Karol Markowicz: Every Parent Should Fight Back vs. The Left’s War on Merit

It used to be obvious merit is a part of achieving America’s dream. But like it’s doing to so many self-evident things, the left is attempting to destroy this idea as it pursues a Sovietesque system of “equity.”

Parents might not see merit’s decline as a more pressing concern than their children being told they can be any gender they choose from day to day. Academically, most children are average. There are many ideological battles to be had, so why fight for merit?

Parents have to see merit as part and parcel of the left’s push to impose its ridiculous concepts on our kids.

The idea that everyone has the same chance of success has been tested in many failed socialist countries. You can be certain that the rest of the woke ideas you hate will take over a school if the left ends merit.

Beyond that, our schools’ loss of rigor has dumbed down our country, and the retreat from pursuing merit has slowed success for so many kids.

This isn’t theoretical. This isn’t an accident.

Asra Nomani, Virginia mom recently discovered that in September 2020, her son received National Merit recognition, a prestigious honor given to a handful of kids across the country —  but her son’s school, Thomas Jefferson HS for Science and Technology, hid it from the family.

The majority-Asian school lies in the middle and is drowning under leftist ideology. “equity,” There are no differences in the outcomes of children depending on their skin color. TJ has too many successful Asians, so Asians are out. Nomani’s son was the wrong color, and the school’s racists decided he should not be presented with the award.

Learning this news two years too late, Nomani’s son was denied the ability to note the achievement on his college applications and seek scholarships that stem from this award. It did not help his chances of success. On purpose.

State officials are looking into more than a dozen schools across northern Virginia to see if they can do the same thing.

In Sunday’s Post, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin wrote that he’s proposed a bill “to eliminate the withholding of any recognition, award, or postsecondary scholarship eligibility earned by Virginia students” — “parents and students will be notified immediately about these honors.”

That’s a start. But the schools that harmed so many kids’ futures because they put their political ideology ahead of student success need to be punished, and everyone involved must be fired.

Youngkin points to the fact that Fairfax County spent $2.5 billion. “$455,000 of taxpayer dollars to fund equity training in schools.” This is absurd. It’s like setting fire to nearly half a billion dollars of tax dollars. We can’t let this go on.

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares has launched an investigation into whether these schools violated the students’ civil rights. It’s obvious that they did, and accountability is required. Any school found to be withholding merit awards from children should be given the option of either a new administration or losing federal funding.

Schools receive this money to support kids’ education and success, not to impose their twisted Communist-like social system. If public schools can’t or won’t do that, they don’t deserve to exist.

This scandal’s behavior is beyond reproach. They should all lose it all.

Left treats public schools as its own fiefdom. This must change. Parents should fight for school choice and for a child’s education funding to follow the student, but (particularly in blue states where that’s an uphill battle) they have to simultaneously fight for our public schools.

Parents are able to do it. They have been able to defeat critical-race theory and gender-ideology training in many public school systems, even those in blue. The next frontier is fighting for merit, and it must matter to everyone.

Twitter: @Karol