In the midst of the confusion, the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) have launched an all-out effort to recruit young socialists to become teachers in our public schools.
Be informed.
Pew Research has found that "about six-in-ten Americans (61%) say the higher education system in the United States is going in the wrong direction," according to a new Pew Research Center survey. But Republicans and Democrats differ over why they think this is the case.
About three-quarters (73%) of Republicans and those who lean to the Republican Party say higher education is headed in the wrong direction. Democrats and Democratic leaners are more evenly split – 52% say higher education is going in the wrong direction and 46% say it’s going in the right direction.
Republicans and Democrats agree education is going in the wrong direction, but disagree on why and how to fix it.
The "why" is easier than the "how" to fix it.
While both believe tuition costs are way to expensive and students are not getting the skills they need to enter the workforce, progressives and conservatives profoundly disagree on two basic issues.
More than 31% of Democrats believe that there is too much concern about protecting students from views they might find offensive, while 75% of Republicans believe there's too much concern about protecting students from speech they find offensive.
The facts explain why each feel as they do.
When is the last time you saw conservative kids throwing rocks and breaking windows because a liberal or progressive speaker---regardless of how extreme---was appearing on campus?
It's rare if ever. And if any message is sent, it is not in the form of violence. It's peaceful protesting.
How many conservative, and/or Christian speakers have been canceled or attacked because their message was "offensive" or "hurtful" to progressive students? Students who responded with both hate and violence.
How many conservative students needed co-co, "safe spaces" and counseling following the election of Barack Obama?
How many far Left secular progressive students needed all of the above when Donald Trump was elected?
Democrats are not concerned about protecting students from "offensive" views, because the conservative views are already all but silenced on campus, while the secular progressive views are the norm---woven into the fabric and narrative of the campus community---the more crazy, the more normal.
About 87% of people believe open discussion is more conducive to "education." Republicans believe it because it's true, while Democrats believe it because they control it. And decide what is and is not to be spoken.
Little to nothing is learned from the Pew Report as to how to fix the problem. I'll come back to that in a moment.
Karl Marx understood the value and opportunity found in cultural confusion. So do the Young Democratic Socialists of America.
I have written and spoken about on the radio the efforts of Marxists to adapt Marxism to the culture and bend the cultural norms and beliefs toward the Marxist worldview, and this continues.
However, this is old style Marxism---class warfare and all.
The Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) are seizing the moment and capitalizing on the confusion.
They have published a pamphlet titled, "Why Socialists Should Become Teachers" which encourages socialists to become teachers in order to exploit the "political, economic, and social potential the industry holds."
They are distributing hundreds of thousands---possibly millions of these free pamphlets to students and younger teachers across the nation.
The pamphlet also argues that education is a "strategic" sector for socialists to infiltrate because it is "already heavily unionized, and also offers a platform to engage entire families in campaigns for socialist policies."
The pamphlet begins by outlining their "victory" in West Virginia recently where they organized the teachers, halted charter school legislation, and are moving the ball toward higher taxes on businesses and the "rich."
Their focus is on the entire family.
The focus is not only on the kids, but their parents as well.
The pamphlet notes that students and adults should consider becoming a teacher. It says,
"As teaching has become increasingly deprofessionalized in the past 20 years or so, 'accelerated' teacher preparation programs have spread", enabling those with "a generic bachelor's degree" to "enter the class room with little to no teaching experience under a 'transitional' certification."
If you are not comfortable speaking or teaching in front of people, the pamphlet suggests non-teacher positions that are often represented by education unions, such as "school secretaries, guidance counselors, psychologists, speech therapists, parent coordinators, and special education support staff."
The Socialist pamphlet says, "There is a growing national network of educators in DSA working to transform our schools, our unions, and our society."
And they say, "Teaching is proving to be one viable way for socialists to get into the labor movement and wage class struggle in a key industry that is under attack by capital."
So-called Democratic Socialists are setting up shop on campuses nationwide.
While they are not as pervasive or powerful as they present themselves---yet--- they are operating under the old idea of "fake it till you make it." And they're gaining ground---in education and most recently in politics.
Founding Father Noah Webster is most often credited as the Father of modern public education. The cause was noble---educate all our children--- but public education has been highjacked in modern times.
The "fix" is found in the roots of its beginning.
Webster said,
"In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government, ought to be instructed...No Truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people."
He said,
"The brief exposition of the Constitution of the United States, will unfold to young persons the principles of republican government; and it is the sincere desire of the writer that our citizens should early understand that the genuine source of correct republican principles is the Bible, particularly the New Testament or the Christian religion."
And, he said,
"The moral principles and precepts contained in the Scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws...All the miseries and evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible."
Whether Judeo-Christian principles are despised or merely neglected can be debated, but one thing is certain:
The fix is found in our founding wisdom---and that wisdom was found in the eternal Truth of Scripture.
C. S. Lewis once said, "We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive."
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Prayerful.