I have always been fond of Thanksgiving. No…it is not the hedonistic spread of glorious foodstuffs, although I do enjoy that aspect of it. It just seems to me like the Thanksgiving holiday is more laid back and calm than the following Christmas season. That statement is becoming less and less credible however, since the reality is that the Christmas season now begins before the Thanksgiving season. Whatever…with a long weekend coming up and a newsworthy month coming to a close, I wanted to flush out my blog file and put up one more short post before we officially move into the Christmas season.
Among
the many areas of American bureaucratic doings, there is little doubt that our
national and local education efforts are in desperate need of a
thoughtful, deliberate, transparent, and wide-ranging analysis. We, as a nation and as parents, need to better
serve our children and support them in their preparation for a future where they will be calling the shots. It would appear that the incoming Trump
Administration will, at a minimum, strongly consider some dramatic changes in
the Department of Education. It is also
likely that on the heels of a national election where a large portion of the
radical progressive agenda was soundly repudiated, education at the local level
across our country will also be undergoing reconsideration. I am hopeful that it will become more parent-centric and far less woke.
There is much to think about.
In
my home state of Kentucky, this month’s general election ballot featured a
state amendment regarding school choice; specifically, the use of state tax
dollars to fund private schools and homeschooling. I confess to being very conflicted on this
issue. While I strongly support the need
for increased competition in education that might push our public schools
towards better performance and offer education alternatives for everyone; I am
reluctant to open the doors to potential fraud and abuse that will undoubtedly
arise from a private sector surge in the business of education. If our governments, both local and national,
have been the custodians of the hot mess we now see in our education system, does it make a lot of sense to increase and
enlarge their jurisdiction?
Hopefully,
our public school systems…at all levels…will
take note of the increased scrutiny that is being placed upon them and enter
into some serious self-reflection that will result in a much-improved product.
As
I have written before…“education for
education’s sake” is a luxury that few can afford. It is way past the time when our kids in high
school need to receive better counseling regarding the career choices they make
following their graduation. Piling up
monstrous personal and/or subsidized debt in pursuit of a meaningless degree
helps no one. Let’s get back to the
fundamental basics of education; let’s clean up our curriculum and focus on the
realities of history, math, and science; and let’s remove the social aspects
that have become interwoven into the system and shift back to a respect for
parental influence and local control of education in America. We must find
a way to hold K-12 and advanced education administrators, teachers, and board
members accountable for the quality of
the education they deliver.
https://amgreatness.com/2024/11/22/make-education-great-again/
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/lets-stop-infantilizing-college-students/
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/how-to-improve-early-college-options/
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/another-bit-of-worthless-academic-research/
There
can be little doubt that with the advent of a second Trump Administration, the
direction and priorities of our government are going to be changing
dramatically. What will those
changes entail?
What
will be the approach to those changes?
http://jewishworldreview.com/1124/hanson112224.php
https://amgreatness.com/2024/11/23/tearing-the-leviathan-apart/
https://reason.com/2024/11/21/doge-can-succeed-by-scaling-back-its-ambitions/
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/congress-must-join-in-musk-and-ramaswamys-doge-efforts/
In
what areas will those changes occur?
National immigration policy:
https://americanmind.org/salvo/needed-a-bipartisan-truth-commission-on-bidens-border-crisis/
The ever-widening area of
government regulatory mission-creep and bloat: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/supreme-court/3239780/supreme-court-consider-another-major-test-federal-regulatory-power/
The inexcusable malfeasance of
government debt, spending, and intrusive economic policy:
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/national-debt-surpasses-36-trillion/
https://reason.com/2024/11/25/biden-rushes-to-dole-out-chips-act-funds-before-leaving-office/
Reigning in the out-of-control
Department of Justice; that deep-state cesspool that has become politicized,
bloated, irresponsible, inefficient, and overtly authoritarian:
https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/all-things-trump/jack-smith-finally-ends-90-million-legal-assault-trump-leaves
Foreign policy:
https://reason.com/2024/11/25/belated-loosening-of-restrictions-on-ukraine-leaves-world-stumbling-towards-greater-danger/
Three
quick notes before closing out this piece…
Law and order…crime and
punishment…justice and injustice…these are important points of an ongoing
discussion across our nation, our culture, and our society. These are complex issues that should be based
on simple principles; but it seems nothing can be simple in today’s world:
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/11/what-really-happened.php
I will continue to periodically
address what I consider to be one of, if not the most shameful farce ever
perpetrated upon the American public by a national political party (read:
Democrat) and their allies (read: mainstream media):
https://jonathanturley.org/2024/11/25/congresss-jan-6-investigation-looks-less-and-less-credible/
https://nypost.com/2024/11/24/opinion/tragic-ashli-babbitt-and-the-buried-jan-6-truth/
At this time of Thanksgiving, we
should never forget that with the relatively few exceptions of uncontrollable
circumstances…it is truly a privilege to live in this nation and have the multitude
of blessings that the Good Lord has bestowed on each and every one of us. The length, breadth, and depth of those
blessings certainly vary from person to person, but…this has far more to do
with man’s free will than it does with God’s will. By and large…we all receive more than we
give, and we should each seize every opportunity to even out that equation.
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