New York Magazine’s May 8–21 cover story is a feature by columnist Jonathan Chait on Republican efforts to grab control of public education and end what they see as liberal dominance of this highly influential sector of public life.
“Public schools have suddenly become a topic of obsessive interest on the right. But why? It’s not just about riling up the base,” said Chait. “Conservatives have become convinced that schools are a weapon to turn a generation against them and they have no choice but to turn that weapon against the left. The thing we’re all missing in this is not just that conservatives truly believe what they’re saying but that their plan to impose political control on education, from kindergarten through college, can actually work.”
Elsewhere in the issue, Errol Louis covers the tragic killing of Jordan Neely, features writer Reeves Wiedeman writes about Alec Baldwin a year after a fatal shooting on the set of Rust (and how Baldwin’s marriage has taken a more prominent role in the wake of the crisis), and writer-at-large Rebecca Traister discusses the impact that E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuit against Donald Trump could have on the Me Too movement.