Education Is Speech

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You should be able to read this piece in National Review for free, if you are not a subscriber and have not yet exceeded a three free article per month limit. It’s by Philip Hamburger, a Columbia Law professor and CEO of The New Civil Liberties Alliance, of which my old friend Mark Chenoweth (old as in we’ve known each other since we were practically kids, not old as in chronologically!) is President. The article, entitled Public Schools Shouldn’t Be Fiefdoms of Government Speech, describes NCLA’s lawsuit in Nebraska on behalf of a parent who does not want his children to be indoctrinated in public schools.

First, my metaphorical hat is off to anyone who can use the word “fiefdom” and not refer to a video game.

Second, if my daughter were human, I would find a way to home school. Thank heaven my daughter is a cat, purrfectly capable of fulfilling all the requirements of her species without a formal education.

Like Mr. Jacobsen, the plaintiff in the Nebraska case, I do not want my daughter to spend seven to eight hours a day absorbing messages that are anti-America, race-baiting, and in support of a radical gender ideology that far from just affirming the right of people to have sex with whom they choose, would likely try to convince her that she is a boy.

I am not a lawyer, though at this point after listening to NCLA podcasts to relax after my eight-week summer teaching job finished, I am willing to concede that I should have been. But I do see why Professor Hamburger describes education as speech. In fact, it’s hard to see how it could be described as anything else.

All students do all day is absorb the speech of teachers, administrators, and students around them. That speech comes in the form of spoken classroom instruction, assigned readings, books that are available and showcased, and even posters and signs in the classroom and on the hall walls.

At every school where I’ve ever taught, there are giant all-inclusive Pride flags on many surfaces. In most, they are in every classroom.

The Pan-African flag also features prominently, as does the Black Lives Matter flag. Only once have I ever seen an American flag flown in a public school. Oddly enough, that was adorning my classroom, hanging sadly from the ceiling and looking older than any of the students, in the school where I taught two years ago. No American flags fly outside schools. None are seen inside. No one pledges allegiance to the United States of America, but everyone is informed that “This is a welcoming classroom,” by a Pride flag poster.

The unquestioning, universal left-wing bent of the schools means that kids are exposed all day long to speech that leans in one political direction. Classrooms feature pictures of the Obamas portrayed among key figures of black history, pictured as saints in icons.

This one is ubiquitous. A similar one with Mrs. Obama and female figures is also everywhere, all the time.

Kids usually accept the worldview put forward to them by the adults in command without a great deal of quibbling. Sure, if that worldview involves putting away your phone and sitting in your seat, it might get some nasty back-talk. But if it involves an explanation for everything you see around you that blames white supremacy and systemic racism for all things bad, it’s just going to be part of the air they breathe.

From what I read in Professor Hamburger’s article, it sounds like public schools in Nebraska aren’t that much different. Parents I’ve spoken to all over the country express similar concerns. They are all for black people, gay people, trans people being treated equally under the law and not being persecuted for their race or identity. But they don’t necessarily want their kids lectured that America is “the very worst,” being white is evil, and that under every seemingly normal boy or girl there is someone of the opposite gender just dying to put on a dress (or take one off!) and come out as the opposite gender.

When I was just starting to read The Free Press and learning about the things happening in public schools, I, like many of you nice liberals, did not believe it. I thought, “They must be exaggerating!” But no. The more I talked to parents, the more of the same I heard. Then I saw it for myself, with my own little eyes, not in isolated corners but in every single school where I went.

Can the state force parents to expose their children to speech with which they do not agree, that contradicts their religious or other beliefs? Yes, they can, as of now. They do, every day. And we wonder why young people are coming out of high schools and colleges suspiciously ignorant of basic historical facts yet filled with hatred for the country that provided them with the liberty to bash it?

Government speech is on the left, and right now, the public schools are indeed fiefdoms.

What is the remedy?

Vouchers for private schools, obviously, but the article makes it clear that this case is not about the remedy but about pointing out that education is speech.

I, perhaps like you, have some questions about the government paying for religious schools. Is paying for a child to be educated in a Christian, Jewish or Muslim school (are there Hindu schools? Can I teach English vocab in Hindi at one?) a violation of the separation of church and state? I’d like to hear from my lawyer friends about this. I think it is reasonable to ask what is being taught in a school that is funded by tax dollars, whether that school is religious or not. Right now, it seems that most of the concern is on the side of “What are religious schools teaching kids?” vs. “What are the public schools to which most people have no alternative teaching kids?”

Right now, many public schools (possibly most though hard to be sure) are teaching kids what amounts to Woke religion. While I used to say, “Don’t worry, the kids can’t even read and write! They aren’t absorbing anything they’re taught!” I no longer laugh it off so ruefully or so easily. I do see kids absorbing the messages the are fed for the majority of their waking hours. And just like I don’t want my tax dollars paying for kids to learn that women are not really people and jihad is good in Muslim religious schools, I don’t want them to be pressured to identify as another gender or to attribute all things bad to racism in a public school.

Whenever we talk about education, there is a tension between the ideal state and the needs of a particular child who is in school right now. Ideally, parents and other citizens would become more involved in education policy, ensure that students are educated not indoctrinated, and create fair, effective public schools for all.

That’s not going to happen anytime soon and I doubt it will ever happen.

Meanwhile, actual human children are in the educational grind, their most formative years being influenced by the minute. We can all think of extreme examples so there is no need to enumerate them. But the less extreme example: kids who are absorbing constant messages that are leftist without any check on them; that is what I am really concerned about. Kids who will not speak out when someone says that America deserved 9/11 and is to blame for future terrorist attacks because they were taught that America is evil. Kids who will respond to the first crisis brought on by puberty not by seeking the advice of their parents or a trusted relative but by considering hormones to try to squash the new female or male emerging. This is what worries me. Because I see it happening.

I invite anyone who questions the truthfulness of my examples to substitute teach in any urban area near you. Whether you’re in Chicago, New York, LA, most anywhere, you will see exactly what I am writing about. Pride in being trans but not in America. Black Lives Matter… but black literacy? What’s that?

If you home school your child and are looking for an English, writing and social studies tutor who aligns with your values, let me know! I might be able to help!

In the meantime, check out more of what NCLA is doing on this issue. Here is the podcast with Zhonette Brown, General Counsel and Senior Litigation Counsel, who is heading up the work on this issue, and John Vecchione, Mark’s usual partner in the podcast who drinks Diet Coke in most episodes and is really funny. They let Mark take a vacation so he’s not on this one.

Meanwhile, my daughter is considering if I should be allowed to return to teaching in the public schools. She’s thinking maybe she should home school me. Could I learn how to catch mice?

Loviefluffy inspects my farmers’ market lunch: olive foccacia, heirloom tomatoes, and Milkhouse Valley Farms foxtail feta! She didn’t lick it, just checked it out.