The American Spectator : The Role of 'Educators'

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The Role of ‘Educators’

By Thomas Sowell on 1.8.13 @ 6:05AM

Creating a mindset that undermines American society.

Many years ago, as a young man, I read a very interesting book about the rise of the Communists to power in China. In the last chapter, the author tried to explain why and how this had happened.

Among the factors he cited were the country’s educators. That struck me as odd, and not very plausible, at the time. But the passing years have made that seem less and less odd, and more and more plausible. Today, I see our own educators playing a similar role in creating a mindset that undermines American society.

Schools were once thought of as places where a society’s knowledge and experience were passed on to the younger generation. But, about a hundred years ago, Professor John Dewey of Columbia University came up with a very different conception of education — one that has spread through American schools of education, and even influenced education in countries overseas.

John Dewey saw the role of the teacher, not as a transmitter of a society’s culture to the young, but as an agent of change — someone strategically placed, with an opportunity to condition students to want a different kind of society.

A century later, we are seeing schools across America indoctrinating students to believe in all sorts of politically correct notions. The history that is taught in too many of our schools is a history that emphasizes everything that has gone bad, or can be made to look bad, in America — and that gives little, if any, attention to the great achievements of this country.

If you think that is an exaggeration, get a copy of A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn and read it. As someone who used to read translations of official Communist newspapers in the days of the Soviet Union, I know that those papers’ attempts to degrade the United States did not sink quite as low as Howard Zinn’s book.

That book has sold millions of copies, poisoning the minds of millions of students in schools and colleges against their own country. But this book is one of many things that enable teachers to think of themselves as “agents of change,” without having the slightest accountability for whether that change turns out to be for the better or for the worse — or, indeed, utterly catastrophic.

This misuse of schools to undermine one’s own society is not something confined to the United States or even to our own time. It is common in Western countries for educators, the media and the intelligentsia in general, to single out Western civilization for special condemnation for sins that have been common to the human race, in all parts of the world, for thousands of years.

Meanwhile, all sorts of fictitious virtues are attributed to non-Western societies, and their worst crimes are often passed over in silence, or at least shrugged off by saying some such thing as “Who are we to judge?”

Even in the face of mortal dangers, political correctness forbids us to use words like “terrorist” when the approved euphemism is “militant.” Milder terms such as “illegal alien” likewise cannot pass the political correctness test, so it must be replaced by another euphemism, “undocumented worker.”

Some think that we must tiptoe around in our own country, lest some foreigners living here or visiting here be offended by the sight of an American flag or a Christmas tree in some institutions.

In France between the two World Wars, the teachers’ union decided that schools should replace patriotism with internationalism and pacifism. Books that told the story of the heroic defense of French soldiers against the German invaders at Verdun in 1916, despite suffering massive casualties, were replaced by books that spoke impartially about the suffering of all soldiers — both French and German — at Verdun.

Germany invaded France again in 1940, and this time the world was shocked when the French surrendered after just 6 weeks of fighting — especially since military experts expected France to win. But two decades of undermining French patriotism and morale had done their work.

American schools today are similarly undermining American society as one unworthy of defending, either domestically or internationally. If there were nuclear attacks on American cities, how long would it take for us to surrender, even if we had nuclear superiority — but were not as willing to die as our enemies were?

About the Author

Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305. His website is www.tsowell.com. To find out more about Thomas Sowell and read features by other Creators Syndicate columnists and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (100) | Leave a comment Leave a comment

jothepro| 1.8.13 @ 7:21AM

I have noticed that when talking to people under 40 years old about war and defense of our nation that all most all think we are too powerful a nation and that we should shut down our foriegn policy. Kinda like Jack...

Al Brooks, BleedingHeartlib | 1.8.13 @ 9:03AM

Problem is, old people sch as Sowell are getting too much from the govt.--
so confiscate Sowell's assets and shut him away in a nursing home where he belongs.

Pecos Pete| 1.8.13 @ 9:20AM

Holy googly moogly! (To partially quote Alan's Girl).

The usual nonsense from Al "I Hate Old People" Brooks.

Or maybe it is: Al "I Hate Intelligent People" Brooks

Albert Constantine Jr.| 1.8.13 @ 9:32AM

Save Space:

Al "I Hate People" Brooks

Von Mises Jr| 1.8.13 @ 10:12AM

little alan brooks was probably bedfellow with his drunk uncle as a kid. It is always the screwed up kids that turn out like this.

Tina B| 1.8.13 @ 12:04PM

Al "I hate all decent people" Brooks.

spike59| 1.9.13 @ 5:41AM

Al "I hate thinking" Brooks

old white guy| 1.8.13 @ 10:05AM

you would seem to part of the problem that america is having. the inability to learn from those who have learned much is a defect.

Al Brooks, BleedingHeartlib | 1.8.13 @ 10:14AM

then cut me in on your govt. benefits-- I want 3.5 percent of it-- from all of you.

Von Mises Jr| 1.8.13 @ 11:57AM

Get lost you little twit. I only wish you grew up in my neighborhood so I could have rubbed your nose in the dog dirt.

Joellen| 1.8.13 @ 7:34AM

It's not just the schools, its our whole society.
The fact that the parents are not having dinner with their children, asking their kids, "What did you learn in school today Johnie & Janie?"; ascertaining - well that's not right - and then bringing it to their administrators attention, well then these kids continue to be indoctrinated.

