Initial reports of 30 incidents seem to be down to 15-16, on the basis of criteria that are not clear. The Guard's initial numbers to the media were based on complaints, however, an unambiguous measurement. Were the remainder resolved locally and dropped? Determined to be less serious? Duplicate complaints regarding the same situation? No answers in Maine's news reports.

So...

• We have many good teachers in Maine, and always have. Many serve in the National Guard themselves, and have been called to duty.
  
• We have at least some incidents that are reprehensible, and appear to stand up to scrutiny.
  
• We still have some uncertainties and fuzzy details.
  
• We may not have the incidents some of us imagined in our minds. That's a working belief, however, not yet a firm conclusion.
  
• We have a State legislator, Rep. Michael Vaughan, on the case. Also local media, though the story's "lifespan" is beginning to fade for them.
  
• We don't have names or direct interviews from accused or accusers, and we are unlikely ever to have them given the Guard's and the parents' refusal to go further in public. This is inconvenient, but hardly surprising under the circumstances. I'd also point out that refusing to name either side, is a significant improvement over the harassment and discrimination procedures of which the Left is so fond.
  
• We do have a story that touched a national nerve, based on a combination of a few incidents and widely-observed national patterns and experiences of bias in similar contexts. One hopes that the stored reserves of distrust engendered by such manipulations are finally becoming clear to the profession and to its unions. Personally, I doubt it.

Based on comments in our comment section and letters I've received, we also have a perception among a number of military families that they are looked down on as second class citizens. That's a statement I don't make casually, and an article on this subject will be forthcoming.

On the bright side, we've also seen a very strong response from the public and the media (locally, plus conservative media on a national level). It was certainly noticed in Maine, and there have been no complaints of similar incidents happening since this blew up. I'd venture a guess that there's also a lot more care being taken beyond Maine.

That's good. What needs to stop here isn't just the behaviours reported in Maine, but the classroom politicization and attitudes that are increasingly making such conduct thinkable. People like Lileks aren't wrong to be sensitive to this trend, and to want it stopped. It isn't imaginary.

Politicization of our classrooms and colleges didn't happen overnight, and it won't be cured overnight. It will require relentless and untiring adult scrutiny, backed by expansion of parental choices and incidents that get enough publicity to cause real pain for administrators and teachers when the boundaries are crossed. It will also require a sense of proportion, of civil principles applied rigorously rather than ideology applied disingenuously.

There will be a test in our future. There will, in fact, be many. Will the education system pass? Will we?