Posted on 02/24/2007 7:11:35 AM PST by Sub-Driver
U.S. court upholds same-sex teaching to children
17 minutes ago
A federal judge in Boston has dismissed a suit by two families who wanted to stop a Massachusetts town and its public school system from teaching their children about gay marriage, court documents show.
The families last year filed the suit asserting that the reading of a gay-themed book and handing out to elementary school students of other children's books that discussed homosexuality without first notifying parents was a violation of their religious rights.
Federal Judge Mark Wolf ruled on Friday that public schools are "entitled to teach anything that is reasonably related to the goals of preparing students to become engaged and productive citizens in our democracy."
"Diversity is a hallmark of our nation. It is increasingly evident that our diversity includes differences in sexual orientation," he said.
He said the courts had decided in other cases that parents' rights to exercise their religious beliefs were not violated when their children were exposed to contrary ideas in school.
The complaint filed against the town of Lexington, about 12 miles west of Boston, had said the school had "begun a process of intentionally indoctrinating very young children to affirm the notion that homosexuality is right and normal in direct denigration of the plaintiffs' deeply held faith."
The book that sparked the case was "King & King" which tells the story of a crown prince who rejects a bevy of beautiful princesses, rebuffing each suitor until falling in love with a prince. The two marry, sealing the union with a kiss, and live happily ever after.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
This isn't all that bad of news. The government schools by and large are beyond redemption. Now I support keeping the government schools for pretty much the same reason I support keeping lunatic asylums open: they're necessary. Without them, some portion of our children, such as orphans, might not be educated at all.
This is just another piece of information to present to parents as to "why" they should home educate their children or send them to private schools. If they subscribe to the same sex indoctrination agenda, then the government schools are the place to be. Otherwise, it's time to look elsewhere.
I am in college now, and honestly, if I were younger and they gave me a book describing the gay lifestyle, I would be upset. Why do they continue to promote this type of thing? It's unbelievable...
Isaiah 5:20-23
It won't be long before the public schools are going to require children to act out homosexuality so that "they can get a better feeling if what its like to be gay". Some readin this will laugh but the day will come, not today or next year but I believe within our lifetimes.
You know full well this judge is a lier and a hypocrite.
Why?
You know full well if the teachers had come to his court claiming that out of respect and the need for tolerance for the faithful Christians in the diverse community of Lexington, that the teachers could "push" the Christian belief of Yeshua as your personal savior, to help all the students understand and appreciate faithful Christians better, and not behave with bigotry towards them; that the judge would have immediately, without a hearing, ruled in favor of the atheist parents and asked how dare those teachers try to force their personal beliefs on all students.
If anyone knows the families in the suit, please forward this to them.
Simply amazing. In the minds of left-wing whackos, the first amendment can be trashed for the compelling reason of brainwashing children with the homosexual doctrine. This country has gone down the tube significantly in the last twenty years.
You'll want this for your ping list.
Good grief, what sort of garbage is this? Though I suppose it's a logically supportable idea that schools can teach whatever they feel is right. If you give your kids to the government, you can't complain too much.
Only two families? That's as pathetic as the actual ruling.
Better not teach em to read or do even basic math, they might start to think on their own!
Government schools delenda est.
I give up..........
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I am hopeful. What is needed is complete elimination of government K-12 schooling.
Now that parents know that the homosexual agenda will not be removed from the curriculum, hopefully, more parents will abandon the government schools. Hopefully, more parents will line up in favor of vouchers and tax credits. Hopefully more parents will homeschool.
Government schools can not be reformed. If the court had ruled in favor of the parents objecting to "King and King", this would be like stepping on one roach in the kitchen. The homosexuals will find hundreds of other ways to slip their agenda into the government schools.
Beside this, the problem with government schooling isn't merely homosexuality. Government schools attack and undermine the religion of children in thousands of ways, and their belief in America, capitalism, and our Constitution.
Government schools teach secularism and socialism/Marxism. It is time that parents understand this, forget about reform, and work to eliminate government K-12 schools completely!
