The Hypocrisy and Arrogance of Public School Adminstrators
- on 10.25.07
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Public schools like to champion diversity and freedom of thought. Yet, it is very clear in most cases that the freedom of thought and diversity has it limits. The limit is almost always reached when it comes to parents questioning educational material given to students or when a single or minority of students are offended. Below are 2 recent examples in the Chicago suburbs [Emphasis mine]
The first example is about a group of 50 parents questioning the age appropriateness of the book, “The Chocalate War”
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“I’ll be damned if they are going to be reading this filth,” Cortes said. “The issue is over whether it’s age-appropriate. What about the parents who are tax payers? Have we no say?” At the meeting, Kinzie Principal Sean Egan told about 50 parents who showed up in the school’s cafeteria that he had informed public school administrators about their concerns and was told that officials thought the book was appropriate reading material. “I don’t tell you how to run your family,” Egan told parents. “I support my teachers.” After hearing from the district’s lawyers, the principal sent a letter to parents Monday informing them that the book would remain on the required reading list. He warned parents that if they directed their children not to read the book, it could “have a significant negative effect on the final course grade.” “This book was selected for the very important, complex themes it covers, including conformity and the ethical implications of choices we make,” Egan wrote. “I want to assure you that the school has fully vetted this book. … A few parents have objected to the contents of the book, which addresses mature themes and contains some swearing. Decisions regarding the content of a school’s curriculum, however, lie with its educators and administrators.” |
In an ironic twist, a message of this book is that it is not wise to buck the system. Obviously in this case the school system didn’t want to be bucked either by parents. You’ll also notice there will not be an alternative so these parents and children who are offended by the book have any option except to receive a low grade or not buck the sytem and read the book.
Principal Egan’s remarks are arrogant and also logically flawed. By forcing the students to read this book, he is asserting his authority over the children of these families. He is thus telling these parents how to run their family in regards to their childrens education.
The next example is how one student’s beliefs trumps the beliefs and desires of the majority of the community.
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A fourteen-year-old freshman girl at Buffalo Grove High School successfully had the song “God Bless America” removed from this year’s Homecoming festivities while School District 214 and school officials rationalized the decision, and did nothing. It is troubling that school administrators are eager to accommodate the views of one atheist while remaining steadfastly unwilling to accommodate the views and values of a great number of students, parents, and taxpayers. |
One student being offended is acceptable for providing an alternative song, while offending dozens of parents is not acceptable to provide an alternative. What makes this even more hypocritical on the part of school officials is that the School District 214, in which Buffalo Grove High School is a part, rejected arguments last year from hundreds of parents asking certain books be removed from required reading as censorship.
Examples like these abound and can be found with simple Google searches. The implications are clear, parents are no longer in charge of their children’s education, government bureaucrats are in charge. This lack of respect for parents must be reversed if we ever hope to return our education system back into the best education system in the world. To do this we must empower the parents instead of bureaucrats. This can easily be done by funding the child instead of the government contrived school districts. The schools will then have to earn the trust of parents or they will lose the money designated for that child. The effects will be dramatic and will take place in short order.
The solution of empowering parents instead of bureaucrats will take political will. It will be hard fought with many insults by the government school bureaucracy and the teachers unions. It must be done for the sake of our children. Our current government schools are failing to educate properly. We are losing another generation to a bloated, self-serving bureaucracy.
