BELIEF A: I’ve always said Fatherhood is an issue that transcends race, gender, religion, political party, and any other divide. We all have an enormous stake in rebuilding the institution of fatherhood for the sake of children, mothers, families, our communities, and our country.
BELIEF B: I have also said that there are two primary drivers of systemic inequality: the crisis of fatherlessness and the war on school choice.
Some readers will sense a conflict with A and disagree with B as I wade into the choppy waters of charter schools, teachers’ unions, parents’ right, and the like. Others might accuse me of political bias by sourcing the stories below from news outlets they, shall we say, tend to ignore. But let’s take a look around the country.
Item 1: Chicago
“Liberal white policies causing our boys to fail…” That’s quite a statement. But listen to the conversation on fatherhood, school choice, and new education models among Pastor Corey Brooks, King Randall and Travis Cochran on the 61st day of the rooftop vigil designed to transform lives on Chicago’s the South Side.
https://www.foxnews.com/
Pastor Corey has more to say on the war on school choice: Rooftop Revelations: How are people who block school choice any different from George Wallace? | Fox News
Item 2: Michigan.
Now read this assault in Michigan on parents who (shocking!) might want a say in what their kids are taught. The post was pulled when the potential political fallout was assessed, but the message to parents was clear. Want school choice? Pay for it yourselves after you fully fund government monopoly schools that teach the agendas that we want kids to learn.
https://www.dailywire.com/
Item 3: California.
One more. Columnist Joe Mathews wrote, “If California is ever going to achieve true equity, the state must require parents to give away their children.” Mr. Mathews believes some parents give an unfair advantage to their kids – I assume by providing for them, protecting them, reading to them, sacrificing for them, and putting them first. “As a result,” according to Mathews, “Children of less advantaged parents face an uphill struggle, social mobility has stalled, and democracy has been corrupted.” His solution? Passing legislation making raising your own children illegal.
Column: California should abolish parenthood, in the name of equity (vcstar.com)
A pastor has to hang out on a rooftop for 100 freezing nights to call attention to the importance of fathers, while powerful and well-funded teachers’ unions cut the legs out from fathers and mothers alike. Mathews may sound like a nut, but he makes perfect sense if we allow government, in the pursuit of “equity”, to force sameness on everyone and everything (except them and their kids). Parental authority and responsibility? Not needed. Fatherhood? No chance.
Again, regardless of the chasms that divide us, this is utter nonsense. We can and must do better. All of us.
