Public Education: Battle Lines are Being Drawn

We are now 22 years into the 21st century, experiencing a global pandemic and political polarization, and navigating inflation. Change was happening before, but in the post-COVID world, it has accelerated. As I stated in my July 6, 2022, Growth Rings post, “Family, relationships, religion, public education, commerce, business, industry, and governance, once the bedrock of society and civilization, are now being reflected on, questioned, and evaluated.” Factoring in recent Supreme Court rulings dealing with abortion and gun rights, it is hard to discern whether we are in a time of chaos or growth.

Public Education is in the Crosshairs
Author and futurist Rick Smyre, in his book Preparing For A World That Doesn’t Exist -Yet (1988) talks about “weak signals.” These conditions and actions represent new thinking that has not yet gone to scale or become mainstream. They are the prequels to what society will become. Those who notice and embrace “weak signals” and can adapt to them become the creators and innovators, and benefit socially, emotionally, and economically. Those who cannot become filled with confusion, frustration, and fear as they hold on to outdated mindsets and what once was.

Citizens of the United States have, or are, losing faith and confidence in the public school system. It is my observation that public education in the United States has, for the most part, been extremely slow to embrace weak signals and now finds itself struggling to adapt and respond. Parental dissatisfaction and concerns have been ignored or not addressed. The current educational system was not designed to provide individualized, personalized, and differentiated instruction for all students. The current system is unable to adjust to the students; students are expected to adjust to the system.

Access to the new norms of 21st century technology, ranging from video conferencing to artificial intelligence, to wireless handheld digital devices, to robust, affordable, reliable, internet access, has created a condition of haves and have-nots, depending on your zip code. Author Michael Soskil, writing in Teaching in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Standing at the Precipice (2018) - “We are now entering an unprecedented time in human history. Increasing computer power along with ubiquitous Internet connectivity will change the way humans live, work, interact and relate to each other.”

It has been my observation and experience that crucial conversations that include these emerging societal conditions have not been happening within the walls of school and districts, but they are happening outside the walls.

Battle Lines are Being Drawn

Two distinct, polarized groups are now emerging regarding public education: those who want to keep public education as it was and is, and those who want to take it down. Both sides are passionate about their positions, and as of today, neither side is willing to engage in meaningful conversations. Historical public education, K-12 plus higher education, feels berated, threatened, and in many ways insulted that their past practices are being questioned. Parents, business, industry, and large swaths of society, feel public education has lost its way, gone rogue, and is not empowering young people with the skills to read, write, think, be creative, and have imagination. They believe that the moral compass is not being developed and that historical public education is ignoring, or not even acknowledging, the discourse. “The Dissatisfied” are organizing, planning, raising funds, becoming politically active, and preparing for an insurgent war to retake public schools. The battlelines are being drawn.

The Dissatisfied

“Neither of us is an academic with a PhD. But we are Americans, working to preserve the right to share what we have learned. This book offers an explanation for our nation’s biggest problem while it finds a path forward rooted in our smallest citizens... Perhaps it takes flawed regular guys to find something that was there in front of us, but no one seems to see” -

Battle For the American Mind. Uprooting a Century of Miseducation,

Pete Hegseth with David Goodwin (2022)

Writers Peter Hegseth and David Goodwin and their book, Battle For the American Mind. Uprooting a Century of Miseducation, are in the camp of dismantling K-12 public schools and their call for action is undeniable. They see “the struggle is not military, but instead political-cultural. We are not looking to topple our government, but instead to defeat the monopoly of government-run schools – and the leftist unions occupying power.... we increase our control and build an alternative educational model... we regroup and reorganize while weakening the control and legitimacy of our foe, and finally we replace their power structure with reconstructed schools based on freedom and faith.” Their book gives their diagnosis of how public education has been hijacked, and the game plan for dismantling and replacing it. Like the tactics used to overthrow Roe vs. Wade, their followers are holistically, strategically, and politically planning for a three-phase insurgency. The war is underway.

The ranks of The Dissatisfied continue to grow and they will be the focus, as well as the pushback (or lack thereof), from established K-12 public education in later posts. My goal with this post is to begin to describe the most extreme Dissatisfied and to awaken K-12 public educators to the clear and present danger.

Both Peter Hegseth and David Goodwin attended public schools, and by all accounts, have lived successful lives and strive to be contributing members of society. In their book they share their faith, and like me, claim Jesus Christ to be their Lord and Savior. They acknowledge that neither one has had professional training in education, teaching, and learning, and their observations and perceptions of public education are from “the outside looking in.”

Mr. Goodwin’s professional career is in the technology industry. He helped to found The Ambrose School in Boise, Idaho, serves on the board of directors, and is the editor of The Classical Difference magazine. Pete Hegseth is a nationally-known author, co-host of Fox and Friends-Weekend, host of numerous Fox Nation documentaries including The MisEducation of America, served in Afghanistan as a senior counterinsurgency instructor, and is the father of seven children.

What’s Wrong With Public Education As It Now Is?

