There’s a general concept within Leftist circles designed to get people to think in communal terms instead of individual terms. I call it “the public good” argument. Basically, whatever a Leftist wants gets argued in terms of the bigger picture for the greater good (or at least their version of it). I ran into this recently and decided it would be a good concept to explore. Oh, and make fun of.
As with so many things these days, it started with a meme…
A Leftist Facebook friend posted a meme with the “public funds should go to public school” idea Leftists have advanced in the past few years in response to parents taking their children out of public schools and either sending them to private schools using vouchers or homeschooling. Because who doesn’t want to send their kids to a school system that even Leftists think suck ass? (I mean, aside from Leftist politicians with kids. They get to go to private school without so much as a mumble of protest from these public school fans.)
Anyway, the original post mentioned “the public good” to praise public schools and to denigrate school vouchers. Being the smartass I am, I started off with a simple premise: both public and private schools serve the same public good, that being a well-educated population. From there, I asked why there is such an uproar over public funds going to private schools via vouchers when they serve the public good I referenced earlier.
To date, I have yet to receive anything resembling a real attempt to answer the question. Oh, I was called “misinformed” by someone promising (and failing) to deliver facts to counter my viewpoint, told I needed to volunteer at a public school to really understand what’s going on (after citing friends and family who are currently teaching, as well as linking to an article showing other public school teachers saying what I was saying), and told “you just want to argue.” But still no answer.
This is the real problem behind the Left’s “public good” argument, whether it be for public education, gun control, or any other Leftist idea they want to promote. Their solutions only go one way, and it’s always the way that favors the Left’s ideological ends. In the situation I experienced, the only way to fix public schools was whatever the Leftists said was the right answer. Which, as it turns out, is exactly the same thing we’ve been doing for decades to a steadily declining standard of education.
Which explains why the Leftists I encountered couldn’t answer the question I posed. If the true goal of public and private schools is to produce well-educated students, there is no logical conclusion where only public schools should get public money. But the Left can’t admit that because it would mean their entire premise of “public funds should stay in public schools” is based on discrimination.
Or should I say bigotry?
One of the big problems the Left has with private schools is how many of those schools have religious ties. They love to cite the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment as justification to deny public funds to private schools, but it’s a real stretch to equate public school funding with a law. I mean, unless there’s a public school that has a seat in Congress, it’s pretty much a non-issue. The real issue the Left has with these schools (and only a few openly admit) is the possibility students would be indoctrinated. And Leftists think that’s their job!
More to the point, the Left hates any entity that offers an alternative to government as the sole provider of everything. Which, if you really think about it (and I have because I get bored easily), is a religion of sorts, but…okay, let’s not go too far down this rabbit hole of utter hypocrisy. Let’s just say the Left’s religion includes the holy doctrine of…wait for it…the public good. And their solution? More of the shit that’s failed before, just with a bigger price tag.
That’s where I diverge from the public school fans in the Facebook thread I was on. They say they want public schools to be funded for the public good, but they don’t want to address the problems even public school teachers are seeing today. To them, the funding of public schools is a greater public good than producing a well-educated population.
Which means nothing will get done, but we’ll still be paying for subpar service. If this were a company or a restaurant, we could go elsewhere.
Oh, wait. We can! As public schools continue to see a decline in enrollment, private schools are seeing an increase. No longer are parents subject to the slavery of the public school monopoly, which threatens the pipeline of future Leftists. And because private schools depend on financial donations from donors, they have a vested interest in maintaining and improving educational standards. And that, boys and girls, tends to lead to better results. With better results, these evil private schools are closer to fulfilling the public good public school advocates say they want.
That’s why Leftists are so intent to “prove” public schools are superior to private schools. If parents actually see public schools are shitholes that make Detroit look like Paris in springtime, they are going to demand answers and start looking for alternatives. And thanks to people like LibsofTikTok, we’re getting to see the absolute freaks getting into education and what they’re teaching. Spoiler Alert: the three Rs ain’t too high on the list, but you damn well better learn the teacher’s pronouns!
And somehow public school advocates don’t seem to see this as a problem, but as supporting the public good. The pubic good, maybe, but not the public good.
So, we’re left with the question in the title: how good is the public good? When Leftists define it, not very. When people who actually care about results over politics define it, well it may not be the best, but it’s a damn sight better than the bullshit the Left tells us is the public good.
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