Dutch kids have some of the worst reading skills in Europe. Smartphones, the after-effects of pandemic school closures, migrants in the classroom, and the teacher shortage complicate the picture. But the real reason why one-third of Dutch fifteen year olds are "insufficiently literate?" Schools are run like businesses.

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Why was convicted terrorist-turned-radicalization-expert Soumaya Sahla expelled from her political party? Did she really “steal” 85,000 euros from her mentor, former VVD party leader Frits Bolkestein? This scandal reveals a deeper issue in the Netherlands—a shift from the "multicultural debate" of the 1990s and 2000s, when we discussed how immigrants should be integrated into Dutch society, to today, when we discuss how to keep them out.

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