I keep asking myself a very simple question, which has always seemed to have an extremely complicated and almost unfathomable answer . . . HOW DID WE GET FROM THERE TO HERE . . .? But in all reality, the answer is simple.
I’m old enough to remember Canada and the USA as they were in the BEST TIMES OF THEIR EXISTENCE, after World War Two, when we were proud to be who we were, when no one had to explain Patriotism, Values and the Importance of Family.
I REMEMBER . . . all the way back to the 1950’s, when RESPECT wasn’t just a word in an Aretha Franklin Song . . . but when it actually meant something, when we stood as an adult entered our schoolroom, and we called our teachers Sir, Madam or Miss.
I REMEMBER . . . the 3-R’S – Reading, Writing & ‘Rithmetic – before some genius discovered crap like New Math, that did plenty good for the world of Academia, but Squat for the Students, since nothing much has changed in the world of EVERYDAY ARITHMETIC.
And now, we have all this non-academic crap, which is taught by teachers putting in far too few hours, earning far too much money, with unconscionable benefits, and a retirement package so far removed from what the Tax Payers who pay the shot, could ever hope to see, which to me is obscene.
AND WHAT DO WE GET FOR IT? . . . We have High School Students that can barely read or write, and University Students who give a new definition to the word DUMB, INCOMPETENT & UNINFORMED. And forget New Math, because to these numbskulls, they can’t figure out 1 + 1 = 2, unless they’re negotiating drugs. And even then . . . ?
INEVITABLY . . . The blame rests with us for allowing the Teachers to Unionize, create an EXTREME Political Power Base, and PERVERTING what it was that teaching was supposed to be all about.
SO HOW DO OUR TEACHERS COME TO DESERVE THE BLAME?
ACTUALLY . . . the blame starts with us, since our ORIGINAL SIN was unleashing the Teachers, and doing absolutely nothing to bring them back to the juncture, where they and we have reached, to the point of NO RETURN politically.
AND HOW DID THAT SCREW-UP OUR MEDIA?
START FROM THE BEGINNING . . . The government convinced the people, that they, the government, knows what’s better for the people’s children, than do the parents.
Daycare has become a great substitute for a Mother’s Care. And since pawning children off on the State is relatively FREE, or heavily subsidized, it seems to have become the decision of choice, opposed to the decision of real necessity.
TO MY WAY OF THINKING . . . when a HUSBAND and a WIFE (man and woman) make the decision to have children, that decision should NOT INCLUDE GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES, since in my world, that decision should be based entirely on the PARENT’S willingness and COMMITMENT to raise and nurture THEIR OWN FAMILIES.
We have come to the point in our history, where our parents have surrendered their RIGHT to raise their children, by subcontracting that responsibility to the government.
HITLER’S GOVERNMENT PHILOSOPHY MADE IT CLEAR . . . give the State the child until he or she is about 9-Years Old, and the State will have formed the child’s future.
So what are we in North America doing, that’s really any different from the Nazi philosophy?
Our schools have become hopelessly LEFT; where FREE thought is what the Teachers and Professors say what is FREE . . . and what is NOT. What kind of debate is acceptable, and what kind of debate is actionable. What we can say, and what we cannot say, and to whom, when, where and how it could be said.
SO WHY SHOULD WE BE SURPRISED . . . when our LEFTIST Teachers, teach our Children LEFTIST PROPAGANDA from PRE-SCHOOL, because our parents have abdicated their role of parenthood to the State?
And for our children who don’t drop-out of school, travel through their changes in education from pre-school through to college and university, they are even more brainwashed with each following stage, by even more zealous LEFTIST Teachers and Professors, to the point that universities have created SAFE ZONES, where the Free exchange of ideas and debates are VERBOTEN.
HENCE . . . when thinking of our Media, and why it has become as EXCREMENTAL as it is, it is NOT just leaning to the LEFT, but rather . . . the Media has become the willing promoter of LEFTIST philosophy, absolutely ignorant of the perils of Socialism, and how they are at WAR with the 1st AMENDMENT, which guarantees their right to report, agree, disagree, and fully dissent, because that’s what our Teachers taught them from their first recollections.
AND WHERE DID ALL OF THIS START? . . . We did it, because getting stuff, outdid raising our own children and families. But now that we’ve crossed the Rubicon – there will be no going back peacefully.
We did it, we broke it, we have to fix it, and it won’t be pretty.
AND IT ALL COMES DOWN TO WHETHER OR NOT . . . we have the courage to speak our minds, shout no to censorship, stand up to the government, and pay whatever price might be levied against us by fighting for our FREEDOMS.
It was not by accident that the FRAMERS of the BILL OF RIGHTS, led off their Charter with the FIRST AND SECOND AMENDMENTS, the First guaranteeing Freedom of Expression . . . the Second guaranteeing the Right to Bear Arms to defend the First.
