Posted on Wednesday, 8/06/2008 - 3:08 p.m. PDT — by Robert R. Wood
The Times recently published a half-page of responses to a query about what people thought should be done about the high school drop out rate in California that exceeds 26%. Most responses were, to me, akin to advice to "jiggle the handle" when the toilet float is not behaving. Only two responses made much sense at all. One, to ask the dropouts why they do so, and what would make them not do so was at least seriously considered. The other, to leave it alone since we need field hands and other types of menial laborers had, at least, a grasp of economics behind it, though its dash of Social Darwinism is a spice not quite to my liking.
However, most of the letter writers as well as politicians, educators and administrators alike, suffer from a delusion that the system can be "fixed". The problem is that they behave like the horse trainer who believes he can get his dead horse to run faster by taping its legs. This Lazarus will not be raised. We would be far better off to give the system a decent burial, award a plaque of heartfelt appreciation to its status quo defenders and go about finding a real solution.
The public K-12 education system is fatally broken and hasn't worked in decades. I am a middle class dad. My wife and I knew that if we wanted a good education for our daughter, a poor place from which to expect it was Pleasanton Middle School (near where we lived at the time). How did we know that? Well, one clue came when my daughter complained that her 7th grade math teacher gave her poor marks for "coloring outside the lines"! Well, that needed explanation! She showed me her homework - pages of rectangles and other orthogonally shaped objects of various sizes, some touching each other, some not. Her task was to color them. Was there an order to the coloring? No. Just don't color outside the lines. When I got my degree in mathematics many years ago, we weren't aware of the importance of coloring in the lines. Another came from a teacher who laid down the law at the beginning of the year. "Everyone in this class is to be respected by everyone else in the class. There will be no violence or disrespect between students," he said. A month later after my daughter and I visited Kaiser to get a pencil lead removed from her arm as a result of being stabbed by a classmate, I asked about the state of the "law". Turns out it was only a suggestion, a hope, from a teacher who just wished to survive another year and get that much closer to retirement. A third clue came when our daughter told us that she was not popular at school. She informed us that she had decided to rectify that situation and that she was determined to get the things that her school had to offer and had told her, albeit unintentionally and informally, was important. And she applied herself with earnest intent. She became very conscious of dress and fashion. She knew the people who were in and who were not - and some former friends were not. She was somewhat successful, and I believe, if not for some changes in her life, would have been quite successful at that single-minded goal.
So, we did what any serious parent does. We looked for a solution, rather than waiting for one to drop in from Washington or Sacramento - or even the Times. Some serious parents teach their children at home. Some augment their children's public school education with private tutoring and classes. More than a few desperate parents of limited means just hope that the power of their own influence will vouchsafe their children from the degraded environment public schools foist on them. Like Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barack and Michelle Obama, and other serious parents, a few of whom are, like us, not even "upper middle class", we took our daughter out of public school altogether and put her into a private school. We believed that even though we were being taxed to support a crippled institution in addition to having to pay private tuition, our daughter was important enough to us that we wanted her to be well educated. We were lucky beyond reasonable expectation. She is now about six months from getting her PhD in neuroscience from a prestigious university. But if we had left her in the environment provided by Pleasanton and Livermore public schools and she still achieved as well, our luck would be a 5 standard deviation point event rather than the 2 points it is.
The public education system in the United States was even ill born, based on an unkind principle, being an attempt to blunt the feared and resented success of the Catholic parochial school system. Nevertheless, it was very successful for several decades and reached its apex in the late 1960's just as the Baby Boomers were beginning to graduate from high school. Since then our educational system has been turned into a political football by any and all interest groups who could find a hook. And any political football worth kicking should be nationalized. If you run a special interest lobbying group, you get a far better bang for your buck by bugging one big bureaucracy than by begging a bunch. Hence the Department of Education was created.
Many people can cite anecdotes that people educated in the public system can go to and even perform well at places like Princeton University. I would never argue against the ability and tenacity of some of our children to succeed in the face of tremendous encumbrances. However, "Do some publicly educated children succeed?" is not an important question. "Why does the high school drop out rate exceed 26%" is a far more pertinent question. Other good questions are "Why do American children academically compare so poorly against children in other developed nations?" and "Why don't more American children know where Canada - or Kansas - is?"
Here is a plausible answer to the high drop out rate. While our children may not be educated, they may be economically savvy. If I were a 10th grade student in downtown Oakland and I knew that I was not going to college, why should I stick around high school for 2 years to get a piece of paper that says nothing more about my academic skills than its absence would say. It would not help me get a job. It would not help me get a girl friend. It would not help me get a car. It might merely mark me as somewhat likely to follow rules. At age 16, that mark would hardly be taken as even a small advantage. In other words, the only way to decrease the high drop out rate is to demonstrate to students who drop out that the degree is worth earning - by making it worth earning.
But, the system is broken. It is grossly inefficient and serves only its masters. It does not serve the public well at all and it is abysmally failing to serve especially so-called "inner city" children. It should be scrapped altogether. In its place, many systems can and should be built without the paternal "assistance" of Washington to address various needs of various children in various circumstances. Taxes we currently pay for the education that is being poorly delivered should be analyzed anew. Perhaps they should be remitted in the form of vouchers to parents and wards of school age children to be used effectively in the pursuit of a quality education. Perhaps they should be rescinded completely. As a person who no longer has a school age child, I accept the social responsibility to help those who do. But as taxpayers we have been far too indulgent for far too long.
This signals my last point regarding the sorry state of our educational system today. There are far too many people who don't want it to be fixed. The teacher's unions and employees of the ED as well as invested academics (curriculum and textbook writers) come to mind. Then there are huge numbers of people who don't sufficiently care if it is fixed. Perhaps they vote for candidates because of their stand on abortion or gun control or maybe they don't vote at all. Considering the degree to which government has arrogated powers to itself, it is difficult for any voter to become educated enough even to be a good single-issue voter. Unfortunately, until this problem is elucidated enough, loudly enough, to get enough attention to cause people to say "enough", the letter writer who claimed that the system as-is is alright because it musters a sufficiency of freedom fries slingers may be closest to the best-because-possible approach.
Here are some rounded-off statistics (taken from the California Department of Education web site). Education cost per California resident, 2003-2004 = $1,650 (state rank was 10th), per pupil expenditures, 2005-2006 K-12 = $8,500 (93% of national average), average teacher salary, 2005-2006 = $59,800/school year (#1 in nation), student/teacher ratio = 21, diverse population (Hispanics are 1.5% short of being an absolute majority and 25% of students don't speak English fluently). According to the Wall Street Journal, which quotes the California Department of Education, the drop out rate in Los Angeles is over 33% with 42% of blacks and 30% of Hispanics dropping out. Official publications flood us with data - and propaganda (e.g., see comments at the web site about cost of living attending teacher salaries) while leaving us grasping for information and understanding. Why do only 73.9% of students who enter the 9th grade graduate? How many students drop out before they enter the 9th grade? What can be done to educate our children efficiently? How can parents regain control over their children's education from self-interested, professional and political groups?
And then yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reports that the National Education Association - the largest teacher's union - spent $2.3 million last year and $1 million the year before to stop school vouchers in Utah, $60,000 in Massachusetts to oppose a state income tax repeal and $200,000 in Florida to oppose property tax cuts. This is but a sampling of NEA spending. The union is expected to enter the 2008-2009 fiscal year with almost $20 million to spend on political issues, some of which have at best a very tenuous link to even the union's direct interest of representing teacher's, much less being in support of better education. Quoting the Wall Street Journal editorial, "It's a shame the NEA doesn't spend as much money and effort trying to improve lousy schools as it does trying to keep taxes high." An even more direct way for its union to help teachers would be for it to let them keep their income rather than using member dues for tax lobbying.
But, of course, the NEA is one of the primary institutions that is vested in a broken public education system. They were also one of the most vocal advocates for the nationalization of public education through the creation of the ED during Reagan's administration to advance their self-interested and wider political goals as opposed to making the public education system a better institution for educating America's children.
If I were an inner city black or Hispanic parent with limited resources, I would be more livid at the current system and their protectors. Unfortunately, large numbers of minorities continue to think that they are actually being served by the scandalous educators, administrators, academics and politicians who run this shameful system. Things won't change until they realize how they are being manipulated by their so-called "friends".
For instance, Obama, who sends his kids to private school, sees a problem with vouchers - and says that he thinks that more government spending will help. I don't believe it. He's obviously an intelligent man. Why would he continue to spout the demonstrated absurdity that the system just needs tinkering? Why do poor minorities have to continue to suffer to get a black man elected president? This is disgusting!
Joined: Jul 2008
Current Posts: 82
In the Fruitvale this Catholic elementary school has an old brick stucture and a fence around the (unesthetic) asphalt playground. Passing by you see the young kids in their uniforms. The great majority are black kids. Ask yourself...Are there that many black Catholics? Are there that many blacks in a modest part of Oakland that prefer paying for private school ? Are there even that many intact families? NO, NO and NO. .................... But even single parents (and grandparents) love their kids and do WHATEVER they can to avoid the government schools.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
More Reasons Than Ever to Leave Public Schools (CCF)
California appeals court affirms legality of homeschooling
Sacramento, California – Campaign for Children and Families (CCF), a leading California pro-family organization that supports parental rights and back-to-basics education, is thanking God for today's court ruling upholding the legality of homeschooling in California.
"With this good decision, parents have more reason than ever to yank their children out of the broken public school system and head for the promised land of homeschooling and church schools," said Randy Thomasson, president of Campaign for Children and Families.
"Newly-enacted state laws require homosexual, bisexual, and transsexual indoctrination in public schools. Fortunately, parents can rescue their children and choose the moral and academic excellence offered by home schools and church schools."
Friday's ruling from the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles upholding the legality of homeschooling in California is a reversal of the court's much-criticized ruling from earlier this year, which said homeschooling was unlawful unless a parent possessed a teaching credential.
Today's court ruling, however, was unanimously in favor of homeschooling. "California statutes permit home schooling as a species of private school education," the three-judge panel wrote. "California impliedly allows parents to home school as a private school, but has provided no enforcement mechanism. As long as the local school district verifies that a private school affidavit has been filed, there is no provision for further oversight of a home school."
United States Justice Foundation Executive Director Gary Kreep, who represented the father in the case, Phillip L., said he was thrilled with today's appellate court victory. "We're extremely gratified that the court has upheld the right of California parents to homeschool their own children. This unanimous ruling is a complete reversal from the court's Feb. 28 decision to criminalize homeschooling. Parents now have the confidence they can homeschool their children without fear."
"The California Legislature has just passed a bill (AB 2567) to require public schools to celebrate homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexuality," said Thomasson. "Existing state laws require the positive portrayal of alternative lifestyles (SB 777, AB 394) and the abolition of moral values on sexual matters in public schools (SB 71).
Since the government schools are imploding, now is the time to discover the rewards of home schools and church schools. On average, homeschooled children succeed academically and develop better character than kids in the government system."
Campaign for Children and Families has set up a special web site, RescueYourChild.org, to help parents learn how to homeschool or enroll in a church school.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Exit the government-controlled school system
"When you can no longer protect your children, you must remove them from a threatening environment." -- Randy Thomasson, CCF President October 25, 2007
Because of two new California laws (SB 777 and AB 394) children in California "public schools" will be targeted for sexual indoctrination starting in January 2008.
In response to this disaster, Campaign for Children and Families (CCF) is urging all parents who care about their children's impressionable hearts and minds to exit the government-controlled school system. Right now, leaving your public school is the only secure way for children to be protected.
THIS CCF CALL TO ACTION GIVES YOU THE FACTS AND THE HELP YOU NEED TO PROTECT YOUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN. Topics addressed in this urgent CCF Call to Action include:
• Time to exit the public schools
• Federal judges: parents have no say-so over what public schools teach kids
• Turn "I can't" into "I can"
• How to creatively do home schooling or private schooling
Please inform everyone you know whose children or grandchildren are in California public schools about this call to action. It's critical that each one of us does our part to reach as many parents and grandparents as possible...to rescue as many children and grandchildren as we can from the sexual indoctrination that's coming into the classroom.
Time to exit the public schools
On Oct. 12, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law the two school sexual indoctrination bills, SB 777 and AB 394. In summary, SB 777 effectively requires all school instruction and every school activity to include positive promotion of homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexuality. AB 394 will push these alternative sexual lifestyles through school "anti-harassment" education for students, parents, and teachers.
There is no opt-out for parents, schools, or school districts for either of these new laws affecting every public school in California.
Campaign for Children and Families is here to help parents be responsible and take decisive action to protect and educate their children in a private school or a home school environment.
Please don't say "I can't home school" or "I can't afford private school." Yes, you can, if you are part of a two-parent household that is determined to succeed. And some heroic single parents are prioritizing a private school education for their child. Please keep reading to be equipped on the best ways to educate your own children. Here's an example to encourage you: www.schoolandstate.org/Resources/affordstory.htm.
Here's a quick summary of what the new school sexual indoctrination laws will do:
* SB 777 effectively requires positive portrayal of homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexuality in "instruction" and "any activity" in K-12 public schools. Connect the dots to see how the bill does it.
* AB 394 promotes homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexuality to students, parents, and teachers in K-12 public schools under the guise of "anti-harassment" education and training.
* There is no opt-out for parents, schools, or school districts.
* SB 777 and AB 394 will go into effect on January 1, 2008, affecting more than six million children in California's government-controlled K-12 school system.
* SB 777 will affect all "instruction" (textbooks, a teacher's instruction, guest speakers, instructional materials, handouts, videos) and every school-sponsored "activity" (sex education, drama, music, school assemblies, sports teams, homecoming games, school proms, school clubs, etc.)
Click here for examples of what SB 777 could easily look like in the classroom
Click here to view a video clip of actual sexual indoctrination in Massachusetts elementary schools
Federal judges: parents have no say-so over what public schools teach their kids
Right now, according to federal judges, you don't have any legal rights over what goes into your children's minds if they are enrolled in a government-controlled school, otherwise known as a public school, in California.
You see, two years ago, in a case out of Palmdale, California, the infamous Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that it was lawful for a public school to give children sex surveys without their parents' permission.
This federal ruling, which applies to parents in California and other western states, basically says that when your children step on to public school property, you lose your rights to decide what they’re "taught."
Click here for a National School Boards Association summary of this terrible ruling
Now add to this SB 777, the school sexual indoctrination bill just signed into law by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. SB 777, along with AB 394, will turn every California public school into a sexual indoctrination center.
This means, as early as January 2, 2008, every California public school will begin sexually indoctrinating schoolchildren as young as five years old. The eventual effect of the law will be that homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexuality cannot be excluded, and therefore must be included, in all instruction and every school activity. Because, for all practical purposes, under SB 777, exclusion of these alternative sexual lifestyles will be deemed "discriminatory bias."
This new sexual indoctrination comes on the heels of other government school problems:
* Openly homosexual and transsexual teachers for children as young as kindergarten
* Pro-homosexuality "days of silence" and "diversity days"
* Pro-homosexuality-bisexual-transsexual "Gay-Straight Alliance" (GSA) clubs that are already in 1 out of 3 public high schools in California
And then there are all the other disturbing practices affecting children in government-controlled schools:
* Evolution training promoting unbelief in God
* Distribution of condoms and birth control pills without parental consent
* "Confidential" abortion referrals and outside counseling without parental consent
* Widespread rejection of religious values
* No effective discipline
* Negative peer pressure
* Less safety and less academic success, on average, than private or home schools
These "public school values," in addition to the new school sexual indoctrination laws, should be more than enough reason to jump into action and exit the public school system for the love of God and family.
When you add SB 777 to this already-bad mix, you quickly realize that the laws governing public schools these days have turned public schools against parents and against the sexual innocence of children. Your local school is NOT the same school it was 20 or 30 years ago!
Now that you know this, what will you do as a parent or grandparent? What will you do as a friend of a parent whose child is currently in the government school system? Rescue your children and urge parents you know to rescue theirs!
Turn "I can't" into "I can"
When you can no longer protect your children, you must remove them from a threatening environment. Please don't say that you can't...or you won't...save your child. Isn't your child's mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being worth any sacrifice?
Because the equivalent of mental molestation is coming to California public schools, CCF urges California parents to flee to home schools or church-operated private schools.
Don't think you can afford private school? Think again.
* Yes, you can afford private school
* Can't afford private school?
* "Why money is never an issue"
Don't think you have what it takes to home school? Think again.
* Am I qualified to teach my child?
* Home school options, ideas, resources
* FAQs about home schooling in California
* Legal structure for setting up a California home school
To explore how to home school, and to receive helpful encouragement and direction, enjoy visiting these websites:
* Christian Home Educators of California
* Private & Home Educators of California
* Home School Legal Defense Association
* National Home Education Research Institute
* California Homeschool Network
* Home School Association of California
How to creatively do home schooling or private schooling
For assistance on rescuing your children or any children you know, here are key websites:
Alliance for Separation of School and State (California-based "help-you-leave-your-public-school" organization)
Exodus Mandate Project (encourages parents to provide their children with a Christian education through home schooling or private schooling)
Here are good sources of home-school programs and curricula to help you start home schooling on your own, or to help your church start a "one-room schoolhouse" co-op with several parents. Most of them are Christian-based, but you don't have to be a Christian to home school your children.
All you need to do is provide the space, an internet connection and adult supervision. Students come to your church with their laptop computer and a packed lunch ready to begin their daily coursework...
-- Liberty Online Academy on the simplicity of a church-based home-school coop
Around $1000 per child per year for print-based education; around $1600 per child per year for online learning with the Switched-On Schoolhouse.
-- Alpha Omega Publications
A must-read fact sheet on how to legally home school (from Private & Home Educators of California)
A Beka Academy (excellent online home school program)
Alpha Omega Publications (professional home school curriculum through traditional books (approx. $1000 per child per year) or a dynamic distance-learning model (approx. $1600 per year)
Liberty Online Academy (uses Alpha Omega's distance-learning program; also earns dollar-for-dollar credits for your child to attend Liberty University)
BJU Press Distance Learning (another very good online home school program)
CLASS: Christian Liberty Academy (very inexpensive, but fully supported, home school curriculum for parents and church co-ops)
National Association of University-Model Schools (low-cost elementary and secondary school education in half the hours)
First Class Homeschools (get help planting a church-based, parent-led home school co-op)
Southern Baptist Association of Christian Schools (get help setting up various models of Christian schools)
Association of Christian and Classical Schools (helps churches and parents to start classical Christian schools)
Escondido Tutorials (online classical education for junior high and high school students)
Discover Christian Schools (learn about starting or enrolling in a more conventional Christian schools)
Homeschooling Family to Family (helping you to help other families by introducing them to home schooling)
Christian Family Schools (San Diego area homeschooling network)
Considering HomeSchooling Ministry (Orange County homeschooling network)
Joined: Aug 2008
Current Posts: 7
I really intended this topic to be focused on the quality of public education. While I don't claim that "Ohso" is wrong, it is diverting to bring up one's pet peeve in this context. The important issue is that the public education system is a failure. Some pretty far out things are mandated in public schools, but I would like to concentrate on the fact that no matter whom Johnny wants to bed, he should be able to add and subtract, to read, to get a job.
The busier a school is with education the less time it has left for social inculcation. Stated in the contra positive, the more time a school spends on inculcation, the less time it has for educating. That is an inherent problem with public education. There is constant internal and external pressure to inculcate children. Fundamentalist Christians demand creationism and abstinence only sex ed. Gays, etc. demand acceptance. Parents of autistic children demand mainlining. Teachers, desiring a little peace in the classroom, discriminate against students who are afflicted with the disease we used to call "boy", but now call ADD and ADHD. Everybody demands socialization of some sort. Education loses. The schools degrade. Fundamentalist Christians may have legitimate complaints. Boys may be so afflicted with testosterone that the only cure is to be drugged. Our public institutions must be integrated. The "elephant in the room" here is that there are a huge number of political and social issues that people naturally demand that the public schools address. They demand it because nationalized public education is a ready and easy institution to target.
It is time for alternatives. Some of those alternatives will be failures. For example, many of those that Ohso encourages are far more interested in inculcation than education. But the best - the only - way to achieve overall success is to empower truly vested parties such as parents and students themselves as opposed to unions, politicians and special interests like "secular humanists" and fundamentalist Christians.
Joined: Aug 2008
Current Posts: 7
I originally started this topic under Forums/New Forums. I am new to this and don't know a lot about some of the protocols. For instance, how do I delete a topic? I soon decided that that was not the proper place for that topic, so I reposted under Forums/News/General News. Then someone (a moderator?) moved my original post to Forums/News/State. Sorry for the confusion.
Ohso responded in the other thread as follows:
"Wasn't there another Post Here? I recall reading it yesterday because there were several points I wanted to respond to - including the general trashing of Ohso, as well as Religion and its various Bogeyman manifestations as propagandized by the Radical Leftist / Gender Feminist / Homosex lobby.
"For example - the lumping of 'Fundamentalist / Creationist' (a minority amongst all religions) - along with those who believe in God and Intelligent Design as an answer for the Origins of Life and Creation, without any distinguishing between the camps - just reeks of ignorant patronizing.
"Anywayyy... the following from AFF adds to the discussion, at least IMNPHO:
................................
Court Rejects Christian Education
Late Friday afternoon (8/8/08), ..." (See remainder of Ohso's post at Forums/News/State.)
Ohso, I did not mean to trash you generally. You have valid issues and those issues touch on the topic of public education. However, your posts have not addressed the poor state of public education - in fact, you seem to be more exercised that children ARE being taught (the wrong stuff) rather than that they are NOT being taught.
I mean to stay on topic. Hence my perhaps careless handling of creationist vs. ID sensitivities. (Moreover, I admit to ignorance on the issues between the camps - because I don't care to know and knowing would have no effect on my concern for the state of public education. But I categorically deny being paternalistic.)
The problem is that several people want their own brand of inculcation included in the public arena. Some people want a pageant in school celebrating their particular religious beliefs. Others are appalled that their children may have to witness or even participate in what to them may be apostacy. Some people want their children to be educated to tolerate - if not to celebrate - homosexuality. Others are appalled to think that their children are subjected to such moral abominations. People like me used to advocate that to avoid this problem only basics should be taught in the schools. This hasn't worked.
To be succinct: Proselytizers want inculcation rather than education. Competition between different brands of inculcation distracts from education. Everybody wants inculcation. (For example, the absence of values teaching devolves unavoidably to the teaching of the absence of values.) Consequently we are all part of the problem. What's wrong with this picture? Answer: a nationalized public school system can only work well when the entire national citizenry is homogeneous - all Christian or all Moslem or all humanist, for example. Otherwise, it becomes a political football and is kicked to death. How do you solve this problem? Get rid of the governmental monopoly on education.
Yes, Ohso, gays want to stuff something down your throat. And it's disgusting. And you should not tolerate it. And the post you made regarding the Calvary Chapel Christian School (Murrieta, CA) and the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) suit against the University of California may be one more example of the government affirming the status quo. But concentrating on the differences you may have with me distracts from the issue. Public schools are failing our children! On that we can agree, right?
Joined: Jul 2005
Current Posts: 1715
Mr. Wood ... I am a retired California public school teacher who has moved to rural areas of Oregon. Despite cries of protest from some of the more narrow-minded members of the Contra Costa Times message boards who feel that I do not belong here, I continue to participate in some of the discussions, just like I did when I (briefly) resided in Walnut Creek and just as I continued to do after moving from there to Monterey County. The time I give to this board is limited, and I try to limit the forums in which I participate. "State" issues are ones that seldom bother me any more, so I seldom search its pages for topics of interest. However, when I looked at the topics in this Forum today, "Public Education" sort of jumped out at me. I found your initial post quite interesting ... you introduced very legitimate concerns and expressed them in an extremely thoughtful and compelling way.
Though I was a public school teacher (and a site representative for CTA at two of the schools where I taught), I find much of what you say to be true. I disagree with other parts of it, and if you decide that you wish to have a conversation on this topic, I will gladly go back and cite specifics (of both agreement and disagreement). I never have been a defender of the status quo, and spent a great deal of my professional time making efforts -- with varying degrees of success -- attempting to affect systemic change from within the system.
