Sign up to get updates from us
Happy 2022! Let's hope this year makes up for the last two! It's always good to be hopeful. And on that note, I hope public education survives. Last year brought educators and their curriculum under the microscope in a way I don't remember ever seeing. Much of the hullabaloo seems to come from the usual media rabble-rousers and pot-stirrers. Today's episode delves into our side of this twisted narrative. Listen and see where you land.
For years, some politicians have claimed to be "education candidates." Their platforms promise money and better school facilities. But these good intentions go to the bottom of the "to-do list" once the ballots are counted and their campaign coffers are filled. Today, these "education-loving" candidates are promising a different kind of help to schools and it's getting them elected. Now officials win by going after the evil wizards of indoctrination, TEACHERS, and their textbooks of evil spells! They rally their pitchfork and torch-carrying followers with cries of "No CRT!" and "Don't hurt my child's feelings!" Frenzied crowds storm school board rooms and drown out meetings with cries of "Foul!" and various other four-lettered words. If this were a movie, it might be akin to Frankenstein's Monster or The Purge.
This whole thing plays like Twilight Zone's "Monsters on Maple Street". The main characters hear rumors of something evil that has come to live in their neighborhood. They spread the news, and like the telephone game, it gets bigger and more distorted as it gets passed along. Before you know it, everyone believes it's true. And when they finally beat down the door and blow up the house, they find they were wrong all along. However, the damage is done. The city is burning and innocent people have been disposed of.
Today we talk about this scary movie, only the movie is really taking place in our schools. Some very vocal parents and politicians are claiming teachers are working to indoctrinate children, forcing them to bend to the will of CRT, and mind-meld with liberal ideologies. They want to ban certain curriculum and regulate what teachers can and cannot say. Makes about as much sense as if I were to go to the dentist and tell my hygenist which tools to use and how to properly hold the mirror. Jen, Sharyn, and I share our in-the-trenches view of what is really going on and I swear there are no monsters under your beds.
Teachers want parent involvement. They want politicians who truly care. What we don't need are people who are largely uninformed and who get their misinformation from the Internet, Aunt Sally's Facebook page, and from those with hidden agendas. Put down the pitchforks and get involved with your school. Get to know the teachers, join the committees, volunteer, go to the school and spend some REAL time in the classroom. There's power in seeing things for yourself. When you do decide to take a real look, I'm pretty sure that you'll find the monster you think is hiding under your bed is really just a big clump of dust-bunnies you forgot to sweep up.
