Can you imagine a less modern opinion than this: “The one thing that is never taught by any chance in the atmosphere of public schools is this: that there is a whole truth of things, and that in knowing it and speaking it we are happy.”
This was written by G.K. Chesterton over a century ago, long before public schools went woke, and well before there were “your truths” and “my truths” — there was only the Truth. Now, of course, American public schools are more focused on pushing the woke agenda than teaching truth, beauty, and goodness. The school-choice boom we’re currently seeing is a direct reaction to what parents learned during the pandemic about their children’s education.
Many claim that school-choice dollars come with restrictive government strings — with bureaucrats attempting to control educational content, for example, or even to interfere in hiring decisions. In Texas, this seemed to be the winning argument as rural Republicans helped Democrats defeat all school-choice bills. They leaned into this message hard — and even as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott campaigns against anti-school choice incumbents, they’re doubling down on the tactic.
But the Chesterton Academy in Orlando, Florida reveals that the “government strings” argument against school choice falls short.
Academy Headmaster Jim Hickel explains that his school was opened a year and a half ago by concerned parents. They were helped — not hindered — by Florida’s school-choice program. There are no strings. The Chesterton Academy can teach all of those anti-modern