My perspective is a little different than most teachers. I spent twenty years teaching in a two-room rural K-8 school, and finished my career in a small middle school near Salinas, California. Both schools were extremely democratic; teachers and parents were recognized by supportive principals in both schools and had a voice in curriculum, structure, materials, professional development, and most everything related to instruction (and the administration was very small in both schools); the schools focused primarily on student achievement and on providing experiences that enriched student lives; and both schools felt that the arts and languages and science and physical activity were at least as important as the three r's. As a result of my experiences, I know that almost all children are capable of learning the things we expect them to learn (though almost all learn those things at their own pace rather than at one arbitrarily decided for them by adults, and almost all learn those things in different ways); that almost all children are equally capable of forgetting the things they learned from year to year if those things are not particular relevant or useful to them; and that (again) almost all children express their understanding of the things we teach them -- or of the connections between and among those things -- in different ways. Most importantly, I have learned that if you teach a child how to ask questions and where to look to find answers, that skill is much more valuable and useful than most scraps of information they can provide on command (not that having certain things on command is not useful -- especially when time is an imperative).
In addition to my classroom experiences, I have participated at the state level in professional organizations, served as a teacher representative to state-wide organizations, helped write both the 1990 California Science Framework and the 1997 California Science Content Standards, and have been active -- at least at the local (site and county) -- in the CTA.
I am a bottom-up type of guy (as opposed to a top-down management style), and have participated in enough successful ventures to know that it works. I understand the need for umbrellas offered by the state (or the Feds), but resist mandates imposed from on high (or from afar) by them -- especially when mandated by people who insist that one way works better for all and who, for the most part, have not spent measurable amounts of time standing in front of groups of children. As a bottom-up type of guy, I favor local control (guided by benchmarks and broad goals established by state or even federal authorities). I also think one of the larger causes of educational malaise has been the effort to make schools more "efficient" by consolidating or unifying them, which may provide more choices and options (and that is arguable), but disenfranchises all key players (teachers, students and parents) in the all-important decision-making process.
To answer your larger, overarching question (why are so many kids dropping out of school), let me suggest that the answer is actually quite obvious. For any number of reasons -- sometimes different in different places, sometimes overlapping -- children drop out of school because what the school offers does not have any meaning or relevance for them. It's not that kids don't want to learn, or don't even like learning -- it's just that what they are being asked to learn (or, more correctly, told to learn), and the way they are being forced to learn it, does not work for them and ... sadly ... drives or beats curiosity out of them and causes them to give up (or resist, or act out against, or withdraw, or any number of other behaviors typical of a person who has shut down). You used different descriptions to say essentially the same thing -- why stay in school if it doesn't get you a job, doesn't buy you a car, doesn't guarantee a girlfriend, etc.
I am not arguing the above from a pedagogical point of view (although it suggests that poor pedagogical choices are being made) ... some children learn well in structured environments and others don't; some learn well in open and inquiry-based environments while others do not. It really isn't even a question of skill or commitment on the part of teachers (though skilled, smart, and committed teachers will almost always do a better job than those lacking those attributes), because if we had the will, we could provide almost everyone who wishes to be a teacher the support, training, and expertise necessary to do a good job.
So ... though we may experiment with a number of different structures and pedagogical approaches (or, if "experiment" is a off-putting word, then maybe we could provide choice in various structures and approaches) ... the key lies in finding ways to honor the innate curiosity that all children have and help them discover that what they are learning really does have meaning and relevance. I would suggest that fragmenting subjects and focusing primarily on skills defeats this purpose ... but some skills do need to be separated out and taught separately (again, every child has different needs and preferences for how this needs to be done).
You talk about special interests mandating topics to be covered in schools. I know exactly what you mean ... it's amazing how much content I had to give up in order to cover the fluffy stuff that someone else thought was important to include. But, from the other side of the street, usually the "fluffy" stuff has been added in because someone, somewhere, has fallen down on the job that used to be done outside of school.
Now that I am quite a few minutes into this response, I recognize that I should probably have responded to your main message, not this follow-up comment on some of the comments. I have too much time invested in this one to start over, though. So here's my suggestion ... look this one over and see if you think we have more to talk about. If you want to reply to it (or to parts of it), go ahead. If you think we would be better served by going back to the first message and responding to some of its key ideas, tell me that, instead.
I am at your service.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Ohso, I did not mean to trash you generally. You have valid issues and those issues touch on the topic of public education.
OK - I will provisionally accept that your motivations are not the same as most of the Resident Harpies who post here - and although perhaps poorly worded your questions are not of the "how often do you beat your wife" type mau mauing preferred by said Harpy Dumpers.
However, your posts have not addressed the poor state of public education - in fact, you seem to be more exercised that children ARE being taught (the wrong stuff) rather than that they are NOT being taught.
Hmmmm... There is only so much time in the day, and so many concepts that can be grasped in a class period - hence, if the time is wasted pushing Radicl Gender Feminist / Homosex Hate progaganda (instead of non partisan education) then the students are doubly betrayed.
I mean to stay on topic. Hence my perhaps careless handling of creationist vs. ID sensitivities. (Moreover, I admit to ignorance on the issues between the camps - because I don't care to know and knowing would have no effect on my concern for the state of public education. But I categorically deny being paternalistic.)
Actually - I submit that this is a valid part of the 'education' debate - In as much as Darwinism is still no more than a theory, and one with a whole lot of holes in it too (try seeing Ben Steins movie "Expelled - No Intelligence Allowed") - and the obfuscation of Intelligent Design (a scientific therory which allows for God to Exist) as being the same as a Biblical Literal Creationist view - is just one of the tools used by the Leftist / Gender Feminist / Homosex lobby to destroy rational though in the schools and replace it with political indoctrination.
People like me used to advocate that to avoid this problem only basics should be taught in the schools. This hasn't worked. To be succinct: Proselytizers want inculcation rather than education. Competition between different brands of inculcation distracts from education... How do you solve this problem? Get rid of the governmental monopoly on education.
I can certainly agree with de-funding the Pimps of the Education System, as well as the rest of the government - it seems that the more money we shovel towards Sacramento the more (excrement deleted) the Democrap Machine shovels back on us.
Yes, Ohso, gays want to stuff something down your throat. And it's disgusting. And you should not tolerate it. And the post you made regarding the Calvary Chapel Christian School (Murrieta, CA) and the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) suit against the University of California may be one more example of the government affirming the status quo. But concentrating on the differences you may have with me distracts from the issue. Public schools are failing our children! On that we can agree, right?
We certanly can agree that the Pathetic Farce of Public Education has been bankrupted by the demands for pandering to political hacks, particularly the Sick Hatreds and Vile Perversions pushed by the Radical Feminist / Homosex 'Pander or Perish' lobby.
Particularly the school lunch pogroms - which seem to sell nothing save "Cannibal Soup" for the Captive Soul.
Ohso
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. George Orwell
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Take Care Down There? (FRC)
WARNING: This item contains shocking and graphic content funded by your tax dollars.
Given the recent allegations against Planned Parenthood, one would think the organization would play it safe over the next few months and try to exercise some restraint. But the plan to stay under the media's radar is failing dismally in Oregon and Washington, where the local affiliate is making a full-scale assault on the morality of the states' young people.
On its new website, TakeCareDownThere.org, the group posts a series of videos so revolting that members of my staff were visibly shaken. In one clip, a girl tells her friends that she's staying home from a party to masturbate. When her pals look shocked, she says, "What? I like me. I like spending time with me. Tonight I think I'm going to go all the way with me." On another video, a "teacher" interrupts a boy performing oral sex on another boy and asks them where their condoms are. Others include videos called "Threesome" and "Let me do me," and a song about genitalia that reaches a level of vulgarity that would give even crude networks like MTV pause.
This site is nothing more than an online playground for the prurient. The screen promises "the ins and outs about the ins and outs," but the material is highly inappropriate for adults, let alone young children. Sadly, most parents are unaware that garbage like this is targeting their kids, and even fewer realize that they're paying for it!
The website is a project of Planned Parenthood of Columbia Willamette, a Title X grantee. This is exactly why FRC has prodded President Bush to change the government's Title X regulations. Each year, Planned Parenthood pockets more than $300 million of your tax dollars.
One way to de-fund the group responsible for obscene material like this is to end the meshing of Title X "family planning" funds with abortion mills. Call the White House switchboard today at 202-456-1414 and ask President Bush to separate these funds before more children are caught up in Planned Parenthood's pornographic web.
View the Video
Comprehensive Sex Ed Exposed!
Joined: Jul 2005
Current Posts: 1715
I wouldn't even have known this site was available for anyone's "prurient" viewing pleasure unless you posted it. But having posted it, I went to see what types of things you find offensive. I saw a series of very short skits featuring six different characters. All were fully clothed, at all times, and shown at all times from the waste up. The "teacher" was a bit hokey (and the kids seemed to all agree), and kept referring to written lists to make sure that all "cool" slang terms for whatever sexually related detail he was addressing got mentioned (an effort at humor, I suppose). It wasn't particularly prurient, and I see worse things on television at almost any hour of the day.
All of the skits represented situations that took place (or we at least suspected took place) forty years ago when I was in high school and college, but seldom talked about directly. Many of us did not have to discuss such things publicly, of course ... either because we already were experienced and/or knowledgeable, because we had been trained to not think about such stuff, because it was considered impolite, and/or because it was a source of embarrassment if you didn't already know about it.
I doubt too many people who find such information unnecessary, irrelevant, offensive or otherwise useless will visit this site. I also doubt very much that those who need it most will visit the site, either. For those parents who already do an admirable job of teaching their children about abstinence (if that is their preference) or who teach their children to be safe (if that is their preference), such an educational site is not needed. But this clearly is a site designed to provide information to young people, most likely because quite a few people have decided that somehow there are still large numbers of young people who are NOT being taught either abstinence or safety.
So, using public money to make an effort to use a single source that sends out the same message offends you. The site could have focused simply on abstinence, and would have been effective for those who chose to follow that advice. But to pretend that all young people are abstinent simply because everyone tells them to be abstinent is pretty foolish, don't you think. So it seems that a site explaining safety is needed for those who might visit it and have decided that abstinence is not for them.
What would you do, instead?
Joined: Aug 2008
Current Posts: 1
Population based study of early risk of stroke after transient ischaemic attack or minor stroke: implications for public education and organisation of services
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Sally
[url=http://www.drivenwide.com]Social Marketing[/url]
Email : drivenwide@gmail.com
Joined: Jul 2005
Current Posts: 1715
What has happened to the substantive questions Mr. Wood asked?
Joined: Aug 2008
Current Posts: 7
I'm new at this means of communication and was surprised at how some people use it. To me, it would seem that people would limit their comments in a thread to its subject. I was not aware that one particularly rude person, ohso (aka Ron Prentice?) is permitted to and brazenly commandeers any thread to his own agenda. In fact, of the last 4 posts to this thread, only the last one even addresses the topic - in the form of a question as to what happened to it.
Ohso, your fulminations persuade no one while you please only the people who are already as angry and hateful as you. You have a lot in common with Osama bin Laden in that you detest "the other" both near and far. I am basically a conservative person, but you embarrass me and make me question the goodness, not to mention the validity, of my beliefs. Your hate prevented you from seeing that I was proposing something that you should have liked. You need to see your doctor. Without professing any expertise, I think you might benefit greatly from a prescription to both Prozac and Hyperstat.
Shays, your comments were thoughtful and helpful. I do not question your expertise, gained from years in the classroom. And my post was not intended to disparage teachers nor the profession. If you think any one would benefit, please do respond to my original post.
As to this thread - as well as this medium, I have basically given up. Since my post, I've looked at other threads and find that people like ohso and that other loose cannon, clayton, trash the medium making the noise to signal ratio too high to wish to continue with it.
I do wish there was a public medium in which serious lay people could communicate without the distractions imposed by fanatics. Please note that this comment has no relevance with the topic whatever. See what this medium does? But, hey: have fun. Whatever.
Joined: Jul 2005
Current Posts: 1715
Mr. Wood ... please do not go away. I hope you check back and see that there is at least one person on this board who wishes to engage in thoughtful conversation. You named two personages in your message of clear frustration that have driven many a fine, thoughtful, and coherent voice from this message board. They can be ignored (in fact, there is a button you can select that puts them on an "ignore" list ... but I can tell you more about that if you respond).
I am NOT a conservative. Far from it. However, in the past, I have had very fruitful conversations on this very message board with thoughtful conservatives. It can be done. In fact, I had a long and running discussion on a number of topics with a fellow who is a civil engineer for Chevron and currently living in Venezuela. I live in Oregon (as I believe I told you). When he came to Portland to attend a wedding, we met (with our wives) and had a very pleasant dinner together. Which is the short way of saying that people of different persuasions can, indeed, use this medium to exchange thoughts. I am not sure that we ever "won" each other over on too many topics ... but it sure was an interesting and challenging experience. From my perspective, he presented arguments in refreshing ways (even if I though he was full of [bleep] a good part of the time ... and vice versa, I am sure), and kept me on my toes trying to defend and articulate my own.
So ... I am busy in my retirement (I volunteer in several capacities at my granddaughters' public elementary school, I write curriculum for the state of California in a government sponsored and supported project, and I volunteer increasing time to the campaign of progressive candidates for public office) and do not wish to construct a long and thoughtful response to your initial post unless you read this and let me know that you will see it. It seems that you already invited me to do so, but the end of your last message suggests that you may not stop in here again.
Which is an invitation for you to write back and say "yes", you DID come back.
Joined: Jul 2006
Current Posts: 3156
Robert, (I hope you're still checking in out of curiosity)
It's a shame you've discovered what many of us have come to realize, and that is that these forums are a microcosm of what has happened to the political theater in the nation as a whole. The thoughful, articulate, vast "middle" of the political specrums of both parties have been drowned out by the fanatics, some of which as you've noted, would benefit from medication and/or deprogramming. As Shays has mentioned, many have left the forums, or at least the ones where Ohso, Clayton and their ilk prowl, just as many have abandoned the political process out in the real world. (Emphasis on the word real is intentional, since all too often, time spent here on the forums is like falling through the looking glass) The loonies here can be ignored. It's tough. It takes discipline. It's frustrating. But it can be done. Whether it's worth the effort is up to you.
As to your topic, my wife has taught in the public education system for over twenty years. She teaches art, so your story about coloring outside the lines made me laugh. I don't have the time to go into a lot of detail now, but I'd like to make a few points.
Yes, the system has a lot of problems, not the least of which is some teachers who's heart isn't in it anymore for whatever reason. But for every teacher who fits this description, there are hundreds who love their profession and are highly dedicated. Many of them are just as frustrated with the system as you are, particularly with the "No Child Left Behind" fiasco. But they don't get the headlines. They toil in the background while the teacher who has an affair with or molests a student makes the front page and further tarnishes the image of educators. How often do you read about the teacher who has kids, sometimes later as adults, coming back to visit a classroom, or send a card thanking that teacher for making a difference in their lives? My wife is often in tears when she shares these kinds of stories with me.
In addition to constricting programs like N.C.L.B. other things that have conributed to the high dropout rate are:
Too much emphasis on a college degree. More vocational skills classes need to be brought back into the schools. Businesses are clamoring for well trained blue collar workers. Along with that is the need for an explanation that a kid is not a failure if he or she chooses not to go to college. The pride in choosing a skill or trade needs to be brough back. (That is if any are left that haven't been outsourced overseas)
Teachers spending too much time and effort dealing with students whose command of the english language is minimal; students who are totally unprepaired to enter a classroom and can make the educational process nearly impossible for the rest of the class. Many of these kids have little in the way of social skills. The parents (or parent) are not invloved in their child's education. The teachers have enough on their hands trying to teach the kids who want to learn without having to play parent/counceler/cop.
Find a way to rectify these and a few other social problems and I think you'd be surprised at the results. I know...easier said than done... but in my mind, better than giving up and scrapping the entire system.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
"When you have no basis for an argument, abuse the plaintiff" - Such was the advice of the Roman Lawyer Cicero, one of the most wealthy and powerful figures during the decline and fall of the decadent and corrupt Roman Empire.
It is also SOP (standard operating practice) for the types of Resident Harpies of the Radical Leftist / Gender Feminist / Homosex lobby that flock to these message boards, employed in order to Censor and Dump on any Threads / Authors they feel should be silenced - particularly in retaliation for the Thought Crime of "Ism-Obia."
The Harpy Censorship tactics used vary widely but fall in to similar patterns; from the Red Herring ruses of Trolls trying to discredit their opponents by pretending to be one of them (the 'Archie Bunker' ploy), to the traditional 'Ad Hominem' (against the person) attacks on authors they want to silence BAMN (by any means necessary); but the central goal remains to Avoid the Issue - and Attack the Person, as being "Ungood" and thus unworthy of reading, let alone considering any arguments made.
Recent posts here have shown some tired old variations of the "How Often Do You Beat Your Wife?" scam - whereby Guilt is Assumed in the question, and the target is supposed to spend his time and focus on Denying the Lie, as opposed to speaking to the Greater Truth about the original Topic. Another favorite of Harpies eeverywhere is the 'meds' scam, whereby they can avoid exposing their own ignorance in a 'debate' (and inability to come up with a rational reply on the Topic) by acting as an amateur internet doctors and proscribing 'meds' for other posters to take - at a dosage sufficient enough to either make the Harpy Dumpings smell like flowers, or seem sensible.
Personally, I always wonder how such quacks get away with practicing medicine without a license on the internet, and what sort of an ignorant rube would believe a diagnosis and prescription from someone who sees no need for even a physical examination before passing out the tranks like gummy bears?
Curiouser and Curiouser said Alice - Just one pill makes you that small?
Ohso
Not merely the validity of experience but the very existence of external reality was tacitly denied by their philosophy. The heresy of heresies was common sense. George Orwell 1984 On the Thought Police.
Joined: Jul 2009
Current Posts: 43
the people. The state has no interest in educating the general population. Well-connected, well-resourced communities educate their children, not the state.
Joined: Jul 2006
Current Posts: 285
Mr. Wood I have followed your thread and will address your first paragraph since it seems to sum up what you are saying after reading your entire post. Let’s start with your premise that there are basically two reasons why kids drop out of school. Your first NY Times researched offering came to the conclusion that only two answers made sense. One was to ask the kids themselves why they drop out followed by people say they need them for field hands. There seems to be a disconnection between the answers that made sense to you and a much larger question that needs be answered; why do kids drop out.
I’m not an academic but have an intense desire to know why kids drop out of high school and so far your queries do not seem to address this problem. Perhaps one reason that the dropout stats are so high is because public funding of such things as shop classes for jobs that don’t exist has left the kids without hope?
Higher learning is great for those that achieve it but as for the high school grad forget it, your chances of getting a living wage ain’t no better than anyone else that hasn’t graduated, so what’s the point of graduating? Hell you can’t even find an apprentice job anymore beyond the 12% mark of the entire US labor force. It takes motivation to keep a kid in school and in America jobs in the factories was always an alternative if the motivation to stay in school was not in the individual. Maybe the closer answer is that the dropout rate has not gone higher but that there is a far greater unemployment rate for those that do drop out and those that did graduate just don’t get counted since there ain’t no jobs anymore anyway.
Joined: Oct 2007
Current Posts: 1069
Just so that everyone knows that war hater, aka David White, is in practice, an anti-semite. His words, matching his Marxist philosophy, are always in red. He has expressed blood libel on these pages not long ago. Weight his views by his dexpressed hatred of anyone Jewish.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
California Legislature Approves Gay Day in Public Schools
Democrats send AB 2567 to Governor Schwarzenegger (CCF)
Sacramento, California – Campaign for Children and Families (CCF), a leading California organization protecting parents’ rights and children’s innocence, condemns the passage of AB 2567, which will instruct all California public schools to “conduct suitable commemorative exercises” in support of the anti-religious, sexual-anarchy agenda of the late San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk.
Today, the California Assembly passed AB 2567 on a 43 to 26 vote, Democrats for, Republicans silently against. Earlier this week, AB 2567 passed the California State Senate on a 22-13 vote, Democrats for, Republicans against. AB 2567 now goes to Governor Schwarzenegger, whose position is unknown.
“If signed into law, AB 2567 will mean an official day commemorating homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexuality in California government schools,” said CCF President Randy Thomasson. “This will harm children as young as kindergarten. Every May 22, AB 2567 will positively portray to children homosexual experimentation, homosexual ‘marriages,’ sex-change operations, and anything else that’s ‘in the closet.’ Governor Schwarzenegger should say no to this very inappropriate bill, which has nothing to do with academic excellence.”
AB 2567 comes on the heels of last year’s school sexual indoctrination laws. When fully implemented, SB 777 and AB 394 will teach children in California government schools to support homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexuality via instructional materials, programs and activities, and school “safety” guidelines. In addition, the California State School Board this year implemented SB 71, requiring public schools that provide sex education to promote unmarried sexual activity with no restraints other than mutual consent.
“AB 2567 will further motivate parents to remove their children from the immoral public school system,” said Thomasson. “We’re encouraging parents to visit RescueYourChild.org to learn how to save their children while they still can. With public schools becoming sexual indoctrination centers, homeschooling and church schools are no longer parental options, they’re parental imperatives.”
According to the State Senate floor analysis, “This bill requires the Governor to proclaim May 22 as Harvey Milk Day…The designation of a day of significance triggers statutory encouragement for public schools to observe and conduct commemorative exercises suitable to the day.”
The text of AB 2567 states that “On Harvey Milk Day, exercises remembering the life of Harvey Milk and recognizing his accomplishments as well as the contributions he made to this state” should be conducted; specifically, “all public schools and educational institutions are encouraged to observe...and…conduct suitable commemorative exercises.” Under AB 2567, what will children in government schools be taught and how will children’s minds be “exercised?” The answer is whatever Harvey Milk believed or is said to have believed:
Religion is dangerous: “More people have been slaughtered in the name of religion than for any other single reason. That, my friends, that is true perversion.” (Harvey Milk, speaking at a homosexual rally in 1978. Source: http://thinkexist.com/quotes/harvey_milk/)
All doors of sexual experimentation must be opened: “If a bullet should go through my head let that bullet go through every closet door.” (Harvey Milk. Source: www.sacbee.com/111/story/1112044.html)
If you’ve ever had homosexual feelings, you must declare yourself gay or lesbian: “Milk believed strongly that coming out was the responsibility of every gay man and woman.” (Source: http://everything2.com/node/153707)
Gay and lesbian marriages are good and natural: “So much of the spirit represented with the Supreme Court's decision last week is the spirit of Harvey Milk and his legacy manifesting today in real change.” (San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom on the unveiling of a bust of Harvey Milk at city hall, May 28, 2008. Source: www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/22/BA3B10PV5C.DTL)
“This bad bill will teach impressionable schoolchildren the anti-religious, homosexual-bisexual-transsexual agenda of Harvey Milk,” said Thomasson. “The Democrats are so cocky, they have no qualms about pushing sexual indoctrination upon children in an election year. For the love of God, parents and their children, we implore Governor Schwarzenegger to veto AB 2567.”
-- end --
CAMPAIGN FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES (CCF) is a leading West Coast nonprofit, nonpartisan organization representing children and families. CCF stands for marriage and family, parental rights, the sanctity of human life, religious freedom, and back-to-basics education.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Your Tax Dollars Fund Planned Parenthood's Shocking New Web Site For Youth (www.LC.org)
Planned Parenthood, the billion dollar corporate abortion mill, has taken indecency to a whole new level and is using your taxpayer dollars to spread its harmful propaganda. A new Planned Parenthood promotional Web site, which targets youth and is called "Take Care Down There," features short "public service" video vignettes which, among other things, promote casual sex, immodesty, homosexuality and even group sex. For example, one video on this new Web site depicts what appears to be an African-American male teenager relegated to performing oral sex on a white male teenager while another white male (an adult authority figure in a suit) stands nearby giving instructions.
It is too shameful for a press release to print what one of the teenagers says on the Planned Parenthood video. Liberty Counsel is renewing its call for the defunding of Planned Parenthood because of this shocking Web site. Last year, Mat Staver signed a pro-family coalition letter calling for the defunding of Planned Parenthood, after revelations of the abortion group’s alleged systematic violation of Kansas state law came to light.
Senator Vitter (R-LA) and Representative Pence (R-IN) have both introduced legislation that would prevent abortion providers from receiving money from the federal government. During the 2006-2007 fiscal year, Planned Parenthood received a total of $336.7 million from government grants and contracts. In 2008, $300 million was given to family planning clinics, under the Title X program.
