Posted on 01/27/2003 2:47:06 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
I've been collecting clips about schools and teachers around the country for the last year, and I have to tell you that I genuinely fear for the republic. I say that because, for us "old folks" who were actually taught American History in school, a thriving democracy depends upon universal education – an education that prepares the citizens of a nation to govern themselves through their elected representatives. (Of course, it was the presumption of the framers of the Constitution that if one attended school, one could be counted on to emerge educated!)
Is it really because they don't care that so many Americans don't vote? Or is it because they can't read the ballot? We tend to blame lackluster politicians or negative campaigning for low turnout at the polls. But what if the real reason is that most of our citizens are not sufficiently educated about the basic concepts of democracy to understand the issues – even those that directly impact their self interest? And what if that ignorance is compounded by illiteracy?
Last fall, the Center for Civic Information at the Manhattan Institute published the report of a telephone survey of over 1,000 fourth- and eighth-grade teachers. Among the not so surprising findings was that only about 25 percent of those surveyed said they most cared about whether a student got the right answers. More of them most cared that students tried hard or used a creative approach.
That absurd state of affairs has come about because this generation of teachers, and probably a few generations before, have themselves been raised to believe there are no right answers, anyway. So what difference does it make?
For example, our public-school children hear that the Founding Fathers are not to be revered. They were greedy, patriarchal oppressors who were in it for the money and the power. America is not a noble experiment in freedom and equality. That was the cover story, as we stole the land from the indigenous people. America wasn't recently attacked by terrorists. America is the terrorist!
Furthermore, there are no such things as great books, since all the books we were misguided enough to think of as great, were written by those same old white male misogynists from the evil empire of Western culture. What's just as great is any diary written by any woman, slave or Native American and recently discovered in someone's trunk. And woe to anyone who disagrees.
Of course, none of it matters anyway, because language itself is fatally tainted, and words don't mean anything. They only mean what my idiosyncratic point of view believes they mean. Just ask the deconstructionists.
Those deconstructionists have been very busy, because they didn't stop with the English language. They have also pretty successfully deconstructed family, religion, values, ethics and morality as well. We all know that, if there can be no right answers, there obviously is no right and wrong. No one's behavior can be judged because the most heinous acts can be excused on the basis of what the perpetrator may have suffered at the hands of his parents, the police, the inequitable society. Yada, yada, yada.
This leads inevitably to "understanding" that immigrant children shouldn't be penalized in school because English is not their first language. And what's so great about patriarchal, oppressive, English anyway? Embrace over 100 languages in the classroom (as we do in the Los Angeles School District) so that no one learns anything – least of all the immigrant children who are one day going to grow up as Americans and not even understand what that means, let alone what it requires of them or entitles them to.
God is dead (although the Wiccan goddess still has a fighting chance, I guess) – traditional morality is destructive; excellence is discredited and devalued; grades are antiquated. Discipline is discriminatory because there's no such thing as bad behavior, just children with "special needs."
No wonder teachers are trying to find ways to make their work meaningful, since accomplishment and achievement can no longer be benchmarks of success. After all, the unaccomplished and underachievers in the class are likely to feel bad. Worse, their parents might sue for cruel and unusual punishment.
For a few years now, I've been urging parents to send their kids to private religious schools and/or homeschool them. I truly see no other options for raising and educating children to be morally fit, well informed, appreciative Americans and contributing members of society.
A shortage of teachers, a kaleidoscope of standards, endemic failure, annual budget shortfalls, states taking over local school districts and guns in the classroom are unavoidable signs of public-school collapse. I think Oregon may have the right idea. They are looking to shorten the school year by 15 days. How long before it's clear to them and to us, that we should simply close them altogether?
Separation of church and state is never mentioned in the constitution. The phrase first appeared in a letter written by Thomas Jefferson in 1802 to a Baptist pastor in Dayton, Connecticut.
Jefferson was a deist.
Okay.....so he believed in "God based on reason rather than revelation, and involving the view that God has set the universe in motion but does not interfere with how it runs." (according to the World Dictionary definition)
"These are the rights which God and the laws have given equally and independently to all." --Thomas Jefferson: Rights of British America, 1774. ME 1:185, Papers 1:121
WHO did Jefferson say gave us those rights?
Let's not get off into the freemasonry thang...(who usually declare a belief in God)....for that's another debate....in and of itself. The point and fact still remain that the heritage of this nation and the written constitution were founded on the basic principles and laws found in the Holy Bible.
