Stanley Kurtz

Senior Fellow

Stanley Kurtz is a Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Beyond his work with Education and American Ideals, Mr. Kurtz is a key contributor to American public debates on a wide range of issues from K–12 and higher education reform, to the challenges of democratization abroad, to urban-suburban policies, to the shaping of the American left’s agenda. Mr. Kurtz has written on these and other issues for various journals, particularly National Review Online (where he is a contributing editor).

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Stanley Kurtz is a Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. On a wide range of issues, from K–12 and higher education reform, to the challenges of democratization abroad, to urban-suburban policies, to the shaping of the American left’s agenda, Mr. Kurtz is a key contributor to American public debates. Mr. Kurtz has written on these and other issues for various journals, particularly National Review Online (where he is a contributing editor).

Mr. Kurtz has published two influential books on President Obama’s political history and policy agenda: Radical-in-Chief: Barack Obama and the Untold Story of American Socialism (Threshold) and Spreading the Wealth: How Obama is Robbing the Suburbs to Pay for the Cities (Sentinel). He has also led the campaign to reform federal subsidies to academic programs of “area studies” under Title VI of the Higher Education Act, and has co-authored model campus free speech legislation adopted by several states.

Mr. Kurtz’s latest book, The Lost History of Western Civilization (National Association of Scholars), offers both a critique of deconstructionist history and a new way of looking at America’s cultural conflicts. (A free pdf of the book can be downloaded here.)

Mr. Kurtz received his undergraduate degree from Haverford College and his Ph.D. in social anthropology from Harvard University. He later taught at Harvard, winning several teaching awards for his work in a Great Books Program. He was also Dewey Prize Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Chicago.

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The Battle for Utah’s Universities Has Begun

Stanley Kurtz

Last Wednesday, a committee of the Utah state senate voted down a bill, S.B. 226, that would have restored classic liberal education.

Articles

National Review / February 27, 2024

Can Utah Save America’s Universities?

Stanley Kurtz

The real problem with higher education is that trustees and legislators have ceded their control over the general-education curriculum to a faculty driven by political motives.

Articles

National Review / February 12, 2024

Transformative Legislation for Higher Education

Stanley Kurtz

The General Education Act (GEA)’s method is not to forbid the teaching of certain ideas, it is, rather, to mandate mastery of essential knowledge.

National Review Online / November 16, 2023

General Education Act: Model Legislation

Stanley Kurtz

A properly supported School of General Education can remake our public universities into what they once were—the keystones of the American republic.

Uncategorized

PDF / November 12, 2023

Kaepernick Leads Team Marx against DeSantis, Gets Sacked

Stanley Kurtz

In partnership with two of the most influential Marxists in America, Colin Kaepernick has just published a book intended as a refutation of Governor Ron DeSantis’s January 2023 decision to reject the College Board’s pilot program in AP African-American studies (APAAS).

Articles

National Review / July 11, 2023

Poetry Recitation Returns

Stanley Kurtz

With gloomy education news all around, it’s time to celebrate and defend a truly encouraging development.

National Review Online / April 24, 2023

The Blue-State Education Nightmare

Stanley Kurtz

Not a single episode of history can be taught outside the dictates of the anchor standards, i.e., without leftist advocacy.

National Review Online / April 17, 2023

A New Case for the West

Stanley Kurtz

More than a tribulation for America, woke is tearing the West apart. British universities once mocked American political correctness. No…

Articles

National Review Online / March 29, 2023

DeSantis’s Higher-Education Strategy Needs Adjustment

Stanley Kurtz

Kurtz reflects on the impressive job DeSantis has done in the realm of higher education.

Op-Eds

National Review Online / March 16, 2023

DeSantis Is Putting the Public Back in Public Universities

Stanley Kurtz

“[G]eneral-education requirements at public universities are supposed to be shaped by the public’s fundamental values, as voiced by their chosen representatives.”

Articles

National Review Online / March 10, 2023

DeSantis Goes Big on Higher-Ed Reform

Stanley Kurtz

Kurtz writes on the Florida House Bill 999 and its questionable constitutionality. “Cuts and tweaks” may be needed.

Articles

National Review Online / March 1, 2023

Higher-Ed Reform in Florida

Stanley Kurtz

Florida Bill Would Boost Campus Intellectual Diversity, Ban Political Litmus Tests

Articles

National Review Online / February 21, 2023