Let’s act like some steam-punks …  and do some time travel.

It seems that present day educrats … think  Arne Duncan, John King, and Bill Gates … might have channeled a dusty figure from the past.

Meet Horace Mann who … at times … could actually be a pretty horrid man.

Mann, a mid-nineteenth century peacock, was perhaps America’s first authoritarian educrat. The first to view public schools as social engineering centers … where the ills of the masses could be made … um … less disgusting.

And Horace Mann was a superb social-snot … with a special loathing for the Irish. Irish Catholics, to be precise.

Listen in …

“Those now pouring in upon us, in masses of thousands upon thousands, are wholly of another kind in morals and intellect,”

He said it … not me!

So some other snobs put him in charge education even though he was fond of vilifying and blistering people non-stop. And he never made an excuse for his obnoxious superiority … because snobs never do that sort of stuff.

He saw compulsory public education as the antidote to “perverse moral education provided to children by their corrupt parents.”

See? They hated parents even wear back when … thought kids should be raised by the village idiots. And ordinary yucks … that’s folks like you and me! … should just toss their babies over the fence … and have ’em raised by those perfect idiots.

Wanna know why Horrid Mann was so extra-bothered by home-schooling? The kids were too well-schooled. Too skilled.

You read that right.

Ready for this?

In Massachusetts, “… the literacy rate … in 1850 … was 97 percent. And that was two full years BEFORE Horace Mann became the first public school commandant.

So, you see, it wasn’t that parents were doing a lousy job. They were doing too good of a job!

And that had to come to an end.

Got it?

They were accused of raising free thinkers. (Gasp!) Independent sorts. (Gasp again!) With ethics preferred by mom and dad. (Triple gasps!)

And that disturbed Horrid Mann … horridly.

Mann insisted that parents could NOT be trusted … and that a public school system was a necessity … so each new generation would be sufficiently educated … but not too sufficiently educated … to fill the more menial and obedient roles that were important to Mr. Mann’s comfort … like doing the jobs he would never dare do.

The more things change, the more they stay the same, right?

Fast forward a century and a half … and swap out Mann for that Duncan dunce and  BOOM! … parents are in the same ridiculing moment as those Irish losers from way back.

Hey, moms! … remember this snoot-spew from Arne Duncan?

“All of a sudden, their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were and their school isn’t quite as good as they thought … “

How lovely.

And, of course, he was touting the educational omnipotence of the federal government … because you ladies were just like those 19th century Irish dummies. Those yucks.

And so … Common Core was born … to create mindless worker-bees who would fill the  menial and obedient roles that were essential.

Where the hell have I heard that before?

So, here we are … in another moment of egotistical snootiness .. with even more students being screwed-over by pompous ideologues who think your children must be saved … from you.  Even if you’re not Irish.

And so … today’s Horace Manns are imposing the weird and wild on your kids. New sexual roles, new attitudes about this or that, new codes of speech and thinking, new tolerances, and new educational curricula.

And they’ve made a splendid mess of it.

None of it is ever approved by you guys. By you moms. Or you dads. Because you’re idiots.

That’s why they tell you what to do. And ignore your test refusals … and punish your children if you don’t comply. They make up rules … and lie to you. They do as they please … with YOUR child … and never bother with your approval … because you’re simple yucks who should collapse into total compliance whenever they demand.

But that ain’t happening. Not anymore.

Folks are back-boning up against these edupests. Against the Neo-Manns.

Georgia is scary-close to combustible. New York, too. New Jersey has just about had it. Massachusetts is thisclose to another revolution. Missouri’s fuse is lit. And Florida is a powder keg.

Ohio, Utah, and Pennsylvania are like dried kindling … ready to explode. Parents in Connecticut are losing their cool … Maryland, too. Nevada’s unhappy … and even California is choking on this stuff. Washington is mad … and so is Michigan and Texas and Alabama. And don’t forget the Carolinas and the Dakotas. Even Minnesota and Wisconsin are steaming. Michigan is seething. Did I leave out Ohio?

The modern Manns have done a splendid job of ticking-off EVERYONE.

Folks have just had it with this destruction of childhood … and the warping of their schools. The slow simmer is now a boil.

I say we give ‘em all one last warning … and hang Mister Mann in effigy.

Then we should light that dummy on fire … and have our wee ones enjoy a s’mores’ moment … courtesy of a crispy-crusty edusnob from the past.

THAT is a can’t miss educational experience … with chocolate! A home-run.

Denis Ian