These funds were used to service over five million people, a third of which received "care" from a Planned Parenthood clinic. This new Planned Parenthood Web site has again raised the necessity to put an end to the federal government’s funding of Planned Parenthood. Hardworking Americans should not pay to support Planned Parenthood's profiteering sex agenda that encourages teenage sex on the one hand and then profits by aborting the consequences of such promiscuity on the other hand?
Planned Parenthood's Web site is offensive and, frankly, shocks the conscience. It is insane that we allow our tax dollars to fund such an irresponsible and destructive organization. We must stop funding Planned Parenthood and we must stop now! Here is how you can help in this effort to defund Planned Parenthood: Contact your Senator and Representative and ask them to support legislation that will stop the funding for Planned Parenthood.
Tell them that your tax dollars should not pay for a group that would promote casual sex among this Nation's youth with a Web site like www.takecaredownthere.org. You can always find the contact information for all the senators and representatives at www.LC.org. Look for the links in the center next to our "register to vote" icon.
Joined: Jul 2006
Current Posts: 3156
Hey Ohso....first of all answer a question: Do you read what others have posted?
Next.....Now either stick to the topic or go away.
Joined: Aug 2008
Current Posts: 7
Shays, thanks for the invitation to return. You too, stoney. But, no thanks. I was curious, but look at this. The quality of stuff here is awful. Warhater completely misunderstood the post - he thought all was summed up in the first paragraph, thought I was referencing a NY Times publication, and thought that I was proposing as a solution the two incompatible recommendations I cited.
Then ohso (aka Ron Prentice?) comes up with the trash in italics below. Warning, absolutely nothing that follows has even the remotest connection with public education.
"When you have no basis for an argument, abuse the plaintiff"
We weren't having an argument. You don't know what I think of your views. But, I oppose you.
It is also SOP (standard operating practice) for the types of Resident Harpies of the Radical Leftist / Gender Feminist / Homosex lobby ...
Am I a Resident Harpy of the Radical Leftist/Gender Feminist/Homosex lobby? Really, I didn't know that. But you could tell, couldn't you! Wow, you may not be a doctor, but you are apparently a mind reader! By the way, what kind of Harpy am I: the unpleasant woman, the winged monster, fruit bat or the crested eagle of tropical America? Maybe I'm the eagle, but I don't know. You do though, I'm sure!
... employed in order to Censor and Dump on any Threads / Authors they feel should be silenced
Well, on the issue of public education, you have silenced me. I was asking that you stay on topic and for respect for differences of opinions as well as the Author's (to use your German-like habit of Suggestively Capitalizing Certain Words to Obscure the Fact that you're saying Nothing) desire to try to accomplish something rather than just call people names.
The Harpy Censorship tactics used [include] pretending to be one of them (the 'Archie Bunker' ploy), ...
I'm ashamed to say that I did vote for a Democratic candidate for president once. It was James Carter and every time I have to admit my foolishness, I feel bad. But, then to you, that is proof of my masquerade. I have no intention whatsoever of pretending to be like you. I don't hate people that much - and don't like you at all!
... but the central goal remains to Avoid the Issue
Yeah. And what does Planned Parenthood's website that discusses teen sexual issues have to do with public education?
Recent posts here have shown some tired old variations of the "How Often Do You Beat Your Wife?" scam.
Are you married? Since you've brought it up twice now, I'm beginning to wonder if you do beat her. (Or are you the pretender - the closet queer? You imply that I might be an imposter but you know my name while you hide behind a pseudonym. And what a clever ploy - by pretending that what you are is a typical heterosexual man you could drive thousands of women into lesbianism!)
... as opposed to speaking to the Greater Truth about the original Topic.
If only you would just address the original topic. And "Greater Truth"? I would settle for relevance!
Another favorite of Harpies eeverywhere (sic) is the 'meds' scam, whereby they can avoid exposing their own ignorance in a 'debate' (and inability to come up with a rational reply on the Topic)
You won't permit a debate. I wasn't trying to reply to anything on topic. I was, rather, trying to point out your anger and hate as being inimical to debate. And in my lay opinion, I would guess that your blood pressure is high.
Personally, I always wonder how such quacks ...
Sarcasm, Ron. I don't think you get it. Everything I've seen from you has what could be a hint of sardonic humor, which is similar to sarcasm from the nasty side. But I don't think you intend it. You are just straightforwardly one of the most disagreeable, unpleasant personas I've encountered on the Internet.
As I've already indicated, this medium is hopeless for the discussion of any serious topic - because of people like you. So this post is not intended to add to the debate that hardly started with regard to public education. Rather, most of it is addressed to and is about you. You act like a schoolyard bully. You seem to think that if you're offensive enough people will believe you. I don't think that works. This medium permits you to be thoroughly unpleasant and unresponsive with anonymity. You accuse me of using ad hominem arguments, which you incorrectly define as "against the person" - the correct definition is "at the man or person". While this post is definitely ad hominem, it is not an ad hominem argument. You are a just nasty person. Having said that, please note that I haven't said a single thing about sex education, homosexual agendas, radical feminism or any other topic in your standard rants.
On the other hand, you would never resort to ad hominem arguments (like calling me a Resident Harpy of the Radical Leftist / Gender Feminist / Homosex lobby) to distract from the fact that you have little to say about public education, would you? For clarity, because you are a fanatic, the last sentence was sarcasm.
Shays, stoney - if you're still reading - it seems that this medium is best used for this kind of stuff. I know that ohso can be ignored. But ignoring it doesn't make the medium any better for debate. For instance, Shays I would still have seen your post about how you thought the Planned Parenthood website wasn't offensive. Then I would have had to open up ohso's fulmination to confirm that everybody is still off topic.
Don't believe that I am giving up on the issue. Public education in this country is too important. I just won't be back on this medium. It's worse than useless. It saps time and energy to no benefit. Good bye.
Joined: Jul 2006
Current Posts: 285
Ok I’ll bite, Mr. Wood. Let’s begin with your contention that warhater misread your intent of the NY Times article by some how mixing what they said with what you are saying and thereby drawing the wrong conclusion. I did not draw any conclusions until around the first five statements on your part such as the public school system needs to be buried because it is unfixable and that the K-12 system hasn’t worked in decades. Without going further in my bewilderment as to how my statements somehow are out of alignment in contending with your statements, let me say this: Where will the new charter system of schools get their teachers? That’s easy to answer they will get them from the formally underpaid and overworked teachers of the public school system; who else will be available to fill such a monstrous gap created by the abolishment of the public school system? I will be the first to admit having sent two children to the public school system only to take them out and send them to a private school that the system as is needs to be abolished in the sense that; with the present social order of how the students think in terms of their schools and the environment within their schools simply stinks. There is violence and drugs and all forms of debauchery that we dare not, even as parents think about but can only hope that the goodness of our child perseveres and that they come out as unscathed as possible to want to go to college. Having said that, would not the better alternative be to upgrade the public school system to renovate the crumbling public schools that exist or build new public schools that come up to charter school standards with more training and higher pay for teachers be a better way?
Free public schools are the only way to insure that every child has an education. Charter schools are just one more obstacle to hurdle that will end up eliminating children whose parents may not be responsible enough to go through the hurdle of government grants for public education guaranteed by the government that a charter school system would require, unless of course it isn’t a concern of yours that the government make any contribution towards the education of the poor and that they simple go up in smoke stoked by the iron of ignorance to become mindless robots in some institutional factory or prison setting.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
“Every school a homosexual-bisexual-transsexual indoctrination center” -
Arnold Schwarzenegger Signs Bills Forcing Schools to Promote Transsexuality, Bisexuality, and Homosexuality to Five Year Olds (Campaign for Children & Families - (www.SaveCalifornia.com)
Sacramento, California -- Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed into law two bills requiring all public school instruction and activities to positively portray transsexuality, bisexuality, and homosexuality to children as young as kindergarten. He has also signed bills undermining marriage and infringing upon the moral conscience of business owners, churches, and nonprofit organizations. Detailed analysis is posted here on SB 777, AB 394, AB 102 and AB 14.
Late Friday, Schwarzenegger signed SB 777 (transsexual, bisexual, homosexual indoctrination of schoolchildren by requiring changes to all instruction and activities) and AB 394 (transsexual, bisexual, homosexual indoctrination of students, parents, and teachers via “anti-harassment” training). Signing the bills was a switch for Schwarzenegger, who vetoed nearly the same bills last year, in the midst of his reelection campaign.
“Arnold Schwarzenegger has delivered young children into the hands of those who will introduce them to alternative sexual lifestyles,” said Randy Thomasson, president of Campaign for Children and Families (CCF), which helped lead the statewide charge against these bills. “This means children as young as five years old will be mentally molested in school classrooms.
Shame on Schwarzenegger and the Democrat politicians for ensuring that every California school becomes a homosexual-bisexual-transsexual indoctrination center.”
SB 777 prohibits any “instruction” or school-sponsored “activity” that “promotes a discriminatory bias” against “gender” (the bill’s definition includes cross-dressing and sex changes) and “sexual orientation” (the bill’s definition includes bisexuality). Because no textbook or instruction in California public schools currently disparages transsexuality, bisexuality, or homosexuality, the practical effect of SB 777 will be to require positive portrayals of these sexual lifestyles at every government-operated school. Otherwise, “discriminatory” schools will be subject to intimidation and lawsuits by the State Department of Education.
Under SB 777, which will go into effect on January 1, 2008, the following could be eliminated from California public schools because they are deemed to have a “discriminatory bias”:
• Textbooks and other instruction that portray marriage as only between a man and a woman
• Textbooks and other instruction that say people are born male or female (and not in between)
• Textbooks and other instruction that leave out transsexual, bisexual, and homosexual historical figures
• Sex education and school assemblies that omit the option of hormone injections or sex changes
• Homecoming king and queen contests that allow only boys to run for king and only girls to run for queen
• Boys’ and girls’ bathrooms that separate biological boys from biological girls
The second sexual indoctrination bill that Schwarzenegger signed, AB 394, will promote transsexuality, bisexuality, and homosexuality to students, parents, and teachers through school training programs against “harassment” and “discrimination.”
While SB 777 is about “instruction” and “activities” promoting various sexual lifestyles, AB 394 promotes these same lifestyles -- “gender” (transsexuality and sex changes) and “sexual orientation” (bisexuality and homosexuality) -- through publications, postings, curricula, and handouts to students, parents, and teachers. AB 394 would promote these lifestyles all under the guise of “safety.” Yet current safety and nondiscrimination laws are sufficient, making this bill unnecessary.
AB 394 infringes on free speech. For example, because AB 394 fails to define “harassment,” a parent who says marriage is only for a man and a woman in the presence of a lesbian teacher could be found guilty of “harassment.”
Similarly, a student who says you’re born either male or female could be reported as a “harasser” by a male teacher who wears women’s clothes.
In addition to signing the two school sexual indoctrination bills, Gov. Schwarzenegger signed AB 102, which awards married names to unmarried couples. AB 102 allows homosexual couples to hold themselves out as married by permitting them to choose the same surname upon registration of their “domestic partnership.” The bill awards unmarried couples married last names, such as “Mr. and Mr. Smith” and “Mrs. and Mrs. Jones.”
“Schwarzenegger and the Democrat politicians have created the public image of homosexual ‘marriages’ in California,” said Thomasson, in response to the signing of AB 102. “It’s hypocritical for Arnold Schwarzenegger to veto homosexual ‘marriage’ licenses and at the very same time aggressively promote the public image of gay and lesbian ‘marriages’ in every community for every child to see.”
In addition, Schwarzenegger signed AB 14, which requires more California businesses, as well as some churches and nonprofit organizations, to support and promote transsexuality, bisexuality, and homosexuality.
AB 14 prohibits state funding for any program that does not support transsexuality, bisexuality, or homosexuality. This means state-funded social services operated by churches and other houses of faith, which provide essential services to children and adults, could dry up.
Negatively impacted will be religious-based day care, pre-school and after-school programs, food and housing programs, senior services, anti-gang efforts, job programs, and more. Throughout California, there are faith-based services that receive government funding that simply do not and will not accept transsexuality, bisexuality, and homosexuality.
Infringing on matters of personal and religious conscience, AB 14 also forces every hospital in California -- even private, religious hospitals -- to adopt policies in support of transsexuality, bisexuality, and homosexuality. Under AB 14, private country clubs, tennis clubs and racquet clubs will be forced to support these sexual lifestyles on their premises. AB 14 also opens up nonprofit organizations to lawsuits if they exclude members that engage in homosexual, bisexual, or transsexual conduct. This certainly threatens the Boy Scouts, which is a membership organization as well as a nonreligious nonprofit.
“It’s the height of intolerance to punish individuals, organizations, businesses, and churches that have moral standards on sexual conduct and sexual lifestyles,” said Thomasson, in response to the signing of AB 14. “This is another insensitive law that violates people’s moral boundaries.”
“Arnold Schwarzenegger demonstrates the negative consequences of electing a liberal Republican to office,” Thomasson concluded. “Schwarzenegger fooled many California conservatives into voting for him. Yet now he’s flip-flopped and stabbed them in the back.”
Producers: CLICK HERE to see a video documentary from Massachusetts, which demonstrates what implementation of SB 777 and AB 394 will look like in California schools.
-- end --
CAMPAIGN FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES (CCF) is a leading nonprofit, nonpartisan organization representing children and families in California and America. CCF stands for marriage and family, parental rights, the sanctity of human life, religious freedom, financial freedom, and back-to-basics education.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
"INDOCTRINATE - U" http://indoctrinate-u.com
Indoctrinate U got a glowing mention on "The View" recently when Elisabeth Hasselbeck called the film "a great documentary" and recommended that viewers see it. More, including a YouTube clip of the segment, can be found here:
http://indoctrinate-u.com/pages/welcome.html#the-view
ou can get the film here: http://store.indoctrinate-u.com/
This is only the latest in a long string of positive coverage of Indoctrinate U. With this momentum, along with the increased attention that will come with the start of the new school year in just a few weeks, we're pretty excited about the possibilities.
The media is paying attention, and some big names in Hollywood are beginning to notice (more below). The Moving Picture Institute, which provided funding for Indoctrinate U and has also organized campus screenings around the country, touched on this recently in a post to its website: http://www.thempi.org/pov/2008/07/a_short_history_of_indoctrinat.shtml
Here are some highlights:
On March 19, 2007, [director Evan Coyne] Maloney appeared on the Fox
News Channel's Hannity's America, where he showed clips from
Indoctrinate U and launched a grassroots effort to promote the film. A
dedicated website, Indoctrinate-U.com, went live the day of Maloney's
Fox appearance; it featured the trailer, advance reviews, and
information about upcoming events. Its most innovative feature, however,
was a system for allowing visitors to sign up for screenings in their
area, along with a map to track sign-ups by geographical location (our
sign-up system has since drawn the praise of The Economist, National
Review Online, and others who recognize its power to circumvent the
closed world of Hollywood).
Throughout the spring and summer of 2007, Maloney did dozens of
interviews on syndicated talk radio. He also made numerous television
appearances on shows spanning the political spectrum, appearing as a
guest on CNN's Glenn Beck Show, CNN Headline News, and the Fox News
Channel's Your World with Neil Cavuto. Meanwhile, newspapers and
magazines across the country regularly featured Indoctrinate U. The
Washington Times ran a detailed story on the film, highlighting MPI's
role in ensuring that it got made and promoted.
Noting that "it takes a movie to bring across the amazing, campus-wide power of even a single
expertly conducted case of P.C. intimidation," National Review Online
said that the film has "real power." A glowing review in the Weekly
Standard attracted a link from the Drudge Report, one of the Internet's
most highly trafficked news sites. The New York Post ran an extended
interview with Maloney--and the New York Times published a review that
generated vigorous debate about free speech on campus.
[...]
On Friday, September 28, Indoctrinate U screened at Washington, D.C.'s
prestigious John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The marquee
event at the American Film Renaissance Film Festival, the screening,
which MPI co-hosted with the American Council of Trustees and Alumni,
was a spectacular success. A sold-out crowd of 500 awarded director Evan
Coyne Maloney a standing ovation. Cable outlet Home Box Office (HBO)
attended the premiere to interview filmmakers and members of the
audience for a documentary on the assault on the First Amendment.
[...]
These reactions tally with those of seasoned Hollywood veterans. At an
October 13 event at the home of Patricia Heaton (Everybody Loves
Raymond) and David Hunt (24), the film was celebrated and distributed to
200 industry insiders. Glowing reviews followed from Heaton, Kelsey
Grammer (Frasier), Gary Sinise (Forrest Gump, CSI: NY), Jon Voight
(Midnight Cowboy, Mission Impossible), and David Zucker (Scary Movie,
Airplane, The Naked Gun).
Indoctrinate U's impact has been felt in academe as well as Hollywood.
Prominent professors such as Stanley Fish have grudgingly acknowledged
Indoctrinate U's timeliness and power. "Academics often bridle at the
picture of their activities presented by Maloney and other conservative
critics, and accuse them of grossly caricaturing and exaggerating what
goes on in the classroom," Fish wrote in an October posting at his
highly trafficked New York Times blog. "Maybe so, but so long as there
are those who confuse advocacy with teaching, and so long as faculty
colleagues and university administrators look the other way, the academy
invites the criticism it receives in this documentary."
[...]
On January 29, Indoctrinate U kicked off its campus tour with a hugely
successful screening at Duke University. Coordinated by campus groups
from across the political spectrum, the highlight of the night was a
sparkling discussion session with Maloney and Halvorssen that
exemplified the ideal of free exchange that is so vital to the
intellectual life of universities. "We promoted the event," the
organizers reported, "with an attempt to attract a diverse audience,
ethnically, ideologically, and intellectually. We encouraged attendees
to prepare to ask tough, penetrating questions during the Q&A. Evan and
Thor were fantastic!"
Since then, Indoctrinate U has screened at twenty-seven college and
university campuses around the nation.
[...]
Wherever Indoctrinate U plays, students rave about it. "The Indoctrinate
U screening was a great success!" enthused a student at the College of
St. Benedict and St. John's University. "I was pleasantly surprised at
how funny people thought it was--people were laughing throughout the
entire film." An East Tennessee State student agreed. "It was great to
have the film at our school, and those in attendance will definitely be
looking at their experiences on campus differently in the future," he
said. "It was refreshing to realize that there are people out there who
realize that exposing the double standard in campus 'diversity' doesn't
make you a racist, a white supremacist, a neo-Nazi," wrote a Cornell
student. "I can't tell you how many times I have been called a racist on
this campus for talking about the same sorts of biased campus policies
that appear in your film. Your film was a rare opportunity for
validation."
Meanwhile, public and private screenings continue. On April 14, MPI and
the Manhattan Institute teamed up to co-host the New York premiere of
Indoctrinate U. Held at the 500-seat Directors Guild of America Theater,
the premiere thrilled the hundreds who turned out to see it. "The only
thing that can be more gratifying to a filmmaker than having a packed
house is having the house packed with a lively audience that responds
enthusiastically," Maloney said afterward. "It was truly a special
night." In the wake of the New York premiere, Maloney appeared on the
Fox News channel to discuss the intrusion of politics into the higher
education curriculum. In addition, John McWhorter, a former UC Berkeley
professor who is now a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute,
published a hard-hitting op-ed in the New York Sun. "[A] sense of the
politics of the nation as intellectually unassailable is so unquestioned
in campus culture that it becomes easy to forget the rest of the country
thinks differently," McWhorter wrote. "Hopefully the film will bolster
efforts to bring faculty representing a wider spectrum of views to
college campuses."
As this brief summary shows, Indoctrinate U is having a profound impact
on debates about free speech, individual rights, and ideological
one-sidedness on our college and university campuses.
By revitalizing a
conversation that had stagnated beneath reams of print --and
particularly by moving that conversation into the arena of
film--Indoctrinate U is motivating a new generation to embrace and
defend the fundamental principles of academic freedom, free expression,
and unfettered intellectual inquiry that are vital to the future of our
nation.
Now available in DVD and as a digital download, Indoctrinate U
will continue to raise awareness and trigger vital debate for the
foreseeable future.
Joined: Jul 2005
Current Posts: 1715
The alternative, of course, to liberal arts universities are those that teach the Classics, offer MBA programs and house safe colleges of engineering. Science departments might be allowed ... but only if physics and chemistry are taught (no historical sciences). All other departments must follow rigid, scripted courses of study, lest children be encouraged to think on their own, or question the curriculum they are being taught.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
TEACHERS’ UNION SPENDING $50 MILLION TO ELECT OBAMA (IVA)
A pro-family advocate is questioning the National Education Association's endorsement of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. The National Education Association (NEA) has endorsed Senator Barack Obama's presidential bid and plans to spend $50 million to target swing states.
The NEA also says they will micro-manage members and send sophisticated electronic individualized messaging to members. However, Bryan Fischer of the Idaho Values Alliance (IVA) thinks the money would be better spent on educating children. "I think most parents would think if the NEA has $50 million to throw around, why don't they invest it in the classrooms where our children are being taught?" Fischer contends.
That $50 million will come from membership dues, but Fischer says if members do not support this effort, they can look for alternative teacher associations. "I know here in Idaho, teachers have access to the Northwest Professional Educators Association, which is devoted to liability protection for teachers [and] academic improvement, and has made a deliberate decision that none of the association's fees or dues will be used for political causes or agendas," Fischer adds.
The NEA expects to reach 5.2 million voters in their campaign and deliver "80 percent of those votes for Senator Obama." NEA invests big bucks in Obama's campaign (OneNewsNow.com)
Joined: Sep 2006
Current Posts: 1158
Demographics and Education
Homework, Por Favor
A basic strategy for Hispanic-student science success. In English.
By Heather Mac Donald
Unless the educational achievement of non-Asian minorities in the U.S. improves, America’s imminent demographic changes do not bode particularly well for its technological competitiveness. By 2023, the majority of youth under 18 will be non-white, and the greatest portion of non-whites will be Hispanic. The number of college-aged Latinos is expected to nearly triple, from 3 million today to 8 million by 2040, but the number of Hispanics actually enrolled in college will just double — to 2 million. Once in college, few of those students will graduate with a science or engineering degree. In 2006, only 7 percent of bachelors degrees in science, math, and technology were awarded to Hispanics, and the trends are not promising. In 2007, the math SAT scores of Hispanic students in California, home to the largest proportion of Hispanics in the country, dropped to 450, while rising for whites and Asians to 549 and 564, respectively.
Here’s a suggestion to college presidents and their vast retinue of bureaucratic non-entities: If you want to preserve America’s scientific edge, shut down your school’s MEChA student chapters, your Latino-freshmen orientations, and your Chicano-studies majors. Participation in “diversity functions,” it turns out, torpedoes the grades of Hispanic science majors. Hispanic science students who spend time hanging out at Aztlan-empowerment clubs and the like have significantly lower grades than Hispanic science students who stay away from the multicultural ghetto. What improves Hispanic college students’ science GPAs? Make sure you’re sitting down: doing homework.
Such are the findings of a study published in the July/August Journal of College Student Development, proving that there is no piece of common sense too self-evident not to startle our pedagogical elites. The study examines the factors that affect the performance of Hispanic science majors. Its authors, a professor and graduate student at the University of Southern California’s education school, are clearly not happy with the results.
Darnell Cole and Araceli Espinoza sneer at the university as reflecting “white male, middle class perspectives.” Yet it turns out that those “white male, middle class perspectives” — things like persistence, discipline, and focus — are just what is needed to succeed in the sciences. Many minority students who quit science and math majors do so because of the disconnect between the values of their majors and those of their ethnic peers. Huddling with your co-ethnics at the La Raza or Afro-Am weekly mixer is “believed to marginalize [minority] students from the customary values of their disciplines,” report the researchers. Even studying with another student hurts Hispanics’ science performance, perhaps because the two students reinforce rather than counter their peer group’s values.
The study whacks down ed-school nostrum after ed-school nostrum. Does negative feedback from a professor impair student achievement? In ed-school land, this self-esteem killer is a total no-no. Turns out that negative feedback did not “significantly impact students’ performance.” What about selecting students for college based on their academic performance in high school? Open-admissions wisdom holds that blacks and Hispanics’ high-school performance should have little bearing on where they end up in college. Not surprisingly, Cole and Espinoza found that Hispanics’ high school GPA strongly predicts their success in science majors. Naturally, the authors advise policy-makers to disregard this finding and continue admitting Hispanic students to colleges with little reference to their academic record.
