Periodically, I need to just vent. I have decided to put together several posts for that very reason. I'm not just pushing myself to open up, but I'm actually willing to go beyond what I really think on a number of issues. This is one of these posts. Expect this to turn out as an incomprehensible irrational rant.
We have convinced parents to hand over their children to government workers who try to shove everybody into the same mold. If a child deviates too far from the mold, what do we do? We chemically alter the child. The American schooling system is like something straight out of dystopian fiction.
Teaching is a predominantly liberal profession. They boast about molding minds, a despicable concept for anyone who understands the meaning of those words. They defend the government-controlled model on the basis that 90% of children attend, while downplaying the role of force on that number. They insist that they are needed because these children will one day become voters. Put these together, and you have a predominantly liberal profession openly boasting that they are molding the minds of 90% of future voters. Good luck spinning that into a positive.
What happens as these molders of minds are placed in front of a captive audience? The views of children gradually move closer to the views of teachers. Instead of treating this as a concern, teachers treat this as validation of the views they are promoting. Mental diversity disappears as teachers tout the value of diversity. Teachers can't comprehend that diversity should be about embracing the idea that people are different rather than merely looking different.
Have you been to the websites for the NEA and AFT? They are surprisingly open about indoctrinating children with liberal propaganda such as Learning for Justice (from the controversial and undeniably agenda-driven Southern Poverty Law Center) as long as you don't use the I-word or the P-word. In the case of the AFT, they elected a hyper partisan extremist as their president who has made it clear that she will do or say whatever it takes to help the Democratic party.
We are training citizens from a young age to show obedience to authoritarian figures. Our entire futures are threatened if we don't conform. Students gradually move closer to the values of the highly authoritarian Democratic party. The schools defend all of this by insisting that they provide tools against authoritarianism. Despite these claims, forced schooling is not the cornerstone of democracy. It's actually contrary. That's why authoritarian governments overwhelmingly embrace the power to control and restrict education.
We are also aiming insanely low. Because we want a majority to graduate, we have to aim our expectations around what's attainable. Negative consequences of falling short far exceed positive consequences for going beyond expectations. This results in students trying to make sure they hit the bare minimum. Strengths are seriously neglected.
These schools teach American citizens to embrace a passive role in their own educations from a young age. We tell them not to learn unless expressly instructed to do so. After destroying the desire to learn, they insist that they are important because children no longer want to learn. Personally, I don't view destroying the natural desire to learn as a positive.
We are deprived of the freedom to learn. We are also deprived of the freedom to think and the right to individuality. Oddly, we portray the deprivation of children's rights and freedoms as vital to freedom.
We are forbidden from learning in class. The government is trying to trap us in these schools, preventing us from learning elsewhere. Even if we do learn elsewhere, the government has made a hard push to devalue that learning through credentialism. What is credentialism? It's the idea that what you learn is greatly devalued in favor of acquiring pieces of paper. When we unfairly slam doors shut on people who learn outside of a schooling environment, some who are highly capable, we use that as proof that everybody's educations must be controlled.
Even outside of their absurd educational values, teachers push all kinds of arguments that can be defeated with nothing but common sense. If you can read this, thank your teacher regardless of whether or not they were even involved. Babysitters make more money than teachers, but teachers would never make the switch because the money isn't there.
Have you heard about the teacher pay penalty? Teachers don't make as much as others who made similar investments to get the job. This is a 100% credentialist concept that doesn't even try to show the actual value of the work. These supposed champions of equity are absolutely insisting that a salary should be bought rather than earned.
I already mentioned that teachers in the government-controlled model love to say that they control the education of 90% of children. They have really used that as an argument against choice. They insist that you can't help fund children's educations elsewhere because 90% of children attend their schools. In other words, you can't give only 90% of funds to government-controlled schools because 90% attend those schools, and you can't help children leave because they can't get out now.
Unfortunately, school choice is insufficient. Most schools outside the government's control were modelled after the government-controlled system. Even if you get out, you will likely be trapped in the same environment. Some cut costs while others find ways to boost funding, but there aren't nearly enough options for people who do not learn well in an environment designed to hinder learning.
Government-controlled schools are a little more rigid in their approach. They insist that everything can be fixed simply by throwing even more money at what doesn't work. This approach has failed every single time. Despite record funding (frequently thought of as defunding), our schools are horrible. That's why our insanely expensive schooling system is still asking for more money. We are supposed to believe that if we keep doing the same thing we always do, we can magically turn everything around.
A popular complaint against private schools is that they lack accountability. Any private school run like the government-controlled model would fail. There is accountability, it's just a different form. They must satisfy parents rather than bureaucrats. In the government-controlled model, it doesn't matter how poorly schools perform as long as they are doing whatever the government tells them. Actually, that's not quite true. If schools fail to meet needs, they are frequently rewarded with more money.
If we demanded the same form of accountability from private schools as we do for government-controlled schools, that would effectively give government control over the private sector. This would also likely kill the private sector. How can you convince families to fund the government-controlled model and their children's schools if all schools are required to operate in the same manner?
Another obstacle for choice is reckless accusations of racism. Yes, there was a period of time in which choice was used to keep schools segregated. It's absurd, however, to frame the entirely of choice around that moment in history. Some tried to use choice as a tool for integration. What about the alternative? Government-controlled schools had to be forced by the Supreme Court to allow black students, and they are still cited as proof of systemic racism. The bottom line is that government-controlled schools are pushing the narrative that it's racist not be on the same side of history as the Ku Klux Klan.
Choice isn't always about private schools. What about homeschooling? Like private schools, we want the government to use accountability to control this option. We also tend to highlight drawbacks to social skills. Do you want your child to develop social skills? Then you need your child to sit down, shut up, and only spend time with people the same age. By contrast, many approaches to homeschooling actually require children to interact with diverse individuals who can assist with the learning process.
Giving the government the power to control and restrict education has to rank among the biggest mistakes in American history. The government has clearly embraced this concept to systematically destroy the minds of American youth. Combining systematic destruction with a targeted group is precisely why I started referring to the process as mental genocide. Perhaps I'm sugar coating our schools when I insist that they are absurd.
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