By ROBERT SEITZ
It is clear that what is taught and how it is taught must change in all school districts of Alaska. With the eroding of discipline, patriotism and trust in America it is time to reteach and restore knowledge of America. It is best to teach and train our youth of the good they have, the good that is available to them. I have thought about this a lot in the last couple of weeks and I believe we can work our way through what needs to be done with common sense and practicality.
One basic fact which most everyone is aware of is that “life is not fair.” It is therefore important that we prepare our children to be able to properly react to whatever unfairness life brings to them. A common expression is, “If you don’t at first succeed try, try, try again.” In sports we hear “no pain, no gain.” So it is clear from such sayings that people are expected to anticipate the fortune or misfortune to occur in their life and to respond in appropriate manner to take advantage of the opportunity to find ways to improve their condition.
I’ve been hearing that America is a land of white privilege, but to that I say NO! America is a land of privilege, a land in which every citizen is privileged to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Each just needs to have a dream, have an idea or have a passion and then work to bring that dream, idea or passion to life, to make it a reality; to make it their reality. Too often people are ill prepared to work through the difficulties or are discouraged from their pursuit by others, quite often people within their own family.
I heard an account on the radio while driving last week, of a woman who became a licensed airplane pilot through great difficulty and hardship. Bessie Coleman was born in Atlanta, Texas, in 1892 and earned her pilot’s license on June 15, 1921 in an effort to fulfill her mother’s hope for her children: “to amount to something.”
She was the first woman of color to become a licensed pilot. Her mother had a dream and her brother gave her a challenge. While she had great difficulty achieving her goal, she was prepared to meet the challenges. I urge readers to research Bessie Coleman. You may find you don’t have it so tough.
Young people are prepared for life through training at school and through training from their family. As long as both school and family are providing encouragement to “amount to something” and the knowledge and skills to meet the challenges, both anticipated and unforeseen, that this life will offer, people can achieve at least some of their goals.
Our children have recently been taught that America is only for white people, and that the old dead men who put together the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, and formed a new nation provided nothing of value for them. Those old, dead men who are the fathers of our country did good for all of us, no matter what our circumstances, no matter what our culture, no matter what our color. Every American citizen has this good available to them: Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is there for every citizen to partake.
Schools and parents must enforce and reinforce the good of America. Children should be raised with appreciation for the development of good character, virtue, consideration for others, charity to others, usefulness, integrity and a great love for America, the land of opportunity. A focus on truth and love would be a good way to lay out the education plan. Our children, and many adults, have been lied to far too long by our government entities and education institutions.
The problems we have in America is not with the US Constitution or America itself. The problems occur because of wrong minded people who chose to impede certain people from pursuing their vision, their dream. There are those, in America, who do not share the American dream for everyone, but choose to follow an evil intent. Many have acted strongly and evilly against Americans. It is up to those Americans who know the good of America and who love America, to correct and deflect the injustices that are perpetrated on citizens of this land.
Right now we have an education crisis that requires reform of school districts all across the land and all across Alaska. It is time to get rid of the stuff that is contrary to American values and that distract young people from productive and meaningful lives. We need to find ways to deflect and expose the evil some impose upon our youth and our country with their lies. This IS a good land.
When young people are given things that they may be missing to bring them to an equal level with others, is robbing them of their chance to overcome whatever unfairness might stand in their way. Hard work is a good and beneficial part of a young person’s life. They may not think so while working hard but they will reach a point of realization that the hard past was of great value. The teachers we all remember best are those who challenged us and worked us the hardest. DEI has no place in an Alaska culture.
Those upon whom is heaped injustice, violence and disdain, are often told by others that their problems are the result of institutional prejudice that is built into the American system. That is a lie. They can achieve. There is no institutional injustice. The injustice is served by individuals with bad intentions.
Remember, Bessie Coleman found a way to “amount to something.” Those of us who have worked through our obstacles will be around to help and guide those who need a boost.
So, no expanded funding for Alaska schools, without reformation of schools, school boards and teachers.
Robert Seitz is a very long time Alaskan and engineer.
So Very True! Unfortunately, we’re far away from hitting rock bottom, where we’re definitely heading. When we get there, change will occur. Unfortunately, many students will continue to suffer along this tragic journey.