I recently discovered that I could be considered a secular humanist.Formerly, I was not aware that there was a classification for the way I perceive things.
Sorry to hear that....but it's still a "belief system"...even if it's used to "believe" in nothing. That makes me think about a little analogy my pastor used to put forth. "If you're right about there NOT being a God ...and I'm wrong about believing IN God.....I have nothing to worry about. BUT...if I'm right and you're wrong.... you have PLENTY to worry about."
There is no set of rules or laws written down to embrace. There is no organized "church." As I said, I only recently discovered that there was a name for the series of notions which I believe makes the most sense for me.
If "I" believe in God, I have a faith system or philosophy...which you label "religion". If YOU believe in a philosophy or theory that takes "faith"... it's not a religion?
The reason why there are still chimpanzees is a complex one, but for here, suffice it say that no organism, including humans in modern primitive societies, will change if there is no pressure exerted on them environmentally to do so. If you are interested, which I do not think you are judging by your need to "chuckle", then I can forward several articles which will explain it in detail.
Sorry if I offended you with my *chuckle*....for I'm a very happy person with a slightly warped sense of humor. :) You're assertation of "no organism changing without pressure exerted to make them do so"....is a THEORY..IMHO.... to explain why we aren't able to actually observe the evolution of one animal changing into another species or life springing spontaneously from non-living matter. Send the articles if you like......I'm willing to read almost anything. (as long as the pictures of apes have loin cloths on) *chuckle* oops....there I go again! :P
And, by the way, don't be confused. I support my country because I live here and have benefitted from receiving an education here (private), because I don't have to worship, because I despise totalitarianism and repression other societies are subject to, because there is the right to choose abortion if my daughter or anyone close to me decides that is the right course, because our lifestyle here is precious enough to defend and lastly, because there is a separation of church and state so I can ask all the questions I need to without succumbing to dogma based on little else but faith.
If you say you're patriotic....I believe you. It must be hard to wince inside when someone sings "God Bless America"...or stand up to say the Pledge of Allegiance mincing it to exclude the word "God" from your tongue or conscience, eh? (humor.....sarcastic as it is :))
We will never agree on rights to abortion...especially since I watched too many of those "blobs of flesh" weighing in at less than a pound and at 4.5mo term...fighting for their little lives in NICU. Many of those "blobs" have no one to fight for their precious right to life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness when the abortionist and mother conspire to make a decision to end it... devoid of their input on the situation. Life is so cheap when it becomes as easily disposable as garbage, doesn't it? I pray your daughter never has to decide to end a life for her own convenience.
BTW......I wasn't always a Christian....and considered myself an agnostic (like my Dad) for many years. I also believed in evolution.....the whole gamut. My eyes were opened in a very profound way.....while seeking for deeper truth. I pray you find yours.
Sorry it took so long to respond.....had to jet to work after my first response....but thanks for the "keeping me on my toes" exchange!
No scientist has every observed a life force spring from non-living matter (so they can't test or evaluate it as tangible evidence), yet that's what they expect us to believe....spontaneous generation. There just CAN'T be a Creator of intelligent design..so it has to be something else, right?
Yes... I have my own belief system going here....but so do you, whether you admit it to yourself or not.
I have "observed" the downward spiral of our society and school systems since they took prayer, the Ten Commandments and the Pledge of Allegiance..... made them politically incorrect and banned them from public or school functions. Maybe you can keep yourself in check without boundaries of accountability.....but there's a whole lot of folks who can't and haven't. I'm old enough to remember having all those things in school and then watching everything crumble, when that sense of unity, patriotism and accountability to something bigger than ourselves... was removed from children's lives who might not otherwise be exposed to it anywhere else. (they certainly aren't today.....and in fact are taught to disregard it)
Well....I'm out of time....so I'll bid you goodbye. Live happy and enjoy the few years you have left .....before you become dirt again. *wink*
I think the question isn't so much "Why do they exist?" as "How did so many of them end up in Congress?"
I have to disagree also....with your reference to the 10 commandments, etc......for what do you base your morality on? Your rule of law? Warm fuzzies don't cut it for the vast majority. Remember the Menendez brothers? They were brought up in a very nice home with good parents that taught them well. You leave a key component out with your theory here.... and that's EVIL. Can't get around it. There are just willingly bad people in this world. Society has an obligation to set forth principles (Biblical in our case) to keep these little monsters in check.
