Posted on 08/11/2008 8:41:29 AM PDT by Turret Gunner A20
For many young'uns around the country this is a momentous day. Sadly, for many of them, it is also a tragic one. Today millions of parents who should know better are going to take the most precious things in their lives, their children, and turn them over to the government to be educated. These parents all know that our government education system in this country is beyond horrible --- but for some reason they operate under the impression that the very school that, by chance, their child is going to attend is the one and only exception. Their child's school is extraordinary!
It's those other schools that are so bad.
Yeah, right.
Today I'm going to take one entire chapter out of my book "Somebody's Gotta Say It" and reprint it here for you to read .. enjoy .. and hopefully heed.
=================================================================
NICE PENCILS!
Now, fork them over . . .
(From "Somebody's Gotta Say It" © 2007 by Neal Boortz, Published by HC Books, and imprint of Harper Collins)
What? I'm picking on government schools again? Don't I have anything better to do with my time?
No, I don't. A day spent slamming the concept of government indoctrination is a day well spent.
I love this country, but I believe it's in deep trouble. I believe we're losing our sense of individuality and our love of liberty. Americans have little idea of the sacrifices that so many made to create this country where we live our lives of plenty.
Most adults have no idea of how essential our system of economic liberty is to the standard of life we enjoy today, and are unaware of how American free enterprise has already lifted much of the world out of poverty, want, and despair.
Furthermore, most Americans don't understand something as basic as the importance of private property rights in maintaining freedom and promoting prosperity.
And for this state of affairs I place the bulk of the blame on our system of government-owned and -operated schools.
I'll go one step further: Many of our government schools today, perhaps even the one to which you have surrendered your child; start in from day one trying to discredit the very concept of property rights. How do they do it? Let's start by defining some terms.
Some of our brethren on the left denounce the idea of property rights by saying human rights are always more important than property rights. It's a clever line, but it's really a kind of misdirection, like a magic trick. Why? Because property rights are human rights.
Think about it this way: Property has no rights. People have the right to property, and that right to property, the fruits of one's labor, is one of the highest human rights.
Chances are it's been quite a few years since you were in grade school. Believe me, much has changed since those days. Back when you were in school, for instance, it was probably okay to play tag during recess. Not so today. Why? Because tag involves (gasp!) touching! And besides, in tag someone is chased, and someone does the chasing. This teaches our precious little children predatory behavior. Now we can't have that, can we?
As if that weren't bad enough, the campaign to abolish private property starts with almost the first moment your child enters school.
Remember those weeks before school started for your brand-new first grader? There you were, you and your proud new student, walking the aisles of the local Wal-Mart, your list of school supplies in hand. Item by item you checked things off your list as you dropped them into the basket: pencils and erasers, notebooks and pencil holders, construction paper and paste. By the time you made it to the cash register, you had a full basket and a happy kid. As soon as you got home, your budding Einstein took the supplies to his room and spread everything out on the bed. This was his stuff, and it was important stuff, too—his very own tools and supplies, the things he'd use to learn and grow. And tomorrow he would be taking them to school. He couldn't have been more proud. On his last night before that magic first day of school, just before he went to bed, your young student would pack all his stuff in his backpack . . . then unpack it . . . then pack it again.
The next morning, it's show time! Off we go, full of apprehension and pride. Your young man is taking another grand step toward adulthood!
What could go wrong at school? Plenty. Remember, it's a government operation staffed by government agents.
As soon as the students are seated, the bell rings, and as fast as you can say the Pledge of Allegiance, the indoctrination begins: Your child is about to be introduced to the wonderful concept of "the common good."
Ready for class? Nope, not yet. There's a small matter that must be attended to first.
The government teacher steps in front of her virtual hostages and promptly delivers the first raw lesson in the power of government: She instructs her students to bring all of their precious new school supplies to the front of the classroom and put them into a huge box.
Wait just a minute here! Why am I putting my stuff into that box? My daddy took me to Wal-Mart and bought that stuff for me! It's mine! You can't take it away from me!
Oh, yeah?
As your child sits in stunned silence, the teacher tells him and his classmates that these supplies now belong to all of the class. What was once private property has been seized and transformed into community property, courtesy of the teacher's demands — demands that amount to a government mandate.
There is no due process. No rule of law. After all, in school the teacher is the law. Your child's supplies are now everybody's supplies, and the teacher has assumed the responsibility of distributing them as needed.
