Public Education and Politics | Eastern North Carolina Now

    If you had told me 55 years ago that public education would sink to the depths that it has, I never would have believed you. This is not a problem that teachers and local administrators have caused, rather the blame lies securely at the feet of politicians and uniperversities. Politicians and PHD's with no practical experience in education have been using the public schools to pander to the public. If test scores are not high enough, just lower the standards in that way more children can pass. This makes the politicians and PHD's look good. Never mind that the USA continues to decline in education versus the world's civilized countries.

    We receive mandates from on high from people who have NO knowledge of nor experience in a local classroom. In many cases

    These "Experts" turn over every four years and we find ourselves in a constant state of Flux and at the whims of whoever got elected. Usually, these people opt for the latest fad thus catering to their political base. Schools are now in the ideology, gender, restaurant and atheism business.

    CRT, genderism, Marxism and politics have NO place in our schools. The foregoing are all political in nature and vie for classroom time with the arts, humanities and science. We have to make a quick decision about whether we want our schools to be radical social clubs or would we rather have our schools investigate all of the creative, imaginative and inventive things that have been the product of man in the Western Hemisphere. Of course the universal enticement for the devil's handiwork is MONEY. Localities thirst for it but they, like Faust, sell their souls to the devil because money always comes with strings attached. These attachments lead to a loss of local control, thus opting kids, parents and teachers OUT. Compounding these problems are school boards who meet at inconvenient times for parents and teachers or limit debate. ATTENTION education bureaucrats try to remember who is paying the freight . I recall a cartoon, "The Family Circle", in which a group of teachers were seated in a circle around a bonfire. The teachers' feet were very close to the fire and an idolized school administrator was patrolling the circle with a whip and threatening the teachers if those children don't learn. Hey, Mr. Educator the wrong peoples feet are in the fire.

    The teachings of DR. Spock and his disciples have managed to obliterate any attempts on the part of teachers and administrators to restore discipline in our classrooms. To me, this is the greatest problem in all public education. You cannot teach anybody anything unless discipline is present. You will note that we have a Cadre of undisciplined, self centered, spoiled BRATS in the streets who missed out on the spanking they so richly deserved.

    Finally , we are wasting money that could go to elevating teachers by purchasing materials from outside sources when the combined intellect of local administrators, teachers and parents could create materials that would be appropriate to age and local consumption. We need NOT bow down to Federal, State or Education "Experts" in order to teach our children. There are resources in our community that are untapped and neglected. Time to get everyone involved in what has been a Closed Shop.

    Follow the Yellow Arrow

    John W. LaCava  •  Bath, NC  •  June 25, 2022