If we didn't have these laws derived from our Judeo Christian heritage to teach to your children...you'd be teaching some other rule of law you LEARNED. No way around it. It doesn't happen by osmosis. If you inherently "know" right and wrong....why did you have to go to school or taught by your parents? Why didn't you just "know" everything by instinct?
Your morality is more than a personal issue....because it affects your family, neighbors and community....more than you obviously know. You cannot be an island my friend. It may be alright to run around naked at home because you believe in nudity....but try that in public where little kids can see you.....then tell me your morality is a personal issue. We're all accountable to someone...like it or not.
We all sin.....even those with collars. I try my best to follow the Word....but I'm not perfect......and neither are you. (start pointing fingers and look at the three pointing back at you) Ministers are teachers.....not God incarnate.....(tho some would like you to believe they are....as well as some politicians I know)
You have a very skewed concept of worship. I suggest you take some time to delve into what that really means. It's not just bowing to a set of beliefs or a person....or some mystical mumbo jumbo. Some people worship themselves....others worship money or their status....their conceived intelligence, their job... etc, etc, etc. It's where your heart is.....and what you esteem greatly or put above everything else in your life.
* Edna Kleinmeyer who didn't just teach English: She imbued us with a love of language I carry to this day;
* Charlie Kluckholn, the tough old wrestling coach who taught chemistry and gave me some of the best advise I ever heard;
* Charles Huffman, my homeroom teacher who helped me over a very rough spot in my life and whose WWII damaged leg caused him to limp;
* Franklin Jefferis, a "lowly" shop teacher, whose love of a job well done was wordlessly communicated to his kids in thousands of subtle ways. Mr. Jefferis died soon after I graduated. One October night, I “visited” him – alone -- at the funeral home and wept as I thanked him one last time.
But the current GS are radically different from the system through which I passed 50 years ago. Know that my concern and hostility are NOT directed at those who still TEACH -- really teach, really want the best EDUCATION for the kids, want to prepare them academically for the future.
Those feelings are reserved for SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS who have socialist/collectivist agendas or quietly acquiesce to the agendas imposed on them from above. They know that what is going on is wrong, but say nothing lest they jeopardize their careers. Author Thomas Sowell calls these folks "the anointed." And as the title of his book on the subject, "The Vision of The Anointed," indicates, they HAVE a vision! That it is NOT the PARENTS’ vision is of no concern to them.
When my kids were still in the GS, my wife and I were quite active. The Principal of their elementary school chose me to represent the school in something called the LSAC (Local School Advisory Committee) program. I attended several meetings held at the County Board of Education headquarters. I came away from the VERY FIRST of those meetings with these impressions:
1. Those folks DID NOT speak English. Through tight little smirks clearly indicative of the low esteem, indeed, contempt, they had for the uninformed and ignorant gaggle of parents arrayed before them, they spoke in buzz words and technobabble code only they comprehended. At one point -- to the visible relief of the other parents -- I stopped one woman’s presentation and asked for a translation of what she'd said. She was NOT pleased!
2. They DID NOT want parents involved! Cookie sales and PTA? OK. Serious criticism of a course or textbook? Verboten! Your option was private or parochial school. There very little home schooling then.
3. Most of these people MAY have once been educators. They were now bureaucrats guarding their turf.
4. Many of those administrative folks were making over $50K and, though I looked for signs of it, I saw little evidence of anything resembling “work.” And this was 20 years ago when the average classroom teacher earned less than $25K.
5. There were WAY too many administrators in the GS. It is a perfect opportunity to provide make-work sinecures for “anointed” members of the educational fraternity. Four years as an Air Force instructor taught me how to spot the signs.
Here’s the “bottom line:” Simply hurling more money into the black hole of the GS WILL NOT WORK. Most of that money will NEVER get to the classroom or into the pockets of DESERVING teachers who actually TEACH. And teach what any sensible human being – REGARDLESS of race, faith or ethnicity -- instinctively understands to be correct, morally defensible material.
Bush is right about one thing: We need accountability! Perhaps you recall Clinton’s asinine plan to send 100,000 PAID Americorps “volunteers” into the grade schools to TEACH KIDS TO READ. Why hadn’t their PREVIOUS teachers – OR THEIR PARENTS! -- taught them to perform that rather basic skill???
Think about what you just read as YOUR local government schools continue to raise YOUR property taxes.
