Free Republic

A movement to drag the teaching of science in the United States back into the Dark Ages continues to gain momentum. So far, it's a handful of judges -- "activist judges" in the view of their critics -- who are preventing the spread of Saudi-style religious dogma into more and more of America's public-school classrooms. The ruling this month in Georgia by Federal District Judge Clarence Cooper ordering the Cobb County School Board to remove stickers it had inserted in biology textbooks questioning Darwin's theory of evolution is being appealed by the suburban Atlanta district. Similar legal battles pitting evolution...

After battling a California school district for more than a year over its teaching of evolution, a parent has filed a civil-rights lawsuit in federal court alleging his constitutional rights to free speech, equal protection and religious freedom were violated. Larry Caldwell's suit against the Roseville Joint Union High School District and school officials in Sacramento centers on his attempt to introduce a curriculum that changes how the theory of evolution is taught, without introducing religious content. His "Quality Science Education Policy" and related instructional materials include presentation of scientific weaknesses of evolution in biology classes. "Currently, only the scientific...

The Guerrilla Curriculum On the Corporatizing of Children by John Taylor GattoFalconers have no difficulty understanding that to carry a falcon on one’s arm in opposition to its nature you have to put a bag over it’s head; and horsemen know that a fast horse can be made to run more slowly by adding lead weights to its body; why is it so difficult to acknowledge then that some people might want to transfer these principles of mechanical intervention known to animal trainers to the scientific management of human children? That is to say, to impede their natures in interest...

BRAVE NEW SCHOOLS Parents kicked out of 'gay day' Concerned mom tried to videotape event Posted: December 17, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com Two parents who objected to a Massachusetts high school's homosexual-awareness day were expelled from the campus after a mother began videotaping a session. Brian Camenker, an activist who has a son at Newton North High School in Newtonville, Mass., and Kim Cariani, mother of two students, said four police officers and the school principal warned they would be charged with trespassing if they didn't leave the campus Wednesday. Kim Cariani tried to videotape a "gay day" session at...

SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Frustration with public education seems to be growing among the nation's Southern Baptists, with supporters of Christian schools and home schooling arguing that if God is absent from the classroom then their children should leave, too. ``What has happened is not so much that the Christians are leaving the public schools as that the public schools have left the Christians,'' advocate Ed Gamble said. Gamble is executive director of the Southern Baptist Association of Christian Schools, an Orlando, Fla.-based group that supports the more than 600 Southern Baptist schools created in the past eight years. ``As...

FRUITA — None of the six boys associated with bringing a gun to Fruita Middle School this month will be allowed back in the school, Principal Ken Haptonstall said Monday. Haptonstall will recommend expulsion for all of them. Haptonstall’s announcements were greeted with enthusiastic applause from about 500 concerned parents who gathered for an early Monday morning meeting with school and law enforcement officials at the school. School officials are confident they have identified all students involved in the gun incidents, Haptonstall said. Haptonstall and Fruita Police Chief Mark Angelo answered questions about two incidents involving guns at the school....

AgapePress) - A researcher has revealed some disturbing trends regarding the sets of beliefs Christian students in public schools have about the most important issues in life. Dan Smithwick is the founder and president of the Nehemiah Institute, a group that provides a biblical worldview testing and training service to Christian educators. He is the developer of what is called the "PEERS test," a tool to assess the worldviews of young people, and says the majority of public school students from evangelical Christian homes consistently score in the "socialist" category on the test. According to Smithwick, this outcome should come...

God Is Banned From Thanksgiving In Maryland Public Schools By Sher Zieve Nov. 23, 2004 Although the Thanksgiving Holiday and celebration were founded upon giving thanks to God, Maryland public schools have banned students from giving thanks to Him. This school system is adamant that ‘students may give thanks to anyone but, God’. Charles Ridgell, St. Mary's County Public Schools curriculum and instruction director, said: "We teach about Thanksgiving from a purely historical perspective, not from a religious perspective." The problem with this statement is that Thanksgiving, in the United States, was founded upon Christian religious tenets. Therefore, any accurate...

