The Atlantic is giving free subscriptions to high schools. Some parents object.
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- The Atlantic offers free digital subscriptions to all U.S. public high schools.
- Access includes current content and a 168-year archive while on school campuses.
- Educators praise the offer; conservative parents question content neutrality.
One of the nation’s oldest news magazines will now provide its content for free to high school students and teachers. Not everyone is happy about it.
The Atlantic announced this week that it will provide free digital subscriptions to all public high schools in the U.S. This means high school students, teachers and administrators can get unlimited access to TheAtlantic.com while on campus, including the magazine’s 168-year archive.
“It’s so important to make sure that young people are reading long, factual, deeply reported stories,” Nicholas Thompson, the chief executive officer of The Atlantic, said in a post on Threads.
High schools can go to https://accounts.theatlantic.com/products/free-hs-access/ to register for their free subscriptions.
The news comes amid the heated national debate about censorship and what materials students should be allowed to read in schools.
Wake County schools reviewing offer
The Atlantic was founded in 1857 by abolitionists in Boston. The magazine has a long and storied publishing history, including making headlines earlier this year when its editor-in-chief was accidentally included in Trump administration war plan texts via the Signal messaging app.
It’s not immediately clear how many schools and school districts will accept The Atlantic’s offer. The magazine said requests must be submitted by either an administrator, librarian or IT professional at the school.
The Wake County school system is reviewing the offer, a district spokesperson said Thursday.
“Sadly, not all public schools will provide the access,” Mary Rose Quinn, a librarian from Massachusetts, posted Wednesday on Threads. “I wonder if they would consider adding public libraries?”
Melissa Garrett, a North Carolina parent, said on X, previously called Twitter, that she’d try to opt out if The Atlantic is offered at her child’s school.
A new state law requires school districts to honor requests from parents to bar their children from borrowing specific books from school libraries. The law also lets parents cite religious objections for exempting their kids from specific class readings, discussions and assignments.
“@TheAtlantic is DEFINITELY one publication that should not be utilized in our schools,” Garrett said Tuesday on a post on X.
Views split on The Atlantic’s offer
People who get their news from publications like The Atlantic are particularly liberal and Democrat, according to a survey published in June by the Pew Research Center. Pew had surveyed Americans about how they feel about the nation’s major news sources.
The survey results were reflected in the responses to the news of the free high school subscriptions.
Educators and liberal and moderate parents praised the free subscription offer, saying they’d pass the info along to teachers.
“Thank you, @theatlantic. As a high school English teacher, I know we are LOSING great research resources like @thewashington.post and @nytimes THANK YOU,” Elizabeth Mc Gowan Whittaker, an Illinois educator, posted on Threads.
Conservatives were skeptical of The Atlantic’s intentions.
“The Atlantic should only be used to study propaganda methods disguised as journalism,” Mark Peterson of the Pavement Education Project posted Tuesday on X.
This story was originally published September 19, 2025 at 11:06 AM.
