I don't disagree with any of your observations; our public education system is, in most jurisdictions, an utter failure and a betrayal of our young people. And, of course, the test score chasm between white and non-white students has only worsened over the past 50 years, and more so in California, Illinois and New York.
Having said all that, I look back to the so-called Dark Ages - when a few hundred monks in places like Ireland, Greece and Egypt, toiling away in anonymity, preserved what we still have of the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations.
So long as we have even a few schools holding kids to a high academic standard, so long as even a handful of us still care and are able to pass that on to an equally small cadre in another generation, hope is not extinguished.
And it's not as if black and Hispanic parents don't fully realize their kids are being hosed - they're just not sure how to change the system, controlled as it is by the teachers unions. But there is a sense that something has to change - the legacy media only provides further impetus for outfits like Substack by ignoring the talk on the streets.
I guess what I come down to is this: The entire neo-Marxist erosion of standards is built on the supposition that most people are too dumb to realize what's happening. I don't believe that - I think people DO realize what's happening - it explains the two elections of the otherwise unlikable Donald Trump - and are receptive to leaders who not only call out the problem (as Trump has done) but are hungry for a more positive leader, someone more in a Reagan mold who also recognizes the problem and has actual solutions in hand.
I agree with everything you just said. I'd offer up one observation. Monks in the Dark Ages cloistered themselves from ignorance and swords. This is quite a different thing than ignorance and thermonuclear or biological weapons.
I enjoy your writing, and I admire your move to fostering children. With two grown children of my own I'm confident I don't have the fiber to do such a thing now. Let me posit that your current negative state of mind stems from your past as an educator. "Everything is down stream of the academy" they say, and no institution has fallen more completely, not least because it became a jobs program for mediocre people, mostly in administration, and has been turned into a vote farm/ jobs program for public unions. If I had given my life to education, I would feel defeated. I have favorite teachers/ professors from my past I have stayed in touch with, and they all share some version of your distress. Having said that, I don't share your negative view, for these primary reasons among others: 1) there is no such thing as "original sin" (we don't have to be redeemed), and 2) on average, individual human beings are inherently more good than bad, and better off together than apart. The proof is in the numbers, in demographics and longevity, etc. What we have is the plain old second law of thermodynamics in action: lot's of people in lots of institutions aren't expending constructive energy (especially in education) and many systems we have taken for granted are racing to disorder. Take heart. Energy is cheaper than ever (there will never be "peak" anything), cooler heads will prevail, and new systems will blossom to replace old. Maybe not for all of us, but for most.
I don't disagree with any of your observations; our public education system is, in most jurisdictions, an utter failure and a betrayal of our young people. And, of course, the test score chasm between white and non-white students has only worsened over the past 50 years, and more so in California, Illinois and New York.
Having said all that, I look back to the so-called Dark Ages - when a few hundred monks in places like Ireland, Greece and Egypt, toiling away in anonymity, preserved what we still have of the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations.
So long as we have even a few schools holding kids to a high academic standard, so long as even a handful of us still care and are able to pass that on to an equally small cadre in another generation, hope is not extinguished.
And it's not as if black and Hispanic parents don't fully realize their kids are being hosed - they're just not sure how to change the system, controlled as it is by the teachers unions. But there is a sense that something has to change - the legacy media only provides further impetus for outfits like Substack by ignoring the talk on the streets.
I guess what I come down to is this: The entire neo-Marxist erosion of standards is built on the supposition that most people are too dumb to realize what's happening. I don't believe that - I think people DO realize what's happening - it explains the two elections of the otherwise unlikable Donald Trump - and are receptive to leaders who not only call out the problem (as Trump has done) but are hungry for a more positive leader, someone more in a Reagan mold who also recognizes the problem and has actual solutions in hand.
I agree with everything you just said. I'd offer up one observation. Monks in the Dark Ages cloistered themselves from ignorance and swords. This is quite a different thing than ignorance and thermonuclear or biological weapons.
I think I'd rather die in a nuclear blast than from an infected sword wound ... ;-)
I respect that. Neither of us will be fully right, if age has taught anything.
I enjoy your writing, and I admire your move to fostering children. With two grown children of my own I'm confident I don't have the fiber to do such a thing now. Let me posit that your current negative state of mind stems from your past as an educator. "Everything is down stream of the academy" they say, and no institution has fallen more completely, not least because it became a jobs program for mediocre people, mostly in administration, and has been turned into a vote farm/ jobs program for public unions. If I had given my life to education, I would feel defeated. I have favorite teachers/ professors from my past I have stayed in touch with, and they all share some version of your distress. Having said that, I don't share your negative view, for these primary reasons among others: 1) there is no such thing as "original sin" (we don't have to be redeemed), and 2) on average, individual human beings are inherently more good than bad, and better off together than apart. The proof is in the numbers, in demographics and longevity, etc. What we have is the plain old second law of thermodynamics in action: lot's of people in lots of institutions aren't expending constructive energy (especially in education) and many systems we have taken for granted are racing to disorder. Take heart. Energy is cheaper than ever (there will never be "peak" anything), cooler heads will prevail, and new systems will blossom to replace old. Maybe not for all of us, but for most.
I would be much happier if I were wrong about all of this. I just am afraid that I am not. The rot in our institutions runs deep.