Posted on 06/29/2010 3:11:59 PM PDT by george76
When Sean Harrington entered his freshman year at Arlington High School, he noticed something peculiar: There were no American flags in the classrooms, and no one recited the Pledge of Allegiance.
So Harrington enlisted the aid of his fellow students, and now, three years later, they have succeeded in getting flags installed in the classrooms. But the pledge still will not be recited.
The Arlington, Mass., school committee has rejected the 17-year-old's request to allow students to voluntarily recite the Pledge of Allegiance, because some educators are concerned that it would be hard to find teachers willing to recite it...
Harrington had presented school officials with a petition signed by 700 people...
But the request to have the pledge recited failed when the committee's vote ended in a 3-3 tie.
Harrington, who will be a senior in the fall, said he will continue to fight. "I'm not a person who quits and I don't back down. It's a very righteous cause and needs to be followed through until the end."
Some committee members voiced concerns about forcing people to do something that might violate their beliefs – including religious beliefs. Among the no-votes was committee member Leba Heigham.
"Patriotism is a very personal thing for all of us, but I do not think it is in the school committee's best interest to mandate that any of our employees recite the pledge," she told the Patch.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Thank you and God Bless.
It is time the community shun these people! All should speak up! Make them uncomfortable, they have no problem doing it to everyone else!
Well, I live in GA and my kids all learned the Pledge in pre-k and it continued all through HS for my older boys. The first songs they learned in Kindergarten music class were all patriotic songs.
Dixie used to be the University of Georgia fight song until the PC crowd got their knickers all in a twist and replaced it with “Glory, Glory to Old Georgia” sung to the tune of “The Battle Hymn.”
Yeah! Yeah! We’ve seen it posted here on Free Republic. Your kids’ government Marxist indoctrination camp is “different”. ( with eye roll)
We also have prayer (again, over the loudspeaker) at football and basketball games. Pastors from a variety of local churches lead the prayers.
We also have the option to join the NEA SOLELY for insurance, and may opt out of any other fees. I confess I swallowed hard before doing this... but in this day and age, a teacher shouldn't go into a classroom uninsured against potential legal action.
My kid’s Marxist indoctrination camp IS different. I teach there.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Yep! As I said, we’ve hear that before. ( eye roll)
That was my thought too, why can they not meet at the flag pole outside the school every morning and recite the pledge?
************
I think it would be wonderful if a bunch of the students did exactly that. But I guess it doesn’t count unless it’s done during class time and led by a school employee.
> Communism has got to go and go now.
The “Public School” is a communist idea, promoted by Marx and by every tyrant that ever existed.
The “school district” has its own budget apart from the towns that serve it (NOT that it serves), and is a law unto itself.
The “school district” is better understood as the “school collective”, which is the name Marx gave it.
The “Public School” is better characterized as the “Bus Ministry of the State Church of Humanism”.
Get your kids OUT of the “Public School” as soon as possible. Let the “school district” and its indoctrination camps wither on the vine.
My older boys are just fine! One is in the Army and the other is a senior. And by the way, I homeschool my youngest so I have nothing against homeschooling, I am just not a zealot!
Still Hope—Thank you!
Yep! And...We’ve heard that one too.
I must say that the example of praying before football games is a new one. Usually, it’s, “My kid’s wonderful government Marxist indoctrination camp sings a traditional carol or two at the yearly “winter” program and has a “holiday” tree at the entrance to celebrated winter break.
Ok...Here is a serious response to your posts. What follows are **facts** and have nothing to do with zealotry. ALL government teachers who go into the government schools agree to support and uphold the following in exchange for a paycheck and benefits:
( Everything that follows applies **GENERALLY** to ALL government schools and is **NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT** directed at any individual.)
1)Government single-payer schools **are** socialism. ALL of them are, and ALWAYS have been. Simply by attending, children learn that the government has ENORMOUS police power to take money from their neighbor to pay for a service their parents want for tuition-free.
Well?...If government can take money from a neighbor for free single-payer schools, why not single-payer Obamacare and a thousand other socialist wants and needs? Simply by attending single-payer socialist-modeled government schools, children learn to be comfortable with a thousand other socialist programs, offices, regulations, and restrictions.
Question: How can any school board change this? How can having so-called conservative and/ or Christian teachers in the schools that? Answer: It can't.
Conclusion: **ALL** government teachers who teach in government schools **are** teaching socialism simply by going to work each day, agreeing to open the doors to the schools and their classrooms, and agreeing to support the system.
