A wise friend once told me...Sometimes the train has to wreck in order to get fixed. I have to believe that the American education system is approaching that wreck. Our K-through-12 schools have become infected with the woke mentality that has swept our culture while post-high school academia has continued its devolution towards "too much administration", "too little education", "total lack of self-evaluation", and "continued allegiance to the almighty dollar". Vocational education, at both the high school and post-high school levels, continues to be effectively ignored in a trend that is costing our society greatly and will have increasingly-adverse consequences well into the future of our nation. We ignore this segment of our workforce at our own peril.
I live in a rural area that is located in the heart of Kentucky. We are just about as country as you can get. I attended public schools 1-12 and graduated from a college within an hour's travel of my home. My children came up through the same school system as their mother and father; but the system that is currently addressing the education of my grandchildren in this same county is something I cannot understand.
Within the last week or so, my granddaughter participated in a "privilege walk" at her middle school. I was somewhat familiar with the "white privilege" aspects of Critical Race Theory (CRT), but I had never come across the privilege walk. Upon further research, I discovered that the beliefs espoused by the advocates of this mantra are based primarily on the writings of Peggy McIntosh, a Harvard graduate heavily involved in feminism and civil rights in the late '80s. Here are some links to her body of work:
https://psychology.umbc.edu/files/2016/10/White-Privilege_McIntosh-1989.pdf
http://reparations4slavery.com/peggy-mcintosh-on-white-privilege/
What are these people thinking? In what universe does this stuff make sense? I was born and raised in Grayson County. There have always been certain "privileges" afforded to individual children here; but those privileges have little to do with race or gender. They have a whole lot to do with the power and influence of parents and their income status in the community. Those who were fortunate enough to have these advantages had a "leg up" on many other kids when considering opportunities and experience; but these advantages were certainly no guarantee of success later in life and history is a fool-proof testament to that fact. We all know some of those privileged kids from high school who became epic fails later in life.
The fact is that many children of my home county grew up in limited-resource homes that made it more difficult for them to succeed in life's challenges. But the incredible story to be told is that many, many of these environmentally-challenged children overcame their obstacles and became the backbone of our community. They did not demand "equities" over which they had no control; they demanded "equal opportunities" to compete and succeed in the quest for a good and productive life.
Today, those equal opportunities must be tied to a comprehensive, fundamental, and evolving curriculum that emphasizes the skills and abilities necessary to become a functioning citizen of our great nation. Some children will rise to great heights; some will tragically fall through the cracks in the system; most will move through the process and simply allow life's circumstances to craft their futures. The goal must be for EVERY child to receive the dignity, respect, and attention necessary to provide an equal opportunity to learn.
The teachers conducting this CRT exercise were either conducting such in an unauthorized/unapproved fashion or were doing so with the full/tacit approval of the school's and county's administrative individuals and bodies. In either instance, it is a terrible indictment of our county's school system that an exercise that is so radical, so disassociated from the fundamental purpose of K-12 education, and so removed from the geographic and demographic realities of Grayson County, Kentucky...could be conducted during the normal course of a school day.
If this stuff is happening in my rural part of Kentucky, it's a good bet that it is happening most everywhere in the United States. It is essential that our education system be re-evaluated and that actions are taken to (1) return to the fundamental goals of teaching our children in the basic tenants of education and thus preparing them to be responsible and productive future citizens, (2) remove from our school system personnel their apparent desire and obsession to assume the role of parents in the lives of our children, (3) dramatically increase the levels of transparency and accountability throughout our public school systems, especially in the areas of administration, teaching performance, and curriculum, and (4) increase our dedication (ALL OF US) to taking the time necessary to find out WHO is running the schools our children attend, WHAT they are teaching in those schools, and WHAT ARE THE RESULTS of the entire educational process.
If, in the course of their educational endeavors, our school system personnel become aware of unique or challenging issues relating to individual students, then they can utilize an option that should be in place to refer these problems to a third-party...a social-services agency, law enforcement, etc. But our schools should not presume, through their self-serving and personalized agendas, to substitute their functions as educators for those of parents and guardians.
County School Boards must be held accountable for the Administrators and Principals that they hire. Teachers must be vetted and held to a rigid performance standard based on thoughtful and concise job descriptions (they should teach what they were hired to teach!), and all the citizens who support public schools through their tax assessments must TAKE THE TIME NECESSARY to insure that the system is functioning in a manner that best serves our children. Read carefully about the things that are going on today in YOUR schools...
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2022/04/critical-ethnic-studies-come-to-our-schools.php
https://amgreatness.com/2022/04/24/joe-biden-teacher-union-toady/
https://nypost.com/2022/04/24/bidens-bribe-to-the-affluent-student-loan-forgiveness/
When satire becomes truth, we have truly gone through the looking glass: https://babylonbee.com/news/18-year-old-trying-to-file-his-taxes-wishes-his-school-teachers-had-spent-less-class-time-on-polyqueer-trans-theory
The liberal contingent of American culture has taken control of the Democrat Party and is fully and unabashedly flexing its political muscle to shape our world into their vision. Does that vision conform with your personal beliefs?
https://amgreatness.com/2022/04/20/how-america-became-la-la-land/
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2022/04/progressive-ideology-is-a-lie.php
https://amgreatness.com/2022/04/23/who-is-running-this-show-anyway/
And at the tip of this liberal-lunacy rocket ship is the One...the most corrupt, hypocritical, and egomaniacal person to ever occupy our White House.
https://nypost.com/2022/04/22/obamas-utter-hypocrisy-on-disinformation/
https://amgreatness.com/2022/04/25/the-ruling-class-pantheon-of-lies/
The transformation of our Department of Justice (DOJ) into a political appendage of the Democrat Party began under President Obama and is proceeding in ways that bode ill for our nation. There are clearly two levels of justice administered by the DOJ: One for those who think like the Biden Administration and one for those who do not.
The penalty for those who do not: https://amgreatness.com/2022/04/18/mom-of-j6-political-prisoner-we-are-half-alive/
The penalty for those who do: https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2022/03/28/craig-greenberg-shooting-quintez-brown-indicted-all-charges-louisville-mayor-kentucky/7194745001/
Let's see...over a year in jail for non-violent trespassing compared to two days in jail for attempted murder...Is that what you would call equal justice?
https://nypost.com/2022/04/17/democrats-are-campaigning-on-jan-6-hypocrisy/
https://amgreatness.com/2022/04/21/defund-the-capitol-police/
Our DOJ is becoming a truly frightening institution: https://amgreatness.com/2022/04/25/did-a-key-fbi-agent-in-whitmer-plot-attempt-to-surveil-steven-crowder/
In a tragic and slowly unfolding play of epic ineptitude, the Biden Administration's foreign policy decisions do not appear to be making our planet a safer place.
Witnessing the continued follies of President Biden and the Democrat Party leadership, it is difficult to imagine anything short of a red wave in the upcoming mid-term elections. But then, we have to remember...we're talking about the Republican Party here...the ones who are so adept at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory...the ones who consistently bring knives to gunfights...the ones who make a big show of closing barn doors after the horses have already escaped.
https://amgreatness.com/2022/04/24/gop-gains-could-be-twice-what-the-cook-political-report-predicts/
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/surveying-the-american-right/
Is there an alternative to Trump? Could this be one? https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/nikki-haley-wants-a-conservative-renaissance
I cannot close this post without a passing glance at Mr. Musk and his blaring pursuit of free expression on social media. J. Turley has some interesting thoughts on the matter: https://jonathanturley.org/2022/04/18/twitter-faces-the-nightmare-of-being-forced-into-free-speech/#more-187503
No comments:
Post a Comment