FReegards
A couple of clues [re: why our education system is failing]
Source: TownHall.com; Published: May 1, 2003; Author: Thomas Sowell'HOOKY' TEACHERS WORSE THAN KIDS
Source: NY POST; Published: April 28, 2003; Author: Carl CampanileReport: Uh, it's like student writing is bad
Source: CNN; Published: April 25, 2003; Author: APDemoralized Teachers, Unruly Students, Bureaucracy Top Concerns About Schools
Source: AP Breaking; Published : April 23, 2003; Author: Siobhan McDonoughRed Pencils, Low Marks - How the diversity industry dumbs down American education
Source: WSJ Opinion Journal.com; Published: April 22, 2003; Author: Gary RosenLeft High and Dry
Source:Lew Rockwell; Published: April 21, 2003; Author: Linda SchrockTeaching Tomorrow's Teachers: Instructor To The Trustafarian Class
Source: Toogood Reports; Published: April 11, 2003; Author:| Bernard ChapinHow Not to Teach Math
Source: City Journal; Published: 7 March 2003; Author: Matthew ClavelGovernment Schools Have U.S. On The Fast Track To Third-World Status
Source: Toogood Reports; Published: March 6, 2003; Author: Bob EllisSodom and Gomorrah University
Source: WorldNetDaily.com: Published: February 19, 2003; Author: Michelle MalkinThe Union That Killed Education
Source: newsmax.com; Published: February. 17, 2003; Author: Paul Craig RobertsWalter E. Williams: Inferior Education of Black Americans
Source:CNSNews.com; Published: February 05, 2003; Author: Walter E. WilliamsUnion Fraud Underscores Need for School Vouchers
Source: CNSNEWS.com; Published: February 05, 2003; Author: Linda ChavezTime for public schools to throw in the towel?
Source: WorldNetDaily.com; Published: January 27, 2003; Author: Dr. Laura SchlessingerMy Classroom From Hell
Source: The Wall Street Journal; Published: January 24, 2003; Author: Joshua KaplowitzCan more money make schools better?
Source: TownHall.com; Published: January 21, 2003; Author: Phyllis SchlaflyAre public schools constitutional?
Source: NewsWithViews; Published: JANUARY 20, 2003; Auythor: Lynn M. StuterThe intellectual rape of Oakland's schools
Source: TownHall.com; Published: January 17, 2003; Author: David HorowitzHip-hop hogwash in the schools (Michelle Malkin)
Source: TownHall.com; Published: January 15, 2003; Author: Michelle MalkinDumbed Down and Dumber Still
Source: The American Prowler; Published: January 15, 2003; Author: By George NeumayrWashington's education establishment
Source: TownHall.com; Published: January 8, 2003; Author:Walter WilliamsNEA Hastens Death of American Education
Source: INSIGHT magazine; Published: January 6, 2003; Author: Ralph de ToledanoWhite Teachers Fleeing Black Schools
Source: Newsmax; Published:January 1, 2003; Author: Chad RoedemeierFiddling whilst Rome burns
Source: TownHall.com; Published: December 26, 2002; Author: Walter WilliamsGovernment School Monopolies Leave Children Behind
Source: Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty; Published: December 4, 2002; Author: Clint GreenThe silence of the lambs: McMillan blasts bureaucrats for destroying public education
Source: WorldNetDaily.com; Published: August 15, 2002; Author: Craige McMillanTaking Charge: Let's Stop Aiding and Abetting Academicians' Folly
Source: HOME EDUCATION magazine; Published: July-August 2002; Author: Larry and Susan Kaseman’Open Directory’ --Society/Issues/Education/Education_Reform
Deconstructing Public Education
Source: www.newsmax.com; Published: July 26, 2002; Author: Diane AldenSpecious Science In Our Schools
Source: Toogood Reports; Published: July 9, 2002; Author: Alan CarubaSYMPOSIUM Q: Is the National Education Association Being Fair to Its Religious Objectors?
Source: INSIGHT magazine; Published: June 10, 2002; Authors NO: Stefan Gleason ////\\\\ YES: Bob ChasePublic Sector Subverting Productive Industry
Source: Toogood Reports; Published: May 16, 2002; Author: Henry PelifianHistory of America's Education Part 2: Noah Webster and Early America
Source: Sierra Times; Published: March 27, 2002; Author: April ShenandoahHow Communist is Public Education?
