It was probably 15 years ago that I wound up running into a young Assistant US Attorney at a social event.
We got to talking – as I am wont to do with, well, people.
What quickly became evident in talking with him – early 30s, graduate of an Ivy League law school after having been a legacy Ivy League undergrad – was the sheer contempt he had for the people outside the federal “criminal justice” system he met.
Example: we got to talking about gun control. He was a Hillary guy. And he went to a demo the ATF put on for federal “criminal justice” employees, where they learned some basic firearm safety, and got to test-fire some of the guns the Feds used. And with that, he did in fact consider himself to be one of the class that should have the right to keep and bear arms (not that he would). The rest of the plebs, naturally,, should be disarmed forthwith.
Now bear in mind this AUSA wasn’t working on organized crime. Or even “crime” as most of us would understand it. His bailiwick was various abstruse import regulations. Not cocaine or fentanyl, mind you; things like wood, food and alcohol, livestock, furniture.
So that’s right – he oozed with sneering contempt for otherwise honest people who ran afoul of abstruse import regulations.
And he didn’t seem to be all that unusual among federal “criminal justice” employees.
Of course, I ran head-on into the contempt another tranche of government employees – the public school system – feels for the peasantry, first-hand, around that same time.
My own struggles with the Saint Paul school system were at a time when the big dumb consultant idea was “zero tolerance” for even the faintest most ethereal hint of “violence”.
Dumb as that could be – and outmoded as it has apparently become, given the evaporation of safety in Saint Paul schools – it was a fart in the breeze compared to the contempt shoveled at parents since the dawn of “woke” education.
I figured – correctly – that Saint Paul and Minneapolis would be pretty hopeless.
But – Little Falls (via Gary at LIberty & Proosperity Blog)
“My name is Cassie Fredregill, a local resident of Little Falls. As my 10-year-old daughter came home from school one day, she told me that there was going to be a class on sexting. As any concerned parent, I reached out to her teacher to confirm what my daughter told me and asked what this class was going to be about.” The thought of a 10-year-old getting taught about sexting is utterly repulsive…
…Cassie wondered why she hadn’t received paperwork that permitted her to opt her daughter out of the class.
In response?
The school district barred her from parent teacher conferences.
She was not happy (jump to 5:25):
Point being, a distressing number of schools are starting to see parents as the enemy – and themselves as a class of aristocrats who shouldn’t have to be troubled by them.
I’ll have Ms. Fredregill on my show on Saturday.
John Hinderaker wrote a post on Powerline yesterday titled Getting it Good and Hard, a reference to HL Mencken’s description of Democracy. In Minnesota, parents of school children are also getting it good and hard. In my new state of North Carolina, while it’s not a Utopia, the school district where we live takes things a bit more seriously when it comes to student behavior. First one must get their attention. The no cell phone rule is enforced. Being tardy repeatedly draws in-school suspension. The schools are installing weapon detection systems. I’m sure there are also diversity employees, but I’m willing to suffer that if the basics are handled.
Oh yeah. No potholes the size of tractor tires in the roads. I raked up a pile of pine needles I need to burn, but it’s way smaller than the snow drift in front of the house I used to own. Y’all can move down here any time.
At this point, we are getting ruled by people who hate our guts.
I like the bit where the school board member states that more or less because the class syllabus has been withheld from her, that she therefore has no right to complain about the content. As if she can’t infer that some controversial things might be addressed in a class about “sexting”, and be concerned about what might be taught to kids way too young.
I’m not totally against teaching kids about this at age ten, but very poorly handled by the schools. Very poorly.
Kids are not safe anywhere, except at home…unless your father is rAT Emery, and you’re not safe there either.
That said, it’s good to see people finally taking school board meetings seriously. Back in the early aughts, I attended most SPSD meetings. In fact, some of the more degenerate board members would get so triggered, they’d up and walk out when ever I stood to speak. They could run, but they knew someone was paying attention…wish there had been more.
I don’t understand how people involved in the production of such a crappy product (well educated children) can feel superior to anyone.
I’ve been writing about the problems with public education for years, more than a decade. I got started by looking at what, exactly, teachers are taught in state colleges of education and the seminars they hold during the junkets called “teachers conferences.”
You want to stop public schools from teaching CRT and gender identity? THAT IS WHAT THEY TEACH IN TEACHERS COLLEGES.
Most private schools teach the same thing.
Yes, it’s the state colleges of education teaching the teachers, and it’s their professors who form most of the boards setting education standards at the state departments of education, too. So that’s why going to school boards is generally a tough way of getting action, because they really don’t have the authority they used to. Gotta address it via legislators, really.
Steven Crowder has a pic out there with him sitting at a table and a sign that says “Male privilege is a myth. Change my mind.” It has been turned into a meme with all sorts of controversial topics/phrases replacing “male privilege is a myth”.
Sending your kid(s) to public schools is child abuse. You can’t change my mind.