Don’t force cultural change through the schools
To the Times:
The Oct. 2 Times bold printed “What we permit, we promote” Letter to the Editor immediately drew my attention. The title being an obvious definist fallacy in that it intentionally forestalls disagreement by implying there are no acceptable alternative opinions. An analogous proposition would be if you disagree with the jurisprudence of Supreme Court Justice nominee Amy Coney Barrett you are anti-Catholic.
Admittedly challenged by the essay’s title, I read the opinion and, my curiosity stimulated, I also read the referenced article suggested by the author.
One would assume the purpose of the referenced article is to outline the principles, values, and methods to advance the mission of the parent organization ie “...to educate children and youth to be active participants in a diverse democracy.” No one would disagree that these are worthwhile goals given the substandard achievement of our K - 12 educators based on international test results. But that mission is absent from the article.
Unfortunately, I found the article concerning in its advocacy for the cultural transformation of our school system and the methods and focus of that upheaval. There are numerous references to white supremacy / saviorism which are targets to be dismantled. The inference is that white racism is prevalent in our society. I submit that the racism exemplified at the tails of the spectrum from the KKK to the BLM organization is not reflective of the norms of our society, with the majority being in the non-racist middle of those extremes.
The article’s stated priority is to target the K - 12 students and every school department to change their culture. It being further noted that “... standards and skills can always be retaught.” The article advances the ultimatum “Every choice we make either upholds white supremacy or seeks to dismantle it.” And the truly dedicated to the cause are to “... willing let go of members who are working against these goals.” In other words no compromise or alternative opinions permitted. We’ve all seen the cancel culture in action and the intentionally hurtful, vindictive repercussions in lost jobs, doxing, and slander.
As this cultural revolution in education advances, parents’ input in the education of their children will be bypassed by the state agenda. Those who pay the real estate school taxes will have no say in subject matter or content. Parents are subtly being separated from their children and supplanted by the state culture. Marx in his Communist Manifesto states this goal in much harsher but clear language “... the family will vanish... “as “...we destroy the most hallowed relations when we replace home education by social.” In other words the cultural and ancestral values of parents is anathema and to be discredited and replaced by the states’ values.
With a Biden-Harris administration you can expect more of the Obama “Dear Colleague”-type letters to school administrators setting social policy and mandating the educational agenda for cultural change in schools in targeted areas such as religion, gender and identity, immigration, and the economics of wealth, poverty, and wealth and income distribution. All excluding the input of the parents and grandparents who pay the taxes and tuitions.