The fact that our Churches have not been teaching the true doctrine since the infamous Vatican II, well all have become a product of "relativity" and so there's really no concern, is there.

The fact that our media and entertainment have become so debased, well what's a child to do, but become immune to the evil and actually laugh and think odd, when those who still adhere to moral rights and wrongs, try to expose them to those truisms.

I remember, on commentor here begrudged my usse of the word "infested" well that's exactly what we are; INFESTED with creepy, crawly marxist/communist/socialist, call it what you may, perpetuators and no way to spray them away.

SUBVET| 1.8.13 @ 11:20AM

Joellen........"our churches" maybe yours but not mine. Maybe it's time to seek a new pastor.

Or you can call me and I'll turn my collar around and hear your sins.

Joellen| 1.8.13 @ 6:02PM

You can hear my sins if you are a Roman Catholic Priest Subvet.

As for my comment of the Church not teaching the true doctrine - I'll give you a couple of examples: Flagin (Chicago); Jenkins (N.D); these two men are allegedly Priests - yet they espouse everything that goes against the Doctrine. So, if your Church is speaking Truth - well GOD bless you, however, Subvet - many Priests are not. One more big hint - if they espouse "SOCIAL JUSTICE" well then you know they've got the wrong agenda going.

Bob James| 1.8.13 @ 6:29PM

Spot on, Joellen. I've left the Novus Ordo world for the beauty, solemnity and profundity of the Tridentine Mass. Funny, you don't hear happy-clappy relativism and "social justice" at the TLM.

I think you meant Fr. Michael Pfleger in Chi-town?

TLP| 1.8.13 @ 2:35PM

What we are experiences is the result of 50 Years of the Immigration Act of 1965, which Shut Down Immigration from Europe, in Favour of the Countries that Kaminsky likes to Vacation at.

The ones where the National Bird is The Vulture, the most Popular Periodical is: Flies on Your Face Magazine, and the National Pastimes are Starving to Death and Dying from Malaria.

Now, add to that: 50 Years of teaching 2 Generations that 2+2 = Tuna Salad. The United States and Israel are responsible for WWI, WWII, and The War of the Worlds. (Not the Original One. The one with Tom Cruise in it.) And, JESUS was a Gay, Fat, Black Woman, who's Father belonged to the Carpenter's Union in Palestine, Texas.

The problem we have is that Liberals don't mark time, the way the rest of us do. They're like Muslims. Very patient, because they don't work.

Just look at Smoking.

You used to be able to Smoke wherever you want. Restaurants, Movie Theatres, Airplanes. How many times did we see expectant Fathers smoking their brains out, while their Wives were in the Delivery Room? Everyone on TV and in the Movies, smoked.

Now, you can't even smoke in a Pool Hall. A Pool Hall, for God sakes.

Gays in the Military, Gay Sex Studies in Elementary Schools. Sex Education. Gay Marraige. Suzy has two Mommies.

They're like a Glacier. They move slow, but sooner or later, they grind everything in to Dust.

Just look at our Culture.

Butch| 1.8.13 @ 7:45PM

TLP, I used to watch those Sally Struthers commercials that aired promiscuously before the big Thanksgiving pig-out and think, "why don't they just swat those flies?" I've said that, and liberals responded to me, "they're too weak!" Well, this has been going on for 30 years; they sure have enough strength to reproduce! Anyway, thanks for the chuckle.

JimH| 1.8.13 @ 7:44AM

The early impetus for the rise of government in education and tax supported schools was the desire to teach the children of immigrants how to be good Americans. Once you accept the legitimacy of state provided education and its role in teaching values the rest was inevitable.

Tina B| 1.8.13 @ 12:33PM

Jim, I used to think so too. But the early impetus was not so innocent and altruistic. I bought that koolaide for almost all the 20 plus years I taught, and then I felt the tide as never before. And I got out - I retired the first day I could.
I began reading and viewing. John Taylor Gatto, Charlotte Iserbyt, and all the links I found from there. I've had a year to ingest and digest it all. The brilliant Thomas Sowell has said it well. In late 19th and early 20th century America, the big money boys and academic elite were so impressed with the Prussian schooling and the popular control that resulted from this that they imported it to the USA.

And the progressives have been hard at work ever since, and very successfully. A great new website with a very enterpreneurial lawyer atbthe helm, is doing all the research and listing all the gruesome details asnher daughter endures a 9th grade preIB curriculum in the Atlanta School System. The propaganda, the Common Core indoctrination of the teachers, linked to NCLB and now Obama's equivalent, Race to the Top, RTTT. Millions of dollars directly connected to curriculum control on the federal level. Not only was teacher input removed from the content taught, but content has taken a back seat to social change, social justice and whatever you want to call it in Obamaland.

Tina B| 1.8.13 @ 12:34PM

Hopey-Changey folks are accrediting the colleges, who educate the teachers, who indoctrinate the students, who grow up to be the mindless voters who like the sound of Hopey-Changey. See? The schools are functioning just as they are supposed to.

