Ripley might not believe this education agenda

Following his father’s death, teenager LeRoy Robert Ripley began his sports cartoonist career in California to help support his family. By 1913, he was working at The New York Globe when his weekly cartoons morphed into a “Believe It or Not” series.

Into the 1920s, following marriage to a film actress and a trip around the world, Robert Ripley joined the New York Post and hired linguist Norbert Pearlroth as a full-time assistant. And, as often said, the rest is history.

Publishing tycoon William Randolph Hearst, owner of King Features Syndicate, knew a good thing when he saw it and introduced “Riley’s Believe It or Not” worldwide with his 360 newspapers in 17 languages.

Now comes a tricky side note: Why did I begin with the famous Robert Ripley as a way to expose you to our present-day Republican agenda for America’s educators? Kind of like reaching around your elbow to scratch your head.

Hint: You can find their wish list on TrumpX.com and in Campaign Agenda 47 with oversight by the White House’s National School Boards Association. A few of the more interesting examples follow below. Believe.

A top priority: shield students from the Radical Left and Marxist Maniacs infecting America’s education system. This includes cutting federal funding for any public school or program teaching gender ideology or DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion)?

Another goal: create a method to certify teachers based upon patriotism. Give preferential funding to those states and Boards of Education that abolish teacher tenure and adopt an official “patriotic” pay scale.

Reclaim our once great universities by firing Radical-Left accreditors and substitute real standards to defend American traditions and Western civilization.

The U.S. Department of Justice will pursue federal civil rights cases against schools that engage in (white) racial discrimination under the guise of equity. Tax education endowments and use these funds to pay restitution for (white) victims of any illegal and unjust policies.

Expand parental rights. This includes oversight of academic standards and professional development, prior notification of guest speakers, examination of local public school budgets, and an opt-out clause for school vaccinations.

Support Trump’s 1776 Commission to promote patriotic education and freedom to pray, sending out-of-control students to reform schools. Allow teachers to carry concealed weapons and provide federal funds to hire trained gun owners as guards.

Establish “Project-Based Learning” to train students for meaningful work outside the classroom with internships and real work. Provide federal funding for businesses and schools that actively secure internships, part-time work, and summer jobs.

Offer career counseling in all schools and close the U.S. Department of Education — sending all education matters back to state Boards of Education. This allows school-aged children to attend a (tax-funded) public, private, or religious school that best suits them.

These rules also include homeschooling with full access to benefits available to non-homeschooled students, e.g., participating in (tax-funded) athletic programs, clubs, after-school activities, or educational trips.

Create online “American Academies” as truly world-class, college-level sites available to every American free of charge — covering all subjects and trades supported by official School Boards, mentors, industry partnerships, and the latest in computing.

Endow these programs with funds taken from private university endowments plagued by antisemitism (e.g., pro-Palestinian) campus protests. While strictly apolitical (free speech?), they will compete directly with the nation’s current universities by granting bachelor’s credentials officially recognized by federal agencies and businesses.

Now, let’s stop the diatribe right there and look at a few facts concerning American public education. The Boston Globe report by Freddie deBoer uses hard data to prove his conclusions that U.S. public schools are competitive worldwide at every level. For example, recent tests among international 15-year-olds in 81 nations found U.S. scores ranked higher than those in 68 countries, with 24% of U.S. students at the highest level, double that of other advanced nations.

While our local Board of Education must deal with these near-future issues, I have a feeling that the White House Agenda 47, if fully implemented, will have a negative impact on our children, nation, and future — far beyond the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic.