Posted on 03/06/2003 8:08:45 AM PST by Stand Watch Listen
When a process is breaking down or experiencing systemic problems, sometimes you need to make repairs and then patiently see if this fixed the problem. The time for that has come and gone with the public education system. Throwing more money at it or slapping Band-Aids on it won't help the hemorrhaging credibility of our current institution. Need proof? Okay, hold onto your hat (and if these examples don't get you riled, then YOU have a problem).
A Pennsylvania school principal recently equated a pro-life T-shirt worn by a student with a swastika. Apparently the education system considers it controversial and disruptive to the learning process to acknowledge that the intentional killing of an innocent human being is murder. What happened to diversity and tolerance?
A Florida teacher recently demonstrated the proper condom application technique with a banana. He also dimmed the lights and played music to simulate an intimate situation. These are apparently considered useful life-skills, essential for success (what kind of success, I'm afraid to ask), by the education establishment. Meanwhile, kids can't read or find their own country on a map.
A school board in Canada recently banned the word "gun" from their spelling tests because some parents found the word "shocking" and traumatic. How long until that happens in the United States? About as long as it takes them to hear about this, or to get the idea on their own, I fear.
In Miami, it took the threat of a lawsuit to get a high school to include a student-led "Choose Life Bible Club" in the yearbook. The school said they could not "support" political or religious clubs, and that the name "Choose Life" might offend students who support abortion. The school apparently had no problems with the Animal Rights club or the Gay-Straight Alliance club, or the fact that intelligent, G-d fearing students might be offended by the nonsense or perversion of those clubs.
In Colorado, a school district allowed a homosexual club but not a Bible club. The district attempts to justify this position by stating the homosexual club is "directly linked to the curricula of health classes." Since when is it considered good health to condone and promote acts which expose school children to STD's including AIDS, and acts resulting in physical injuries because you're doing things with parts of the body that G-d never intended? But to consider a Bible club as having a link to school curricula because of the Bible's historical, literature and philosophy contributions is unthinkable.
Of course, when you consider the contents of some of the nation's textbooks, this might make a twisted sort of sense. How about math books with a 20-day lesson on Edgar Allen Poe? Or the definition of "jihad" in one textbook which calls it "to do one's best to resist temptation and overcome evil." Or a geography book that says the equator runs through Florida, Texas and Arizona. How about a comparison between the heroes of the Trojan War and Indiana Jones? Let's try a middle school science book that confuses Newton with Galileo and says the Statue of Liberty is made bronze, instead of copper. Or maybe an 1896 photo of husband and wife scientists Marie and Pierre Curie and their experiments with radioactivity: the photo was cropped to remove Pierre, who shared the 1903 Nobel Prize with his wife. Another picture from 1915 gets a new caption where it shows men linking hands around the world's most massive tree to illustrate its size: "Conservationists link hands around a tree to stop loggers from cutting it down."
In numerous districts around the country, school boards strenuously grapple with the idea of allowing ideas other than evolution to be taught in the public schools. Most of them cannot even consider that creation might be a viable scientific theory-can't violate the fantasy wall between Church and State, can we? Even the somewhat ambiguous "intelligent design" theory isn't allowed in most of them-frightfully close to that Judeo-Christian creation nonsense. But evolution, which even many atheistic scientists are admitting is untenable, must be promoted to the dogmatic exclusion of all other ideas!
In St. Louis, a school blocked a mother from observing a school-sponsored assembly put on by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network. Apparently she has no right to know what her tax dollars are paying for, just as she has no right to know what her children are being taught.
In San Francisco, a federal appeals court upheld the decision by school district officials who ordered a salutatorian to exclude religious references from his graduation speech. Funny how the First Amendment, included in the Constitution to protect religious liberty, is used to violate the very liberty it was intended to preserve. If he had wanted to thank the vile rap singer (?) Eminem for his success, I'm sure this would not have been in controversy.
In Hemet, California, school officials are looking to do away with valedictorians and salutatorians, altogether. Officials say the competition makes for an unhealthy educational environment. "If they are not number one, it could get their feelings hurt if they are self-motivating and high-achieving students," the principal said. Aw, poo wittul tings! We haf to pwotect their feewings! That'll certainly prepare them for the real world! I suppose it's the kind of world that socialists like those school officials would like: a 60's utopia where everyone puts daisy's in their hair and sings Kumbaya, insulated from all the trials and tribulations of life.
A school district in Tennessee wants to assign no grade lower than a 50, because getting a zero might hut their wittul feewings! Apparently homework is to become optional, too, because it will "rarely" be used in computing the student's score. Gee, what happens in a few years when kids get used to getting a 50 for doing no work? That will make them feel bad, too, so we'll have to raise the bar again, so that the lowest score is a 90. Or maybe we should just do away with scores altogether, because no matter what, somebody's going to feel bad about their score. That way, they can all feel good about being dumb as an empty box of rocks.
The vice president of the board of education in (you'll never guess) San Francisco has stated his support of the peace movement, and has refused to discourage a student walk-out instead of keeping the kids in class and teaching them something useful-like how to read. Or some lessons from history-like how appeasement never works.
In Maine, some teachers are telling the children of recently activated National Guardsmen that their parents are immoral for taking part in a war against Iraq. I think it's a safe bet that these same teachers have no problem at all with homosexual parents, drug-using parents, alcoholic parents, nude-dancing parents, unmarried parents shacking up, or unmarried parents not even parenting together. But patriotic Americans who defend their countries and their families against evil are themselves so morally abhorrent to these teachers that they must be condemned to their children.
