Civic Duty
I believe strongly that it is the civic duty of all citizens of this District to be informed
and try to understand what is going on in the institution of education. I also believe that it
is the duty of the School District to explain to parents as much as possible about what they
are doing, and the history of the laws leading up to what they are doing. For information
beyond what they provide they should make available a directory of sources for further
information to which any interested citizen can add sources.
The following are the reasons I believe it is not doing this:
It is the nature of institutions to try to do only what is in their own best interest. Because
the institution of Education relies for its funding on the taxes of the general populace it
naturally would be in its own self interest to keep the voters as ignorant as possible about
what goes on in the Institution of Education. Disapproval of what they are doing could
interfere with the growth and expansion of the Institution.
Those in control of the Institution of Education are not stupid. They have a carefully
crafted public relations campaign to:
- Keep parents from asking too many questions.
- Make parents believe they exist to serve them and their children.
- Make parents believe they are doing a good job.
- Make parents believe they are improving as much as possible in accomplishing what parents
want.
- Convince parents that any shortcomings are due to lack of funding.
- Promote the belief that children would be better adapted citizens of a rapidly changing
world if they spent less time under the control of the family, in other words, if the school
year was lengthened and if school started at age two or three (Gov. Locke’s goal.)
Controlling what children know and don’t know (and thus their beliefs and behavior) has always
been the primary reason for public education. This was discussed openly during the rise of
compulsory schooling in the late 1800’s. It was thought that if professional educators could
have the children in public schools they could be trained to be better citizens and crime
eliminated.