Know this: This whole "dump all of your school supplies into this box" is no mere innocent exercise, no simple whim of a few individual teachers. It's a conscious policy, and it has a purpose that goes beyond simple expediency for the teacher.
Your child, and every other child in that classroom, is being taught that their private property rights end when someone in authority says they end. In this instance, that person in authority is the teacher—a government employee. And even if your child isn't able to understand that it's actually the government who's seizing his property, he certainly does understand that his property is being seized, and converted into everybody's property. Worse yet, he is told, very clearly, that this is a good thing.
And who is there to tell him otherwise?
I've talked about this property confiscation on the air many times. Some parents call in to scold me, convinced that I'm lying, that this doesn't really happen. But for every one who does, plenty others call in to confirm what I'm saying—to report that it happened to their own child! I've even heard from young parents who believed I was making it up . . . right up to the point when their own child returned home from his first day of school.
The most surprising thing to me is that some callers—even some parents whose children have had their school supplies confiscated— actually don't see the problem with the policy. Wake up, folks! The very concept of private property is under attack here, and government is leading the charge.
It is a simple truth that property rights are the very basis of human freedom. We come into this world with nothing but our bodies and our minds. Those are the assets we bring with us to the marketplace. And no society based on economic and social freedom has ever survived the loss of private property rights.
Nobody would seriously argue against the notion that we, as individuals, are the sole owners of our minds and our bodies. We present our physical and mental labor to the free enterprise marketplace and trade it there for wealth, usually in the form of money. It can be said that we have received that money in exchange for the expenditure of a portion of our very lives.
When we convert that money to other forms of property, that property, too, represents a portion of our lives. That property is every bit as much ours as our very bodies and minds are. To demand that we forfeit that property to the government— even so trifling a piece of property as a schoolboy's notebook—is to demand a degree of involuntary servitude from us all.
I know this may sound a little preachy, but the importance of the basic human right to property, and its role in the preservation of a free society, cannot be overstated. When the government schools we pay for are working to destroy that concept, from the very first day of a child's very first grade, it's our duty to speak up.
Today we see property rights under attack from all quarters—as anyone who's ever confronted the idea of eminent domain knows too well. Government, after all, has an interest in weakening the concept of private property rights. The more Americans can be conditioned to accept the idea that the government has the right to confiscate our property for "the common good," the stronger government becomes and the weaker we as individuals become.
Come on, you say, my kid is only six years old! You don't expect him to realize what's happening and ask the teacher to respect his private property rights, now do you? What is he supposed to do, demand to be compensated for the seizure of his property?
Of course not.
Junior is a long way from understanding those concepts. But don't kid yourself: He certainly does understand, at least on a subconscious level, that his new teacher—someone he knows he is supposed to respect and look up to—thinks that the idea of seizing private property for general use is just fine. After all, the logic goes, there are other people out there who might need some of your stuff. And it's just not right for you to have something other people don't have or can't share in, is it? All you need to do to correct this perceived injustice, according to these teachers, is to let your superiors even things out a bit by taking some stuff from you and giving it to someone else.
Karl Marx had his own words for this concept. "From each according to his ability," he said, "to each according to his need." So what can be done to fix the problem? Well, I'll tell you what I did.
Actually, in my case, I didn't have to wait until my daughter, Laura, got into government school for this collectivist concept to rear its head. We learned this lesson in day care.
One afternoon I picked up Laura at her day care center. As she got into the car, I could see that her eyes were red; there were still traces of tears on her cheeks. What happened? I asked.
"The lady," she said, had taken her candy.
You see, it was the day after Halloween and Laura had taken a bag of goodies to day care, to dip into throughout the day. As soon as the day care supervisor saw her bag, however, she seized it. She told Laura that it just wasn't right for her to have anything that every other child didn't have. If she didn't bring enough to share with everyone, then she couldn't have it at all.
As soon as I heard that, I spun my incredibly hot Ford Pinto around and headed back to the day care center. Once there, I asked for a private meeting with the director. I asked her if she was familiar with the concept of private property. She said yes. Then I asked why it was the day care center's policy to indoctrinate children into the idea that it was not right for them to have property that other children didn't have.
Blank stare.
Then I asked her how she would feel if the bank took her next deposit and distributed it evenly among its other customers, telling her it wasn't nice for her to have money that other people didn't have. She got it.
The next time Laura brought some candy or cookies to day care, the supervisors left her alone.
For nearly all children in America, Day Number One at school— whether it's in an informal day care center or a public kindergarten— is also their first time in an independent social setting. It's their first chance to experience how the world is going to treat them. Until we do something to fix it, however, Lesson Number One your children learn that day may be that their rights exist only as long as the government allows.
