mtswJan 31, 2023

Many of the conservatives who are pushing hardest for book bans in public schools homeschool their kids or send them to private schools.

They still push for this because destruction of public schools as an engine of egalitarianism, democracy and social mobility serves their larger ideological goals of having an unequal society with "good people" like them at the top, served by exploited and ignorant poor underneath.

Show threadmtswJan 31, 2023
The ultimate goal of the project is to have the rich send their kids to secular private schools where high-level instruction is monopolized for the wealthy, the middle class to send their kids to religious schools where they are kept ignorant and propagandized, and for the poor to defunded public schools that feature almost no instruction and instead prepare them for servitude and compliance (or prison).
Show threadmtsw
You may observe that this has aleady been more-or-less achieved (minus the religious middle class schools) in much of the country via residential segregation within metro areas - splitting up the school districts and funding inside one city so rich zip codes get fancy well-funded schools and poor areas get death spiral underfunded ones!
Jan 31, 2023 at 5:58pmWeb
Show threadmtswJan 31, 2023
Like many revolutionaries, American "conservatives" have found success in part because the door they're kicking down is made of rotting wood.
Show threadClinical RawlsianJan 31, 2023
@mtsw I don't believe in hell, but if I did I would hope there is a special place reserved their for Bill Clinton, the Democratic Leadership Council, "Blue Dog" Democrats, and all other "small government liberals".
Show threadClinical RawlsianJan 31, 2023
@mtsw After Johnson secured passage of the VRA and CRA, Nixon then Reagan used race-baiting to attack the undermine the labor movement and drive apart the New Deal Coalition. The response of Clinton and his ilk was to try to appease the right by throwing the poor and minorities under the bus rather than fighting back. Shockingly, this strategy didn't work and only emboldened the extreme right.
Show threadRiley S. FaelanJan 31, 2023

@MadMadMadMadRN @mtsw: In Bill's hell, Hillary and Monica would be besties.

In Hillary's hell, Bill and Monica would be besties.

And in Monica's hell, Hillary and Bill would be besties.

Show threadNate Vack 🍴Feb 1, 2023
@MadMadMadMadRN @mtsw I mean, fine, but I'll personally save my “special place in hell” wishes for the DeSantis types
Show threadArt (Serious Mode)Jan 31, 2023
@mtsw Worth thinking about this as well in terms of both the historical roots of the charter school movement in America in segregation and the intersection of race and class
Show threadJosiah MannionJan 31, 2023
@mtsw I think this holds coordinated and precise parallels to their attacks on public libraries as well.
Show threadHLGEMFeb 1, 2023
@mtsw I don't know where you live, but many, many of my middle class coworkers and acquaintances send their children to private religious schools (Which are often terrible schools) that are supposedly better than the public schools (which are actually very good schools).