Want the details? Go back and read, like I did you might want to get yourself a nice strong drinkey, maybe some good Scottish whiskey, put your feet up, soft saxophone music playing low in the background, and check out this website, all the way back to May, or whenever attorney and mom Robin Eubanks began it as she writes her book on the subject.
Invisibleserfscollar.com
You won't regret it. If you have kids, grandkids or other loved ones in the public schools and think as a Conservative, or are an anti- Progressive, you must learn about what's happening at your school, in your county, state, all driven by the Feds.

JimH| 1.8.13 @ 12:52PM

Tina B, I too spent some time in the groves (graves?) of academe. I think we mostly agree. I don’t think the original growth of public education was particularly altruistic. I do think that the progressive agenda has changed somewhat over time though. My main point is that if people are willing to use the education system to brainwash the kids, the only thing to argue over is the soap (ideology) used.

Tina B| 1.8.13 @ 1:26PM

Yes, and what is really scary is the apparent lack of will on the part of the population to fight the rising tide of indoctrination. Not the teachers, not the parents, not even the churches are willing to do the legwork, the research, and then go to the school boards to fight. Their children's future is almost completely out of their control, and soon their own future will be. I can't stress enough, read the
Invisibleserfscollar.com.
And educate yourselves on American Education then and now, so you know, it is not unsuccessful, quite the contrary. It is about to achieve complete success, and our Freedom in America is at stake.

Pecos Pete| 1.8.13 @ 3:11PM

Tina, thanks. I've bookmarked the site for use some twilight evening this winter, fire roaring, Brubaker and hot toddy. And thanks for your comments above which come from your experience and knowledge and not from "feelings" about fairness, etc. We can all learn if we try. Unlike the Village Idiots.

Joellen| 1.8.13 @ 6:05PM

Ironic Tina that the whole purpose was to control - yet look at the inner city schools - absolutely no control what so ever.

Pecos Pete| 1.8.13 @ 7:51AM

I have a friend who constantly repeats: "What if they gave a war and nobody comes."

My goal over the years, with this friend, has been to teach through books and historical films that the cause of war is a result of the evil that resides in some members of mankind. I've only made headway when the discussion is personalized; i.e., "Friend, what would you do if an evil person was killing your child or grandchild?"

Many people have never experienced true evil and thus give it no credence.

Dr. Sowell's article should be required reading.

Of course, the Village Idiots will continue to repeat the mantras of, among many, Evil Corporate Greed. Or, Guns Bad and Rednecks Bad. Even CO2 BAD. All without regard for the truth.

Ignorance is Bliss.

Nancy in NC| 1.8.13 @ 8:32AM

They've experienced true evil alright; they just are unable to recognize it.

Joellen| 1.8.13 @ 6:06PM

Or they do recognize it and embrace it Nancy.

Albert Constantine Jr.| 1.8.13 @ 9:29AM

"What if they gave a war and nobody comes."

Though the sublety would likely be lost on him, perhaps it bears mentioning that he is asking the question in the wrong language.

Was ist, wenn sie einen Krieg gegeben haben, und niemand kommt.

I'll leave it to you to translate die Frage into Espanol, and Mike to do the Russki.

Albert Constantine Jr.| 1.8.13 @ 9:31AM

The answer, is, of course, then the one who shows up wins, which is one of the points of Mr. Lord's article.

Von Mises Jr| 1.8.13 @ 10:23AM

That is the true underlying tragedy of Benghazi. Not only do we have a dead and juiced in the caboose Ambassador and three other fine dead Americans, but an attack on our people and property goes without a response three months later while the perpetrator sips latte in a Libyan cafe as a hero.
I had been in WTC several times including shortly before they came down. It devastated our country and markets, but did untold damage to NYC where some of us knew friends or met people who were directly affected, either dead or with dead family members. It was horrible.
But if it happens again, unless good conservatives I am personally connected to are affected, it may not have the same impact emotionally since many have accepted that terror should not be even spoken of, no less dealt with. While it is sad to say, it would be like the difference between a sweet little and innocent girl being assaulted versus a prostitute that got willingly in the car with the John.

Pecos Pete| 1.8.13 @ 11:16AM

Roughly: ¿Cuál es, si usted ha sido una guerra, y nadie viene.

JmsA| 1.8.13 @ 2:07PM

Auf spanisch: ¿Qué ocurre si alguien inicia una guerra y nadie viene? Ou en français: Que se produit si quelqu'un commence une guerre et personne ne vient?

Let me know if you'd like it translated into Galego-Portugués, Català (Catalonian), Euskera (Basque), or Italiano. Estudios de Lenguas Modernas y Traducción (Modern Languages and Translation) and Filología Española (Spanish Philology), Universidad de Vigo, Galicia, Spain

JmsA| 1.8.13 @ 2:30PM

The above is meant for ACJr.

Albert Constantine Jr.| 1.8.13 @ 3:59PM

Thank you for the additional assistance in the translation, JmsA. Still, during the last half century or so, I don't think anyone has needed to ask the question in French. In fact, if you can translate the question from French into the Arabic of North Africa, they may find that form more useful these days.

JmsA| 1.9.13 @ 1:57AM

You're welcome, sir. And your observations, I'm afraid, are spot on.

pogybait| 1.8.13 @ 8:49AM

It takes people of true courage to buck conventional wisdom and career risks by repeating what progressives and even the most brilliant minds in the nation have admitted that they don't know what the Constitution really means. It's all metaphorical, which is why Al Gore and many other in their infinite wisdom, referred to it as a "living, breathing document", written by a bunch of white slave owners in powdered wigs that had no idea of what the hell life would be like today. It was written to be used merely as a guide and thankfully we so fortunate to have liberal justices to decipher and translate the documents true meaning. Look, even though I spent the morning memorizing “Would you like fries with that?” I did major in Constitutional History/ Early American Interpretive Gender Studies at UCLA.