Cole and Espinoza trot out other ed-school bromides about the “hostile learning environment” and “encounters with discrimination.” These hoary conceits remain as hilarious as ever. Nearly all the “underrepresented minorities” in these “hostile learning environments” have been admitted by administrators and faculty members, who, far from hostile, are desperate to get their minority numbers up no matter the sacrifice in standards.
Dismayingly, the Cole and Espinoza findings on the negative effect of “diversity” activities are not new. Previous studies have shown that ethnic clustering can jeopardize the academic performance of non-Asian minorities. And yet such findings have been well-buried and have had absolutely no effect on academia’s race and ethnicity obsession.
It may be that America can continue to rely on its Asian and Caucasian students to retain its scientific edge. A wiser policy, however, would be to shut down every last Cesar Chavez theme house and turn it into mandated study hall. Cracking the books is the only sure way anyone has ever figured out to improve student performance, no matter whether you are blue, purple, or green. The sooner we can get that message out, the safer America’s technological future will be.
— Heather Mac Donald is a contributing editor at City Journal and the co-author of The Immigration Solution.
(see poll http://forums.contracostatimes.com/poll/what-should-we-do-with-immigrati... )
Feinstein, Boxer, Pelosi, McCain, Obama -
Diversity at Any Cost!
RealAmerica
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Homeschool Legal Defense - Michael Farris Offers Free Lectures in Orange County this Weekend (CRI)
The founder of the Home School Legal Defense Association, Michael Farris, will be in Santa Ana this Friday and Saturday to lecture at Trinity Law School. Farris was instrumental in saving homeschooling here in California during the legal battle earlier this year.
Dr. Farris will be addressing the legal trends which threaten parental rights, along with answers to the following questions: Are parental rights procedural or substantive? Do we need a Parental Rights Amendment? What threats are posed by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child? Is homeschooling a right or an evasive privilege?
Friday's lectures will be from 7 to 9 p.m.; Saturday's lectures will be from 10 a.m. to 12 noon. Students as well as the general public are welcome. There is no fee.
Click here to RSVP online Or contact Doug Eaton at (800) 922-4748 or deaton@tiu.edu
Join HSLDA and their Parental Rights campaig n by signing the petition to support parental rights: https://www.parentalrights.org/petition
Joined: Sep 2008
Current Posts: 1
OH! make yourself creative with letters.
High impact grants is an upcoming grant writing trainig, grant writing worksops and grant writing seminars provider for technical and informtioal writing. Highimpactgrants is an educational organization for grant writers. learn how to use personal stories rather than relying only on statstics. grant writing workshops are especially effective with scientific or technical researchers, since our workshops have customized learning modules that were designed with your research proposals in mind.We show participants how to describe the impact of your program rather than just the program activities, or the outcomes from these activities.
Please comment
for more
http://highimpactgratns.org/
Joined: Jul 2008
Current Posts: 775
Too bad here we had a legitimate, intelligent voice for a conservative issue and some of the radical right wingnuts chased them away. It is an important issue and it would be nice if we could have discussions about this topic and without having to see the ravings of various lunatic fringe elements.
Unfortunately the world is not a very civilized place, if you understand history you know that there have always been Ohsos and Claytons who try to bully or intimidate others into joining them in their bizarre beliefs. These are the people who are supporting the false political advertisements of the National Rifle and Killing Society, these are the people who supported the propaganda sent out by the so called Swift Boat Propagandists, and these are the people who helped elect a President who can not even lead his party when we have a true national crises but who can lie to start a war.
So rather than abandon these forums to the lunatic fringe radical right wing, I do hope that everyone who can read and write and offer rational discussion will stay here in order to advise any who might wander here of the obstacle course they will have to run to find the truth about anything.
Joined: Jul 2005
Current Posts: 1715
Unfortunately, the person who started this thread has decided that the presence of Ohso and Clayton made discussion impossible. The ironic thing is that, at least in principle, the three of them sort of agree. Mr. Wood took the time to write to me privately, explaining that while he did not agree with some of the things I said, the two of us might have had a useful exchange had not the jerks and lightweights not interfered. Such is the way of life, I am afraid. Mr. Wood is long gone.
Joined: Jul 2006
Current Posts: 285
My Internet skills are woefully lacking and I would like to know how you and Mr. Wood were able to correspond via email since I do not recall ever seeing you or Mr. Wood’s email address.
Joined: Sep 2008
Current Posts: 161
Under the persons graphic it says contact. Click on that and fill out the information.
Joined: Jul 2005
Current Posts: 1715
Each user has to permit others on this board to contact them. In your account, you can edit your personal information. Scroll down a ways, and there is a box to check that enables others to see your contact information in your account (actually, they don't really see it, all they see is a hyper-link with the label "contact"). To access that, you simply have to select the person's hyperlink that is included with every message. I cannot send this to you privately, because you have not yet selected that option. Let me give you a head's up, though. No one has abused that ability (yet), but I can see how it might be done. Don't make your private email accessible unless you are willing to take that chance. There may be a way to block people from having that access, but I'm not sure.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signs bad bills attacking the sanctity of human life, undermining religious freedom, and and promoting homosexuality, bisexuality and transsexuality above everyone else (CCF)
Yes, he vetoed "Gay Day" and purported to stop open communists from becoming school teachers. These were victories pro-family citizens pressured Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to give us. But remember how much damage he did last year by signing the school sexual indoctrination bills?
The reality is, California government schools are still liberal, dumbed-down sexual indoctrination centers, thanks to Schwarzenegger, former Gov. Gray Davis, and the multi-year reign of Democrat legislators.
The only changes to the law is what's signed into law. That's why it'ss appalling that Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a raft of anti-family bills as the Sept. 30 deadline came and went...
The anti-family bills that will be the law come January.
Because the bills got to Schwarzenegger and because of his socially liberal values, come January there will be more bad laws to live under in California. Among them are:
*
Nurse-assisted suicide (AB 2747)
*
Mandating that nurses support homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexuality (SB 1729)
*
Making foster parents teach homosexual-bisexual-transsexual "rights" to foster kids (AB 3015)
*
Elevating homosexual, bisexual, and transsexual "rights" above everyone else's rights (AB 2654)
What can you do?
Please visit www.savecalifornia.com to read more about the impact of these bad bills. We have special information just for you at www.savecalifornia.com -
Determine to rescue your children and grandchildren from the sexual indoctrination already in the government schools due to the bills Schwarzenegger signed last year. Visit ( www.RescueYourChild.org )
I never voted for these Democrat politicians or for a liberal Republican named Arnold Schwarzenegger. Did you? I challenge you to commit to vote for moral values this election. Please begin by viewing CCF's Presidential Report Card.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
George Orwell's Book 'Animal Farm' describes the Thought Police tactic of culling out the Young and Indoctrinating them Separate from Family and Soceity - the better to ensure the 'purity' of their ideology, and the willingness to trash said parents and soceity as well of course.
Ohso
Not merely the validity of experience but the very existence of external reality was tacitly denied by their philosophy. The heresy of heresies was common sense. George Orwell 1984 On the Thought Police.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Books Out (www/FRC.org)
During this week's "Banned Books Week," not everyone is celebrating the freedom to read. Since 1982, the American Library Association (ALA) has used the last week of September to highlight America's diversity of worldviews. Now Focus on the Family is working to ensure that this "diversity" includes social conservatism.
At a Fairfax, Virginia rally yesterday, dozens of students wore shirts that said, "Closing Books Shuts out Ideas" to bring attention to the censorship taking place in public schools.
As part of the initiative, students tried to donate several books to local libraries, including several titles that would bring greater balance to the homosexual debate.
As the Washington Post reports, a majority of the books were denied on the grounds that they didn't meet the schools' standards. School official Susan Thornily said the books' message offended a minority group, making it unacceptable for young readers. As Focus spokesman Candi Cushman said, "True tolerance isn't promoting censorship; it's trying to fight it."
Additional Resources
Washington Post: Conservative Group Urges Libraries to Accept Collection
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Alternative Teachers Union Voices Concerns (www.capitolresource.org)
This election season, the California Teachers Association (CTA) will spend millions of their members' mandatory dues supporting radical liberal candidates and issues. But there is an alternative for teachers: the California Teachers Empowerment Network (CTEN). This non-profit organization offers a balanced perspective on education that is lacking in the current union-dominated school system.
In radio ads airing in the Sacramento area, CTEN president Larry Sand explains that the CTA doesn't represent the values of so many teachers.
As an example, he references the CTA's support of SB 1322, the bill that would have allowed communists to teach in public schools and their $250,000 donation to No on Proposition 8.
If you are tired to participating in a teachers union that subverts your values, please visit CTEN's web site and learn how you can support an organization that supports you: http://www.ctenhome.org/
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Kindergarten Cop-rophile:
All I Need to Know about Tolerance, I Learned in Kindergarten (www.FRC.org)
"We're learning to be allies." That's how one California mom discovered that something was terribly wrong at her kindergartner's school. Together with other five-year-olds, her daughter has spent the entire week learning what it means to be "tolerant."
This morning, without notifying a single parent, Faith Ringgold School of Art and Science kicked off "Coming Out Day" as part of "Gay and Lesbian History Month." When parents called the school to complain, an office worker directed them to contact Hayward Unified School District. Despite several attempts, the District never answered its phone. Only from hallway posters did parents learn that the elementary school is hosting a "TransAction Gender-Bender Read-Aloud" next month.
In California and Massachusetts, where same-sex "marriage" is infecting the public school curriculum, parents are sounding the alarm. Stories like this one used to be isolated to the liberal pockets of San Francisco. Today, these extremists are moving through our schools with surprising ease, targeting younger and younger students as they go.
Opponents of Proposition 8 continue to argue that gay "marriage" won't affect our children. In a new ad funded by "No on Prop 8," California State Superintendent Jack O'Connell insists that "Proposition 8 has nothing to do with schools or kids." Either O'Connell is oblivious to what's happening in his own schools (one of which hauled off first graders to a lesbian wedding), or he is simply denying it to satisfy the agenda of the state's largest teachers' union.
Whatever his motive is, the pressure to pass Proposition 8 is mounting. Our sources on the ground in California say that Hollywood is making a powerful, last-minute push, bringing in several million dollars to launch its biggest ad buy yet. Make no mistake. The marriage amendment is the single most important issue on the ballot this election. A loss in California would be devastating to families and schoolchildren in every state. Please do what you can to help our allies on the West Coast. Log on to www.protectmarriage.org today.
Additional Resources
World Net Daily: School holds surprise 'Gay' Day for kindergartners
AP: Hollywood comes out in support of gay marriage
www.ProtectMarriage.com
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Yes on 8 Campaign Slams New No Ad with Jack OConnell
O’Connell’s New Ad is only 96% a Lie
October 23, 2008
Contact: Chip White, 916-446-2956
Sacramento—Oct. 23—The ProtectMarriage.com—Yes on 8 campaign today criticized the "No on 8" campaign’s new television ad, released yesterday, which features California Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell.
The ad raises a new standard for using a small, cleverly worded kernel of truth to foster the Big Lie.
Specifically, the discussed whether schools are "required" to teach anything about marriage, and states that they are not.
By this logic, presumably, they would argue that no one in California is required to have a drivers’ license, only the people who want to drive cars are.
The real fact, as stated clearly in the "Yes on 8" ads, are that, whether it is technically "required" or not, that virtually all schools in California do teach marriage now, and if gay marriage is legal, they will be REQUIRED to teach about gay marriage as well, because that will be the definition of marriage.
"O’Connell’s cleverly worded denials try to trick voters into thinking schools do not teach about marriage," said Chip White, press secretary for Yes on 8. "But for the 96% of public schools that teach sex education, state law requires them to teach about marriage."
The California Department of Education’s own website says that 96 % of public schools provide instruction under the Comprehensive Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS Prevention Act (Educ. Code Sec. 51930, et seq.) and every school that provides instruction under that Act must provide instruction and materials that teach about marriage. Additionally, the Department of Education’s own checklist for instruction under the Act confirms that instruction about marriage is required for the school district to be in compliance with state law.
"There is no foundation for O’Connell’s untruthful statements that nothing in California law requires teaching about marriage," said Andrew Pugno, general counsel for Yes on 8. "The voters deserve to hear the truth. While O’Connell may personally favor gay marriage, as a public official it is his obligation to tell the truth about California’s education laws."
The Yes on 8 campaign sent a letter to O’Connell yesterday demanding that he retract his misstatements. The letter, which is attached, identifies Education Code sections that demonstrate public schools do teach about marriage, at a rate of 96%.
"Perhaps if O’Connell spent less time making false statements in TV ads," said White, "he’d have more time to read his own website."
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
The madness continues. (www.MassResistance.org)
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) is giving full support to the homosexual / transgender movement in Massachusetts schools, DPH Commissioner John Auerbach (who is "married" to another man) told the taxpayer-funded Commission on Gay, Lesbian, Transgender, and Bisexual Youth at their meeting on Dec. 15 at New Mission High School in Roxbury. We were there, too...
The DPH has given $150,000 of its budgeted money to the Massachusetts Commission on Gay Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (GLBT) Youth to make up for the $150,000 which the Governor cut from the Commission's $850,000 budget in October because of the massive budget crisis in Massachusetts. In other words, money which was meant for public health is now being diverted by the DPH to homosexual programs in the schools.
The Mass. Dept. of Public Health will also begin pushing acceptance of "transgenderism" and will even begin bringing transgender people into its leadership roles. (Ironically, less than a month ago the DPH issued a report linking homosexuality with health problems and destructive behavior.)
This was all revealed at the public meeting of the Mass. GLBT Commission last Monday evening, Dec. 15. The meeting was held at the New Mission High School in Roxbury, a building which includes grades K-12. (As we've reported in the past, this public Commission on GLBT Youth is made up of some of the most radical homosexual and transgender activists in the state, and uses hundreds of thousands of dollars of public money to push aggressive homosexual clubs and programs into the public schools, grades K-12. The Roxbury school has a robust gay-straight-alliance club run by a very aggressive homosexual activist.)
Homosexual leadership team: Running the meeting at New Mission High school (from left) Gunner Scott (a woman with a beard and sideburns) Grace Sterling Stowell (a man in a dress), Arthur Lipkin, and Jason Smith...
Auerbach described the intricacies of state budget "earmarks" and explained why they should not automatically be considered bad. He then spoke vaguely about desiring to insulate the GLBT Commission from budget cuts.
Auerbach said that the DPH is funded on a line item basis. Most state agencies have only have a few line items but DPH has about 50. It's illegal to shift money to fund other things. But he said "we get creative."
The GLBT Youth Commission's budget chairman acknowledged that $150K was scheduled to be cut from the Youth Commission's budget. Luckily, it "was covered by" Commissioner Auerbach. Additionally, the budget chairman recommended that the GLBT Youth Commission follow the example of the Commission on the Status of Women in using the trust fund money...
Transgenderism and the DPH
Commissioner Auerbach replied that he wants to advance "transgender health" while they have the opportunity. He applauded the commission's attention to trans health and said "We will listen to your recommendations."
Gunner Scott (a woman GLBT Commissioner with a beard and sideburns) stated that she wants the DPH to consider trans people for leadership roles within DPH. Auerbach agreed. He said there must be specific policies and practices for recruiting transgender leaders and role models in the DPH. They'll need to ensure proper advertising, and ensure that their human resources people send the right message. He said it would require training.
Gunner added that she wants the terms "gender identification" and "gender expression" used in the DPH policies. Auerbach agreed, and said they'll make sure that this happens.
The nearly 50-member Commission on Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth is made up almost entirely by middle-aged and older adults.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Happy Schools Indoctrinate SSAD (same sex attraction disorder) Kids. Ohso.
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Milwaukee OKs 'gay'-affirming school
Pete Chagnon - OneNewsNow - 1/6/2009
An Illinois family advocate says she's stunned by the approval of what she believes is the first homosexual-affirming middle school in the U.S.
The proposal for the Alliance School was approved unanimously by the Milwaukee Board of Education in late 2008. The school will serve Milwaukee's six-, seventh- and eighth-graders. Laurie Higgins is with the Illinois Family Institute (IFI), which recently fought a similar proposal for a homosexual high school in Chicago.
"The way that [the Milwaukee proposal] was approved was by default -- there was no vote taken," Higgins explains. "[And] because there was no vote taken, there was no opposition; there was no request that it be tabled for further discussion. It just passed...."
The IFI spokeswoman shares another disturbing aspect of what happened in Mil Town. "...I'm stunned that the religious leaders, the Christian pastors in Milwaukee, did not rise up in righteous indignation against this school," she laments. "That is what I find perhaps equally [as] troubling, if not more so."
Higgins also questions the use of public money in the affirmation of homosexuality to minors.
"I think it's unconscionable to be affirming this in public schools," she states. "This is not an issue for public schools. And kids at 11- and 12- and 13- and 14-[years-of-age] are confused on many issues -- sexuality [being] one of them."
Regina Griggs, executive director of the group Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX), agrees with Higgins. Griggs believes middle school children should not be dealing with the issue of homosexuality.
"To affirm an 11-year-old? Please," exclaims Griggs. "They haven't even gone through puberty, but they know that they want to have sex with other men and women? I'm sorry, but it's ridiculous."
Higgins and Griggs encourage individuals to oppose such developments "vociferously" before they begin spreading to other communities.
Opponents of the homosexual high school in Chicago included homosexuals who likened the school to segregation. Others questioned the need for a special school because they believe most public schools are already "gay-affirming."
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Mass exodus from public schools
Pete Chagnon - OneNewsNow - 1/2/2009
Critics of America's public school system have launched a new effort highlighting the need for Christians to exit the system.
The initiative -- dubbed The Call to Dunkirk (video link) -- was launched by Dr. Bruce Shortt, author of The Harsh Truth About Public Schools; Rev. Voddie Baucham, author of Family Driven Faith: Doing What It Takes to Raise Sons and Daughters Who Walk with God; and the founder and director of the Exodus Mandate Project, retired U.S. Army Chaplain Lt. Col. E. Ray Moore.
Moore explains the proposal. "The Call to Dunkirk is a special emergency effort to try to get other ministries, churches, pastors, and the major Christian right and pro-family movement to join with us and the other K-12 home-school ministries in rescuing the children from the public schools during the year 2009," he says.
Although Christians have fought other aspects of the culture war such as homosexual "marriage," Moore contends they are losing the fight when it comes to the education of their children.
E Ray Moore
"The real target of the liberals and the left has always been the children. And we can see in California where the conservatives won Proposition 8 -- the vote [was] 52 to 48 [percent] -- but...when Proposition 22 was voted on [in March 2000], they had a 61-percent margin of victory. So the culture is turning against Christianity and against the pro-family movement primarily because we've allowed our children to be educated in their schools," he adds. "They're converting our children; we're not converting them."
The Call to Dunkirk gets its name from the historical WWII event when the Allied forces of England and France were run out of Europe, but ordinary citizens rallied to their aid and used their own boats to help more than 300,000 soldiers escape safely in order to return again on D-Day.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
School squelches freedom of speech for Inauguration Day
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/20/2009
An Ohio school district may be violating the constitutional rights of its students.
Mason, Ohio, school officials sent an email to parents in advance of the presidential inauguration saying, "Inappropriate comments that may make other students, staff or families feel unwelcome or uncomfortable in school or on the bus will not be tolerated." The story by DaytonDailyNews.com featured examples of negative comments and actions made about the Obama administration after he was elected.
The school's superintendent Kevin Bright added that even in a competitive election process, "our nation's greatness is displayed when all sides come together for a united country." However, Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel believes there is more behind the correspondence.
Staver tells OneNewsNow the Supreme Court decided the Tinker v. Des Moines case in 1969, which was designed to stop anti-Vietnam war activism. "They said we live in a robust society and the First Amendment means what it says," he notes, "and that means that it can allow people to speak and have their viewpoints -- even if you disagree."
School officials need to become more aware of the Constitution, says the attorney. "This school is clearly violating the First Amendment and the intent of the founders with regards to trying to force these school students into a particular pro-Obama mold," he contends.
Staver suggests that any student who is disciplined for having a different view should contact Liberty Counsel. "We should not allow these school administrators to force their particular left[ist] agenda onto these students who have different viewpoints and have conservative values," he adds.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Christian teachers - It's time for us to fly
Peter Heck - Guest www.onenewsnow.com - 7/20/2009
It was indeed a heartwarming moment. With teachers, representatives, and affiliates to the National Education Association's annual convention gathered around, the NEA's retiring General Counsel Bob Chanin took to the stage to deliver his outgoing remarks. His inspiring and uplifting message asserted the profound commitment held by the NEA to the betterment of American society: "We are not paranoid, someone really is after us. Why are these conservative and right-wing b****rds picking on NEA and its affiliates? I will tell you why: it is the price we pay for success."
As one of those right-wing "fatherless lads" Mr. Chanin was referring to, I found myself moved at how open-minded and inclusive his speech sounded. But more than that, Chanin did a masterful job of demonstrating what the true priorities of the NEA are when he stated that what makes the group effective is, "not because of our creative ideas, it is not because of the merit of our positions, it is not because we care about children, and it is not because we have a vision of a great public school for every child. NEA and its affiliates are effective advocates because we have power."
Now there's a relief. Perhaps the NEA should put that quote on its promotional fliers? After all, who would want the largest association representing teachers in the country to be basing its effectiveness on its ability to improve the lives of children?! Thankfully, the leadership of the NEA has sought a pursuit of raw political power instead. And why are they so successful in this pursuit? Mr. Chanin explains, "And we have power because there are more than 3.2 million people who are willing to pay us hundreds of millions of dollars in dues each year." Keep in mind that many of those 3.2 million are faithful Christian teachers who seem to turn Mr. Chanin's stomach.
Not that any of this should come as a surprise. In 1996, the NEA issued a handbook on dealing with the "radical right's crusade against public schools." The handbook states: "They won't go away. No matter how bizarre we believe their beliefs to be, no matter how illogical and inconsistent their goals appear, and no matter how often we reassure ourselves that 'this too, shall pass,' the political, social, and religious forces that make up the radical right in contemporary American society will not go away." For teachers who hold to traditional moral values, we're just to look the other way and continue sending our money.
Sadly, the pathetic reality of the current state of affairs in the National Education Association gets worse. At this same convention in San Diego, the NEA voted to throw their full support behind homosexual "marriage" by committing to use its resources and political muscle to take down any legislation that hinders the homosexual movement.
Also, the NEA voted down a resolution that called for the group to take "no position" on the issue of abortion. Currently, the NEA uses the dues money from members to advocate and support lobby groups battling for the "right to choose." Had this resolution passed, the NEA would have been unable to commit any dues money of members to causes that have anything to do with the abortion debate. Instead, they would have had to use that money on something preposterous...like issues actually pertaining to education.
To me, this year marks the line in the sand. There are many justifications and reasons an individual Christian teacher can give for joining a local association. But because of the power of the NEA in Washington, we can't deny the reality that our local associations are in many cases legally compelled to affiliate themselves under the NEA's control. Consequently our money – money we intend to be put towards actually improving the lives of children – goes to fund deliberately anti-Christian activities.
Sure, there are excuses we can use to justify our capitulation and spineless allegiance to causes we know to be wrong. We can accept the fear-mongering about how we'll all lose our jobs without the NEA.
We can delude ourselves into believing that when we check the box stating that our dues can't be used for political purposes that we aren't still contributing to the very executive councils, legal offices, and We can rationalize that it's impossible anymore to keep from spending our money on things we don't really support.
But we shouldn't do it any longer. Our consciences shouldn't allow it.
We will undoubtedly be told that we are traitors to the cause, overreacting prudes, or freeloaders. But we didn't tell the NEA to throw full support behind the slaughter of children in the womb. We didn't tell the NEA to use their muscle to advocate homosexual marriage across the country.
We didn't make the decision to abandon the NEA. The NEA made the conscience decision to abandon us. And if there's any confusion on that fact, see Bob Chanin.
