To Parents with Children in Public School - by a student

Arkansas Publik Skulz ^ | 30 Aug 2003 | Ashley Anderson

[steplock]

To Parents with Children in Public School
Date: Saturday, August 30 @ 07:12:31
Topic Letters to Editor

"I will stand and fight until the end, because I owe it to my country."

Dear Editor:

This is for all the parents and their children who attend public school.

I have gone to public school all my life, until last September when I began private school. The differences are incredible! I will attempt to inform your readers as to what children in the government’s schools are doing every day.

Reading, writing, and arithmetic were the three basics every school used to go by. Are they what you think of when you think about what your child is learning?

Throughout most of my attendance In public school, the kids in my class only read one or two books throughout the whole year, until I was privileged with going to an AP class. The Advanced Placement courses have now been replaced with IB classes, which is short for the International Baccalaureate Organization, a part of UNESCO, United Nations. In this class, we were assigned numerous short stories to read, mostly about the myths of other countries, and some about their religions.

This class was intended to be a higher-level class, in which advanced students could “maximize” their learning capacity. Learning about the religions and cultures of other countries, and not names like Henry van Dyke, Washington Irving, O. Henry, or even Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, names which I never heard until I attended private school. These authors, among others such as Mark Twain and Emily Dickinson are purely American, and the basis for all literary writings in America to date.

Why were they never taught to me? Even in the advanced class we never read “Rip van Winkle.” Instead, we were assigned books like “The Giver” by Lois Lowry, which gave the details of killing babies and living in a world where no one was special and a person’s worth was based on his/her ability to conform to the group. Was I being conditioned?

When my mother was in school, she was taught phonics. In public school, I was taught to memorize the look of words and how they sounded. I was taught to remember the answer, not understand the question. I didn’t have spelling or vocabulary words to learn past the sixth or seventh grade. Why not?

In my private school, everyone has spelling and vocabulary words, in every grade, every week, to understand and learn how to use them in sentences. Words like philanthropy, misanthropic, and ameliorate were never taught to me in public school, despite the so-called “advanced” classes I was in. My mother, however, insisted on my having vocabulary words, even though it was not provided in public school.

Learning arithmetic has taken on a whole new meaning in public schools. It means that the more advanced students are made to wait for the others to catch up, and the advanced students are given “busy” work. The textbook often goes unfinished, and the students are passed anyway, because they tried their best. Grading on a curve is commonplace in public schools, so the students don’t know if they’re doing anything wrong. They are taught to be mindless and to accept whatever they are given.

I took Algebra in the eighth grade in public school, geometry in the ninth. When I changed to private school, I retook Algebra because my new school taught it differently, with more of the textbook. This year I’m taking trigonometry and Algebra II, both of my own choice. I know I’ll be getting the most out of them because we won’t be waiting for everyone to catch up like we did in public school. I can learn at my own pace.

Most kids in public schools are uncontrollable. How can any learning actually take place? Respect for authority, integrity, and honor are not words generally practiced by students who attend public school. If the administrators were to enforce the rules they have, they wouldn’t need to make more. Total control is the only thing gained when making more rules than needed.

I was amazed at how well-behaved the students at my private school were. Not only did they work hard, but were courteous, polite, and obedient. These things are a direct result of the proper atmosphere that this school provides. Christian values are taught, along with studying the Bible, which, needless to say, is strictly taboo in a public school.

Although I had some great teachers in public school, which are extremely hard to find, they could do nothing with the curriculum they were given from their superiors, not to mention the state, and the Department of Education, which is a part of the federal government. The department itself is unconstitutional; “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” The United States as is written here means the federal government, or national government. The Constitution gave no such power to the federal government as to run a federal department of education. Therefore, it is unconstitutional. The Constitution, since 1787, is and has been the Supreme Law of the land.

I encourage all those who care about their children and grandchildren to go searching for the answer. There is a lot of information available; but you may have to look no further than a book by Charlotte Iserbyt called “The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America”. It gives a detailed account of what really happens in public schools, why, and where the corruption comes from.

Students: no one can tell you who you are. If you don’t think for yourself, someone else will, be it a strong-willed friend, the media, or even our own government. Some people would have us believe that we’re too young to do anything about it, even if we wanted to. Well, there is one thing we know how to do, and that’s spread the word about what is going on; you have to learn more about it.