<p>PRING, Tex. - In front of her gated apartment complex, Courtney Payne, a 9-year-old fourth grader with dark hair pulled tightly into a ponytail, exits a yellow school bus. Moments later, her movement is observed by Alan Bragg, the local police chief, standing in a windowless control room more than a mile away.</p>

State's Schools Improve In No Child Left Behind Standards Twice As Many Schools Meet Progress Standards Compared To 2003   POSTED: 1:58 pm EDT September 29, 2004 UPDATED: 2:45 pm EDT September 29, 2004   GREENVILLE -- State Education Superintendent Inez Tenenbaum says more than half of the public schools in South Carolina showed adequate yearly progress required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act.Tenenbaum said 56 percent of the state's public schools met the goals. Only 23 percent of schools met the standard last year.Tenenbaum said she's pleased with the progress. But she said the state has a...

Families from three Maine towns went to court Friday to challenge a state law that prohibits public money from being spent on religious school tuition. The families, who live in Durham, Raymond and Minot, claim they are being discriminated against by a law that allows towns to pay public and private school tuition for their neighbors' children, but will not pay the families' tuition bills because their children go to schools with religious affiliations. "It's all about fairness," said Jerilyn Ward of Raymond, who is not Catholic but sends two of her three sons to St. Dominic Regional High School...

JAVITS CENTER, NEW YORKAs recently as 1996, the Republican-party platform called for the abolition of the Department of Education as an unconstitutional, heavy-handed, and ineffective entity. Eight years later, things have changed. Conservatives in New York this week knew there was trouble once they read the first sentence of the platform on "No Child Left Behind." It read: "Public education is the foundation of civil society." (In comparison to "family," which earned the description of being the "cornerstone.") The second sign of trouble was learning that the subcommittee handling education was chaired by Rep. Phil English (R., Penn.), a key...

Gere attacks Bush over sex education 18/07/2004 - 12:51:59 Hollywood heart-throb Richard Gere launched a scathing attack on American President George W Bush's attitude to sex education in Bangkok on Tuesday. The passionate actor was speaking at the 15th International Aids conference in the Thai capital, after visiting India the previous week with his younger brother David to highlight the Aids epidemic. Gere took the opportunity to attack Bush's unrealistic approach to sex education after the president proposed in the 2005 budget that $270m (?216.8m) should be put into funding programs which dissuade teenagers from having sex. During his time...

Democrats say comment sexist and homophobic LOS ANGELES - A spokesman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said yesterday that the governor would not apologize for calling lawmakers "girlie men," despite criticisms from Democrats that the remark was sexist and homophobic. Schwarzenegger said during a rally Saturday that Democrats were delaying the budget by catering to special interests, and that the lawmakers were "girlie men" if they refused to admit it. He also said Californians should vote out lawmakers who stand in the way of passing the budget. "If they don't have the guts to come up here in front of you...

City Journal The Immigrant Gang Plague Heather Mac Donald        Summer 2004 Before immigration optimists issue another rosy prognosis for America’s multicultural future, they might visit Belmont High School in Los Angeles’s overwhelmingly Hispanic, gang-ridden Rampart district. “Upward and onward” is not a phrase that comes to mind when speaking to the first- and second-generation immigrant teens milling around the school this January.“Most of the people I used to hang out with when I first came to the school have dropped out,” observes Jackie, a vivacious illegal alien from Guatemala. “Others got kicked out or got into drugs. Five graduated,...

... The problem arises when you actually get down to the methods they advocate to ensure their view of equality and their methods of obtaining it. We are all individuals. We all live our lives based on our life experiences, economic status, education level, religious values, family values and the character traits we developed as a result. We all have differing opinions on different subjects. We all have the right, or should have; to live our lives as free thinking individuals, as long as our actions are legal, moral, non-perverse and contribute to society as a whole. We should have...

