Wonkette: This Is The Education Future Republicans Want.

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.wonkette.com/the-education-future-republicans-want

Middle and high school kids who are fans of dystopian fiction have an exciting, if grimdark, future to look forward to, if educational trends in red states continue. It may lack for annual blood combat or robot teachers, but it should be chock full of religious indoctrination and harsh discipline, which after all was how Grampa was brought up when America was great and it never did him any harm. And there won't be any dirty sex books or "critical race theory" to rot their minds, either, so they'll grow up patriotic lovers of liberty and guns, which will presumably continue to remain plentiful, too.

And assuming that Republicans get the political improvements they want, there shouldn't be too much worry about a bunch of troublemaking "voters" changing any of that, since voting will be tightly controlled as well. Wouldn't want the republic to be subject to the whims of the majority, after all.

I've been following the rightwing war on public schools since I was getting my own bachelor's degree in English Ed during the Reagan years, back when I still had a hairline and the chosen enemy of Good Christian Patriots was "secular humanism," and while they still represent only a small segment of the overall population, they seem closer than ever to their goal of eliminating "government schools," or at least diverting enough taxpayer money away from public schools that they can sustain an alternate reality education system that's more to their liking — on the public dime.

40 Years Of Solid Poo

See, for instance, this piece at Salon yesterday, in which Amanda Marcotte argues that in some states, the future of education could look a lot like what's already happening in New York's Hasidic private schools, where a yearlong New York Times investigation found religious study for boys is emphasized almost to the complete exclusion of secular learning, and where plenty of boys finish high school unable to speak or write English. Worse, much of the funding for these yeshivas comes from public money — but not through the direct "school choice" vouchers that school privatization fans call for. Instead, the yeshivas apply for every bit of public education funding that can also be used at private institutions, like funding for daycare vouchers and antipoverty programs like school meal support. The yeshivas still charge tuition, but it's significantly offset by government funding, with virtually no oversight because the Hassidim have also made themselves a powerful voting bloc in city and state politics. It's an important but pretty depressing read.

*snip*

[underpants]

1. Great read

Besides, as the folks who want to tear down public education say, anybody can teach without all that Marxist indoctrination in education colleges anyway. All you need is your Bible, your copy of the 1776 Commission Report, and your handgun in case of school shooters.

[CousinIT]

2. !!!

"The national (and nationalist) freakout over CRT was very effectively promoted by the rightwing Manhattan Institute's Christopher Rufo, who makes no secret of his belief that bringing down public education is essential to undoing the administrative state."