Even though it may be difficult to fund attending a private school or homeschooling, it is the only immediate way to stop what is being shoved down the throats of America’s youth. Soon even these may be forbidden. The way to avoid being institutionalized while attending a public school is not easy, but what is the most important thing? Is it more important to play football or be a cheerleader and end up flipping hamburgers in a fast food joint, or actually learning something that will be valuable to you the rest of your life?

Defend your mind, and ask questions. Don’t take anything for granted. Public school is not going to change, because it is running exactly how the government wants it to. Follow the money.

I am a Christian. This is not the time for believers to stick their heads in the dirt and hope that everything goes all right. The remnant of Christ’s followers exists today as foretold in the Bible. This is the time for believers in Christ to rise up and defend the rights our Forefathers died so that we may keep. I will stand and fight until the end, because I owe it to my country. What will you do?

Sincerely,
Ashley Anderson

This article comes from Arkansas Publik Skulz
http://www.gohotsprings.com/school/

The URL for this story is:
http://www.gohotsprings.com/school/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=266

[ohioWfan]

Agreed. Most schools have advanced programs available that keep the bright kids (with the good parents) together in most classes. By the time they were in 9th grade, our kids had very few classes with kids who couldn't keep up, or had uninvolved parents.......other than gym, of course! :o)

The advantage of being in a good public high school is that there are advanced courses available that most parents couldn't teach, even with good pedagogic materials available. My kids couldn't learn Physics or Calculus correctly from me no matter HOW hard I tried.......and I'm a teacher (though I know there are some systems that have more than one parent teach in areas where they are strong).

When we realized how solid (and moral) our public schools were, we never considered homeschooling OR private schools......and we have seen the rewards of that decision many times over.

[Boxsford]

I found this great definition of the trivium. It agrees with your post.

"The trivium is most easily understood first by realizing that it is not some fly-by-night modern educational theory, but tried and true laws of learning. It can be looked at in two ways: as instructional stages that correspond to cognitive development, and as a natural process that is followed anytime any person of any age learns something new.

As instructional stages, the trivium follows this progression: the grammar stage, emphasizing memorization of concrete facts and corresponding to the elementary grades; the dialectic stage, emphasizing understanding and analytical thinking and corresponding to the junior high grades; and the rhetoric stage, emphasizing expression and abstract thinking and corresponding to the high school grades.

The stages of instruction should not be confused with the specific core subjects of grammar, logic, and rhetoric; which are best taught during their corresponding stage and provide the tools of learning which are the goal of the trivium. Comprehending these basics about the trivium will go far in helping to unravel the mystery of how the trivium ought to be applied to each subject in each stage."

[Boxsford]

I'll have to disagree with you on one point. You said,'The advantage of being in a good public high school is that there are advanced courses available that most parents couldn't teach...'. I could never agree that a good public school has any kind of an advantage over a good homeschool. We have just as many advantages if not more because of the tremendous flexibility that naturally comes in learning at home.

I think you would be amazed at the resourcefulness of homeschooling parents to get those studies for their kids. AP classes as well as college courses are available to homeschoolers via the internet and other sources. It can and has been done.

[Sweet Hour of Prayer]

"In fact one of my fave school assignments was to get random spelling words, and you'd have to write a story using them all. I wrote great 5 or 6 page adventure stories."

That brings back wonderful memories. I used to treasure the papers I wrote for creative writing exercises. Another one I liked was picking an unseen object out of a box and then writing a short story that involved the object.

[ohioWfan]

Yeah, but if I homeschooled my kids, their teacher would be ME in all subjects, and they would ask ME to explain things, and that would be a BIG disadvantage for them! :o)

Now English, Social Studies and the Arts, and we'd be fine!

[EdReform]

Bump & Ping

[EdReform]

Ping

[PleaseNoMore]

Well, from what I have seen the cirricula is fine. It is a lot more challenging than my son's regular AP classes. Since my son is also capable of thinking independently and is not easily swayed by "every wind of doctrine" I think he will be fine. This is his last year and he has done well. I will be certain to keep my eyes open and do a little more investigating though. I have three more kids coming up behind him.

