My educational views might not be popular, but that doesn't mean they are wrong. My confidence in my beliefs has only increased over the years. This isn't because I have found an echo chamber. It's because I have been listening to teachers.
It's remarkable how many arguments made by teachers can be defeated with nothing more than common sense. This includes the babysitter defense, the 90% argument, and the teacher wage penalty. If I'm wrong, you would think they could come up with arguments that aren’t so easy to debunk.
Even the so-called experts seem to struggle with common sense. Even worse, they can’t keep their own views straight. Do schools teach students what to think or how to think? Based on my school years, it's obvious. It was a lot easier for me to succeed when I thought what my teachers wanted me to think (my stupid years) than when I started forming my own thoughts.
Schools were clearly designed to control what students think. Many teachers have countered this claim by saying it’s wrong without explanation. Randi Weingarten, president of the AFT, cowrote an article for an online liberal propaganda rag, Salon, that goes against her own previous arguments. She attacked Republicans on the grounds that, "They want politicians rather than educators to control what students read, hear, and think." That's not an argument against controlling what students think. It's an argument over who controls what students think.
One argument that I frequently made during my school years was that schooling was getting in the way of my education. The AFT posted an article about the importance of school board elections. In it, they insisted that the school board controls what students can and can't learn. Obviously, I have a serious issue with the AFT boasting about the importance of controlling what students can't learn.
When the controversial 1619 Project first emerged, teachers started building curriculum around it. When they were met with resistance, they insisted that we must trust teachers to teach honest history. When Florida decided to allow (not force) material from PragerU, the same people insisted that this was a mistake on the grounds that we can't trust teachers to teach honest history. Why is it that so many contradictions coming from teachers seem to match a partisan agenda? Perhaps my concerns that teachers are pushing an agenda has some validity.
It's not just the AFT. I grew up in schools connected to the NEA. They maintain similar views as the AFT, although they are not usually as aggressive with their messaging. In many cases, they actually join forces. Of course, that's not all.
Our Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona, has repeatedly proven his complete incompetence. He doesn't understand the difference between learning and memorizing. He thinks we can reimagine education simply by continuing to do things the same way we have always done them but with more taxpayer money. He has absolutely no comprehension of the role learning plays in the educational process. If that's my competition, it should be obvious why I have become more confident.
I shouldn't just stick to arguments relating to common sense. My teachers and I disagreed over whether students learn through sight and sound. I always thought this was a ridiculous concept, but I have never viewed this as an issue of common sense. Many teachers are now citing evidence that I was right about this. Oddly enough, they seemed to use the evidence that I was right as proof that they were right about their reasoning. They are overemphasizing the importance of retention, which does not apply to practical learning, and the idea that children lack diverse needs.
Perhaps the biggest unintentional defense of my criticism comes from teachers openly boasting that they are molding minds. That's not even spin. That's a despicable act stated in a despicable manner. Are we not supposed to understand the meaning of those words? Seriously, this is an indication that teachers are manipulating how children are allowed to think, an argument that I have openly made against the profession, and teachers have somehow found a way to make it even less warm and fuzzy than washing brains.
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