I happen to stumble across a post written by a Lithuanian blogger, Gabrielius Blazys, about buying a car in the former Soviet Union. He actually quoted an old Ronald Reagan joke: “This man laid down the money, and the fellow in charge said to him: Come back in 10 years and get your car. The man answered: Morning or afternoon? And the fellow behind the counter said: Ten years from now, what difference does it make? And he said: Well, the plumber is coming in the morning.”

Blazys continued: “It’s funny because it’s basically true. Getting a car was a real challenge in the USSR. It wasn’t a matter of visiting a local dealership, choosing the right colour and right gadgetry. It was a little more complicated than that.”

Interesting way to put it. When you don’t have choices — that’s when things get complicated. You are forced to find creative solutions. You suffer the consequences and do you what you can to cope. Back in the Marxist paradise known as the Soviet Union, rather than wait 10 years for their car, a car of dubious quality, there were some people that actually built home made cars. The soviet era ended in 1991 and these home made cars have become collectors’ items.

In America, we take for granted that we have choices. We can choose from hundreds of makes and models of cars and trucks in a wide range of sizes, styles and price ranges. The same is true of the foods we eat or the clothes that we wear. We can choose which place of worship to attend or we can choose not to attend at all. And we take these choices for granted. They are part and parcel of what it is to live the American way of life.

Except when it comes to the education of our children.

In the recently concluded special legislative session called by the Governor for the “betterment of education”, the West Virginia legislature passed the Student Success Act. Among the many important reforms contained in the bill, is school choice. At least in fledgling form. It provides for the modest beginnings of a program for the creation of Charter Schools. However, upon passage of the Student Success Act, the President of the West Virginia Education Association, Dale Lee, said “I’m very disappointed that they chose not to listen to the educators of West Virginia.” He said that the union was reviewing its options including the possibility of taking legal action.

I’m wondering which educators the legislature didn’t listen to. The original champion of Charter Schools was legendary labor leader Albert Shanker. The concept of Charter Schools was introduced to the world in 1974, the year that Shanker became president of the American Federation of Teachers. The credit for its invention was given to Professor Ray Budde, University of Massachusetts at Amherst. According to Wikipedia, Shanker “embraced the concept in 1988, when he called for the reform of the public schools by establishing ‘charter schools’ or ‘schools of choice’.”

According to an op-ed that appeared in the New York Times on August 30, 2014 entitled The Original Charter School Vision, in that 1988 speech, “Mr. Shanker outlined an idea for a new kind of public school where teachers could experiment with fresh and innovative ways of reaching students. Mr. Shanker estimated that only one-fifth of American students were well served by traditional classrooms [West Virginia is certainly no different]. In charter schools, teachers would be given the opportunity to draw upon their expertise to create high-performing educational laboratories from which the traditional public schools could learn”.

In 1991, the year the Soviet Union collapsed, its command economy shattered, Minnesota became the first state to pass legislation authorizing charter schools. California was the second the following year. With the passage of the Student Success Act in June of this year, West Virginia becomes the 45th state (plus Washington DC) to allow Charter Schools to be established.

In light of the history, one might wonder why Dale Lee was so “disappointed” by the passage of the West Virginia legislation authorizing Charter Schools in the state for the first time. He doesn’t offer a reason other than opining that educators don’t want them. I know that’s not true for many teachers and I suspect that it’s not true for most. I also suspect that if you were to conduct a poll of the teachers, the results would be as accurate as those forecasting the last presidential election. And for similar reasons.

One reason the union opposed the legislation might have to do with the legislator that served as lead sponsor: West Virginia State Senator Patricia Rucker. She’s a woman. She’s Hispanic. But she’s Republican. The teachers’ unions spent heavily trying to defeat her in the last election. One would think that it wouldn’t matter where an idea comes from, as long as it is a good one. But it’s apparently against the terms of engagement for those on the left, like union leaders, to join together with people from across the political aisle. Senator Rucker has publicly stated that she is aware that the Charter Schools proposed in the legislation largely adhere to Albert Shanker’s original vision and that she has no qualms about that at all. So why would Dale Lee and the WVEA teachers’ union oppose this legislation?

Cultural Marxists are not about bringing people from diverse backgrounds together to solve problems. They are about crushing the opposition. It’s all about the political power. If you look at the state of public education today you might observe that the Cultural Marxists have won. They have taken over the system. They are teaching our children what they want them to learn. It is not in their interests to allow us to be able to choose. Cultural Marxists are authoritarian and totalitarian in their world view. They target education and healthcare and their aim is to stifle competition and to take total control of the system.

If you think I’m overreaching, consider what went on last month at the National Education Association convention. The American Enterprise Institute covered the event. You can read about it here. According to the AEI, “Over 160 new business items were proposed, including New Business Item 2, a motion pledging the NEA would ‘re-dedicate itself to the pursuit of increased student learning in every public school in America.’ The resolution also proposed that the ‘NEA will make student learning the priority of the Association’ and that every NEA program should be evaluated by asking, ‘How does the proposed action promote the development of students as lifelong reflective learners?’ “

When put to a vote of 6,000 NEA delegates, the motion failed. Really. It failed. The NEA was not interested in re-dedicating itself to increased student learning. The agenda of the Cultural Marxists is not increased student learning. It is increased student indoctrination. Instead they voted in favor of so-called social justice initiatives. Like “supporting the Black Lives Matter movement, and teaching the concept of ‘White Fragility’ (which they explain is produced by ‘white supremacy culture’) in NEA professional development”. That is what the National Education Association wants to teach your kids.

Compare that with an article that appeared on the Shanker Institute website, dedicated to the legacy of Albert Shanker, called “Charter Schools and Teacher Diversity” by Matthew Di Carlo published June 27th of this year. Here’s the opening paragraph:

A new study of North Carolina public schools finds that black students in charter schools are more likely to have black teachers than their regular public school counterparts, and that the positive effect of ‘teacher/student racial match’ on the test scores of black students is more pronounced in charter than in regular public schools.

I’ve always felt that Cultural Marxists are far more racist than the general population.

Up until now, trying to get a good education in West Virginia was akin to buying a car in the former Soviet Union. You either had to settle for what was available or build one in your garage. The good citizens of West Virginia do not have a choice with regard to the payment of taxes. If you do not pay your taxes, the state will kick you out of your home and take that home away from you. Parents are waking up to the agenda of what is being taught in our public schools and they are saying that enough is enough. Parents are tired of being told that they have no choice in how their tax dollars are spent or what they’re kids are taught. The Student Success Act is a small step in the right direction.