[ohioWfan]

btw.......I'd like to thank you publicly for engaging in a civil discussion with me about education.

Some of the ugliest, nastiest accusations I have received on FR have come from 'Christians' who hate public schools with such a passion that they try to crush anyone who defends them in any capacity (which is why I rarely venture onto threads of this nature).

The truth is that some of my best friends are homeschoolers, and I know they have prayerfully made the right decision for their children and their circumstances, as have we......

[bd476]

"They set up a system in Charlotte where you have to have written permission from the school system uptown for each and every visit to your schools classroom. When my wife checked in at the principals office and went to our son's classroom (we didn't know about this new policy) they sent police to escort her out. We now homeschool."

Great Perfect reason and what a scary story, Gitmo!

While I understand the need for security to keep bad people from entering classrooms, your wife checked in with the principal's office and so they knew she was there visiting as a parent, not as someone intending to do harm.

I suspect that her police escort out was done as a warning to teach other parents how school systems/teachers' unions really view parents' roles in raising their own children.

[gitmo]

I asked her about this a few minutes ago. She was told you have to get someone from the county School office to accompany you if you want to go to a class.

[bd476]

"I asked her about this a few minutes ago. She was told you have to get someone from the county School office to accompany you if you want to go to a class."

Oops, sounds like they were unprepared for her visit. Didn't anyone else in your area find this as frightening as you, your wife and me (not in your district) ??

[steplock]

The Author

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

ACCORDING TO the feds and other useless people - WE ARE POOR!

Aren't you grateful--you are not part of the evil rich! (Even if you do hope that your children will be!).

[luckystarmom]

My son's friends in private school were a lot worse than his friends in public school.

In private school, my son was hanging out with one kid who came over to our house once. He put glitter glue in my daughters hair, and he backtalked me. Another kid in his class started going to public school because his parents got divorced and they could afford private tuition. The public school ended up placing this kid in a school for troubled kids. This kid is manic-depressive, ADHD, and numerous other things. He swore and had temper tantrums at the private school, but the private school did nothing.

In public school, they tested my son and found out he was gifted. They put kids into different reading groups (and this year math groups) based on ability. My sons friends were the ones that were in the advanced reading groups and the kids in the gifted program. His best friend was the son of Christian missionaries, and this kid was smart and well-behaved.

[luckystarmom]

Are you sure they weren't teaching about the Civil Rights movement when it is Martin Luther King's holiday? My son learned about it at both private Christian school and public school. He learned that blacks were treated differently and he learned a little bit about slavery.

[ohioWfan]

That sounds a lot like our schools......they have great advanced courses, as well as testing and classes for the mentally and behaviorally handicapped (i.e. bad kids). They have resources to diagnose problems that many private schools do not have, and methods to deal with them.

A good public school is a blessing.

[F16Fighter]

Strange seeing you at a thread like this (eyeball roll)...

"How dare them expose the fact that blacks were previously denied the right to vote and the legal ability to participate in the economy of their local communities, all before the adults in the lives of those first graders can indoctrinate them as to the innate inferiority of blacks. The shock! The gall! The horror!"

LOL, save us the drama queen hysterics. But then again you wouldn't think anything odd about a six year-old having to "learn" about the slightly complicated dynamics of the American 'Civil Right Movement,'would you?

And what else would you have them be taught? The Prohibition Act ?? Or how about the dynamics of the Sedition Act?

And maybe later on after dinner ( bowl of Spaghetti-O's) Junior and Dad can "discuss" how the Kennedy Assassination affected the Civil Right Movement over a cigar and snort of brandy...

[F16Fighter]

Very nice job, Ashley...

Puleeze become an attorney ;-)

[Timmy]

How dare them expose the fact that blacks were previously denied the right to vote and the legal ability to participate in the economy of their local communities, all before the adults in the lives of those first graders can indoctrinate them as to the innate inferiority of blacks. The shock! The gall! The horror!

I think the point is about age-appropriateness. I'm sure we all agree that homosexuality and beastiality should be taught in kindergarten / first grade, followed by civil rights / politically correct racism no later than second grade. First things first, after all.