The conservative 'media ecosystem' tearing down public education
Washington Post columnist Jim Geraghty almost makes a great point.
Conservative Washington Post columnist Jim Geraghty says teachers are too busy teaching your kids to be engaged in the kind of culture war stuff that seems to be at the center of so many of our education debates. He’s right!
I wondered to what degree Americans’ current heated debates about education are influenced by the actual experiences of students and teachers in classrooms, as opposed to being shaped by bomb-throwing contests elevated by algorithms on social media. You don’t have to look hard to find online examples of outrageous behavior (by students or teachers), or stories of strong ideological views being imposed by teachers or administrators, or titanic struggles over which books to include on a library shelf or in a classroom (often with both sides using wild misrepresentations).
And he concludes:
As we have these arguments, let’s not let a media ecosystem that is designed to spotlight the atypical and strange create an impression that public education is being hijacked by lunatics and extremists. There are a whole lot of teachers out there who are too busy grading papers, revising lesson plans and, in many cases, buying some class materials with their own money. They don’t have the time or inclination to fight in the culture war.
Again, he’s right!
Aside from a mention the notorious “Libs of TikTok” account, though, Geraghty doesn’t do much to clarify or inform how the “media” is tearing down public education in this country. Probably — and this is just a guess — because it’s not “a media ecosystem” that’s doing this: It’s the media ecosystem on the right.
Let’s check out the latest education stories on Fox News:
It’s all about drag queens, gender policies and a coach “pimping women.” Each of these stories might individually be justifiable, but the overall tenor of Fox’s education coverage is that schools are a strange weird place that endanger your children and your attempts to impart your values to them.
Or how about National Review, where Geraghty works as a political correspondent?
It’s less overwrought than Fox’s coverage, but still heavy on the “gender ideologues” and “campus radicalism” stuff.
For comparison, though, let’s look at how the Washington Post — where Geraghty’s column appears, is covering education these days:
There’s coverage of school violence, of course, but it’s also heavily weighted toward relatively boring policy stuff that’s all about education outcomes and not at all about the latest ugly culture war battles.
The “media ecosystem” isn’t highlighting strange and lurid stories about education. It’s the media ecosystem on the right. It’s good that Geraghty tells parents to ignore all the screaming headlines. The problem is that the screaming headlines are coming from his side.
Our local Sinclair owned ABC affiliate in DC area uses “crisis in the classroom” as a permanent tagline on their local news. Never clear what or which they are talking about. Clearly just propaganda to ensure a continued sense of panic.
Exactly.