Let us continue to discuss education, then and now.

For decades, the decline in the quality of education at American universities has been obvious.

Why?

Perhaps C.S. Lewis has the right of it.

Education and schools officially, legally, and even morally exist for the good of the students: those being taught. Or at least they were established, created, for that purpose. Yet, the role of these institutions (both “public” [GRTF – government-run and taxpayer-funded] and “private”) in the massive attack on American liberty, culture, economy, and traditions is well-known. And as that role (of propagandist, influencer, changer of culture and society) has grown, its track record and ability to carry out that original primary mission has deteriorated.

Particularly for lovers of liberty, this is tragic and intolerable. It is not a case of schools only existing to teach people job and life skills. But even in those fields, the modern education establishment has failed.

The rise of a new, even more corrupt academia – faculty and administration – has been noted now and then. In other words, the arrogance and oppression have grown. Enormously. Some trace this process to the rise of the so-called anti-war generation in the 1960s and a deliberate effort to take over the universities to educate and indoctrinate an entire generation in so-called liberalism or progressivism: the attitude we call Woke today.

The proponents of this theory have a lot to support their claim. At the same time, we can argue that this is only the last stage of a developing tyranny that can be traced back 150 years or more in the past.

Whether that is the case or not, we need to recognize this trend is continuing in 2024: half a century and more after the anti-war movement and beatnik/hippie era. 90 years after the rise of the Depression Era bureaucratic tyranny and 110 years after the beginning of the grab of power by DC leading up to the Great War.

But it is certainly better seen today. Here are some recent examples:

A Duke University professor calls for $14 trillion reparation for either all black Americans or descendants of slaves. To be paid for by the FedGov. More and more voices are joining his cause: and more and more politicians seem to be trying to hop on the bandwagon.

A Princeton University professor claims that human sex (“gender”) cannot be evaluated based on genetic or physical characteristics. Feelings are more important than rational evaluation and understanding of basic facts of biology.

There are many more.

The massive anti-Israel, pro-Gaza protest movement, and its faculty, staff, and outside influencers and participants – and the accommodations made because of those protests – reveal that actual education is no longer the goal – certainly not the primary goal – of these organizations and the people running them. (Not that we should not have learned that lesson from the Pandemic or the Occupy and Black Lives Matter movements.

Academia – higher and basic education (primary and secondary) – is decaying rapidly, and unable to consistently and faithfully carry out the responsibilities for which it was created. The warning is clear: we cannot trust these institutions.