Like so much in America, the institution of public education is dying during this Fourth Turning.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer decided this week that anyone who works in a school district is qualified to substitute teach in a classroom in order to fill the overwhelming number of holes for the rest of this school year. This includes bus drivers, lunch ladies, library aides, etc. Basically anyone who has passed a background check and has a GED or high school diploma is now qualified to substitute teach in Michigan. I would guess many of those positions will be long-term subbing situations that will go on for many weeks or even months. Things are that dire.

(At this juncture I’d like to point out that I’m a graduate of Michigan State University’s Honors College with a degree in Elementary Education. I also now have 30+ years of teaching, parenting, homeschooling, owning a business, and general life experience under my belt. However, because my teaching certificate is lapsed and I decided not to finish up my Masters degree, I’m technically no longer qualified to be a teacher. Think on that a minute.)

Anyway.

Nikole Hannah-Jones of The 1619 Project fame recently declared that parents should have no say in what is taught in the schools. She believes parents are unqualified and it should be left to the professionals. Hannah-Jones specifically said on Meet the Depressed:

“I don’t really understand this idea that parents should decide what’s being taught,” Hannah-Jones said. “I’m not a professional educator. I don’t have a degree in social studies or science.”

Does anyone else find this rich considering the relentless push by the Left to get her questionable work of history into every corner of every educational establishment in this country?

And then there is Loudoun County Public Schools which is currently the American epicenter for parent backlash regarding teaching critical race theory, allegedly covering up sexual assaults among students, putting what some describe as pornographic materials in the school library, and who knows what else. The narratives in that area of our Republic are failing rapidly from every direction as parents are filing FOIAs left and right to find out what is actually going on.

That’s just three stories of literally thousands from around America.

Failing Institutions In The Fourth Turning

The Fourth Turning is marked by the failing of institutions. Education is seeing that in spades.

For every family who is pushing back against public education or even leaving in favor of homeschooling, the motivation is slightly different. The story is taking different twists and turns in various communities across our great country. But make no mistake. Public education has totally lost control of the narrative. They have no idea how to get it back. Parents and other Americans who care about children are no longer sitting back and letting the “experts” call the shots any longer. Trust is completely gone.

Public education isn’t getting the narrative back. As a trusted institution, it is nearly dead. The only questions that remain are how quickly the final breath comes and what replaces it in the First Turning.

I guarantee you it won’t look anything like we have had over the past 50 years. The parents aren’t going to allow it.