It's not just the high-profile cases, like the ex-model held for seducing a boy of 14. New research suggests 10 per cent of American pupils are victims of sexual abuse Research claiming that one in 10 American children has been sexually exploited at school - and that almost half the abusers are women - has shocked parents as one of the nation's most notorious pupil abusers is about to be released from prison. More than 4.5 million school-age children have been subjected to some form of sexual behaviour from teachers or other adults meant to be looking after them, said...

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Content/read.asp?ID=82 I am sorry I cannot post pictures so I am showing the URL. It is the personal story of one very gutsy teenager and his friends who wanted to post politically incorrect posters in his high school and the attemps to shut him up. Very well written and documented with photos, I am rather amazed at the courage it took to stand up for principal. I guarantee my fellow Freepers are going to love this story

RUSSELL Halley takes pride in being able to do the splits as well as any woman on the dance floor. His partner, Jorge Guzman, can spin faster than the female competition. So when the two men don their see-through chiffon shirts to dance together, they alternate the lead. "I can send Jorge into a triple spin and catch him, and vice versa - even in the course of one move," Mr Halley boasts. "We can change place instantly. From an audience point of view it can be very exciting." The duo are at the forefront of an upheaval in America's...

KEYSER, W.Va. - Administrators at one West Virginia high school have seen enough of pajamas, spiked jewelry and underwear, including the muscle shirts known as "wife beaters." A new dress code bans any attire that could "disrupt the educational process." A committee of students, teachers and administrators at Keyser High School agreed the existing dress code needed some beefing up, Principal John Haines said. Teenagers who wore pajamas and bedroom slippers for dress-up days during Spirit Week, for example, had begun wearing them on regular days, too. Administrators had also had enough of bare bellies and exposed panties. The revised...

July 15, 2004 -- WASHINGTON — Teachers were paid an average of $45,771 last year, a figure not keeping pace with educators' expenses, says a union survey. One union official called the situation "insulting." The typical teacher's salary went up 3.3 percent in 2002-03, the last year for which figures are available, according to a report by the American Federation of Teachers. The pay range varies significantly by state, accounting for differences in costs of living and the way salary packages are set up. California paid the highest average salary: $55,693. South Dakota had the lowest: $32,414. New York teachers...

No matter how you look at it, federal involvement in education has been a failure. Nonetheless, with the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the federal presence is getting bigger, not smaller. Yet the seeds of revolt have been sown: Parents, educators, and legislators are increasingly restive, and the NCLB is likely to be a critical issue in the upcoming presidential election. So it's time to decide: Should the feds stay or go? In 1965, the year the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) — of which NCLB is the most recent version — was passed, the federal government spent...

LOS ANGELES — Some say high-stakes testing is to blame for cheating in the classroom. But in this case, it's not the students getting caught — it's the teachers. A recent study shows as many as 200 teachers in California were caught cheating to help their students perform better on rigorous new standardized tests, which are part of the President Bush's "No Child Left Behind" education plan, which calls for greater accountability among teachers.

July 6, 2004 -- The Bloomberg administration might be having second thoughts about promoting an experimental high school serving gay and lesbian students. The Department of Education's budget halts the planned expansion of the controversial Harvey Milk HS in Greenwich Village, according to funding figures obtained by The Post. Enrollment at Harvey Milk HS was scheduled to jump to 170 students in September, from 100 students this past school year, when it converted from a small program to a sanctioned, stand-alone high school. The city put $3.2 million into renovations so the facility could accommodate the rapid two-year expansion. But...

WASHINGTON - The National Education Association, the nation's largest union, endorsed Democrat John Kerry (news - web sites) for president Monday, the final touch in its campaign to drive up school spending and reshape the biggest education law in decades. The NEA, a 2.7-million member group composed mainly of teachers, is out to advance its agenda on everything from testing students to halting private-school vouchers. The union is mobilizing its money and forces for Kerry — targeting political staff in 15 swing states, going into schools to rally its members, and joining liberal groups to organize a massive night of...

