New York’s Hasidic Jewish religious schools have benefited from government funding but are unaccountable to outside oversight. A months-long investigation reveals that these schools are “failing by design”: The leaders of New York’s Hasidic community have built scores of private schools to educate children in Jewish law, prayer and tradition — and to wall them […]
investigation
Posted inNonfiction, The Atavist Magazine
‘Stay Away From Miller’
A pioneering humanities program shaped a generation of students and brought acclaim to a public high school in Los Angeles. But beneath the excellence lurked a culture of abuse.
Posted inEditor's Pick
‘Scared Into Silence’: Former Workers Allege Abuse, Safety Issues at B.C. Environmental Organization
“Breathtaking photos. Adventurous boat trips. A mission to save the planet. Young people were drawn to Pacific Wild, but many describe a work culture of bullying and harassment.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Toxic Tiles
“How vinyl flooring made with Uyghur forced labor ends up at big box stores.
Posted inEditor's Pick
‘State-Sanctioned Violence:’ Inside One of the Thousands of Schools That Still Paddle Students
According to an analysis by The Hechinger Report, 150 schools in eight states across the U.S. used corporal punishment, or a form of physical pain, on 20% or more of their students that year. Sixty-nine of those schools, such as Collins Elementary School, are in Mississippi. Tara Garcia Mathewson investigates how and why this practice […]
Posted inNonfiction
How to Save True Crime: A Reading List of Wrongful Conviction Stories
Stories about wrongful convictions open our eyes to systemic injustices in the U.S. court system. Maurice Chammah, a staff writer at The Marshall Project, compiles his recommended longreads within the genre.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Ikea’s Race for the Last of Europe’s Old-Growth Forest
More than half of Romania’s timber is illegally harvested. Since 2015, IKEA has been the company’s largest private landowner.
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Internet Has a Rat Poison Problem
“How online sales of highly regulated, super-toxic rodenticides exploit gaps in the law and imperil wildlife.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
“They Took Us Away From Each Other”: Lost Inside America’s Shadow Foster System
“It would take years before Molly and Heaven would learn that neither of them was ever in the foster system. Instead, caseworkers had diverted them to what some scholars call ‘hidden foster care’ or ‘shadow foster care,’ in which the legal protections of the formal system disappear.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
A Drunk Mechanic, Shackled Immigrants, a Crash Landing: The Dangers of ICE Flights
“The airlines behind immigration flights aren’t household names, and they rarely land at major airports. They’re part of a shadow world of contractors that transport immigrants for profit. Since 2004, they have charged the U.S. government — and its taxpayers — more than $2 billion.”