Today I heard someone — who works in the schools, I will say no more — say that our public schools are not for education but for “government indoctrination.”
I just smiled and shrugged. What could I say? You can’t get into politically-focused discussions at work. But now, having come home, and thought about it, I think I can usefully comment here.
The task undertaken at the public school is a serious one, and not something that just anyone could do with a few bucks and a college degree. Most of the class time, at least in elementary school, appears to me to be focused on reading, writing and math skills. Certainly there are other activities, but the idea that the goal of the school is political indoctrination is ridiculous. The goal of the school is literacy and numeracy, and since the No Child Left Behind act, the management doesn’t have time to think of much else.
Political indoctrination, when it is practiced on America’s young people, is usually performed by the parents. There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s just nature taking its course. If the parents are doing their job, there’s nothing the school will be able to say to divert the children’s loyalty. If not, the children are already like the proverbial “reed shaken by the wind” and to tell the truth the school will probably be their next best — and only — source of credible information about life. Outside of that, there’s just their peers and Madison Avenue.
Our schools deserve a little credit here. Let’s not suggest that the old model, in which people who couldn’t pay for tutoring were illiterate, would be an improvment for anybody.
2 Comments
Leave a Reply
ABOUT
DFW Blog and E-Zine
RECENT POSTS
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Jan | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |||
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | |||
I believe what you are saying as far as the work, but I’m quite positive that what is sometimes spoken verbally to our kids in school by their teachers is slanted, especially in high school (and college!). Many textbooks have re-written history and yet there is no backlash…we pay for college professors to spew their view of America and its history, and in some cases if our kids do not agree they receive lower grades. Unfortunately, I must agree with your co-worker, schools in America(especially high school) are geared to push the liberal agenda…you may not see it in tests and other paperwork, but it is most definitely put out there verbally by the teachers.
Hi David, thanks for stopping by. And I have to admit, when you get to college all bets are off — there’s heavy duty indoctrination going on. However, it’s more the professors and not the institution that’s behind the political slant at the university. The administrators only care about getting more money for theinstitution by any means necessary. And there’s no difference in the overall political stance of public vs. private universities, so I don’t think it’s actually the *government* that’s behind it all.
My mother complained that we are making the kids say the pledge of allegiance, which is true, and in Texas schools, they do have a moment of silence. However, I don’t think the very young kids are translating this into a political premise. Yet.
Sonja