All-Star Panelist Roger Simon: ‘I Don’t Think Money Has Much to Do with Education at All’
Live from Music Row Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed Senior Editor-At-Large at The Epoch Times Roger Simon in studio weighed in on the indoctrination of children through Critical Race Theory implemented in Williamson County public schools and the need to cut federal funding.
Leahy: I am in studio with the newest all-star panelist and good friend Roger Simon. My former boss at PJTV, Academy Award-nominated screenwriter, a refugee from Los Angeles, California, and Editor-At-Large for The Epoch Times.
Roger, you’ve been following Williamson County and the Critical Race Theory curriculum that’s been apparently involved and taught in the schools. Mom’s For Liberty, a Williamson County group that, you know well, has documented that.
A big meeting last week. They invited school board members, and they invited Jason Golden, the director of schools. He didn’t attend that meeting.
Simon: Well, you know what I call Jason Goldman? The Fauci of Williamson County.
Leahy: Jason Goldman, the pouchy of Williamson County. Oh, that is so cruel to Fauci. (Laughter) That’s pretty good. Now, why do you call Jason Golden the director of Williamson County schools the Fauci of Williamson County?
Simon: Because he’s interested only in himself and not in the children.
Leahy: He’s interested only in himself and not the children.
Simon: Also, he gets a prohibitive salary, very similar to Anthony Fauci, who is the highest-paid member of our federal government.
Leahy: The highest-paid member of our federal government. The only other thing is that if you listen to Jason Golden, you get the impression that they’re not teaching Critical Race Theory at all. You get the impression they’re not teaching Critical Race Theory, Roger Simon.
Simon: Well, and when you’re teaching four-year-olds the essence of Critical Race Theory, which is that the color of your skin is the most important thing about you, you’re just doing a bad thing. Critical Race Theory is a fancy word for that. Who cares?
Leahy: Yeah, exactly.
Simon: The whole system is racialized to such a degree that all these children don’t even know who they really are or what’s going on. It’s terrible. Basically, there’s a simpler word for the whole thing, and it’s called child abuse.
Leahy: That’s what we got going on. Jason Golden, we had this guy before him named Mike Looney. Looney was aptly named. He’s gone. He introduced the training back in 2019. We did a big story of White privilege that was being taught to teachers there. We exposed that. Look at how fast this has moved.
Simon: The reason we talk about Williamson County, of course, it’s local here. And I’m sure Williamson County can hear what we’re saying now. But it’s a national problem. And Williamson County is an interesting example of what’s happening because it’s a Republican County where theoretically, this kind of thing should not happen at all.
Secondly, it’s a county famous for its educational system which has been growing by leaps and bounds because of the educational system. And people who can afford it are moving there.
Leahy: (Laughs) Exactly.
Simon: And little do they know, they’re moving there to get their kids indoctrinated. It’s an incredibly crazy situation, but it’s national, too.
Leahy: You said something very important there. People are moving to Williamson County to get their kids indoctrinated to hate America in the public schools.
Simon: They don’t realize it.
Leahy: The key point, isn’t it?
Simon: They think they’re moving to Mayberry.
Leahy: They’re not.
Simon: Obviously not. They’re not. Look, I was in Franklin the other day having dinner, and I live in Green Hills, but I’m up in Franklin all the time. I was up there having dinner and you drive around Franklin, it is Mayberry. It’s like one of the most attractive towns in the United States.
Leahy: Franklin, Tennessee, is a spectacular city. I mean, it’s just a great place. Downtown Main Street, love it!
Simon: It’s right out of some Norman Rockwell meets modern times.
Leahy: A Norman Rockwell meets Modern Times movie. By the way, I’m delighted you mentioned Norman Rockwell. I love his paintings. In fact, I got for a Father’s Day a couple of years ago the Four Freedoms.
Of course one of them, freedom from want, is eh, that was an FDR thing. You may know this. I interviewed his son once and said Norman Rockwell, he thought was probably not that political, but was a sort of a John F. Kennedy type liberal way back when.
Simon: Makes sense.
Leahy: Makes sense doesn’t it?
Simon: Yes, totally. But he was an absolutely great artist.
Leahy: Oh, spectacular.
Simon: When I was younger, I used to think he was corny, but actually, he’s not.
Leahy: This is because you were a sophisticated guy from Manhattan. I was a chump from upstate New York. I was a yahoo from Upstate New York, so I always liked him. (Laughs)
Simon: Listen, give me credit. I got there. But back to Franklin itself. Franklin is a great town, and people really want to live there and it’s coveted because of this educational system. It’s the worst kind of bait and switch.
You’re being sold a junker and something’s got to be done and something needs to be done across the country. But the great thing is something is being done because this Mom’s for Liberty, which is a national group is not just local.
Leahy: Mom’s for Liberty is a national group and it’s a Williamson County chapter.
Simon: Exactly. It is a great movement because it wakes people up. It’s easy to go about your job and your kids going to a good school and you don’t know what is happening. It’s been happening for 50 years.
Leahy: Or even longer. John Dewey. It all started with John Dewey and Columbia University. He basically wanted to turn American kids into robotic lovers of the great state.
Simon: Yes. Trotski-ites.
Leahy: Unfortunately, now that’s kind of the system that K-12 public education is today.
Simon: Yes. Unraveling it is not going to be simple. One of the reasons it’s not going to be simple is there’s no curriculum left that’s any good. My wife has been involved with this.
You can protest these curriculums that they foist on six-year-olds but then you’ve got to have something to give the teachers instead.
But they don’t have anything left anymore. We’re in bad shape, and we got to wake up because we’re making it really easy for Xi Jin Ping.
Leahy: Oh, yeah, absolutely. I’d like to get your reaction to my idea. And I’ve talked to members of the Tennessee General Assembly about this and surprisingly they have become increasingly open to it.
Simon: Great.
Leahy: Part of the problem, Roger, in my view, is that 10 percent of K-12 public education is funded by the federal government.
Simon: That’s a big problem.
Leahy: 40 percent local, 40 percent state. Well, what the feds do is say, we’ll give you this money, but you got to do X, Y and Z. And you see what X, Y, and Z is. What they’re now trying to dis through the Biden administration is promote the teaching of Critical Race Theory. That’s what they’re trying to do. Here’s my idea. Are you ready?
Simon: Cut federal funds.
Leahy: The Tennessee General Assembly should send a very polite note to Joe Biden. Dear Mr. President, you can take that 10 percent and put it somewhere else. I’ve got another way to describe it, but put it somewhere else is a polite way to start.
Simon: I agree. You’re going back to Joy Behar. (Laughter)
Leahy: That is very funny Roger. Here is the thing about all of this. We are going to have to really work with the Tennessee General Assembly. I think the majority of them agree with us intellectually.
There’s pressure from the school districts and the teachers’ unions to keep taking that federal money because nobody turns down money. This is money with such bad strings that it’s leading to the propagandizing of our kids and it’s utterly destructive.
Simon: I couldn’t agree more.
Leahy: Are you with me on that?
Simon: 100 percent. And I’ll add to it. The add to it is, I don’t think money has much to do with education at all.
Leahy: You are exactly right.
Listen to the full third hour here:
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