JD| 1.8.13 @ 1:00PM

It's not that the don't know. It's that they don't want it to have meaning.

Witness yesterday's news item about creating a Trillion Dollar coin to circumvent the debt ceiling. This tells us two things about the Left:

1. They think that money is just an abstract concept, and that money problems don't imply real problems in producing sustenance. Thus they "solve" problems by manipulating currency without addressing underlying problems.

2. They think that rules, such as the debt ceiling, can and should be overcome via tricks like the printing of more money, and that this is as ethical and consequence-free as real solutions.

As I wrote yesterday, based on this behavior, we can expect the day to come when they ban un-approved thoughts, then declare that freedom has not been abridged because there was never a Constitutional freedom of thought, only freedom of words and actions, ergo they can limit words and actions indirectly by banning the thoughts that would lead to unapproved words and actions, then say with a straight face that freedom has not been restricted!

JD| 1.8.13 @ 1:01PM

Think I'm crazy? It's already started. Just look at all the laws that arbitrarily attach horrible consequences to what should be rational, sensible economic activities. The Leftists tell us that our freedom to engage in such activities has not been restricted in the least, when in fact to do so has terrible economic consequences imposed solely by Leftist fiat!

What is the difference between "sure, you can do this, but you'll pay a big tax penalty!" and "sure, you can do this, but you'll pay a big fine!"? Nothing. And when fines (or inability to pay fines) leads to jail time, or worse, they'll still claim they haven't "banned" anything.

Who are they fooling? Apparently, most of America.

Pecos Pete| 1.8.13 @ 3:15PM

JD: As always, a pleasure to read your comments.

markenoff| 1.8.13 @ 6:48PM

To quate Dr. Sowell - There are no solutions, only trade offs.

C. Vernon Crisler | 1.8.13 @ 9:35AM

I think the reason the French surrendered so easily is because they did not want to go through the same thing they went through during WW1 -- a loss of a whole generation of young men.

markenoff| 1.8.13 @ 10:06AM

And how did that work out for them?

There are a number of reasons why Germany defeated the western allies in France so quickly (not easily) in 1940 and Dr. Sowell's explanation as well as yours are both too simplistic.

That said, for any civilization to survive it must have a certain percentage (I would prefer 100%) of its young men inculcated with a warrior ethos and the willingness to sacrifice everything fighting for the survival of the civilization. If you cannot defend yourself you end up dead or enslaved. Watch Europe over the next decade as a majority of the military age men, due to demographic changes, become Muslims.

C. Vernon Crisler | 1.8.13 @ 10:40AM

I was not commending the French; just giving a reason why they (along with many others) did not want to go through another generation-destroying war. Recall that the US also did not enter the war until Pearl Harbor forced its entry.

markenoff| 1.8.13 @ 6:49PM

Tell that to the crew of the Reuben James.

RAM| 1.8.13 @ 11:32AM

In a grad school courseI took some decades ago, the prof described the sad, mutinous state of the WW1 French army before the Americans arrived.

C. Vernon Crisler | 1.8.13 @ 12:50PM

Yes, and it was much worse in Russia, where the demoralization eventually allowed the Bolsheviks to take over -- and plunged the world into a dark century.

waterwoman| 1.8.13 @ 9:41AM

Dr. Sowell is correct. I have a lovely, intelligent friend who just began teaching at a small university. Before the election, she told me how exciting it was to be able to shape her students' opinions of their government and the world.

markenoff| 1.8.13 @ 10:07AM

Another reason why my children will never darken the door of a government run school.

Butch| 1.8.13 @ 7:56PM

Mine didn't have an hour of public instruction. Private schools all the way through grad school. I spent years being furious about having to do it. They got roughly the same education I got back in the 50s and 60s. Just what was needed. But it cost me, probably, a half million dollars to my estate, given the compounding effect. Now when it's all said and done, I'm glad I did it, because I can talk to my kids like adults. But look at how they're outnumbered.

RAM| 1.8.13 @ 11:30AM

Another cogent explanation of the problem, but how do we implement a cure?

Simon Templar| 1.8.13 @ 11:49AM

RAM, The best comment in this thread and the only one that has any value.

Simon Templar| 1.8.13 @ 12:02PM

The article illustrates the reason why we will lose this political war as well as the culture war and also is a perfect example of what is exactly wrong with current conservatives.
The fact that this issue is seen as a back burner issue and given very little attention says it all.
It should be front and center, even above the sacred cows of taxation and deregulation.
Either take back this institution or face eventual extinction. Why in the hell do you think the Left has fought so vigorously to take our educational systems over and make damn sure they hold onto them?
The second illustrative point involves the obvious lack of any coherent action plan or counter offensive. All we seem capable of is complaining about the last discovered corruption of another institution or a new revelation surrounding another left wing attempt or strategy to undermine and destroy what we all say we are trying to conserve or protect.

darcy| 1.8.13 @ 2:51PM

There aren't that many true conservatives anymore; that's why the issue has been buried. Millions of politically naive Republicans still think of GWBush as a conservative, so far to the left has the nation veered as a result of the education establishment's success at being "agents of change."

