THE FAILED EDUCATION "REFORMS" (12-year old cuffed for puddle jumping)

NewsWithViews.com ^ | April 14, 2003 | Tom DeWeese

[fight_truth_decay]

Sometimes a single incident can reveal the widespread rot that has affected the nation's school systems as they strive to indoctrinate the children entrusted to their care while neglecting to teach them the Three R's.

In Inverness, Florida, a 12-year-old boy was cuffed*, arrested, and taken in a patrol car to jail where he was held for two hours. His crime? You aren't going to believe it! Kyle Fredrikson was walking back to class from lunch when Deputy Tim Langer saw the boy "purposely stomping in the water" after being told numerous times by school personnel to stay with the group and out of the rain. Little boys like to stomp on puddles. Always have and always will.

He didn't comply and Officer Langer took the sixth-grader to a school office where he was handcuffed and taken to jail. Kyle was charged with disruption of an educational institution, a misdemeanor. After sitting for two hours by himself in a police holding room, the police released the boy to his mother and grandmother.

His parents were understandably outraged. "The inmates had access to him. Can you imagine that for stomping in a mud puddle?" said his father. Lt. James Martone, who oversees the school resource officer program, said Langer made a proper arrest. "He did his job," Martone said. "It's a fine line any officer in the schools walks."

Why was it a good arrest? Why do these things happen to children today, when earlier generations of children never faced such lunacy? The answer is that the school "curriculum" today is 100 percent behavior modification, not academics. Kyle was being a little boy, expressing his individuality and his indifference to overzealous authority. In today's educational environment, both are affronts to the "system" and must be dealt with quickly and severely. To the system, students are intended to be properly trained human resources. In the world of education today there are no children anymore.

An item from the Education Reporter reveals how, under the Socialist concept of Sustainable Development, schools are being restructured to enforce "cradle-to-grave life-long learning." Preschool, formally known as kindergarten, is becoming mandatory. Parents are told it gives children a head start, but it only gives schools a head start in their mission to indoctrinate them. It gives the school the priority of determining the children's values.

Retired educator and former Fulbright scholar Margaret Brogley who spent nearly 40 years in the classroom says public education is failing because of the methods and materials used, not because there aren't enough toddlers enrolled in preschool.

Mrs. Brogley noted that, over the past 40 years, education has been dumbed down, from fuzzy math to the dearth of phonics reading instruction to the inability of many students to use cursive handwriting. "For 50 years, we have heard of the necessity to improve education," she wrote to Arkansas state education leaders, "How long will it take? Every time the 'experts' fix the situation, it becomes worse. Now the child is to learn to read by the 4th grade. Why so long? I am no genius, but I learned to read before the first year was over."

"Will education be improved (by enrolling young children in pre-school)?" Brogley asked rhetorically, then answered her own question: "No, but it will cost billions of dollars…adding more school years to a child's life will accomplish nothing."

With preschool showing poor results, it should come as no surprise that the more than one billion dollars a year of federal aid for after-school programs in 7,500 public schools nationwide has not helped most children academically, according to a federally funded study.

The report, "When Schools Stay Open Late," conducted by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., said children who attend after-school activities at public elementary and middle schools are more likely to encounter bullies, vandals, thieves and drug users than those who do not. The after school centers, says the report, have limited influence on academic performance, no influence on feelings of safety or on the number of "latch-key children; and some negative influence on behavior. Middle school participants are "more likely to report that they had sold drugs and were somewhat more likely to report that they smoked marijuana."

From being arrested for stomping on a rain puddle to the ineffectiveness of both preschool and after school programs, and everything in between, the failure of the US education system continues to demonstrate how thoroughly trashed it has been in the past half century of "reform." The reform that is necessary now is the return of control to local school boards, the reduction of the control that teacher's unions exercise, and an end to the disastrous federal involvement in the nation's educational systems.

It has been several decades since a government study revealed the failure of the nation's education system and nothing has changed, except for the worse. A new American Revolution is needed to take our schools back from those who have been deliberately dumbing down our students. We need real teachers in our classrooms, not "facilitators." We need a renewed emphasis on the basics, not the judgement-neutral curriculum that is more concerned with "self-esteem" than teaching children anything.

