I am a product of public schools, as are all my siblings, and as were my parents. My paternal grandparents taught in the New York City Public Schools during the depression. My dad went to the Bronx High School of Science, and there are three Harvard graduates in my immediate family. 

I went to a magnet school in the 1970s, and even then, I found the education provided pretty stultifying. I found school boring, but I read like a fiend. 

So, in principle, I have no hostility to the idea of public schools. For better or worse, public education has deep roots in our society, to the extent that even before the United States officially became a country, Congress passed the Northwest Ordinance, which set aside land to fund public schools. 

Ok look, the Chicago Teachers Union sponsored this event. pic.twitter.com/gmVOg6agcq

— Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) March 9, 2026

Americans love their public schools so much that it almost seems cultlike to me sometimes. Education unions run ads for political candidates, and they now own the school boards in much of the country. Chicago's hideous mayor, Brandon Johnson, ran the Chicago Teachers' Union, which is explicitly communist and called reopening schools during COVID racist and sexist. 

She represents everything that’s wrong with modern society https://t.co/iHFGHx1HJU

— Adam Carolla (@adamcarolla) March 10, 2026

But now I wonder, what's the point? We spend trillions on public education, with only one or two countries spending more per pupil than the US, yet we keep seeing the results of all that spending get worse and worse. 

Mission High School student acceptance rate at UC Berkeley.

2023: 43% (39 students admitted out of 90 applicants)

2024: 37% (29 students admitted out of 78 applicants)

— i/o (@avidseries) March 19, 2026

The school has around 250 seniors every year. So, Berkeley takes about 15% of the seniors.
Which means, at least half of those admitted by Berkeley are NOT math proficient nor science proficient.

— Daoshan Sun (@DaoshanS) March 19, 2026

The purpose of our schools has been perverted, just as many of our schoolteachers and administrators are themselves perverts. There certainly are schools that do a good job for selected students, although public school advocates are trying to shut those down because they impede social justice, but in the main, schools are little more than propaganda mills designed to churn out illiterate, innumerate, gay communists. 

?EXCLUSIVE

The organization that sets the agenda for the 130,000 school counselors across the U.S. just promoted a left-wing activist program that advocates for transgender ideology and critical race theory, according to @CourageHabit.

?1/9https://t.co/DYAAI18y6D pic.twitter.com/qsKGssdjA2

— Tyler O'Neil (@Tyler2ONeil) March 18, 2026

There is no premium on achievement, although some students have the advantage of having parents who will not let them fail no matter how awful the schools are. There is a thriving multi-billion-dollar industry of college prep businesses whose main job is to substitute for the worthless public schools. Kids spend hours a day in cesspools of propaganda and ignorance, and then their parents pay outsiders to provide remedial education. 

pic.twitter.com/d3hs8eLtzi

— Reddit Lies (@reddit_lies) March 15, 2026

Even still, students are arriving at elite colleges needing remedial classes. When Ivy League schools are admitting kids who can't read, write, or do arithmetic up to standard, you know you have a problem. Often these schools even seek out substandard students as a social justice measure. Harvard, for instance, can't explain why its Jewish enrollment has dropped like a rock, while it chases after politically-connected students like David Hogg and Jazz Jennings, and brags endlessly about "diversity."

Can We Just Purge These Looney Teachers?

Portland Maine "educator" is angry that the budget cuts will impact what is most important to her.

+Restorative Justice Practice
+Culturally Relevant
+Trauma Informed
+Equality of Outcome

*I just want to hear a teacher come up to that… pic.twitter.com/yOyV34c1RO

— TheUnquirer (@unquirer) March 15, 2026

Even decades ago, a friend of mine who worked in a Congressional office would laugh about how he met with education union lobbyists, who never brought up education. It was all political crap. 

A high school teachers union, wearing Keffiyehs, discuss how to groom children even earlier:

“Everyone who raised your hand and said that you got radicalized in college—imagine if you got radicalized four years earlier?”

pic.twitter.com/kTogHWv93a

— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) March 9, 2026

Randi Weingarten and Becky Pringle, the union goddesses who kept kids out of schools for years during COVID, were members of the Democratic National Committee for years, because that is where their real interests lie. More money, more leftist social movements. 

? SHOCKING: School Took Away a 7-Year-Old’s Recess for Saying “All Lives Matter”.

WATCH the Ninth Circuit pressing the district over the child’s First Amendment rights.

“Maybe you don’t give a Black Lives Matter course to a first grader; teach tying shoes.”… pic.twitter.com/zUxgZJ2gBb

— Kristin Sokoloff (@ksoklower48) March 13, 2026

It's not just the obsession with transing the kids. The schools now want to be full social service indoctrination centers, with abortion care, "mental health" facilities. They call it "social and emotional learning," but really its about ripping kids out of their parents' tutelage and creating a cultural revolution here. 

Exclusive: This image was taken yesterday in an art classroom at Puyallup HS in Washington state. It depicts @POTUS as a pig, a KKK member, a clown, and mentions assassination. We have asked the district for comment. pic.twitter.com/DgE4cTxbcL

— Brandi Kruse (@BrandiKruse) March 19, 2026

I'm not even sure that school choice will make much of a dent in the basic problem, because a lot of this comes from the top: the academic institutions that churn out the blue-haired transgender teachers who babble on about decolonization and Queering education. They are everywhere now. 

Homeschooling. That's all I can think of. And since many parents can't do it, crowdsourced homeschooling is now becoming more common. Parents banding together to educate their kids. 

I've done a bit of substitute teaching in one such collective. The students were bright, could read philosophy and discuss it intelligently, and were also grounded in reality. 

It's the only solution I can see. 

Editor's note: If we thought our job in pushing back against the Academia/media/Democrat censorship complex was over with the election, think again. This is going to be a long fight. If you want to join the conversation in the comments -- and support independent platforms -- why not join our VIP Membership program? Choose VIP to support Hot Air and access our premium content, VIP Gold to extend your access to all Townhall Media platforms and participate in this show, or VIP Platinum to get access to even more content and discounts on merchandise. Use the promo code FIGHT to join or to upgrade your existing membership level today, and get 60% off!