Authors Hegseth and Goodwin raise many good points, some of which I agree with, but I respectfully disagree with their conclusions and action steps for change. The rhetoric of their book is combative and suggests that there is, and has been, beginning in the 1900s, planned, organized, and implemented action to highjack education by leftwing, progressive Democrats with Marxist leanings. Hegseth and Goodwin label all public schools as government-run monopolies, controlled by teacher unions, that hold students captive for 16,000 hours, with the sole purpose to indoctrinate them away from a Christian lens on life to an agnostic one.

Their thinking develops around the concept of paideia, meaning the ideas, presumptions, beliefs, affections, and ways of viewing and understanding life. Prior to the 1900s, education was aligned in the Western Christian Paideia (WCP) developed through classical Christian education. Christian education teaches students to think well, to speak well, to write well, and to discern what is true, good, and beautiful, all while cultivating their knowledge and devotion to God through Christ. Hegseth and Goodwin put forth the idea that over the last 100 years, progressives have successfully moved America in a different direction. 

The authors use this as an illustration of the divergence of thought. (p.54)

Western Christian Paideia (WCP): A lifelong search for greater meaning in life
American Progressive Paideia (APP): Search for a job.

Western Christian Paideia (WCP): Seek Wisdom
American Progressive Paideia (APP): Seek Facts

Western Christian Paideia (WCP): Study History and Classics
American Progressive Paideia (APP): There is nothing worth knowing that wasn’t just thought of.

Western Christian Paideia (WCP): Teach the application of reason.
American Progressive Paideia (APP): Preach the acceptance of indoctrination.

Western Christian Paideia (WCP): There is a divine order, revealed in Christ.
American Progressive Paideia (APP): There is humanist anarchy

Western Christian Paideia (WCP): Strong-spirited citizens who are better together.
American Progressive Paideia (APP): Weak-spirited citizens who better serve the state.

In that the concepts and their thinking have merit, the unanswered question, once the “war” is over, how will this be made operational to meet the needs of all kids? They do not address how their strategies will meet the needs of diverse students from different social economic classes and learning styles. Many details are missing.

Be that as it may, there should be no question that Hegseth, Goodwin, and their growing legion of followers, are committed to the cause of recasting American education aligned with classical Christian education, grounded in a Western Christian Paideia. As they see it, “It is a battle. A war – a war over correct ideas. And our goal is to win back every single hour of the 16,000 hours in which our kids are educated, from kindergarten to high school graduation. The classroom is the battlefield, the hearts, and minds of our kids the prize. The very survival of the American Republic, and the greatness of Western Civilization, are at stake. And right now, we are losing.” (p. 219)

The Guerrilla War
The Battle For the American Mind: Uprooting a Century of Miseducation calls for action now. The book identifies, for The Dissatisfied, the tactics and strategies for waging an insurgency to overthrow public education. The Dissatisfied understand this will take time, but they have their playbook and game plan, and are on the move.

Phase 1 calls to organize, prepare, plan, build cells, recruit new members, and establish a covert network. This is happening now in earnest. COVID and distant learning energized parents and gave them insight into what is being taught in classrooms. Dissatisfied parents are connecting, organizing, attending school board meetings, questioning curriculum, and establishing local and national networks. The book encourages that “Individual schools, the Association of Classical Christian Schools, thought leaders, pastors and media personalities need to spread the word – not just about problems, but about the solutions staring us in the face.” (p.231) For The Dissatisfied, this is a return to an educational system founded on the Western Civilization Paideia (WCP). They are becoming politically active at the grassroots, national level, and are building momentum.

Parts of Phase 2 are happening now, too - targeted sabotage, delegitimizing attacks and establishing a parallel structure. The upcoming election cycle has conservative Republican candidates attacking public schools as being woke and indoctrinating children to hate America. Their propaganda, that beginning in elementary grades, schools are teaching Critical Race Theory (CRT), the 1619 Project, and gender identity, and do not have the ability to keep kids at school safe from bullying and gun violence. Their objective is to disrupt and for “parents, over time, to develop an ‘ick factor’ when it comes to their view of public schools.” (p.232) This tactic is not only working with parents, but also contributing to the mass exodus of teachers leaving the profession. The Dissatisfied are succeeding.

Phase 3 is conventional warfare that achieves political objectives and destroys the enemy and is on the horizon. The Supreme Courts now has a conservative majority. The Congress is balancing a 50-50 split. Charter schools, vouchers, educational saving accounts, homeschooling, and parent choice are now challenging funding for public education. At the state and school board level, parents are engaged and running for elected office. All this is happening and it seems that public education is oblivious. There is a great awakening happening.

Refugees
As I reflect on my 40+ year career as an elementary teacher, high school teacher, principal, superintendent, union president, and teacher contract negotiator, as well as college instructor, I have experienced the American education system and agree with The Dissatisfied that things need to change. The system is broken but it would be unfortunate that a “war” would need to be waged to facilitate change. I am afraid the victims in this, as with all wars, will be the children.

I do appreciate and value the work done by the authors and thank Mr. Hegseth for his service to our country. Their book, amplified by FOX News, is planting seeds with millions of Americans. 

Public Education must take notice.