When a new year begins, many people make resolutions to inspire them to make changes for the better. Well, a new school year has begun and it’s clear changes are needed in the government-run education system.
As a former Under Secretary of Education in the Reagan Administration, I know the value of a good education, and that’s not what our children are getting today.
There are many reasons why just 36% of the country – a record low – is satisfied with the quality of government-run education. The Chicago public schools are so bad that the president of the Chicago teachers union sends her own son to private school. And she should have that choice!
Unfortunately, it’s not an option for most parents because left-wing politicians and teachers' unions are standing in the schoolhouse door, blocking school choice reforms.
Here’s something I want every parent to appreciate: You are your child’s first and most important teacher. The so-called “professionals” with teaching degrees do not know what’s best for your child. A stranger can’t possibly know that. Parents know their children better than anyone else ever could.
So, mom and dad, make a new school year resolution to be involved in your child’s education. Talk to them often about what they’re learning. If something doesn’t sound right, don’t hesitate to speak with their teacher and your local school board members.
Never forget that your tax dollars pay their salaries. They work for you – not the other way around!
Make a resolution to take advantage of “back to school nights,” parent-teacher meetings or other opportunities to visit your child’s classroom and meet their teachers. Go to your local school board meetings.
While there are many good teachers, the sad reality is that this noble profession has been hijacked by the radical Left. The popular social media site Libs of TikTok is full of teachers bragging about how they’re indoctrinating children with the LGBTQ agenda.
Remember the controversy over the LA Dodgers honoring the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence – a group of drag queen “nuns”? It turns out that one of the “sisters” is a transgender high school teacher.
One Oklahoma school district just hired a drag queen to be an elementary school principal. Predictably, he hired a fellow drag queen to work as a kindergarten aide.
The Colorado Education Association, the union representing 39,000 teachers in Colorado, approved a resolution denouncing capitalism. Why? Because they claim that capitalism exploits children, supports systemic racism, and oppresses LGBTQ individuals. This insane resolution was sponsored by a public school history teacher who ran for office with the endorsement of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Colorado isn’t a fluke. The National Education Association endorsed Marxist critical race theory, which turns Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream of a colorblind society into a bigoted nightmare.
Sadly, there’s more.
Emily Drabinski, a self-identified “Marxist lesbian,” is the new president of the American Library Association (ALA). Over the Labor Day holiday, Drabinski addressed the Socialism 2023 summit in Chicago, where speakers were introduced as “Comrade.” Not surprisingly, “Comrade Drabinski” declared that our local public libraries, along with our local public school libraries, should be key hubs for “socialist organizing.”
To fully appreciate just how radical government-run education has become, consider this: The Left is constantly lying about its agenda in order to deceive parents and taxpayers.
Leftist politicians have repeatedly insisted that critical race theory isn’t being taught in our classrooms. That’s a lie. By one estimate, $46 billion in COVID relief funds were spent by school districts to incorporate critical race theory into teacher training and curricula.
The 1619 Project, which is taught in thousands of schools, teaches that America was founded on slavery and genocide in 1619. That’s a ridiculous lie. America was founded in 1776 on the unique idea that our freedom and liberty come from God, not government.
But it’s because of nonsense like the 1619 Project that we now have teachers who insist that the Gadsden Flag is a symbol of slavery rather than a symbol of freedom.
And when it comes to transgenderism, leftist teachers insist they have a right to lie to your children about basic biology – telling them boys can be girls and vice versa. That’s insane.
They also insist they have a right to lie to you about your child’s mental health, gender identity, and use of “preferred pronouns” at school. That’s obscene!
The Left says that concerned parents who don’t want their young children exposed to graphic sexual content are trying to “ban books.” That’s a lie. We just don’t want our tax dollars paying for pornography in elementary schools.
Our children deserve an education that will help them succeed in the future as well-balanced adults and productive citizens. Confusing our kids about their gender and teaching them anti-American history is setting them – and America – up for future failures.
As Abraham Lincoln put it, “The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.”
Or as G. K. Chesterton said, “Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another.”
Either way, we’re in serious trouble unless drastic reforms in education are made as quickly as possible!
Gary L. Bauer, former under secretary of Education and chief domestic policy adviser to President Reagan and a Trump-appointee to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, serves as president of American Values, chairman of Campaign for Working Families PAC, and senior vice president of public policy for the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute.
