It took liberals to wreck them. It will take conservatives to fix them. We are the country we are thanks to people who really sacrificed their lives.
Here's an excerpt from a letter from a friend of mine. I've posted it before in it's entirety, it says it all: (the original topic was an accusation of elitism against homeschoolers) *Hsing means homeschooling, in this article
However, the underlying premises to this accusation are quite troubling to me. First, there is the assumption that if hsing parents were to become involved in the public school system that we could somehow save the system. That assumption is based on facts not in evidence. In fact, if the experience of many parents who have abandoned the system is any evidence, not only is there no evidence to support the assertion that committed parental involvement would save the public schools, there is evidence that parental involvement is neither valued nor desired by the educational bureaucracy. Many parents abandon the public school system only because their efforts to make a difference are rejected and they realize that while they can't save every child, they can save their own; so, they do.
The second underlying premise is even more disturbing and it is this: somehow other people's children are more entitled to my efforts on their behalf than my own children are. In other words, I owe it to the children of my community, other people's children, to try to effect change on their behalf, even when it is detrimental to my own children.
So, if someone were to make that accusation to me I'd say, "If by elitist you mean that it creates an elite group of people who can read and write and cipher and reason, then you're right it is elitist. It shouldn't be elitist. There is no big secret here and public schools used to do the same thing. You know, schools used to educate kids so that they, too, could read, write, cipher, and reason. Schools do know how to educate, but they choose not to. Just because you choose to subject your children to a failed system which is committed to social change at the expense of education doesn't mean that I must subject my children to the same system. If you want your children to be able to read and write and cipher and reason and you believe that the public schools can be changed in order for that to happen, you should feel free to put your efforts there. When you decide to stop casting your pearls before swine, I'd be happy to help you start homeschooling."
There might be some sense in saying that we owe something to our communities were it possible to change the public school system, but it isn't. So, all that will happen is that I will use up all my resources and no children, not even my own, will be better off. I reject the demand that I immolate my children on the altar of community service. God gave each child in every public school a parent. If those parents fail in their duty to their children that is a tragedy, but the only children whom I have a duty to educate are those that God gave to me.
Besides which, were you to say to the state senator, "All right, I accept your challenge provided that you fire every educrat and let me rebuild the system from scratch and that I determine the curriculum, I determine the state standards, I determine the criteria which constitutes passing and failing, and I determine the rewards and consequences for passing and failing." he'd refuse. They want us to play by their rules, even though their rules guarantee failure.