Project 540 in Our Nation's High Schools

Project 540 was created to give students a greater voice in their schools and their communities. Project 540 kicked off in the fall of 2002 and now has approximately 100,000 students.

Do students have a voice in school policy? Are teacher-student relations as good as they could be? Are racial tension a problem in your community? Are students satisfied with the way things are, or are there things they'd like to change?

Once students have zeroed in on the issues that are most important, Project 540 will help them turn their ideas into action. In each school, students will create a Civic Action Plan that outlines the students' key concerns, and specific action steps to address those concerns. The Civic Action Plan will be presented to the entire school and surrounding community so that students, teachers and community leaders can work together to make the Action Plan a reality.

540 was recently introduced at my high school. They held their first assembly today...called a "Teach-In." (Teach-Ins are a part of A.N.S.W.E.R.'s national kick-off during the period of 2/13-21). The reality was a string of guest speakers (white, black, muslim in garb, hispanic) who were unabashedly anti-American. Topics ranged the gamut: America is fascist and war-mongering, America is the cause of the world's ills, minorities should rebel against the military, one even quoted Scott Ritter. Of course, many of the speakers mis-stated history to support their positions. They solicited student e-mails and otherwise recruited for their various causes.

540 has been adopted by 35 high schools in my school district so far and is sanctioned by our school board.

While many of you who are reading this will respond with 'home schooling or school choice is the answer' I suggest to you that while we struggle for choice, the enemies of America are in an accelerated and unifed drive to claim our children.

The silent majority in America needs its own Civic Action Plan to counter the wall of lies aimed at our children. It's bad enough that individual teachers are subversive...but this blatant act of organization is deadly.

I guess it's a function of the local adults running the project. My daughter is part of Project 540 here (Orange County California), and the bulk of the project dealt with local issues (parking, school curriculum, zoning). Overall, the kids involved seemed to be getting a lot out of the program.

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