I recently wrote how public educators and unions were methodically killing public education. The best example this week comes from New York where a school board committee has solved the dismal math and reading scores for children in the system . . . they lowered the standards. This is not the first system to gut its standards rather than improve its quality of education. As teachers and unions object to school choice, they continue to make the case for private education. Parents are increasingly voting with their feet. The board is simply calling the lack of proficiency “the new normal” and changing the standards. Done.
New York will permanently lower the math and reading proficiency standards after embarrassing results in state testing. It is akin to shortening the 100 yards dash to 50 yards to stay competitive on speed.
“A scoring committee that reports to the Board of Regents said Monday that they must take into account the results of last year’s tests for students in grades three through eight. Some schools posted shocking results — in Schenectady, no eighth grader who took the math test scored as proficient. And the scores for the third through eighth grade tests throughout the state were much lower in 2022 than in 2019, a result no doubt of the absence of in-person learning during the first year and beyond of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
This may seem insane to anyone with a proficiency in logic, but it is being shrugged off by many in New York. There is now an acceptance that the public schools cannot actually educate students to proficiency levels needed to succeed in the modern world. In the meantime, some districts are moving to a four-day work week for teachers to reduce stress.
We previously discussed the elimination of gifted and talented programs to achieve equity by artificially lowering everyone to the same level.
Other schools have eliminated the “F” to guarantee 100 percent passage rates.
Still others have suspended proficiency standards to simply graduate students who cannot reach required levels in writing, math, and English.
There is also a move to end standardized testing.
In a prior column, I was particularly moved by the frustration of a mother in Baltimore recently who complained that her son was in the top half of his class despite failing all but three of his classes. Graduating students without proficiency in English or Math is the worst possible path for these students, schools and society.
It is the dumbing down of America but administrators, boards, and unions insist that it is better for these students, who face dismal prospects for future employment. In the meantime, we are pouring billions into schools that cannot produce a single proficient student in basic subjects. If this were a business, there would be criminal fraud charges across the nation.
Parents, get informed:
https://features.apmreports.org/sold-a-story/
https://www.apmreports.org/episode/2018/09/10/hard-words-why-american-kids-arent-being-taught-to-read
This will simply spur the race to the bottom for academic failure for American students.
This is the problem with the Left. The result of their policies lead to poor performance and failure. Rather than changing their policies and approach, they simply try to do away with testing so their failure will not be measured.
This is clearly not about putting students first, but rather politics.
I am sick to death of the public education system failing American students. There is no excuse for this. Democrats have had total control of public education for generations. Their methods have been an utter failure, and string of excuses. We need a new approach. The same people who’ve ushered in academic failure will never, and can never, preside over a different approach.
Stop. Voting. For. Far. Left. School. Boards. Stop voting for far Left politicians, who are beholden to the far Left Teachers Unions. The education system in the US is wasting enormous sums of money on woke curriculum promoting transgenderism, racism against whites and Asians, and hatred of America, while the same schools can’t even teach most students how to read at grade level.
Revamp the DOE. Stop the propaganda that reworking the DOE is some sort of assault on education.
Parents and grandparents, I urge you to read or listen to the audio of this article. If you enquire in your local schools, chances are they still use blended learning, or follow the debunked methods referenced. If your young child uses 3 cueing to guess what an unknown word is, without sounding it out, then they have been taught a method that will actually interfere with literacy. A kid could look at a picture and read “pony” as horse using these methods. Do NOT rely upon your school to teach your elementary schooler how to read. Get home curriculum that uses the science of reading, and teach them yourself. Your child cannot excel at math or science without having a strong foundation in literacy. You can buy your child 1,000 books, and he’ll never love to read without properly learning how to decode written language.