To punctuate the importance of all the Freedoms, which are currently enjoyed by the American People, look at the passage within the Declaration of Independence that includes “. . . endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights . . .” which places those RIGHTS, out of reach, from the hands of man.
Best Regards . . . Howard Galganov
30 Comments
I watched Fox News with my mouth open…so disappointed! “Fair, Balanced and Unafraid”, my foot! Thank you, Howard for your courage, common sense, and intellectual insight…always.
This editorial hits the nail on the head. This is the one issue that is most dangerous to our traditional way of life and will eventually destroy our society as originally created by our founders.
My Mother and her Sister were both teachers, I had my Mother in two grades. My two Sisters were teachers, one for 39 years. Everyone learned, did their homework, graduated from High School, College and some Grad. school. All became a success because they were educated. My children and grand children all had great educations, thanks to Private Schools. We avoided the Public School system because when the kids came along it had been hijacked. It all began in the late 50’s.
Absolutely correct assessment Howard !
Born in 1939; grew up in the hills of eastern KY; at age 5, began walking to 2-room school bldg…continued through the 8th grade. We moved ‘out of the holler’ and I struggled with travel to high school, graduating in 1957, after which I began working…learning on the job (medicine) and eventually retired from East Tennessee State University. I received a much better education than the typical 4-year degree in public universities.
Phyllis M. Taylor, Johnson City, TN
I spent 35 years in K-12 and 15 in higher education. The disease is quite clear for both K-12 and higher education – political correctness.
FREE..FREE..FREE is the KEY WORD! Just offer people “free stuff” and you got it made! These people will support anything and everything! Now, “Reading, Writing & ‘Rithmetic” is, believe it or not, the SOLUTION to our POOR educational system, which has been DUMBED DOWN to ACCOMODATE the IMMIGRANTS/REFUGEES! Instead of their following AMERICA’S DIRECTIVES, it’s been the REVERSE! “Let’s make America great again” and vote for TRUMP! At this juncture, he’s the only one who’s making any sense! AMEN!
Howard I could not agree with you more. It’s no coincidence that gov’t wants our children. Gov’t education in turn was suppose to show it’s goodness and concern for our “well being” The truth is far less flattering. IF the gov’t propaganda can take root, as our children grow up, those kids (our children) will be no threat to the state apparatus. They would have fastened the chains to their own ankles. Pulled from a quote from Lew Rockwell. Makes me glad my wife & I home schooled our 5 children!
Well Howard Right on, could not have said it better. Think of “The Working Families” signs when it comes time to vote, “Teachers Union” . Mike
One only has to look at the Liberal government that Canadians
have elected to see what Canadians’ education system of today
has wrought.
I don’t know if you ever watch O’Reilly or not, but he has a segment on there a few times a week called “Watter’s World.” This fellow asks folks, mostly which are young “millenials” simple questions, such as …. who was our first President? He will hold up a picture of Joe Biden and ask them “who is this?” THEY DON’T KNOW! I can’t believe how ignorant these kids are. It would be funny if it was not so sad!
Barb Brooke, Harrisonburg, VA
I concur completely. We have surrendered the education of our children to leftist teachers taught by leftist professors.
The teachers and the police unions in Ontario run the province. Wynne is just the toady that complies. I often think that the British Columbia Teachers Federation should become a political party so their pinko points could be made to their satisfaction. They would damn soon find out they are not as good as they think they are as they would never become government. Their demands are pure socialism.
This editorial is articulating what I was attempting to explain to someone last week. You were much more definitive than I was able to verbalize. It took us about 50 years to reach this abysmal point. How can we ever reverse this course in the (hopefully) next 8 years? Only with the help of God.
John Ross
Vero Beach, FL
Howard, you are correct – we did this to ourselves – everyone of us who came to live in Canada and didn’t speak up when we saw things going wrong. In Canada, the 1982 Constitution was written by a Socialist to create a socialist state – he did a great job because about 60% of Canadians are socialists. We’re importing more socialists (I heard the figure 300,000 as the number of refugees coming in the next few years) – we will be bankrupt very soon. Some Canadians are making survival plans.
I agree fully with your conclusions but think the root cause goes deeper. Granting government the power to destroy the value in our monetary system is fundamentally the cause to wide-spread unionization. Because individual voices have been ignored, the collectivization of the work force was sold as a solution. It isn’t but the vast majority bought the lie. Today is the result.
God is in the process of fixing the problem and we are not going to like what He does. What has been will be repeated and as the Ecclesiastes writher says, “there is nothing new under the sun.” We have to unload all of this “STUFF” to get through the gate. Are we willing to do this? Many are not because it means blood shed and that is not pretty.
