Parents shocked by the racist curricula that their local schools are teaching their children should have every right to take their tax dollars to another institution. But they should also consider keeping their children in public schools and fighting for control of them.
When one reads that third graders in Evanston, Illinois, are being taught that “white culture shows up in the way we think about family structures” and that a belief in a “normal family” consisting of “a mom, dad, son, daughter, and pet” just “isn’t true,” the instinct is to take one’s child home and find another school. Millions of parents faced with critical race theory curricula are doing exactly that. The number of children attending public schools has fallen roughly 3% over the last year, representing about 1.5 million students.
Years ago, only those parents wealthy enough to pay for private school could afford to pull their children out of public school. But the school choice movement has been wildly successful over the past year, with 14 states passing laws that make it easier for parents to choose which schools their children attend. The numbers supporting school choice have never been higher, with 74% supporting the right of parents to use the tax dollars designated for their child’s education as they see fit.
These are good developments. All parents should have the right to choose where their children go to school. But more parents should also consider keeping their children in public schools and then getting more involved themselves. The nation is in desperate need of more conservatives on local school boards, and not just to stop racist theories from being taught to our children — although that is very important.
We need conservatives on school boards to fight other counterproductive educational fads such as New Math, Whole Language reading, and Cooperative Learning. Our nation’s universities, thoroughly captured by leftists, are constantly churning out horrible new ways to miseducate children. There is a great need for more conservatives to stand on the front lines yelling, “Stop!”
Locally controlled public education is a proud national tradition. In fact, the first public schools were founded before the republic. When Alexis de Tocqueville came to America in the 1830s, he marveled at the farmers and laborers who took it upon themselves to organize public schools for their communities instead of waiting for help or direction from national authorities.
Conservatives should continue to resist Washington control over K-12 education. At the state level, they should fight to give parents more control over where their children can go to school. And then, at the local level, they should be as active as possible in neighborhood public schools so as to prevent regrettable racist and Marxist doctrines from being forced on children.
Even if your children do not go to public school, many of your neighbors’ children will. Do what you can to make sure they are being taught the truth about American history and that they are being taught well.
