My experience as a parent goes waaaaaaaaay back to the 70s.
When we tried to answer our bright son’s math questions, we received a nasty note from the teacher specifically telling us not to introduce him to advanced concepts and processes because it made him stand out from the other kids.
Some kids even then were bullied by teachers and some students for being brighter or more knowledgeable. The brighter kids would also show off, making things worse.
It isn’t always the fault of parents. Not everyone can homeschool, especially the brighter kids. Not everyone can afford private school, when there are no more financial sacrifices to make. It has to be done at higher levels and the problem is that even a school board needs a majority and then there needs to be superintendents on their side. Both are political positions ultimately stymied by the universities and the very corrupt textbook industry.
Even when a non-partisan local establishment manages to effect change, that change is predicated and mediated at much higher, more powerful levels. Imagine a well-intentioned professor of teacher education trying to go against the Bill Ayers types at the university level, especially today.
Back then, I identified as liberal. I gained appointment to a state board in my field. I ran into a political wall over the allocation of grant monies. I stuck it out for 3 years as the only member working in the field, but there were 11 other members, all politically connected with interlocking agendas. It was the Aegean Stables.
However, I now see citizens taking action and I hope it continues and accelerates. We cannot allow our lives to be stolen any further. The globalists and their shills play hard ball.
I’m glad you’re reformed and glad you tried to work the system. But its been 40 years now, and whether we like it or not, they got us. They’ve beaten us the same China is about to beat us - hold out dollar bills (in this case ‘free’ education) and most Americans will sell-out and bite.
In my case, I was fortunate enough to have Thomas Sowell’s writings in my brain before I even knew my wife, much less had kids - so by the time the kids came around, I was ready to move into a trailer park, if that’s what it took to prevent the public schools from getting their dirty hands on them (and it one point, it was close). But what disappoints me the most is that the people I work with, who are mostly conservative Texans and would NEVER take their kids to Drag Queen Story Time at the library (for example), still dump them into the public schools because they ‘cannot afford’ to not do that. I know what they make, and they certainly could afford to keep them out, but then they have higher priorities, I guess. So, while money may not be everything, it sure makes the decision a lot easier, at for those who work with me.
My hubby, a PhD in hard science, was tutoring a girl in our church in math — 8th grade, I think. He taught her how to FIGURE it out, and the steps to WORK it out. She was verbally abused by her teacher for showing off. The teacher herself didn’t know how to work a math problem. The kids go online and enter an answer; they don’t need to show their work. It’s shameful.