Wirepoints’ Mark Glennon on AM560: Why We Need to “Relentlessly” Make the Blue State-Red State Case
November 5, 2026
7 Comments
Glennon raised the stakes of the moment in broader civilizational terms: “This election in Illinois is not about the usual pedestrian issues… it’s about nothing less than whether Western civilization survives in our democratic republic of America because [the left], just on the open border alone, will destroy the country, and now they’re bringing in the jihadists, frankly, into the party.” Audio and summary linked here.Audio and summary linked here.
New Trier High School made national headlines nine years ago as a “canary in a coal mine” for political indoctrination in public schools. The canaries lived.
Among the consequences of economic growth that badly lags national averages are billions of lost revenue every year. Yet denial reigns in Illinois, fueling the vicious cycle of demand for higher taxes.
Taxpayers are paying a lot of money (top dollar) for poor results. Not only are the taxpayers being cheated, but the children who do not get an education are the real losers here. The winners are the teachers who get paid good money, great benefits, and huge pensions at far younger ages than the taxpayers supporting this schitt show.
Not a problem. McDonald’s will always need janitors and burger flippers (unless robots start flipping)
That’s going to happen pronto, Tonto. It’s going to be much like setting the desired destination on your car’s navigation screen—easy peasy.
Maybe if CPS fired incompetent, lazy teachers that would help. Teachers need to teach, not protest and indoctrinate during school hours.
And you thought there was no lower rating category than “awful” for reading and math scores.
Has anyone here ever interviewed a CPS graduate for a job? Even one that went to college. It’s not pretty. Most can’t fulfill the duties of receptionist. Showing up to the job on time seems to be a real stumbling block.
The usual IL solution-if the students can’t meet the standards, just lower the bar for the standards. And, show high graduation rates whether the students are proficient or not. Everyone graduates, hurrah!
Participation medals
Ever seen the 1967 movie “Up the Down Staircase”? It was on TCM last night and depicts what are probably still the usually worst of the large inner city high school classes in the major cities of this country. While this characterization is likely true for some such cases it’s not likely true for all high schools everywhere. Yet, it’s still likely true to a much lesser extent for nearly all public schools nearly everywhere in this country. Teachers are expected to do a LOT by the general public it’s often a VERY stressful set of realities that make successfully… Read more »
Up the Down Staircase was very good. I read the book and saw the movie.
That was 60 years ago. That’s a long time to be pointing at problems. Is there a solution anywhere in our future? Or should we just keep throwing money at failure?
Apparently there really is no good solution for public schools at taxpayer expense as a national concept due to the fact that the public at large has a large number of political subsets with differing expectations about what’s acceptable to be expected as commendable or at least appropriate by their students and teachers. Some expect schools to be great in every possible way while others apparently are happy enough to have it be a day care service at public expense. So, local and national turmoil as to what’s important there in terms of skills to be learned, how that’s to… Read more »
I don’t think “kids should learn basic reading and arithmetic in school” is a controversial proposition to anyone who isn’t a teacher. No matter how much flowery language you use to argue that the problem is we all just disagree about things.
Your first sentence is sensible on a superficial level, but when rubber hits the road some teachers, parents and students work mightily to achieve such things, some work with far less gusto and even more probably have trouble even mouthing their allegiance to actually doing any of it with serious long-term commitment. It takes an ongoing group commitment to continuing action here among all such parties to make significant continuing progress. Otherwise your highlighted phrase simply becomes an example of “talk is cheap.”
Talk is indeed cheap, especially the unending litany of talk about why we can’t possibly expect schools to teach kids to read.
Maybe you work in an environment where life is very simple as exemplified by turning on a light switch. There is one usual way of doing it right and becoming an expert at it. Trying to ensure successful results on someone young who couldn’t care less about it is another matter entirely. Still, a teacher is expected to pull off a miracle when common sense says you’re swimming against the tide in many cases simply because the student’s care be involved at all simply isn’t there. In the world of adult life you have to care enough to buy life’s… Read more »
Amazing that people have figured out how to teach children to read for centuries despite all these obstacles, isn’t it?
Nobody expects schools to turn out classes full of physicists, or Shakespeare scholars. We just want kids to read and do arithmetic by 3rd grade. Maybe if schools figure out how to do that much, we can push a little harder.
Stop acting like schools are asked to do the impossible, and nobody could possibly understand what a monumental undertaking this is.
But, you never seem to get the fallacy of your dismissive point of view. If teaching even the 3 Rs were as simple to do as you keep saying why do we continue years on end having such dismal educational attainment scores nationwide? It’s got to dawn on you at some point that there must be some concrete reasons for it that weren’t so problematical in years long gone. I could name a few, but you’re bound to presume otherwise most of the time if your periodic simplistic snide remarks with me here are any clue. I leave all that… Read more »
It’s you who refuses to think objectively. Students are not learning basic skills, therefore the problem must be anything except the school system?
When people have been successfully mastering the task for hundreds of years, but you cannot, it’s a clear indication that you are doing it wrong.
How long do you think schools can go on claiming it’s all for the children while churning out functional illiterates? How long does an advanced society survive when it makes excuses for the failure to impart even basic skills to its children?
Other nations have “solved” this issue (they are at least showing better test results than we are) by having a standardized national curriculum with high stakes testing at most levels. Is this what you’re offering as a solution? The current national administration is taking us further from this. Illinois currently has learning standards, but no way to force districts to follow the standards (local control. Tests are taken at several grade levels for which students, parents, and teachers have no accountability. What solution(s) do you propose?
Now you’re talking! What’s needed are concrete improvement ideas being offered rather than stupid somewhat random guesswork jabs from simpletons. I am theoretically at least in favor of make-or-break testing at various ages for young people to continue in our traditional taxpayer supported school systems. Those failing such tests would be redirected to something more appropriate which may—or may not—be at least partially subsidized by public taxes. Maybe those scoring exceptionally well could be given more specialized or more advanced tax-supported schooling options than what’s currently the case in our current one-size-fits-all public schools. These are some possibilities to ponder.… Read more »
CPS has reached the point of no return, they are gone! Tax Payers fund them but don’t use them. Tax eaters use them. As the tax base dwindles, the system will go full Detroit.
I have no argument here to offer, but what’s a realistic alternative at government expense that will offer a predictably better delivery system? I’m not necessarily against the voucher system if that’s your go-to response by the way, but it’s “all in the details” as to my opinion going forward. That’s been the oft-quoted chatter for several years, but it’s never garnered enough widely popular political support to keep IL legislators even awake so far. Maybe you’ll have a better proposal than that.
Didn’t Mayor BJ teach math?!!
He taught activism and indoctrination while refusing to assign homework because doing so was racist. He spent more time on picket lines and protesting than in the classroom. Fact.
He taught school, that is where they teach 1/4 + 1/5 = 2/9
Quick, more protest marches!