Why Progressivism Should Scare the **** Out of You

Both my wife and I attended public schools, and our children attend public schools. Home schooling isn't really an option for us --- but the more I think about it, that makes me very sad. For one thing I'm sick to my stomach at the multiculturalism and "diversity" ideologies that dominate the public schools. But even more is that I'm around progressive administrators everyday at my college. I'm convinced that their values are 100 percent opposed to what I believe in. The scariest thing of all is that in my experience people like this are not smart --- honestly, they are just not smart people. In my dealings with people in the administration at my college, I'm seeing more and more that progressives can't reason through basic issues in a way that is rational and just. Ideology blinds reason. It's truly frightening, especially so since progressives think they know what is best for you.

So this brings me to the homeschooling issue. I think you just have to read this essay by Dana Goldstein to believe it --- and you need to be sitting down, seriously. I can't recall reading a more honestly totalitarian argument in a long time. See: "Liberals, Don’t Homeschool Your Kids: Why Teaching Children at Home Violates Progressive Values." It's not so much the civil rights argument that comes across there --- that poor children won't have access to social advancement without the public schools (I think that may be true, in fact). It's the idea that the state knows best, and that families have an obligation to serve their children to the needs of the state. In sum, statism as an ideology over individualism and the family. That is totalitarian and un-American, and frightening in a way that I can't even describe. The word nausea comes to mind when I think about this. I've looked again for a concise paragraph to quote, but I can't do justice by lifting sections of the piece. Just go read it.

See also the comments at Vox Popoli (via Memeorandum).

And while I'm thinking about it, folks should be reading Marybeth Hicks', Don't Let the Kids Drink the Kool-Aid: Confronting the Left's Assault on Our Families, Faith, and Freedom. I put it down to read some other books but picked it up again just this week --- and will be reading more today in light of the Goldstein piece. Progressivism should scare the **** out of you.