Dumb & Dumber (Nos. 25-27)
Watching the Education Apocalypse in Slow Motion
***Note to readers***
After my ten-part series on rights and education, I’m going to take a couple of weeks off from writing long-form essays and will just do “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” and “Dumb & Dumber.” For those who missed the series or any one particular essay, you can find the essays here:
DUMB AND DUMBER (No. 25)
K-12 EDITION
STOP BEING SURPRISED. Stop being outraged. Stop whinging. Stop thinking you can legislate good schools. You can’t. If you don’t like America’s government school system, #JustWalkAway: “Texas Teachers Instructed To Help Students Hide Gender Identity From Parents.”
WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING? “Another hoax? Missouri school district says racist graffiti was painted by non-white student.”
THE QUESTION NO ONE ASKS: WHAT ARE THE STUDENTS REBELLING AGAINST? “Viral Trend Shows the Destruction of Our Education System by Out-of-Control Students.”
DISGRACEFUL: “Book burning at Ontario francophone schools as 'gesture of reconciliation' denounced.”
HIGHER ED EDITION
WHY NOT JUST GIVE THEM A SCARLETT “U” TO WEAR? “Unvaccinated students told to wear colored wristbands so they can be identified.”
NOT GOOD. And there is a nursing shortage, why? “Nursing programs struggle to keep up amid a nationwide shortage of nurses.”
AN AGE-OLD QUESTION. I took lecture courses with the great historians Gordon S. Wood at Brown and Bernard Bailyn at Harvard that were spectacular. I also took a seminar team-taught by the great political theorists Harvey Mansfield and Ralph Lerner that was likewise spectacular. Each method has its virtues and vices. “Martin Buber and the Pedagogical Via Media.”
TRUE. “Higher education just isn’t built for men right now.” I strongly recommend you read this essay.
HAVE NO FEAR, THE FOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS (FIRE) IS HERE: “Nursing student expelled after writing assignment about a shooting labeled ‘insensitive’.”
CORRECT, OR, MAYBE WE CAN JUST CUT OFF THE PUBLIC AID ALTOGETHER: “Colleges That Betray Core Principles Don’t Deserve More Public Aid.”
A WONDERFUL ESSAY FROM MY FRIEND JOHN TOMASI, THE NEW PRESIDENT OF HETERODOX ACADEMY: “Curiosity U.”
DISGRACEFUL: “Professor who criticized extra pay for black faculty labeled example of racism at Princeton.”
DUMB AND DUMBER (No. 26)
K-12 EDITION
IT WAS ONLY MATTER OF TIME. Next on the agenda, eliminate D’s, and then C’s and then B’s. Hell, why not just eliminate grades altogether. “Minnesota middle school will eliminate 'F's to combat 'systemic racism'.”
PARENTS NEED TO STOP COMPLAINING. They need to take action. #JustWalkAway: “US mask guidance for kids is the strictest across the world.”
The United States’ strict mask guidance for kids goes against policies across much of the globe.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises masking for all schoolkids 2 and older.
That’s earlier than the World Health Organization, European Union, and United Kingdom.
“Kids need to see faces,” Jay Bhattacharya, a professor of medicine at Stanford University, told The Post.
Youngsters watch people’s mouths to learn to speak, read and understand emotions, he said.
“We have this idea that this disease is so bad that we must adopt any means necessary to stop it from spreading,” he said. “It’s not that masks in schools have no costs. They actually do have substantial costs.”
WE HAVE THE BEST RULING ELITE: “Biden's Education Secretary Cites Study to Enforce Masking Students, But Author of the Paper Steps In and Takes Him to School.”
WHOSE CHILDREN ARE THEY? “Biden Education Secretary, Miguel Cardona Won’t Say Parents Are ‘Primary’ Stakeholders in Children’s Education.” This is the issue of our time:
Parents (aka, the “domestic terrorists”) ARE the primary stakeholders in the education of their children, and some of them are now laying down the law.
SILLY ME! I thought falling test scores were the real emergency: "Climate Change Is an Education Emergency: Extreme weather events and rising temperatures take a heavy toll on students.”
HIGHER ED EDITION
SILLY QUESTION: “Do Universities Still Care about Truth?”
A MUSEUM OF CANCEL CULTURE. Future generations will, I hope, look back at this horror show with contempt: “Campus Cancel Culture Database.”
YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED: “Student booted as newspaper's editor-in-chief over mask mandate editorial.”
ANTI-SEMITISM ALERT—Oberlin Edition: “OBERLIN ACCUSED OF DISCRIMINATING AGAINST JEWS.”
EXCELLENT INTERVIEW. Well worth the read: “Why I Left America’s Failing Universities: An Interview with Carrie-Ann Biondi.”
OBVIOUSLY HORRIBLE, BUT IT’S ALSO THE CASE THAT SOME AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES ARE TREATING THEIR OWN STUDENTS IN THE SAME WAY: “China targeted a Chinese student studying in Canada for criticizing the CCP. Experts say students in America are faced with the same threat.”