Blended learning and whole language was based off the erroneous assumption that children can instinctively learn how to read, like they learn how to speak. Normally, parents do not need to instruct a child how to form their mouths around words. Spoken language is instinctively picked up. It has been decisively proven that humans do not, in fact, instinctively learn how to read. You do, in fact, have to instruct a child how to decode written words. If you don’t, most children will grow up to be poor adult readers, who avoid reading for pleasure.
https://features.apmreports.org/sold-a-story/
There’s been a question in the news about what “woke” means. It is really not hard to present a definition of this word. There are many characterizations of what woke is and the dumbing down of test scores is just another one to add to the pile. What the leaders of these cities are plainly doing is dumbing down the performance of the politicians and the teachers in order to hide the F on their own report cards. They only say “what about the children” when it benefits their ability to stay in power. Compassion appropriately stated. Lives destroyed by a destiny of poverty.
” public schools cannot actually educate students to proficiency levels needed to succeed in the modern world “. Just last week a public ed failure stated ” I have a masters degree. I know better than parents, what needs to be taught today not what they think needs to be taught”. It also overtly implied because it has a masters degree and the parent doesnt, it is wiser, smarter and will determine what is best for other peoples children in its class. Talk about GIANT BRASS self righteous tennis balls !! Where do these women come from, whom think they are in charge of everyone? The sheer shameless gaul of these people is shocking to the conscious.
“New York where a school board committee has solved the dismal math and reading scores for children in the system . . . they lowered the standards.”
That is how NY is dealing with successful charter schools. Eventually, we will all become equally ignorant. Does that mean that all New Yorkers will train to become politicians?
“Me approve”
To be fair, this has been an ongoing issue in the public education system. 50 years ago students were a couple of years or more ahead of where they are today (the stuff they’re learning as a high school sophomore today were being taught in middle school back then.)
@Lance
Au contraire – at least in my state, what was once taught in middle school is being taught in *college* at our state universities. High school seniors are passed no matter their GPAs. Even putting woke idiocy aside, which is indeed a huge problem itself, my wife has done PD for state teachers, and many of these younger, fully degreed and licensed ‘professionals’ can’t themselves spell or use vocab words in sentences, or calculate a 15% tip for their dinner. Some of them have advanced degrees.
These people are teaching children *right now*, it’s already begun. Her students (14 year-olds), meanwhile, can’t hold a pencil, can’t read or speak, and don’t know how to use paper clips or a stapler. She teaches at the best school in our county, not a ghetto or barrio. Presumably, these are kids that have everything they need.
A degree is basically a receipt for a transaction at this point, and any young fool that thinks knowledge has been magically transferred to them as a result – their ‘expertise’ can be safely ignored. Nevertheless, the damage is already actively being done.
From the point of view of the Left, the move toward illiteracy serves at least three purposes: 1) it hides the embarrrasing differences between the proficiency of Afro-American students and that of children of other races (thus serving wokeness); 2) it allows unionized teachers to do as little as possible (thus pleasing an important political ally); and 3) if creates a gulf between the children of the poiitcal elite (who send their children to private schools) and the children of middle class parents who cannot afford private schools (thus creating career advantages for the former). Further, an unremarked-upon issue is the quality of the teachers themselves. Up until the 1960’s. many teachers were bright women who had no alternative careers. When feminism opened up other careers, these talented women went elsewhere, esp the professions. Today being a public school teacher probably is no longer even regarded as a profession by most people. It is a low-level, unpleasant job.
edward, it is. Short version, yankee teachers come down south to help the poor oppressed black kids. What they find, the reality, sends those cowardly ignorant lilly white ask hope women back north. Or they outright quit teaching and the unions are nothing but extortionists that represent no one.
The causes of this are probably complex and multifaceted, but I can’t help but wonder how much of this problem might be linked to the recent and increasingly prevalent broader concerns about not wanting children to experience any pain or discomfort. Are teachers not requiring as much from students in terms of homework assignments or behavior in the classroom because it makes them “uncomfortable” and/or the child doesn’t “feel good” when asked to do the work required to learn a subject? Teachers (and parents) that place excessive emphasis on pain avoidance, “protecting” children from discomfort and providing “safe spaces”, are robbing them of one life’s most important lessons — no pain; no gain. We grow, mature and learn most through our challenges and our struggles to overcome them.
