Education or Indoctrination?
What is going on in American schools?
The American education system has been the subject of great controversy over the past few years, but this isn’t really a new trend. Those who rule us fear the power of knowledge and those equipped to impart that knowledge to future generations. In a nation that truly valued critical thinking, schools would be well-funded, teachers would be well-compensated and respected, and curriculums would adapt to advances in science and technology.
Our rulers aren’t interested in a population that can think critically; they believe school should be preparation for a lifetime of labor, and laborers are only distracted by critical thoughts. It benefits them when their subjects are suspicious of education and the educated, or dismissive of the views of those less educated than them. As long as they have a way to keep the common rabble divided, the mob will never come for their heads.
The Politicization of Education
Schools have been a frequent topic of discussion during the past few years of the pandemic, and politicians and the media have picked up on the energy surrounding the issue. They know that parents can be easily manipulated if they can appeal to their fears in just the right way. For those who are afraid of guns, frightening coverage of any school shootings and the resulting week or so of debating gun control is the typical strategy.
For a different group of parents, the best strategy is to convince them that schools are being used to indoctrinate or groom their children into the cult of liberalism.
Both politicians and members of the media have realized that few will bother to investigate the claims they are making, and most will simply agree with whatever statements align with their existing biases. In the age of social media, algorithms — for the most part — prevent people from meaningfully engaging with or even encountering perspectives that differ significantly from their own.
This ideological isolation allows politicians to represent their opponents’ views in whatever way best suits their goals, because they know that’s what their audience wants to hear.
Politicians realize that topics like gender transition, race, and social and emotional learning make people uncomfortable and result in an unwillingness to fully engage with the ideas that is easy to exploit.
The Accusations
Critical race theory, “queer ideology,” and social and emotional learning have been held up by many politicians as examples of the indoctrination that students are being subjected to, but what are they?
Critical race theory — despite being an academic framework taught to law students to help them understand how laws can create outcomes that disadvantage certain races without being explicitly racist — now seems to be a catch-all term for anything related to race that is or might be taught in schools that could upset a certain group of parents. When uttered in the same breath and tone as other inflammatory terms like “woke ideology,” “liberal indoctrination,” or “grooming,” politicians are subconsciously teaching their audience what they should feel when they hear the phrase “critical race theory” without really defining it.
Queer identities have also been similarly targeted with renewed vigor by these same politicians. If your constituency already views these identities as immoral or disgusting, it is very easy to convince them that their pure, innocent children are in danger of being brainwashed by liberal teachers at school. This strategy takes advantage of strong pre-existing biases against the targeted group and uses children as political pawns to gain their parents’ votes.
Of the three examples I’ve provided, I found the backlash against social and emotional learning to be the strangest until I learned what these programs teach.
Generally speaking, SEL programs teach things like emotional awareness and management, identity development, relationship skills, decision making, and empathy, so why would so many politicians oppose teaching children these valuable life skills?
It doesn’t make sense until you realize that learning emotional regulation and emotional awareness gives people the skills to recognize when they’re being manipulated and see through the strategies these politicians use to win votes.
To these politicians, the ideal voter is angry, scared, and unable to see the real factors contributing to their problems. Programs that teach future voters to think more clearly and critically are a threat to those politicians’ campaigns.
The Reality of American Education
The accusations of indoctrination quickly fall apart when you realize that, if teachers were capable of turning the kids gay, they’d also be able to get them to do their homework. Most educators don’t have the time to teach anything other than the strict requirements necessary to prepare students for pointless standardized tests. There are many areas where the education system could be improved, and politicians are well aware of this fact; however, these solutions would cost money they aren’t willing to spend and would solve the problems they exploit to gain wealth and power.
For this article, I interviewed my sister, a deaf education teacher in Texas, to get a better idea of what the situation looks like on the ground — it doesn’t look great. She’s currently biding her time while she explores other career options, because she’s tired of dealing with the chaos and mismanaged bureaucracy of education.
Special education in particular has additional issues to deal with — like being forced to teach phonics to deaf children. That isn’t a joke, even if it sounds like one; phonics is being taught to children who cannot hear the pronunciation of words because of an administrative oversight.
One possible area of improvement is staffing. Many areas have a staffing shortage that has only grown worse throughout the pandemic, and special education has been hit particularly hard. These teachers are underpaid, underappreciated, and in short supply.
My sister’s school only has two deaf education teachers, and soon, the other will be going on maternity leave. Special education seems to be the area hit hardest by the teacher shortage, and these teachers are already more prone to burning out than others. According to my sister, “Nobody wants to work for schools,” and that’s even more applicable to her specialty.
Burnout and turnover are high for special education positions, and schools are having a hard time finding enough people to fill the roles. Unfortunately, the solution they’ve settled on isn’t the one you’d hope for or expect.
Instead of increasing funding, training, and resources for these teachers, administrators have decided that lowering the qualifications required for the roles is the best solution, and many places are accepting anyone with a college degree. Florida has even started giving teaching certificates to veterans so they can teach while they attend school to learn to teach.
My sister says these “warm bodies” aren’t the solution to their problems because nothing is really being taught. They improve the numbers on some administrator’s spreadsheet, but they don’t address the actual issues.
The Fix
Teachers are taken for granted in America, and they’re sick of it. They feel like glorified babysitters who are somehow also responsible for raising the next generation of Americans because their parents are too burnt out at the end of the workday to really engage with them.
If given the chance, this is what my sister said she would change about the world. Parents need to have the time and energy to raise their kids, and work is getting in the way for many of them. It isn’t really an issue of desire; many have no choice but to work long hours to support their families in a country that only values people for what they can produce.
If we want to fix these problems, we need to elect politicians who actually want to solve them rather than exploit them to win their next election. To do that, we need to think critically about the candidates we vote for, and to do that, we need people who can teach us to think critically so that others aren’t thinking for us.