It has its roots in the Fabian Society starting with Woodrow Wilson and later, FDR. Change to socialism is achieved in minute increments wherein all of the working class will become indistinguishable and become more and more dependent on the government. The most rapid way is to gain control of input of information including the educational system and mass media. UN Agenda 21. One world government. This will supercede the U. S. Constitution including the Bill of Rights. We must stop this.
There is a solution to the problem called home schooling or private school. But of course you would have to be a Grand Parent or Great Grand Parent to be smart enough to home school because the younger generation was taught in the now defunct public schools.
Is another Founder up next? Am I right in saying this one sounds like a bunch of quotes from Tom Jefferson and/or George Washington? Either one would be fine, but pick one, please. (Don’t just sit there and pick your nose!) As usual, this editorial is on the dime, despite that some brainiac helped. Realize that anyone can dip his dipper into an open can of cash, set up by big business. From there to lobbyists, to our elected elites, etc. And you’re looking for Justice? Gournicht helpfen!
Howard,
Am a few years older than you (born ’45) and grew up in Ann Arbor where even then we were being subjected to the early stages of “political correctness”…The First Amendment, we were taught, “has it’s limits” and the Second Amendment meant that States could have their own militias…”it did not mean individuals had the right to own or bear arms”.
Just wanted to say…….I taught for 10 years in Canada and retired with a pension of $92 a month, which, after indexing, for about 25 years, is now just under $300. No benefits that I am aware of.
While teaching (Grades7and 8) I received a visitor from the Department of Education (Toronto) who ordered me to throw out The “Speller”….stop teaching “Grammar” and encourage “Creative writing”. I refused to do this.
Discipline………
I was glad to retire.
You are right on except it started with the Professors brainwashing the teachers; when my oldest daughter “who is 60 now” was getting her education degree at the University of Calgary, it was already so bad that the Conservative Association distributed Ann Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, to all the students to try to try to balance the liberal crap they were being fed. My wife and I read the book and many times over the years we look at each other and say “Ann Rand” how could she be so accurate?
One thing we can start with. Stop sending our children to these d…. universities! Cut their income! And make it and even more, send the children to chartered schools, home schools and create more of them! And if possible start all the way back to pre-school. Women, mother, get off your butt of your career and start raising your child. And finally men, father’s, get out and take back your duty of being a husband, having authority and keeping your kids straight. It is a fight we must win!
I will be 80 in a few months and regret at times that I can remember well what fine nations the USA and Canada were, because I have watched the steady moral, patriotic and financial decline of these two nations. The young fools who adore Bernie and Hillary have no knowledge of the Post-WWII era, so they have no baseline from which to assess the “modern” times. Sad, but they will be the “beneficiaries” of the socialist movement and will come to accept it as normal.
BRAVO, HOWARD!!! It all has it’s genesis in Marxist ideology and Alinsky tactics and abdication of what is right by the American people. If you expect something you will get something of your children. If you expect nothing that’s exactly what you will get. We must reexamine our values…..but is it too late? Maybe Conservatives need to invade the offices of school principles and university presidents and THROW THEM OUT… just like the Communists did in the 60’s. Hmmmm?
I’m 80 this year, England educated, mother stayed home with kids, I had cane, strap, slipper, detention n eventually MBA and MSc.Eng. Today, both parents work, or welfare, latch key kids belong to teachers, big house, two cars, boat, exotic vacations. My schooldays 9am/4pm, teachers 35hr. week. Today, 15hr week, and when student feels like attending. Teachers Unions, school is free daycare, parents agree; go figure why no discipline n quality education.
Kids use iPhones, not teachers.
Ralph Glorioso and I are in complete agreement. I’ll be 79 later this year, and was fortunate enough to have been raised and educated in what is now considered an age of “dinosaurs.” We old lizards, however, were encouraged to THINK creatively, rather than blindly follow educators—sheeplike—with no anti-PC forum that allows for logical dissent. No matter: in California state universities, dissenters are routinely shouted down by leftists, permanently erasing any chance for discussion.
Howard–great analysis of the lost generations. Should give students a pad of paper and a pencil and dump all the phones and computers. Sad that the Tea Party is supporting Crud or Cruz. Another politician that we need no more of. We need someone who is not politically correct (Trump) who won’t take any crap and gives better than he receives. This from a 91 year old veteran of three wars who remembers how things used to be.
Public sector unionization by Northeastern elitist liberal Kennedy, best looking guy @ the Democratic Convention in the early days of television. Then the 18-yr old vote by Nixon, professors and teachers in the wake of the old normal colleges now much more powerful politically than knowledgable and demanding — vis-s-vis Asian dominance in science and engineering at U.S. universities.
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