For example, even writers here at spectator have trumpeted a Jeb Bush candidacy for 2016, the same Jeb Bush whose favorite cause is improving education via the Dept. of Education when if he were a true conservative he would make it his primary aim to abolish the pernicious edifice set up by Jimmy Carter -- among our most odious presidents. Returning control of education to state and local entities is the minimum "fix" that is required; yet how many "leaders" even talk about it, much less are genuinely determined to make it happen?

I read Mr. Sowell's Inside American Education 20 years ago, which spurred me on to further study of the subject. Some commenters here have mentioned the works of Iserbyt, with which every conservative should acquaint themselves.

Tina B| 1.8.13 @ 3:38PM

Farcy, I see you have traveled some of the same rabbit holes I've been into. Please check out Robin Eubanks site I recommended. She is going deep here and publishing some of her data as she learns.

I wasone who trumpeted ole Jeb, but I have come to think your way about him. I began teaching in FL under Lawton chiles, so when Jeb came along it was at first a breath of fresh air. He endorsed the FCAT, and the first few years we gave it the level of teaching, in math at least, improved greatly. (believe me it had a lot of room for improvement)

As time went on the education engineers began to revamp Florida education (or previous lack thereof) to match the level of changes rest of the country was enforcing for brother W's NCLB. I gave up on him then, as well as his brother the POTUS. In the last 10 years it has only gotten worse.

Tina B| 1.8.13 @ 3:39PM

Darcy, my iPad changed your name, and you are by no means Farcy. Please forgive.

Simon Templar| 1.8.13 @ 3:45PM

You are correct. The solutions will be at the local and state level. The problems will continue at the federal level.

markenoff| 1.8.13 @ 6:51PM

The solutions will be in our living rooms and around our kitchen tables.

Doctor Right| 1.8.13 @ 1:53PM

Euthanize the patient.

She's been on life-support since the mid-60's, she won't even notice.

Simon Templar| 1.8.13 @ 12:03PM

Look at how few comments were posted. I rest my case.

JD| 1.8.13 @ 12:08PM

Sowell never gets many comments. There is nothing more to say. And our Leftist trolls can't formulate a counter.

Albert Constantine Jr.| 1.8.13 @ 1:05PM

I sometimes think that in addition to your accurate assessment, that the trolls are afraid to have a racist tag hung upon them if they dare challenge Dr. Sowell (except for Brooks, who attacks him for being old, as apparently being an agist is not as bad as being a racist).

Simon Templar| 1.8.13 @ 1:20PM

Yes, they can not refute him, like other writers, but only dismiss him as an old man that should retire, call him names, and make references that he is an 'uncle tom.' So, what is new about that, it is a typical liberal response.
They could really give a rats ass about losing a debate or forming a counter response, they want to win the reality. They control the schools. We do not. End of story.

Simon Templar| 1.8.13 @ 1:30PM

Others occasionally bring this subject up as well and I see the same lack of interest. The fact that there has been no substantial push back other than a few million Christians home schooling attest to the reality that most do not get it, are either unaware, or have resigned themselves to their control of their children education. When was the last time you ever read an article in the news about conservative parents rising in mass demonstrations and activism to challenge their schools? How many conservative parents are sending their kids to these universities and after four years do not recognize their children anymore and wonder what happened?

JD| 1.8.13 @ 1:39PM

The simple fact is that education is expensive, and the Left has created economic incentive to use their facilities. This incentive is too substantial for many families to ignore.

I have never been a fan of home-schooling, either. There is too much social development that takes place in schools, for better or for worse. Being isolated all day while other kids are together, en masse, retards social growth in costly ways.

The better solution is private schools that provide real education.

Simon Templar| 1.8.13 @ 1:54PM

Home schoolers do not sit at home alone lacking socialization, this is a myth created by the Left. They are linked to other families and parents share teaching. Schools were once small one house schools that had one teacher for hundreds of years, and no one suffered from socialization skills. The solutions need to come from all directions including home schooling, private schools, voucher schools, on line education, and a myriad of solutions yet to be created and developed. Education is expensive. Another reason employers are attempting to train employees in alternative means. There is greater incentive at this point to develop alternatives for both families and employers than there is to get a rather worthless and common diploma from these institutions.

Simon Templar| 1.8.13 @ 1:58PM

By the way, these kids are not isolated or living in a vacuum, they belong to church and social groups and neighborhoods where they are interacting with other children.

Tina B| 1.8.13 @ 3:01PM

Simon, you say it well. And I think all the alternatives you listed are viable and as you said, as well as many yet to be invented. But the current monopoly, union fed if not led, is almost beyond a trust busting machine even if we had the right one.

I am not hopeless but my hope rests only in the One who died for me. Not the government, nor the schools run by it, nor the population it serves. I homeschool one of my grandkids, 15, and would like to spend a year educating all seven of them.

JD| 1.8.13 @ 2:30PM

Nevertheless, there are seven hours a day, five days a week when most kids ages 5-18 are together with large numbers of peers. Regardless of what happens after those hours, DURING those hours, home schooled kids are far less connected. That's a big difference.

