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One-degree-at-a time Fabianism in education, as academic standards succumb to ideas that work against this country’s most valuable resource: its young people

Fabianism In Education



“Press one for English” infuriates me, as does driving up to an ATM machine and having to choose Spanish or English. While staring directly into the big-brother camera staring back at me, I always curse the machine, hoping my vitriol is recorded.
Am I going too far? Not far enough, I think. When my Italian mother tried to enter elementary school, she knew only a few English words, and the principal told her that until she spoke acceptable English, she could not enter the school. Fortunately, a retired schoolteacher tutored her, and she enrolled the following year. Recently, a colleague referred to the current capitulation to multilingualism as creeping Fabianism. Not certain what he meant, I did some research. I learned that the Fabian Society was a British organization whose members sought to extirpate existing societal and cultural norms by advancing the principles of democratic socialism through gradual processes rather than revolution. They adopted their name from the Roman general Fabius, nicknamed “the delayer,” whose dilatory strategy brought about Hannibal’s defeat.

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Fabianism brings to mind the theory that a bullfrog, placed in tepid water, won’t notice a one-degree-at-a-time increase in the water’s temperature until it’s too late, and will succumb to death by boiling. As a college teacher, I have observed a sort of one-degree-at-a time Fabianism in education, as academic standards succumb to ideas that work against this country’s most valuable resource: its young people. Obeying the mutual outcome mantra and promoting diversity and multiculturalism, many schools have lowered academic minimums to levels approaching irrelevancy, and as a result, some incoming students disregard as idle threat what I say on the first day of class: “College is the transitional phase of your preparation as productive citizens in a competitive, capitalistic society. I will evaluate your academic performance based on the same grade scale used when I was a freshman, and, furthermore, you will pay attention, ask questions, take notes, and attend class dressed like winners. If I deem that your dress is inappropriate, you will be excused.” Those who educated me were demanding, for which I am grateful, and I’m certain my students will someday be grateful that I’m a rigid disciplinarian and demanding teacher. The following excerpt from a speech given by an incoming high school principal reminds me of the dedicated professionals who made me earn an education and who molded me for the rigors of the “real world”: “This school does not honor race or ethnicity. I don’t care if your racial makeup is black, brown, red, yellow or white, or whether your origins are African, Latin American, Asian or European, or if your ancestors arrived here on the Mayflower or on slave ships. The only identity I care about is your individual identity — your character, scholarship, and humanity. The only national identity this school will recognize is American. Its goal is to make better Americans by promoting American values.” If all teachers and administrators shared this principal’s mindset, there would be no Fabianism in education.


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Jimmy Reed -- Bio and Archives

Jimmy Reed is an Oxford, Mississippi resident, Ole Miss and Delta State University alumnus, Vietnam Era Army Veteran, former Mississippi Delta cotton farmer and ginner, author, and retired college teacher.

This story is a selection from Jimmy Reed’s latest book, entitled The Jaybird Tales.

Copies, including personalized autographs, can be reserved by notifying the author via email (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)).


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