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Posted on 11/07/2021 4:53:51 AM PST by Kaslin
It’s true, as the late, great Andrew Breitbart famously said, that “politics is downstream of culture.” But both are downstream of education. Nothing is more important to our families—or the future of our country.
In that regard, Republican Glen Younkin’s recent gubernatorial victory in Virginia, fueled in part by fed-up parents, was heartening. But does it signal that the tide has turned?
Not to downplay that happy outcome or the role brave parents played in it, but sadly, I think not. I still believe, as I wrote recently, that the “public” schools are lost to us. Which leaves parents to continue asking the same question they’ve been asking for nearly two years: “What can we do?”
There is no easy answer. Attempts to work within the system mostly aren’t succeeding, the occasional victory notwithstanding. School boards across the country grow increasingly more intransigent, digging in their heels and doubling down on mask mandates, Critical Race Theory, and LGBTQ+ propaganda.
No amount of pushback from parents, in the form of emails or newspaper editorials or impassioned speeches at board meetings, appears to have much effect. The education establishment is simply indifferent to parents’ concerns. They’re certain they know better, and that’s that.
Elections might make a temporary difference, but long-term, I believe conservative, Christian parents—indeed, all rational parents—must accept that “public schools” no longer serve the public. Instead, they have truly become “government schools,” promoting the ruling caste’s priorities over those of parents and students.
So what can families do?
Charter schools are a viable alternative, where they exist. But they are difficult to get off the ground, often facing stiff opposition from within. And because they are publicly funded, they must follow many of the same policies as other public institutions. Fundamentally, charter schools are still government schools.
Traditional private schools—long the refuge of dissatisfied parents—are beyond the means of most families, especially those with multiple children, even in states with some sort of voucher program. In addition, many private schools today suffer from the same ills that plague government schools. They, too, have become leftwing indoctrination centers and bastions of “safetyism.”
Homeschooling works well for many families but by no means all. When both parents must work full-time, teaching children at home is simply not feasible. Many parents also have legitimate concerns about homeschooled children missing out on important social opportunities and extracurricular activities. Variations on the concept, such as homeschool academies or co-ops, can help alleviate some of those problems, but again—not for everyone.
Classical academies, combining private education with homeschooling, offer some promise. However, they also combine the necessity of paying tuition with the requirement that at least one parent be home two or three days a week. Once again, not every family can do that.
I don’t mean to disparage any of these models. All have their advantages, and one of them might be the best fit for you and your family. But clearly, even taken together, they are insufficient to address the situation, because many parents who would like to get their kids out of the government schools still feel trapped there.
For those desperate parents, I would like to propose another alternative. I actually think it’s the best option, combining the strengths of all the others—including those good, strong public schools many of us grew up in.
My idea, which I first outlined a few months ago, involves churches—many of which have large, often under-utilized facilities—partnering with other community organizations to create non-government schools that offer a high-quality education and are open to all, regardless of beliefs or ability to pay. These schools will be built on three main pillars: affordability, excellence, and accessibility.
Affordability means the cost of attending will be subsidized as needed, financed by donations, fund-raisers, and capital campaigns. Tuition will be as low as possible to begin with so that vouchers (where they exist) will cover most of the cost for students who qualify.
But students who cannot afford to pay the balance—or who don’t qualify for vouchers and can’t afford full price—will not be turned away for that reason. The schools will make up the difference through need-based scholarships.
In terms of excellence, the schools will borrow heavily from the classical model, emphasizing academic skills such as reading, writing, and mathematics along with accurate history, foreign languages, and the arts.
Many have warned that the sticking point for churches may be accessibility, by which I mean no student will be turned away based on their beliefs. Students will not be required to sign a “statement of faith”—although there certainly could be a behavioral contract or “honor code.”
I understand that churches wish to evangelize. But consider this: When you invite a child into your building, whether they ever join your church or embrace your doctrine, you are performing a vital service to them and the entire community. Society benefits because that child attended your school—whether they’re Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, Latter-day Saint, Jewish, or Muslim.
To paraphrase the former Archbishop of Washington, John Cardinal Hickey, “We don’t teach children because THEY are Christians; we teach them because WE are.”
If this is a model you can get behind, I would love to hear from you at the email address or Twitter handle in my bio. All are welcome—the more support, the stronger the movement—but I am particularly interested in people who bring specific skills to the table: experienced teachers and administrators, lawyers, financial experts, fund-raisers, marketing and IT professionals. All will be needed to make this idea a reality.
And I would especially like to hear from pastors and other community leaders who are interested in exploring the concept further. We literally cannot do this without you.
To retake, there must be an assault and massive destruction, lamentations and gnashing of teeth.
Education is but a side show in the war that must be waged and won
Conservatives lack the will to fight, to wage the necessary war. Donald Trump tried to make deals but refused to fight to save his own presidency
No matter how dysfunctional, taxation will continue to fund the debacle.
It might be useful to recall that not only homeowners paying the school tax, but they are paying the school tax for all the Section 8s.
I think it’s too late to overhaul the educational system - it’s best abandoned and defunded - vote NO on any/all school bonds.
My church started a home school in the facility with parent volunteers to watch and teach the kids. Retired teachers have volunteered their time as well.
It can be done.
I see no hope for public school - and many private schools as well.
More milk....less Juice (sugar).