Plan would grant vote to noncitizens By Adriel Hampton | Staff Writer Published on Friday, July 2, 2004URL: http://www.examiner.com/article/index.cfm/i/070204n_vote E-mail this story | This page is printer-friendly A reform measure that would allow noncitizens with children in the San Francisco Unified School District to cast ballots in Board of Education elections is moving forward and appears to have the needed support to go before voters in November.The initiative, perhaps the first step toward giving full voting rights for immigrants, could utilize a "blind registry" system, where parents and guardians are signed up to vote through district records. If passed, it...

A 23-year-old female teacher in Tampa, Fla., was arrested Monday for the second time on charges of having sex with a 14-year-old male student. Debra Lafave, (pictured, Below) was accompanied by her new attorney, John Fitzgibbons as she surrendered to Marion County deputies in Ocala. Lafave, who is married, is a reading teacher at Greco Middle School in Temple Terrace, just northeast of Tampa. The new charges accuse Lafave of pursuing the 14-year-old student to Ocala, Fla., while he was visiting his 15-year-old cousin. Detectives said Lafave had sex with the student twice in Ocala - once in the back...

PORTSMOUTH, Va. — An elementary educator who taught classes until last year was charged with having images of nude youths and using his computer to solicit children. It was not clear if any alleged victims had been students of Kelly Karl Bowen (search), 30. "We can't even tell you how many victims there are yet," Assistant Attorney General Russell E. McGuire said at a bond hearing Thursday. "These kids, we need to find out who they are. We need to get them into counseling." The investigation began June 17 when an undercover officer had an Internet chat with someone posing...

Silencing whom? - Thomas Sowell (archive) June 18, 2004 With all the noise being made -- from traffic noise to Al Gore's ranting -- you might never suspect that there was a National Day of Silence. What you might also not suspect is that this day is observed in schools and colleges across the country, where students agree to remain silent for a day in order to show support for homosexuals. The idea is that people who are sexually different have been silenced by society and that the students who observe the National Day of Silence are showing that they...

LUFKIN -- An assistant principal at an East Texas high school has resigned after being accused of sending nude pictures of himself to a 16-year-old female student, authorities said Thursday. Charles Dexter Lewis, 35, was arrested early Thursday on the Class A misdemeanor of displaying harmful material to a minor. Lewis was released Thursday on $1,500 bail, according to jail officials. A statement released by Lufkin schools Superintendent David Sharp said Lewis resigned as 11th-grade assistant principal at Lufkin High School Tuesday after being confronted with the accusation. Sharp said the photo was not sent from school. The teenager was...

ROSLYN, N.Y. (AP) _ This is an unlikely setting for a crisis in the public schools. Roslyn High sends 95 percent of its graduates to college, its SAT scores are among the best in the nation, and it was cited in a recent Wall Street Journal story on the some of country's finest public schools. Foreign language is offered to youngsters beginning in kindergarten. For more than two decades, voters in this well-to-do Long Island community less than 20 miles from Manhattan have faithfully supported a generous school budget, funding whatever programs administrators thought necessary to keep the district's 3,000...

The Southern Baptist Convention voted down a controversial proposal Wednesday that would have asked parents to pull their children from public schools in favor of religious education. On the final day of the denomination's annual meeting, some 8,500 church representatives also approved a call to amend the U.S. Constitution to bar gay marriage. The 16.3 million-member SBC is the nation's largest Protestant body. Earlier this year, a statement denouncing "government schools" as "officially Godless" had been proposed by retired Air Force General T.C. Pinckney of Alexdandria, Va., and attorney Bruce Shortt of Spring, Texas. The meeting's resolutions committee rejected that...

CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee (AP) -- A federal appeals court has upheld a ruling that argued weekly Bible classes are unconstitutional in the public schools of Rhea County, the same county where the "Scopes Monkey Trial" pitted creationists against evolutionists 79 years ago. A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati agreed Monday with a February 2002 ruling by U.S. District Judge R. Allan Edgar of Chattanooga. Edgar ruled that the Bible Education Ministry program in Rhea County violated the First Amendment's clause calling for separation of church and state. The 30-minute classes were held weekly for...

