How this tiny Christian college is driving the right's nationwide war against public schools

[turbinetree]

By Kathryn Joyce, Salon
Published March 15, 2022

The mood in Costa Mesa on Feb. 2 was more love bomb than fire bomb: yet another school board meeting packed with impassioned parents. But this time they'd come out, on a mild Southern California evening, not to let the board know how angry they were, but how delighted.

The parents who rose to speak at the monthly meeting of the Orange County Board of Education weren't shouting about mask mandates, vaccine requirements, trans kids on sports teams or books about racism. They didn't have to. Instead, mother after mother, with young children in tow or on their hips, came to the podium to say that their kids used to cry before going to school, but now were filled with confidence and wonder; that they had found a transformative community among the school's other moms; that the teachers were giving their children "the best education in the entire country."

One former homeschooler said she'd always sworn to keep her kids out of public school, but the one they attended now had changed all that. One father was moved to talk about sunsets in explaining how the school's mission was uniquely equipped to guide children toward goodness, beauty and truth. From the dais, the board members beamed back at the parents, and when a lone trustee protested that they should address a conflict of interest that appeared to undermine the entire proceedings, the audience burst into laughter and the trustee's colleagues, amid jokes, voted her down.

https://www.rawstory.com/hillsdale-college/

[flying_wahini]

1. If it is a Christian school they shouldn't get a nickel of public tax money.

[turbinetree]

2. Not one penny.....

[MichMan]

6. Hillsdale College gets zero tax dollars

None of their students get any public financial aid or student loans either.

[MichMan]

4. Should non Christian private schools get public tax dollars?

[BlueIdaho]

5. If they get public money

Can they really be called a private school?

[dsc]

7. If they discriminate against gays, women, or in Hillsdale College's words dark ones

then no, they shouldn't.

[Demovictory9]

3. Yes..rightwing radio is up hillsdales butt

[Celerity]

9. Anti-mask doctor flashes gun during live interview

[Duppers]

10. Tennessee mentioned...

In January, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, used his State of the State address to tease the most ambitious Hillsdale-inspired plan to date: building as many as 50 new charter schools in partnership with the college; using its 1776 Curriculum to foster what Lee calls "informed patriotism"; and launching a university civics institute to combat
combat "anti-American thought."

These linked trends amount to a vision of things to come if Republicans win their current war on public education. And war is how they see it. As one Republican leader promised at Hillsdale last spring, if conservatives can "get education right," they'll "win" the country "back." Or as Hillsdale's president himself likes to say, "Teaching is our trade; also, I confess, it's our weapon."

This is sick. Just tell these people that you're Christian and they'll let you take their wallets.