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Make School About Education Again
Townhall.com ^ | November 6, 2021 | Tina Ramirez

Posted on 11/06/2021 4:03:40 AM PDT by Kaslin

Election Day in Virginia sent shockwaves across the nation, with Republicans winning not only the Gubernatorial race, but every statewide race and a majority in the House of Delegates. Many have rightly attributed much of this Republican success to the critical shift in national attention to education issues, for which Virginia has been ground zero in recent months.

As a mother and a former schoolteacher, I’ve been on the frontlines in this fight. But instead of traditional fights for better academics, today’s “mama and papa bears” are fighting multiple radical agendas that have been forced on our schools over the last few years. It’s time to change that.

In the past, political debates over education focused on whether kids were learning in schools and what plans would best help our kids progress academically. Now, the conversation is focused on everything from eliminating advanced math and science classes to infusing radical ideologies in history and civics, dividing kids by race, and debating whether our daughters are safe in school bathrooms.

When the focus of education policy is not on learning, but rather on myriad social experiments and ideological agendas, it is our children who suffer the consequences. And we have seen that with students stagnating and falling behind on education benchmarks across the country. This is unacceptable. We need to make school about education again.

As a single mother to a biracial daughter who attends a public elementary school, I’m concerned by what is happening because I see the impact on my child every day. I don’t want my daughter spending her time at school bombarded with contradictory and inappropriate political messaging about the color of her skin, I want her time to be spent on the educational fundamentals elementary school was designed to teach. Instead of being prejudged, I want her to have the opportunity to excel in the science classes she’s passionate about. And I don’t want to hear her say she doesn’t feel “safe and loved” in our schools because of how politicized they’ve become.

As parents, we don’t want to spend our time debating Critical Race Theory, arguing about mask or vaccine mandates and social experimentation, or worrying about whether our kids are safe inside of their schools. We want our children to learn reading, writing, science, math, and history. This is neither partisan nor controversial: the expectation that our children go to school to focus on learning is as straightforward as it gets.

On Election night in Virginia, we saw suburban parents back Republican candidates in a big way. Suburban counties such as Chesterfield County, where I live, and Loudoun County, which has been at the forefront of the education controversies nationwide over the past year, voiced a clear referendum of the radical policies and statements that have been alienating parents and hurting children.

It is now incumbent upon our political leaders to hear that message and respond accordingly. One important first step is to work to stop special interest groups from negatively influencing our schools. This principally refers to the Teachers Unions, which have been bullying everyone from the CDC to school boards across the country into keeping schools closed and adopting radical curriculums despite the clearly damaging effects for our children. But also includes groups like Panorama Education, run by the son-in-law of Attorney General Merrick Garland. Panorama Education continues to rake in money from school systems across the country by pushing Critical Race Theory into curriculums, even as Garland continues to launch investigations against concerned parents that oppose Critical Race Theory. In both cases, the actions of these groups are appalling and detrimental to our children. The only “special interest” in our education policy should be the interests of our children.

We must also foster an environment that is conducive to school choice. By creating options for families, especially our most vulnerable who are unable to afford to send their children to private schools or to stay home and homeschool, parents will not have to feel trapped and forced into sending their children to a school that does not reflect their values, cannot keep their children safe, and/or cannot meet the educational needs of their children. It will also create an atmosphere of competition, which incentivizes improvement and focus in our struggling public schools.

Parents deserve to know their children are receiving a quality education. They deserve to know that their children are safe in school. They deserve to know that, when their children leave their home and spend eight hours a day in the care of others, they can trust that the time is spent equipping their children with the knowledge, skills, and tools that will enable them to succeed as they progress through life. Parents deserve to know the school they send their children to is focused on education. Let’s make school about education again.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: education; virginia

1 posted on 11/06/2021 4:03:40 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

School hasn’t been about education for a century or more. It’s always been about indoctrination and social engineering.


2 posted on 11/06/2021 4:15:11 AM PDT by markomalley (Directive 10-289 is in force)
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To: Kaslin

School hasn’t been about education for a century or more. It’s always been about indoctrination and social engineering.


3 posted on 11/06/2021 4:15:15 AM PDT by markomalley (Directive 10-289 is in force)
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To: Kaslin

School hasn’t been about education for a century or more. It’s always been about indoctrination and social engineering.


4 posted on 11/06/2021 4:15:18 AM PDT by markomalley (Directive 10-289 is in force)
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To: Kaslin

Not their education...a return to real education.


5 posted on 11/06/2021 4:19:12 AM PDT by Adder ("Can you be more stupid?" is a question, not a challenge.)
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To: Kaslin

Sounds like a radical. /s?


6 posted on 11/06/2021 4:49:42 AM PDT by Leep (Save America. Lock down pres. Brandon!)
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To: Kaslin

Also.
One correction in the article..sort of.
And that is this crap has been going on for decades.
The evil doers probably thought they had successes successfully dumbed down Americans, including weaken our way of life, Our Constitution that it was time to super size their leftist craziness.
They always under estimate the American people.
Well,about half the American people anyhow.
The left believes it’s own gobbally gook and believes the average American can’t live without the Federal government interfering in every aspect of a humans existence.
And that is simply not true.
In fact, most of us would live better lives if they would get out of our way.
If they wouldn’t tax the crap out of us ...we have money to take care of our kids.

People use the expression the war on drugs.
What about the war on the family?


7 posted on 11/06/2021 5:07:35 AM PDT by Leep (Save America. Lock down pres. Brandon!)
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To: Kaslin
Education should have three primary goals:

Civil Education: Learn the things you need to know to be an American.

How to speak English

Or foundational beliefs

How our country works

Science and Math:

How to reason

The scientific method

Basics of chemistry, physics, math

Create someone ready to work:

Basics on business

Vocational skills

Basic life skills (budgeting, planning, etc.)

Vocational planning and preparation

8 posted on 11/06/2021 5:10:30 AM PDT by LambSlave
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To: LambSlave
My native language is German. When my husband and I met I could speak very little English. I took a class in school, but I lost interest in it. My teacher used the Oxford English which was totally useless.

When my husband brought me to the States to immigrate; he was stationed in Germany for over 5 years. He had come to Germany with his company from Fort Knox, Ky during the Berlin crisis and he was on order for Vietnam when he brought me to the States.

Anyway like I said I could speak very little English when we met, but he took me to company parties, to movies and he had me answer letters to his mothers. I remember having a German=English dictionary next to me and doing the best I could, and with in time I was able to. He also got the newspaper from his hometown which he gave me to read

9 posted on 11/06/2021 5:40:31 AM PDT by Kaslin (Joe Biden,s aka president Milk Carton)
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To: markomalley; Kaslin

As long as there are government schools, there will be fights over what is being taught. The only solution is to privatize education at all levels, but that is highly unlikely. People have been brainwashed into thinking public schools are necessary and good.


10 posted on 11/06/2021 7:28:50 AM PDT by Pining_4_TX (“A good politician is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar.” ~ H.L. Mencken)
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To: Pining_4_TX

Parents aren’t all resigning themselves and their children to public school. Bit by bit, more and more parents are choosing homeschooling, learning pods, and private school. The pandemic closures accelerated this. It’s no longer the automatic norm that children will attend their neighborhood public school. It’s now seen as one option of several.


11 posted on 11/06/2021 7:54:25 AM PDT by olivia3boys
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