The War On Public Education

There is a many fronted war being waged on public education here in the United States.  The war is being raged by social conservatives on school boards, in city councils and state legislatures across the nation.  The war is also being waged by those are thinking of being the 2012 Republican presidential nominee.

Why is this war on public education being waged?  I believe it is because social conservatives prefer that only the privileged few should be allowed an education.  I also believe that they see public education as a danger to their warped ideology.  That is why the Texas Board of Education approved a complete rewrite of their textbooks that deemphasize or eliminate historical figures and movements that aren’t “conservative” enough in their blinded eyes.

That is why Kansas became the laughing stock of the world when its state school board made the concept of creationism take precedence over evolution in their science classes.  That is why Congressman Ron Paul, Congresswoman Michelle Bachman and the former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, Herman Cain, all spoke out against public education at a convention for those show support home schooling.

That is why the Arizona State Legislature is gutting funding to public schools and to the state’s universities and community colleges while giving tax cuts to corporations.  That is why Arizona allows individuals and corporations to receive tax credits for “donating” to “scholarship funds” that benefit only private and parochial schools.  That is why Arizona State Attorney General Tom Horne and State Superintendent of Schools John Huppenthal are targeting the Tucson Unified School District over their ethnic studies classes.

Social conservatives don’t want the public to be educated, unless they can afford it.  They don’t want the public to be educated unless they are to be indoctrinated into believing in social conservative ideals.  They also know that an uneducated workforce means lower wages for the vast majority of Americans while the privileged few reap the bounty.

There used to be a time when public education was cherished in this nation.  Those days are gone and the war wages on.  A war with many battlefronts and with no possibility of truce.  No, this war must be won and it must be won by those who believe in a strong public education system.  The social conservatives cannot be allowed to win this war for should they win, this nation will become the theocratic fascist nation we all should fear.