The anti-ICE protests happening in schools around America got me thinking about a line from "Captain America: Civil War" that I think sums up the problem with government entities well.
During the scene where the Avengers are first presented with the Sokovia Accords, legislation that would effectively turn control of the Avengers over to the United Nations, the team becomes split between accepting oversight and continuing to operate independently. A somewhat heated debate pops up between the members, but ultimately, the two most important voices become Steve Rogers and Tony Stark.
Stark is arguing in favor of oversight. He's clearly affected by the guilt of people who died while he was trying to save them, and he believes that if they're reigned in by a governing body, things will become a bit more organized and responsible. He makes the case that if they're not willing to accept limitations, then they're "no better than the bad guys."
However, Rogers knows better and isn't about to hand over responsibility for his own actions to someone else, especially a government body. He drops a line that, I think, sums up the dangers of big government well.
"It's run by people with agendas, and agendas change," he says, adding that the control expressed over them may very well stop them from doing the work they need to do.
"The safest hands are still our own," he adds.
Why did the anti-ICE school protests make me think of this?
Because school administrations are people with agendas, and agendas change.
As my colleague Jennifer O'Connell wrote recently, schools around the United States have been allowing students to ditch class to protest the deportation of illegal immigrants under ICE, and she brings up how the focus on activism has, naturally, affected basic skills students go to school to learn:
As education activist Corey DeAngelis has reported, these protests are not only being encouraged but also funded through the National Education Association (NEA). Despite declining student achievement nationwide and high schoolers who cannot read and can barely write, the NEA feels it is a priority to teach children about activism.
Read: The Anti-ICE 'Shutdown Days' Prove Johnny and Julie Can't Read or Write, but They Sure Can Protest
To be clear, not all school administrations are there to allow their students to neglect their studies in favor of one-sided political activism, but the fact that you don't know what kind of administration you're going to get at any given moment isn't exactly good PR for our public school system. At any given moment, for any reason, or on any subject, you may find a school's leadership or its teachers acting as gatekeepers for your son or daughter's education, allowing them to access it only after the students are done scratching whatever political itch their instructors may have.
Government-based educational oversight is not a good idea. It should boil down to what the parents of the students want in their local area. Today, your school district may be reliable and trustworthy, but demographic changes, political shifts, and weak characters may suddenly see your schools adopt — or be forced to adopt — educational standards that do nothing to help your child grow into a properly functioning adult. They will be ignorant, uneducated, but very, very useful to certain groups of people.
A public school trying to brainwash children for political purposes is not a conspiracy theory. In fact, depending on the city or state, it's the norm. I've written on this happening on several occasions here on RedState, and I know my fellow authors have covered instances as well.
Read: A California County Urges Teachers to Hide Anti-American "Ethnic Studies" Lessons From Parents
Read: The Transgender Breeding Program Is One of the Most Sinister Plots in History
Again, anyone with a hand on your children's future that isn't yours has an agenda. You may agree with it. You may disagree with it. Regardless, the power isn't in your hands, and the safest hands are still our own.
The schools should answer to the parents on every level. Not some Washington bureaucrat or corrupted state governor, more concerned with his or her own political future than your child's future.
