Happy Monday, dear Kruiser Morning Briefing friends. Fosryck would often don a crushed velvet morning coat when making a point at the monthly meeting of the Tri-County Fenugreek Fanatics.
One of the more disheartening things we’ve witnessed in the past couple of weeks is the spectacle of American college students marching on campuses in support of the Palestinian front for Hamas. Their ignorance is truly galling given the current price of higher education in this country.
While it’s true that the young minds of college students are polluted by leftist radicals in Academia, those who arrived at universities via the American public education system did so with brains that were ripe for whatever progressive nonsense their professors threw at them. The far-left thoroughly evil teachers’ unions who control public schools and the Democratic Party saw to that.
The reason the Democrats insist that kids get into school earlier and earlier has nothing to do with all of the b.s. research they’ve funded that says children who go to pre-pre-pre-pre-school do better later in life (I call it “Wombergarten” in “Don’t Let the Hippies Shower“), it’s all about getting to work on softening their brains as soon as possible.
Things really began to go sour in public schools when feelings began to be prioritized over actual learning. There are countless examples of this, the most recent coming from the commie proving ground formerly known as the American state of Oregon, which Milt Harris wrote about over the weekend:
When I was growing up, we were taught that the basic subjects were Reading, Writing and “rithmetic.” It was impressed upon us that to navigate through life you must be somewhat proficient in all three areas. That wasn’t to say that other subjects like science and history weren’t important, but those three would be used on a daily basis when we were out in the workplace. In today’s educational system, it is shocking that proficiency in even these basic subjects is not required. What’s even more shocking is that requiring a certain degree of adequacy is at times considered inequitable and even racist.
The state of Oregon is an example of this new way of thinking. In July of 2021, Governor Kate Brown very quietly signed Senate Bill 744. The bill dropped the requirement that high school students be tested to demonstrate proficiency in reading, writing, and math. The requirement was originally suspended at the beginning of the pandemic, but by signing this bill it was extended for an additional three years through the 2024 school year.
At the time, Foundations for a Better Oregon said in a statement that the bill was intended to “truly reflect what every student needs to thrive in the 21st century.” Supporters insisted that considering math and reading essential skills was an unfair challenge for students that do not test well.
As the kids are fond of saying, there’s a lot to unpack here.
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