Grades Are In, and the Department of Education Scores Aren’t Looking Good

If you want to get people worked up, talk about education in America. Nobody, and I mean nobody would argue that our present form of education is not in dire need of repair. It would seem that every week there are more and more groups of concerned parents taking on their local school boards for either permitting boys to use a girl’s bathrooms, spiraling test scores or X-Rated books in the school library.  As I write this article, President Trump is fulfilling a promise he made to the American people as did President Reagan and that is to dismantle the Department of Education.

There is a real movement in America to take back the school systems and place it in the hands of the state or local school boards. In my opinion, this should have been the direction we should have taken a long time ago.  You may not know this, but money has never been at the root of our educational woes in America.  I know that is what you hear from the teacher’s union and many public-school administrators, but folks, it just ain't so.

Emmett Tyree Jr., who is a syndicated columnist, shares this insight into school spending in America. “The United States spends more money per student than any other country on earth, save Switzerland. On most public goods, America outspends the world, but when it comes to intellect our standards are among the lowest.”  I don’t’ think anyone in America minds putting our children’s educational needs as a top priority. But the question remains, what are we getting for our money?   So, we spend up to $17,277 dollars per student in K-12. With those kind of expenditures, we should be first in every major academic category, but we are not.  

Al Shanker, longtime president of the nation’s second largest teachers’ union and a strong advocate for public schools, compared the performances of U.S. schools with foreign countries. He stated, “Ninety percent to ninety-five percent of American students who go to college would not be accepted in any college anywhere else in the world. They get into college here only because of our relatively low standards compared to all other countries.” He then took aim at the high volume of what he referred to as “low quality teachers” permeating the landscape of government schools.  This coming from a man who is very sympathetic to the public school system. This of course does not impugn the efforts of many wonderful teachers who work tirelessly in the system.

Let’s talk about control. Who is running the public schools in America? We know it’s not the parents. It’s not the local school board. In fact, most county school superintendents will defer to the federal government since the Department of Education really calls the shots. You may not know this, but the nation’s most powerful labor union and most potent political activist group is none other than the National Education Association. A survey done many years ago found that the NEA backs Marxist ideology. It advocates for abortion on demand and is uncompromisingly atheistic in its philosophy on education. The gender war in America is being fueled by this union.  Sterling Lacy in his book Valley of Decision went on to write, “For all practical purposes, the NEA might be labeled the Socialist Party in America.” 

Perhaps the words of Jesus Himself would be very fitting at this time. “If anyone causes one of these little ones, - those who believe in me- to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” Matthew 18:6

Perhaps these and other reasons are at the root of why the left want to keep the Department of Education intact. Control of how the American student is taught and what material is taught in the schools is the focus of their agenda. A very dogmatic approach to indoctrinating the youth in our nation by promoting and aggressive LGBTQ agenda and a strong message that leans toward Socialism. If only the teacher’s union would work as hard putting Bibles in school as they do drag queens.   I am so happy that more and more state legislators are expanding school choice initiatives and permitting parents the opportunity to pursue better educational opportunities for their children.

That being said, in light of the “Freedom of Choice” mantra we hear coming from the progressives, let’s practice a little of that and open the doors for parents to choose what form of education they want for their children. I know personally how much the parents and teachers and students have appreciated the Christian school I helped start when I was the lead minister at Kissimmee Christian Church.  Our Christian Academy was and is a model school. Parents in Florida, thanks to an open-minded governor, can choose to either home-school their child or enroll them in a charter school, public school, or private school.  That being said, I want to encourage churches to be on the front end of this phenomena. Let’s utilize these giant buildings throughout the week to educate the up-and-coming leaders in our community and our churches.  Churches let’s be externally focused and provide a safe and morally sound environment for the children in our community.  If the government school system is in shambles and I believe it is, let’s provide avenues for families to find quality alternatives for their children.