By Faith Fistler / Broadcast version by Nadia Ramlagan reporting for the Kent State-Ohio News Connection Collaboration.

During his freshman year at Kent State University, Nick Ditz found himself standing alone during an icebreaker activity in a classroom full of students. 

“One of the student teachers came to talk to me and it ended up going into a political discussion,” Ditz said.

A senior digital production major, Ditz self-identifies as a modern-age conservative on a liberal-leaning campus. With most in-class political discussions being dominated by liberal viewpoints, Ditz feels like he often must filter his opinions.

Students who identify as Republicans were “the most reluctant to discuss controversial topics of race, gender and sexual orientation” on campus, according to a 2022 report by the Heterodox Academy, a nonprofit organization that seeks to improve viewpoint diversity in higher education. Most of these students cite fear of social retaliation from their peers. The organization surveyed 1,564 full-time college students across the country. Overall, the percentage of students who reported a reluctance to discuss at least one of five controversial topics (politics, religion, sexual orientation, race, gender) is still high at 58.8% but lower than the 60% of respondents who answered last year’s survey.

Kristen Shahverdian, senior manager of free expression and education at PEN America, works with universities on how to value free speech and inclusion. 

Shahverdian said that a student’s hesitation to speak up in class could be attributed to several reasons. 

“That could come from the perception that's out there, that's kind of feeding the story. In which case it creates a culture where people are thinking that whether or not it is in fact true,” Shahverdian said. “We've definitely heard, you know, it reported that some students fear that retaliation from each other, kind of through social media channels.”

Shahverdian said that the issue is an area of concern for universities because it means that diverse viewpoints aren’t being heard. 

“Higher education is working to build systems, to build people who are going to report and be a part of our democracy, who are going to be future, you know, thinking leaders and intellectual guides as we go forward,” she said. “And we want to have a diverse set of people who are grappling with understanding and really kind of contending across campus. That's how we build a diverse society.”

During the conversation with the student teacher, Ditz said he felt like he had to tread carefully as he explained his political views, but “she was very open to listening to me and wasn’t telling me I was a bad person for anything I said.”

But Ditz has not had that same reception from his peers. 

“It's [Kent State] fairly open minded,” Ditz said. “But, if you do want to talk about something conservatively, then you're more likely to get a backlash to that.”

Ditz said that this backlash usually comes in the form of jokes from peers his age. 

“I’ve had people kind of joke at me,” he said. “But with these people it’s hard to see where they were crossing a line or not. They would try and push, like I’ve been called a Hitler supporter which is by all means over the line.”

Ditz is a strong believer in freedom of speech and feels if the opinion isn’t hurtful then open discussions should be allowed to take place. As for how Kent State handles different political expressions, Ditz said the university does a good job at keeping the peace. 

“Like if they know a rally is coming up for something that's either left wing or right wing, there's kind of like an air about it like, ‘Hey, all right, here's this going on, but be aware we'll step in if you know you get violent or you get rowdy.’”

David Carey, deputy legal director of the ACLU of Ohio, argues discussions have little value if everyone agrees or is afraid to share their views on controversial subject matter. 

“As a general matter, if one student holds a viewpoint on any subject matter that offends another student, then the appropriate approach is to discuss that viewpoint and to refrain on both sides—on any side—from ad hominem attacks or personal attacks,” Carey said. 

However, Carey said that the responsibility of fostering a welcoming environment is on the university faculty and not on the students, who have every right to disagree with course material and classroom discussions. 

“As a general rule, faculty members should always keep in mind the need to not suppress student views, based merely on there being a good faith dissenting viewpoint,” he said. “And it's the responsibility of the individual faculty member to balance all of those interests.”

Shahverdian said that universities could make the transition easier for college students when they introduce these concepts during the first year of school. These concepts include freedom of speech and academic freedom, active listening and what it means to offer a constructive viewpoint. 

As for resources available to faculty and students, PEN America offers guidance on how to handle tense moments on campus. Shahverdian also suggests that universities enlist the expertise of their own professors to teach academic freedom, free speech and inclusion. 

“I would also emphasize that students change every four years,” she said. “This is not the kind of thing that can be a one-hour workshop and then forgotten about, but it needs to be baked in across the fabric of the university, consistently and proactively so that everyone feels they understand the policies and also how to be, like I said, a good college student and how to be an active, thoughtful participant in conversation and discourse across campus.”

While Ditz commends Kent State’s approach to mitigating student conflicts, he does think there is room for improvement for the school to communicate what resources are available to them if they are having issues within the classroom. 

“It just kind of falls onto the student to make sure that they're using those resources,” Ditz said. “So maybe better advertisement of, you know, how Kent State is willing to step up and actually help students because, honestly, sometimes things are available for us, but a lot of students just like don't know what's available to us.”