In Connecticut, the teacher's union filed a grievance because coffee and donuts weren't provided during a teacher training day. Poow wittul tings, didn't get no donuts! Okay, everybody together now: Awwwwww!
When San Francisco teen-agers were asked to identify the country from which America won its independence, these were some of the replies: "Japan or something, China. Somewhere out there on the other side of the world." "It wouldn't be Canada, would it?" "I don't know; I don't even, like, have a clue." "I want to say Korea. I'm tripping."
In Madison, Wisconsin, the school board has outlawed the Pledge of Allegiance, stating that some people might consider the "one nation under G-d" line to be "repugnant." I guess it doesn't matter that some people might find the exclusion of G-d "repugnant."
An award-winning teacher in California sued her state for making her take what she claimed was a racially discriminating math competency test, because she couldn't pass it. At her deposition she was unable to answer the question, "What percent of 80 is 8?" I guess it's a good thing they didn't further discriminate against her by asking her to spell the word "incompetent."
A Harlem principal was arrested recently for driving while intoxicated and urinating in the street-while she should have been at work! The principal had stopped for a bladder-break at a red light at 2:40 pm on a Tuesday when the police saw her squatting beside the open door of her 2003 Mercedes-Benz (they apparently pay principals quite well in New York for drinking and driving and exposing themselves publicly on school time). The school secretary was with her at the time and attempted to prevent the police from arresting the drunken principal; the secretary was subsequently arrested on obstruction charges. This school principal had been arrested in 1982 for marijuana use and in 1990 for shoplifting. In case she's thinking of exercising the Bill Clinton Excuse (my job performance is perceived as being okay, so you should overlook my behavior), she may be out of luck on that angle: last year, only 26% of her students could read well enough to pass city and state exams.
I realize that not all schools are as bad as these examples. In fact, they're pretty good in my area. But as an American, I'm not just concerned about my own back yard, but my nation as a whole. Some of these kids who are products of such a fouled-up system will undoubtedly go on to become business and government leaders, whether it's through buying their way, charm, butt-smooching or blind luck (Bill Clinton is proof that even poor white trash can float to the top). I don't want me or my children to have to suffer under the ignorance of those who manage to float to the top.
We have to do something radical to fix our education system in America. I'm not the first to say it, but if a foreign enemy had done this kind of damage to our educational system, we would be up in arms. But since those enemies are domestic (the Democrats, garden-variety liberals, the NEA, etc), we sigh and do nothing.
Well, people, it's time to get off our duffs and so something. It's time everyone pulled their kids out of the public schools and took responsibility for teaching them ourselves. And we need to demand vouchers of our elected officials. Now, I know not everyone could or would remove their children from public schools. But if enough of us did, the institutions of indifference would have to shake off their lethargy and take notice. We owe it to our own children, if not for all those stuck in the public education system with no choice.
The teachers unions and other liberals are scared silly of vouchers, because they're afraid that if enough people get them, children will leave the public schools in droves. That is exactly what would happen, and what should happen. And it is the only thing that can correct the problems of the public school system. Mark my words: if we don't fix this problem, the United States is on a fast track to becoming a third-rate, third-world country.
Contrary to what academia and the media would have you think, home schooling parents aren't a bunch of redneck, flat-earth, drooling fundamentalists. Of U.S. parents who home school, 81% have post high school education, compared with 63% of parents nationwide. My wife has a master's degree in education and is home schooling our children. My daughter is 5 and she reads, writes, adds and subtracts, and can tell you a whole lot of science facts about bugs. How many public school kindergartners can do that?
But higher education on the part of parents does not have to be a barrier to home education. My wife and I know a number of home schooling parents who don't have a college education, yet their children's academic ability matches or exceeds that of their public school counterparts.
In the U.S. home school children have average scores between the 82nd and 92nd percentile in reading, and the 85th percentile in math; overall test scores place them between the 75th and 85th percentile. Meanwhile, public school students scored at the 50th percentile. Home schooled children also surpass the national averages on the ACT and SAT tests.
According to Department of Education statistics, the average per-student cost of education is about $7,000 a year. Compare that to an average of $300 to $1,000 per year for home schoolers, and you quickly see where you get the most bang for your buck.
Even a public school graduate ought to be able to figure that out.
FReegards
Sodom 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
As long as everyone believes this lie, nothing will change.
But some are, and that's OK. Justifying home schooling by saying "even normal people do it" completely misses the point.
Congratulations to you and your daughter. I would imagine you had more to do with the academic achievement that did the school. But the point of the article, as I read it, was the rampant political correctness that allows such egregious examples to occur. This is prevalent in all government schools and the NEA is making sure of it.
All fine people to know about, just not at the expense of ignoring the founding fathers and other great americans just because they happen to be white. This example is what every american must come to realize is occurring in government schools. The NEA and other socialist educational organizations must be taken to task for this absurdity. Academic acheivement is only a part of the equation. Until dissenting voices are made know, these organizations will assume that americans like the fact that their children are being brainwashed to the socialist agenda. If you talk to most homeschoolers, academic excellence is not one of the top reasons they continue.
Have you seen this? I looked on Google but I search poorly.
Am not aware of the article that you referenced above...but for a start...FYI...NEA-AFT Unity: History in the MakingNEA and Academe Through the Years…The Higher Education Roots of NEA, 1857-Present
NEA/AFT Merger in 1962: A Bit of History
NEA: Future Teachers - History and Background
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