2) Also...Even at their very best, our single-payer government schools offered up a generic and lukewarm Protestantism. ( We know what Christ does with the lukewarm.)By my grandmother ( born 1894) and father's ( born 1913) day they were essentially godless.
There was a **HUGE****HUGE****HUGE** difference between the godless government education of my grandmother and father and that of the tuition-free Catholic education enjoyed by my mother, her parents, and me. If you don't believe there was an ENORMOUS religious difference, ask someone who attended Catholic schools during the 1950s, 1960s or earlier what their days and weeks were like minute by minute, hour by hour, and week by week.
The **HUGE** difference between a truly Christian education and a godless government education still exists today. My daughter who taught math in a Catholic K-8 school last year reports that the minute by minute, day by day, and week by week religious practices of Catholic schools haven't changed very much since my day. The children are thoroughly immersed in Catholicism. It influences **everything** the child learns in the school.
( I will concede, though, that the lukewarm minute or two of prayer and scripture offered up in the government schools of my grandmother and father may ( BIG MAYBE) have tempered somewhat the effects of being subjected non-stop to a godless worldview.)
Question: How could any school board offer the religiously rich education and thoroughly religiously integrated education that my mother and her parents enjoyed in their Catholic schools or the modern Catholic school in which my daughter taught last year?
Answer: It can't!
Conclusion: ALL government schools in this nation teach children to think godlessly and ALL government teachers agree to do this simply by going to work every day, opening the doors to these godless Marxist indoctrination camps, and accepting a paycheck and benefits.
The following is not fact but merely a few questions and an anecdotal observation:
Finally, how do we even know if government schools teach the children anything at all? Exactly how much is learned in the school, and how much is learn in the **HOME**? How much is being done by the government teacher, and how much is entirely due to the parent and child's own efforts in the **HOME**? Where are the controlled studies? A professional teacher ( since it is his/her profession) should be able to instantly provide links that would answer these questions.
When I ask academically successful institutionalized children and their parents what their home life is (or was like), I learn that these parents and children are doing EVERYTHING in the **HOME** that I and my children did in our homeschool. There is ( or was) absolutely no difference.
Yes, this anecdotal, but it could be that that the only thing government schools are doing is sending home a curriculum for the parents and child, on his own, to follow. It could be that institutionalizing a child in government schools is actually retarding the social and academic progress of bright institutionalized children.
Two of my homeschoolers earned B.S. degrees in mathematics by the age of 18. The oldest of these two earned a masters in mathematics by the age of 20, and a large part of her program was teaching undergraduate courses. The oldest enjoyed many very rich cultural experiences throughout his teens by competing worldwide in his sport, representing the U.S. team, working full-time for our church in Eastern Europe, and learning fluent Russian. He will finish his M.B.A. in accounting soon at an age typical for someone who has attended school full-time.
Conclusion: Yes, there are many children who have been institutionalized for their education who do go on to attend the most prestigious colleges, and are awarded thousands upon thousands of dollars in scholarships...BUT...how do we know whether or not government schooling has retarded, rather than helped. their academic, social, and emotional development?
( I am in a rush. Not proof read.)
It seems to me that something is missing from this discussion.
What about the actions of the wonderful young man who is standing up for his rights and the rights of others? This patriotic man knows what is right and wrong, and is willing to ‘speak truth to power’ and risk whatever repercussions may come of his actions.
He is the real hero in all of this.
Another Reason to Homeschool ping
The article centers on a school system that refuses to honor the flag by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
I, and others, have stated that this attitude is not wholly representative of all school systems, and we have cited examples.
I understand you have a philosophical dispute with the entire concept of public education, and I respect that.
Nonetheless, the FACT remains that not all school systems or teachers are alike.
I served as a US Navy Officer for 20 years before entering the teaching profession. I love my country. I am not a Marxist.
I entered teaching as a profession after spending many months praying for God to show me a way to serve Him. I am not godless. I serve God through my service to my students, many of whom come from single mother homes, live in drug-infested neighborhoods, and who come to me with a shocking lack of ambition and direction in their lives. I believe I have made a positive difference in the lives of my students. Most (admittedly not all) of my colleagues share my determination to have a positive impact.
We homeschooled our son until his Freshman year. He entered our school as a public school student for the first time, and has adjusted remarkably well. He's a straight "A" student who excels in STEM. I am aware of the benefits of home education. I applaud you for your dedication to educating your family at home; I know how hard it is.
My comments apply to **ALL** government schooling and their employees. What I stated were ( and are) factual problems concerning government schooling were ( and**are**) factual intrinsic problems that can NOT NOT NOT be fixed.
