Addressing Educational Policy and Issues

 Today's discussion is a continuation of the last but is focused on one key area - education.  Recently, I was asked on a job application what my personal teaching philosophy is, and although it is not as relevant to this discussion, it did make me think about what I would do to remedy the education problems we have in the US right now.  I have formulated some thoughts based on my convictions over the years, and also from an eyewitness perspective as I have been a substitute teacher in our local school district and saw things that concern me personally.  Due to the fact that education has become an arm of the government bureaucracy and also has largely evolved into an indoctrination tool rather than providing actual education to our kids, a discussion is necessary as to how to fix our very faulty educational system.  It seems now like from preschool to the university, indoctrination has become an objective of many elitist oligarchs in government.  If you remember the last discussion, I mentioned how elitists need extremists to implement their agendas, and many public schools are turning the young into an extremist apparatus to advance their agendas.  Some of the extremists on today's college and high school campuses will inevitably become the future elitists if this is allowed to continue, and they will be so radicalized that it could imperil our society as we know it.  So, it needs to be fixed.  I have a couple of proposals that have been in my mind for many years, and I want to talk about those now. 

The public school system as we know it today is the product of two individuals, John Dewey (1859-1952) and Horace Mann (1796-1859).  Mann had died the same year Dewey was born, but Mann was the ideological mentor of Dewey regardless.  While some of Mann's ideas were fine - he was an abolitionist for instance who believed in Blacks being properly schooled, and he also did establish a standard for teachers to be properly educated - it was some of his other policies which were problematic.  For one, Mann advanced the idea that education must be paid for by "an interested public."  In writing, that sounds good, as proper education is a common good for society, so OK.  But, what that meant was that education would be government-funded by tax revenue, and thus also must be non-sectarian.  Again, the non-sectarian aspect is fine as well, but the problem is what would come later, which would be a direct divorce of religious and civil influence, a concept rooted in the Enlightenment thinking of Spinoza and Descartes and carried to extremes by those such as Machiavelli and Rousseau.  When Dewey came along later, he further radicalized these ideas in the form of what he called "transactionalism" which would later be advanced in a postmodern context to turn absolutes into abstracts, and in doing so "truth" would become subjective rather than empirical and observable.  This was further evolved later by the ideological successors to Dewey as it meant that education was to be completely secularized and state-administered.  What this meant then was that a positive (access to education and literacy for all) was neutralized in time by negatives (subjectivism, secularism, state-controlled education, etc.).  The neutralizing of the positive meant that essentially the fundamentals of education (literacy, computation, rhetoric, etc.) would be sacrificed on the altar of indoctrination of the young to serve the state.  And, we see the results of this quickly decadent approach to education today in our schools, which is one reason I refuse to teach anything in a public school now.  The ideas of Mann and Dewey were further radicalized by political activists such as Saul Alinsky, who saw the school as a seedbed for implementing his own ideology.  This essentially would ruin education in the US and in other Western nations.  It also created further problems when social norms began to be redefined and traditional ideas challenged, and it led to the banning of prayer in schools in 1963, then the disastrous Roe v. Wade abortion decision in 1972, and eventually "progressing" to the radical redefinition of marriage in the 0bergefel decision of 2015.  The introduction of weird ideologies such as "political correctness" and Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Common Core mathematic pedagogy further diminished the quality of education in the US over the past 20 years.  It atomized and Balkanized young people from high school into university level, and in recent years such atrocities as "Drag Queen Story Hour" and weird esoteric/New Age techniques have further diminished the quality of American education.  Against that backdrop, it establishes that even with dropping literacy rates and high levels of high school dropouts in recent decades are attributed to a lack of incentive to learn fundamental and practical skills such as reading and mathematics (some of these radicals in control of education are even labeling these as "racist" and other such garbage).  And, many concerned parents are now opting for alternative educational models such as homeschooling and private schools for their kids, and with good reason. Thus, the need to address and correct the problem.

Years ago, I proposed that a government "Department of Education" is a huge waste of taxpayer money, and it inserted government in areas which traditionally were the authority of parents.  Therefore, I also proposed that any government entity overseeing education should be either eliminated or at least redefined in its role to limit its overreach.  The idea I came up with was to totally privatize all schools, including universities - the day of the "state university" should end, in other words. The model I proposed was that schools should be overseen by three entities - religious groups, non-profit private entities, or military.  The third - military - would be also private in scope, and would be overseen by individuals such as retired officers who would instill a proper military training into the students at such academies.  Private military academies are nothing new in all honesty - they have existed in states such as Virginia for a couple of centuries now.  The idea here would be to expand that model and make it a sector of the American educational infrastructure which would encourage well-rounded military service.  The private non-profit school would be the most flexible of the models, in that those would be overseen by an organization who could design the curriculum as they see fit.  The question of funding these also would come up obviously, as there are many struggling families, so a co-op system could be set up in which the tax system currently in place could be replaced with an incentive model.  For those who could afford it, an annual dues system could be set up that would be well within budget range, and for those who can't, a certain amount of the budget could incentivize their participation.  In return, struggling families could volunteer their talents and services to help the particular school their kids are enrolled.  With the abolition of the current public school system, there would be no competition and the parents could determine which school would fit their children's needs the best.  As the reformation of the educational system would also be in conjunction with the tax law I talked about last discussion, it would also open up opportunities.  Now, if the local communities wanted to allot official assistance to such a school, that would be a possibility too.  There are a couple of other ideas which would incentivize this model, so I will get into that now.

