … equity …” Edmund...

02/12/21 | John E. Coons

E pluribus bonum

“That which purifies us is trial, and trial is by what is contrary.” John Milton, Areopagitica My thanks to those eminent school choice advocates Larry Sand of California and collaborators...