Joined: Jul 2005
Current Posts: 1715
The NEA, and its use of power (or abuse of power), is an issue of great importance to everyone. It is a powerful special interest group that gets listened to. Many of the causes for which it takes sides have little to do ... directly or indirectly ... with education, per se. Even in some educational issues, the NEA is not always the defender ... let alone champion ... of progressive educational practice or structure. That is the dark side. But every issue has two sides. The NEA (and more directly the local affiliates) do much to improve conditions in schools and to make the workplace a better place, and to protect individual members from the ebb and flow of public sentiment and/or administrative whim. It sounds as if Peter Heck is a teacher, and a member of a local affiliate of the NEA (CTA?). If he is, indeed, adamantly opposed to the positions of the union that represents him (or fails to, as the case may be), he has two choices: (1) convince a majority of his peers that his position is the correct one and use democratic processes to change the policies of the union, or (2) quit. The former is not an easy task, and some (including myself) would see it as formidable, if not inconceivable. The latter means he must negotiate independently of the union for his salary, benefits, hours, assignments, and protection against arbitrary treatment.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Teachers flocking to Christian alternative to NEA
Pete Chagnon - OneNewsNow - 7/24/2009
The Christian Educators Association International (www.ceal.org) says it has seen an increase in enrollment due to some developments in the National Education Association.
About one month ago, the National Education Association (NEA) voted to throw its full support behind homosexual "marriage," and members voted down a resolution calling for the NEA to take a "no-position" stance on abortion. Furthermore, NEA top lawyer Bob Chanin recently berated those within the NEA who hold to traditional conservative values, accusing them of trying to take down the union.
Finn Laursen is the executive director of the Christian Educators Association International (CEAI) -- a lower-costing, conservative alternative to the NEA.
Finn Laursen (CEAI)"Quite frankly, our phone has been ringing off the hook as former NEA members want out and are joining us. And the reason many are considering us as an alternative is, first of all, we operate from a Christian worldview," he points out. "And when teachers join us, they get in their memberships...they actually get a million dollar professional liability and legal action protection [insurance]."
Laursen notes that none of the fees associated with CEAI are used in political actions the members do not support.
He adds that teachers who have dropped membership with the NEA and signed on with his organization have had no problems getting teaching jobs.
Joined: Jul 2009
Current Posts: 3
The London Speaker Bureau has speakers that will debate this topic, as many have worked in the same industry as this. Please visit the business speaker (http://www.londonspeakerbureau.co.uk) website for more information.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
'Stimulus' grants going to porn producers?
Charlie Butts and Jody Brown - www.OneNewsNow.com - 7/30/2009
Money down the drain... Editor's note: This story contains descriptions that some may find offensive.
"Stimulus" funds awarded to the National Endowment for the Arts may be being used to produce pornographic material. The NEA was allotted $80 million out of the $787-trillion stimulus bill approved earlier this year by Congress and President Obama. Alliance Defense Fund special counsel Pat Trueman shares what he found upon close examination of the NEA's expenditures.
"The National Endowment for the Arts is using money from the stimulus bill, which was supposed to create economic activity, for the production of pornography," he states. "They've specifically given grants to companies that they know produce pornography -- primarily homosexual pornography."
Among the recipients of federal stimulus money, according to a Fox News report:
• Frameline, a "gay and lesbian" film house which recently screened Thundercrack, which is described as "the world's only underground kinky art porno horror film, complete with four men, three women, and a gorilla." ($50,000 grant)
• San Francisco-based CounterPULSE, a group that produces the weekly "Perverts Put Out" -- a performance that invites guests to "join your fellow pervs for some explicit, twisted fun." ($25,000 grant)
• "The Symmetry Project" -- a dance piece that Fox News says "amounts to two people writhing naked on the floor, a government-funded tango in the altogether." ($25,000 grant)
Trueman says it is an "outrage" that federal monies are being given to porn-producing organizations. "The National Endowment for the Arts has long been fought by American Family Association and other pro-family groups because year in and year out, they fund pornography and blasphemy," he tells OneNewsNow. And of the allegedly misspent stimulus funds?
"This is an outrage," he exclaims. "People are hurting financially, and our federal government is funding pornography?"
Trueman believes the public ought to call on members of Congress to take a closer look at the National Endowment for the Arts and pull its federal funding.
Joined: Mar 2007
Current Posts: 83
It there any way to kick this guy off, he's soooo annoying, I never read the stupid rants anyway. I don't believe that schools schould be teaching my children about sexuality, and that everything is ok when it comes to it, but this guy really takes the cake.
Joined: Jul 2009
Current Posts: 82
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Intolerant Iowa? Republicans Need Not Apply (www.frc.org)
With all the news about discrimination, some of the most egregious forms of bias regularly escape scrutiny. One of them is the persistent discrimination conservative academics suffer at the hands of liberal state universities.
In Iowa, for example, three discrimination claims have been lodged against the university system for blatant bias against applicants for professorships based on either their political affiliation (Republican) or views on particular issues (abortion).
One of the complaints was filed by Teresa Wagner, J.D. (for the record a former legal policy advisor at Family Research Council). In 2007 the University of Iowa law school had openings for two legal writing instructors. Wagner applied for the position with eminent qualifications. She is a former instructor at George Mason University Law School in Virginia, the editor of two books of essays, and author of several legal briefs, including one filed with the U.S. Supreme Court. Despite that background, the university administration chose an instructor who described himself as an "off the charts liberal" who "hated Republicans."
Wagner's complaint in the case describes several incidents surrounding the hiring process that illustrated how the university screened against her views on social issues.
Lest there be any doubt about a pattern, it should be noted that the University of Iowa History Department has not a single Republican on its faculty and the law college has but one (of 50 professors), and he was hired more than 20 years ago.
Moreover, the Iowa Supreme Court imposed homosexual marriage against the people's wishes earlier this year in Varnum v. Brien. How many Republicans on that court? Zero.
Something is gravely amiss in the Hawkeye State.
Additional Resources
Read the legal brief: Wagner v. Jones
Press-Citizen: Iowa needs more intellectually diverse universities
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
In Weimar Kalifornia the mobs of enlightened leftist / gender feminist / homosex activists have pretty much already done a scorched earth dance on opposing viewpoints in academentia. Iowa is behind the times....
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Iowa needs more intellectually diverse universities
Jeff Kaufmann • Guest Opinion • August 4, 2009
Last year, the Press-Citizen reported that the University of Iowa's professors are overwhelmingly registered Democrats. The Department of History did not even have one Republican on its faculty. The College of Law had one (among more than fifty tenure-track professors), but he was hired more than 20 years ago.
To date, concerns about this imbalance have focused on the implications for students: Does political bias skew what they learn?
Three recent cases in Iowa, however, have raised other, equally troubling concerns:
• The risk of viewpoint discrimination in faculty hiring and tenure decisions and
• An appalling lack of intellectual and political diversity among professors.
Such conformity can chill dissent on campus and discourage those with different views from pursuing careers in academia.
Three disturbing cases
• In 2005, Iowa State University denied professor Guillermo Gonzales tenure in part because his research and writing allowed for the possibility of an intelligent force to explain the creation of the world. Gonzales had published widely in his field and had excellent student evaluations. The tenure committee admitted his work's implications for "intelligent design" antagonized them.
Shouldn't all views be included, especially if job performance was stellar?
Would the same situation be tolerated if the "tables were turned"?
I believe this point is valid regardless of your personal views on "intelligent design." Even staunch opponents (and there are opponents in both political parties) should embrace intellectual diversity in academia.
• In 2007, the University of Iowa College of Law had two openings for Instructors in its Legal Writing Program.
The two finalists included a self-described "off the charts liberal" who "hated Republicans" but who had never practiced law, nor published any works and was in his first semester of law school teaching.
The other was Teresa Wagner, who had taught previously at George Mason University Law School, had practiced and had published numerous works, including two edited books of essays and several legal briefs -- one to the United States Supreme Court. But Wagner was a known conservative.
The law school hired the liberal, not Wagner.
• Also in 2007, Mark Moyar, a summa [bleep] laude graduate of Harvard and Cambridge universities, as well as the author of a book on Vietnam before he even began graduate school -- with a second book forthcoming -- was passed over in Iowa's History Department for a candidate who had published no books and attended lower tier schools.
Moyar is a Republican who defends the Vietnam war.
Questions raised
What is going on? A few obvious questions come to mind.
• First, how can our universities espouse and instill the value of diversity when departments are so politically lopsided?
The Board of Regents at the University of Colorado recently addressed this question and ended by passing a resolution encouraging its state universities to pursue intellectual as well as cultural diversity.
Does Iowa need such a measure?
• Second, we must at least consider if faculty members are overwhelmingly liberal because they discriminate in hiring against those who hold opposing views. If so, we have serious First Amendment issues to face -- that is, do we really have freedom of expression and inquiry?
Or might we face termination, or a refusal to hire, if our opinions are at odds with those who hire and fire?
The numbers alone point to a chilling effect: How many aspiring academics will join the Republican Party, or advocate its principles, if they know how politically skewed hiring faculty are and when the price could be the end of their careers?
Obviously, professors have a right to their views. But those same professors must never impose political litmus tests in hiring or the granting of tenure.
Such a practice would be a gross abuse of power. The prospect that secure the salaried like-minded especially is unseemly now, when millions of Americans have experienced layoffs and unemployment is high. A career in academia should be open to any qualified individual, regardless of her political leanings.
Enforcing non-discrimination laws
Wagner now is the plaintiff in an employment discrimination lawsuit against the UI College of Law. Given the numbers on party affiliation there, one wonders if the hiring signals also are simply put: No Republicans need apply.
Moyar is calling on Iowans to enforce our anti-discrimination laws. I'm with Moyar. It's time we examined hiring practices at our state universities. Iowans of all political stripes deserve it.
Ask yourself one question -- and please ask and answer it honestly: Would this same situation be tolerated in Iowa City or Ames if the "tables were turned" on the left?
It is time for the Iowa state Board of Regents to pass an intellectual diversity resolution or the Legislature should consider intervention.
Joined: Jul 2009
Current Posts: 3
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Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
The REAL gender gap scandal: Why boys are now the true victims of discrimination
By Winifred Robinson (Daily Mail - England) 08th August 2009
...New gender gap: Girls today are outperforming boys at every level in education... At the heart of this new preference lies the fact that all parents want their children to succeed in life - and quite simply, in today's Britain, girls are more likely so to do.
Building on a trend that began more than a decade ago, girls are outperforming boys at every level in education. They get more and better GCSEs and A-levels, win more places at top universities and gain better degrees.
Although poor attainment is concentrated in the lower income groups, the gender gap persists to the detriment of boys across all social classes and ethnic groups. And as this week's dismal primary school test results reveal, boys are sinking [bleep]her and [bleep]her behind...
It is to our shame that the reasons for boys' underachievement are so well researched and documented that they are no longer regarded as controversial, even among the education establishment. And yet still the reasons persist.
Boys' educational achievement began to lag behind girls from the late Eighties - around the time... new qualification, with its emphasis on course work rather than final exams, would favour girls - and so it has proved.
The report cites the style of teaching, content and questions at GCSE, which trigger an educational disadvantage among boys compared to girls, which lingers through to A-levels and beyond.
Those results have an inevitable impact on further education... 'traditional' tests, girls scored better in reading, while boys achieved more correct answers in maths and science. When the same pupils sat GCSEs, however, the girls did better in all subjects.
...the other crucial factor which helps convince many boys - long before GCSEs loom - that study is not for them. It is the near total absence of male teachers in primary schools.
One in four primaries in England has not a single man on the staff, although there is little disagreement among educationists that male primary teachers can have a powerful and positive impact on children, particularly boys.
Boys benefit from a male teacher reading and writing with them... Experienced teachers will privately admit that the predominance of women is influencing teaching styles to the detriment of boys...
Yes, it is true that boys and girls have always developed at different rates: little girls start school with a natural advantage in speech and in what the experts call the 'fine motor movements', crucial in holding a pen. But where in the past it was recognised that boys completely catch up by the final years of primary school, and put on an intellectual spurt in late adolescence that places them on a par with girls, too often these days the initial disadvantage becomes permanent...
Pent-up energy: Playing fields have been sold off and stripped boys of the opportunity to exercise... Boys also suffer in today’s results-driven classrooms because of their sheer physical energy. Many have to burn off great natural reserves of energy before they can settle down to anything quiet - be it study or sleep..
And as the mother of a son, I fervently believe that underlying every factor contributing to boys’ underachievement in education is a collective failure to understand, recognise and value the qualities that are distinctly male.
As Michael Gurian - a therapist and author who has pioneered efforts to use brain research to understand the social and emotional needs of children - puts it, a generation of boys has been failed by us all. ‘We have been in the decade of the girl,’ says Gurian, whose new book, The Purpose Of Boys, was published in June.
‘Communities, families and schools have focused on studying, understanding and valuing what girls need in the new millennium. But in doing that, they failed to give boys any direction in life.
‘As an advocate for boys, I see a world in which boys are asking us every day, and mainly through their actions: “What is the purpose of boys?” And for the most part, our culture is answering: “We don’t know.” ’
'To our shame, we simply don't appreciate boys'...
Yet there is a widespread silence on the very real problem of boys’ underachievement, as though by raising it we are somehow anti-women.
Some education specialists even ask if it matters - as though boys’ failure is the natural downside to women’s greater success; as if the current situation represents some kind of natural order where women must go beyond equality and always come out on top.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1205106/The-REAL-gender-gap-sc...
Joined: Jul 2005
Current Posts: 1715
Here we go ... the Daily Mail is not much of a source for anything scholarly, let alone for something as complex as gender differences in schooling and test-taking. For those unfamiliar with newspapers in the UK, the Daily Mail is about as reliable as the National Inquirer.
That said, I find it interesting that the article ... rather than applauding gains made by females over the past two decades, or even suggesting that the strategies used to help girls perform better might have usefulness if applied to boys (albeit with minor tweaking), the Mail wants to frame the discussion in terms of woe and discrimination. Some like to describe the world in terms of a glass half-empty; apparently the Mail prefers to describe it in terms of a glass shattered on the floor.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Bigotry at the Iowa College of Law
Date: 8/10/2009 from AFA.net by Bryan Fischer
So much for the university as a marketplace of ideas and academic freedom.
Theresa Wagner appears to have been denied a position at the Iowa (University) College of Law because her social and political views were deemed unacceptable to a minority of the decision-making faculty.
Wagner served both National Right to Life and the Family Research Council before returning to Iowa with her family in 2006 and applying for a position as an Instructor of Legal Writing.
Sadly for Ms. Wagner, over 90% of the faculty at the Iowa College of Law are registered Democrats, and only one voting member – hired 20 years ago, apparently by accident – is a registered Republican.
Her main adversary in the hiring process was a professor who clerked for Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun at the time Justice Blackmun wrote the now infamous Roe v. Wade decision, a professor who has since written in favor of abortion and has written laudatory tributes in Blackmun’s honor.
As a consequence of being black-balled – despite impeccable credentials, including graduating “with distinction” from the Iowa College of Law and experience teaching writing at George Mason School of Law - she was passed over in favor of a candidate who not only had no prior law school teaching experience, but had never even practiced law, had no published works, and openly admitted he was not qualified for the job. His primary qualification for the post seems to be that he dislikes conservatives and “hates” Republicans and “right-wingers.”
Unsurprisingly, he lasted just two semesters, while Ms. Wagner was told not even to think about applying again for an open position. Her faith and conservative social convictions were enough for this law school to permanently trash her First Amendment rights to freedom of religion, speech and association. No wonder a radically compromised Iowa Supreme Court – with nary a Republican on the bench – imposed gay marriage on the Hawkeye State through judicial fiat.
Ms. Wagner clearly has been unfairly and with evident animus deprived of a job solely because of bias, caprice and flagrant anti-Christian bigotry. You’d think the faculty of a school supposedly dedicated to equal justice under the law would know better, but political correctness trumps everything today, including merit, impartiality and the rule of law.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Religion and public schools: An important civics lesson this fall
Randall Murphree - Guest Columnist onenewsnow - 8/8/2009
When a teacher in Tyler, Texas, stopped a student from reading from the Bible during his oral book report, the student’s mother was stunned. “My son is a sixth-grader in middle school,” the mother said. “When he stood up to give a book report on Psalms, his teacher stopped him from reading Psalm 23.”
The mother appealed to the teacher, but the educator was unmoved. “It is not allowed,” the teacher said.
At the end of last school year, a public school mother in Southern California reported that her son’s principal removed the cover of a class notebook containing students’ poems Erid Buehrer (GTBE)and art. The notebook was displayed as a year-end project along with notebooks from other classes.
Why did the principal rip the cover off this particular notebook? Because the children had decided that the cover should have a picture of two children praying in front of an American flag.
One might suppose such incidents are rare and isolated, but according to public policy groups, the issue of religious expression in a public school setting remains a confusing issue for many educators and public school officials. And, in reality, incidents like those happen all too often.
However, this fall, public school students, teachers, and parents will get a civics lesson on free speech, thanks to the Free to Speak Campaign, a project of Gateways to Better Education (GTBE) and the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF).
The goal of the nationwide campaign is to promote freedom of religious expression by sending 5,000 letters to public school officials and distributing 500,000 pamphlets to parents, teachers, and students.
“One of the most important civics lessons all students should learn is that freedom of religious expression is a fundamental right of all Americans,” said GTBE president Eric Buehrer in announcing the campaign. “And, this freedom extends into our public schools.”
What is allowable
In fact, ADF points out that the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) issued guidelines on freedom of religious expression in public schools in 1995 and 1998 during the Clinton administration, and in 2003 under the Bush administration.
“This is a bipartisan issue,” Buehrer said. “The guidelines were sent to every school district, but all too often, they just didn’t get to classroom teachers, parents, and students. There is still widespread ignorance regarding this particular freedom of expression.”
Surveys consistently indicate that religion is an important part of teens’ lives. For example, a 2008 Columbia University survey found that 53% of students ages 12 to 17 (84 percent of the respondents from public schools) report attending religious services three or more times a month.
A 2002 Gallup survey reported that 48 percent of teens had attended church or synagogue within the last seven days.
“Many students are people of faith,” Buehrer said. “It’s part of who they are. Teachers need to acknowledge the whole student in their classes. This includes their faith. The classroom should be a safe place for students of all ages to express their faith in class discussions and homework assignments, just as the U.S. Department of Education has affirmed.”
ADF cites seven freedoms expressly identified by the USDE. Following each freedom is a quote from USDE directives.
1. Students may pray, read religious material, and talk about their faith at school.
“Students may pray when not engaged in school activities or instruction, subject to the same rules designed to prevent material disruption of the educational program that are applied to other privately initiated expressive activities. Among other things, students may read their Bibles or other scriptures, say grace before meals, and pray or study religious materials with fellow students during recess, the lunch hour, or other non-instructional time to the same extent that they may engage in non-religious activities.”
2. Students may organize and announce religious clubs at school.
“Students may organize prayer groups, religious clubs, and ‘See You at the Pole’ gatherings before school to the same extent that students are permitted to organize other non-curricular student activities groups. Such groups must be given the same access to school facilities for assembling as is given to other non-curricular groups, without discrimination because of the religious content of their expression.”
3. Students may express their faith in class work and homework.
“Students may express their beliefs about religion in homework, artwork, and other written and oral assignments free from discrimination based on the religious content of their submissions. Such home and classroom work should be judged by ordinary academic standards of substance and relevance and against other legitimate pedagogical concerns identified by the school. Thus, if a teacher’s assignment involves writing a poem, the work of a student who submits a poem in the form of a prayer (for example, a psalm) should be judged on the basis of academic standards (such as literary quality) and neither penalized nor rewarded on account of its religious content.”
4. Teachers may organize prayer groups with other teachers.
“When acting in their official capacities as representatives of the state, teachers, school administrators, and other school employees are prohibited by the Establishment Clause from encouraging or discouraging prayer, and from actively participating in such activity with students. Teachers may, however, take part in religious activities where the overall context makes clear that they are not participating in their official capacities. Before school or during lunch, for example, teachers may meet with other teachers for prayer or Bible study to the same extent that they may engage in other conversation or nonreligious activities.”
5. Schools may allow students to go off campus for religious studies during school hours.
“It has long been established that schools have the discretion to dismiss students to off-premises religious instruction, provided that schools do not encourage or discourage participation in such instruction or penalize students for attending or not attending.”
6. Students may express their faith at school events.
“Where student speakers are selected on the basis of genuinely neutral, evenhanded criteria and retain primary control over the content of their expression, that expression is not attributable to the school and therefore may not be restricted because of its religious (or anti-religious) content. By contrast, where school officials determine or substantially control the content of what is expressed, such speech is attributable to the school and may not include prayer or other specifically religious (or anti-religious) content.”
7. Students may express their faith at graduation ceremonies.
“School officials may not mandate or organize prayer at graduation or select speakers for such events in a manner that favors religious speech such as prayer. Where students or other private graduation speakers are selected on the basis of genuinely neutral, evenhanded criteria and retain primary control over the content of their expression, however, that expression is not attributable to the school and therefore may not be restricted because of its religious (or anti-religious) content.”
When the USDE sent its guidelines to every school superintendent in the country, it included a letter urging them to distribute the guidelines to students, teachers, administrators, and parents in their school districts. Unfortunately, Buehrer said that pass-it-on system has failed in most school systems. “In all my travels around the country, I have met only one school official who acted on that request!” he said.
How to effect change
It is in this context that ADF and GTBE hope to close that gap between school administrators on the one hand, and teachers, students, and parents on the other. Their strategy centers around a new pocket-sized student pamphlet titled, “Free to Speak: What the U.S. Department of Education says about public school students’ religious liberties.”
Both groups are seasoned warriors in the culture war, GTBE since 1991 and ADF since 1994. GTBE is a nonprofit organization specializing in helping public schools understand how to create faith-friendly learning environments and lawfully teach students about Judeo-Christian history, thought, and values.
Buehrer’s books and other educational materials have been endorsed by Don Wildmon, the late D. James Kennedy, Rabbi Daniel Lapin, and Josh McDowell. His expertise has been spotlighted in Focus on the Family magazine.
ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith.
Free to speak
The two groups urge churches and campus clubs to purchase and distribute the pamphlets throughout their schools and communities. For every 100 pamphlets someone orders from GTBE, ADF will send a letter clarifying religious liberties to the school administrator of his or her choice.
“When people go to our website to order pamphlets, they can also give us the name and addresses of the schools they want to receive the ADF letter,” Buehrer explained. “We forward that information to ADF who, in turn, has one of its attorneys send those school principals a personalized letter clarifying students’ and teachers’ religious freedoms on campus.”
For example, if a church orders 500 pamphlets to distribute through its congregation, it can have ADF send personalized letters to five schools in its community.
“If someone deposited a million dollars in your bank account, but you never knew it was there, what good would it do you?” Buehrer asked.
“The same is true for our religious liberties,” he continued. “We have freedom to express our faith in school, yet sadly too many Christians don’t know it.”
NEXT STEPS
• Contact GTBE for more information on religious freedom in schools.
• Learn how your local schools handle religious freedom.
• Order “Free to Speak” pamphlets and designate schools to receive the ADF letter – www.gtbe.org/store or call 800-929-1163.
Gateways to Better Education
P.O. Box 514
Lake Forest, CA 92630
Alliance Defense Fund
P. O. Box 53007
Phoenix, AZ 85072
www.alliancedefensefund.org
800-TELL-ADF
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Randall Murphree, a regular contributor to OneNewsNow, is editor of AFA Journal. The AFA Journal is a division of the American Family Association, the parent organization of the American Family News Network, which operates OneNewsNow.com. This article, printed with permission, appears in the August 2009 issue.
Opinions expressed in 'Features' published by OneNewsNow.com are the sole responsibility of the article's author(s), or of the person(s) or organization(s) quoted therein, and do not necessarily represent those of the staff or management of, or advertisers who support the American Family News Network, OneNewsNow.com, our parent organization or its other affiliates.
Joined: Jul 2005
Current Posts: 1715
These are all fairly common sense perspectives and relatively open and fair policies ... which is why the USDE publishes them and makes them available to schools. From the perspective of a teacher, though, I hope readers understand that these policy statements are but one in a never-ending sequence of memos and announcements, which explains why they sometimes don't get the attention they deserve.
I also find it interesting ... considering the great diversity in America's public school system (and society as a whole) ... that the only religion given specific reference in this entire article is Christianity. This may just be a subtle oversight, but it is the subtleties (because they are assumed to be widely accepted) that often shape attitudes, and is one of the primary reasons that non-Christians have reservations about motive.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Academentia - Our Incubator of future half baked leadership... Ohso
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Humanities, social sciences 'anti-Christian'
Jim Brown - OneNewsNow - 8/11/2009
A Christian professor says a new study reaffirms that a "notorious" lack of diversity exists in the humanities and social sciences faculties at public universities.