An editorial in the Pilot titled, “The public education of southern Baptists” begins by asserting that “there are plenty of valid reasons why individual parents my choose to educate their children at home or in private schools.” And then never mentions that line of thought again. The editor is apparently terrified that the second largest denomination in the country (after Catholics) would urge its members to withdraw its children from public schools. As well he (or she) should. Public schools are notorious for turning out graduates who cannot read their diplomas. Even the “better” public schools graduates are virtually illiterate...

Like Moses and Aaron leading the children of Israel out of Egypt, T.C. Pinckney and Bruce Shortt want to lead Southern Baptists parents to pull their children from government-run schools. Pickney, a retired Air Force brigadier general, and Short, a cosponsor of the Christian Education Resolution, plan to introduce the non-binding measure to the 2004 annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention this summer. The resolution says public education today is essentially "godless." It calls upon parents in the nation's leading Protestant denomination to either home school their children or send them to Christian schools. The resolution reads: "[T]he government...

MALCOLM, Neb. (AP) - A teenager was charged with attempted murder after police found him outside school with 20 homemade bombs, a rifle and a note saying he wanted to injure everyone at his high school except for three friends. Authorities believe they averted what could have been the worst school shooting since the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School. Josh Magee, 17, was arrested Tuesday in the parking lot of Malcolm High School after a staff member saw him swigging liquor from a flask and putting on a black overcoat. Police who searched Magee's car found a bolt-action rifle,...

FAIRY TALES Would you be upset if your child brought home a 'fairy tale' book from school in which Prince Charming marries another prince? Take the Poll @ http://www.howiecarr.org/

WILMINGTON, N.C. -- The parents of a first-grader are fuming over the book their daughter brought home from the school library: a children's story about a prince whose true love turns out to be another prince. Michael Hartsell said he and his wife, Tonya, couldn't believe it when Prince Bertie, the leading character in ``King & King,'' waves off a bevy of eligible princes before falling for Prince Lee. The book ends with the princes marrying and sharing a kiss. ``I was flabbergasted,'' Hartsell said. ``My child is not old enough to understand something like that, especially when it is...

A New Mexico school district is debating a controversial plan to stop young kids from having sex. Its solution: Sex education starting in kindergarten. In the town of Anthony, between Las Cruces and El Paso, Texas, a lot of children are having sex early and often. “We ask them how many sexual partners they’ve had, coming in to get tested, and quite a few of them, in fact the majority, had anywhere from 10 to 15 partners by the time they got to high school,” said Colleen Runyan, a school nurse at Gadsden High School. Already this school year the...

BRAVE NEW SCHOOLSProtest cancels mosque field tripParents concerned about students' planned tour of Islamic center Posted: February 27, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com Complaints from concerned parents prompted an Ohio school teacher to cancel a field trip to a local mosque. The trip scheduled Wednesday to the Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati was part of a study of the world's five major religions for three seventh-grade social studies classes, the Middletown Journal reported. Superintendent Tom York said teacher Debbie Weber decided to cancel the trip after she and other school officials were approached by parents concerned about issues such as "separation...

Posted on Sun, Feb. 08, 2004 As complaints of fighting and harassment surface among lesbians and straight girls, Phila. struggles to adapt rules.By Susan Snyder Inquirer Staff Writer Philadelphia high schools are struggling with a new problem in student behavior: rising tensions between heterosexual and openly lesbian girls. Nationwide, lesbians increasingly are declaring their sexual orientation and publicly displaying their affection for each other at younger ages, and Philadelphia appears in step with that trend. The phenomenon has led to embarrassing moments in some cases and physical clashes in others. Accusations of intimidation have surfaced on both sides: from lesbians...

Monday, Jan. 26, 2004Sex Education in Amherst A high school takes on a controversial play ByNATHAN THORNBURGH This Feb. 14, V won't stand for just valentine at Amherst Regional High School in Amherst, Massachusets. The local school board and superintendent last month approved a student request to stage The Vagina Monologues the night before Valentine's Day as part of a national campaign to call attention to violence against women. The theater piece, written by Eve Ensler, has played off-Broadway and in all-star benefits around the country and the world on Valentine's Day for the past six years. But this...

