Here is what Al Gore might call an “inconvenient truth,” except that this really is truth, while Al’s was propaganda: there is no valid reason for any responsible parent to entrust the mind and future of a child with the kinds of teachers, administrators and “experts” currently being produced by the U.S. education sector.

What you see above is one more piece of damning evidence.It is a recent test question in an advanced placement (AP) government course in Fairfax County, Virginia’s largest school district, one of the largest in the country, and just a short drive from my home. The question challenged students to choose an “accurate comparison of liberals versus conservatives,” giving them multiple choices.

It sure stumped me. After all, the difference between liberals and conservatives lie in belief systems and ideological orientation, not occupations and demographic categories. However, this basic fact appears to have escaped the creators of the question. (The “correct” answer, at least according to the dimwits who devised the thing, is “C.”)

There is some good news in that the question was flagged after provoking widespread gagging, and removed from the test. The College Board, which oversees advanced placement programs, distanced itself from the question, saying, “We did not and would not create a question like that for AP students. Neither the content nor the format of this question is appropriate for an AP Exam.” A spokesperson for the district said, “Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) accepts that an AP Government test question, designed to assess 12th graders’ understanding of American political ideology, did not meet the division’s high expectations. The question, which formed part of an assessment for 12th graders enrolled in the FCPS Online Campus, will be removed from future tests and a review of all AP Government Online Campus test questions will be carried out.”

I’ll be checking those other questions after my breakfast settles. But why would the Fairfax County schools have “high expectations” if such a question made it into the test at all? Who wrote the question? Who approved it? How many alleged educators read it, shrugged and said, “Okey-dokey! Looks fine to me!”? The school system not only doesn’t have high standards, it has non-existent standards if a question based on stereotypes could crawl onto an Advanced Placement test.

Fairfax County Public Schools, you may recall, are being investigated by Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares after some of its high schools did not tell students they had received National Merit recognition, apparently to avoid discouraging students who had not in the interest of “diversity, equity and inclusion,” or something.