The Patriot Post® · Public School Meltdown: Part II
It is evident that education is important for the advancement and betterment of the public. The American people have greatly benefited from a population that has enjoyed education within the bounds of a free and moral society. However, the Judeo-Christian pillars that were the framework and justification for our country’s founding have been slowly outlawed and undermined. The collapse of our institutions has been bearing its poisonous fruits for decades.
The public school is a reflection of the ideals of our culture and the political winds that are guiding our country’s ship.
Everything is racist according to the modern zeitgeist. Time management, hard work, perfectionism, meritocracy, and other metrics in place for success are “white attributes” and should be dismantled. This type of thinking, besides being deeply anti-white racism, is also anti-thinking. It seeks to dismantle excellence and opposition. This type of ideology can only profit while those under its thumb are unwilling or unable to think for themselves. Education curriculum in the public schools is constantly being evaluated on whether or not it’s racist, and it’s at this point of hypersensitivity that learning is adversely effected.
Education is no longer a valued privilege; it has been reduced to a cheapened right. But not everyone is suited for America’s type of public school education — and, frankly, no one is suited for some of the “education” our public schools dole out. The cultural framing for many kids is that they have to go to school, and school is a prison. The framing should be, You get to go to school and it is a privilege for you to be there — a privilege that could be taken away.
There are some kids who would do better and be more successful if, after mastering the basics of math and reading, they go into a vocational training school of some sort that is in their interest and allows them to excel. Trades such as plumber, carpenter, electrician, and other important jobs don’t require a college degree for success. These are also skills that keep society moving and the jobs pay well. They aren’t options that seem to get considered much; or, if they are, they’re seen as a lesser choice.
School choice in general would be a great boon for kids, but it probably needs to go both ways. Kids should be granted the opportunity to go to schools that would benefit them, but schools should also have the means to say “No” to a student who does not treat coming to school like a privilege. This type of give and take would help empower students, their families, and educators. However, politics get in the way.
American education has been captured by the politics and ideology of the Democrat Party. This happened because the Democrat Party and the teachers unions have formed an unholy alliance. The teachers unions will enforce the will of the Democrats as long as the Democrats pay them and let the unions keep their power. The ideology has drifted further and further to the left. The “progressives” have instilled an ideology that benefits from a population that can no longer think, argue, and reason.
The radical leftist ideology also benefits from disengaging the children from their parents and their community. Church (and religion in general) is now bad; parents are the enemy; the ideology is the authority. The authority wielded by the teachers unions, activists, and indifferent teachers and parents are its missionaries, and the students its casualties. Yet when their education theory fails, they blame the conservatives, the religious, the whites, or the parents.
Baltimore is a perfect example of problems in the schools and culture acting in concert to fail students spectacularly. Recent test results for Baltimore school kids have demonstrated that not a single student was on grade level for their math scores. Baltimore is a Democrat-run city and has been since the late 1960s. It has been led mostly by blacks since the mid 1980s, and yet blacks struggle the most there. Baltimore schools should be the poster child for Democrat educational theory that only produces more suffering and ignorance.
Parents in Baltimore are devastated by the results. Kyna “K.J.” McKenzie, a parent and a local politician, said: “I’m shocked. I am frustrated and angry about it. As a parent, I’m a parent. I live in Baltimore City and we’ve been dealing with this for decades. And these results are very frustrating. Frustrating because we’re not able to get to the root cause of what’s happening, because everyone the leadership here blames it on racism. We’ve had Democratic leadership for decades. The people here in power look like me and everything’s blamed on racism.”
Education is a complicated and politically fraught issue. Public education is failing, and it’s our kids who are suffering.