And that's just the first week! Wait a little while, and you just might get that call from Teacher with vague, dark hints of a better world for your child if you'll just allow him to go on Ritalin.
From "Somebody's Gotta Say It"
Neal Boortz Remember those weeks before school started for your brand-new first grader? There you were, you and your proud new student, walking the aisles of the local Wal-Mart, your list of school supplies in hand. Item by item you checked things off your list as you dropped them into the basket: pencils and erasers, notebooks and pencil holders, construction paper and paste. By the time you made it to the cash register, you had a full basket and a happy kid.
As soon as you got home, your budding Einstein took the supplies to his room and spread everything out on the bed. This was his stuff, and it was important stuff, too—his very own tools and supplies, the things he'd use to learn and grow. And tomorrow he would be taking them to school. He couldn't have been more proud. On his last night before that magic first day of school, just before he went to bed, your young student would pack all his stuff in his backpack . . . then unpack it . . . then pack it again.
The next morning, it's show time! Off we go, full of apprehension and pride. Your young man is taking another grand step toward adulthood!
What could go wrong at school? Plenty. Remember, it's a government operation staffed by government agents.
As soon as the students are seated, the bell rings, and as fast as you can say the Pledge of Allegiance, the indoctrination begins: Your child is about to be introduced to the wonderful concept of "the common good."
Ready for class? Nope, not yet. There's a small matter that must be attended to first.
The government teacher steps in front of her virtual hostages and promptly delivers the first raw lesson in the power of government: She instructs her students to bring all of their precious new school supplies to the front of the classroom and put them into a huge box.
Wait just a minute here! Why am I putting my stuff into that box? My daddy took me to Wal-Mart and bought that stuff for me! It's mine! You can't take it away from me!
Oh, yeah?
As your child sits in stunned silence, the teacher tells him and his classmates that these supplies now belong to all of the class. What was once private property has been seized and transformed into community property, courtesy of the teacher's demands—demands that amount to a government mandate. There is no due process. No rule of law. After all, in school the teacher is the law. Your child's supplies are now everybody's supplies, and the teacher has assumed the responsibility of distributing them as needed.
Know this: This whole "dump all of your school supplies into this box" is no mere innocent exercise, no simple whim of a few individual teachers. It's a conscious policy, and it has a purpose that goes beyond simple expediency for the teacher.
Your child, and every other child in that classroom, is being taught that their private property rights end when someone in authority says they end. In this instance, that person in authority is the teacher—a government employee. And even if your child isn't able to understand that it's actually the government who's seizing his property, he certainly does understand that his property is being seized, and converted into everybody's property. Worse yet, he is told, very clearly, that this is a good thing.
And who is there to tell him otherwise?
I've talked about this property confiscation on the air many times. Some parents call in to scold me, convinced that I'm lying, that this doesn't really happen. But for every one who does, plenty others call in to confirm what I'm saying—to report that it happened to their own child! I've even heard from young parents who believed I was making it up . . . right up to the point when their own child returned home from his first day of school.
The most surprising thing to me is that some callers—even some parents whose children have had their school supplies confiscated— actually don't see the problem with the policy. Wake up, folks! The very concept of private property is under attack here, and government is leading the charge.
It is a simple truth that property rights are the very basis of human freedom. We come into this world with nothing but our bodies and our minds. Those are the assets we bring with us to the marketplace. And no society based on economic and social freedom has ever survived the loss of private property rights.
Nobody would seriously argue against the notion that we, as individuals, are the sole owners of our minds and our bodies. We present our physical and mental labor to the free enterprise marketplace and trade it there for wealth, usually in the form of money. It can be said that we have received that money in exchange for the expenditure of a portion of our very lives. When we convert that money to other forms of property, that property, too, represents a portion of our lives. That property is every bit as much ours as our very bodies and minds are. To demand that we forfeit that property to the government— even so trifling a piece of property as a schoolboy's notebook—is to demand a degree of involuntary servitude from us all.
I know this may sound a little preachy, but the importance of the basic human right to property, and its role in the preservation of a free society, cannot be overstated. When the government schools we pay for are working to destroy that concept, from the very first day of a child's very first grade, it's our duty to speak up.
Today we see property rights under attack from all quarters—as anyone who's ever confronted the idea of eminent domain knows too well. Government, after all, has an interest in weakening the concept of private property rights. The more Americans can be conditioned to accept the idea that the government has the right to confiscate our property for "the common good," the stronger government becomes and the weaker we as individuals become.