They say that when looking for a new home, the three rules are "location, location, location." But Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren believes that should be changed to "schools, schools, schools." In their new book, THE TWO-INCOME TRAP: WHY MIDDLE-CLASS MOTHERS AND FATHERS ARE GOING BROKE, Professor Warren and her daughter Amelia Warren Tyagi set out to explain why the "people who consistently rank in the worst financial trouble are united by one surprising characteristic. They are parents with children at home." According to their research, even though today's two-income families earn 75 percent more than their single-income counterparts did...

Montgomery County public school students who attend Monday's rally in Annapolis in support of the $1.3 billion Thornton education plan could earn credits toward the service learning credits required for graduation. Students can earn two service learning credit hours for attending the rally, said Montgomery County schools spokeswoman Kate Harrison. Students begin earning community service credits the summer before sixth grade under a state requirement for graduation. Each county sets its own guidelines for how students can earn the credits. Montgomery County requires that students accumulate 60 credit hours in order to graduate. "There are a variety of ways that...

American Educator Addresses How To Head Off Disruptive Classroom Behavior 2/5/04 1:59:00 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: National Desk, Education Reporter Contact: Jamie Horwitz of the American Federation of Teachers, 202-879-4447 or jhorwitz@aft.org WASHINGTON, Feb. 5 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Winter 2003/2004 issue of the American Federation of Teachers' award-winning quarterly journal, American Educator, focuses on the challenging antisocial behavior in schools and why early intervention is crucial, but rare. In an AFT poll, one in five teachers reports a loss of four or more hours per week to disruptive behavior. Inadequate school discipline is also a major obstacle in reaching...

There is a reason why Democrats want the government to keep control of the education of our children. If you do not understand that reason, then you probably went to government schools. Is there a parent out there who hasn't lived through this scenario? You have a soon-to-be brand new first grader in the house. Yes, after over five years of careful nurturing your little rug rat is ready for that great adventure called education. It's time for school. Sadly, for most parents, it's time for government school. You're about to take the most precious thing in your life and...

Chancellor High School student suspended for five days for having two Tylenol YOUTH CORRESPONDENTIt happened like this:Each seventh of a school day has its own distinct characteristics. The first class of the day is passed in a half-dazed state of semiconsciousness and quickly blends into second period.At this point, the dull realization sets in that a new day is just beginning.After first period, waking life is a thing of the past. The sour taste of the early morning is cut by Winterfresh gum, and the teacher's writing on the chalkboard looks a little less blurry.However, eyes still droop every now...

Allan Etter, spokesman for the Washington, D.C. Fire Department, says two teenagers were shot inside Ballou Senior High School in Southeast, Washington, D.C. this morning.One teen was shot in the chest and is being Medivacced to Childrens Hospital. The other was shot in the leg and is being treated on the scene before transport to a local hospital.No report on whether the shooter was caught or if it was more than one shooter.Our nation's capital is in the throes of a violent crime wave with almost one murder a day, gang warfare in broad daylight, bus drivers being stabbed and...

A proposed set of guidelines for middle and high school science classes in Georgia has caused a furor after state education officials removed the word "evolution" and scaled back ideas about the age of Earth and the natural selection of species. Educators across the state said that the document, which was released on the Internet this month, was a veiled effort to bolster creationism and that it would leave the state's public school graduates at a disadvantage. "They've taken away a major component of biology and acted as if it doesn't exist," said David Bechler, who heads the biology department...

Facing challenges at school RALEIGH--Sometimes the elusive quest for equality gets in the way of meaningful progress for minorities. The latest example is the educational theory of "differentiation" as adopted by the Chapel Hill-Carrboro school district. Under differentiation, students of all abilities and socioeconomic backgrounds are taught in the same classroom in order to provide equal access to quality instruction for all. While that sounds great in theory, in practice differentiation has a dark side that impedes achievement and limits opportunity. Consider the scenario that's playing out now. The Chapel Hill-Carrboro school board voted to eliminate advanced language arts courses...