This collaboration is produced in association with Media in the Public Interest and funded in part by the George Gund Foundation.


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Leaders of a teachers' union in Louisiana are voicing concerns about a package of bills they say would have the effect of dissolving labor unions in the state.

The list includes House Bill 571, which would prohibit public agencies from paying union workers for the time they do anything union-related, even if it's on paid leave.

If passed, said Roberto Furtado, a special-education teacher in the Jefferson Parish Public School System, the bills would end collective bargaining and prohibit payroll deductions for union dues. Furtado said all this would make it harder for new teachers to join the union, further silencing their voices.

"If they make it more difficult for the new teachers, young teachers, to get involved," he said, "then basically, it's a roadblock so they're probably more than likely going to just not do it."

House Bill 572 would prohibit public agencies from collective bargaining with unions, except for police and firefighters. Similar bills have been introduced in multiple states by conservative groups.

The teachers' union has posted petitions on its website for teachers to sign and send to their lawmakers.

Educators in Louisiana have said they're dealing with low pay, overcrowded classrooms and school safety issues. However, state lawmakers have advanced a budget proposal that would cut teacher pay, and the House Appropriations Committee forwarded a spending plan that reduces a $2,000 pay stipend teachers got this school year to $1,300 next year.

Furtado said the end result is forcing good teachers out of the profession.

"Teachers are an invaluable resource for our community, and so we need good, well-rounded educators that want to be there and continue their jobs to help these young men and women, because again, they are our future," he insisted. "That's kind of corny to say this, but yes, our children are our future. If you don't take care of them, where does our future lie?"

The legislative committee also allocated $25 million for a differential teacher compensation strategy for the second year in a row. The union opposed the strategy, because it said the raises wouldn't be permanent and could be taken away from year to year.


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By Lane Wendell Fischer for the Shasta Scout via The Daily Yonder.
Broadcast version by Suzanne Potter for California News Service for the Public News Service/Daily Yonder Collaboration

Hiring and maintaining a qualified educator workforce is often a primary concern for rural schools across the country, requiring local education leaders to create innovative solutions.

The University of Wyoming’s College of Education has recently partnered with local community colleges across the state to repair a pipeline for future Career and Technical Education (CTE) teachers at high schools and community colleges. 

CTE programs offer students an array of skills-based learning opportunities for many high-demand industries ranging from construction, to nursing, to marketing.

For decades, Wyoming has relied on traditional methods to fill out its CTE teacher workforce. After completing a two-year associate’s degree at their community college, students could either enter the trades or take another two years of teacher training. 

“It was very much a fork in the road,” said Rob Hill, a CTE consultant for the University of Wyoming and president of SkillsUSA Wyoming. Hill became a Wyoming CTE teacher through this traditional path.

“You had to take life off and go to school,” Hill said. “That limited a lot of people, especially students with families, jobs, and homes.”

As it turned out, most students never completed the final two years of teacher training and just entered the trades after the first two years at their community college, Hill said in an interview with the Daily Yonder.

This outdated pipeline has contributed to a shortage of both CTE teachers and skilled workers in the state.

According to a 2023 report from the Wyoming Professional Teaching Standards Board, the median age of CTE teachers in Wyoming schools is 52, and national numbers are similar. Compare this to the average age of all teachers in the U.S., which is just over 42. 

On average, a state employee in Wyoming retires at 62. This means that in the next 7 to 10 years, Wyoming could lose close to half of its CTE workforce to retirement.

“We’ve seen a number of things that have impacted us and that rural part is very real,” Hill said.

In rural communities, a CTE program might only consist of one or two teachers. When that school loses a teacher, the whole program is at risk until a qualified replacement is found. 

During a recent tour of Wyoming’s school districts, Jenna Shim, PhD and interim dean of the College of Education, learned that some high school CTE programs are closing down because they couldn’t find replacements.

“One CTE teacher shared with me that he has a specialty in welding, but he has to teach culinary arts,” Shim told the Daily Yonder. “I could see welding and construction, but welding and culinary arts seem like a far stretch.”

And it can be difficult to attract new talent to small schools and communities. 

“We tend to do best with people that are invested in that community previously and become teachers, as opposed to bringing in teachers into small communities,” Hill said.

The CTE Domino Effect in Rural Communities

Adding to the difficulty of attracting new teachers is a domino effect caused by current teacher shortages, Shim and Hill said.

A shortage of educators leads to a shortage of high school CTE programs, which leads to a shortage of students pursuing CTE in the state, followed by a shortage of tradespeople in the state, and a shortage of essential services, which, in turn, leads to less attractive communities.

On top of educational advancement for students, repairing CTE teacher pipelines through state and local partnerships helps assemble the next generation of rural water experts, plumbers, electricians, technicians, mechanics, and more, Hill said.

“It has a trickle-down effect into the stability of the community,” Shim said.

