Another side of Andy Borowitz

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

49. Great points. I taught for 20 years in public schools and it's not as simple a people want it to be.

It really does take perhaps more than many institutions and families can give to fix the worst schools. But it has been done in some areas. So, there's hope. But only if the will and the resources are there. And systemic racism plays such a large part in creating the problems, so we have a long way to go.

I think your second point is key. It existed before the rise of the great networks of RW propaganda, but RW media and in turn its consumers have successfully fostered a culture of virulent anti-intellectualism. You cannot teach students who refuse, with the support of their parents, to learn.

Trying to teach critical thinking was especially vulnerable to this belligerent ignorance. Focusing on opinion vs facts, for instance, many simply refused to even accept the concept. Their opinion is fact because it's their opinion. No convincing them otherwise.

I saw this phenomenon increasingly common as time went on. I can't say I predicted Trump in particular, but someone like him was the obvious outcome which I dreaded.