Teachers' unions in recent years have become problematic.  These unions (notably groups like the NEA) are not there to advance the best interests of the students.  Rather, these unions are about money and agendas.  That needs to stop, and one of the first steps in education reform is to get rid of the teachers' unions once and for all.  There are many good teachers today who are held hostage by these cartels (and that is what a teachers' union is in reality), and they oppose these unions as much as I would because they are not reaping benefits from them.  I would propose that some professional group would need to exist, but I see more of a guild system in place than these unions.  An educator guild would have resources available to help teachers get credentialed, provide jobs for them, and also would set in place an accountability system which would incentivize the teacher to prioritize their students over their agendas.  The best teacher is the perpetual student, so the teacher could always be trained in areas that are needed, and this would be incentivized by a fund set up by the guild to handle that.  Contributing to this guild would be completely voluntary and not mandatory like union dues are, and lack of ability to pay would also not preclude membership.  And, there can be more than one guild too - teachers for different types of schools could belong to a guild that specifies them and not some overarching bureaucratic union with the structure of an octopus.  The only lobbying these guilds could do is to make sure that teachers are paid fairly and treated appropriately in the workplace, and the guilds would also be interactive with parents as well - I would not be opposed to parents even becoming associates of these guilds to support and provide input to the teachers.  I think this model would incentivize more people to seek careers as educators, and the quality of the educator would be better.  I have some details I would need to think over with this model, as it is not perfect and just a proposal, but it is well worth consideration. 

With privatized schools and vetted instructors, I feel as if education would recover in this country in a way that would promote excellence and also provide a well-rounded and accessible education to anyone who wants it.  Curriculum is a more detailed matter, as is pedagogy, but those would factor in as well. While I won't go into curriculum in detail here, the model proposed would comprise a few areas:

1. The Fundamentals - reading, grammar/spelling, basic mathematical skills, fundamental science and social studies

2. Aesthetic/Academic - foreign languages, art, music (including instruction to learn one musical instrument or develop vocal skills), classical literature, religious instruction

3. Physical Development - sports (if the student so chooses), basic fitness, and nutritional education.

4. Vocational - a track consisting of coursework in a chosen skill - carpentry, masonry, agriculture, computer science, bookkeeping, culinary arts, etc. (enrollment in a military academy could also meet this requirement)

5. Classical - an expansion of the aesthetic/academic, focusing on more specific areas.

This basic academic model would be supplemented by extracurricular activities such as volunteering for local charities, and a greater emphasis on existing programs such as the FFA, 4-H, ROTC, and other good programs we all had in school.  Community projects would be key as well, such as the old "Adopt-a-Highway" programs or even helping to set up tiny house communities for homeless people or rehoming stray animals.  It is a service-based model that would integrate the particular school into the local community, and thus also would even encourage parental involvement.  Traditional fundraisers such as cookie sales and raffles could also be maintained - they are a good revenue source for specific programs. I also love the idea of community gardens in which school kids would be active participants, as well as beautification programs to clean up and refurbish areas of a town that need it.  The community aspect of education thus would contribute to the common good, and it would also aid in keeping otherwise problematic kids from getting into mischief.  To make a further incentive, any of these skills a kid learns in school like this would also contribute toward the building of a professional portfolio, and thus make these kids ready for the workplace without having to wait on gaining "three to five years of experience" and other BS.  Local businesses could be incentivized to participate in this too, by offering internships to kids in law offices, etc.  Part of the incentive will be a minor stipend given to the kid as they work for the business, and this would be positively reflected in the tax law as well of the community, who could offer reduced taxation for a business that contributes in this way.  This means then that kids as young as 10 could be incentivized at an early age to develop a sound work ethic that would benefit their communities as well as enriching their own skills.  If this educational model existed, it would really revitalize many small communities in particular, but in cities it would be different.   In a city environment, the activities of the school would be limited to its local community within the city and not be city-wide.  It makes the satellite urban areas more productive too, and that in turn benefits a whole region. As with all of this, the model is not perfect and is subject to revision, but it would be a constructive start. 

Thank you for allowing me to share an abstracted version of my educational philosophy, and I will more than likely be adding to it in the future.  Have a good week, and a safe celebration of Independence Day as it is coming up later this week.