no problem. typos happen. : )
This post, therefore, is addressed to the majority of those who are concerned and interested (congratulations, you either have common sense, read, care about how the minds of innocent children are shaped, or are aware of the ongoing attack against parental authority by many teachers and the NEA; more likely than not, its all of the above).
Since "knowledge is power," here's some of what HAS been happening in our schools (yes, this is called "reality"; and because I do live in the REAL world, I have actual knowledge and experience with these types of programs (the program name keeps changing, but it's goals remain constant, of course), and have worked AGAINST them, along with many other parents, in California schools):
Pro-Gay Curricula: Coming Soon to a School Near You
The CurriculaFor those interested in learning more:Pro-gay curricula use common themes and similar wording to advance an activist agenda. Many have been produced or are influenced by the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN). Themes include: 1) "Diversity" training is needed to prevent violence and to assure the safety of LGBT youth in public schools; 2) A child's sexual orientation is determined by age six and is unchangeable; 3) Homosexuality must be accepted as normal; 4) References to homosexuality as a "lifestyle" or suggestions that it is a "choice" are evidence of homophobia.
According to the Washington State Safe Schools Anti-Violence Documentation Project's Curriculum for Preventing Harassment and Fostering a Climate of Respect, K-5 children should be taught:
* There are no "girl colors and boy colors" or "girl games and boy games." Those are stereotypes. . . ."
* "Families come in all different shapes and sizes, including, among many others, two-mommie and two-daddy families. . . ."
* "A 'Gay' man is someone who loves another man best of all. A 'Lesbian' woman is someone who loves another woman best of all. . . ." "People who have always felt as if they were in the body of the wrong sex are called 'transsexual.' Some transsexual kids grow up and get sex change operations and some don't."
The curriculum, Preventing Prejudice: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgen-der Lesson Plans for Elementary Schools, produced by pro-gay parents' groups and funded by the Horizons and Vanguard Foundations, consists of 16 K-5 lesson plans offering "key messages," including:
* "Gender stereotyping and gender roles limit us and prevent us from being who we feel like being."
* "There are many ways to live and love." This message, states the lesson plan, is "a good introduction to the subject of families headed by lesbians and gay men."
* "Respect means keeping our minds open. Having open minds means giving people freedom to be who they want to be." This K-1 lesson plan includes a story about a boy who dreams of wearing a beautiful skirt of many colors. His mother helps him make his "dream skirt" by cutting up pieces of her own clothing and sewing them together. The boy insists on wearing the skirt to his daycare center where the other children either show bewilderment or make fun of him. He runs crying to an open-minded adult who gathers the children together and asks them why they are "making fun of Jesse." The narrative demonstrates how the children build consensus through discussion. Ultimately, they decide it is okay for a boy to wear a skirt if it makes him feel good.The Inclusive Curriculum: The Silent Minority comes to the Classroom, by GLSEN-Los Angeles, gives K-5 teachers these suggestions:
* "Introduce the vocabulary. At minimum, find some time in your classroom to say the words lesbian, gay and bisexual and make sure the children understand what those words mean. . . . No one is too young to hear or say those words."
* "When discussing families, talk about all different kinds of families, whether or not there are those kinds in your classroom."
* "When you have a unit that touches on any social justice issue (the civil rights movement, for example) . . . include the lesbian and gay rights movement. If you don't feel comfortable talking about it, invite a speaker who does."
* For middle school and high school students, teachers are told to "incorporate gay and lesbian issues throughout the curriculum, not just in health education, but in traditional disciplines such as English, History and Science."The Inclusive Curriculum presents sample lessons that have already been used in the classroom. One exercise for grades 9-12 takes students on a "chronological journey through your mind's eye of what your life might have been if you were gay." Students are guided on a "fantasy" tour through a series of life experiences at different ages, each filled with painful rejection and disappointment. In the end, the fantasy character is beaten to death by violent, anti-gay bigots.
1. Visit the Eagle Forum website. They are active throughout the country and have a wealth of information, and not just in the educational arena. They quickly respond to e-mails. You can read about what the NEA is up to, for example: NEA Goals, Spin, and Concealment.
