I’m not quite sure what Mike Pompeo meant or why he said, “Parents should get to decide what their children are taught, not the government or teachers unions.”
Those few words tell me a lot about the former guy’s director of the CIA and secretary of state, none of which addresses the issue of public education. Everything about that declaration screams political rhetoric calculated as a dog whistle to the former guy’s largely uneducated political base.
It sounded very much like Pompeo is positioning himself, like Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott, for a run at some major office, most probably that of president should former guy opt out after bleeding his supporters of every dime he can extract from them for his “defense.”
Regardless if Pompeo’s declaration came from the heart or from political expediency, it’s the same type of political grandstanding emanating from the political right – and from persons wholly unqualified, like myself, to judge what should or should not be taught in the nation’s classrooms.
I’m in no position to determine what should be taught in a science classroom. I’m not a scientist. Looking back, I would prefer having had an introductory course to real physics. I took a course affectionately called baby physics in college.
I thought it was a real course when I signed up but it turned out the entire course was designed for jocks who needed desperately to make a good grade to remain eligible. One of the questions on my final exam was a true-false question: Pluto is a dog-shaped planet. No joke.
I likewise never took trig or calculous and didn’t do too well in algebra. I believe those facts disqualify me to dictate what my grandkids are taught in school. Nor would I be at the top of the list to tell the shop instructor how to teach the proper use of a jigsaw or power drill.
Nor would I ever trust some idiot whose last words were, “Hey, hold my beer and watch this,” or his brain-dead cousin whose last utterance was, “Hell, I can do that. Hold my beer.”
Virtually everyone I know may possess superior knowledge in a single field at most. To place in that person’s hands the responsibility of selecting the curriculum for a wide range of disciplines, from English literature and grammar to quantum and quantitative physics is madness.
Future history books (in Florida, at least) will contain no mention of the Jan. 6, 2021 US Capitol insurrection but will probably repeat the Big Lie that the election was stolen by a bunch of pedophile Democrats. Stories of the Tuskegee Airmen will disappear from history.
Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympic Games, Jackie Robinson? Fuggedaboutit. Hank Aaron never broke Ruth’s home run record.
Louisiana has Clay Higgins, John Kennedy, Steve Scalise, Mike Johnson, and Jeff Landry as members in good standing in the nutcase fraternity.
But Florida counters with DeSantis, Mark Rubio, Matt Gaetz, and Rick Scott and Texas gives us Abbott, Ted Cruz, Louie Gohmert, and Ken Paxton.
It’s enough to make us miss Bobby Jindal.
DeSantis has managed the nearly impossible task of making Disney World appear sympathetic. Instead of addressing the legitimate question of Disney’s treatment of young employees, particularly on its cruise ships where crews comprised mostly of non-citizens are worked brutally long hours for little pay, he chose to attack the theme park for it s policy of inclusion.
DeSantis has purged some 50 or so math texts for supposed CRT content. What can possibly be CRT-related in teaching math? Perhaps it’s the “equal” sign that he finds offensive. As for history, it’s always been said that the winners write the history books but to expunge all references to slavery which was the central issue in a war that tore this country apart, borders on outright censorship. Apparently, the CRT that DeSantis so opposes stands for Comprehensive Rational Thought.
I guess it goes without saying that Florida will ban the reading of Shakespeare’s Othello because it’s a story about a white chick who falls in love with a black dude. In case you’ve never been exposed to that play, the local rednecks appeal to the sage duke to intervene and nip the romance in the bud. Instead, the wise old duke tells them they must exercise restraint, tolerance, and understanding. Well, right away, we know that’s not our Duke.
Louisiana Voice 
“It sounded very much like Pompeo is positioning himself, like Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott, for a run at some major office, most probably that of president…”
That one clause provides every warning we really need that our democracy, indeed our national sanity, is at risk, not to mention the human era, itself.
The fact we have a former POTUS who is still spouting the same utterly ridiculous rhetoric to rallies of his supporters today (and the fact he is even capable of having rallies) tells us why DeSantis, Abbott, John Neely Kennedy, Steve Scalise, Clay Higgins, and way too many other elected officials can behave in a manner destructive to the principles on which our country was founded and to humanity, itself, AND continue to get elected moves the doomsday clock several seconds closer to midnight and it’s less than 2 minutes from it now. If we don’t wake up soon we will not have the ability to do so in the near future.
Well at the time Pluto WAS a planet, albeit a tiny irregular little chunk of rock and whatever in the Kuiper belt and depending on how you looked at it, one possibly could think it looked somewhat like a dog…….. so I vote that the question is unfair! That being said-returning to your post I conclude that it is time to sit under the tree and start drinking heavily as we are all doomed no matter who is in charge. I shall continue to cast a vote as it is still the only thing left I can do for free but I am old enough now to realize that counting on Washington to do ANYTHING constructive is a fool’s errand
Unfortunately it’s at the state level that most of the regressive, fascist madness is happening. It had really gotten disgusting to see, and because of gerrymandering and voter suppression, they’re just going to get more entrenched and more extreme.
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I consider myself to be a pragmatic progressive.. However in this case, granted that Fl Gov DeSantis is a power hungry lowest deplorable denominator pol- I happen to agree with the restriction on presenting material on variant sexuality up to 3rd grade. Here in New York-as with most everything the gay advocacy has become heavily politicized.In fact my perception is that participation in gay life is often an act of rebellion. A political act. Young children are impressionable. My opinion is that for better or worse if discussions are warranted concerning those issues until third grade they are better left to the parents-or whatever counselor they may choose to engage. Given the zeal with which alt sex advocates pursue their chosen life style DeSantis can be considered to be defending young children against “grooming” Even a broken ambitious clock is right twice a day.
I am by no means an expert on LGBTQ+ issues. But I am over 70 years old and have known a number of LGBTQ people. 100% of them were created that way by God. That’s why,
according to what I have heard, “pray the gay away ” camps rarely work. Given how badly LGBTQ people are treated, no rational person would choose to be gay. So I question the accuracy of your perceptions.