DOE Failed Mission

Watching the protests over Trump’s order to close the Department of Education is laughable. Especially the signs employing the typical democrat tactic of invoking “the children.”  They are now claiming that they are being unfairly scapegoated for lackluster student performance when, in fact, that’s not their responsibility. Really?  Then what exactly is their responsibility?  From where I sit, it would appear that they are nothing more than an arm of the teachers union. And as everyone knows, the department was formed during the Carter administration as a gift to the teachers union for their unwavering support of the Democrat Party. Fact. According to their website, their mission statement is “to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence.” So there you have it, in that they have failed miserably, just look at the statistics! Not to pile on, but coincidentally, what further stoked my ire, an acquaintance of mine, a ninth-grade social studies teacher, attended a “teacher wellness day” when the students were given a day off, and the teachers sat around, drank coffee and watched Saturday Night Live videos. How productive. Another friend of mine, in the same time frame, lent yet further to my agitation. He reported having recently moved to an up-scale neighborhood and wondered what his next-door neighbor did for a living. He had an expensive home and drove an expensive car but was home early every day, mowing his lawn and washing his car at 2:30-3:00 in the afternoon. He made some inquiries to find out he was superintendent of schools, with a yearly salary of $250K. Money well spent? Or top-heavy bureaucracy endorsed by the union. When Nancy Reagan proposed “no child left behind,” I don’t think this was what she had in mind. So if the Department of Education isn’t responsible for student performance and somehow reigning in the circus that has become our public school system, they actually serve no useful purpose and are the very definition of the government waste that has bloated our federal budget. Good riddance I say, and please forgive me all you dedicated school teachers and administrators out there who just got done in by association with a flawed system that disserved you in its political fervor and Progressive agenda.