{"id":1274560,"date":"2022-02-05T13:00:30","date_gmt":"2022-02-05T18:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1274560"},"modified":"2022-02-05T18:07:36","modified_gmt":"2022-02-05T23:07:36","slug":"educational-elites-have-awakened-a-sleeping-tiger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/educational-elites-have-awakened-a-sleeping-tiger\/","title":{"rendered":"Educational Elites Have Awakened A Sleeping Tiger"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Feducational-elites-have-awakened-a-sleeping-tiger%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1274560&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/988CE1C7-A85F-4E24-89A7-318D13208BAE-scaled-e1644013703575-1.jpeg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Perhaps predictably, many public schools kicked off 2022 by switching back to remote learning \u2014 or canceling classes altogether \u2014 leaving frustrated parents across the country frantically searching for more consistent schooling options.<\/p>\n<p>These past two school years of remote and hybrid learning, forced masking, and an intensified culture of unpredictability has pushed teachers, administrators, students, and parents to very edge. What began as a temporary interruption to student learning has become a vicious cycle of confusion, inconsistency and lost educational time.<\/p>\n<p>Thanks to the unreliability of distance learning, children are retaining less of what they\u2019ve learned, reading at lower grade levels and suffering from a lack of social interaction. There is little to no support for children who rely on school to provide a safe haven from difficult home lives, and students in free or reduced meal plans have a harder time receiving them.<\/p>\n<p>As school policies continue to isolate students from friends and peers, such as forcing students to eat their lunch outside on buckets, or facing the same direction without talking, the tragic numbers of adolescent depression, anxiety, and suicide continue to rise.<\/p>\n<p>Millions of exasperated parents, many in deep-blue cities and states, are desperately pursuing educational alternatives that better suit their families\u2019 needs and values. Parents are enrolling their children in private and charter schools in droves, while those without the financial means to do so remain stuck in a system captive to the whims of teachers\u2019 unions and indifferent school boards.<\/p>\n<p>Many teachers are going above and beyond in the name of what is best for kids, but their ability to truly innovate and explore new ways of teaching and inspire learning is being blocked by the unnecessarily restrictive demands of union leadership.<\/p>\n<p>These unions tend to operate at state and national levels in ways that do not represent most of their members. Rather than sticking up for these vulnerable children, unions \u2014 as recently exemplified by the Chicago Teachers Union \u2014 are prioritizing strikes, walkouts and funding political campaigns, halting true progress as students remain stranded at home.<\/p>\n<p>Fed-up teachers across the country have resigned their union membership, tired of their dues dollars funding an agenda they don\u2019t support.<\/p>\n<p>Thankfully, this power-flexing by the educational elites has also awakened a sleeping tiger \u2014 parents who care far more about their children\u2019s education than the radical political agenda embraced by teachers\u2019 union leaders.<\/p>\n<p>Many parents are recognizing now more than ever the importance of school choice. Rather than forcing families to fit their children into an outdated, one-size-fits-all template, we now have the opportunity a build a new educational model that offers a wider variety of schooling options designed to fit the families it serves.<\/p>\n<p>Parents are increasingly empowered to choose whatever type of education is best for their family, and they\u2019re seizing this opportunity in a grassroots movement that is sweeping the country.<\/p>\n<p>None of which is to suggest public schools can\u2019t be saved. Our education system must be fixed, not abandoned.<\/p>\n<p>Despite its boast of enhancing opportunities for everyone, remote learning has perpetuated the gap between the \u201chaves\u201d and the \u201chave-nots.\u201d Parents who lack the financial means to switch their children to in-person learning at private or charter schools \u2014 whether it be for a better educational experience or simply because they can\u2019t afford to stay home from work to supervise remote learning \u2014 have no choice but to remain in public school.<\/p>\n<p>We must find the courage to improve and innovate the public education system and put first what\u2019s best for students and families, rather than national teachers\u2019 unions.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps most importantly, parents and teachers alike must remember the power they have in making their voices heard. Though millions of angry parents will be going to the polls this November, it\u2019s important they work to enact change now by calling school administrators, district superintendents and school boards to let them know they don\u2019t support union agendas running their kids\u2019 schools.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s time we set aside politics and remembered who education is meant to serve, and the futures we are fighting for.<\/p>\n<p><i>The views expressed in this piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>Ashley Varner is vice president of communications and federal affairs at the Freedom Foundation.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and&nbsp;<span class=\"il\">counter-cultural<\/span>&nbsp;outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">member<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Perhaps predictably, many public schools kicked off 2022 by switching back to remote learning \u2014 or canceling classes altogether \u2014 leaving frustrated parents across the country frantically searching for more &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1274560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1274560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1274560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1274560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1274560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1274560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1274560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}