“Blind obedience to authority is the greatest enemy of truth.” ~ Albert Einstein
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I learned this fact about the schools. Years ago I was helping my niece with her math homework. They wanted her to solve a problem using their methods I couldn’t figure out the problem using their methods. So I created my own methods to solve the math problems. When she was at school they said she got every problem correct. They asked her how she got them right she told them the methods I used they said she got it wrong because she didn’t use their methods. Instantly I knew that that they weren’t teaching how to solve problems but they were teaching how to follow blindly and not think on your own. ~ Jon Bender
The Paul Simon song Kodachrome. “When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school, it’s a wonder I can think at all!”
Not so very long ago, school districts and education leaders told us that technology in the classroom was essential to the success of our students. “An iPad on every desk” became the new “chicken in every pot” slogan, as experts tried to convince us that technology could be a panacea for the nation’s test scores.
The quality of the education that our children are receiving in America’s public schools just continues to go down. At one time, the concern was that not enough students were taking advanced courses. But now we have reached a point where a very large portion of our high school graduates cannot read effectively, cannot write effectively and cannot do basic math effectively.
Okay, parents, how many of you have gone to your local city hall, county commission meeting and petitioned that they work with you to get all schoolbooks removed until proven innocent of brainwashing your children?
The Department of Education is getting a bigger budget, less than a year after President Donald Trump ordered the department’s closure.
So long as the government controls the “public” schools, there are bound to be conflicts over what should be taught there. Only if all schooling is supplied by the free market will the problem end. In a free market, parents can get schools that supply them with the sort of education they want for their children. 
Democrat-run cities are failing when it comes to education. The unsatisfactory results have worsened through the years. Too much taxpayer money has been thrown toward the problem, without seeing any improvement whatsoever. Too many students in the big blue cities graduate while being functionally illiterate. Teachers can’t be fired due to teachers unions. The curriculum has been dumbed down in order to allow students to pass. This is also happening in red states. 
A good number of Esperanza High School students carried signs depicting their opposition of the policy early this month, reported California Family Council (CFC). Led by junior Lesley Ledesma, they staged a walkout after finding out the school administration is allowing a biological male to use the girls restroom.
Through public records requests, Kendall Tietz says Arlington Public Schools provided Defending Education documents about Richard “Riki” Cox, a tier III sex offender who reportedly visited a number of female private spaces in 2024.
Public schools depend on a degree of consensus from parents and taxpayers regarding the basics of what their students are being taught. This trust is especially important in these chaotic times when many parents across the country have discovered that their schools are teaching children in a way contrary to their family and religious values by indoctrinating them with creepy views on gender and sexuality. 
But wait there’s more… It was not just Ritalin and Adderall being prescribed for so-called learning and behavior disorder but also Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI’s) were becoming popular. I was on the Colorado State Board of Education when the Columbine massacre happened. One of my fellow board member’s daughter went to Columbine and was hiding from Eric and Dylin (the shooters) in the library closet. She had phoned her dad as it was happening.
Five years ago, public schools across the United States closed because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Students in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and other large school districts were locked out of classrooms for 18 months. These prolonged public school closures harmed a generation of children. According to University of Arkansas professor of education policy Harry Anthony Patrinos, school closures in developed countries reduced students’ lifetime earnings by $21,000. 
The Department of Education has operated as a costly experiment in federal overreach for too long – expanding bureaucratic layers, weakening local control, and spending billions without improving academic outcomes.
It’s been 25 years since my last opinion piece covering ADHD, ADD and prescription medications like Ritalin and Adderall. I thought I would never write another piece on this specific issue, but things have evolved since 1999. When I learned Illinois Governor Pritzker signed into law a new bill making it mandatory for yearly psychological exams on schoolchildren starting in 3rd grade, I had to write again on this issue.