Tom DeWeese is the publisher/editor of The DeWeese Report and president of the American Policy Center, a grassroots, activist think tank headquartered in Warrenton, VA. The Center maintains an Internet site at http:www.americanpolicy.org

[TxBec]

late-night homeschool ping

[nanny]

This faith-based program is dangerous. I believe it's a ploy to get everyone under one big socialistic umbrella. "Who takes the king's gold is the king's man."

You don't know how many times and with what venom I have been attacked by posting that fact. Government money always has strings attached.

[TalBlack]

I'm sorry but if it were my kid I'd bring him in turn to every adult involved and point to that adult (including the cop) and I'd say "son, this person is a fool. He has demonstrated is utter lack of adult intelligence, NEVER NEVER NEVER show him any respect again.

[Henrietta]

ping

[cspackler]

If you want to cut through all of the BS and get to the heart of the problem, it mostly stems from the fact that most of a generation of children has been raised with nothing except a false sense of self-esteem from lazy parents. I am fully aware that there are inherent problems with the NEA and their Socialist policies, but the root of the problem is these children and their parents are what is ruining the school systems for the rest of us.

Give out vouchers, and all they will do is follow into the private schools and ruin those too.

[steplock]

I would REALLY want to know what is the current mental condition of this boy? Did he graduate? Drop Out? Shot by Cop?

[nanny]

Give out vouchers, and all they will do is follow into the private schools and ruin those too.

Well, as for the parents abdicating their responsibilities - you do have a point - however, many did not do it. Many had it taken from them. I am one. My children suffered much abuse by a school system because I fought this and tried to get things changed. It was a losing battle. When they have control of your children for the majority of their waking life, they have the upper hand.

As for the children ruining the public schools - that is true - but they will also bring the government to the schools believe me, the government is the one who ruined the public schools. I had children in the public school system for 23 years, I saw it changed and fought it every step of the way - so did a lot of others.

Parent apathy, and parent belief in the system, or just disbelief that in American our children could actually be harmed by our schools, are to blame for much of it. That is exactly the same thing that is to blame for our country's situation. We are either apathetic about the government or we are totally convinced they can cure all our ills. Both things are destructive.

[The Other Harry]

Give out vouchers, and all they will do is follow into the private schools and ruin those too.

That isn't true.

If you want to get parents involved in education, you give them some control. The current systems does not do that. It gives them some slogans and some pro-formas, but that that is all it does.

A voucher is real power. People will use them wisely.

[cspackler]

If you want to get parents involved in education, you give them some control.

I agree with you completely on this point, parent control is an absolute necessity, as long as the parents are not some of the borderline psychotics that I've run into. As far as being used wisely, I may be a pessimist but I've lost faith in the intelligence of the general population. Spend an hour in the drivers license office some time and just people watch. I actually sat in the room waiting recently, and I kid you not 9 out of 10 of the people in the room were mesmerized by a video of a fish tank playing in the corners of the room. As I was watching this, a young man walked in with a t-shirt on that proudly proclaimed "F**K You!!", (without the asterisks...) and couldn't understand why the woman at the counter wouldn't help him. And I live in the heart of the midwest...

I do have to admit, however, that lately I have been running into more and more conservative minded parents of younger children, such as myself. Maybe the worm is turning...

[mylife]

When I was young...I was that boy.. Foolin around and experimenting constantly.

As I see things the biggest problem with schools today is that thet have become institutions.
Kids need individual attention wether it is in studies, encouragement or discipline.
Large institutional schools cant possibly deliver that individual focus, and rely on blanket policies alone.

[ChemistCat]

You may well be right. Since vouchers arent' even on the TABLE--instead, we're going to be voting on a lottery here in Oklahoma--we may never know! :-)

[tang-soo]

I remember reading several months ago on FR about a German/Austrian essayist that wrote how abusive governments would use the enforcement of silly rules/regulations/laws as a tool to beat down a population's will for freedom and free thinking. I think he was from the 1800's. Does this sound familar to anyone. I've been trying to track this down as I would like to use his paper as a resource. Thanks in advance.