The study by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research looked at how college majors and religious faith affect each other. It found that college students who major in the social sciences and humanities are likely to become less religious, while those majoring in education are likely to become more religious. Another key finding was that students majoring in biology and physical sciences remain just about as religious as they were when they started college.
Students surveyed were asked how often they attend religious services, how important religion is in their lives, and "how good or bad a job is being done for the country as a whole by churches and religious organizations."
Dr. Phil Mitchell is a former history professor who was fired by the University of Colorado because of his evangelical Christian beliefs. Mitchell, who currently teaches social sciences at Colorado Christian University, says he expected the findings of the Michigan study because the humanities and social sciences at most major public and private universities are no longer academic disciplines, but instead advocacy groups that are specifically anti-Christian.
"In fact, when I talk to my students about sociology, anthropology, all the studies -- religious studies, black studies, gay-lesbian studies -- these are groups that are primarily advocacy groups, and their systematic hostility toward Christianity is well-known by everyone," he contends.
Mitchell says in order for the humanities and social sciences to once again become academic disciplines on campus, society as a whole must demonstrate outrage over the hypocrisy and inconsistencies in the academic community.
Joined: Jul 2005
Current Posts: 1715
I am not disturbed by the notion that study in the humanities makes people "less Christian". If it made them less spiritual, or somehow turned them into unthinking drones, then I would have cause for concern. I also notice, once again, that the only criteria for concern is the number of people who are turned off from Christianity. There ARE other legitimate religious beliefs. Did anyone study whether or not these social studies geeks turned into Muslims or Hindus? Maybe New-Agers? Maybe they became Pastafarians?
In these cases, maybe everyone should be required to study the humanities.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Alameda Parents in Need of Help! (capitol resource org)
Parents in the Alameda school district have been fighting a battle for all California parents: stopping homosexual indoctrination in their children's classrooms.
Storybooks, group discussions, art activities, and film are part of the lesson plans for kindergarteners through fifth graders in Alameda. In kindergarten, being "welcoming" to all classmates is equated with supporting multisexuality. The first grade lesson plan trains children "to identify what makes a family" and teaches about same-sex couples. Third grade vocabulary includes "two moms" and "two dads." Fourth graders are trained to be "allies," who "help or stand up" for people being "bullied." Fifth graders are required to identify stereotypes about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
Unfortunately, despite parents' best efforts, the school board went against the public and voted to implement a highly controversial homosexual curriculum to instruct children as young as 5.
But Alameda parents aren't going to give up. They understand what is at stake and that we must stop this indoctrination before it spreads. This week Alameda parents served their arrogant school board members with recall papers. In doing so, these brave parents are taking a bold stand for all parents who simply desire to protect their children from sexual indoctrination at school.
Because Alameda parents are taking this stand for us all, they will face fierce opposition and ridicule on behalf of us all. They desperately need our help.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Let the indoctrination begin! (Faith-Freedom.org)
As the summer comes to a close, children across the country strap on their backpacks and head back to school. Homosexual activists have infiltrated public schools across the country in order to challenge the moral principles so many children have been taught by their parents.
In at least one California school district, some of the junior high and high school classrooms have signs in their classrooms spewing propaganda that read, “No Room For Homophobia.”
This came as a shock to many students and their parents in the San Rafael City Schools. Advocates for Faith and Freedom received a call for assistance from one bold parent who is willing to fight against the attempted brainwashing of her children. This parent has officially objected to the posting of these signs in a formal complaint made to the School District in which she argued that such signs are in violation of the California Education Code because they discriminate against those who might express a viewpoint in opposition to homosexuality.
Since the term “homophobia,” is defined by the District as “discrimination against homosexual people,” our client requested that the District provide clarification as to what types of statements would be considered “discriminatory” or “homophobic.”
Our client then provided the District with three sample statements and asked the District whether the statements would be in violation of the “No Room For Homophobia” signs. These statements included:
(1) “Homosexuality is wrong and unnatural because biologically it takes a male and female to naturally reproduce in order to bring a child into this world,”
(2) “Reparative treatments have [been shown] to help people struggling with homosexuality to overcome their homosexuality,” and
(3) “Homosexuality is considered a sin in the Bible.”
Despite our client’s inquiry, the District refused to answer her question and simply argued that the signs were proper under California law.
Apparently, students holding a traditional Judeo-Christian viewpoint on homosexual behavior may be considered “homophobic” in the San Rafael City Schools. The “No Room for Homophobia” signs may force students of faith to either remain silent in their beliefs or potentially be subjected to discipline by the District should they choose to voice their opposition to homosexual behavior.
Our client has appealed the District’s decision regarding these signs to the California Department of Education in hope that the District will be forced to remove the signs from the classrooms. Advocates for Faith and Freedom will continue to assist this courageous parent in her attempt to have the signs removed and will monitor the situation to protect any students who may subjected to adverse action by the District.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Checklist for Public School Parents (capitolresource.org)
Find out if your school has an "opt in" or an "opt out" policy. Will they notify you and ask consent before your child is exposed to sexual or other controversial subject matter in class?
Opt Out! Write a letter to your school principal and your child's teacher explaining your wish that your child not be exposed to pro-homosexuality messages or any sex education messages in the classroom.
Find out if your school has a student newspaper and subscribe. There are often announcements in student newspapers concerning controversial matters on campus, such a Gay-Lesbian club activities, etc.
Find out if your school has a policy that allows minor students to leave campus for confidential medical treatment without notifying the parents. CRI has information on how you can take this matter to your school board and attempt to have the policy changed to a parent-friendly policy.
Find out if the school authorizes or conducts any "gay" oriented programs such as a "Gay Day of Silence". Many parents have been successful in stopping these from happening in advance. Contact CRI if you want more information.
When your kids come home from school, ask them if they did any journaling that day and, if so, what they wrote about. Teachers often have their students journal about their feelings on certain controversial issues, things that happen at home, etc, and then have the children leave their journals at school.
Teach your child how to respond to the myths taught in public schools that contradict your values, such as the homosexual agenda, evolution science, etc.
Scan textbooks, workbooks, teaching materials, and classroom handouts to ensure that your children are being taught in accordance with your values.
Is it anti-parent? (Parents are ignorant, old fashioned)
Does it instruct the child to keep secrets from the parent?
Does it encourage a negative view of the child, his family, his country, or his future?
Is it preoccupied with death, tragedy, hate, anger, revenge etc.? (e.g. Requires the child to write out his own epitaph.)
Is it anti-religion? Does it lead the child to reject morals and values taught at home or church?
Does it lead the child to believe there are no absolute standards? (Morality is relative and depends on the situation)
Does it encourage experimentation with sex, alcohol, or drugs?
Does it censor out all knowledge of the importance of religion in American history?
Does it force the child to make choices based on hypothetical situations and decide it is okay to lie, cheat, steal, kill, have sex outside of marriage, have an abortion, or commit suicide?
Does it force the child to answer questionnaires about the family's attitudes, behaviors, customs, political views that invade privacy?
Does it blur traditional concepts of gender identity and force the child to accept radical feminist notions?
Does it censor out our nation's heroes such as George Washington but spend much time studying controversial contemporary figures?
Does it lead the child to believe that global or world government is preferable to the American constitutional republic?
Does it imply that government spending programs lead to economic prosperity instead of hard work and perseverance?
Does it lead the child to believe that disarmament rather than defense can prevent future war?
Joined: Jul 2005
Current Posts: 1715
There's a whole lot easier way to do what you outline. Actually, two.
Just opt your child out of the public school system, as you do not share any of the values that the public schools feel compelled (actually, are mandated by law) to share; namely, understanding of the world around us, much of which we don't like, don't agree with, or wish wasn't so. Either home school your child (or children) so you can inculcate your values without fear of tarnishing or corruption, or enroll them in a private school that presents only things in which you believe. Those seem like safe approaches, but you might also make sure your kids don't watch any television, go to any movies, have any friends other than the ones you pre-approve (and I can help you design a test you can administer as part of the screening process), go a public library without your supervision, ride any means of public transportation (and avert their eyes when passing bus stops, bridges, tunnel entrances, telephone poles or the side of any building that has a surface other than glass).
The other option you mention yourself ... talk with your child (or children) about what they did and/or learned in school. Not the superficial question or conversation to which most parents and children become inured ("What did you do in school today?" ... "Nothin' "), but honest questions and conversation. This is where you can legitimately counsel or offer alternatives that align with your beliefs.
I know some people are so insecure in their own beliefs that any deviation from them is a threat, but there really is nothing to fear unless your child has some reason to harbor a rebellious nature (and knowing myself, when I gained enough experience and knowledge, I would have rebelled against the likes of what I just read if it were imposed upon me). The alternative, of course, is for everyone to bring up their children knowing only the safe and the agreed upon ... and thereby fragmenting society into lots of tiny enclaves.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Petition to urge VETO of 'Harvey Milk Gay Day'
Who will generate more signatures? Pro-family or anti-family citizens?
sign the online petition: ipetitions.com/petition/vetoHarveyMilkDay/ OR the paper petition: savecalifornia.com/images/stories/PDFs/sb572vetopetitionprintable.pdf
PLEASE TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION:
1. Sign the online petition and ask everyone on your email, Facebook, and Twitter lists to sign
2. Print petitions and circulate at church, at work, and in your neighborhood
3. Learn why "Harvey Milk Gay Day" is so bad for schoolchildren
Did you know that homosexual activists in California say they have more than 30,000 liberals who've signed an online petition SUPPORTING "Harvey Milk Gay Day" in California public schools?
This is upside down! Since polls show only 1 out of 5 Californians support a "day of significance" honoring homosexual activist Harvey Milk, there should be MANY MORE PEOPLE who would sign a petition OPPOSING "Harvey Milk Gay Day" for the sake of children's hearts, minds, bodies and souls.
Please prioritize collecting signatures for this pro-family petition, both the online petition and the paper petition. The week of Sept. 14, SaveCalifornia.com will deliver all the petitions to Governor Schwarzenegger to strongly urge his veto of "Harvey Milk Gay Day" for schoolchildren.
Remember, the Governor has publicly asked for input on "Harvey Milk Gay Day." If Arnold Schwarzenegger is open to signing this blatant promotion of homosexual-bisexual-transsexual lifestyles to impressionable children as young as kindergarten, without parental permission, then signing and circulating this VETO "HARVEY MILK GAY DAY" PETITION ought to be Job #1 for pro-family Californians and Americans!
PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION AND CIRCULATE TO OTHERS RIGHT AWAY
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
MISANDRY is the Ms.age in Academentia
*Ohso Note - while I applaud the article and the author, I must ask just why is it that the only ones allowed by our old media to defend Men and Boys - are Women?
Perhaps it has something to do with image.
Ahem.
Ohso
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. George Orwell
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From The Times (UK) - August 31, 2009by Libby Purves
Neeeoww! Let’s stick up for boisterous boys
Dreary coursework and earnest women teachers have let pupils down. Many prefer the excitement of sudden-death exams
It was an axiom of 1970s feminists that, apart from a bit of irritating biology, boys and girls were the same. Girls could be motorbike engineers and corporate lawyers, boys could be homebody childminders. And so they can...
Worse still was the school of thought that did acknowledge inbuilt differences, but despised them:
Jill Tweedie, of The Guardian, wrote with angry scorn even about her teenage sons,
and when Jenni Murray’s first boy was born, she relates with horror that a friend hissed: “Poor you, having to raise one of the enemy!”
...the system has swung over into a bias against boys. As fewer and fewer primary teachers are men (rightly scared of demonisation as child molesters), a feminised culture rises...
More seriously, as the writer Doris Lessing said in a 2001 lecture, boys are told that their gender made the world dangerous. She visited a classroom where an earnest young woman taught... the violent nature of men. The boys “sat there crumpled, apologising for their existence”.
Quite apart from the literal feminisation of the teaching profession, even school routines militate against young male biology...
Various studies confirm the way that expectations of boys (trouble! disruptive!) can damage their education. In 1964 in California an experiment was carried out in which 132 five-year-olds were taught reading by a machine: both sexes reacted in the same way and the boys scored marginally higher. Taught conventionally by women teachers, boys’ scores dipped.
...Yet even at A level the poor lads suffer punitive assaults on their whole sex as they are forced to study feminist dystopianism like The Handmaid’s Tale alongside smugly pious girls.
...QED. It is only one small proof, but underlines the strong probability that the style, the ethos, the expectations of schools are demoralising boyish boys...
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Obama's school speech - social indoctrination?
Pete Chagnon - OneNewsNow - 9/3/2009
Is the president using his bully pulpit to push social change in America's schools?
Neal McClusky with the Cato Institute's Center for Educational Freedom believes the Obama administration is engaging in outright indoctrination of school children. He says that on September 8, Obama will address schools nationwide -- and in conjunction with that speech, school teachers have been sent study packets and a letter from the Department of Education, complete with assignments and questions to ask their students.
"The letter says that 'no other task is more critical to our economic future and our social progress than what these schools do.' Now that alone is a little disturbing because it suggests that the schools are supposed to be pushing social change," McClusky notes.
Some of the suggested discussion questions teachers are to ask students include: "Does the speech make you want to do anything?" and "Are we able to do what the president is asking of us?" Calls to the Department of Education in order ascertain the topic of the speech have not been returned.
Apart from the discussion questions, the Department of Education has sent out a "menu of classroom activities." McClusky says those activities include reading books on President Obama and participating in the Department of Education's "I Am What I Learn" video contest, and discussing "why it is important that we listen to the president and other elected officials."
"And so this appears to be very much something intended to make kids talk about how important the presidency is and apparently how inspirational this president is," McClusky points out. "And it could also be about using the schools as tools of social change."
McClusky calls the event "unprecedented." He adds that the Constitution lays out explicit powers for the federal government and education is not among them. "So the federal government has been really unconstitutionally involved in education for the last 40-some years," McClusky says.
He adds that in that time there has been a shift to a more centralized control of education in the implementation of No Child Left Behind, The Race to the Top Fund -- which includes $350 million to develop a national test and force states to adopt national standards.
According to McClusky, the real danger in all of this is that conservatives, who at first did not believe the federal government should be involved, are the ones who are now pushing for the change. He hopes this educational speech and discussion will serve as a wakeup call.
McClusky adds that it is antithetical to a free society to have schools run by a centralized government.
Joined: Jul 2005
Current Posts: 1715
Hot Air over Nothing ... For decades people have been providing instructional materials to schools that include suggested lesson plans, discussion questions, activity guides and a host of other ideas that might be useful. For decades, teachers have taken those materials and used them in a wide spectrum of ways, ranging from the extremes of using them verbatim to tossing them into the circular file. The gamut of people (individually or in groups) that provide these supplemental materials, as well as the materials themselves, also is fairly wide. In my thirty years of teaching I have been given (we are talking about the "freebies" here, not those where you have to go out of your way and purchase them from a commercial vendor) materials by groups as wide ranging as the Dairy Council, the Just Say No Foundation, Monsanto, Chevron, the Bank Street School of Education, the John Birch Society, all the major television networks, NASA, NOAA, the Geophysical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Right-to-Life, Planned Parenthood, the League of Women Voters, the ACLU, Jehovah's Witnesses, and .... well, that's just a sampling.
Several presidents, several agencies of various administrations, several Departmental Secretaries, and multiple representatives of state and local governments have provided similar packets to be used in the classroom. Generally, the umbrella is "current events" ... but as the above list indicates, some of the materials are designed to be used in relation to specific curriculum areas.
All of this suggest that no one should get their underwear in a bunch because the President of the United States is providing instructional materials that might be used by interested teachers in conjunction with a national television address the president is going to make. More presidents should make this service available ... what in the world can be more instructive than open discussions in our nations' classrooms about the nature of democracy?
If conservatives object to the content of the instructional materials, they can provide their own to be used alongside those provided by the White House. Oh ... I forgot ... conservatives are in favor of the oppressive controls being exercised over local schools by the federal government. Maybe they have to be careful of what they suggest teachers say or do!
Joined: May 2007
Current Posts: 448
Well, it appears that all those instructional materials that various organizations and politicans have handed out for decades hasn't done a whole lot of good, isn't the drop out rate in California approximately 30%, It appears that after all these Years the Country needs a real plan B
Joined: Jul 2005
Current Posts: 1715
The current drop out rate has absolutely nothing to do with free educational materials offered to schools by public and private organizations (some truly intended for education and thoughtful consideration, others thinly disguised pieces of propaganda), so your comments are totally irrelevant to the conversation. What do you suppose IS driving increases in the drop out rate?
Let's see ... graduation rates in California hovered near 90% for decades. But then, California decided that annual batteries of nationally normed tests (ITBS or CTBS), the California Assessment Program (followed by the California Learning Assessment System), report card grades, parent-teacher conferences (offered two or three times a year for all parents, more frequently upon request of either/or the parents or the school), paper-work to satisfy the federal government for monies appropriated under Titles I, II, and IX of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), SAT/ACT tests, graduation rates and college admission rates, the state content curriculum frameworks, voluntary national standards in key content areas, and voluntary national benchmarks in key content areas (to name a few of the systems in place to whom or for which schools and teachers were accountable), were not enough to measure student progress or to hold schools "accountable". In the late nineties we got California Content Standards in various content areas and the California Standards Tests (which replaced CTBS and is used to measure AYP for NCLB). Shortly after that came the Exit Exam.
All the previous reporting measures were accepted at face value. Parents were informed of their child's progress, children who were identified as struggling (more than 1.5 years behind the mythical "grade level" in which they were assigned) were required to have individualized instructional plans written describing how the school(s) would focus instruction to help the child improve, children more than 2.0 years behind that mythical grade level standard were identified as being Special Education and a separate program was put into place for them. With these records in place, children were promoted through the grades. Retention was seldom used because to be retained ... even today ... is recognized as the number one indicator that a student is likely to not graduate from high school. The only people who did not understand this basic fact (even today) are narrow-minded fools who insist that you have to be "tough" in order to show your love.
Without going into detail about how this changed (a virtual coup d'etat took place at the leadership levels of American public education), many Americans became convinced that America's kids were somehow falling behind the rest of the world, and too many kids were graduating from high school who did not deserve the paper on which their diplomas were printed (not that anything had changed since 1920 except people's perceptions ... changed by a concerted public relations and propaganda campaign from the ultra-right). So we got NCLB, high-stakes tests to determine which schools would be closed and which teachers fired, and we got Exit Exams. Kids were retained. Those graduating from high school this year were in fifth grade when NCLB was introduced
Suddenly, under the pretense of leaving no children behind, the tough love pressure that pretends if you make it hard enough the kids will rise to the occasion and meet the standards is proving to be as empty and hollow as "trickle-down" economics are. Kids are quitting. Kids are recognizing that there is no way they are going to learn things that we have never expected kids to know before, and rather than face that humiliation, they are dropping out.
The fight over health care is very similar to the fight over public education, only the starting points are different. In the case of health care, we have a corrupt for-profit system operated by private industry that is fighting like crazy to prevent turning it into a public service (and that industry will stoop at nothing to win). In the case of public education, we have a public system that various private industries are trying to take over in order to turn education into a profit-generating mechanism. They, too, will stoop at nothing in order to win. In both cases, the public good is best served when everyone has equal access to the provided service, rather than the wealthy and well-connected being the only ones with such access.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
'Harvey Milk Gay Day' passes Democrat-controlled Senate, goes to Schwarzenegger
SaveCalifornia.com urges pro-family Californians to urge the VETO of SB 572
Take immediate action: Call, petition, email, twitter, write letters to editor
SB 572 making schoolchildren honor the notorious Harvey Milk
and his ‘LGBT’ agenda passes California Legislature
SaveCalifornia.com calls on Governor Schwarzenegger to veto bill like he did last year
Sacramento, California – The California Senate has given final approval to a bill pressuring all California public schools to hold an annual "day of significance" honoring the life and values of homosexual activist Harvey Milk.
SB 572 passed Tuesday 22 to 14, Democrats for and Republicans against. Two senators who voted for it last May abstained this time due to new evidence that Harvey Milk is a terrible role model for children. "Harvey Milk Gay Day" now goes to Governor Schwarzenegger, who has until Oct. 11 to sign or veto.
"For the sake of impressionable children, the Governor now has abundant reason to veto 'Harvey Milk Day' like he did last year," said Randy Thomasson, president of SaveCalifornia.com, the statewide pro-family, pro-child organization that is leading the charge against SB 572.
"Reputable biographies demonstrate that Milk was a sexual predator of teens, a homosexual sex addict who advocated polygamous relationships, and a public liar who justified his deceit. Harvey Milk was and is a terrible role model for kids, including kindergarteners who would be affected by this very bad bill."
For several weeks, SaveCalifornia.com has been helping parents, grandparents and concerned citizens oppose SB 572, "Harvey Milk Gay Day," with calls, faxes, emails, petitions, and news conferences. SB 572 is one of the most contentious bills of the year in California. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who last year vetoed "Harvey Milk Day," seems to be leaning toward vetoing SB 572, which is opposed by his own Secretary of Education.
"'Harvey Milk Gay Day' would teach schoolkids all about the life and very controversial values of Harvey Milk," said Thomasson. "Based on the historical record of Milk's sordid life, this could include teaching elementary and secondary schoolchildren that adult-child homosexual 'sex' is OK, having multiple sexual relationships at the same time is OK, and telling a very public lie is good if it 'gets you ahead.' This instruction, whether taught directly or indirectly, is not what parents want or children need."
A SEXUAL PREDATOR OF TEENS
Randy Shilts, a homosexual San Francisco Chronicle reporter, wrote a favorable and sordid biography of Milk in "The Mayor of Castro Street." The 1982 book detailed Milk's sexual relationships with a 16-year-old, a 19-year-old and other young men:
• "...sixteen-year-old McKinley was looking for some kind of father figure...At 33, Milk was launching a new life, though he could hardly have imagined the unlikely direction toward which his new lover would pull him." (pages 30-31)
• "It would be to boyish-looking men in their late teens and early 20's that Milk would be attracted for the rest of his life." (page 24)
• "Harvey always had a penchant for young waifs with substance abuse problems." (page 180)
• "Harvey confided one night that at twenty-four, Doug was the oldest man Harvey had ever started an affair with." (page 237)
ADVOCATED MULTIPLE SEXUAL RELATIONSHIPS AT THE SAME TIME
Explaining Milk's many flings and affairs with teenagers and young men, Randy Shilts writes how Milk told one "lover" why it was OK for him to also have multiple relationships simultaneously:
"As homosexuals, we can't depend on the heterosexual model...We grow up with the heterosexual model, but we don’t have to follow it. We should be developing our own life-style. There's no reason why you can't love more than one person at a time. You don't have to love them all the same. You love some less, love some more -- and
always be honest with everybody about where you're at. They in turn can do the same thing and it can open up a bigger sphere." (pages 237-238)
PUBLICLY LIED FOR YEARS ABOUT HIS MILITARY CAREER
"He had not suffered this disgrace, he told a later campaign manager, but he knew the story would make good copy. If anyone said something to Harvey about his fondness for such stunts, he would gesture wildly as launched into a lecture. 'Symbols, symbols, symbols,' he insisted. Sure, he had not been kicked out of the military...The point of the story was to let people know that service people routinely do get kicked out. Besides, he once confided, 'Maybe people will read it, feel sorry for me, and then vote for me.'" (Randy Shilts, The Mayor of Castro Street, p. 78-79)
The text of SB 572 states that "On Harvey Milk Day, exercises remembering the life of Harvey Milk, recognizing his accomplishments, and familiarizing pupils with the contributions he made to this state" shall be conducted; specifically, "all public schools and educational institutions are encouraged to observe...and...conduct suitable commemorative exercises."
"This bill is not about 'gay rights' or 'stopping harassment,'" said Thomasson. "Instead, SB 572 is outright promotion of everything Harvey Milk believed in -- the entire gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual agenda pushed upon schoolchildren as young as kindergarten, without parental permission."
