Posted on 02/08/2008 3:57:52 AM PST by Man50D
Only months after a new state law effectively banned "mom" and "dad" from California schools, a total of 600,000 students could follow because of what has been described as the "repudiation" of 2,000 years of Christian morality, according to leaders of a new campaign assembling education alternatives.
The campaign is called California Exodus, and is being headed by Ron Gleason, pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church in Yorba Linda, who said while the country excels in social, economic, scientific and political accomplishments, it "gets low grades on the education of its children."
The issue is the state legislature's adoption of Senate Bill 777, which requires only positive portrayals of homosexual, bisexual, transgender and other alternative lifestyle choices.
"First, the law allowed public schools to voluntarily promote homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexuality. Then, the law required public schools to accept homosexual, bisexual, and transsexual teachers as role models for impressionable children. Now, the law has been changed to effectively require the positive portrayal of homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexuality to six million children in California government-controlled schools," said Randy Thomasson, chief of the Campaign for Children and Families and one of those who originally called for an abandonment of public schools.
"To rescue their children, loving parents need to find an alternative to government schools, and every church needs to make it a priority to help parents be in charge of their children's education again," he said.
He has condemned public school districts as "no longer a safe emotional environment for children" under the new law, signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, that will introduce children as young as kindergarten to the homosexuality and other alternative lifestyle choices.
(Excerpt) Read more at worldnetdaily.com ...
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Christ was bold enough about his teachings that the political forces crucified Him.
So...If Christ was tortured and crucified for His teachings, surely a Christian should be willing to risk losing a mere job for their beliefs.
Geeze! At least the Liberal/Marxists running the schools are not killing Christians..(yet!)
Are you willfully obtuse, or do you not get the point?
Maybe I give credence to it because I grew up in the inner city and taught there. These parents won’t educate their kids if it was up to them. Spend some time in the inner cities and you’ll see that these parents don’t care about educating their kids.
I went to Catholic school, grade and high school, because public school wasn’t an option for my parents.
Yes the catholic schools are education the poorest of the poor and I’m paying their tution as I send my children to Catholic grade/middle school. It happens here in my affluent suburb. Why is my tuition so high, because I’m paying for the inner cities, the poor areas, those who get free tuition to send their kids to catholic school. Those welfare recipients aren’t scraping togehter anything, I’m paying for them.
Don’t talk to me about catholic schools when I couldn’t even consider sending my kids to catholic high school because the tuition was so high but tons of poor people, those who don’t work, can send their kids there because my contributions are making it possible.
I’m a strong supporter of Catholic education. I spent K-12 attending Catholic schools in the inner city where my parents paid for every penny of it as they should have. And I send my kids to K-8 catholic school and pay for every penny of it while I’m also paying for those in the inner city and all the minorities and anyone else who can’t afford it, like I can afford it without it being a sacrifice.
My kids didn’t have the option to attend catholic high school (mostly because of all the freebies given to others) because I didn’t consider a catholic high school education worth the $10-$20 grand a year for 4 years per each of my kids, a way to spend money. If I sent my kids to catholic high school that would be approximately $40 to $80 grand a year for each kid. While those poor people get to go for free. Can you imagine spending $40 to $80 grand for a high school education and times that by 4 kids? And on top of that I have to pay incredible property taxes for the public schools. Yeah, that works so well for me, lol.
I send and sent my kids to catholic grade school here in this affluent suburb because it was better than the public school distict. But mostly because it was my choice to educate them in the Catholic environment. And nobody helped us nor would I want them too. Our high school district is separate from elementary/middle school (public) and the high school district is exceptional!. So I chose to send them there but catholic high school wasn’t a choice because it’s too costly.
Of interest- if an discussion is already well under way, pinging to the first post and having it be addressed only to the list seems to clear it up.
If the ping is late, no harm no foul, the rest of us can just catch up.
FRegards.
Any exodus in Cal schools will be replaced by illegals. We need a voucher system like ten years ago. Oh, and no vouchers to illegals.
Well, that was a rant but not a helpful one. I’ve talked to a lot of people like you who make blanket statements such as no poor person will pay tuition because they don’t care. I have asked every time, show me the data and I’ll believe you. Until then, I’ll go with my experience in these same schools.
In the PA DE MD VA areas, tuition for Catholic hs is less than $5k per year. Maybe you are referring to private Catholic hs, which are indeed over 15k per year ? The parochial schools in the same area are charging less than 3k per year, private Catholic elementary over 10k per year. I know - I work with these schools, high school to elementary, every day.
Yes, we all pay property taxes to pay for government schools, and that takes money away from those who don’t want to use government schools. It’s the obvious reason why all the private and parochial schools support vouchers and the like.
And sorry, I’ve seen the data on who pays tuition at these schools and there are very few who get a full ride. The inclination is to not give full assistance because the opportunity is not usually valued as much as if you have to work for some portion of it.
Usually the parishes or other groups associated with Catholic education offer scholarships but certainly not to all kids. I know, because I work with the data on tuition assistance, and I see the income breakdown of the folks who pay. And believe me, plenty of working poor parents pay.
The alternative, in the inner cities like Philadelphia, Camden, Trenton, Baltimore, and so on is no education at the government schools.
I’m glad someone besides me thinks the same way. I even had meetings with the 5 - yes, that was a “five” - curriculum “specialists” at the elementary and middle schools to see why the curriculum was so bad in a very highly ranked school district.
Nothing is ever any one person’s fault - that’s why they have so many administrators and committees. It’s all a game designed to diffuse and deflect responsibility. And where do they put it - on the parents.
