POLITICS: Educators, stop radicalizing kids

Just teach.

That’s the message we must send to educators in California’s socialist cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Instead, teachers, unions and other educational leaders have taken a dangerous path by indoctrinating students –– some only in elementary or middle school –– into violent far-left politics.

This isn’t just about kids speaking their minds (i.e., minds shaped by adults). 

It’s about radicalizing kids and using them as political weapons.

The result is a generation of kids who, like many of their teachers, put ideology above learning, politicize daily life, and disrespect law enforcement authority. 

And this is a big problem: Kids are being used as pawns and weaponized against federal agents, as we saw in downtown LA on Friday, when a mob of students attacked officers –– some swinging poles –– and again on Saturday, when students again assaulted officers and one teen was shot when a gun went off.

Students are protesting and even rioting during school hours, instead of completing lessons. 

And kids, starting at a young age, are moving from grade to grade with a skewed set of values and priorities –– including brazen disrespect for public safety officers.

The left-wing activism in schools today is pervasive and astounding.

It needs to end.

Too often, though, educators emphasize activism, gender identity, and anti-ICE rancor. 

They hold anti-capitalism rallies, promote left-wing slogans such as “Free Palestine,” and chant things like, “No one is illegal on stolen land.” 

And instead of making children feel safe at school, some teachers and activists are warning them that ICE could take them away, traumatizing kids with the goal of radicalizing them.

During the recent teachers strike in San Francisco, teachers were seen clutching anti-ICE signs on the picket line.

Parents, meanwhile, often either reinforce these outrageous lessons or simply fail to teach their children more principled views.

Given the hyper-political mind-set that has permeated school systems and teaching materials, is it any wonder that students in districts such as LA and SF repeatedly post abysmal math and English scores?

Meanwhile, unions, which donate to the campaigns of school board members, support this activism and expect elected officials to follow the wishes of their benefactors.

Remember a few years back when United Teachers Los Angeles demanded defunding the police, funding the homeless, and taxing the wealthy as conditions for reopening schools after the COVID closures?

Schools have grown thoroughly politicized.

And now we’re seeing anti-Trump panic from socialist school districts. 

They want to keep far-left ideology in the schools, of course.

But the Trump administration has been pushing back, whittling away and slowly removing destructive rot such as anti-Semitism, DEI and critical race theory. 

Unions are fighting back. 

That’s part of what we’re seeing with the kids lashing out against Trump and ICE.

Disgracefully, some educators are exploiting kids for raucous activism –– on purpose. After all, the teachers themselves can’t swing poles at agents.

Instead of making children feel safe at school, some teachers and activists are warning them that ICE could take them away, traumatizing kids with the goal of radicalizing them.

And they know the students, if they break the law, won’t be charged as adults. 

All of this goes far beyond just shouting a slogan, wearing a T-short, piercing a nose or wearing blue hair.

It is creating a whole class of violent, unaccountable adolescents.

As a society, we should ask:

If this –– activism and a violent reaction to politics –– is what they’re teaching and prioritizing in class, then how are California students going to be able to perform even the simplest jobs out of high school?

Again, please, just teach.