Creating mindless followers is one of the most dangerous things that our public schools are doing. Young people who know only how to vent their emotions, and not how to weigh opposing arguments through logic and evidence, are sitting ducks for the next talented demagogue who comes along in some cult or movement, including movements like those that put the Nazis in power in Germany.
At one time, the educator's creed was: "We are here to teach you how to think, not what to think." Today, schools across the country are teaching students what to think -- whether about the environment, the war, social policy, or whatever.
If students haven't been taught to think, then they are at the mercy of events, as well as being at the mercy of those who know how to take advantage of their ignorance and their emotions.
There are any number of problems with public education, but is any problem bigger than this one? Just like NPR has the luxury to espouse views outside of the mainstream because they don't have to compete in a free market, schools and teachers can use their classroom as a platform for their social consciousness rather than education. How can parents guide their own kid’s education if they can’t control where their kid will attend class? Only a free market education system will allow parents to control what they are already paying for. It will force schools to teach academics instead of fashionable politically correct nonsense and it will keep the nutty teachers from hijacking the system with their pet ideas.
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