Progressive indoctrination in the United States was once confined primarily to colleges and universities. It has now infected grade schools and high schools across this nation. The purpose of this indoctrination is to convert this nation from a liberty based free market nation into a Marxist nation. This is chronicled in the Townhall article; Marxism Sugarcoated And Forcefed To Schoolchildren As ‘Equity’
American elementary schools have spent the past decade rapidly introducing leftist and socialist curricula into classrooms of little children. This type of leftist propagandization was previously reserved for older children in colleges and high schools. But the Obama era, followed by the shock of Trump’s election, catalyzed a more emboldened approach for leftist pedagogy.
The progressive indoctrination has been spread through our schools by using many different warm and fuzzy sounding phrases and buzzwords. This is a subject I’ve studied in great detail online and have covered it on several occasions on this website. The concept of equity versus equality is a new one to me even though I’ve encountered many examples over the years. Here is how it is defined by the author of the Townhall article:
Enter the new era of socialist propagandization of children: “equity.” Equity is taught as a type of superior fairness. It replaces the now archaic concept of equality. Equality is explained to our children as “generic” and “equal,” apparently bad things, while equity is pedestaled as “fair. ” You see, equality means that everyone has the same, equal opportunities, but this leads to unequal results. Equity, on the other hand, ensures identical results and thus leads to “fair” outcomes. The idea that America should offer equality of opportunity, not equality of result, is now dead, and has been replaced with the reverse standard – that America should offer equality of result.
This nation was founded on the concept of each and every individual being created equal, we are all familiar with that most important line from the Declaration of Independence. Hopefully it is still being taught in schools. With the sad state of public school education you just don’t know.
The founders of this nation all knew that because every individual is truly unique, everyone with different talents, intellect, skills, and ambitions, every individual will achieve different levels of prosperity in a truly free society, with a free market economy. They firmly believed that even though some individuals would achieve a higher standard of living than others, there was no better system. Their belief in the rightness of that system is based on the fact that government force and coercion would be needed to guarantee equal outcomes for every individual. They knew that money or other property would have to be forcibly taken from individuals with more wealth and redistributed to those who have less. This is true in the United States thanks to the progressive income tax and redistributive welfare programs. If you don’t think force and coercion are involved here in this country try not paying your taxes.
Like all indoctrination, clever and subtle messages are the most effective way to implement it such as this:
To teach the concept, children are shown an example of three kids trying to look over a fence: a short, medium, and tall child. In the first slide, each of them is given an equally-sized box to stand on. This results in the shortest kid not boosted up enough to be able to see over the fence, while the tallest kid is shown to be getting a boost that he doesn’t really need. Next, a second slide is shown. The tallest boy’s box is given to the shortest kid, with the shortest kid now standing on two boxes. The middle child keeps one, and the tallest gets none. The result is that everyone can now see over the fence, equally. The conclusion is taught as: “Fair isn’t everybody getting the same thing … fair is everybody getting what they need in order to be successful.”
The first time I encountered this example on social media I noticed several glaring flaws which I know are most likely not dealt with in the classroom.
First, where do the boxes come from? Socialists would believe that everyone has a right to a box and government must provide it which means the boxes were taken by force and redistributed. If individuals who do not pay to view the game are given boxes by the government to see the game who would pay to enter the stadium and watch? Is that fair to the owners of the team and the stadium? Wouldn’t it be best if the kids who wanted to see the game earned the money necessary to buy a ticket?
The author of the article shared this solution to the progressive indoctrination crises, one I very much agree with:
The only way to stop this socialist infestation of our grade schools is to stand up for your children, to vociferously object to every lesson plan that shows socialism dressed in sheep’s clothing. Keep an eye on your children’s homework and talk to them every day. Set aside Family Learning Time to teach your kids the truth about “equity” and what happens in the real world when equal results are forced. Remember, it is impossible to make everyone equally rich; it is only possible to make everyone equally poor.
Da Techguy's (no longer backup) Blog 