I am a MAGA man who draws a pension from a State Department of Education. I mostly taught high school English, with a little bit of Journalism and Information Technology tossed in for good measure. It has been a strange journey that has not ended yet.

When I started taking education classes in college (1977-1979), I expected that the goal of American Public Education would be summed up in the question: How do we offer the best public education in the world to our students? I found out pretty quickly that my expectations were quaint but way off. In fact, I learned that my idealistic expectations made me a poster boy for that N-word, naïve.

A pretty bright guy and a great writer, Winston Churchill, once said about Russia, “it is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.” The same can be said of American Public Education (“APE”). It is an undemocratic Empire funded by taxpayers. This empire, claiming to be “all about the kids,” is all about maintaining power and promoting leftist ideology. When a Democrat lives in the White House, he or she is the Emperor/Empress of APE. When a Republican takes charge at 1600 Pennsylvania, the empire hunkers down into a defensive mode somewhere in California or New York.

Image by Pixlr AI.

The closest insider description of what the Evil Educational Empire that we pay for is up to came from the lips of Jill Biden, our former first lady. She said American public schools are where “policies become people.” The process of indoctrination comes out loudly in her statement.

I know the Evil Educational Empire we all pay for fondly follows Mao’s hatred of the “Olds.” Like Mao, it hates “old ideas,” “old culture,” “old customs,” and “old habits.” It doesn’t love America; it loves what its adherents want America to become with their prodding.

So, when I started my career as an educator, I naively thought my educational colleagues were with me in wanting America to be at the very top of nations educating their young. The opposite is true.

Except for what Mrs. Biden said, educational leaders in America hide their true intentions under word salads that would make Kamala Harris smile. They know their true intentions are as popular as having boys pretending to be girls compete with girls in sports. I still think that the goal of public educators should be to offer our young the most excellent education available anywhere. They have a more mysterious definition of excellence, and that is what they dish out badly year after year.

Ned Cosby, a frequent contributor to American Thinker, is a former pastor, veteran Coast Guard officer, and a retired English high school teacher. His novel OUTCRY is a love story exposing the refusal of Christian leaders to report and discipline clergy who sexually abuse our young people. This work of fiction addresses crimes that are all too real. Cosby has also written RECOLLECTIONS FROM MY FATHER’S HOUSE, tracing his own odyssey from 1954 to the present. For more info, visit Ned Cosby.