What is happening in our schools is beyond shocking. A whole generation has been brainwashed to believe things we and our parents would have written off as lunacy.
A firsthand account by a public school teacher in Gross Pointe, Michigan of what’s going on in the halls, academic lounges and in kids’ heads these days alarmingly summarizes what we should find frightening if we care about our children and grandchildren. The article, entitled “Worse Than Ever: Government Schools After 35 Years“, by Lawrence M. Ludlow (American Thinker, August 15, 2019) describes what he found upon returning to the classroom after a hiatus because the local high school was unable to replace a retiring Latin teacher.
The first clue was the difference between the certification process in 1982, when he previously taught, and 2018. In his own words: “The 1982 certificate only listed the courses I could teach. In contrast, the 2018 version had a 300-word “Code of Ethics” that amounted to a profession of faith in collectivism, egalitarianism, state schools, and diversity (typically limited to superficial things like skin color and gender, not ideas).”
His next exposure was to the students themselves, who were woefully deficient in English grammar much less ready to study Latin. In what was supposed to be a superior school system, many students didn’t bring books to class, complained incessantly about homework, expected to receive high grades regardless of proficiency and performance and the Principal was instituting a process whereby students would not be compelled to take any more than one test in a day! And this kind of education was supposed to be college preparatory!
The warping and rewriting of history, the Leftist brainwashing on the topics of socialism versus capitalism, communism versus democracy, globalism versus nationalism, nepotism versus meritocracy, redistributionism versus self-reliance, moral relativism, collectivism versus individualism, the blatant promotion of gender dysphoria, group identity, victimology and outrage culture…THIS is what’s being taught to our children and grandchildren in elementary and secondary schools and on college campuses today. (I will leave for another time the attack on boys and boyhood, men and manhood.) Oh yes, occasionally the three R’s are thrown in, but increasingly, this kind of harmful, Leftist nonsense permeates every subject.
It’s no wonder that home-schooling is taking off. It’s no wonder the competition for private school slots is cutthroat. And despite ever increasing spending per capita, it’s no wonder “Johnny [still] Can’t Read.”
Where does the fault lie, and who’s responsibility is it to fix this problem?
As regards fault – I chalk this up to the natural impact of what I call the “fat and happy syndrome.” Briefly, I submit that the Boomers, recipients of the peace and prosperity won by the Greatest Generation and not having to struggle through a Great Depression, allowed boredom, indolence, envy, drugs, moral depravity and many other societal ills to infect a “fat and happy” population. “Free Thinking”, “Free Love”, anti-establishment rhetoric and the abandonment of God or thousands of years of right and wrong moral yardsticks resulted in a new educational approach. The result, “New Math” (remember?) and now, the Common Core panacea. In short, the hippies took over academia.
Regrettably, George Bernard Shaw was right. “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.” With exceptions, for example shop and trade-school teachers who pass on truly useful skills and learning, academicians are so caught up in complying with the orthodoxy established by teacher union leadership, publishing or perishing the “proper” material in the case of college professors, or crushed by the collective mob if they try to deviate from the dogma, that there is little chance of a return to the basics.
As for the solution. Somehow, and by smarter people than I, we must eliminate the ability of teacher unions to impose their Leftist canon on our system. Whether we do this by abolishing teacher unions altogether (and ALL government employee unions by the way) or through some other means, we must break up the monopoly and MAKE OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM GREAT AGAIN.
I also suggest that those parents who can place their children in private schools do so. If unable to do so, I urge them to strongly consider home-schooling. Something like 2 million school-age kids are being home-taught today, with extraordinary results as compared to public schooling, and that figure is growing exponentially.
Finally, I urge parents to demand that their children reduce their obsession with social media and technology and create opportunities for them to interact in healthy ways with one another. Supervised play dates for the youngsters, organized sports (left me emphasize here the importance of competitive TEAM sports), participation in interpersonally engaging, non-technical social activities like music and theater, science and outdoors clubs for adolescents.
It’s been argued that our ability to influence our children ends about the age of 8. While that’s debatable, those of us who have raised children know that somewhere around the onset of adolescence we become the enemy and what we say is far less important than the current “meme”.
Yet judging by what I see in college and twenty-something, even thirty-something age kids today, when reality bites and they’re forced to become increasingly self-reliant…they become receptive to guidance and influence once again. All of sudden they discover that their parents have grown up. (As an aside, there is nothing more heartwarming than hearing our own words coming out of the mouths of our older children as they instruct their younger siblings, or their children!)
I urge us to find ways of resisting the temptation to become our children’s friends as they morph into grown-ups and, hopefully, adults, but rather continue to set an example for them, teach them correct principles, and help them understand what was right and what was wrong about the subject matter they were just exposed to over the previous 12-16 or more years.
If they haven’t learned them already, teach them about skepticism and critical thinking. Teach them the manners, decorum and civility that they didn’t receive during their ‘formal’ education. Teach them self-reliance and how to rise on the basis of merit, not political maneuvering or nepotism. Teach them about determination and perseverance. Teach them thrift and self-discipline, and teach them by example whenever possible, the difference between Right and Wrong, and Right and Left.
I submit that the blatant Leftist indoctrination of our children and grandchildren in today’s schools and colleges (whether public or private) is the REAL DOMESTIC TERROR threat in our country. May we who believe in Traditional Values be strong enough and wise enough to arm and teach our loved ones how to fight this scourge.
