Free Republic

'It's a system deliberately designed to handicap the individual' It’s no surprise to hear that America’s education system is in disarray, with Common Core dumbing down young students, faith absent from education and underpaid teachers increasingly unfit to serve as effective educators. But all of that is by design, contends Alex Newman, an international journalist and co-author of “Crimes of the Educators: How Utopians are Using Government Schools to Destroy America’s Children.” He recently appeared on the “Revealing the Truth with Rabbi Walker” Web TV show to discuss the issue. Newman believes the government education system is not built to...

Keith Flaugh is a retired IBM executive living in Naples, Fla., and a man with a mission. He describes it as "getting the school boards to recognize ... the garbage that's in our textbooks." Flaugh helped found Florida Citizens' Alliance, a conservative group that fought unsuccessfully to stop Florida from signing on to Common Core educational standards. More recently, the group has turned its attention to the books being used in Florida's schools. A new state law, developed and pushed through by Flaugh's group, allows parents, and any residents, to challenge the use of textbooks and instructional materials they find...

As first-time parents to a kindergartner, my wife and I recalled images from our own early experiences. Letters, numbers, colors, shapes, and lots of play. We lived in a good school district and had high expectations that our son would find his first school experience enriching, encouraging and nurturing—just as we remembered it. We could not have been more wrong. What we found were great teachers, shiny new facilities and good-hearted administration—yet they were all hamstrung by the prescribed implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). My wife and I volunteered time to help in the classroom and we...

From coast to coast, parents are rebelling against what they describe as Islamic indoctrination of their children in public schools. In Florida, for example, parents are protesting a newly approved textbook they say whitewashes Islam’s violent history of conquest and subjugation, while in San Diego, an angry father confronted the city’s school board about its partnership with the controversial Council on American-Islamic Relations in an “anti-bullying” program. The Brevard County School Board in Florida has revised a history textbook that had been condemned by some parents for its selective treatment of Islam, but the new edition still has its critics,...

In this clip dating back to a 2013 meeting of the Arkansas State Board of Education, concerned mother Karen Lamoreaux used a specific math problem to make an impassioned argument against Common Core. [Video at link]

President Trump will sign an executive order Wednesday to start pulling the federal government out of K-12 education, following through on a campaign promise to return schools to state and local control. The order, dubbed the “Education Federalism Executive Order,” will launch a 300-day review of Obama-era regulations and guidance for school districts and direct Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to modify or repeal measures deemed an overreach by the federal government, according to a senior administration official “With this executive order, President Trump has reaffirmed his commitment to getting the federal government out of the way and returning control over...

A new report finds that, under the guise of “personalized learning,” school-issued computer devices — now distributed to one-third of K-12 students in schools across the United States — are serving to collect and store an unprecedented amount of personal data on children without their parents’ notice or consent. A newly released investigation by Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) reveals student use of technology in school has grown at a profound rate, especially with free or low-fee devices issued by schools.

Liberals have spent decades screaming about the separation of church and ‘state’, but now they’ve made a huge exception for Islam. The San Diego School District will start having school calendars showing Islamic holidays and begin to teach students about Islam in social studies classes and school district will create safe places on campuses for Muslim students as part of a multi-tiered approach to combat ‘Islamophobia’. This plan doesn’t include classes on Christianity, Judaism, or any other religion. The school district conducted a survey to see how much bullying occurred because of student’s Islamic faith and found only seven instances...

At his CEO Business Town Hall Tuesday, President Donald Trump returned to his campaign promise to end the highly unpopular Common Core standards and once again make education policy the domain of local governments. “Common Core, I mean, we have to bring education more local,” Trump said at the White House. “We can’t be managing education from Washington.” The president continued: When I go out to Iowa, when I go out to the different states and I talk, they want to run their school programs locally and they’ll do a much better job… And I like the fact of getting...

The warning was clear: Christian parents should pull their children out of public schools, now, to protect them from spiritual damage, extreme indoctrination, and other serious problems. Pastors and churches should work to encourage that “exodus,” helping and encouraging families to put their kids in homeschools or private Christian schools as quickly as possible. The alternative will be the continued decline of the church in America and an acceleration of the nation's decline. That was the explosive message of an evangelical ministry leader speaking as a guest this week on one of America's top Christian radio programs.Dr. James Dobson, one...