Additional Documentation:
* The dishonorable deeds of Harvey Milk
* Harvey Milk was a liar
* The negative effect of SB 572 upon schoolchildren
* How SB 572 targets kindergarteners and tramples parental rights
* "Drinking Harvey Milk's Kool-Aid" by Daniel Flynn
* March 2009 poll showing 4 out of 5 Californians oppose "Harvey Milk Day"
* The health hazards of homosexuality and bisexuality
* California Department of Public Health: 72-83% of HIV transmissions are from homosexuality and bisexuality
* Feb. 19, 1978 Harvey Milk letter to President Jimmy Carter, calling for a young boy to remain in Jim Jones' custody, who, less than nine months later, was killed by Jones
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Federal Appellate Court Will Hear Thomas More Law Center’s Challenge to School District’s Ban on Christmas Music Thursday, September 10, 2009
ANN ARBOR, MI – On Monday, September 14th at 10:00 a.m., Robert Muise, an attorney with the Thomas More Law Center, will urge the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia to reverse a lower court ruling that upheld a New Jersey school district’s policy that banned the performance of religious music in the district’s public schools. The public is encouraged to attend.
The school district’s ban was specifically aimed at preventing Christmas music, including simple instrumentals, during the traditional year-end holiday concerts. The school district had allowed the performance of traditional Christmas music during these concerts for more than 60 years. However, in 2004, this long-standing tradition came to an abrupt end, prompting a national outcry and this federal lawsuit.
Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Law Center, commented, “This blatant anti-Christian policy is yet another example of the total and militant hostility that many public schools have towards Christians and Christmas.”
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Michael Stratechuk, who sued on his own and on behalf of his two children, who are students in the New Jersey school district. According to the lawsuit, the school district’s ban on religious music conveys the impermissible, government-sponsored message of disapproval of and hostility toward religion in violation of the Establishment Clause, and it deprives the Stratechuk children the right to receive information and ideas, an inherent corollary of their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and academic freedom.
Robert Muise, the attorney who will be arguing the case for the Law Center, commented, “Christmas is a national holiday, and religious music in the public schools is one of the rich traditions of this season. Those that are hostile to these traditions hide behind the mantle of ‘tolerance, ’ only to promote intolerance. We learn to understand and respect traditions, customs, and beliefs not by being offended or threatened by the traditions of others, but by understanding the meaning of such traditions and why they have the capacity to inspire.”
The New Jersey school district policy at issue in this case was featured in a book, The War On Christmas, by Fox News anchor, John Gibson.
The Thomas More Law Center defends and promotes America’s Christian heritage and moral values, including the religious freedom of Christians, time-honored family values, and the sanctity of human life. It supports a strong national defense and an independent and sovereign United States of America. The Law Center accomplishes its mission through litigation, education, and related activities. It does not charge for its services. The Law Center is supported by contributions from individuals, corporations and foundations, and is recognized by the IRS as a section 501(c)(3) organization. You may reach the Thomas More Law Center at (734) 827-2001 or visit our website at thomasmore.org.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
'Safe schools' act - a misnomer?
Pete Chagnon - OneNewsNow -
The Illinois Family Institute is raising concern over a "safe schools" amendment in the U.S. Congress.
The Safe Schools Improvement Act (H.R. 2262) would ammend the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act to include bullying and harrasment prevention programs. Laurie Higgins of the Illinois Family Institute says this is one of the central ways to get pro-homosexual information and resources into public schools.
"So if this [federal act] should pass, if this should be mandated...this is going to pave the way to get this information even into elementary schools," she laments. "I mean, it is going to the early childhood elementary and secondary education [level]. So we're not just worried about high schools anymore."
According to the pro-homosexual blog Change.org, H.R. 2262 "would ensure that schools no longer get a 'pass' when they turn a blind eye to anti-LGBT behavior...." Higgins offers her interpretation of that view of the legislation.
"It will be used...to prevent students from expressing disapproval of homosexual conduct because that's viewed as discriminatory," she offers.
Higgins notes that Kevin Jennings, founder of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), is currently head of the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools in the U.S. Department of Education and supports the bill.
GLSEN has been described by one pro-family leader as a "child corruption" organization that consistently promotes books that legitimize sexual encounters between adults and minors.
H.R. 2262 is backed almost entirely by Democratic lawmakers. Sponsored by Congresswoman Linda Sanchez (D-California), its 81 co-sponsors includes only two Republicans and one Independent.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Poll: 77% of OK highschoolers can't name the first president
Date: 9/17/2009 by Elijah Friedeman, the Millennial Perspective
In a study commissioned by the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, high school students were asked questions about basic U.S. history and about the structure of our government.
The questions were taken from the test that immigrants must take to become U.S. citizens. You must answer six out of ten questions right to pass the test. According to immigration services, 92% of immigrants pass on the first try. Only 3% of Oklahoma high school students would have passed the test according to the poll.
The statistics are quite shocking. Only 29% of the students could correctly answer who was in charge of the executive branch. Ninety-percent didn’t know how many Supreme Court justices there are. Most shocking, though, is the fact that 77% of the students could not name our first president.
It’s easy to bash the study results, but I don’t think this is only a problem in Oklahoma. I imagine if you conducted similar polls across the nation, the results would be much the same.
Listed below are the ten questions that were asked along with the percentage of students who answer correctly.
What is the supreme law of the land? 28%
What do we call the first ten amendments to the Constitution? 26%
What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress? 27%
How many justices are there on the Supreme Court? 10%
Who wrote the Declaration of Independence? 14%
What ocean is on the east coast of the United States? 61%
What are the two major political parties in the United States? 43%
We elect a U.S. senator for how many years? 11%
Who was the first President of the United States? 23%
Who is in charge of the executive branch? 29%
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Attitudes Drive Men Away from Teaching
scotsman .com 20 September 2009 By Alison Kershaw
NEGATIVE attitudes about male primary school teachers are putting men off the job, a survey has found.
More than four in ten adults (42 per cent) believe that poor perceptions about men working with young children are the reason why so few take up primary teaching roles, according to the study.
More than a fifth (22 per cent) said the job was seen as a feminine profession...
Joined: Jul 2005
Current Posts: 1715
Duh ...
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Normalizing transgenderism in schools
Pete Chagnon - OneNewsNow - 9/2/2009
A New England-based pro-family organization is concerned about a situation in Vermont involving bathroom arrangements at schools.
Brian Camenker of Massresistance.org says the homosexual movement in Vermont is using a transgender-rights law to force middle schools and high schools to provide unisex bathrooms. He notes that a 16-year-old transgendered teen has asked the Vermont Human Rights Commission to lend its support to the effort.
According to an Associated Press report, the student claims that she and others like her need the unisex bathrooms in order to avoid bullying and ridicule. A homosexual activist with Outright Vermont is quoted in the story as saying their "hope is that this is the first statewide gender-neutral bathroom campaign in the country."
Camenker is concerned that a similar effort could take place in Massachusetts should that state's transgender rights and hate crimes bill [H1728] pass.
"Well, it's a huge problem," he explains. "Number one...it legitimizes the concept of transgenderism among middle-school kids, which is completely absurd and offensive and medically dangerous.
The medical community recognizes gender-identity disorder as something that needs psychological help, you know -- not this politically correct pandering that actually causes more self-destruction."
Indeed, individual and family counseling -- focused on treating depression and anxiety and on improving self-esteem - usually is recommended to treat children with gender-identity disorder.
Camenker also argues that activists will use the unisex bathroom argument to get their foot in the door and then that will lead to more transgender indoctrination and diversity training within America's middle and high schools.
Joined: Jul 2009
Current Posts: 361
Stop the insanity!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bullying is a BIG issue - has been for EONS. I have recently seen parents start to speak up more against bullying - GOOD for THEM!
According to an Associated Press report, the student claims that she and others like her need the unisex bathrooms in order to avoid bullying and ridicule.
This will not STOP Bullying! If the idea is to increase awareness - then fine - but the underlying motive I question. How much would it cost to do this BTW?
If this is allowed, on the basis and arguement of Bullying - then they better invest in a welcome wagon crew for "new kids" (who are typically bullied) and a comimittee for all other subcultured group that is bullied.
BS
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
See You at the Pole (ADF)
Wednesday - September 23, 2009, students across the nation will gather together for an annual event, “See You At The Pole.” See You At The Pole is a student-initiated, student-led annual event. The event is held on the fourth Wednesday of every September and is a time for students to gather around their school flagpoles for a time of public prayer.
This year’s theme – “ENGAGE: Go and Pray” – is taken from 2 Kings 22:13a, where the young King Josiah heard God’s law read aloud, experienced conviction that the people of Israel were violating it, and ordered his people to “Go and inquire of the Lord for me and for the people….” (New International Version).
Each year, Advocates for Faith and Freedom receives phone calls from students who are denied the right to assemble and pray around their school’s flagpole before class or are denied the right to tell other students about the event through flyers, word of mouth, or both.
This year, a freshman at Western Wayne High School in Lake Ariel, Pennsylvania, contacted Advocates for Faith and Freedom after his high school principal refused to allow him and several other students the right to distribute fliers around the high school advertising See You At The Pole. Advocates’ attorneys sent a demand letter to the principal of the high school and the superintendent of the School District informing the school of the students’ right to advertise See You At The Pole.
Advocates’ attorneys explained that students have a right to tell other students about “See You At The Pole” so long as they are not disruptive, and have a right to advertise the event to the extent the school allows other students to advertise other non-curriculum events.
Western Wayne High School backed-down and has allowed the student to hand out fliers that advertised “See You At The Pole” on his high school campus.
Christian students have a federal right to have “equal access” to their high school campus. This means that if a school district allows non-curriculum groups to meet and advertise their events, the school district must also allow Christian groups to hold meetings and to advertise their events as well.
Please spread the word and encourage your kids to take a stand for their faith on their public school campus. If they find that their school district denies equal access, contact Advocates for Faith and Freedom at faith-freedom.com or call us at 888-588-6888.
Joined: Sep 2009
Current Posts: 10
thanks for this fantastic article. thanks for sharing this with us.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Raging Bully (frc.org)
The Washington Times this week ran a headline, "Looking for the next Van Jones." But FRC already identified him in June-radical homosexual activist Kevin Jennings, appointed by Education Secretary Arne Duncan to head the Officer of Safe and Drug-Free Schools.
Jones, President Obama's "green jobs" czar, was caught using profanity in reference to Republicans; Jennings has directed his profanity at God Himself!
Jones merely signed his name to a conspiracy myth about the September 11 attacks; but Jennings has spent decades actively and successfully promoting myths about homosexuality to schoolchildren as founder of the radical Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GSLEN)
Van Jones was done in by two key charges and one taped quote; FRC documented at least seven outrageous facts about Jennings and five inflammatory quotes in documents we released in June (see stopjennings.org).
Unfortunately, Jennings has now taken his office at the Education Department-where he will be charged with implementing laws like the "Safe Schools Improvement Act," introduced as H.R. 2262.
This bill to combat "bullying" and "harassment" is like a "hate crimes" law for schools-but without being limited to actual violence.
Cutting down on bullying and harassment of anyone is a worthy goal, but naming "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" as protected categories makes this bill more about advancing the homosexual agenda than keeping schools safe.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
NEA: Big time supporter of ACORN
9/21/2009 by Bryan Fischer, AFA Director of Issue Analysis
If values-driven teachers needed another reason to dump their memberships in the National Education Association, here it is. According to the Department of Labor, the NEA gave $300,000 of its union dues to the scandal-plagued ACORN outfit in 2007 alone.
This illustrates just how out of touch the NEA is with the worldview of the average American teacher it claims to represent. It’s long past time for teachers to dump their membership in the NEA and its aggressive support for far left causes and organizations, and join organizations such as the AAE which focus just on liability protections and professional improvement and refuse to use association fees or dues to support political causes of any kind.
This leaves the educator free to donate – or not donate - to the political causes of his choice.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Calif. school board fights 'Harvey Milk Gay Day'
Plus, how you can reach thousands with the terrible truth about SB 572 (savecalifornia.com)
We've come up with two new ways for you to fight to defeat "Harvey Milk Gay Day," otherwise known as SB 572 on Governor Schwarzenegger's desk.
1. Urge your pro-family public school board members to oppose SB 572. If your community's public school district has a pro-family majority, then get to the best school board member right away, and ask them to pass a resolution opposing SB 572, "Harvey Milk Gay Day."
This has already happened in Orange County. On Sept. 17, the Orange County Board of Education voted unanimously to oppose SB 572 and has sent an official oppose letter to Governor Schwarzenegger.
In its 5-0 vote, the Orange County board said, "The addition of commemorative exercises reduces important classroom time in core subject areas. Instructional time is at a premium and students cannot afford to lose quality educational time."
"SB 572's agenda would interfere with our children's education and detract from our schools' academic purpose," said Dr. Ken Williams, a 14-year member of the board. "The Governor vetoed this social engineering bill last year and he should veto it again."
Read SaveCalifornia.com's Sept. 21 news release about this good example
2. Email a letter-to-the-editor of your local newspaper. Or post a comment on your newspaper's or TV news station's website. Here are some great letters to the editor from pro-family citizens. They used SaveCalifornia.com's talking points to expose "Harvey Milk Gay Day," and you should too!
Seeking governor's veto
Alicia Riley of Vacaville in the Sept. 13 Vacaville Reporter
Don't impose gay message
Kenneth Brian of Hemet in the Sept. 11 Riverside Press-Enterprise
No 'Harvey Milk Day'
Gary Curtis of Valencia in the Sept. 7 Santa Clarita Valley Signal
California schools don't need Harvey Milk Day
Nancy Kirkland of Visalia in the Sept. 7 Visalia Times-Delta
Ready to reach thousands of people in your community with the truth?
Use SaveCalifornia.com's factual talking points and write your letter today!
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
A 'call to arms' for parental responsibility
Pete Chagnon - OneNewsNow - 9/22/2009
The Independent Women's Forum reports that its "About Our Children" event was a success.
The About Our Children town hall event was a collaboration of the Independent Women's Forum and MSNBC. The event aired Sunday night and featured entertainer Dr. Bill Cosby. "You parents -- we need you, your children need you, their school teachers need you," Cosby stated during the program.
Nicole Kurokawa, a senior policy analyst with IWF, says the main message of the event was parental responsibility.
"We want to encourage parents to examine themselves and to step up and then be an advocate for their child," she says. "[We want them to know] that nobody is going to love your child the way that you love your child, and nobody is going to advocate for them and defend them like you will. So this is a call to arms."
The town hall event featured a panel of experts who spoke on issues ranging from education to healthcare. Panelists also fielded questions submitted by audience members and viewers on Twitter and YouTube.
According to Kurokawa, the event was sold out. She is hopeful her organization will be able to hold similar events in the future.
In conjunction with the effort, the IWF has launched AboutOurChildren.org, an About Our Children grassroots effort.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Thank this pro-family school board
Support the OC Board of Education for opposing 'Harvey Milk Gay Day' (savecalifornia.com)
Imagine what it feels like to be a public school school board member who does the right thing by publicly opposing "Harvey Milk Gay Day" -- only to be slammed by more than a hundred phone calls from angry homosexual activists.
That's what's happening to the pro-family Orange County Board of Education and their staff after the news hit about the board's pro-family vote to officially oppose SB 572 on the desk of Governor Schwarzenegger.
Suffering for what's right is always worth it though. With SaveCalifornia.com's help, the news about a large local school board opposing a day of further homosexual-bisexual-transsexual indoctrination of students got into TV and newspaper outlets.
The media buzz is helping Schwarzenegger realize that a whole lot of people dislike how "Harvey Milk Gay Day" would harm children's hearts, minds, bodies and souls.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Catch a Falling Czar... (frc.org)
Other issues may have taken a backseat to health care this summer, but now that the kids are back in school, parents have another subject on the brain--education. Earlier this month, President Obama turned more than a few heads with his back-to-school telecast, and parents are right to be concerned about what the administration will do for an encore. Most, including FRC, are hoping that the President's future plans won't include Safe Schools "czar" Kevin Jennings.
More than three months ago, we exposed the truth about Jennings, a long-time proponent of a radical, pro-homosexual agenda in schools. At the time, our concerns were met with little more than a yawn from the mainstream media. But today, as more Americans rage on about the shocking comments of "green jobs" czar Van Jones (who was forced to resign), the spotlight is back on the President's special-subject appointees. And in Jennings's case, it's better late than never. Fortunately, more press outlets like FoxNews.com and Lou Dobbs are picking up the drumbeat, and the Washington Times ran an editorial today demanding answers about Jennings's appointment.
Of course, one of the most shocking pieces of news about Jennings is a story he's told himself (in different ways at different times) about a young student who came to him and confessed that he was having sex with older men in a bus station restroom. Instead of reporting the high-risk behavior to the boy's parents, school administrators, or the police, Jennings's only response was, "I hope you knew to use a condom." If the President hand-picked Jennings to serve in educational leadership, the public has a right to know whether he violated reporting laws and covered up child sexual abuse.
]At the very least, he should know that making schools safe doesn't mean making them safe for homosexual predators.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Kevin Jennings Needs to Resign as 'Safe Schools Czar.' (frc.org)
September 29, 2009
Family Research Council during the spring of 2008 was the first organization to highlight the radical record of Kevin Jennings, President Obama's choice for "safe schools czar." At the time, our concerns were met with little more than a yawn from the mainstream media. Today the spotlight is back on Kevin Jennings. Over the last two weeks, press outlets like FoxNews.com, Rush Limbaugh and Lou Dobbs have picked up the Jennings story, and the Washington Times ran an editorial demanding an answer regarding Jennings's appointment.
Of course, one of the most shocking pieces of news about Jennings is a story he's told himself (in different ways at different times) about a 15 year old student who came to him and confessed that he was having sex with older men in a bus station restroom. Instead of reporting the high-risk behavior to the boy's parents, school administrators or the police, Jennings's only response was, "I hope you knew to use a condom."
Jennings has shown a disregard for parental rights and for our children's well being, yet he is the President's choice to keep our schools safe! Safe for sexual predators it would seem!
Please contact your state school board and let them know that this is unacceptable, and they need to let the President know: it is time Kevin Jennings resigns! Thank you and God bless you.
Contact your State Board of Education (frc.org has links)
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
King of the Hill Takes on Czar of the Schools (FRC.org)
The Obama administration is spending precious capital protecting its Safe Schools "czar," but many believe that loyalty carries more political risk than reward. Last week, Kevin Jennings's "aw, shucks" response to covering up child sexual abuse should have sounded the alarm over at the Department of Education. Instead, Secretary Arne Duncan used the opportunity to praise Jennings as "uniquely qualified" to serve on the team. That may not be the consensus for much longer, since FRC has uncovered a series of op-eds that show Jennings's incredible hostility toward Christianity.
In at least two Huffington Post columns, Jennings attacks people of faith with complete and utter disdain. When the former director of GLSEN tried to implement a series of Gay Straight Alliances in classrooms back in 2007, Jennings described a Christian who fought the idea as having "not-yet-fully evolved views maybe because of his proximity to the Everglades (from whose ooze he may have recently climbed), [but] I can't dismiss them as the ravings of a single troglodyte. Instead, they represent a classic example of how right-wing extremists continually try to mislead the public about the nature and purpose of GSAs."
In another article, "Recruit, Recruit, Recruit!" Jennings called Christian students "hypocrites" and mocked the members of Young Life for trying to evangelize their friends. At one point in the column, Jennings says, "...[T]hey want everyone to have to believe the way they do." Ironically, that's what Jennings 's movement has been pushing for all along: forced acceptance! He and his activist friends want tolerance, but not for others.
Maybe that's why leaders like Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) are calling for Jennings 's head. "The totality of his life," King says, "has been the promotion of homosexuality, and much of it within education." His work, says Rep. King, is "a political movement... It's not about protecting kids, it's about promoting homosexuality and demanding public affirmation... President Obama should fire Kevin Jennings immediately."
Obviously, the only "unique qualification" Jennings possesses is an ability to practice the same kind of intimidation his office is trying to prevent.
As FRC has said for four months, a man charged with creating safe schools can't possibly achieve it by turning America's classrooms into a hostile environment for kids with religious beliefs.
Otherwise, we've allowed the anti-bullying boss to become the biggest bully of all!
For more information on what you can do to stop Jennings, visit our site at frc.org.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Rappin', revolution and radicalism - The three R's in the age of Obama
Michelle Malkin - Syndicated Columnist - 9/25/2009
When the White House announced plans for the president's nationwide address to schoolchildren two weeks ago, worried parents were dismissed as "kooks." We pointed to the subtext of "social justice" activism rampant in American classrooms. It's time for a big fat Told You So.
Out of the spotlight, politicized lessons continue to supplant core academics.
Earlier this year, at the B. Bernice Young Elementary School in Burlington Township, NJ, schoolchildren were instructed to memorize a paean to Barack Obama. A video uploaded to the YouTube account of Charisse Carney-Nunes, author of the children's book I Am Barack Obama and a self-described Harvard Law "schoolmate" of the president's, showed students lined up in the auditorium snapping their fingers and chanting in unison:
Mmm, mmm, mmm, Barack Hussein Obama
He said all should lend a hand to make the country strong again.
Mmm, mmm, mmm, Barack Hussein Obama
He said we must be fair today, equal work means equal pay.
Mmm, mmm, mmm, Barack Hussein Obama
He said take a stand, make sure everyone gets a chance.
Mmm, mmm, mmm, Barack Hussein Obama
He said red, yellow, black and white, all are equal in his sight.
Mmm, mmm, mmm, Barack Hussein Obama.
Yeah! Barack Hussein Obama.
...Hello, Mr. President, we honor you today
For all your great accomplishments, we all do say hooray.
Hooray, Mr. President, you are No. 1
The first black American to lead this nation.
Acknowledging the historic nature of Obama's presidency ("the first black American") is one thing. Deifying him with creepy spiritual references ("red, yellow, black and white, all are equal in his sight" is cribbed from the famous hymn "Jesus Loves the Little Children"; cheering "you are No. 1") is quite another. Burlington Township school officials said Thursday the recording and dissemination of the video was "unauthorized," but acknowledged that the Obama praise session was part of the students' official curriculum.
Carney-Nunes' Obama book was on prominent display during the students' performance... Seeing everything through the lens of Obama, as his incessantly self-referential United Nations speech demonstrated, is a trademark of the perpetual Obama campaign.
This O-cult lesson is exactly the kind of junior campaign lobbying activity that White House officials planned around the president's education speech. Alert parents and administrators called out the Department of Education's activist, Obama-centric education manuals before the event. Federal officials altered the language. Obama delivered an innocuous speech. But on cue, education radicals goaded students to engage in political activism.
White House and Hollywood moguls launched a "Get Schooled" initiative this month with Obama that urges students to lobby for higher teacher pay and to embrace the rallying cries "Know Your Rights" and "Change the System.
At the New Trier High School in Northfield, Illinois, educators followed up on Obama's address with a 45-minute "extended adviser" discussion last week to explore "the significant messages inherent in his speech." Illinois writer/blogger Tom Blumer reports that "parents were not informed on a timely basis as to what was going to happen, and were given no specific instructions on how to have their child opt out of the 'discussions.'" The school's principal and assistant principal sent out suggestive questions focused on Dear Leader's Do Something missives.
- Why do you think President Obama listed the responsibilities of teachers, parents and the government before discussing your responsibility for your education?
- What are you "good at," and what do you have "to offer" your family, friends and community?
- In the speech, President Obama spoke of some of the steps of Effective Effort. Identify them, using direct quotations from the text to support your assertions.
- Respond to President Obama's final questions for you: "What's your contribution going to be?
In addition to radical White House Teaching...the White House has embraced controversial homosexual rights advocate Kevin Jennings as "Safe Schools czar." Jennings founded the controversial GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network), which aggressively pushes sexually explicit, age-inappropriate books and lesson plans on alternative lifestyles.
Lost in all the chanting for change is the core commitment to impart actual knowledge. For progressives in the Age of Obama, setting high academic standards is secondary to the self-improvement of the "whole child" and "service" to the cause of social justice.
Out: readin', writin' and 'rithmetic. In: rappin', revolution and radicalism. Mmm, mmm, mmm.
COPYRIGHT 2009 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.
Michelle Malkin (malkinblog) is author of the forthcoming "Culture of Corruption: Obama and his Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks & Cronies" (Regnery 2009).
Opinions expressed in 'Perspectives' columns published by OneNewsNow are the sole responsibility of the article's author(s), or of the person(s) or organization(s) quoted therein, and do not necessarily represent those of the staff or management of, or advertisers who support the American Family News Network, OneNewsNow, our parent organization or its other affiliates.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Probe launched into Obama school song
Geoff Mulvihill - Asociated Press Writer - 9/25/2009
BURLINGTON TOWNSHIP, N.J. - An investigation is under way into why an elementary school teacher decided to teach a group of students a song that praises Barack Obama.