@carpslaw
I can speak for my wife’s classes and district: yes, she assigns homework, as do at least some of her colleagues. The kids’ parents do the homework for them. Straight up and, period. Naturally, the kids cannot recreate their parents’ work in class in realtime. They get failing grades anyway, as homework is only a percentage of that total.
This is all a multi-faceted cluster eff with plenty of blame to go around.
As Chubby Checker sang, “how low can you go….”
FYI, before anyone goes on about race, Schenectady is 50% white according to City Data.
American immigration law is restrictive by race. Everything “Crazy Abe” Lincoln did was unconstitutional including nullifying American immigration law. The Supreme Court must have struck down Lincoln’s acts by Judicial Review beginning with his unconstitutional denial of secession, which would have put “Crazy Abe” out of business completely – it would have nipped Lincoln’s unconstitutional “Reign of Terror” in the bud and terminated it with extreme prejudice. Only Chief Justice Taney was courageous enough to oppose Lincoln’s brutal unconstitutional dictatorship.
To wit,
“The clause in the Constitution which authorizes the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus is in the ninth section of the first article. This article is devoted to the Legislative Department of the United States, and has not the slightest reference to the Executive Department.”
“I can see no ground whatever for supposing that the President in any emergency or in any state of things can authorize the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, or arrest a citizen except in aid of the judicial power.”
“I have exercised all the power which the Constitution and laws confer on me, but that power has been resisted by a force too strong for me to overcome.”
– Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, May 28, 1861
____________________________________
Naturalization Acts of 1790, 1795, 1798 and 1802 (four confirming iterations)
United States Congress, “An act to establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization,” March 26, 1790
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That any Alien being a free white person, who shall have resided within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States for the term of two years, may be admitted to become a citizen thereof…
@Upstate
Though my wife’s students are quite ethnically and even nationally diverse, they have one thing in common: they are all privileged. Doesn’t make a dang bit of difference; her school, the best middle school in the county (which is over a million people), is still at around 50% proficiency. Imagine the ‘bad’ schools. And her school is exceptional (I use the term loosely) even among local charters, parochials, and privates.
The reasons are myriad, it is a much larger conversation, and would likely make any intelligent person weep. I don’t know how we fix it without starting from scratch.
Would eliminating the role of the State and Federal government get us closer to “starting from scratch”?
What do you see as some of the myriad problems?
I recognize that a chunk of the problem is that too many people have not really thought about the purposes of education in a long time. You just do it. You need a job. The bigger whys have been forgotten. And, people have outsourced education to too great an extent to “the experts”, forgetting that anyone can become educated through discipline, some degree of conversation, and the public library. It helps to have wise guidance and a perspective that knowledge and curiosity about the world matter.
Starting from scratch means there is a power vacuum. I fear there are those who wish to do this to put their creation into place for their own purposes. The 4th Industrial Revolution needs a system of education to serve its purposes. The purpose of education is not to feed a machine; it is to create a free people. If well done, preparation to make a living is just along for the ride; there is no need to make it a main focus or to direct its particular inception at all (at least not K-12). I see that agenda quietly creeping into education under everyone’s noses, with subtle arguments manipulating people into accepting the economic reasons for education over anything else. Becoming educated to be a free person in a free, self-governing society is quietly being eroded away.
@Prarie Rose
I don’t disagree. This all began in earnest with No Child Left Behind, and marched on with Common Core. It is a multigenerational problem at this point. I don’t know how we fix it, but we are certainly seeing the fruit in modern university students. We are really in trouble.
Perhaps a Jeffersonian version of education-oriented Federalist Papers?
