A Model For Education: Start With Parents
Ron DeSantis is setting up a model for other Republican governors on how to protect kids and win over parents. In the process he is making it expensive for woke corporations to meddle in local affairs.
Fight the Woke Companies
Most people remember the national dust up over Florida’s bill to protect school children before 3rd grade. In short, teachers can’t talk about sexual issues. Then Disney complained and the governor took away their sweet tax deal. He didn’t do it unilaterally of course. He got both houses to pass a bill to remove their self governing status. The governor (through parent groups) wanted references to sex and gender removed from their teaching instructions to young children. Disney and their allies protested. Ostensible because what, 1st and 2nd graders need to hear about sexual orientation?
The whole thing was an own goal
for the media company and I’m glad they paid an economic price.
Support the Parents
The long term problem for Disney isn’t the loss of tax advantages; it’s the idea in the minds of parents that the company that exists for kids, wants to push sexual issues down to the youngest possible levels. Does the stink from this go away anytime or do they keep rushing headlong into bankruptcy? When you lose the trust of the next generation you lose them for a long time. Governor DeSantis made this possible because he has guts and seems to understand where the country is on these issues.
From CRT (Critical Race Theory) and masking to sexual
identity for tots, parents are finally fighting back. The school board meetings
across the country, Loudoun County, Virginia in particular showed parents railing
against oppressive boards.
Will public schools be reformed through all of this or will parents opt for home schooling and alternatives? I’m curious what happens nationally. My optimistic take is that cities start electing common sense boards that aren’t antagonistic toward children. Curriculums move away from “woke” topics like race, gender and sexual orientation and get back to real school subjects like math and science. This will happen in some places while other districts go the other way and embrace left wing activism in all its forms.
School districts will mirror the increasing urban/rural divide happening across the country.
Look for Alternatives
But some new ways of teaching and learning will replace the
familiar classroom experience that most of probably grew up in. One option I
really like is hiring one teacher for a small group of kids. Parents pool their
money for a private teacher to homeschool small groups of kids. This took off
during the pandemic as an alternative to teach through zoom that no one seemed
to like. Private teachers for small groups is a cross between homeschool and
small school. Called ‘pandemic pods’ they resembled one room school houses of
last century. Obviously this isn’t an option for everyone. It’s expensive and
not available everywhere.
I believe the idea of vouchers will take off as well. This is a great option for low income kids. Punish
bad schools and reward good ones. Each parent gets a voucher and a choice of
where to send their kids. I like the idea but I wouldn’t promise an end to all
problems. But allowing parents (consumers) to treat schools like a marketplace
should go a long ways toward killing off failing schools. Maybe it’s a pipe
dream, but the current system is broken and needs serious reform.
Ignore the Critics
Critics of charter schools and vouchers like to say that it
creates a system of haves and have-nots in education. But that’s exactly what
we have now and keeping bad schools open is a guarantee that poor kids will go
to poor schools and have less chance at success. I don’t have kids so a lot of
this is purely academic, pun intended, to me. But I care about the future of
the country the same as parents with a more direct stake. I heard a startling
statistic about jail beds in Oklahoma prisons. The number of beds the state
will need mirrors the number of drop outs in a given year.
Education is important but only if it insists on making kids
learn practical subjects. The diversity and inclusion game is a racket and it’s
ruining the minds of the next generation. We need a massive educational system
that rewards learning and growth. Woke schools should die on the vine. They rob
young kids of the ability to think for themselves and fill their heads up with
resentment.
Conclusion
It’s impossible to predict the future of elementary and secondary education. The place to start is with the parents. When they get serious about what their kids are being taught states and districts begin to fall in line. Ron DeSantis is as responsive a governor as I’ve seen, from the Right, in a long time. He doesn’t patronize conservative parents over their concern for curriculum and he punishes institutions that step out of line.
Governors in red states should take note. Get
serious about protecting kids, the parents will back you up.
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