[185JHP]

If it only saves one puddle...

[ChemistCat]

Sorry, missed your replies earlier. There were two pregnant 5th graders at my nearby elementary school. If they had been held back, they weren't held back much. They didn't look much older than 11 or 12.

They were only barely visibly pregnant at the end of the school year, but every kid knew they were pregnant by older (over 18) boyfriends. The principal and teachers and all parents knew. Official hands were tied because the parents wouldn't take the kids out of school or prosecute anybody. More than that I do not know--it was the end of the school year, and I put my kids in private school the following fall. I don't know if they came back in the fall or not.

It is sad, but many of the other girls expressed envy. A baby seemed to them to be a cool thing. Yep, babies are mighty cute little creatures.

As an aside: one of the 6th graders at my kids' private school was rumored to be pregnant this spring. I went directly to the principal as soon as I heard this rumor (from another parent.) He told me that the young lady comes from a very troubled home situation, that she is DEFINITELY not pregnant, and they were working with her to get her to stop acting out in front of the other kids. She herself was the source of the rumor, you see--she told all the other girls in the class that she thought she was pregnant, and of course even the 2nd graders knew about it by the end of the day. Small school. So my kids were put in charge of rumor-squashing--when someone tried to tell them about this, they firmly said, "The principal says it's not true and I won't gossip about (the girl's) private business."

We're running out of safety.

[fight_truth_decay]

Charter schools are now the subject of debate in Maine.
Visions of Potential Public Charter Schools in Maine
03/31/2003

Public charter schools are organized as non-profit charitable corporations and are freed from most of the rules that burden traditional public schools.Public schools, tuition-free, with no admissions test, and no religious affiliation. Schools of choice- Students and teachers choose a Public Charter School - no one is assigned.


Planning and Start-Up Funds: http://www.mainecharterschools.org/

[fight_truth_decay]

However, found the proposed potential charter for Portand interesting:

A new International middle school, Portland
Planning to open in fall of 2005, this school will emphasize the languages and cultures of several ethnic groups in Portland, especially those from Somalia, Cambodia, Bosnia, Ethiopia, and Hispanic countries. Major goals are to provide students with a personalized and meaningful curriculum; to create a culture in a changing city that embraces diversity; and to engage students in the community and to engage the community with the lives of the students. There will be a low teacher/student ratio, one advisor for every 8 students, community service requirements, and internship opportunities.

[Carry_Okie]

To be fair to the schools, blame also lies with idiot parents who have taken away the schools ability to discipline. Ultimately, the rot of public education is also the rot of American parents.

You have it reversed. The schools long ago took away the parents' authority to discipline their kids. One of the first things children learn in public skewel is how to turn in mommy and daddy for child abuse. Once the child learns who is in charge, it's all over.

The destruction of our educational institutions was carefully planned and executed over a century, but it was intended from the first. My suggestion is that you read John Taylor Gatto's books to learn that early history, while Mrs. Iserbyt's book covers the more recent term.

[Diva Betsy Ross]

I don't think it is partent's faliure to allow the school to discipline, however many ,many parents are neglegent in my eyes. I think most parents want the easy way out, and public school is "free" daycare to them. I believe 50% of parents want the schools to handle 100% of the discipline.

[ladylib]

I don't know who wrote it, but governments can beat down people with broadly written nitpicking laws that make everybody a lawbreaker each day. Asinine zero-tolerance policies are like that also. I believe it's a form of control.

"Tolerance" education in schools makes students watch everything they say lest they offend someone. It must be terrible to have to constantly watch what you say and do so you don't get reported to the school authorities or even the police. Also many public schools encourage students to snitch on one another under the guise of "safe schools." We are becoming a nation of snitches.

Some schools also ask students intrusive questions about their family life either outright or on surveys. Where do you think that information goes? I bet some of that information winds up on the school's social worker's desk.

The fact that many public schools do not teach factual American history or civics so students know their rights or responsibilities will also be detrimental to a free society.

[ladylib]

Check out:

http://www.edwatch.org/

Scroll down left the side of the page to "Battle Ground" quotes to see what public education is really all about.