Asking the fools who are lowering the standards for math if they can decipher; 1(2,3) + 0(2,2) + 1(2,1) + (2,0) or convert 1010 binary? They must be misinterpreting the application of (0), to equal pass on the pulse.
Clue, of course the cannot they are Non Binary!
When interviewing job Candidates for Desk and Manager positions upward,
I ask ALL of them to: Please factor a Quadratic Equation x2-y2/x2+y2= [?]
Why are we surprised that kids are failing when their “teachers” themselves are barely literate (they certainly aren’t literate enough to read the actual science on gender dysphoria or race in policing)? By giving teachers a mandate to be activists, anyone with common sense could see what this would lead to. Kids may not be able to do real math (after all, it’s racist) but they can add up to 52 pronouns and genders to their vocabulary.
cause they(teachers) are not teachers anymore…more concerned with CRT and what gender do they feel like…so..when they 21 what jobs will they get…
It’s only racist if you’re black. The most pandered to race in America. The black race. And the race that commits the most serious crimes is the black race. Don’t take my word for it just go to the FBI UNIFORM CRIME REPORT. If these black parents had any guts about them, they would go down there and complain and tell them don’t you dare do this because you are gutting!! absolutely gutting my black son or,
my black daughters chance of moving ahead in life!! I stand corrected on one part of this. If the majority of your garden variety black, BLACK, SINGLE MOTHER WOULD GO AND RAISE HOLY HELL ABOUT THIS, AND AGAINT THIS, It would be stopped in its tracks.
Because that is exactly who they are pandering to and they are saying black kids are not smart enough to learn how to read. To learn how to do basic math. Although I hate to say it, the garden-variety black male in black female are not smart enough to learn up against your garden-variety white male / white female. And data has, proven this.
A good friend of mine has a blog where he writes a tremendous amount about your black raise in our nation and just what it cost us just in dollars. He also writes about how and why your inner city black areas really are a foreign country. He writes about how you can barely understand them because hardly any of them can speak any discernible English. One of the biggest problems is they don’t get outside of their black community and mingle with the dominant race.
(Gulf Coast Commentary Blogspot.)
For the time being, it is still the white race. But, it will not be much longer. And he writes a tremendous amount, more about Black people, and I’m sure a lot of people will come away thinking / considering nearly everything they read, To be racist. Even though facts are not racist. Truth, is not racist. My company in the Oil&Gas Industry, Oil-Field-Construction, is one of the largest privately held companies domestically. We have had an entrance exam for a number of years.
Even for your “ROUSTABOUTS.” = Laborers. Our data shows that for the last 20 years we’ve had this exam only two out of 10 can pass it. Black males. Only 4 out 10 black females can pass the, “Office Entrance Exam.” One of the biggest stumbling blocks for them? is how to conduct yourself in an office setting and dressing properly. Yes we do have a dress code for, “Ladies.” The, “Decorum”, part of the test.
“ Why are we surprised that kids are failing when their “teachers” themselves are barely literate (they certainly aren’t literate enough to read the actual science on gender dysphoria or race in policing)?“
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Bingo!!!! Thank you my friend!! you absolutely nailed it!!! Bravo! 👍 Bravo!! 👍 Bravo!!! 👍
I don’t think it is primarily the teachers’ fault. They are not in charge of decision-making. The administration and the school boards are (with the additional direction of State and Federal junk weighing on them, too).
In any case, is it being illiterate or is it refusing to debate the data or refusing to consider counterarguments? In a broad sense, perhaps that could be considered illiterate. More narrowly, though, is it being ideological or anti-intellectual that makes people want to ignore additional and often contradictory information?
Is not the key reason for this lowering of standards in Math & English the fact that black students are most behind in achievement creating a disparate impact? This lowering of standards is hardly encouraging black students to work harder and achieve more, but it is punishing every other student. Non-black lives matter.
