America’s educational system – the one employed by the greatest nation in the world -- is doing the next generation of children the greatest of disservices. It is stifling their potential prosperity with a growing plague of illiteracy.
When our children aren’t hindered by the bureaucracy of self-interested administrators, they’re being railroaded by select educators who are enthralled with preparing our children to become pawns for their political causes, rather than kings and queens who are ready to conquer the chessboard of life.
These obvious issues with the public school system in America, along with the grotesque extended arm of government overreach during the pandemic, spawned Moms for Liberty, a new nationwide organization. Moms for Liberty is unafraid to confront the ugliness that has resided in schools across the country with a smile on their faces.
Recently, Moms for Liberty co-founder Tiffany Justice invited me to her Florida home to conduct an interview for my web series called “Breaking Bread” where we engage in casual conversation about serious topics over a meal.
One of Justice’s concerns is that many Americans aren’t aware of how terrible the situation is with America’s literacy rate; nor how lockdowns only compounded this problem.
“A lot of times there are great things to celebrate. There are accomplishments for kids. But the truth of the matter is that, you know, we have to be honest about where we are right now or else, we’re not going to fix the fact that three in 10, only three in ten kids in America are reading at grade level,” Justice lamented. “I think at the very least, parents should expect their children to learn to read in school. That sounds very basic, right? Yeah. I mean, I think it's a fair expectation. This year, in 2023, America will spend over $850 billion in local, state, [and] federal funding in IT public education.”
Unfortunately, with great public failure comes a great public cover-up. Justice highlighted how public school systems gloss over the negatives, for instance, by inflating their graduation rates.
“And so now they figure out how to rig the graduation rate,” she said. “And so, kids get pushed forward. You've got, you know, a quarter of the kids’ reading proficiently in eighth grade, and then you've got 85, 90% of kids graduating. Does anyone really believe that kids are going from not proficient or far, far below proficient in reading in eighth grade to fully proficient in graduating?”
However, in many cases, progressive and neo-Marxist ideologies are the superficial markers for success that schools prefer to employ. They engulf our children with indoctrination, instead of core education fundamental concepts that could lead them to prosperity.
“But it just if you do nothing else – nothing else – teach the kids to read,” she implored. “That alone; we give them the opportunity to learn on their own, but they can't. They're not doing that. They're focused on gender ideology, right? SEL. CRT. DEI. You know, there are so many excuses for educational failure. ‘If only we did this’. And the bottom line is, just teach the kids to read!”
Mainstream media outlets have disingenuously targeted Moms for Liberty with accusations of wanting to ban books. What they don’t mention the types of books that are being found in libraries and schools across the country.
“You know, here's the deal on the books: If you can't show it on the news, if you have to blur it out on the news, don't have it in the public school,” Justice said. “People say, what kinds of books? I don't know. If I can't go on Cuomo or if I can’t go on CBS Sunday Morning; if I can't do an interview and I can't read the passages for you on TV; if I can't show the pictures on TV, [because] you have to blur it out or only show the cover, then not those books. Why are so many people fighting so hard to put books into schools with explicit sexual content? That's really the question.”
These quotes paint a very different picture of Moms for Liberty, and of Tiffany Justice herself. That is, far from the book-banning extremist the media portrays, she represents a counter-reaction to the government mistreating the most innocent among us.
Not that Justice relishes the notoriety. Rather, she sees it as an opportunity to empower more moms to grab the reins of their child’s educational future, even if it means stepping on the toes of a government apparatus in the process.
However, despite all that is wrong, when I posed the question, “Are you optimistic?” she smiled and replied, “Yes, I’m very optimistic.”
Why? Because she’s the epitome of a joyful warrior and she wouldn’t fight for something she didn’t believe would be achievable: For Tiffany Justice, our children are worth the battle scars.