How individual teachers morally and ethically resolve these intrinsic problems with government schooling is between them and God.
However...I will be absolutely certain to use in future posts the example you gave about saying a prayer before a government school football game. Oh wow! Justification for godless government schooling because a prayer is done before a football game...What can I say? That one is just too good.
Let the market decide which is best
Oh wow! Justification for godless government schooling because a prayer is done before a football game...What can I say? That one is just too good.
So, if a system excludes prayer, then it is godless.
If a system incorporates prayer, it is only justification for its godlessness.
What can you say? That one IS just too good.
Well?....Are my points universal to all government schools are not? If they are universal then the individual must reconcile this to himself, in his own heart and mind, and before God. If they are not universal, please explain why they are not.
Regarding:Prayer and government schooling
That government schools forbid free expression of prayer is only one tiny and itty-bitty part of its godlessness.
Let's examine my Catholic ( and tuition-free) parochial education. As you read through this ask yourself would even the smallest fraction of this be allowed in a godless, single-payer, government school? If free expression and practice of religion is forbidden, and if its incorporation into **all** coursework is eliminated, then government schools are indeed training children to think godlessly.
Please remember that **NOT** to do, or being forbidden to do, what follows teaches as many NON-neutral and godless religious lessons as to do them! And....Although these examples come from my Catholic experience, I would expect that those who have attended Protestant Christian schools would easily be able to provide similar examples that are unique to their denominations.
1) Every hour ( as we changed topics) we prayed for God's blessing on the next hour. This is a binary decision that must be made by all schools. Either the hour is “blessed” or it isn't. Neither action is religiously neutral. Both “blessing the hour” or not “blessing the hour” has religious content and consequences. The teacher's action in this matter served as a powerful and non-neutral religious example.
2) In literature and social studies our church leaders and the scriptures were freely quoted and used to make moral and ethical points about the subjects and conflicts involved. Either these opinions of these religious works and leaders are included or they are not. Again, only a binary decision is possible. Both actions ( to include them or exclude them) carries with it profound religious content and consequences. Our teacher's opinion regarding these leaders was a powerful role model in the development of our immature faith.
3) If our class heard a siren, the class was stopped and we prayed for the safety of all involved. If a class member was seriously ill, or someone in the parish, we would take time from class to say the rosary. Our teacher was a powerful adult role model. ( Again, a binary decision is made here. Either the rosary is said, or prayers offered or not. Neither action is religiously neutral. )
4) The teachers ( again they were role models) organized the yearly May procession to honor Mary, and time was taken from class to practice every year for this event. There were also Christmas pageants, First Communion, Confirmation Masses, Easter Services, and Stations of the Cross in which the entire school participated.
5) Daily Mass attendance was encouraged.
6) We studied the catechism for a half hour every morning. In high school it was the bible. In elementary school were were required to memorize the catechism.
7) In high school one entire week was set aside for a spiritual retreat. Mass was celebrated weekly and throughout the day time was spent in personal prayer and listening to local leaders who came in to speak to all the students.
8) The feast day of the nun's name was a special event, as was the feast day of our school ( St. Joan of Arc in Philadelphia).
9) At frequent and appropriate times the students were reminded that science and math reflected the glory of God and gave us a glimpse into the wonder of His creations. It was our **duty** before God to learn as much science as math as possible and to use **all** our knowledge to bless the lives of others. ( This is certainly not a religiously neutral approach to studying science and math, but neither is it religiously neutral in content or consequences to ignore God in the study of math and science.)
10) A few of my teachers had Holy Water at the entrances of their classrooms and students would “bless” themselves in entering and leaving the room. We were encouraged to have Holy Water in homes for the same purpose.
11) We were encouraged to wear a “scapula”, make novenas, and “give up” favorite foods and activities for Lent.
12) Our throats were blessed at a special Mass each year, and Ash Wednesday was a big deal.
13) In literature and social studies biographies of the lives of the Saints and leading church leaders were liberally assigned. In evaluating the moral conflicts found within these topics of literature and social studies the bible, the Ten Commandments, the catechism, and works of our church leaders were freely applied in analysis of these conflicts.
14) We were encourage to give our snack money to help save little pagan children in Africa.
Conclusion:
Government schools are NOT religiously neutral. Scrubbing religious belief and practice is NOT religiously neutral in content or consequences. No, indeed! It does in fact teach the child to think godlessly ( at its worst) or ( at its best) teach the child to compartmentalize his faith into private and public aspects of his life. It may teach some children to believe that their religious belief is somehow shameful and must be hidden like a bathroom activity.
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