Source: sierratimes.com; Published:March 22, 2002; Author: Chuck MorseHistory of America's Education Part 1: Johnny is in trouble
Source: Sierra Times; Published: March 20, 2002; Author: April ShenandoahAudit rips Georgia schools' curriculum
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution; Published: March 11, 2002; Author:JAMES SALZERWhy schools fail: Samuel Blumenfeld warns Bush's education legislation is ineffective
Source: WorldNetDaily.com; Published: March 2, 2002; Author: Samuel BlumenfeldPublic School Isn't Like I Remember It
Source: Too Good Reports; Published: February 28, 2002; Author: Phyllis SchlaflyWhat Is Lacking In Our Educational System
Source: Too Good Reports; Published: February 28, 2002; Author: Ben CerrutiThe charade of education reform
Source: WorldNetDaily.com; Published: February 2, 2002; Author: Dr. Samuel L. BlumenfeldAmerican public schools: Working just as designed
Source: WorldNetDaily.com; Published: January 21, 2002; Author: Vox DayHigh Schools Fail Thanks To Grade Inflation And Social Promotion
Source: Toogood Reports; Published: December 5, 2001; Author: Vin SuprynowiczWHY AMERICANS CAN’T READ
Source: Accuracy in Media; Published: December 4, 2001; Author: Reed Irvine and Cliff KincaidThe Failing Teacher and the Teachers' Code of Silence
Source: CNSNews.com; Published: December 3, 2001; Author: Glenn SacksTime for outrage! Linda Bowles reports latest results in America's public schools
Source: WorldNetDaily.com; Published: November 27, 2001; Author: Linda BowlesIlliterate in Boston: Samuel Blumenfeld explains U.S.'s ongoing reading problem
Source: WorldNetDaily.com; Published: July 20, 2001; Author: Samuel BlumenfeldNEA - Let our children go!
Source: WorldNet Daily; Published: June 23. 2001; Author: Linda HarveyCOOKING THE BOOKS AT EDUCATION
Source: Accuracy In Media; Published: June 5, 2001; Author: Cliff KincaidWhy Do Schools Play Games With Students' Minds ?
Source: The Detroit News; Published: April 1, 2001; Author: Thomas SowellThe Public School Nightmare: Why fix a system designed to destroy individual thought?
Source: http://home.talkcity.com/LibraryDr/patt/homeschl.htm; Author: John Taylor GattoDumbing down teachers
Source: USNews.com; Published: February 21, 2001; Author: John LeoFree Republic links to education related articles (thread#8)
Source: Free Republic; Published: 3-20-2001; Author: VariousAre children deliberately 'dumbed down' in school? {YES!!!}
Source: World Net Daily; Published: May 13, 2001; Author: Geoff Metcalf {Interview}Could they really have done it on purpose?
Source: THE LIBERTARIAN; Published: 07/28/2000; Author: Vin SuprynowiczNew Book Explores America's Education Catastrophe
Source: Christian Citizen USA; Published: April 2000; Author: William H. WildDeliberately dumbing us down (Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt's, "The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America"
Source: WorldNetDaily.com; Published: December 2,1999; Author: Samuel L. BlumenfeldDeconstructing the Western Mind: Gramscian-Marxist Subversion of Faith and Education
Source: www.petersnet; Published: Winter 1997; Author: Frank MorrissLittleton Crisis to Government Control
The UN Plan for Your Mental Health
NonPartisan Action For a Better Redding
Quality of Education Commentary, Opinion, and Book Reviews
This sums up the liberal mind-set in a nutshell. Its very basis is that they are terrified by any Entity who has the authority to pass judgement on their morals.
Hence, they mount a pathetic attempt to reinvent God so He becomes not one who is an omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent God who has spoken in history, but rather only a convenient figment in a person's mind.
So liberal-ness is, I claim, nothing more than another manifestation of Godlessness.
Bump.
I just came from the staff lounge, where several secretaries were talking about how nice it was that one of the professors they worked with had given them flowers today in honor of Karl Marx's birthday. None of the 5 women sitting there gabbing seemed to think that there was anything remiss in this. I briefly considered asking if any of them had gotten flowers in honor of Hitler's birthday, but remembered that I need this job, at least for another 5 months.
However, events like this continue to re-inforce my committment to not pay one dime towards our children's college education. If they want to go to school, they can work their way through. They will be much better consumers if they can actually see what little value they receive for their hard-earned dollars. Of course, growing up they will get to witness first-hand the end-result of taking out students loans, as Mommy writes a check for over a thousand dollars a month until the year 2032...
A bit late, wouldn't you say to respond to something I posted in January?
At any rate,I know what religion is all about. I already explained my views on it. As far as I'm concerned there is no "true" religion.
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