After five years of traveling the country, speaking to tens of thousands of families, testifying before numerous state legislatures, and conducting extensive interviews about Common Core and the rise of federal education, FreedomProject Academy’s Academic Director, Dr. Duke Pesta, sits down with award-winning author and teacher, Alex Newman, for a special presentation on "American Education in the Age of Trump." Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmeMUUGZ9WA FreedomProject Academy's Judeo-Christian, Live Online Classical School offers more than 100 classes for Kindergarten-High School. FPA can help with a single class or provide a complete curriculum free of Common Core. Free Information Packet @ http://fpeusa.org © FreedomProject Media...

Two parents raised questions about the way seventh-graders are taught about Islam during the school board meeting Thursday, Feb. 6. Borough residents Nancy Geyer and Libby Hilsenrath said the social studies curriculum includes two videos and other materials that go in-depth about Islamic practices, prayer and holidays and display the statement, “There is no God except Allah.” {..snip..}

Parents in Chatham, New Jersey are demanding answers from the local board of education as it pertains to what their children are being taught in their 7th grade social studies class. According to Nancy Gayer and Libby Hilsenrath, their children are being given lessons about Islam that would never be acceptable if they were about Christianity. In fact, Gayer said at a board meeting on Monday, her son was specifically chastised a few years ago when he gave a PowerPoint presentation that briefly mentioned his religious views. Gayer said he was told to stop “proselytizing” when he included a Bible...

South Carolina-A parent is outraged after her 6th grade child was indoctrinated on Islam and was forced to learn about the Islamic conversion prayer (Shahada)! WCSC reports: In worksheets provided to Live 5 News, sixth graders at Alston Middle School were asked to fill in blanks about Islam and match up statements from the Quran with the five pillars of the religion. The mom says she is infuriated and that others agree with her. “Our concern is that if the need permission to teach sexual education, they should be getting permission to teach religious values,” she said.

Parent reports her young child directly contacted by non-school groups (via school's student email address) inviting them to join and learn how to become an activist ("It's fun") and "protect themselves" against Donald Trump. Program is entitled: "Rick Wiles, Japan Relocates Jobs to America to Flee Fukushima Meltdown". She calls in and describes how they are doing it. Listen beginning at the 1:06:29 marker.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders asked President Trump’s education secretary candidate, Betsy DeVos, whether she would have got the job if her family had not donated $200m to the Republican party. Sanders’ demeaning question was followed with questions promoting his “free college” initiative. “My question is, and I don’t want to be rude, but do you think if you were not a multi-billionaire, if your family had not made hundreds of millions of dollars of contributions to the Republican party that you would be sitting here today?” “Senator, as a matter of fact, I do think there would be that possibility....

[1.14.17 – COMMENTS FROM DONNA GARNER: Donald Trump has done a brilliant job of choosing talented and successful people to serve in the other cabinet positions – all except for his choices for the U. S. Dept. of Education. Betsy DeVos has been vitally involved in driving Common Core into our nation’s schools, and now it seems that another Common Core advocate may be chosen as the Deputy Secretary of Education, Allan B. Hubbard. Similar to Betsy DeVos, Mr. Hubbard has long been in league with Jeb Bush, the National Governors’ Association, the Chamber of Commerce, the Lumina Foundation, the...

President-elect Trump was joined by his pick for secretary of education, Betsy DeVos, at a "Thank You" rally Friday night in her home state of Michigan. DeVos, a longtime school choice advocate and billionaire GOP donor, was tapped by Trump to head the Education Department late last month after impressing him and Vice President-elect Mike Pence with her understanding of education policy and dedication to improving public education and expanding charter schools in the Great Lake State.

Not with my child you won’t: Psychological Damages of Common Core Analyzed by Joan Landes 48 comments NOT WITH MY CHILD YOU WON’T Guest Post by Joan Landes joan landes Joan Landes, a Utah mental health therapist, has spoken out in opposition to Common Core. The speech posted below comes from a recent conference where she spoke. She has given permission to post her findings here, and they are also posted on her blog here: Not with my child you won’t! Thank you, Joan Landes. National Educational Standards are Based on Myths and False Premises Myth 1: International standardized tests...

Trump's voucher plan is garnering much support. Let's look at it and see the good, the bad, and the ugly. Only through proper analysis can we make the proper educational course corrections.