Come on, you say, my kid is only six years old! You don't expect him to realize what's happening and ask the teacher to respect his private property rights, now do you? What is he supposed to do, demand to be compensated for the seizure of his property?
Of course not.
Junior is a long way from understanding those concepts. But don't kid yourself: He certainly does understand, at least on a subconscious level, that his new teacher—someone he knows he is supposed to respect and look up to—thinks that the idea of seizing private property for general use is just fine. After all, the logic goes, there are other people out there who might need some of your stuff. And it's just not right for you to have something other people don't have or can't share in, is it? All you need to do to correct this perceived injustice, according to these teachers, is to let your superiors even things out a bit by taking some stuff from you and giving it to someone else.
Karl Marx had his own words for this concept. "From each according to his ability," he said, "to each according to his need." So what can be done to fix the problem? Well, I'll tell you what I did.
Actually, in my case, I didn't have to wait until my daughter, Laura, got into government school for this collectivist concept to rear its head. We learned this lesson in day care. One afternoon I picked up Laura at her day care center. As she got into the car, I could see that her eyes were red; there were still traces of tears on her cheeks.
What happened? I asked.
"The lady," she said, had taken her candy.
You see, it was the day after Halloween and Laura had taken a bag of goodies to day care, to dip into throughout the day. As soon as the day care supervisor saw her bag, however, she seized it. She told Laura that it just wasn't right for her to have anything that every other child didn't have. If she didn't bring enough to share with everyone, then she couldn't have it at all.
As soon as I heard that, I spun my incredibly hot Ford Pinto around and headed back to the day care center. Once there, I asked for a private meeting with the director. I asked her if she was familiar with the concept of private property. She said yes. Then I asked why it was the day care center's policy to indoctrinate children into the idea that it was not right for them to have property that other children didn't have.
Blank stare.
Then I asked her how she would feel if the bank took her next deposit and distributed it evenly among its other customers, telling her it wasn't nice for her to have money that other people didn't have. She got it.
The next time Laura brought some candy or cookies to day care, the supervisors left her alone.
For nearly all children in America, Day Number One at school— whether it's in an informal day care center or a public kindergarten— is also their first time in an independent social setting. It's their first chance to experience how the world is going to treat them. Until we do something to fix it, however, Lesson Number One your children learn that day may be that their rights exist only as long as the government allows.
And that's just the first week! Wait a little while, and you just might get that call from Teacher with vague, dark hints of a better world for your child if you'll just allow him to go on Ritalin.
From "Somebody's Gotta Say It"
Neal Boortz
© 2007
Actually I use quite a few of them in one of the 1st labs the kids do.
I call it the Black Box Lab.
I put different objects in 10 different cigar boxes and seal them.
I take the kids to the lab and they are allowed to shake the box, weigh the box (I tell them what the empty box weighs, smell the box, anything they want BUT they can not open the box.
Each group gets 5 minutes to gather their information and then the box is rotated until all the groups have had a chance to figure out what is in them.
At the end of the lab (usually takes 2 days) I let them tell me what they think is in the boxes and then open the boxes. The kids just love it, and are somewhat surprised at their powers of observation.
LOL once one of the group told me that box #2 had marbles in them.
I told them "Yes you are correct.
Then they told me, "There are 5 marbles in the box.
I told them yes, you are correct.
Finally they took it a little too far and announced to the class, "They are blue.
There was a note on the bottom of the list, stating only those brand names would be accepted, and that NO ITEMS were to be labeled.
That statement fallls forsquare in the same category as not reading something and then passing judgement as to its contents -- not too brilliant.
I will honor your request and not post to you further on this subject assuming you don't respond.
In view or your having injected the following material as further "proof" of whatever it is you are trying to get across, I will respond: I grew up in a household with two public school teachers and I went to public school. So I know that our schools aren't horrible at all. I'm sure a lot of Freeper teachers know this too but stay away from these threads for fear of being attacked.
And, based on the fact two family members teach (taught) in public schools and you went to one that you judged 'good' means that every public school in in the country is 'good'???
The how come such a large percentage of high school graduates can't pass an eighth grade level test; can't find the United States on a globe; can't accurately tell in what century the Civil War took place; or, who is the Vice President of the United States. How many of them cam tell you on what date the 21st Century began? By the way, what date did you graduate from HS?
...so I wonder what would happen if they were labeled?