Regardless of where one stands on education, not educating our children properly is good for neither the child nor the nation. COVID certainly put a wrench in the education machine. However, this is a much longer arc than the last three years. Dropping standards is NOT the answer. Nor is creating equality based outcomes by ridding the system oo programs for our brightest Because someone does not want to feel bad. I am personally not sure the answer is a one size fits all.
There is a far cry from poor rural and inner city children from struggling families to financially and emotionally secure children from well off suburbs. They have different needs and must be be treated individually to help raise them to the highest possible achievements. By handling it this way right now, nobody benefits except those that want it torn up and In chaos.
I have teachers in my family and it is frustrating hearing how they are trying to navigate a system that has lost its way. Everyone wants to have a say of what should be taught including parents, but these same parents did not help their children when they were stuck at home during the Pandemic’s early days. How does one determine what is taught when nobody can even agree what books should be used or even what curriculum. If one parent does not like something, do they have the right to prevent the curriculum and books that the other ninety nine parents think are good choices?
I think the first step is to ask three questions:
1). Is this good for the students and will help them learn?
2). Will this help students learn to think?
3). Are you the parent willing to allow uncomfortable ideas to you presented to your child to help them learn and think?
Ultimately it is educations job to teach children to think for themselves. Failing that, nothing else matters. How we do this work is going to be tough and take many forms including homeschooling and school choice. Mostly, it is about improving our public schools and make them desirable. Public education is a noble endeavor and should never be tarnished that is has been allowed due to politics of the few
“[A] school board committee has solved the dismal math and reading scores for children in the system . . . they lowered the standards.” (JT)
Next up: For an “A,” fog this mirror.
Then they want the government to pay for 4 more years of failure. College freshmen now have to take remedial classes just to reach 1st year standards. We must quit paying for incompetence.
…you can never help someone by going down to their level… only by bringing them up to a higher level. Jesus told the sick man laying by the pool to ‘pick up your bed and walk’ away from the pool.. i.e., you must make the effort to move away from the environment you’ve been stuck in to heal, to raise yourself up… ‘Equity..’ as this new woke perspective sees it simply wants to see the disenfranchised stay that way…. so they can continue to control them.. and now anyone who is dumb enough to buy into their ridiculous program of reverse discrimination and blatant racism…
The parents of students should be able to choose whatever school–government-run or private–that they want their kids to attend. The per-capita annual funding in each school district should go with the choices parents make. That will incentive those running the government schools to improve the quality of the education they provide. That will benefit students, parents, and our entire society. Right now, government schools are guaranteed funding, no matter how bad a job they do. Until that changes, our kids will continue to suffer and to be unable to acquire the knowledge and skills they need in order to compete successfully for high-paying jobs later on.
Welcome to equity.
We on the Right have been explaining for decades the Utopia the left preaches is an apperition. It does not, cannot exist.
The only way to make people equal, is to make them Equally ignorant/poor. The athletic analogy always blows up the leftist narrative. When is the NBA going to 15% Black? EQUITY! I’m sure the scholar Le Brone James is putting out a white paper soon, covering the topic.
” to stay competitive on speed.” You mean to stay competitive in ‘times’
“The only way to make people equal, is to make them Equally ignorant/poor.”
Excellent point!
Egalitarianism, the ideology behind the “equity” movement, was never about elevating mediocrity. It was always about destroying the most talented. Thus its expression: “Chop down the tall poppies.”
This is neither a right nor left problem. It is an education problem. How you educate and are you educating is what is important. Both sides of the political spectrum have dirty hands.
“Both sides,” what a stupid leftist argument. They eff over children, and then say Conservatives are bad, too.
Conservatives don’t care about education either. They care about the bottom dollar. Conservatives pushed NCLB. They pushed the testing that pushed out anything that could not readily be measured. They said cut funding for education if you do not reach our foolish bar.
Geez, conservatives do not come out smelling like roses in this mess. Get rid of Democrats and Republicans at this point. Get *politicians* out of education!