And in rural communities, small fluctuations in population, programs, and services can be especially catastrophic — or especially beneficial. 

“It doesn’t seem like a big deal if you don’t have one teacher,” Hill said. “But that one teacher in a town of 2000 people that teaches welding, where you have a huge welding industry, that has an extremely large impact.”

The broken pipeline has also raised economic concerns. “Without a sufficient number of teachers, it’s hard to prepare a sufficient workforce,” Shim said.

Two key industries in Wyoming are energy and tourism. Both rely heavily on skilled workers. And both are susceptible to booms and busts that give local communities economic whiplash.

“Over the last decade especially, there’s been a real desire to diversify our workforce,” Hill said. “And that means a different generation of career and technical education, like manufacturing, cybersecurity, and data analysis.”

Repairing the Pipeline

The biggest problem in the previous CTE teacher pipeline was continuity, Hill said. The pathway to teacher certification in rural communities must be both attractive and achievable.

This spring, the College of Education piloted a new course that aims to do both by exposing community college students to CTE teaching before they complete their associate’s degree and decide between trades work or teaching. 

“Creating a more seamless pathway is a real goal here,” Hill explained. 

The bridge course will be offered each semester in partnership with all eight community colleges in the state and is inherently low stakes. The course credits can be applied toward an associate’s degree at the community college, toward their teaching degree at the university, or toward any other bachelor’s degree they pursue.

In the course, students get a taste of what a career in CTE teaching is like. Coordinated by Hill, the course is one dose online learning and one dose on-site learning. Hill leads the online classroom, where students learn about different national and statewide topics. “But students will learn about how it’s implemented locally,” Hill said. 

Each community college has a community college professional and a school district professional that serve as a mentor and safety net for local students, introducing them to CTE leaders at both levels. 

One area of misconception is how much CTE teachers are paid, Shim said.

“I think wages scare them most,” Hill said. “But in Wyoming, our hourly wage is higher than many of the trades folks. We have pensions. We have healthcare. It’s a lot more competitive than folks think it is.”

The organization of the course is a masterclass in rural ingenuity. By using technology, the course eliminates long distance travel to the university campus in Laramie on the southern border of the state. It allows students to remain in their local communities, while still being connected to the state’s CTE teacher network.

“We knew we had a statewide problem and we needed to create a statewide solution, or in this case, a local solution for a statewide problem,” Hill said. “This is about connecting people in Wyoming. Because we have these vast distances between us, we have to have a way to connect people.”

Twenty-two students are currently enrolled in the pilot course. Half of the inaugural cohort are community college students. The other half includes veterans, community college instructors, K-12 instructors, and paraprofessionals who are exploring their future career options.

The course has garnered support from state legislators, the university, the colleges, local high schools, local business, and from the students themselves. 

Each of the enrolled students is taking the course tuition-free, thanks to scholarships from local businesses and private donors.

“Word is getting out,” Shim said. “I think that’s a testimony for how important this work is.”

Strong CTE programs lead to strong communities, Shim and Hill said. A lot of high school CTE programs are embedded into community culture. Organizations like FFA provide opportunities for social gathering and community service, for example. 

“We’ve come up with a mutually beneficial solution and this takes a partnership and teamwork,” Hill said. “No significant advances take place without a group of us working together in a mutually beneficial system.”


Lane Wendell Fischer wrote this article for the Shasta Scout via The Daily Yonder.


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Texas Lieutenant Gov. Dan Patrick has released 57 "interim charges," the topics he wants Senate committees to study in preparation for the 89th legislative session next year.

Four charges are for the committee overseeing public education. They include improving reading and math readiness in grade school, and redesigning the state's standardized tests.

Eli Melandrez, government relations associate for the American Federation of Teachers-Texas, said educators are surprised the list does not include pay increases for teachers or controversial school vouchers, which use public money to pay for private schooling.

"It's interesting to see both of those key issues absent from the interim charges," Melandrez observed. "Across the state we've seen school closures; we've seen teachers being let go. We've seen a greater percentage of our teacher workforce as uncertified educators."

Two unsuccessful special sessions were held in the past few months, in an attempt to pass a school voucher proposal. Other charges for public schools include examining how school districts used COVID-19 funding, and monitoring the implementation of bills passed in the last session.

Patrick also directed the Higher Education Committee to analyze faculty senates, monitor bans on DEI policies at colleges and universities and revise policies for faculty tenure.

Melandrez noted their union is now affiliated with the American Association of University Professors and members are concerned the lieutenant governor is inserting his own political views into the education system.

"That's worrisome for us," Melandrez emphasized. "In public education and higher education, we are seeing a concerted effort to minimize educator voices."

Patrick also wants senators to review university antisemitism policies and protecting the First Amendment rights of faculty, staff and students. The next legislative session convenes Jan. 14, 2025.