Yeah....odd statement that isn't it?
Conservatives ATTACKING fellow conservatives. Conservatives AFRAID of posting to a public site due to fear of attacks.
What's that called when one group imposes its view on others in the group and demands silent agreement or risk ostracization? Odd to find group think here among lovers of independence and free thinking.
I teach 3rd grade in Texas. State law mandates that school must start on the last Monday of August. As for school supplies, I have a large plastic tub for EACH kid to keep their own supplies. I do collect the kleenex boxes though and we keep two boxes out at a time during the year. If we run out, I just buy some more.If a kid comes to me after I hand out an assignment and says that he/she doesn’t have a pencil, I make them do it in crayon then they have to redo it in pencil for homework. This usually only happens 2 or 3 times before everyone gets the idea that they need to come prepared. By having a tub for each student it is also very easy to catch kids who may decide to “borrow” some other student’s supplies without permission. Parents always think I am hard on the ids at the beginning of the year but they always thank me for being that way at the end of the year.
I havta admit that no one makes a crayon quite like the folks @ Crayola...and Sharpies are the bomb, I take exception to only Kleenex, Bounty and Clorox. Puffs, ScotTowels and Lysol brands aren’t good enough? I say check this teacher’s portfolio....heavily into KimberleyClark are they?
Its called free day care.
“Odd to find group think here among lovers of independence and free thinking.”
Odd? Not really. The “Group Think” factions are actually quite active around here.
Pick just about any topic, and there will be adherents and zealots ready swoop down on any heresy against their views.
mysterio is right on target.
I would suggest you do a bit wider research on the subject than just your personal observation kind.
LOL! When I started first grade in the early 1960s, a cigar box was actually on my list of supplies. :^)
It sure is.
He is -- if not knowing what he is talking about (because he admits not having read the article starting the thread) is what you mean by being 'right on target.'
When I was in grammar school (NYC public), the only “new” things we brought were a pencil box with pencils and pens (however many you wanted), a binder with 5 subjects, a homework pad and my lunchbox.
Things like crayons, markers, paints, glue, rulers, protractors, scissors, etc., were handed out to us via large old cookie tins filled with these items all clearly marked “PROPERTY OF NYC BOARD OF EDUCATION.” “Take one (or a few, in the case of crayons and markers) and pass the tin back,” the teacher said. And all was well.
Whatever happened to SCHOOL TAXES paying for SCHOOL supplies? Silly me.
Regards,
PS: In the interest of full disclosure, my own kids go to Catholic school and are required to bring many of the items that used to be in those cookie tins. However, the items are THEIRS, and the Catholic school does not collect outrageous taxes that are supposed to be going toward supplies. Why ANY public school kid should have to bring in a pair of scissors is beyond me.
I can tell you that it happens regularly in NYC and with a fair amount of frequency in Long Island districts.
Regards,
It's not my claim -- I have read it several times over the past few years -- I and I don't doubt it will be coming along again prety soon.
“...I’m sure a lot of Freeper teachers know this too but stay away from these threads for fear of being attacked.”(Turret Gunner A20)
Yeah....odd statement that isn’t it?
Conservatives ATTACKING fellow conservatives. Conservatives AFRAID of posting to a public site due to fear of attacks.
What’s that called when one group imposes its view on others in the group and demands silent agreement or risk ostracization? Odd to find group think here among lovers of independence and free thinking.”(SoftballMominVA)
But OH SO TRUE!
And for some, that is the goal...for us to be COWED into NOT responding! Some, who make hate-filled MASS generalizations of ALL SCHOOLS, ALL SCHOOL TEACHERS along with ALL PARENTS who send their kids to PUBLIC SCHOOL disrupt nearly any thread regardless of it’s initial message~
(ironically, this thread begins with the message that all schools are bad, so it would seem that this WOULD be the place for such massively generalized messages)
Turret, I am VERY happy to learn, that even with your (correct and accurate) criticism of public schools, you do NOT throw everyone into the same boat.
It is refreshing, actually.
Many, MANY of us (conservative public school educators) have a zillion “things” which we find wrong with public schooling..the institutions, the corrupt administrations, the EVIL UNIONS...
We have, however, had a hard time discussing these issues in any sort of rational or methodical way for quite some time now. We are frequently demonized by a few FReepers. Although small in number, these FReepers are so vehement in their assertions, that any meaningful dialogue is suspended as we seek to clarify our purpose for working within a system that is IN SUCH NEED OF IMPROVEMENT!
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