While there are many negative influences in large schools, there is also a cost to being out of the loop.

darcy| 1.8.13 @ 2:58PM

Yes, peers whose opinions about what to value are shaped by social engineers in the guise of teachers, who in a hundred ways everyday teach their captive audience to dismiss the values taught in their homes and prize the attitudes of their peers.

JD| 1.8.13 @ 3:00PM

Being out of the loop is precisely why we are where we are - sitting here in the minority, with little influence over the electorate, lamenting he decline of society.

Further isolating ourselves won't help.

Simon Templar| 1.8.13 @ 3:41PM

No one is sitting here in a minority and conservatives are not isolating themselves. They go to work with liberals, they go to restaurants, parks, join the same groups like baseball leagues, shop at the same places, live in same neighborhoods as liberals, and attend the same universities. What the hell are you talking about?
We got to this place because we either capitulated, looked the other way, or allowed the Left at all levels and places to take control. We allowed them to take control of our universities and media and school systems without protest. No one is advocating isolation. It is impossible to achieve anyway. We do not have to participate in supporting these institutions and have every right and duty to provide them for ourselves if necessary. Thus, homeschooling, alternative media, new political action movements like the Tea party, companies like chick-fil-A.

Simon Templar| 1.8.13 @ 3:30PM

It is all about what happens in those hours, that is the point. Just how many contacts and socialization is required and sufficient? Five, ten, hundred, thousand? What difference? Have you measured this? Are there studies that measure this and prove they are less socialized. What cost?
Don't line up with liberals and start discouraging people from taking the initiative to empower themselves and exercise their rights. Nor buy their bullshit propaganda about the subject.
I am not against private schools and did not say so. The cost of sending your kid to a public school is greater than the any cost of homeschooling.

JD| 1.8.13 @ 4:17PM

And I have not said, categorically, that public schools are better than homeschooling. I have merely registered the fact that 35 hours/week of organized activity with a large group of peers is replaced by relative isolation when one home-schools. I see no reason to believe that home schoolers compensate with more after-hours socialization than their peers in schools; in fact, they probably socialize LESS after hours due to lack of school-fostered friendships.

I add the opinion (strongly defensible, I think) that lack of peer interaction breeds naivete, ignorance, and social awkwardness. Ignorance, in particular, is a problem.

I do not disagree in the least that our public schools indoctrinate in many bad ways. I am simply emphasizing that the isolation of home schools is an inferior alternative to good private schools.

JD| 1.8.13 @ 4:34PM

While you are correct that the subject matter in many public schools fosters Leftism, I believe that the experience of social interactions fosters the opposite. It is precisely the understanding of human nature that leads us to understand that expecting widespread altruism to carry a society is foolish, or that central planning cannot achieve the results of markets, or that power corrupts. These are bedrock fundamentals of Right-wing beliefs.

Isolation fosters Leftism. It is the ivory tower. It is where naive idealism is unchecked by unpleasant reality. Where human nature is avoided.

The goal of GOOD education and the goal of understanding people (through experience) are linked.

Simon Templar| 1.8.13 @ 6:46PM

You are making assumptions based on an opinion that seem to stem from what you think rather than what is known. You have also forgotten that most of that public school time is regimented, seated, and focused on lecturing, not socialization. Given the atmosphere and social conditions of these gigantic bused school systems that they foster, there is more anonymity, alienation, and less one on one contact between student and pupil. The socialization you seem to be promoting that exist in these environments is more gang related and clique related as these are often responses to very impersonal large environments. This central planning of school systems has led to widespread truancy, drop out, violence, and a great deal of socialized alienation. You can have it. Private schools tend to be smaller with greater parent involvement, more studied focus, better teacher student ratios, and students who share similar values and world views. This is why they are successful. Isolation does not foster leftism. Group think and indoctrination and collective experience fosters the mob thinking of liberals.

Simon Templar| 1.8.13 @ 7:01PM

You have no reason to believe that home schoolers do not compensate with more after-hours socialization than their peers in schools; in fact, you are making a unfounded leap in assuming that they probably socialize LESS after hours due to lack of school-fostered friendships. In fact the quality of those relationships may indeed actually be more deeper and substantial than public systems.
Home schooling has taken a lot of heat and slandering from the left as they see it as a threat both in their attempts to control and indoctrinate. Anything they object to with such vehemence makes it good. Most studies show home schoolers to not be lacking in social skills nor in academic achievement, in fact, not opinion, they are actually excelling and have hire scores in all subjects. Conservatism stresses the family as the sole and primary enculturating and socializing force, not the collective or the state. Conservatism encourages self empowerment, individualism, and self reliance. It is the kinds of social interactions that are important not the fact you are having them that count. By the way, liberals are not liberals because they are isolated. They are all for collective experiences and lots of social interaction. It seems it has not helped them with their tolerance or understanding of conservatives or anyone else that does not conform to their world views.

markenoff| 1.8.13 @ 7:01PM

"Ignorance, in particular, is a problem."

Yes, I agree ignorance is a problem among those who attend public schools. That and them being taught so much that just isn't so.

Why do you assume home schooling equals isolation?

JD| 1.8.13 @ 7:40PM

There is no assumption in the fact that a student in a school encounters far more people from 8:00 AM - 3:00 PM Monday through Friday than a home-schooled student does.

