Darryl Betts
darryllrbetts.wordpress.com
Darryl is a businessman and a post-graduate student in philosophy at the University of Auckland, with particular interests in the philosophy of science, philosophy of mind, epistemology, logic and AI. He holds a BSc in Computer Science and a BA in Philosophy, Logic and Computation.
Journalists at Project Veritas recently released two undercover videos which show educators in positions of authority and influence admitting to practices which violate one of the most fundamental principles of education – that children should be taught how to think, not what to think. That the things shown in these videos are happening is no surprise to many of us who believe there are serious problems of ideological bias and indoctrination in Western education systems, but it is nonetheless a shock to see it exposed.
The first video [1] shows an assistant principal admitting to discriminatory hiring practices based on politics, region, ideology and age, and discussing the way that political indoctrination is incorporated into teaching. The second video [2] shows a director of student activities admitting to political bias and indoctrination. The number of appalling things which are revealed in these two videos would take a book to cover.
Beyond the obvious wrongs the individuals concerned are admitting to, the things they say provide some extremely interesting and disturbing insights into the progressive left ideology which has been steadily taking over our governments, education systems, media and society in general.
One that stands out for me is how the assistant principal twists the classical distinction between teaching how to think and teaching what to think. He says this:
“You’re teaching them how to think. That’s it. It doesn’t matter what they think about. If they think about it in a logical, progressive way, that becomes their habit.” [1] at 00:12. To remove any doubt about what he means by logical and progressive, he then goes on to say:
“Believe it or not the open-minded, more progressive teachers are actually more savvy about delivering a Democratic message without really ever mentioning their politics… it’s subtle… they just make that the norm,” and then, “That’s how you get away with it.”
The interviewer then says “And then later down the line they’re gonna vote Democrat and you will have done a great service to our country,” to which the assistance principal nods and says “I hope.”
In his mind, he does make a distinction between teaching how to think and teaching what to think (albeit in a very muddled way), but for him a Democratic (ie progressive left) education is equivalent to teaching a child how to think. This I think goes to the heart of the problem in our political landscape. These people are so convinced of the rightness of their political viewpoint (and the wrongness of all other viewpoints), that they make no distinction between their viewpoint and knowing how to think. It is not only permissible for them to mold the minds of children into what they believe is the correct political viewpoint, it is their duty.
At one point the individual in the second video talks about a discussion with her boss about her preference for selecting visiting speakers based on political viewpoint, and her boss indicates support by (according to her) saying “This isn’t the time for both sides.” This is very chilling.
Of course we all have particular political viewpoints, but it is their responsibility as educators to have the skills and self-discipline to set that aside (and to understand why it is important to do so). That we seem to have some teachers that are not aware of such fundamental principles is deeply disturbing – they have the power to do a lot of harm.
References:
[1] Project Veritas hidden camera – Assistant Principal of Cos Cob Elementary School, Connecticut. https://youtu.be/AD2kM39S4d4
[2] Project Veritas hidden camera – Trinity School NYC Director of Student Activities. https://youtu.be/N3_5KEfc3Zc