These kids need protein. Hamburg (80%) and soup....and cut out the other cr**. REAL chicken with choice of sauces or mashed potatoes or stuffing.
Give them real food and they will eat it.
Ham sandwiches, tuna sandwiches....
What the hell is wrong with real food...bread and all.
Or better yet...bring your own damn lunch.
“So what can families do?”
Move to an area with like minded follk, take your kids out of public indoctrination camps, fight every school tax, get on and run the school board.
East Ramapo school district in NY did just that.
You may disagree with their vision, but the tactic works.
First do away with the queer and tranny coddling.
Then work on doing away with the racial BS.
“No amount of pushback from parents, in the form of emails or newspaper editorials or impassioned speeches at board meetings, appears to have much effect. The education establishment is simply indifferent to parents’ concerns.”
...and why should they be? They’re not being ‘paid’ by the parents in the traditional sense of the term (in other words, can parents withhold payment? And who actually writes the checks to the schools? hint: not the parents).
Unfortunately far too many conservatives think that schools have to answer to parents because parents pay property taxes, some of which go to schools. That’s like saying buyers of Ford cars could demand Kennecott Copper shut down its Utah operations because some of their copper is used in Ford cars. See how far you get with that. But if buyers of Ford cars wrote out checks to pay the salaries of the those copper workers, and decided to stop paying them, guess what: Kennecott does shut down.
So we parents can certainly dream of reforming schools, as we’ve dreamed for the past 50 years, and we’ll get another 50 years of being ignored (or treated like crap, and now treated as terrorists). Maybe we win a few school boards, but that just drives the Leftist who run our schools underground with CRT and all the other crap, but until we figure out a way to hurt them where it counts (in the pocketbook), THEY will always be in control, not us.
Taking the Ed system would be like trying to take Iwo Jima.
Parents first need to get the seats on the local and state school boards. But more effective would be to get their kids out.
Allow parents who pay for their children’s education privately to get real property tax credits.
That would be quite popular in many Democratic cities.
This assumes that tuition has some sort of natural price. Can we not even imagine the price might come down, due to such archaic factors as supply and competition?
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“I think it’s too late to overhaul the educational system - it’s best abandoned and defunded - vote NO on any/all school bonds.”
+1, School boards really don’t have a lot of power, they are handcuffed by unions, county/state/federal mandates, teachers, and the school administration.
Public School system has failed utterly, especially in big cities.
This is an interesting and thought provoking article. Thanks for posting, kaslin. Some thoughts:
- I disagree with the authors premise that education comes before culture. Education is one part of culture. An important part but not a precursor.
- Economics is the big issue here. The continuous grinding down of the family economically a huge problem. A family used to be able to live and even own a home on the earnings of one family member. The reality now is that 2 earners have a hard time affording rent let alone home ownership. And now they have to pay for schooling as well? Or provide the time to homeschool ? I admire and salute those who can do it. Its exhausting. The parents are the linchpin here and just throwing one more thing on their plates is not going to be a recipe for success.
- Location matters. A traditonal/ conservative family homeschooling in say NYC is admirable. But they’re fighting a rearguard action at best. It takes a family, church, and likeminded people to succeed. U-hauls to friendlier turf is probably a better investment for most families.
The folks doing the metaphorical fighting when it comes to education are parents. They’re on the receiving end of economic policies designed to destroy them. Parents are now both working, taking care of kids, and now they’re supposed to home educate and take on a broader culture?
They don’t need a fight. They need u-hauls.
Amen! The education bureaucracy is the actual customer of government schools. It will always call the shots. As long as government is in charge of education, it will continue to cost more, indoctrinate more, and educate less.
I disagree with the author about the so-called good old days of public ed. I went to school many decades ago and it was going leftist even then. Traditional schools never served the interest of children anyway. If education were the goal, then then it would be tailored to the child’s specific needs and abilities. Children would not be moved along as a herd based on their age.
Great book - How Children Fail by John Holt. He was an old hippie, but he did have some great insights into education.
The problem with surrenderists is the number zero. You can only relocate so many times before you run out of places to run and hide with your tail between your legs.
Statistically we've already run out of places to hide. If one or two more states go blue the whole thing is lost.
The master surrenderists with their despicable u-hauls already surrendered Colorado and many other formerly reliable red states. Grow a sense of courage and fight for a change. The u-haul brigade is ridiculous.
The author makes a crucial mistake. “Public” schools never served the public, not ever. Since day one they were about government consolidation. Government is always like this.
The Founders warned us.
Government schools ultimately first appeared in the state of Massachusetts. Massachusetts set up the state board of education in 1837. That’s how long education has been consolidated against parents.
Horace Mann led the charge. Here’s what he had to say on the matter:
“We, then, who are engaged in the sacred cause of education, are entitled to look upon all parents as having given hostages to our cause; and, just as soon as we can make them see the true relation in which they and their children stand to this cause, they will become advocates for its advancement, more ardent and devoted than ourselves”
https://books.google.com/books?id=EgcNAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA210
Do you feel like a hostage to CRT? Of course you do, that’s how the system is designed. There’s it’s creator right there on record in black and white.
Pretty words.
In the deep blue areas of the country, the battle is over. It was over 20 years ago. The political leadership sold us out for 30 pieces of silver. Cultural divorce is in process, with political divorce possible. The question really boils down to whether we get our people out or not.
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