Behind The Veneer Of Public Education
By Christopher Adamo (03/09/06)
Americans who love their country and its heritage have been outraged as they learned of Aurora Colorado geography teacher Jay Bennish, who was recorded by a student last month as he spewed anti-American diatribe to his class. But should anyone really be surprised? By no means is this an isolated incident.
Students who have been immersed in similar venom are alarmingly easy to spot. They are the geography students who can fluently regurgitate the wisdom of Cindy Sheehan, but who cannot find Oklahoma on a map.
They are the math students who can elaborate on the “failures” of Reaganomics and the inherent superiority of Maoist fiscal policy, but who cannot make change when working behind a cash register. And they are the history students who can recite the lyrics of every Vietnam era protest song and believe World War II was only about the internment of Japanese Americans, but who have not a clue as to the historical significance of Washington or Lincoln.
Amazingly, the liberal education establishment has, over the past several decades, brilliantly turned this deplorable situation into an ongoing political and financial boon. As students’ academic scores continue to tumble, the inevitable result of being taught such claptrap in lieu of traditional education, educrats invariably respond with endless calls for increased funding, ostensibly to “fix” the problem.
Throughout the nation, the annual “fix” to the education crisis is enormous increases in budgetary allotments towards education, with no commensurate academic improvement.
Any responsible legislator who refuses to go along with this ruse is publicly excoriated as being “anti-education” and “anti-child.” Few possess the courage or principle to face such a firestorm. So, budgets continue to bloat, staffing is increased, facilities undergo costly upgrades, and in the end, the indoctrination continues unabated.
Why, in the midst of such a program that bestows incentives for failure, should the education establishment ever consider changing course? Indeed, on the day that schools begin turning out brighter students who score better on their SAT tests, the “education” lobby will lose its most powerful weapon for pressuring legislative bodies and the general public to allow it even greater access to the public trough.
It is beyond naive to hope that this abysmal cycle will somehow correct itself, especially as long as the current situation keeps providing such a reliable “win/win” for the left.
Nevertheless, it is primarily the parents of school-aged children who bear ultimate responsibility for this dismal state of affairs. As is evident from the public outrage and surprise over the Colorado episode, most Americans remain unaware of the degree to which government schools have mutated into something grotesquely distorted from their original purpose.
To this day, far too many parents staunchly believe that such abominable events are not happening in their own communities, and that their own children’s declining test scores will indeed be fixable if school budgets are expanded during the next legislative session. This situation cannot ever be expected to change until the public becomes thoroughly aware of the extent of the problem and commits to the difficult task of true educational reform.
Unfortunately, from federal to local levels, the political system is presently stacked against any such fix. Among the “highlights” of President Bush’s first term was a multi-billion dollar education bill, passed with the collaboration of Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy.
Doggedly opposing true reform, Kennedy was nonetheless able to funnel unfathomable sums of money into the hands of a political lobby that will ensure much of it returns to the campaign coffers of liberal Democrats. Meanwhile, he can cast himself as a patron saint of “education” and an advocate of children, all with the public blessing of a Republican President.
Only when conservative office holders muster the courage to face the inevitable political fallout, will America have any hope of changing the status quo. Until then, the Colorado situation will predictably recur on an endless basis, its victims moving henceforth into society to conduct their lives, and perhaps participate in government, philosophically undergirded by such criminally fraudulent information.
And liberal educrats will not stop there. Look for them to pursue an ever-expanding reach. The Colorado student who secretly recorded his ranting teacher on an MP3 player had obviously not been properly indoctrinated.
Thus can be explained the seeming disparity between the education establishment’s inability to fulfill its traditional responsibilities, in contrast to its craven aspirations for an ever greater role in rearing the next generation.
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