Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Johnny Can't Read, or Do Math - From Crayons to Condoms


The classroom in American public schools has become a place for children to confront all varieties of adult behaviors and depressing situations. Rather than acquire basic knowledge of history, literature, math, and science, more and more classroom time is being spent discussing feelings, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. Instead of a place of learning, those that run our public schools seem to think that the fundamental task of education is therapy.

Our children are being psychologically molested in the classroom through exercises that focus on death, suicide, graphic sex, and invasive surveys. Some public schools are now even forcing children to participate in Islamic religious practices that are not only in direct opposition to many children's families' personal beliefs, but is hardly in keeping with the idea of seperation of church and state that the system is using in order to keep Christian prayer out of schools.

Today's educational system emphasizes the "Proper Socialization" of our children by integrating "politically correct" attitudes and values into watered down academics which accommodates social agendas, but fails to teach our children.

The social engineering experiments being tried on our children is a failure - but the public school system won't admit such. Instead of admitting failure and returning to the basics of education, the education establishment would rather blame our underachieving schools on inadequate funding, though there is no correlation between performance and funding. In fact, solid academics costs less than the experimental methodologies being imposed on our children.

Our children, and the school system, is performing poorly because the focus is no longer on academic achievement. Instead of teaching phonics, they teach "whole language." Rather than teach our children how to sound out a word, they teach inventive spelling. Rather than teaching our children how to calculate and reason, they teach constructivist math. Rather than allowing the children to learn from their mistakes, they push self-esteem programs and death education.

Why do they do this, despite the objections of parents around the nation? The common view among educators is that public schools exist to shape our children emotionally and psychologically in the proper politically correct image, rather than teach our children academics. Public schools are inundated with social studies curricula containing false and misleading concepts, and sex education programs whose main purpose is to challenge societal norms.

Even Bush's precious "No Child Left Behind" program is a dismal failure. Politicians seem to be constantly calling for federal education programs, never recognizing that a centralized approach to education is a failed approach.

Parents are feeling as if they, as taxpayers, are no longer in charge of our public schools, or of their own children. In fact, often the school boards impose policies and practices irrespective of parental protests.

Rob Reiner, like Hillary Clinton, has even pushed for a mandatory pre-school program because even parents with good instincts can miss it when it comes to child development. Barack Obama has suggested sex education as early as kindergarten.

Though we hear a call for more parental involvement from society, in truth unless parents climb on board with the agenda pushed by the education establishment, the parents are not wanted, are seen as troublemakers, and are seen as parents who dare challenge those in "authority."

In 2005 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Fields v. Palmdale School District that the fundamental right of parents over the care and upbringing of their children "does not extend beyond the threshold of the school door," and a public school as the right to give students "whatever information it wishes to provide, sexual or otherwise."

The message being sent out is that those who run the schools are the experts, and parents shouldn't interfere.

If that is the case, then why is it that children who are homeschooled by their parents, and those children attending private schools (including Christian Private Schools) score higher on academic testing on average than those educated by the public school system? And why is it, despite those numbers, is there a movement by the liberal left to outlaw homeschooling?

The book, "From Crayons to Condoms" is a compilation of stories by concerned parents that found themselves caught in the middle of this battle. The book was edited and compiled by Steve Baldwin and Karen Holgate. Karen Holgate will be my guest on Wednesday Night on Political Pistachio Radio - Tune in, and find out the ugly truth about America's Public Schools!

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