I’m sick of so-called conservatives saying a grass roots movement of offended parents is going to fix the government-run schools.
This is nonsense.
The only viable solution is to leave the government-run schools and let them fail.
13 thoughts on “Leave and make the “public” schools fail”
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My theory, which I’ve mentioned before, is that by nature conservatives tend to favour moderation in change.
This means that they tend to overestimate the odds of improving things by working within the system and are also very susceptible to boiling-the-frog attacks by determined ideologues. There’s almost nothing you can’t get a conservative to agree to if you convince him to go step by step.. and as someone who started out tonight thinking he was merely going to skip the gym because of the rain and ended up eating chocolate-covered almonds, I don’t excuse myself here.
I think there are two ways to define conservative. Re: the first, and more natural — people who want to preserve the good things we have — it makes sense they would favor slower change. The second would be the “conservative movement” types, like Newt Gingrich, who could be said to want more radical, rapid change.
And about overestimating the odds of improving things by working within the system, that’s exactly what we’re seeing from the so-called conservatives who voted for the “infrastructure” deal. “We have to show we can work with these people.”
I have never understood the “stay and fight and make it better” mentality as applied to the education of one’s kids.
Kids have a fixed, and relatively short, window in which to obtain a basic education that will set the course for the rest of their lives. Thirteen years is itself a short enough time to try to turn around such a huge system, but if it takes that long, then it will have been a mess for most of the time a given kid is there. Even if it takes half that time, which IMO is highly unrealistic, that’s still a third of a kid’s educational life being sacrificed, on the theory that it won’t be significantly better until the improvement process is at least halfway completed. If a person wants to teach, become an administrator, run for school board, whatever, in order to improve the system long-term, great. But how does it make sense to literally sacrifice your kid’s education in order to save a system, when there are alternatives available?
Okay, my math was wrong. If it takes half a kid’s education life to fix the system, then a quarter of it is being sacrificed on the theory that significant change isn’t seen until the process is half-completed. And those are the years in which a lot of the fundamentals are being laid.
Conservative parents should leave given they are likely never going to be satisfied with public education. They’ve been complaining incessantly for years, even had conservative Betsy DeVos advocating for them and still they are unsatisfied. Their leaving could be better for all involved. Yet, I’m not sure their departure will be the undoing of public schools. That sounds like wishful thinking on the part of conservatives.
https://youtu.be/Mc2n9uacQq4
It might be wishful thinking, but ISTM that when the conservatives leave, organizations fall apart. Maybe not completely, but substantially. The Episcopal Church is a good example, and I believe we’re seeing it in real time with the Boy Scouts.
I’m not sure those examples validate the point. It’s a natural part of organizational dynamics to go through periods of ebbs and flows. As for the Episcopal Church…it split into two factions in 2009…both have continued since that time. We’ve seen this dynamic before in church history. As for the Boy Scouts, I think it’s giving too much credit to conservatives for its current decline. The pandemic has played a part. They have a slew of sexual assault law suits which has led them into bankruptcy. Although diminished from its membership glory days, it’s still a somewhat viable organization with 2 million members. Time will tell if they will ultimately survive. I suspect their continued existence is not primarily dependent on conservatives.
So, if conservatives finally get the stones to leave public schools…the remaining entity may restructure but I suspect it will survive. As I see it, conservatives have two choices….learn to negotiate and compromise with liberals. Or, stop whining and move on. It’s way past time.
You sound like Betsy DeVos advocating for something but being blocked at every turn should yield some sort of satisfaction. Agree or disagree with the position, that seems unreasonable.
It’s politics…it happens on both sides of the aisle. DeVos or anyone in her position doesn’t deserve any special sympathy. Their job is to find a way to make it happen…sometimes that requires negotiation and compromise (especially when the opponent is intent on blocking).
I didn’t mean to suggest that people should be pleased with any efforts, regardless of whether they’re blocked. I mean that it’s odd to suggest that conservatives are never satisfied with efforts to fix the public schools and then use an example where nothing remotely satisfying came to pass. Of course they’re not satisfied by that.
Why didn’t something satisfying occur? I suggest conservatives look at the capabilities of the individual(s) they assign to advocate for their interests…not whine about the opposition. OF COURSE, the opposition is going to attempt to block…that’s politics 101. So, if conservatives aren’t satisfied, they need to have individuals in place that are skilled to achieve or collectively gain enough legitimate power to overrule their opponents or leave and do their own thing. I suspect those options would lead to greater satisfaction. But, I sometimes wonder if they are really seeking satisfaction or just something else to whine about.
You wonder if people who claim to want better for their kids in school secretly want worse for their kids in exchange for the ability to whine about it?
I doubt your advice on what will bring people satisfaction will be very helpful if this is the sort of thing you find yourself wondering about.
Indeed, when I see people consistently do the same thing but expect different results…it makes me wonder. Is their “claim” sincere? Or, are they too stubborn, stuck or daft to try something different…to get what they want?
That said, I suspect they wouldn’t find my views helpful. Continually beating their heads against a proverbial brick wall and complaining about the resulting headache would more likely be satisfying for them.