3 Opinion Writers Weigh In on Education, Trauma and Canada Care

Three columnists published pieces this week taking up education, workplace psychology and health-care policy, and the New York Post Editorial Board rounded up excerpts of all three on September 27.

What does John Daniel Davidson say about Nikole Hannah-Jones and education?

John Daniel Davidson, writing for The Federalist, responds to a Nikole Hannah-Jones essay that he says blames white people for "violent, failing schools that don't assign homework and don't actually teach students." Davidson argues the piece shows Hannah-Jones "evidently doesn't know what education is, or its purpose," and that her focus on the "collective good" reflects a lack of interest in "education as such" except as a "credentialing mechanism." Hannah-Jones reportedly wrote that her daughter "had never been taught the skills of independent study"; Davidson counters that teaching those skills is "primarily her job, as a parent." He contends she was more concerned with "proving a point about racial injustice" than the "particulars of her daughter's education." A photo accompanying the roundup shows Hannah-Jones speaking on the Global Black Economic Forum stage at the 2026 ESSENCE Festival of Culture in New Orleans on July 4, 2026.

How does Christina Buttons describe 'secondary trauma' in helping professions?

City Journal's Christina Buttons writes that a growing number of workers are considered susceptible to "secondary trauma" — the experience of hearing about someone else's trauma — a concept she says is invoked "with increasing frequency" in public mental-health settings. Buttons distinguishes this from ordinary "burnout," arguing that labeling the experience trauma gives it "a much more serious meaning" and can cast "difficult patients" as a threat to a clinician's well-being. She writes that the helping professions have built a "scientific vocabulary" that frames the work itself as "psychologically hazardous."

What does JD Tuccille say about Canada's single-payer health system?

Reason's JD Tuccille points to a new Fraser Institute report on Canada's system, arguing it shows patient "needs and preferences" play a "small and indirect role" in allocating care compared with the influence of "governmental decision-makers and bureaucrats." He cites the report's findings of long procedure queues, millions of Canadians without a family physician, and difficulty accessing timely emergency care. Because prices aren't attached to care and resources are allocated through "bureaucratic planning" rather than a profit motive, Tuccille writes, competitive pressure to expand services or cut wait times is largely absent. He adds that the U.S. system isn't "perfect," but argues a Medicare for All model would make its problems "worse."

What figures anchor these arguments?

• The Post's roundup was published Sept. 27, 2026, at 7:44 p.m. ET.
• The Fraser Institute report cited by Tuccille found millions of Canadians lack a family physician.

What to watch

• Whether Hannah-Jones or her publisher responds directly to Davidson's Federalist critique.
• Additional reporting on how "secondary trauma" terminology is used in clinical training programs.
• Further coverage of the Fraser Institute's Canada wait-time data as U.S. health-policy debates continue.

Read the full roundup at the New York Post.

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