Posted on 10/07/2021 9:51:29 AM PDT by Kaslin
Merrick Garland answered the National School Board Association's plea for broad federal intervention, which only stands to keep parents out of meetings while escalating political warfare.
From Day One, public schooling has been a political and social battleground. From conflicts over whose religion would be taught in Horace Mann’s “common schools,” to the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial, to critical race theory, public schooling has forced Americans to fight one another. It is inevitable in a system that requires all, diverse people to fund politically controlled schools.
Last week, the National School Boards Association (NSBA) escalated the combat to the highest level, calling on the federal government to investigate, and quite possibly criminalize, dissent. On Monday U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland let them know they had been heard, announcing plans to create a strategy for the FBI to take on “harassment, intimidation and threats of violence against school board members, teachers.”
A small handful of school board members may have some reason to worry about their safety. School board meetings have seen increasing acrimony ranging from public commenters refusing to stop speaking when their allotted time has ended, to protesters shouting at school board witnesses as they have tried to go home, to a school board member throwing a brick through another member’s window. No doubt, some have received letters that have clearly threatened their physical safety.
That said, the NSBA’s plea for broad federal intervention escalates the political warfare far beyond what is justifiable by the sometimes ugly actions we have seen. The association, in calling on President Biden to unleash seemingly every federal weapon outside of the military, greatly exceeds what is reasonable to deal with what has typically been heated rhetoric, less often unruliness, and almost never physical attacks. Indeed, the request threatens to treat outspoken parents and citizens as terrorists.
Think this is an overstatement? Consider the list of agencies NSBA’s letter called on to dive into district brouhahas:
NSBA specifically solicits the expertise and resources of the U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Secret Service, and its National Threat Assessment Center regarding the level of risk to public school children, educators, board members, and facilities/campuses. We also request the assistance of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service to intervene against threatening letters and cyberbullying attacks that have been transmitted to students, school board members, district administrators, and other educators.
Here are the laws they want brought to bear:
[T]he Gun-Free School Zones Act, the PATRIOT Act in regards to domestic terrorism, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, the Violent Interference with Federally Protected Rights statute, the Conspiracy Against Rights statute, an Executive Order to enforce all applicable federal laws for the protection of students and public school district personnel, and any related measure.
Several of the examples of supposedly outrageous behavior the NSBA cites highlight how far from clearly threatening the behavior is that the group wants to quash.
.@HawleyMO: If this [Garland memo] isn't a deliberate attempt to chill parents from showing up at school board meetings… I don't know what is.
…You're using the FBI to intervene in school board meetings. pic.twitter.com/RT1f1mrwBL
— Abigail Marone (@abigailmarone) October 5, 2021
Cyberbullying – really, any non-physical bullying – can be very difficult to distinguish from legally protected speech. For instance, does repeatedly saying you are “coming after” a politician bully him or her, or engage in political accountability: a threat to remove them from office? NSBA’s request, and possibly the Justice Department’s upcoming strategy, would open such core, political speech to federal investigation and punishment.
Or consider the “School Board Watchlist” kept by conservative Turning Point USA. NSBA inveighs against it for “spreading misinformation,” and implies that the watchlist concept itself is a threat that needs federal surveillance. But the watchlist makes no apparent threat other than political, highlighting school boards that have taken actions TPUSA dislikes and listing board members. It also does not appear to include any information that is not already publicly available.
Another incident included in the recitation of danger was the response of audience members to school board testimony in favor of mask mandates by a student whose grandmother died of COVID-19. NSBA itself writes that the student was only “mocked,” but nonetheless included it in a list of “threats and acts of violence … affecting our nation’s democracy at the very foundational levels.” Mockery (which the video suggests was actually little more than a few seconds of guffaws and grumbling) is not criminal behavior.
The NSBA’s call for federal force, rather than being a last-ditch effort to combat an onslaught of violence, is a threat to basic liberty, even as some people have incontestably broken civility, and a smaller handful may have engaged in serious threats. But incivility is not criminality, and local law enforcement – not the FBI or U.S. Secret Service – exists to deal with local disturbances of the peace and threatening behavior.
Alas, turning disagreement into bitter warfare is not an aberration, but an inevitable outcome of public schooling. Single, government-run districts and schools force people with diverse backgrounds and beliefs into zero-sum political combat to determine whose children will get what their families think they need, and whose will not. Public schooling forces neighbor to battle neighbor, with nothing less than their children’s minds at stake.
The solution is to embrace the foundational American value: liberty. Instead of requiring people to fund government institutions, let money follow children to schools or other educational arrangements their families choose. Instead of forcing a war of all against all, let those who want critical race theory select schools that teach it, others pick schools that do not. Let those who want schools with mask mandates choose them, others select schools where parents decide if their children wear masks. Let people peacefully coexist.
The NSBA, unfortunately, opposes school choice programs such as vouchers and scholarship tax credits, which threaten public schools’ monopoly on your wallets and kids. But now, not only will they not let you leave, they also seem bent on chilling your speech. The Biden administration appears committed to the same.
The good news is that this year 18 states have either created new choice programs or expanded existing ones. It is, no doubt, largely a consequence of many Americans’ intense frustrations last year as their public schools refused to open to in-person education. A rough estimate suggests that this leap in choice could increase students enrolled in private schools via choice programs from roughly 600,000 this year to nearly 2.4 million – a four-fold increase.
