It cannot be overstated how much the extended school closures of 2020 and 2021 permanently changed public education in the United States.
For an entire year, millions of students across the country took classes via Zoom, were forced to wear masks that affected cognitive performance, and were generally socially isolated. At the same time, decision-makers in school districts from Virginia to California were pursuing political policies that explicitly sought to exclude parents from their children's education.
The swift and fierce backlash from parents changed education politics forever. And it's all gleefully documented by education policy expert Corey DeAngelis, who explains how school district officials and teachers unions' pandemic response will forever change America's public education system. was recognized early on.
DeAngelis' new book is a tribute to Randy Wine, president of the American Federation of Teachers, the nation's second-largest teachers' union, which has “done more to advance educational freedom than anyone imagined.” It is mockingly dedicated to Garten. Parents' Revolution: Saving Children from Extremists Destroying Schools It provides an astonishingly detailed account of how the pandemic has exposed the failures of the public education system.
DeAngelis is a self-proclaimed “school choice evangelist” who has been at the forefront of translating anger against the public education system into tangible policy victories at the state level. Over the past three years, several states have passed some form of universal school choice as public support for this policy initiative grows.
parent revolutionThe film’s greatest strength is that it recreates the political awakening that occurred in and around public schools in 2020 and 2021. From school closures in 2020, parent activism in 2021, and teachers' union attempts to gaslight the public about what's going on, DeAngelis is in the darkest position since the Tea Party about what was actually happening. Weaves a fascinating story of the righteous anger that spawned an important conservative grassroots political movement.
The biggest villain in this story is the teachers union, and their misdeeds during the pandemic are numerous and surprising. Chicago, Illinois. Los Angeles, California; Professor DeAngelis of Cambridge, Massachusetts, reminds readers that teachers unions have used accusations of racism and white supremacy to denigrate families who beg school districts to return to in-person classes. Ta.
As expected, parents who lived in school districts without in-person classes turned to private options for schooling. Still, DeAngelis is backed by unions on the grounds that allowing private schools to open while public schools remain closed will exacerbate existing inequalities between public and private school students. He detailed how a politician blocked private schools from opening their doors to students.
When these battles over school availability give way to battles over pornography, critical race theory, gender ideology, and parental rights in schools, all the winners will be the ones DeAngelis has dedicated his life to. The cause was school choice.
First West Virginia, then Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Arkansas, and several other states quickly achieved universal school choice. This policy goal failed to gain traction for many years except in very limited circumstances, until political headwinds shifted in the wake of the failures of the education system during the pandemic.
But while DeAngelis recounts how the education-industrial complex has overreached into its own hands, empowering the school choice movement to resurgence; parent revolution This is a reminder that too many children are still trapped in failing public schools.
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School choice is one of the Republican Party's most popular policy goals, but at the state level the party is still struggling with union-backed politicians who are fixated on the public school system, and key elections It is rarely mentioned as an issue. Despite many institutional failures.
The antidote to these failures, as DeAngelis so convincingly explains in the last pages of his book, is a new responsibility that begins and does not end with school choice. From holding regular partisan elections for school boards to passing legislation that allows parents to decide how their children are taught and treated by school officials, the education policy agenda is parent revolution It is clearly stated. Politicians who claim to be on the side of parents and families would be wise to heed this opinion.