When I retired back in August 2004, I desired to give back to the community. I signed up for the Troops to Teachers program and interviewed for teaching positions at the high school level in Broward County, Florida. I wound up at Deerfield Beach HS, where I taught American History in the International Baccalaureate program and Government, as well as coached the track team. However, after one year, I decided that I could have a better impact by going to Afghanistan to train and mentor the Afghan Army officers, which I did for two and a half years. One of the things that was highly disturbing for me was the FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test) because teaching our young people had been replaced by teaching them how to take a test. Everything was based upon a school’s FCAT rating. Functional education and the development of critical thinking skills was being replaced by rote memorization and test-taking patterns. Now we have descended to a new low where our students are being indoctrinated with absurd cultural marxist themes such as CRT (critical race theory) and DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) programs, along with the insidious 1619 Project delusion.

When one analyzes major urban population centers, cities, and levels of education, we find that most students are not reading or doing math at grade level.

However, something recently occurred in the Dallas Independent School District (DISD) at Woodrow Wilson HS that has drawn widespread attention. Woodrow Wilson HS has about 200 students, and of that student body, approximately 6% are Black. In the previous year, WWHS finished with a “C” rating, but improved to a “B” rating. But that did not stop the WWHS Principal Chandra Hooper-Barnett from holding a “Black student only” assembly at the school. Among her talks to the students were comments about her support to DEI and hiring black teachers; Barnett is Black. But what was found most egregious was when Barnett began blaming the Black students for the school not achieving a higher rating. 

When the nature of this assembly and comments thereof, were uncovered, Principal Barnett issued an apology and claimed responsibility for her actions. She has been removed from the position of principal by the DISD Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde and replaced by interim principal Danielle Peters.

What is quite perplexing is why Principal Barnett didn’t bring all the students into the assembly and encourage them to perform at a higher standard. Why not introduce a new initiative to assist students with developing stronger critical thinking skills and better prepare them for a future life, not just address test-taking? The answer is simple: the leftist mantra is not about caring for the student; it is all about their perception and optics. The teachers’ unions are not focused on bettering our students, but rather in advancing a leftist ideology. And the progressive leftists in America will be the first ones to stand against any form of policy promoting educational freedom and parental choice for their children. After all, when parents began showing up at school board meetings, the Biden administration DOJ designated them as domestic terrorists…yea, not Antifa or the Muslim Brotherhood, American parents who want their children educated.

Of course, the question is whether Principal Chandra Hooper-Barnett will just be part of reassigning the deck chairs on the Titanic, or will she be fired from the DISD?

I think it is vital to understand that the first person to advocate for government-controlled schools, education was Karl Marx in his Communist Manifesto. I was the last of his ten planks of communism. And we know that leftists enjoy blaming others, and in this case, it was blaming students for their failure, failing to teach, instruct, and prepare our young people. There has to be a revolution in education, not just here in Dallas but all across America. I would recommend everyone to read the autobiography of Booker T. Washington, “Up From Slavery”. In establishing Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, Washington had a three-point focus — education, entrepreneurship, and self-reliance. He made the educational experience relevant and not just about “book learning” or rote memorization of theory, but of how it all relates to life.

I would say it is time we abandon ship on the educational philosophy of Karl Marx and re-adopt the philosophy of one of the greatest educators in our Country. A man who was born into slavery, but rose high above and was the first Black man to dine in the White House. Maybe DISD should have the writings of Booker T. Washington as mandatory reading, especially his essay on Character Building…ahh, I doubt the leftists on the DISD board would ever do that. They probably have never read it themselves…have you?

Steadfast and Loyal