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« Reply #1 on: July 20, 2016, 06:16:51 PM » |
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The Patriot Post Digest 7-20-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
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The results of the Democrat-run education industrial complex have been nothing short of catastrophic. “Twelve million poor children, mainly black and Hispanic, are trapped in failing government schools that are teaching them nothing,” David Horowitz explained17 in 2014. “As a result, they will never get a chance at a middle-class life. Virtually every school board and every administration in inner city districts is controlled by Democrats, and has been for over fifty years. Everything that is wrong with inner city schools that policy can fix, Democrats are responsible for.”
Even worse, the “fix” as they say is in, and even the reliably leftist New York Times was capable of smelling the stench. In December 2015, the paper revealed18 that while “the number of students earning high school diplomas has risen to historic peaks … academic readiness for college or jobs are much lower.” How much lower? “The most recent evaluation of 12th graders on a national test of reading and math found that fewer than 40 percent were ready for college level work,” the Times revealed. “College remediation and dropout rates remain stubbornly high, particularly at two-year institutions, where fewer than a third who enroll complete a degree even within three years.”
How is this possible? “Grade inflation is rampant in New York City’s (NYC) public schools, reports a new study by StudentsFirstNY,” columnist Heather Kays reveals19, further noting that in schools “where fewer than 10 percent of students pass state tests, 85 percent of students were passing their school’s coursework.”
New York is hardly an outlier. Public schools all over the nation have been steadily20 inflating grades since 1990. The 2007 National Household Education Survey revealed an astounding 81% of students got mostly As and Bs in high school.
Moreover, many school districts are abandoning anything resembling real standards to facilitate the process. California, South Carolina and Tennessee recently eliminated a requirement that students pass exit exams to qualify for a diploma, and Alaska, California, Wisconsin and Wyoming lowered the number of credit requirements needed to graduate. In Connecticut, social promotion is all that matters. “Promotion and graduation require no actual learning,” writes21 Chris Powell, managing editor of the Journal Inquirer. “Rather, only simple attendance is required. Promotion and graduation are left to the discretion of local school boards, which have lost the nerve to enforce standards that measure learning.”
Other school districts are making22 50 out of 100 the lowest grade a teacher can give a student, provided the student a makes a “reasonable attempt” or “good faith effort” to do the work. Many are also embracing “standards-based grading,” a term designed to obscure the reality such “standards” allow students to turn in work late, retake exams, and limit the percentage homework can count in the calculation of one’s overall grade.
Theresa Mitchell Dudley, president of the Prince George’s County Educators' Association, explains the transparent flaws: “You can’t go to an employer and say, ‘Here’s my work, it’s two weeks late,’ and expect that your boss is not going to fire you.”
Perhaps not. But you can certainly cultivate a sense of utterly misplaced indignation in millions of weak-thinking students who will be subsequently drawn to a Democrat Party that assures them they are victims of an inherently unfair society that only the ministrations of benevolent government — controlled by those same Democrats — can ameliorate.
None of this is remotely possible absent a virtual monopolistic system that requires children to attend schools in assigned districts, even if those schools are failing, or pay tuition many Americans can’t afford to attend private alternatives. Clinton attacked Pence because he favors school choice, charter schools23, career and technical education, and merit-based raises for teachers — every one of which are wholly anathema to Democrats and their union allies who want absolute control, absent a shred of accountability24.
Make no mistake: Education is the primary arena in the battle for the nation’s soul. Every problem we currently endure, from cultural pollution to endemic political corruption, and all things in between, can be traced back to the decline in standards and the ongoing indoctrination afflicting America’s schools and colleges. “Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted,” promised Marxist champion Vladimir Lenin.
Four years has become 12-16 years of institutionally sanctioned dumbing-down, courtesy of a Democrat-educrat alliance that is arguably the biggest scandal in the history of the nation.
And it’s about time Americans deeply concerned about the future of our country started treating it that way.
MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST
Clinton Searches for Partner in Crime25
Screening TSA’s Bad Behavior26
OPINION IN BRIEF
Ben Shapiro: “For well over a century, the left has mistaken the means of democracy for democratic values. That confusion has converted republics into tyrannies. Just because people elect their dictators doesn’t make the dictators legitimate. This is the whole point of the Constitution of the United States. There are certain rights that are inviolable, even by a majority. … Morality doesn’t follow the majority. Democracy and classical liberalism should go hand in hand, but they don’t always; a people trained in classical liberalism will vote for it, but a people trained in tyranny will vote for tyranny. That’s what’s been happening in Turkey. Increasingly, it’s what’s happening everywhere. Values must trump democracy if the two come into conflict. They don’t have to. But it’s our job to educate our children and, indeed, populations around the world about the meaning of classical liberal values. If we don’t, people will choose their own chains. And just because you choose your chains doesn’t mean those chains are somehow any less oppressive.”
SHORT CUTS
Insight: “If the only motive was to help people who could not afford education, advocates of government involvement would have simply proposed tuition subsidies.” —Milton Friedman (1912-2006)
Observations: “Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan gave speeches that were necessarily abstracted from Trump and Trumpism, although both were quite forthright in making the case for supporting him as the best chance to enact important elements of the traditional Republican agenda.” —Rich Lowry
Non Compos Mentis: “How many more disaffected black men have to self-radicalize before we take their claims seriously?” —Tavis Smiley in a USA Today column, “Listen to the Baton Rouge police killer”
Village Idiots: “America is going through a paroxysm of rage based on a lot of build-up and distrust of our government; based on, basically, a Congress that’s done nothing, that’s been … stuck by the conservatives and not been able to really do anything to progress us forward. But I think that everything will turn out. I think there’s going to be a happy ending in November!” —Steven Spielberg
Demo-gogues: “As we bind up our wounds, we must come together to ensure that those who try to divide us do not succeed. … Thank you for your courageous service. We have your backs.” —a letter to America’s police force from Barack Obama, who has fostered division and failed to have the backs of our men and women in blue
Dezinformatsia: “To hear this grieving mother [Patricia Smith] … lay the blame directly at Hillary Clinton, saying that Hillary was responsible for her son’s death, personally responsible, doesn’t correspond with the facts as I know them and as I’ve read them in subsequent investigations, and it does seem to be a manipulation of someone’s grief and go into a very dark place.” —NBC’s Richard Engel
Food for thought: “If you’re one of those folks who found Pat Smith’s remarks shamelessly exploitative, I wonder if you’ll see the same grumbling about the speakers at the upcoming Democratic National Convention: Also scheduled Tuesday are Mothers of the Movement members Gwen Carr, Mother of Eric Garner; Sybrina Fulton, Mother of Trayvon Martin; Maria Hamilton, Mother of Dontré Hamilton; Lucia McBath, Mother of Jordan Davis; Lezley McSpadden, Mother of Michael Brown; Cleopatra Pendleton-Cowley, Mother of Hadiya Pendleton; Geneva Reed-Veal, Mother of Sandra Bland.” —Jim Geraghty
And last… “With all the media attention, you’d think Melania [Trump] violated national security, had a federal probe and was criticized by the head of the FBI.” —Twitter satirist @hale_razor
Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis!
Managing Editor Nate Jackson
Join us in daily prayer for our Patriots in uniform — Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen — standing in harm’s way in defense of Liberty, and for their families. |