“Conservatives don’t care about education either. “
Prairie, you keep dissing “conservatives” so I think it fair to ask you the definition of who you are dissing. Define conservatives.
S. Meyer,
In this context, I am equating conservatives with Republicans–since George Bush and his party heralded NCLB. I am also using it synonymously because the primary association people have with Republicans is as conservatives (rather than as classical liberals). I observe a fair bit of overlap of people in the Republican party with people whose personalities incline towards being conservative, conservative in this sense more closely aligning with Big 5 personality traits–rather along these lines:
“Political attitudes are highly explicative of two main traits: Openness-Intellect and Conscientiousness [17]. Liberals tend to be high in Openness-Intellect and low in Conscientiousness (conservatives showing the opposite disposition). However, analysis into personality aspects revealed that Agreeableness also contributes to political attitudes [53]. Specifically, liberals tend to be high in aspects Openness and Compassion, and low in Orderliness. Conservatives
evince high levels of aspects Orderliness and Politeness, and low levels of Openness and Compassion.”
“Specifically, Openness-Intellect describes one’s tendency to try new things and their engagement with ideas [56]. Openness-Intellect consists of aspect Openness, which details one’s interest in abstract content, and aspect Intellect, which measures one’s capacity for intellectual pursuits.”
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?type=printable&id=10.1371/journal.pone.0239259
Conservatives can most certainly have a high capacity for intellectual pursuits (e.g., Larry Arne, Dennis Prager)–it really is a must if they actually want to conserve the republic. Unfortunately, I do not see this tendency in conservatives on a whole generally or in my area more specifically. How can you, conservatives, possibly conserve the republic if you won’t engage with the big ideas and important elements of history and culture that helped our Founders build it? All I see in my area is a focus on conservatism with money and a preference for sports.
“In this context, I am equating conservatives with Republicans”
Then why don’t you skip the word conservatives and use the word you mean, Republicans? There is something very wrong with how you are putting things together. Elsewhere you decry the use of D and R, but here you use an R to define a smaller, more distinct class, conservatives. Get your act together.
“Unfortunately, I do not see this tendency in conservatives on a whole generally or in my area more specifically.”
Unfortunately, I fail to see your logic in promoting socialized education over providing education. You seem very enamored with D’s and R’s. Presently the D’s are promoting socialism and despotism. That is proven harmful to the individual’s health.
“How can you, conservatives, possibly conserve the republic if you won’t engage with the big ideas and important elements of history and culture that helped our Founders build it?”
Your big ideas cause students to graduate from high school illiterate and innumerate.
“All I see in my area is a focus on conservatism with money and a preference for sports.”
Get thee to an optometrist.
It is okay for others but not for me? I see a fair bit of shifting between Democrats, liberals, and leftists on here as people discuss the issues of the day. I see very few Republicans exemplify what would be considered “classical liberalism”, hence, most fall under the category conservative.
I am promoting education that is still within the control of the people who pay for it–taxpayers. You want unelected people to use their neighbors’ money in a system that does not have any accountability to the taxpayer.
“Your big ideas cause students to graduate from high school illiterate and innumerate.”
Big ideas like those discussed by Locke, Cicero, Jefferson, Epictetus, and Paine would leave students more ignorant?
Public school is not the cause of students who are illiterate and innumerate.
If school officials are passing illiterste and innumerate students grade to grade rather than failing them, then that is a problem. Are the schools modeling high expectations? Public schools can fix such things.
But, what underlies student illiteracy and innumeracy? Are they doing their homework? Are they getting extra reading time at home or watching TV/playing video or computer games? Are they getting good food to eat or are they eating and drinking junk? Are they getting a good night’s sleep? Is education and learning valued by the parents? Are parents making learning and education a priority? Students and families need to take responsibility, too.
” I see very few Republicans exemplify what would be considered “classical liberalism”
I dislike both parties, so this question means little to me. However, Democrat leaders today rarely demonstrate classical liberalism. Republicans have the lead in that area.
