EMail Doodlings - "We should be depending on public school grads to maintain a civil and benevolent society" - Granite Grok

EMail Doodlings – “We should be depending on public school grads to maintain a civil and benevolent society”

Certainly the news of the day is the Gilford School Board (“GSB”) making asses of themselves and painting the picture that Gilford has a rather arrogant set of elected officials running its Government Schools.  It is certainly true that the treatment of Dr. William “Billy” Baer by the Board (and his subsequent arrest, video by Josh Youseff and posted by Steve here) has gone viral.  I warned the Gilford Superintendent that it would – on TV news shows, national shows, national level blogs; it has gone on and been on everywhere.  While there are some that have tried to defend the GSB, most have taken the side of Dr. Baer, taking umbrage that a citizen trying to seek answers, seek redress and to hold accountable his elected officials, is so frustrated that he cannot be quiet by their efforts to stonewall him.

Thus, it was with amusement that a Lynne Horton sent this in – my emphasis on where I believe her to be wrong:

Reason for tax supported. http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/a1_8_8s4.html. We should be depending on public school grads to maintain a civil and benevolent society.

Right – think I could resist sending a response?

Of COURSE not!  First thing I did was to look at the link which led to this:

Massachusetts Constitution of 1780, CH. 5, SEC. 2

Wisdom and knowledge, as well as virtue, diffused generally among the body of the people, being necessary for the preservation of their rights and liberties; and as these depend on spreading the opportunities and advantages of education in the various parts of the country, and among the different orders of the people, it shall be the duty of legislatures and magistrates, in all future periods of this commonwealth, to cherish the interests of literature and the sciences, and all seminaries of them; especially the university at Cambridge, public schools and grammar schools in the towns; to encourage private societies and public institutions, rewards and immunities, for the promotion of agriculture, arts, sciences, commerce, trades, manufactures, and a natural history of the country; to countenance and inculcate the principles of humanity and general benevolence, public and private charity, industry and frugality, honesty and punctuality in their dealings; sincerity, good humor, and all social affections, and generous sentiments, among the people.

My first response was short, crisp, and with a bit of snark:

We’re not Massachusetts

True enough – this is New Hampshire.  I then dashed off another response:

Hi Lynne,

>> We should be depending on public school grads to maintain a civil and benevolent society

Actually, we should be depending on those to whom the responsibility actually falls upon: parents. We have gotten too used to outsourcing our personal responsibilities to Government. Especially since a lot of schools are failing to teach the basics on which a civil and benevolent society depends. Churches, in conjunction with parents, used to do a lot of that teaching of what true charity (aka, benevolence) is. It is a sad fact that under the Progressive ministrations over the last 130 years, Government is succeeding to crowd out both the influence of parents and churches.

-Skip

Let me speak to both of her points.  The first (“Reason for tax supported.”) and then pointing to the link.  Sorry, her conclusion is not supported by the snippet from the MA Constitution.  Rather, it is a well deserved and well needed paeon and admonishment that education should be held high.  I can certainly agree to it (holding two STEM degrees and ascribed to the notion of “always learning” which has, lately, shown the Youngest and Eldest that studying never should stop). However, nothing in that text, not even the “duty of legislatures and magistrates” demands that education must be tax supported (re: “to encourage private societies”).  Given the discussion has centered around the public school, I took Lynne’s argument to be that of supporting only tax supported Government schools (and thus, in support of the GSB).

Frankly, I believe that attitude is wrong.  Education is education – as long as each child is being truly educated in the actual fields of study (as opposed to just sitting in a school until age of “school servitude” is attained as well as subjected to the current pop / Political Correctness indoctrination fad of the day), does it really matter what kind of school a child attends?  I went to a private Kindergarten and then public schools 1-12.  Undergrad and grad schools were private.  My kids went to both public and private K-12 schools (and I believe they were better served in the private schools better than the public schools – and I have the history to say why).

To the second (“We should be depending on public school grads to maintain a civil and benevolent society“), I think I answered that.  Once again, Lynne has it wrong – a civil society, a benevolent society, has nothing to do with public school grads.  Civility and polite manners come from upbringing – not Government schools.  I have known very polite people who have had very little formal education but their parents brought them up well.  Or, in the case of some Senior Citizens, that was the “pop culture” of the time.  Progressives keep insisting that we have, due to their ministrations, “progressed” as a Society but I frankly don’t see it.  Politeness is no longer a high value attribute – the culture has become coarser.  Regard for others is no longer a high value attribute – many have become more narcissistic due to the “self-esteem” movement that racked through our elementary schools.

And looking around at some of the grads of public schools, especially in the more urban areas, the last thing I could want to do is depend on them for a “civil and benevolent society”.  No, Lynne is incorrect – like many, she gives the impression that schools are the end-all / be-all in determining the “entire” grad’s behavior.  And that, right there, is the problem.  Schools are there to teach subjects – not mindsets.

It is the primary responsibility of the parents, not the schools, to teach morality and manners.  To teach those inner core values that will “keep” for life and be expressed during their sons and daughters life.  However, it seems that people like Lynne and those on the Gilford School Board and the current crop of “Professional Educators” believe that parents should not be those role models (here and here).  They all ascribe to that movement that the “kids belong to the Community” and not the parents (here and here).

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