24/7 public schooling breeds goosesteppers and cultural orphans

Every time an education advocate, particularly one who is not a classroom teacher such as Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, suggests that taking children under the wing of government for fulltime supervision is a good idea, hackles should rise. There is only one reason to oversee education as a never-ending training camp: to pattern students' thinking according to approved government standards, which means compulsory assimilation. There are times when assimilation is beneficial, as when immigrants come to a new country and are encouraged to learn the language, accept and support the culture, becoming a citizen. This assimilation does not require forfeiting individual faith, values and ethics. Of course, this refers specifically to American culture as it is the only culture¹ tolerant of multiple worldviews as long as they are not forced upon other citizens. (Listen up LGBT zealots, sharia sponsors, eco-politicians and other closed social thinkers.) Government-sponsored boarding schools or 12-14 hour "community center" schools do not promote tolerance; they underwrite peer pressure, coercion and authoritarian rule to create conformity. And conformity breeds unchallenged acceptance of rules and, government's favorite term, regulations. Duncan is a perfect example of a non-teacher education advocate who only understands detached ideals of what education should entail and objectify. In fact, were one to examine his official biography at ed.gov it is evident that his training and experience is in sociology -- "the science of society, social institutions, and social relationships; specifically: the systematic study of the development, structure, interaction, and collective behavior of organized groups of human beings" according to Merriam-Webster (bold emphasis mine). Sociology is not education, unless the latter word is defined as indoctrination, and Duncan evidently ascribes to that meaning. He is proud of his work educating wards of the state, which is precisely what public boarding schools would create -- wards dependent on the state for their meals, housing and education, which means instilling conformity of thought or suffering consequences. And the consequences are defending oneself against institutional bullying, both mental and physical. Education, in the context of teaching, is providing information and the means by which to apply it constructively to life through critical thinking, or the ability to examine facts to arrive at purposeful, logical application. It is not the automatic reiteration of untried concepts and theories or bobblehead agreement with baseless idealistic opinion. Yet this is essentially what Duncan has been promoting throughout his career of designing education. (Financial literacy curricula? Really now, if taught by progressives it must be the instruction of how to incur debt and redistribute OPM as opposed to actually creating wealth.)

Public boarding schools: Established to influence and fundamentally change the belief system of the students, to break family connections and social relationships, and eliminate traditions

Public boarding schools are not a new concept in this country, nor were they established to enhance students' education experience. They were established to influence and fundamentally change the belief system of the students, to break family connections and social relationships, and eliminate traditions. They were called Indian schools, funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and their purpose was to assimilate the indigenous populations into what myopic politicians, bureaucrats and social engineers (yes, this also is not a new concept) believed to be an American future. Not only did they misunderstand and underestimate the complex societies that composed Native America, but the schools intensified a deep-seated distrust, and even hate, of other Americans based on the actions of elitists. Indian students were taken from their homes, dressed in western style clothes and their hair was cut. Their traditional garb, tools and accoutrements were confiscated and destroyed. The point was to indoctrinate the youth and freeze-out the past. What the schools created were cultural orphans. Unfortunately, the damage was done before government reversed policy and closed the schools. Opening schools on a 12 or 14-hour basis produces the same problem of conform or collapse. For that example, review the government-established youth mentoring programs that arose in Germany in the 1930s. Peer pressure was utilized to an extent that youngsters who did not accede to the ideals taught by group leaders were shamed, bullied and beaten. There has already been a growing trend of gang culture in the public schools where individual "best friends" is being discouraged² in favor of cliques and groups. Like every other social cause or religious conviction in this nation, the liberal agenda has been to make it a political issue, invoking discrimination as their battle cry. Public boarding schools and school community centers are no different; it's about indoctrinating the youth to forward the war on what America truly represents -- Freedom.

1. Ravi Zecharias. Is America Really Christian? Part 1 aired May 4, 2015, Part 2 aired May 11, 2015. Let My People Think. http://rzim.org.
2. A. Dru Kristenev (2012) Discourage best friends? Page 16, Scripture Led Politics. ChangingWind.