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To be clear, we at The Locke Society believe remote learning is vastly inferior to in-person learning. Remote learning should be avoided whenever possible, but it also should be available in the instances where it is needed. That being said, many conservative pundits claimed that the one good thing about remote learning was that it allowed parents to see what was being taught, and what was going on in their child’s classroom. This indirectly led to many parents and individuals attending and protesting at school board meetings, and petitioning for various educational causes. If it were true that remote learning put teachers on edge, why is it that the union, and many teachers on their own, are advocating for a return to remote learning? 

If extreme leftist teachers were truly worried that parents might see the radical ideas they are teaching students through remote learning, wouldn’t the leftist teachers union and their members do whatever it took to ensure that parents could not see what is being taught? 

The answer is that none of them ever really cared that parents were watching what was presented or said in the “classroom.” Most of these teachers do not care if a parent were to “catch them” indoctrinating their child. They are protected by the union and are likely using highly esteemed educational resources, which will be used as a point of argument. Unless a teacher does something even too radical for the radical left, if there is such a thing, they will barely receive a reprimanding, and if they do, it will just be a show for the complaint department. If parents make enough of an issue about something, their children might be reassigned to a different class with a teacher who has been instructed to make sure that any political issues are dealt with in a manner that protects the district and teacher, but is no less leftist at the end of the day. 

Radical leftist teachers are not afraid to have their curriculum exposed to the world, in fact, they are more than happy to do it themselves. Exposing what someone is doing is simply raising awareness about it, which is a long tried tactic all too familiar to those on our side. Once awareness is raised, people may scream and shout, and there may be a facade of effects that look like something has been done but real educators know it does not make a difference at all. While we believe it is important to be aware of radical curricula, especially the most popular ones today, only spreading awareness is not going to bring change where it needs to happen. Hopefully a conservative teacher will steer clear of the source after learning about it, but the majority, being leftist teachers, will continue to use it. Even a ban on such a source will not make a difference and has already proven as such. 

Threatening exposure is not much of a threat to people who tout what they are doing all over social media. They are proud of their work and want people to know about it so that it spreads to even more classrooms.

While parents may feel like they should have more power, sadly educators “who went through years of schooling, with multiple degrees, certification, and experience in the classroom” feel otherwise. Yes, the school boards have meetings where parents’ grievances can be expressed, and while the school boards hold power, when it comes to how a curriculum is actually taught in the classroom by the teacher who is likely relying on a student-centered approach if they are up to current standards, they have little. It is heartbreaking to see what happens behind the scenes after a hopeful parent who wants to express his/her grievances about curriculum leaves a meeting; to keep it simple, there are a few laughs, a few jokes, and the “they have no clue about teaching” remarks, unless one happens to be a current teacher in that grade level and subject, not retired or out of the field, but current. 

Unless we have conservative teachers in the classroom, nothing will change. The radical left is not scared of people who threaten to “expose” them, in fact, they’d probably appreciate the effort. The only thing that could stop them in their tracks is a rise in the number of conservative and moderate teachers who will decline, openly or quietly, to fuel their agenda. We know all of the questions and concerns that arise about being a conservative teacher in a radical leftist stronghold, and we already have that covered having been there and done that successfully ourselves. It’s time to stop playing games to become the next great headline, and start doing the real work.