As you quoted Sowell saying above, the world is full of trade-offs. I do not categorically support the trade of relative isolation for avoidance of ideas with which we do not agree. In fact, in general I despise efforts to avoid teaching kids about things we disagree with. I am Christian, but I want my kids to learn about evolution - from a Christian - so that they are not unfamiliar with it when confronted in a more hostile (or inviting) setting.

I know good conservative people who teach in public schools, and while they have horror stories, they are also evidence that there are good people there. You have to evaluate case-by-case. We do ourselves no favors by exaggerating the flaws - that only allows others to debunk and dismiss us.

As I said, I favor private schools among all the options.

Simon Templar| 1.8.13 @ 8:16PM

"In fact, in general I despise efforts to avoid teaching kids about things we disagree with. "

Well that is exactly what is going on in public schools and the very reason parents home school. Furthermore, you assume that home schoolers are concerned solely with evolution studies and this drives their motivations. Dead wrong again and a distraction on your part to ignore what I have written and addressed. There are no exaggerations here and it is ridiculous that you present the idea that this otherwise. The system of education in this country controlled by liberals is rampantly and gigantically flawed and dysfunctional by anyone's standards and is a complete failure for most communities across the nation. Yes, trade offs. I will take a home school over a public school any day of the school week.

Simon Templar| 1.8.13 @ 7:13PM

Not everyone can afford a private school, homeschooling is the next best thing, and for some, preferred for other reasons. It is damn well not an inferior choice and it is one in keeping with conservative ideals. It is surely a better alternative then sending your kid to their hell holes where you can compete for your kids soul as a parent with the local juvenile delinquents, leftist nut ball teachers, and the culture of drugs and violence so prevalent in these guvmint run centrally planned hell holes. Enough said.

markenoff| 1.8.13 @ 6:59PM

I'll take that cost for the benefit. My sister home schooled her 8 kids. Five went to college, all on scholarships, the 3 youngest boys on basketball scholarships (they played on a homeschool basketball team that went to the national tournament every year they were on it). All are pretty well adjusted. None ever got involved in drugs or alcohol while teenagers despite having an alcoholic father.

Doctor Right| 1.8.13 @ 1:54PM

If you think that's bad, head on over to the comments section on Tucker's "novel."

Pathetic.

(The novel, not the comments.)

N8tivTxn| 1.8.13 @ 12:49PM

It's not solely the education system that has rendered American youth into "mind-numbed robots". The child "handling" system, in general, from cradle to the age of twenty five years is badly broken.

We've all read that the first three years of life are the most important for shaping human minds, but for half a century we, as a society have made the choice to warehouse our children from the age of four/ six weeks, in institutions that are horribly destructive to their healthy development.

"Daycare" for children of "working moms" is where their minds are destroyed, rather than in our education system. The academy is merely where they are trained, after their ability to reason has been sucked out... A process no less violent than the way an aborted fetus is sucked from it's warm womb.

Those who have inordinately strong "will" and who miraculously survive the destructive influence of early warehousing are dealt with harshly later, in the education system, where they are branded misfits, their peers are encouraged to shun them, or they are cast out (drugged) as incorrigibles.

Children are not pets. If you are not able to devote your undivided attention to raising them, don't have them. It ain't a part-time job.

Tina B| 1.8.13 @ 1:16PM

Can't argue with any of that. Well said.

darcy| 1.8.13 @ 3:00PM

Ditto.

JD| 1.8.13 @ 3:18PM

I have long said that children require a full-time parent. Those who cannot (or do not wish to) provide one should not have children.

This precludes very few people from actually having children; most who would claim to be precluded are actually just unwilling to make the commitment.

Petronius| 1.8.13 @ 12:59PM

The only time this country ever links arms as a whole is during emergencies. Few people are willing to defend the current political establishment compared to the flea wits who couldn't wait to kill the Commies for Christ 45 years ago. But anybody with a lick of common sense knows that government could care less what happens to them unless they write campaign checks. The hippies who wouldn't fight then knew the country didn't belong to Them; not 1 square inch of it. Now that they control the culture and all the big money, WE are traitors, and considered lower than Untouchables in India. The liberals refused to defend America as it was for its refusal to accept Them on Their terms, so they took over all cultural institutions to achieve precisely that. Sex, drugs, rock & roll; and the plebes who maintained the country up until now paid for it all in treasury, property, and blood. The sad fact is, people go in the direction they are pushed. Few people thought much then, and most people think even less now. All that matters is being mainstream and going along with the crowd. But even back in the 50's when conservatives had the culture, it was They who spawned Liberalism with their arbitrary unfair horseshit disciplinary practices in the schools. Every day I heard some guy on the playground say, "when I have kids, I'm gonna let them do Anything they want." Look at the results and then tell me you'd want to start a family today.

Tina B| 1.8.13 @ 1:14PM

I posted this above but want to make sure it gets read, both parts:
Jim, I used to think so too. But the early impetus was not so innocent and altruistic. I bought that koolaide for almost all the 20 plus years I taught, and then I felt the tide as never before. And I got out - I retired the first day I could.
I began reading and viewing. John Taylor Gatto, Charlotte Iserbyt, and all the links I found from there. I've had a year to ingest and digest it all. The brilliant Thomas Sowell has said it well. In late 19th and early 20th century America, the big money boys and academic elite were so impressed with the Prussian schooling and the popular control that resulted from this that they imported it to the USA.

