Posted on 04/09/2002 11:44:27 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Dobson to Californians: Quit public schools Family advocate says 'I think it's time to get our kids out'
Posted: March 30, 2002
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2002 WorldNetDaily.com
Leading family advocate James Dobson has urged California parents to leave the state's government school system.
"In the state of California, if I had a child there, I wouldn't put the youngster in a public school," the president of Focus on the Family said in his daily radio broadcast Thursday.
"I think it's time to get our kids out," Dobson said. "And I'm going to get hit for (saying) that."
A lobby group called the Alliance for the Separation of School & State said Dobson's "comments on the state of public schooling may mark a key turning point in the critical education discussion."
Dobson has more than 5 million listeners in the U.S. and is heard in another 100 countries.
"For years, James Dobson has supported three options for Christians: public schools, Christian schools and home schooling," alliance president Marshall Fritz said in a statement. "With (Thursday's) courageous and insightful statement, Dr. Dobson joins the millions of Americans who have concluded that many public schools are no place to train new generations of Americans."
Fritz's group has an online "Public Proclamation for the Separation of School and State" that has garnered more than 15,000 signatures. The petition calls for the end of government involvement in education.
He notes endorsement of the concept by religious leaders such as D. James Kennedy of Coral Ridge Ministries in Florida; T.C. Pinckney, recently elected second vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention; Tim LaHaye, author of the popular "Left Behind" series of novels; and Rabbi Daniel Lapin of Toward Tradition.
In a speech at the National Religious Broadcasters convention in February, Dobson noted that the California legislature has mandated the teaching of "homosexual propaganda" in the state's public schools.
"They're teaching them that bisexuality is normal and that homosexuality and heterosexuality are morally equivalent," Dobson said.
On its website, however, Focus on the Family maintains there is still hope for public schools in general.
An article titled "Rebuilding Hope for Public Schools" states: "Schools still face formidable foes: postmodern secular teaching and liberal agendas, policies that need to change, overly large classes, problems with discipline and the need for higher academic standards. But if ... we mix prayer with works, if parents are actively and prayerfully involved in their children's education, the evidence shows that public schools can change."
He's been consistent!
The public schools are a Weapon of Mass Destruction.
He made liberals look foolish when California was doing rolling blackouts.
No, I'm not saying I agree with him at every point. I am saying that I like the way he's done good erringly far more than I like his critics who have an inerrant theory, and nothing to show for it.
Having said all that, I think his point was good, and I'm not as quick to condemn his counsel. He's always been supportive, as far as I know, of alternative education. But the 20th century was the history of the Christian church withdrawing from arena after arena, and the Hell that broke loose in the aftermath. Dobson was saying we should stand here, to influence the minds of kids. Good theory. Doable? I don't know, but worth the effort.
And now, in California, it probably is indeed time to shake the dust off our feet, do our own thing, and let them eat our dust.
Dan
This has indeed been a good development. Now if only the LeftCoasters would grow some yarbles on the race issues that confront Americans, of all colours!
There is one book that my friend Ray Moore carries with him to sell (at his cost) or give away whenever he speaks. It is crucial to this debate; and indeed to understanding the American experience (and predicament).
It is Samuel Blumenfeld's Is Public Education Necessary?
Keep the skeer on 'em!
The building is gorgeous.
During last year's power crisis (I'm still hoping for a very hot summer this year), he showed us the proper way to run a secret government when he negotiated the power contracts that we're currently stuck with.
-PJ
Of course, it isn't all Dobson's fault, but he shares the blame with the rest of the conservative leadership who avoided plain talk and plainer action in the name of being "mainstream". Even with his call for Californians to get their kids out of that state's public schools, he's still saying that there's hope for government controlled public schools. He still doesn't get it.
I was making an observation independent of the post. I neither agreed nor disagreed with the post because I have always had reservations against Focus.
I’ve always been an approving skeptic of them though, and am very pleased that my father worked for Focus on the Family rather than, say, GLAD or some such other group.
"Be tolerant of everything, judgemental of nothing"
You know, I am really tired of your attitude!
You sit here pontificating about Dobson, and I suspect you don't know HALF of what this man is about or what he has done.
YES, he DID try to keep parents working within the system............Does it ever occur to you that ALL these public school children will be standing side to side with our private Christian school chilren in the marketplace.
Shouldn't there be those ....who choose to be....in the public schools who can be salt & light?
Dobson was very hesitant to abandon the public school arena.....EVEN THOUGH...he was always, always aware of what the public school represented.
My two children went through public school......and are strong Christians.
....but I was always volunteering & as I volunteered, I kept informed through sources like Dobson, and tried to effect change in the RIGHT direction whenever I could.
I have always heard/known that whatever happens in the California schools ALWAYS trickles down to the rest of the country.
I heard this from Dobson & I heard this from educators in my childrens schools.
Whatever fad was the experiment du jour in CA, would eventually be foisted upon Podunk County wherever!
I will thank-you to read/listen more (or any, as I suspect you haven't) to what James Dobson says & believes.
This man has been the vanguard for millions of parents through the years.........waging the fight for our schools, and the hearts of our children.
If he says California is a lost cause..........May God have mercy, because it indeed is a lost cause.
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