K-12: Inside Job

"When hatred of culture becomes itself a part of culture, the life of the mind loses all meaning.” Alain Finkielkraut

Beware the traitor, we are finding out. History will probably record that high-ranking government officials tried to overturn the election of Donald Trump. History, I suspect, will use the word coup and will call these people traitors. This is unpleasant stuff but also clarifying. A small group of people, well-organized and focused on the same goal, can overturn and destroy much larger organizations.

 John Dewey and his supporters, a century ago, did not think of themselves as traitors, now would they use the word coup. But they organized themselves in exactly that fashion. A few hundred professors of education took control of Columbia’s Teachers College et al with the goal of creating “progressive” teachers who could be sent out to the public schools of America to create a new kind of citizen, more cooperative and pliable.

Laurie Rogers, one of the sharpest critics of our Education Establishment, sees an abundance of betrayal. Her blog was titled “Betrayed — Why Public Education Is Failing.” Her 2011 book is titled “Betrayed: How the Education Establishment has Betrayed America.” 

In 2008 she summed up nearly a century of public school decline: “The dizzying downward spirals of skills in science, technology, engineering and math are jeopardizing students’ futures and the nation’s stability…Many of the people who built this failing education system make money off of it as it crumbles around our ears….Most of the people in the education establishment refuse to engage in this conversation (leaving students and parents to work it out on their own)….Of the rest, most neatly sidestep any blame for the tragedy as they foist blame on parents, teachers, money, legislators, society, hormones (yes, I've actually heard that), and the students themselves….Just a handful will try to warn you of this education apocalypse. Some of those brave souls have been censured, reprimanded or fired.” Rogers does not see accident or fad. She sees active betrayal.

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