Excellent article. The social engineering in our public schools, from K-12 and even through college, has been interrupted by Donald Trump. The days of mandatory and enforced DEI, LGBTQ, wokeism, radical climate action, BLM,
colonialism, and affirmative action are coming to a close. MAGA guarantees it. Americans are truly getting it and all of the aforementioned crap that has been thrusted into the citizenry through “education money” is about to get cut off. A thorough cleansing of our society values will involve a great effort, and possibly a great fight. And conservatives are at their battle stations.
Nothing will change with education in Alaska or anywhere in this country until we get rid of the monopoly of teachers’ unions and schools of education who do not teach anything worth knowing. One can be an absolute expert in several subjects but never be allowed to teach kids because they didn’t go to one of the bottom-of-the-barrel “schools of education,” such as the one Mrs. Biden attended and got her PhD, which is about as useful as toilet paper. Kids are not being taught by the brightest but by those who could not do well in any other profession, and those teachers are protected by a cabal of leftist unionizers. Are teachers professionals? Then why a union? Are they labor? Then why not hire professionals instead? And why are we teaching them garbage like “social studies” instead of history and civics? Get the garbage out of the schools.
Nailed it.
Monopoly is the key here. Any other industry would be subject to breaking that up. This is a government entity that needs Gods intervention. I have Grandkids that are in public school. I am willing to figure out how to finance them into private or charter or home school. I don’t want to have to pay more but will. I am working toward an educational system that my taxes (just the education aspect is nearly 8K) and the established value of per student dollars (anywhere from 19K to 21K, depending on your source) will go to a local school without having to pay the extra tuition per our current system. This is now a big ask, it is in our future, and it is the basis for better educated kids, better paid teachers, and a better workforce altogether. Because of the current monopoly this is the problem for many families…they cannot afford the alternatives.
Another great article from Robert. Ties in with recent suggestions to base funding increases on performance. Education in Alaska is obviously broken, and the problem is obviously not money. Dead last in the nation, yet school boards, administrators and teachers stand there with their hands in the air, insisting that it couldn’t be their fault.
A smart district would follow the European examples. Schools year round, parents get fined for students truancy, kids must meet standards by 5th grade, education splits at 7 grade- you either go to a preparation for vocational program or a college program. After school if you choose to go to university you can but you have to sign up for basic training and serve the government for 2 years.
This is addressed to Robert Seitz, author. Please others interested in improving the curriculum standards. I would employ you Robert, in a spare moment, Google up ” ‘https://www.coreknowledge.org/curriculum/”.
Review the offering within the scope of subjects. I believe you will or would
fine, how this curriculum melts into a normal school class by grade.
Just me,
Al Johnson-Ketchikan, (Recalled school board member, one of five, for attempting to improve academics.)
Thanks for the link.
Burn it to the ground and start over.
If a store has bad products we don’t care; we just go to one with good products. If we had vouchers then we wouldn’t care what the public education bureaucracy does. We would just find the best, grass roots, private school option.
People need to stop believing something as corrupt as the public education bureaucracy can be reformed. It needs to be uprooted and replaced with vouchers for parents to shop in a free market for their children’s education.
Why would racketeers “change” an education-industry racket with a proven track record of strong-arming state government for all the money they want, laundering money by steering contracts to union-only shops, subjugating generations of children by making them illiterate, obstructing ICE for no other apparent reason than harboring and/or trafficking illegal-alien children?
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Would racketeers do these things if they –didn’t– know FUBAR’d state grand-jury and election systems protected them from law enforcement and angry voters?
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Would racketeers do these things if they –didn’t– know unlimited money was theirs for the taking, laundered through complicit, DOGE-proof Democrat and RINO legislators?
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How does reform happen if any current education-industry employee remains employed? Get a terrible infection, don’t you have to clean all the germs out, take heavy-duty drugs to keep them from coming back?
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How’s this situation different from a terrible infection?
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Instead of “no expanded funding for Alaska schools, without reformation of schools, school boards and teachers”, would “funding for Alaska schools reduced to what it was ten years ago, pending an Alaska DOGE-sponsored forensic audit of school district financial and management practices” be more helpful?
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Won’t happen with state grand juries, election systems, and certain legislators as corrupted as they are, but the good news is they eat their own and only the orderly transfer of money props up their house of cards.
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Injure one (figuratively, of course) the pack’ll turn on him. Disrupt the orderly flow of laundered money, their house of cards tumbles down.
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Replacing the current education-industry racket with a model everyone wants to emulate, number 1 in performance and number 50 in cost, will take brilliant and yes, ruthless, engineering.
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Hope you’re part of it, Robert.
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