And the progressives have been hard at work ever since, and very successfully. A great new website with a very enterpreneurial lawyer at the helm, is doing all the research and listing all the gruesome details as her daughter endures a 9th grade preIB curriculum in the Atlanta School System. The propaganda, the Common Core indoctrination of the teachers, linked to NCLB and now Obama's equivalent, Race to the Top, RTTT. Millions of dollars directly connected to curriculum control on the federal level. Not only was teacher input removed from the content taught, but content has taken a back seat to social change, social justice and whatever you want to call it in Obamaland.

Tina B| 1.8.13 @ 1:15PM

Simon Templar| 1.8.13 @ 1:24PM

Yes, learn about it and take action to do something about your children's education and the institutions you are paying taxes to support where you are marginalized and disenfranchised.

Tina B| 1.8.13 @ 1:33PM

Yes, Simon, the action part, however, is incumbent upon our understanding of the enemy. It is not the bumbling ineffective school system which just needs some straightening up and streamlining. Oh no. It is a very effective Leviathan about to devour the last vestiges of that fighting and brilliant spirit that made America so magnificent in it's birthing.

Public Ed is now an enormous corporation beyond the scope of any other, cradle to college for 100% of the youth population. Compulsory education. Compulsory indoctrination. How do we act? Very thoughtfully.

Simon Templar| 1.8.13 @ 1:42PM

That is my point. Not enough attention has ever been paid to this leviathan nor the enemy as you say and their agenda. The system is working as it has been intended and quite well. It is not a bumbling system that needs straightening up.
Conservatives tout individualism, self reliance, and personal freedom. Start acting like it. Take control of your children's education. Education may be compulsory but one need not send their kids to the leviathans. They have alternatives, they have means to regain control of these institutions, and they have money, power, and resources to combat it. What they lack is the will.

Simon Templar| 1.8.13 @ 1:34PM

Breitbart said his next Big would be education.
He died. His staff carried on adding another big.
Do you see a Big Education? No.

sarrington | 1.8.13 @ 1:51PM

The humanistic philsophy of John Dewey established a teaching method known as pragmatic instrumentalism. Underlying this method is the humanistic assumption that all "truth" is relative.

The upshot of "progressive" education, therefore, is to destroy the certainty of objective knowledge. This method, though it purports to advance the ideal of teaching "critical thinking" merely deconstructs knowledge and destroys a person's ability to engage in systematic, independent, fact-based thinking. Children instead learn to "follow the group" and identify with their social class. Once this educational system pervades most K-12 education and then our colleges, the socialists will have created the "mindset" necessary to destroy what is left of America.

The agenda began long ago with Dewey and the take over of the teachers colleges. In recent times, the process has taken place via Goals 2000, School to Work, School to Career, No Child Left Behind, and now Race to the Top with its Common Core takeover of curriculum standards.

This agenda also sets aside the principle of federalism, the bastion of freedom that has stood in the way of centralized national government. States are becoming mere puppets of the federal master.

Please expose the Common Core along with all the corporate sponsors set to make a mint of money off taxpayers while they give America's children a socialist future.

JD| 1.8.13 @ 1:56PM

Truth is objective. Morality is objective. Valuation is subjective.

The Left frequently gets all three of these things wrong. They love to make both truth and morality subjective in order to justify themselves. Ironically, then, they take value, which is subjective, and demand that it be objective. That is, they hate that some people and the things they produce fetch large prices on the market when they themselves don't value these things much. They want their valuations to be everyone's valuations.

Tina B| 1.8.13 @ 3:17PM

Sarrington, ring that bell. Simon ring that bell. Use the Ed jargon so that parents who blog here get familiar with it. Race to the Top: federal money for curriculum control and social engineering. Common Core: the bait n switch of social engineering at the expense of content, facts, and truth. SEL:social emotional learning, the new curriculum goal. PBS: positive behaviour system, overlooking negative behaviours as a form of social justice making. The new three Rs: Rigor, Relevance and Relationship. Look it up on
Invisibleserfscollar.com or google it.

It's your job for your offspring, if it's not too late.

cicero| 1.8.13 @ 8:35PM

I know that I am a bit late jumping in, but I had to comment on Dr. Tom's comment about Zinn's "Peoples' History". One of my daughters brought it home from college {a state college}, and told me I judt had to read it. It was the standart text for intro to American history. I found out later that it was the standard text most widely used in colleges in the U.S. It took me about a weekend to read the rag. When I pointed out the fallacies, she was stunned. Her proffesor had assured her that it was a great analysis of our country. Whe asked about the treatment of the workers. I asked her if she ever heard of the UAW. Her grandfather had fought in the "battle of the overpass". Oh, she said, yeah.

Having served on a local school coard, I quickly realized the the public school system has to be replaced. I believe that we are seeing that process beginning to accelrate. It will sstart in the urban districts {in Detroit it is well on its way.} But this subject needs more than a short blog. Keep beating the drums.

cicero| 1.8.13 @ 8:35PM

sarrington | 1.11.13 @ 11:46AM

For more information on stopping the Common Core, go to the www.stopcommoncore.com site and get more information. Also, watch the video. In fact, order some DVDs and get them distributed in your communities.

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