Make this hemisphere great again, free our schools and more commentary

“It’s no accident that my first trip abroad as secretary of state” kept “me in the hemisphere,” explains Secretary of State Marco Rubio at The Wall Street Journal.“President Trump’s foreign-policy agenda begins close to home.” And though Trump’s “top priorities” include securing the borders, which might “demand toughness,” the region is “rife with opportunities. We can strengthen trade ties, create partnerships to control migration, and enhance our hemisphere’s security.” We can also relocate “supply chains to the Western Hemisphere,” clearing “a path for our neighbors’ economic growth” and our own “economic security.” After all, higher growth for our neighbors “reduces incentives for emigration” and enables them to “more easily resist countries such as China.” Indeed, “making America great again also means helping our neighbors achieve greatness.”“Another disastrous National School Report card” makes clear that the education of America’s children cannot be left “in the hands of the leftist teachers unions and administrators who have done such damage to our once best-in-the-world schools,” fumes the Issues & Insights editorial board. “Despite massive spending,” our schools are failing.

We have “bad public school administrators and even worse teachers unions.” We need “reforms that reinstate the supremacy of parents and the local community” — i.e., “more charter schools, Education Savings Accounts, vouchers, and school choice for parents.” Congress just took “a good first step” toward freeing schools “from the shackles of bureaucracy and leftist dogma” by boosting school choice and making it “easier for parents to pay for kids’ schooling.” “Let’s keep the changes coming.” Reason’s Robby Soave spots an age-old trend in New York Magazine’s cover story about “the MAGA-supporting young people who attended the festivities surrounding Trump’s sec...