If people took the responsibility of educating their own children instead of allowing our government to forcibly tax us to do it,
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All that is needed, is for citizens to elect representatives that will eliminate funding for government schools. No money. No government schools. It really is that simple.
This is definitely the kind of judge Giulani would appoint. And, if he got in and appointed these types of justices, it would the conservatives like Sean Hannity that voted for him that would go bonkers over it, not realizing the mistake was voting for Giulani to begin with.
Men in Black, teachers unions, and liberal idiots. I can't think of a more toxic combination.
It's time this nonsense ended by any means necessary.
July 20, 1997
Parents must have control of education
By US Representative Ron Paul
An American statesman once said that the philosophy of the classroom in one generation will be the philosophy of the government in the next. And thanks to the federal take-over of education, that's a thought which should scare us all.
After all, the federal government has so invaded our classrooms, that daily our children are constantly bombarded with the message that everything good flows from the federal government, and that no one but the federal government has the ability to put right problems in our culture and world. On any given day, the federal government has more influence on the education of the average child than that child's parents.
An important note should be made that the fault for the lowering standards and worsening conditions in our public schools does not rest with our teachers. In fact the contrary, I am convinced our educational system would be even further in the hole were it not for the valiant efforts of our school teachers bucking the ridiculous trends and still trying to teach their students. But there is only so much they can do as the pressures mount from Washington for schools to conform to the models developed by federal bureaucrats and university professors who have never taught in a classroom.
The scary thing is that this will only get worse as the federal government creates more funding schemes to convince cash-strapped local school districts to give in and implement the latest plans of the Washington-based education bureaucrats, the so-called "educrats."
As long as we accept the notion that the federal government has some sort of "right" to control education, we will never see this trend reversed. But the good news is, more and more people are awakening to the horrible things which have occurred since the federal government began taking over our schools. Recently, more than 54 percent of the people of the 14th District of Texas, responding to a survey my office conducted, said they wanted to see the federal Department of Education completely abolished. The people of the 14th District - and people from around the nation - are sick of programs like the president's "Goals 2000," which are more about social and political correctness than education; they are tired of seeing classrooms turned into vehicle for social engineering, instead of as a place for reading and math.
There is absolutely no authority over education given to the federal government by the Constitution, none whatsoever. Everything we see the federal government doing in education is outside the bounds set by the Constitution; not, of course, that many people any longer feel bound by the restrictions set forth in the highest law of the land.
So the real challenge for us is determining how to rescue our school kids from the clutches of the federal education bureaucrats.
Even though many people across the nation are tired of what they see the federal government doing in education, there are too many entrenched congressmen, senators and federal employees who are unwilling to eliminate this unconstitutional waste of tax dollars. Therefore it is unlikely we see the Department of Education abolished, as it needs to be, any time soon, nor will we see the myriad of education-related federal rules and regulations discarded.
I am confident that day will come, for history has shown us that big, centralized government systems always collapse. But until that days arrives we cannot sacrifice our children. In order to ensure our children and grandchildren are receiving the education they need, parents must be able to consider options for their kids other than, or in addition to, the government schools. But realistically, tutoring sessions, home schooling and private schools are options far out of reach for many people, simply because of the cost.
As such I am proud to be sponsoring legislation which will give parents an unprecedented amount of control (in recent history) over their child's education. The legislation is called the Family Education Freedom Act, HR 1816.
This bill will provide up to $3,000 in tax credits per child, per year, for every American family. Parents will be eligible for the tax credit whether their kids are in public schools, private schools, church schools, or are home schooled. The tax credit can apply toward items such as after-school tutoring, purchasing a computer and educational software, tuition and the cost of books and materials, and almost anything else which the parents believe will enhance their child's education.
I am absolutely convinced that the key to an educationally prosperous nation is found not in a federal government program, but in the right of parents - consulting with teachers and local administrators - to effectively utilize their moral responsibility for their children. By so doing, we will foster a philosophy of independence, self-reliance, and local responsibility; a philosophy which will permeate our classrooms and our government.
And that is a philosophy of which we are in desperate need not just for the next generation, but also today.
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