The downfall started in the early 1970’s when Marxists redefined the First Amendment with the new term “separation of church and state” and kicked God out of our public schools. Then in 1983 a group of experts wrote the report ’A Nation at Risk’ that stated, “the educational foundation of our society is presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people.” In 1993 the American scholar Thomas Sowell observed: “It is not that Johnny can’t read, or even that Johnny can’t think. Johnny doesn’t know what thinking is, because thinking is so often confused with feeling in many public schools.” Ever since then, the term “dumbing down” has appeared in many books on education in America. How and why did this happen?
Look no further than the infiltration of Marxism/Communism into America, which is a constitutional republic whose leaders are elected by a voting public. For such a political framework to prosper it requires a moral citizenry who has a wellversed level of knowledge in history, political and economic systems, and social issues. Accordingly, the Marxist attacked God, Family and Education starting in primary and secondary school education.
Since America’s founding, the federal government was not involved in education; it was the responsibility of the state governments. However, in 1979 the federal government established the Department of Education (DOE) which has grown in power and today controls education strategies and budgets. Parents, school districts, and state governments now must take orders from federal officials. This is how Marxism/Communism rolls—a strong central bureaucracy controlled by central planners.
The education revolution started when the Nation’s Report Card continued to report a serious decline in test scores mostly in inner city schools with low-income residents, crime, drugs, and uneducated female-headed households. But today even middle-class suburban areas are reporting alarming failing test scores. 33% of the nation’s eighth-grade students, and 40% of the fourth-grade students, are reading “below basic”; the math scores are not much better. The response by the Teacher Unions was even more alarming, as they only demanded more money and fought to limit charter schools coming into their districts. Many are now saying that Public Education is the greatest threat to our Nation.
The “Red Sea started to part” for America’s education system recently. President Trump signed Executive Orders to end “radical indoctrination” in schools, expand “educational freedom” with school vouchers, and to start dismantling the DOE. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case that would allow religious charter schools. Congress just introduced the “Educational Choice for Children Act” that would expand educational freedom. Amazing—Educational and Religious Freedom from the federal government, just as our Founding Fathers provided for in the Constitution!!
Steve Gardes is a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Valuation Analyst with over 40 years of public accounting experience.