“hence, most fall under the category conservative.”
Wrong.
“I am promoting education that is still within the control of the people who pay for it–taxpayers. ”
You are not. You are promoting socialistic backward thinking.
“You want unelected people to use their neighbors’ money in a system that does not have any accountability to the taxpayer.”
Wrong. I want to end public school taxes as we know them today or educate the children. Your policy of taxes without education is a failure. I don’t want to see children graduating from high school illiterate and innumerate. You do not wish to address that problem and prefer to keep the status quo.
“Big ideas like those discussed by Locke, Cicero, Jefferson, Epictetus, and Paine would leave students more ignorant?”
Where do these minds agree with taxation for education where students graduate illiterate and innumerate?
“Public school is not the cause of students who are illiterate and innumerate.”
If public schools lead to illiteracy and innumeracy, why are they needed? Presently, I proved that NYC schools are not educating most youth while charter schools and other methods have done vastly better. Your answer is to do more of the same of what hasn’t worked in decades.
“Public schools can fix such things.”
They failed for decades, yet you wish to stay on the same track. That is a bad idea.
“Students and families need to take responsibility, too.”
The parents of 50,000 students did this by requesting charter schools that you wish to deny.
The Quite Man:
I disagree. Democrats have had complete control of the public education system for generations. They resist all efforts to reform, not only how they teach literacy, but all topics. They also introduced far Left ideology at the expense of academic excellence.
How in the world can the center and right have equally dirty hands as the Left, when they’ve had little say? Look at the vehement character assassination against Gov Ron DeSantis when he removed $exualized content from K-3 grades, and requires black history, but not racist CRT or the debunked 1619 Project?
I will acknowledge that some Republican governors have begun to dig in their heels over the public education system. Common Core has been a disaster. It required conceptual thinking at grades where the mind was too young to understand abstracts. It lowered the pace of mathematics so that those who would have excelled and taken algebra far earlier have to wait. It led to high school graduates being less college ready than before. FL is an example of a state that did away with CC. Moderates and the right are at least trying to undo the Democrat catastrophe in education, but Democrats in state legislatures, even under Republican governors, fight tooth and nail.
https://features.apmreports.org/sold-a-story/
Karen,
“How in the world can the center and right have equally dirty hands as the Left, when they’ve had little say?”
Republicans thrust their hands armpit-deep into the dirt with NCLB. (And, I do think Democrats carry a great deal of culpability, what with their tendency to adopt educational fads, etc.)
I am willing to make the argument that there is a sort of Republican and their Democrat equivalents who are actually statists not really attached to any one party particularly but in favor of the entrenchment of fascistic power through the state and corporations. They manipulate the binary elements of both parties to achieve their ends, pitting people against each other.
Friedrich Hayek talked about this sort of thing in regards to economics, but it can be applied to other interactions. A “corporative” organization of society (in which “planning is left in the hands of the independent monopolies of the separate industries”) emerges as “the inevitable first result of a situation in which the people are united in their hostility [towards each other*] but agree on little else”. (The Road to Serfdom. p. 89). *my rewording
Divide and conquer.
“Moderates and the right are at least trying to undo the Democrat catastrophe in education”
I don’t see this at all. Who is trying to unwind NCLB/ESSERs and Common Core? I have only heard Donald Trump even float the idea of eliminating the federal Department of Education. Anyone else actually trying to undo the bipartisan political catastrophes foisted on public education? 🙁
“ We on the Right have been explaining for decades the Utopia the left preaches is an apperition. It does not, cannot exist.
The only way to make people equal, is to make them Equally ignorant/poor. The athletic analogy always blows up the leftist narrative. When is the NBA going to 15% Black? EQUITY! I’m sure the scholar Le Brone James is putting out a white paper soon, covering the topic.”
PRICELESS! ABSOLUTELY PRICELESS!! ‘