New stick for compulsory education

The New Haven, Conn., school board approved a plan last week designed to bring "groundbreaking accountability" to government education and stick its head further into what goes on in the homes of students.

Superintendent of Schools Reginald Mayo announced he is immediately setting up an Office of Accountability to carry out the plan.

Under the plan, employees who fail to meet standards could be placed on probation and moved to another job or fired if they fail to improve. But it also raises expectations on parents, who are required to attend orientation and parent-teacher conferences and make sure their children do homework and miss no more than 10 days of school a year.

In extreme cases, the school officials said, parents could be referred to the state Department of Children and Families for neglect. Parents who meet the goals may be recognized on a parent honor roll or with school-based awards programs.

School officials said the attempt to shift some responsibility onto parents and even businesses in the community – which are asked to offer internships and release employees to volunteer in schools – sets the plan apart from most accountability systems adopted by schools in the country.

Personally, I'm all for shifting responsibility for educating kids back to parents and local businesses. In fact, I am in favor of shifting that responsibility 100 percent – ending government's involvement in education once and for all.

We don't need an education Gestapo to make this happen. We don't need to threaten and cajole parents to be involved. Let's just admit that the government monopoly on education has been a complete, unmitigated disaster and end it gracefully – pull the plug, Kevork it, end the life support of billions of dollars confiscated from taxpayers.

She points out that, by definition, government cannot educate, "so we shouldn't waste 12 years of our children's lives pursuing the impossible!"

As she says, "Either government employees dictate 'truth' to the formative youth or the government employee insists that objective truth does not exist. Either alternative is ludicrous and unthinkable to the rational mind."

Government just plain doesn't tolerate authority higher than itself, she explains.

"God, being that authority, will eventually be removed from all subjects in order to lift up the state by marginalizing or eradicating the reality of God," she writes.

She explains that government education is a way for government to indoctrinate youth in their most formative years, as that "philosophy" will never be eradicated.

"We reject established religion and state-controlled press in our nation yet the single greatest guarantee of those two evils is government education," she writes.

Government-controlled education allows government to set the standards of what is taught and how it is taught, she says. And this is a biggie. President Bush is supporting a revolutionary education bill making its way through Congress that, among other things, will require standardized national testing of students.

Can I ask you a question? If the federal government prepares the tests, who is going to establish the curricula? Of course, those who design the tests, by definition, must decide what gets taught. And that's why national testing is an abomination and should be stopped in its tracks.

My wife closes her latest column with this: "All human endeavor is morphed or molded by the unnatural insinuation of government. A few examples: children now view government as their ultimate authority, not their parents and God. Peers are the intimates of children whereas in times past parents and siblings held that position of intimacy. Children once worked with their parents or as apprentices – now the state forces us to delay adulthood until the 20s – of devastating effect. High taxes necessary to support government education and its resulting societal decay have forced mothers out of their homes and created latch-key children in an endless and vicious cycle. Work, research, relationships, loyalties, beliefs, maturity, dress, language, religious belief and leisure activities, health related choices, the very perceptions of reality, have all been perverted by the introduction of government controlled education. "

Compulsory education is, I reiterate, a bloody disaster. And now, with programs like those in New Haven, compulsory education is arming itself with a stick. It's time for a movement to end this insanity – a movement that means pulling your kids out of the system.

Next month's issue (October edition) of WND's popular Whistleblower magazine will be devoted entirely to public education. Titled "Dumbed down: The deliberate destruction of America's government schools," it will forever change the way you think about America's education system. You may subscribe to Whistleblower at WND's online store.

Joseph Farah is editor and chief executive officer of WorldNetDaily.com and writes a daily column.

But it also raises expectations on parents, who are required to attend orientation and parent-teacher conferences and make sure their children do homework and miss no more than 10 days of school a year.

What happens to those who fail to meet the requirements?

In extreme cases, the school officials said, parents could be referred to the state Department of Children and Families for neglect. Parents who meet the goals may be recognized on a parent honor roll or with school-based awards programs.

How naive of me...I started to read the article and the words Office of Accountability flew off the page. Hot D&mn, I said to myself, it's about time they had something like this!

Now parents go in and say:

"my child can't read, but she's a whiz at putting latex on fruits and vegetables. Why?"
or "My child says three of her friends have had abortions and their parents have no idea. Are you encouraging this?"
or "my child says we should bulldoze our neighborhood to ease the pressure on an endangered cockroach. Is that what you call good Science?"
or "my child brought home materials from a certain political party, which I know your teacher's union supports. What are you teaching him about politics?

Now, instead of the brush-off, says I to myself, you can call The Office of Accountability and someone will actually own up to the practice, take ownership of the problem, and try to straighten it out.

I should have known better. Accountability is for you and me, not for the beaurocracy.

So let me get this straight - the school can't take full responsibility for the children doing the work but they take full responsibility for what work the children do? If I make sure my children do their homework, can I have input into what that homework is? Can I, for example, refuse to force my child to write a report on the importance of homosexual blacks in western civilization?

Shalom.

Can I, for example, refuse to force my child to write a report on the importance of homosexual blacks in western civilization?

No, you can just be held accountable if your kids don't write it. You have no power, just responsibility.

Thank you, government.

Interesting article!

October should have a good one also according to this

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