Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Not Really a "Dumbass Idea"

Doug Mataconis accuses an Arizona legislator of "trying to turn schools into propaganda mills." In fact, according the quotation furnished by Mataconis, the legislator is trying to do just the opposite:
[Arizona Senate Bill] 1108 states, “A primary purpose of public education is to inculcate values of American citizenship. Public tax dollars used in public schools should not be used to denigrate American values and the teachings of Western civilization.”
Given that public schools already are government-sponsored propaganda mills -- usually for anti-American, anti-market crap -- the proposed measure seems reasonable to me. As long as government is in the business of running schools, it ought to run them in ways that don't spread discord and preach the "social gospel" according to Al Gore, Michael Moore, and their ilk.

I'm a product of public schools whose teachers (probably) were old-time Republicans, and who extolled the virtues of "dead, white males" like Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln. We need more of that, not less.