One year I homeschooled 2 kids in addition to my own - the kids were all about 13-14. One was a real screwup. Over the course of 6 months she accomplished almost nothing. Did I blame her parents, her environment, her lack of a good breakfast blah blah blah ? No, I put the blame squarely on the kid, who chose to think she knew more than all the adults in her life and refused to listen to anyone. She had all the opportunity and resources any kid could need - 2 loving intelligent parents with plenty of money for resources - but she chose to behave as a moron.
Whose fault was that ? Hers.
What, they dictate the specific books you use ? You have to get a syllabus approved ?
I don’t know of ANY state that requires that level of detail.
They only consider it bad because the law is written so poorly that if you have a belligerent superintendant of schools you might run into problems and have to stand your ground.
However, the PA DOE has a letter you simply hand the school district that informs the SD the extent of their influence. And, if you look at the statistics, over 10 years there were only somewhere about 8 families who were given any grief because they didn’t do their paperwork and the SD chose to be picky.
So no, pass it on, it’s not at all difficult. Many SD want you to enroll your kid in extras - band, sports, individual classes, whatever - because they can then get some money from the state and fed for the proportion your kid uses their resources. A few years ago one homeschooled kid was the state tennis champion for the division high schools.
For some info on PA homeschooling and local resources, go to www.askpauline.com
Thanks to government schools and the ban on Christianity therein, not to mention of course the laziness of parents in taking their kids to Sunday School, we are losing our common culture to facebook and MTV.
Neither do I nor did I say any such thing. What I do know is that if I pull my kid out of school in my state or the surrounding states, “I’m home schooling” isn’t good enough. I have to submit my curriculum and have it approved. So far, my state has been the benevolent dictator. All it will take is one bad political appointee to end that benevolence.
Personally I don’t see much difference between that and having a government mandated curriculum. The parent is at the whim of the state and would be required to bankrupt him or herself with legal fees if the state says no.
Good post.
Sure it can. Only a teacher or someone who confuses learning with education thinks that it can't. John Taylor Gatto was, I believe, the first to point out that bells and subjects broken down into 40 minute periods is one of the best ways to stifle learning. What is really being taught is the unimportance of a subject that it can be dropped when the teacher wishes, not when the student is done with it.
Read this for one very effective way: http://www.robinsoncurriculum.com/view/rc/s31p993.htm
Just Say Nothing
Self-teaching is an "extraordinary" technique today, but it was ordinary in the past, when most of the great scholars in human history learned in a similar way.
No one can claim to have complete knowledge about the best techniques for human learning. This is a very complicated subject. It is possible, however, to observe individuals who excel and to notice characteristics which they have in common. Self-teaching, excellent study habits, and a well-disciplined approach to independent thought are characteristics of these people.
These are skills that can be taught to any child. When your eight-year-old child is all alone at his large desk in a quiet room with his Saxon 65 book and has been there three hours already—with most of that time spent in childhood daydreams —and says, "Mommy, I don't know how to work this problem," give him a wonderful gift. Simply reply, "Then you will need to keep studying until you can work the problem."
For a while his progress may be slow. Speed will come with practice. Eventually, he will stop asking questions about how to do his assignments and will sail along through his lessons without help.
These study habits can then spill over into the other subjects—with astonishing results.
What state ? Down to the syllabus and lesson plan level ?
For example, for a kid to graduate homeschool in PA you must have taken the kid thru the state requirements for high school graduation. 4 years of English, 2 years of math including algebra and geometry, 2 of science, 2 of foreign language, .5 gym, 1 fine arts, .5 health, and 4 electives. Minimum. You can of course do much more.
The rules
New Hampshire also has a set of “rules” established by the commissioner of education, which apply to home education. Rules have the force and effect of law. They can be found at: http://nhhr.dimentech.com/law_nh/ed315-1.html or go directly to the state’s site and scroll for Ed 315: http://gencourt.state.nh.us/rules/ed300.html
Secondly, you seem to have missed a change in NH homeschooling laws. http://www.nhhomeschooling.org/legalreqs.htm "For the first time, in 2006-2007, you are not required to submit a curriculum or scope and sequence with your letter. Many school districts may not be aware of the change in the law and you might want to mention or attach a copy of HB406 with your letter of notification."
There was one SD in PA that started "requiring" a lesson plan. The parents sent a copy of the table of contents for the textbooks used, but that wasn't enough for the SD. The parents contacted the PA DOE and the DOE wrote a letter to the SD saying they were, in essence, overstepping their authority.
Note also that the year end review uses a teacher chosen by the parent. PA does the same.
Can the SD cause problems ? Yes of course, but then you either retain HSLDA or a lawyer knowledgeable in education law to represent you. After a while, the SD gets the message that they will have to justify their legal fees to the community for harassing you.
Thanks. No hard feelings. Please keep thinking about the issues. As you know, I also recognize what an impossible position many teachers now find themselves in. One of these days we may win you over ;-)
I have friends who say that a large percentage of the illegals’ children are disappearing from the CA public schools because the construction industry has ground to a halt and the parents are having to go elsewhere for work.
Thanks...I wasn’t intending to give the impression that it was so burdensome that someone shouldn’t consider homeschooling in PA. My point, which should have been clearer, is that PA is considered a high regulation state. But the level of regulation isn’t so high that anyone should be in the least discouraged from homeschooling there.
In Texas, homeschools are considered private schools and there is effectively no government interference at all (no portfolios, no testing, no snoops, etc.).
No, I understand. I just wanted to point out that HSLDA thinks some of these laws are more burdensome than they actually are because they get their $100 a year if they can spook you enough. They have a conflict of interest problem.
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