That said, there are roughly 55 million school-aged Americans, so this is still a relative drop in the bucket. But it is progress, and the NSBA and Biden administration are proving why much more is desperately needed. The absence of freedom threatens us all with endless conflict, and trampling of basic rights.
“Before public school as they stand today were established, parents were the primary educators of children and throughout history have produced some very brilliant people.”
Actually, in all the biographies I’ve read of those brilliant people, they had tutors. Not something your average parent could afford. They were also, mostly, from the monied class.
China had an interesting teaching model going until last month. They had two of the largest online teaching establishments in the world. (Closed down by the government to prevent outside access to knowledge and events not controlled by the government.) They had the tools and ability to teach any child anything and I think that’s the way to go.
The problem with the school system is, as the Japanese saying goes, “the nail that stands up gets hammered down.” Meaning, a kid who is really exceptional is forced into mediocrity because the teacher has no time to keep such a child engaged. This is why those children with tutors were able to outshine the others of their generations. They were allowed to shine. Our present system is amazingly dumbed down. The slowest student sets the pace and all children are “mainstreamed” whether it’s appropriate or not.
An associate of mine tried home schooling his kids. The younger boy took a full time off-books job and did his work at night. He graduated 18 months early. The older boy failed miserably and is back in school, but behind. Of the two kids, the younger boy is amazingly bright. The older boy is huge, muscular and...uhm...not as bright. So, success depends a lot on the material you start with. I know this is sacrilege in a culture where all children are above average, but home schooling (or, any schooling, really) is not the way to go for some children.
Eliminate public schooling
If parents don’t wish to homeschool then they can create or use private institutions through pooled moneys and/or tuition.
Forced public schooling has REDUCED our literacy rates. Just need to look at high school exams from the late 1800s/ early 1900s
As long as there are government schools, there will be battles over what it taught, and the left wins. Leftist teachers do what they want regardless of what parents want.
Until education is privatized at all levels, the problem will only get worse.
Ridiculous. How does this solution advance the universal control sought by the leftist in charge of education?
I may be just a redneck woman-born in the country and still living there-but no-your father does not sound like a typical parent-actually he sounds like a real prick who verbally abused his kid(s)-I don’t know any dad who treats his kids like that-my mom would have smacked my dad and thrown him into the road if he ever talked to one of us kids like that-I don’t know any woman who wouldn’t-my dad was in the military, too...
There are more kids homeschooled, in co-ops or in the tiny local Christian school out here than in the public schools-especially since the plandemic-parents-both moms and dads-who own a business take their kids to work with them, let them help wait on customers, etc during lesson breaks so they learn to interact appropriately in a workplace...
The kids here graduate HS with high marks, go to college or the military-nearly all of them learned dad or mom’s trade and work every summer and weekend-the only real juvenile crime we have is perpetrated by the kids of the “Summer people” and the kids who attend the public school.
If each state dropped the public school system, homeschooling, cottage school co-ops, private school, etc would take up the slack just fine and kids would be actually be learning something useful again...
Ny father’s mother was sold...yes, you read that right, to a farmer in Sweden when she was five. Her mother had died and her father moved on. My grandmother lived in the barn and took care of the animals. By all accounts she was a harsh woman. My father was born in 1916 in Sweden. He was a sergeant in WWII and served as General Clark’s secretary. The men of my dad’s generation largely viewed children as something you saw but did not interact with. I recall at the time I viewed my parents as considerably less harsh than my friends. I am certain that nothing my dad did would have raised an eyebrow in the fifties and sixties. But I noticed how dramatically society in general and the legal system in particular views children today.
Yes, he was harsh. But I think everyone should be viewed in the context of their times. (I’m 67.)
The present day view of children is remarkably different. Still, I can’t think of any of the parents I’ve known in recent years who could have taken on the education of their own children. I do believe you are correct in your assessment. We need to eliminate government from education entirely.
There’s a business rule. A large organization can only do one thing well. When that thing was education, as in the 1950’s, the schools were outstanding. But then education became the vehicle to mold new Leftists. Education has taken a back seat to politics in the classroom.
I’m a couple of years older than you-but my parents were Native Texans, not foreign-born-and most Hispanics also are not harsh parents, but they are strict.
My sibling and I had the benefit of going to Catholic school-so did my own cub-she was in in elementary in the Carter years so my hubby worked a second job to pay for that-even then, we wanted no part of what we saw as a deteriorating public education system. If I had a kid today, I’d be homeschooling them-taking them to work, too as part of that...
(Injections will be next.)
RUSSIA: SUBMARINE RESCUE OPERATIONS: FAMILIES
https://youtu.be/23CuwArQUiY
bump
Schools are ruled by the coalition of City States that have superseded the Union. The City States provide all the leadership and oversite of all educator related funds.
Education is not about children but educators
To control education you must control the City States
In every modern movie parents are portrayed as clueless idiots. Children are portrayed as smarter. And, this is the way they view themselves. Shows like “The Rifkeman” and “Father Knows Best* portrayed the parents as knowledgeable problem solvers. Every episode had a moral lesson. Compare that with what children are bombarded with daily. This has set up any parent teacher with a huge headwind to fight against.
Schools are ‘ruled’ by the sources of the funds.
So true.
-- Voltaire (or somebody!)
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