There comes a time in a rocky relationship when one or both of the parties asks, “Why am I doing this?” If you listen carefully, the coming Great Educational Divorce whispers are everywhere as nearly 50 million American children return to American public schools this Fall.

After the Wuhan Flu pandemic and shutdown of 2020-21, many students who attended school before the outbreak still have not returned. Teachers disillusioned with the “hall of mirrors” profession that never met a leftist position it did not like have left to pursue other interests in unprecedented numbers. Parents fed up with the grooming and leftist indoctrination taking place in government schools are opting for homeschooling or other educational options.

Meanwhile, educrats continue whistling in the dark as if the problems voiced by students, parents, and taxpayers do not exist. They eagerly give each other awards to distract themselves from widespread indications that the quality of American Public Education is mediocre and getting worse.

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Something similar is happening in our colleges and universities. The Democrats and the left-leaning members of our society are happy enough with what’s being taught in these institutions, but even they wonder with conservatives why the cost of college education rises faster than other commodities in our society. 

There have been times in American history when people have stuck their heads out the window and shouted, “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not taking this anymore!” (Network, Peter Finch, 1976). If you turn off your iPhone and your big-screen TV, you can hear Americans yelling about education.

Not long ago, for example, I was reporting to work as a substitute at a nearby high school. A young female, her mother, and her father were leaving the same high school. They were engaged in a lively discussion about how the administration was not hearing their complaints about the bullying the daughter was experiencing. They did not look happy.

I guess many educrats think to themselves, “We run a monopoly, and anyway, where are the complainers going to go?” As I suggested earlier, the exodus has already begun. The nonreturners from COVID are out there. Homeschooling is on the rise as public school attendance is decreasing. 

The American educrats seem to forget that our nation was born in rebellion. King George III may have had his own version of “We run a monopoly and anyway, where are the complainers going to go?” How did that work out for him? 

Since our beginning, Americans have encountered The Whiskey Rebellion, the Nat Turner Uprising, Bleeding Kansas, the publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the election of Abraham Lincoln, the shelling of Fort Sumpter, the Secession of the Southern States, The Civil War, Reconstruction, Abolition, and The Great Depression.

Educrats forget that students and parents are their clients. What would happen, let’s say hypothetically, if many other students joined those who have not returned to school since the pandemic? What would old Joe Biden do? What would Kamala do? What if truancy grew to the point that education became untenable? Would the educrats notice? Would they listen? 

An Education Rebellion is coming. American parents are mad as hell, students are being cheated, and a tipping point is coming. 

Ned Cosby, a frequent contributor to American Thinker, is a former pastor, veteran Coast Guard officer, and a retired English high school teacher. His novel OUTCRY is a love story exposing the refusal of Christian leaders to report and discipline clergy who sexually abuse our young people. This work of fiction addresses crimes that are all too real. Cosby has also written RECOLLECTIONS FROM MY FATHER’S HOUSE, tracing his own odyssey from 1954 to the present. For more info, visit Ned Cosby.