Educator Gregory Sampson responds to the continued assertion that teachers have somehow usurped parents. It started with watching the voting for Speaker of the House and the recrowning of Mike Johnson.
The ceremonies commenced and Johnson is now blathering on about his agenda and his views on American government. Among the gems was this, “we must take back control of education from administrators and give it back to parents” or words to that effect.
As the late, great Joan Rivers would say …
Can we talk here? Will the blatherskites of education think tanks, Moms 4 Liberty, and foundations with an agenda stop for a moment? Can we just simply talk?
PARENTS HAVE ALWAYS CONTROLLED THE EDUCATION OF THEIR CHILDREN.
THEY NEVER GAVE IT UP AND NO ADMINISTRATOR, TEACHER, SUPERINTENDENT, OR ANYONE IN BETWEEN HAS EVER SEIZED IT.
Maybe you’ve never been in a parent conference where the administrators danced around, berated the teacher, and ordered everyone within earshot to do exactly as the parent wants.
Maybe you’ve never received a district notice that a parent has lawyered up and everyone must appease the parent so the district doesn’t get sued.
Maybe you’ve never talked to neighbors about how they are sending their children to private school or parochial school because they don’t like their local public school option.
Maybe you’ve never attended a neighborhood block party where parents brag about ‘correcting’ the teaching of public schools and instilling their own values into their children.
Maybe you’ve listened too often too much to blatherskites like the late, not great Rush Limbaugh who never had children of his own.
What is a blatherskite, you may ask? From dictionary.com, it is “one who is given to voluble, empty talk,” which dates from the middle of the 19th century, was originally and remains mostly an Americanism. Blatherskite is a variant of Scottish bletherskate, which dates from the mid-17th century and is a compound of the verb blether or blather “to talk nonsense” and the Anglo-American slang word skate “person, contemptible person, broken-down horse.” Another variant, bladderskate, appears in the traditional Scottish song “Maggie Lauder,” which was popular among American soldiers during the American Revolution.”
Empty talk that goes on and on seemingly without end. You’re welcome for the new word of 2025 to add to your vocabulary.
But don’t be fooled, Parents are in control.
