Hillary Clinton, the Socialist Education Goddess
 

March 3 2006
Counterbias.com
by Ted Baiamonte
R E P U B L I C A N   V I E W
 

The Socialists had to replace God in order that their new subjects be freed to worship them instead. The Commandments of God had to be replaced by the Commandments of Socialism so that proper socialist disposition could be established. Probably the first Socialist commandment is: always remember that you are stupid, state bureaucrats are smart and loving creatures who know best, and freedom is the worst thing of all.

Not withstanding 150 million dead people and billions more impoverished over the last 100 years by socialism, Hillary Clinton stepped forward once again the other day to assume her place among the socialists. She said that school vouchers were a very bad thing because they were a Republican attempt to free parents to choose the schools that they thought were best for their kids. Under a voucher system, parents would in fact be free to take their children out of schools (most of which are among the worst schools in the industrial world) and place them in better ones. This kind of freedom was bad, she argued, because some parents are stupid parents who would make the wrong choice. Of course, Hillary didn't feel that making a mistake was an integral part in learning what was not a mistake. She did, though, place herself among the socialist elite whose choices are not suspect. She retained her own right to pick the school her daughter attended, while denying that right to those parents who she thought of as less caring or less intelligent than she is.

She apparently feels that if she were in charge, the mistakes in the evolutionary education process could be avoided altogether. That twelfth graders in public schools recently performed below the international average for 21 countries on tests of general knowledge of math and science was, to her, probably, just an anomaly for which no explanation was needed. If she did attempt to explain it, the solution would undoubtedly require more rather than less socialism. Or, perhaps her brand of socialism rather than the older brand. When she is fully in charge, she may feel, her five year plan will work better than the five year plan of the current bureaucrats. In any case, we would no longer have to worry about audacious parents mistakenly fretting over their children's education because Hillary and the State would be there as the latest and greatest quintessential bureaucrats.

There are several obvious reasons the stagnant liberal public schools have failed all of America's children, and why Republican voucher schools would evolve in a competitive environment to be better schools:

1) They are socialist and non competitive, so educational standards are guessed at by bureaucrats rather than established competitively. Interestingly, American Colleges and Universities are competitive, and the best in the world, while secondary schools are socialist and among the worst in the industrial world.

2) No corporeal punishment - no touching is allowed in liberal schools. The liberals let pedophiles out of jail, which makes as much sense as letting enemy combatants out of jail during time of war, but the liberals need to be nice, to criminals anyway, and so they do it. As a result we have criminals in the schools and so touching cannot be allowed. When kids misbehave the teacher then must argue, plead, beg, and cajole students to behave. Many teachers report that they feel more like policemen than teachers. The yardstick is gone and so is the proper educational environment.

3) They are controlled by liberal unions that waste money. In NYC, for example, a class is worth $270K in revenue. The teacher gets $75k and the rest is wasted by the bureaucrats when it might be used hire more teachers and cut class size by 70%. And, unions, of course, exist not only to extort non-competitive wages for teachers but also to extort noncompetitive working conditions, hours, and performance standards.

4) They teach liberal politics rather than the English and Math - In fact, teachers are often chosen for their liberalism, not their teaching ability. Here is an account from the Chronicle of Higher Education:

Although she earned a 3.75 grade-point average in the one-year program, Ms. Siegfried says her professors told her last spring that she lacked the "professional disposition" necessary to be a good teacher. She was inflexible, they said, and wasn't open to new ideas or responsive to other cultures. Ms. Siegfried left the teacher-training program, she says, before her professors could show her the door.

She is one of several students backed by national conservative organizations who have complained in the last year about education professors (95% of whom admit to being liberal) who are more interested in students' political views than in their classroom performance. In addition to evaluating whether students are responsible and have good communication skills, for example, some education schools have begun questioning whether students value social justice, acknowledge white privilege, and agree to be change agents in battling sexism, racism, and homophobia.

Reading and math are often replaced by liberal culture lessons featuring Johnny has two Moms.

4) Liberal parents - Of course, many of the worst students come from many of the worst liberal neighborhoods where liberal social welfare programs and bad attitudes discourage hard work and self discipline while encouraging contempt for even the work ethic and relative success of the more Republican white culture.

There are now few Kipp Schools in the country that work well, but there always have been educators who have stepped forward to say, "this is insane; I can educate these children," and often they do, for a time. But in the end they are drowned out by socialists like Hillary who prefer the failing status quo, the promise of a swift socialist cure, and the huge liberal electorate that accompanies it.

Education is not rocket science. Kipp students, for example, "are in school at least nine hours a day, compared with fewer than seven hours in regular public schools. This is 60% longer than most kids. Three weeks of summer school is mandatory. Students are urged to call teachers at home if they have questions about homework. Those who do not complete homework are disciplined. Good work and behavior are rewarded with points toward items from the student store and school trips, from which students with few points are excluded. Teachers are trained to be very active in their classrooms, involving all children in lessons and taking points off from those who do not pay attention."

But in the end Hillary will kill the Kipp schools too, and probably she will become President where she can finally bring her Godlike soviet qualities to bear on more aspects of our lives. Hillary is consistent at least. She may not care about results in the schools but she does care about socialism. We have seen this remarkable consistency before. When she was asked about what she would do when the her socialist health care plan bankrupted 60% of the small businesses in the country she replied, "I can't be responsible for every undercapitalized small business in the country." Republicans just don't get how the consistent obsession with socialism can matter more than the obvious long term results? But that's a little like asking how cigarettes can matter when cancer is the result.

==

Ted Baiamonte is author of "Understanding the Difference Between Democrats and Republicans". His blog is The Dumb Democrat, and he can be reached at bje1000@aol.com.

---