2. Go to the NEA site, yourself. Read what their constitution and amendments state. You may first want to print out these definitions, however, to understand their lingo Decoding the NEA Resolutions
2. I've already posted a link to the Department of Education where you can use the search term "Pupil Rights" to pull up government articles (i.e., (pdf format) Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment ) which show that it is ILLEGAL for schools to use Federal Funds for psychological analysis, testing, etc., of students without written parental consent. This was a result of the Hatch Amendment to the Education Act of 1984, put into place after hearings on the psychological abuses taking place in the classroom. Phyllis Schlafly of Eagle Forum published a book entitled Child Abuse in the Classroom, which is a compilation of those hearings. I believe it is still in print.
A link to a sample letter to opt your child out of these intrusive and manipulative programs was previously posted, but here's another link: Hatch Amendment Sample Letter
To those who wish to learn more about where these kinds of programs "came from," I have already provided a link to William R. Coulson, who explains. It comes from he and his colleagues Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers.
The three are credited for the non-directive education movement (also called affective education) in the classrooms. After Maslow, Rogers, and Coulson saw the disastrous effects it had (you can read what Dr. William R. Coulson says about a specific disaster How I Wrecked the I. H. M.. Nuns), Coulson repudiated non-directive education and gave up his practice to educate against its use.
According to Dr. Coulson, by 1968, Maslow had backed down, he had done a complete turnabout, but nobody will acknowledge that today. . . Maslow says that [his theory of self-actualization/hierarchy of needs] never was meant for little children and wrote a firm retraction [against his early theories] shortly before he died in 1970...Everybody ignores it. (Who Would Build on a Crumbled Foundation,The Family Educator, March/April 1990, p.3). See also (pdf file) Rebutting WEAs Charges Against NWPE, esp. p. 4.
According to Rogers, "Sensitivity training is a means for altering the basic personality structure of an individual" (Ed Dieckmann, Jr., Beyond Jonestown: 'Sensitivity Training' and the Cult of Mind Control [Torrance, CA: The Noontide Press, 1981 ], p. 90). This is because it is group criticism, a brainwashing technique used by Communist regimes. The National Education Association, through its National Training Laboratories, started pushing sensitivity training since at least 1962 - recognizing it as brainwashing. It stated the following in its training manual for group leaders or facilitators: "Human relations training [another name for group criticism, encounter groups, group therapy, sensitivity training, affective education or situation ethics] fits into a context of institutional procedures which includes coercive persuasion in the form of thought reform or brainwashing" (ibid., pp. 4, 13-14, 54-56).
Doctors and psychiatrists say sensitivity training de-sensitizes the individual to the needs of those around him and "makes healthy minds sick" (ibid., p.15)- yet it is standard fare in today's classrooms.
The nationally-recognized and esteemed psychologist and expert in his field, Dr. Coulson (with whom I have had the pleasure to speak), agreed, at the request of Concerned Citizens of the Desert (of which I was a member), to travel to our town and address the School District with concerns he had after learning what teachers in our district were doing with our children (K-12).
After having agreed to meet with Dr. Coulson, the superintendent of the school district decided not to show up, sending an underling instead. One has to wonder what the superintendent was afraid of. Perhaps because Dr. Coulson wasn't a "simple" parent who knew little or nothing about Maslow's "Hierarchy of Needs" and would "get" their educational lingo terms and mumbo jumbo psycho-babble. Perhaps being on even ground wasn't in her or their comfort zone.
After numerous experiences I and other parents had, we learned to question the forthrightness of many teachers and administrative personnel. Oftentimes, they were elusive and evasive and made false claims. Whether those claims were stated in ignorance, I do not know, but, they, nevertheless were NOT the truth.
3. Read Robert Holland's book, Not With My Child You Don't: A Citizen's Guide to Eradicating OBE and Restoring Education (1995), which gives specific examples of what's been going on in classrooms.
4. For those who are interested in obtaining a Christian's opinions on how to wage this battle, there's:
a. Eric Buehrer's website Gateways to Better Education which may be of interest. He "has been involved with public education issues for over 17 years. He was a high school history teacher in inner-city Seattle before founding Gateways to Better Education."
or
b. Focus on the Family, founded by Dr. James Dobson, a well-known child psychologist.
Both are reputable places to learn about what's going on in schools and also have a great deal of current and/or archived literature available to read.