The root of the controversy was in February, back when gripes about freshly inaugurated President Barack Obama were still mostly hushed.
That month, a group of smiley and fidgety students at B. Bernice Young School sang a medley of two short songs at an assembly praising the president. The first song begins, "Mmm, mmm, mmm, Barack Hussein Obama/He said that all must lend a hand/To make this country strong again."
The second one was set to "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," and included the refrain, "Hooray, Mr. President."
Another song took a Christian song that talks about Jesus love for all children of all skin colors, but replaced the Lord's name with Barack Obama.
While the performance is seven months old, the widespread outrage is new and came about because of the discovery of a YouTube video of the performance.
In the past few days, it's been fodder for conservative opinion leaders such as columnist and blogger Michelle Malkin and Fox News Channel host Glenn Beck, who are using the video as prime evidence for their claims that there's an effort to indoctrinate children to idolize Obama.
That notion grew quickly earlier this month in advance of Obama's speech to students that was played in thousands of schools.
By then, unlike February, there was broader mistrust of Obama, particularly over his health insurance overhaul plans. Concerns that he would use his speech to students as a political tool grew partly because the White House initially released a lesson plan encouraging students to "help the president." The plan are revised and the message to students was not overtly political.
News about the song brought a quick response from New Jersey's Department of Education. Spokeswoman Beth Auerswald said the department would reviewing what happened "to ensure students can celebrate the achievements of African Americans during Black History Month without inappropriate partisan politics in the classroom."
Auerswald said the state would also look into whether posting the video online violated the privacy of students.
The source of the video is not entirely clear. In Malkin's column, she said it was posted in June on the YouTube channel of Charisse Carney-Nunes, who wrote the children's book, "I Am Barack Obama."
A spokeswoman said Carney-Nunes said she would not comment, and while the video was ubiquitous online Friday, it was not listed under Carney-Nunes' feed.
Officials at the Burlington Township Board of Education did not return calls Friday and the district's Web site was not available.
But Superintendent Christopher Manno defended the performance in Friday's editions of the Burlington County Times. "There was no intention to indoctrinate children," he said. "The teacher's intention was to engage the children in an activity to recognize famous and accomplished African Americans."
He said he would not identify the teacher who led the song. State education officials said she retired at the end of the last school year.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Fight to the end against 'Milk Gay Day'
SaveCalifornia.com calls pro-family citizens, holds L.A. news conference
Thursday was a very productive day fighting against increased homosexual-bisexual-transsexual indoctrination of children in California government schools.
First, SaveCalifornia.com began the day by calling 360,000 pro-family Californians to urge them to call Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger at 916-445-2841 to urge him to VETO SB 572, "Harvey Milk Gay Day." We're working overtime to protect kids from the despicable example of Harvey Milk!
Second, SaveCalifornia.com and our supporters held a Thursday news conference outside Schwarzenegger's Los Angeles office. Thank you to the parents and concerned citizens who came to protest the harm that SB 572 would do to schoolkids.
Third, after talking with TV and radio reporters outside, Luiz Galdamez of La Familia Hispana and former teacher Wendy Berry and her adult son, Brett, had a sit-down meeting with Governor Schwarzenegger's staff inside. The Governor's people took SaveCalifornia.com's comprehensive media packet exposing the terrible example of Harvey Milk and said they would ship it to the Governor's State Capitol staff to arrive Friday morning.
Fourth, I interviewed with the Christian Post, which published "Calif. conservatives urge Gov. to veto 'Harvey Milk Day' bill" early Thursday. I also interviewed with OneNewsNow.com, which is doing a similar call to action on Friday. All in all, a very productive day with more soldiering needed from you and me on Friday and Saturday as the Governor's Sunday night deadline looms.
PRIORITY ACTION: Please keep calling Schwarzenegger, over and over again, day or night. Even though Schwarzenegger is threatening to veto many of the 700 bills on his desk unless the Legislature votes Friday to give Central Valley farmers more water, he has not followed through on similar threats in the past.
So fight to the end. Fight against "Harvey Milk Gay Day" until Schwarzenegger's Oct. 11 deadline to sign or veto has come and gone. Keep calling him, even if you've already called, at 916-445-2841. And ask your friends to do their parts by forwarding them this email message.
Here is SaveCalifornia.com's encouraging post-news conference release:
Parents, educators, and pro-family leaders agree:
Governor Schwarzenegger must veto 'Harvey Milk Day'
SB 572 protested Thursday at Los Angeles news conference
Los Angeles -- Concerned parents, education experts, and pro-family leaders today protested "Harvey Milk Day," a proposed annual day honoring homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexuality in public schools, outside Governor Schwarzenegger's Los Angeles office.
"Here's a sexual anarchist going to held up as a role model for our children, when in reality he was just the opposite?" said parent Dolores Ditty of Glendale, whose daughter is in public high school. "How can a man who engaged in adult–child sex, who supported polygamy, who lied to get ahead, be a role model for our children? How confusing this will be to them."
"Hispanic children are dropping out of school in record numbers," said Luis Galdamez, executive director of La Familia Hispana. "And now the politicians want children to learn more about the homosexual agenda, instead doing more to academically prepare them for graduation and college? That's not just immoral, that's crazy. Hispanic families will not put up with this."
"We who are responsible for the academic achievement of thousands of children must guard and protect their best interests," said Dr. Ken Williams, member of the Orange County Board of Education, which voted to officially oppose SB 572 last month. "Replacing valuable classroom time with social engineering may be popular with some, but it’s certainly not the legitimate purpose of schools."
"Harvey Milk was a sexual predator of teens, an advocate of polygamous relationships, a public liar, and is in no way a good role model for impressionable schoolchildren," said Randy Thomasson, president of SaveCalifornia.com, the statewide pro-family, pro-child organization that sponsored today’s news conference. "For the sake of parents and the children they love, the Governor must veto SB 572, Harvey Milk Day."
SaveCalifornia.com, a West Coast pro-family, pro-child organization, has been leading parents and grandparents all summer to call, email, fax, and petition Governor Schwarzenegger to veto "Harvey Milk Day" like he did last year. SB 572 is one of more than 700 bills on the Governor’s desk that he must sign or veto by Oct. 11.
Today and tomorrow, SaveCalifornia.com is calling 360,000 pro-family households in California, urging them to call the Governor at 916-445-2841 to urge his veto of SB 752, "Harvey Milk Day."
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
The War Against Boys (targeted as the most vulnerable members of the 'partiarchy') takes many forms - from outright physical violence to turning a blind eye to abuse, and beyond.
One new angle of Misandry (Hatred of Men, Masculinity & Normal Heterosexuality) beling played out in the schools is the demand for the outright Destruction of their Male Gender (or at least the Thought Crime of having an Inherited Male Gender) designed to make them more pliable for the Misandry Machine that awaits them.
Ohso
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. George Orwell
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The Transgender Movement and "Discrimination"
Testimony in Opposition to Maryland House Bill 474 Regarding "Gender Identity" by Peter Sprigg (frc.org)
The following testimony was given by Peter Sprigg to the Maryland House Health and Government Operations Committee in Annapolis, Maryland on February 25, 2009. I urge you to vote No on House Bill 474, relating to "discrimination" on the basis of "gender identity."
"Gender Identity Disorder" is classified as a mental disorder by the American Psychiatric Association. Those who wish to assume a "gender identity" contrary to their biological sex are in need of mental health treatment to overcome such disturbed thinking, not legislation to affirm it.
Furthermore, Maryland residents who believe it is better for men to remain men and women to remain women ought to have freedom to act on those beliefs, without facing stigma or punishment. This is the central reason for my opposition to this bill.
However, there are also several specific provisions of the bill which are objectionable.
1) The definition of "gender identity" trivializes the significance of biological sex.
The bill defines "gender identity" (p. 2, lines 32-34) as "gender-related identity, appearance, expression, or behavior of an individual regardless of the individual's assigned sex at birth." To suggest that the identification of a human being's sex at birth represents merely an "assignment," as though it were entirely a social construct agreed upon by the child's parents and physician, is absurd.
Sex is an objective biological reality, identified based on the presence of external genitalia, internal sex organs, and chromosomes, which in the overwhelming majority of cases are entirely consistent and unambiguous at birth. It is simply foolish to treat this as a characteristic that can be changed at will.
2) Exemptions to the bill need to be clarified
For example, when the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) was introduced with gender identity protections in 2007 (H.R. 2015), it included exemptions for:
• employers with less than 15 employees; and
• religious organizations.
Such exemptions are necessary to protect, for example, small family businesses and churches from affirming behaviors that they find offensive and/or contrary to their moral convictions. The sponsor of the bill has indicated at today's hearing that similar exemptions apply to this bill as well, yet I find no such exemptions in the bill's text. Perhaps these exemptions are found in the larger section of the code which this bill will amend, but the sponsor's should clarify the exact language and location in the law of these exemptions before a vote is taken.
3) The bill is self-contradictory.
It says that it "does not prohibit an employer from establishing and requiring an employee to adhere to reasonable workplace appearance, grooming, and dress standards." (p. 4. lines 28-33). However, most ordinary Americans would consider dressing in ways that are culturally appropriate for one's biological sex to be the most fundamental "appearance, grooming, and dress standard" that could be conceived of-yet requiring that is exactly what this bill is designed to forbid.
Likewise, for any job involving customer service or contact with other clients, dressing in a way appropriate for one's biological sex may be "a bona fide occupational qualification," because the adoption of the "gender identity" of the opposite sex is often highly unconvincing and therefore disturbing to witnesses (i.e., "other customers may be upset," as Dan Furmansky of Equality Maryland admitted in testimony on a similar bill in Montgomery County in 2007). Yet the bill before you does not even include "gender identity" in its exemption for "bona fide occupational qualifications" (p. 6, lines 34-35).
4) The bill violates the privacy rights of every Maryland citizen.
The most extreme application of the principle of "non-discrimination" based on "gender identity" would be to the use of gender-separated restrooms, locker rooms, and showers. As currently written, this bill would legally protect the right of a person who is still biologically male (but who has adopted a female "gender identity") to strip nude in front of women in a women's locker room.
Again, a similar bill introduced at the federal level in 2007 contained an exemption for "shared shower or dressing facilities in which being seen fully unclothed is unavoidable." One of the members of the committee indicated at today's hearing that such an exemption has been added to this bill, but as of yesterday it had not been added to the text on the state's website.
This bill omits a caveat that even Montgomery County 's controversial gender identity bill included, providing that it applies to public accommodations only when the individual's "gender identity" is "publicly and exclusively expressed." Without such a provision, there will be nothing whatsoever preventing a temporarily cross-dressing male from entering a women's restroom or locker room and exposing himself. Behavior that would normally be considered criminal will now be protected as a civil right.
Let me conclude by referring you to the attached article by Dr. Paul McHugh, formerly psychiatrist-in-chief at the Johns Hopkins University Hospital . It relates how a careful study of transgenderism led them to abandon the practice of performing sex change operations. McHugh notes:
We have wasted scientific and technical resources and damaged our professional credibility by collaborating with madness rather than trying to study, cure, and ultimately prevent it.
A similar statement may be made about the Maryland Legislature if you adopt House Bill 474.
I urge a "no" vote.
***
Peter Sprigg is the Vice President for Policy at the Family Research Council in Washington.
Joined: Jul 2009
Current Posts: 361
..and things just continue to get more complicated as we move along - so basically this is a good start but not well thought out and more than likely we may not be ready for it?
For those born with initial ambiguous sexual organs, I can understand this is hard enough and it is good that science and society has more to offer for these folks.
Now we have taken this one step further and you can literally change from what you were originally physically born as. Hmmm.
The trend is going up and it perplexes me, as I wonder "were there actually a large number of individuals that lived there whole entire life feeling as if they were another sex and just dealt with it" or is it a trend? Now you can pretty much change everything about yourself if you don't like it. With exception to your race or ethnicity (oops! shhh....)
But - does it really change your genomes/chromosomes? Even with the hormones?
Either way - I think those that are going through the first part of transition might benefit from having resources to go to for advice on dress and attire etc.. This is a socially based decision, correct? I mean, I have not met many transexuals (not that I know of many) that choose to dress the sex they transitioned from. Any men transitioned to women that prefer to dress and look like men? Only have seen it when they have not been able to finish and move to areas that are less likely to accept them --- like Bend, OR
Oh well - let's see what happens with this
Joined: Jul 2009
Current Posts: 361
Not sure the parameters of this law and what exactly constitutes a person who is transgender (per this law). But if it is simply any person who is cross dressing and not providing proof that they are doing this, in addition to informing others - this could be even more problematic than it sounds.
Possiblity of abuse of the law (making it harder for transgenders) as there are probably more cross dressers out there than transgendered. Cross dressing is a whole different story.
Then the idea of gender as a socially based identity will ring even more true - it will depend on how you dress and identify with? I think we have enough problems just going to same sex bathrooms and locker rooms for privacy.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Parents, keep your children home from Harvey Milk Day
SaveCalifornia.com calls for boycott of sexual indoctrination in K-12 schools
Sacramento -- SaveCalifornia.com, the West Coast pro-family, pro-child organization that led the statewide battle against "Harvey Milk Day," which Governor Schwarzenegger signed on Oct. 12, is calling on every California parent with children in K-12 government schools to keep their sons and daughters home on this day of in-your-face, homosexual-bisexual-transsexual indoctrination.
"Fathers and mothers are angry about Harvey Milk Day pushing this extreme, perverse role model upon their kids, " said SaveCalifornia.com President Randy Thomasson. "Children belong to parents, not to the state! Since SB 572 has no opt-out, boycotting Harvey Milk Day and pulling their children out of the imploding government school system is the only way for parents to protect their girls and boys."
The boycott will also send a strong message to school districts that they should not use classroom time to celebrate Harvey Milk Day or risk losing average daily attendance funds.
The blatant sexual indoctrination of Harvey Milk Day is a clear and present danger for parents. Even school districts in conservative areas are allowing teachers to promote the notorious Harvey Milk:
"If it happens to be in a literature class or a social studies class, it can be included as long as it's related to the topic," [Santa Clarita's William S. Hart Union High School District Spokeswoman Pat] Willett said about teachers including Harvey Milk Day in the curriculum. The bill calls for the day to be observed by public schools as a day of special significance. Teachers will be encouraged to conduct exercises recalling Milk's life and contributions to the state. Willett imagines teachers could include Milk in a discussion of civil rights. Source: Santa Clarita Signal, Oct. 14
Meanwhile, Equality California, California’s largest homosexual-bisexual-transsexual political activism group, is planning to develop curriculum to promote Harvey Milk's values in every public school:
The measure was backed by Equality California, the largest gay-rights organization in the state. Geoff Kors, executive director of the group, said it would develop curriculum for schools and teachers to use on Milk's birthday. Source: San Francisco Chronicle, Oct. 13
In response to this blatant attack upon family values and the open promotion of the homosexual-bisexual-transsexual agenda to impressionable children as young as five years old, SaveCalifornia.com is providing the means for parents to take courageous action to rescue their sons and daughters.
"A widespread boycott of Harvey Milk Day will motivate some school boards to create policies prohibiting teachers from commemorating Harvey Milk Day unless first approved by the school district, which is vested with the authority to decide curriculum for local schools," Thomasson said.
"No child is safe from this sky-is-the-limit sexual indoctrination if they are left in the government school system," Thomasson said. "They'll be hit with Harvey Milk Day in May, endure the pro-'LGBT' 'Day of Silence' in April, and, due to pre-existing sexual indoctrination laws, be pressured to support anything-goes heterosexual-homosexual-bisexual-transsexual behavior in health, literature, and social studies."
Before SB 572, "Harvey Milk Day," sexual indoctrination laws have already in been in place, including:
• AB 537, signed by Gov. Gray Davis in 1999, permits teachers and students to openly proclaim and display their homosexuality, bisexuality or transsexuality, even permitting cross-dressing teachers, school employees and student on campus, in classrooms, and in rest rooms.
• SB 71, signed by Gov. Gray Davis in 2003 and implemented in 2008 through the new "sexual health" standards approved by appointees of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell, teaches children as young as 5th grade that any consensual sexual behavior is "safe" as long as you "protect" yourself with a condom, and teaches children that homosexuality, bisexuality and transsexuality is "normal."
• SB 777, signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2007, prohibits all public school instruction and every school activity from "promoting a discriminatory bias" against (effectively requiring positive depictions of) transsexuality, bisexuality, and homosexuality to schoolchildren as young as five years old. SB 777 means children will be taught their "gender" is a matter of choice. When fully implemented, SB 777 will affect everything on campus -- classroom instruction, instructional materials, textbooks, guest speakers, handouts, videos, sex education, drama, music, school assemblies, sports teams, homecoming games, school proms, school clubs, etc. There is no "opt out" for parents.
• AB 394, signed by Gov. Schwarzenegger in 2007, effectively promotes transsexual, bisexual, and homosexual indoctrination of students, parents, and teachers via "anti-harassment" and "anti-discrimination" materials, to be publicized in classrooms and assemblies, posted on walls, incorporated into curricula on school websites, and distributed in handouts to take home.
• What's more, beyond these school sexual indoctrination laws, there is no California statute prohibiting public school teachers from promoting any legal sexual lifestyle or sexual practice; schools can hold pro-"lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT)" "diversity days" or a "diversity week"; schools can permit the pro-"LGBT" "Day of Silence" in April; and school districts must permit "Gay-Straight Alliance" clubs on high school and junior high campuses.
"This is a red alert for parents," said Thomasson. "Your child will be sexually indoctrinated if left in the government-school system. Parents are waking up to the fact that to protect their kids from being sexually brainwashed, they must not only keep them home on Harvey Milk Day, but they must rescue their children by placing them in homeschooling or a solid church school."
SaveCalifornia.com has created RescueYourChild.org, which, since January 2008, has been helping parents to exit the imploding government-school system.
For documentation of Harvey Milk taken from the Milk's undisputed biography, The Mayor of Castro Street, by Randy Shilts, and further analysis of SB 572, "Harvey Milk Day," see savecalifornia.com/oppose-harvey-milk-gay-day-sb-572.html
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
CZAR WARS - 'Safe schools' chief was member of radical Act Up
Jennings now responsible for public school students October 15, 2009 By Bob Unruh © 2009 WorldNetDaily
The man chosen by the Obama administration to head the Department of Education's Office of Safe Schools was an activist with the radical pro-homosexual organization Act Up, known for its aggressive badgering of those who don't support the homosexual lifestyle, according to a new report.
Mass Resistance, a pro-family organization in Massachusetts that has battled over homosexual agenda points there, has posted online a report and video documenting Kevin Jennings' participation in the extremist organization.
The video shows Jeff Davis, Jennings' "partner," addressing a banquet and saying of Jennings, "He was a member of Act Up. Act Up! So it's like – you know – here's a big gay activist. BIG gay activist!."
According to "The Marketing of Evil," by WND's David Kupelian, Act Up members gave homosexual activists a bad name. Kupelian wrote:
The defiant, storm-trooper tactics of in-your-face groups like ACT-UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) may or may not have been successful in pressuring the federal government to increase its commitment to combating AIDS. But such tactics definitely were successful in giving activist homosexuals a very bad name.
One infamous incident was the assault on New York's famed St. Patrick's Cathedral on December 10, 1989. While Cardinal John O'Connor presided over the 10:15 Sunday morning Mass, a multitude of "pro-choice" and "gay rights" activists protested angrily outside. Some, wearing gold-colored robes similar to clerical vestments, hoisted a large portrait of a pornographically altered frontal nude portrait of Jesus.
"You bigot, O'Connor, you're killing us!" screamed one protester, while signs called the archbishop "Murderer!" Then it got really ugly. Scores of protesters entered the church, resulting in what many in the packed house of parishioners described as a "nightmare."
"The radical homosexuals turned a celebration of the Holy Eucharist into a screaming babble of sacrilege by standing in the pews, shouting and waving their fists, tossing condoms into the air," recounted the New York Post. One of the invaders grabbed a consecrated wafer and threw it to the ground.
Outside, demonstrators, many of them members of ACT-UP, carried placards that summed up their sentiments toward the Catholic Church: "Keep your church out of my crotch." "Keep your rosaries off my ovaries." "Eternal life to Cardinal John O'Connor NOW!" "Curb your dogma."
Clearly, the young movement was flirting with oblivion if it persisted in such ugly, indefensible tactics. It needed a new, more civilized direction if it ever hoped to convince Americans that homosexuality was a perfectly normal alternative lifestyle.
According to Mass Resistance research assembled by Amy Contrada, the Act Up organization also:
* Staged a "die in" at Massachusetts General Hospital to protest the unavailability of PCP drug AP.
* Protested Astra Pharmaceutical Products’'refusal to release the experimental antiviral drug Foscarnet.
* Disrupted opening night at the San Francisco Opera.
* Protested design of clinical trials planned by Harvard School of Medicine.
* Jammed phone lines of health insurance database company protesting their use of "sexual deviation" classification.
* Halted Boston's trolley service and traffic in front of Harvard School of Public Health to press the federal government into approving two new AIDS drugs.
Brian Camenker, the chief of Mass Resistance, told WND, in fact, that Harvard is just at this point opening up an exhibition on Act Up, and has thanked Jennings publicly for helping assemble the necessary components.
Also in the video, it was revealed that Davis and Jennings played host to Obama for a 2008 fundraiser that yielded $170,000 in donations.
"This is an unbelievably important election," Jennings also told the LA Times in May 2008, when asked why he co-hosted the Manhattan fundraiser.
"That should answer any doubts over whether Obama 'vetted' Jennings before his appointment as Safe Schools Czar in the Department of Education," Mass Resistance wrote in its report.
This association, and that revealed earlier of Jennings' support for Harry Hay, who was honored by the North American Man-Boy Love Association, "help us to understand Jennings' agenda behind his major accomplishments, founding GLSEN, and pushing the Massachusetts law banning 'sexual orientation' discrimination in the state's schools," Mass Resistance said.
"Jennings worked closely with another Act Up radical, David LaFontaine, who convinced Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld to establish the Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth – which directly promoted homosexuality in the schools," the report said.
Find out how immoral, self-destructive behaviors have become enshrined as normal and even heroic in David Kupelian's culture-war classic, "The Marketing of Evil."
Act Up also has covered Sen. Jesse Helms' house with a 'giant condom" and threw ashes of dead AIDS patients on the White House law, the report said.
Members of Congress have written to Obama demanding he dismiss Jennings following WND disclosures about his past, including an incident in which he counseled a 15-year-old student to keep quiet about being seduced by an older man.
Jennings says now he should have handled the situation while he was a teacher involving the sexually active student "differently," but the statement from Jennings failed to express "regret."
Jennings also wrote the foreword for a book called "Queering Elementary Education: Advancing the Dialogue about Sexualities and Schooling."
Another incident in his organizatin's past is the "fistgate" scandal in which his organization led discussions at a seminar where "young teens were guided on how to perform dangerous homosexual perversions including 'fisting."
Yet another was Jennings' address in a New York City church on March 20, 2000. He said:
"Twenty percent of people are hard-core fair-minded [pro-homosexual] people. Twenty percent are hard-core [anti-homosexual] bigots. We need to ignore the hard-core bigots, get more of the hard-core fair-minded people to speak up, and we'll pull that 60 percent [of people in the middle] over to our side. That's really what I think our strategy has to be. We have to quit being afraid of the religious right. We also have to quit – I'm trying to find a way to say this. I'm trying not to say, '[F—] 'em!' which is what I want to say, because I don't care what they think! [audience laughter] Drop dead!"
Messages WND has left with Jennings' office never have been returned
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
National implications: Public hearing on David Parker Parents Rights bill this Tuesday Oct. 13 at MA State House!
Massachusetts is the country's "ground zero" of homosexual activism targeting public school children. The first "gay straight alliance" clubs in schools were here. Homosexual activist Kevin Jennings (now working in Obama's Dept. of Education) started teaching and founded GLSEN here. The infamous "fistgate" conference was here. The "Little Black Book - Queer in the 21st Century" was handed out to kids here. The Youth Pride parade and GLBT prom take place every May in Boston.
Massachusetts schools have more "gay clubs" and more gay/transgender assemblies, programs, and activities than any other state. Our Legislature has budgeted more taxpayer dollars for homosexual activism than all 49 other states combined, according to estimates.
The state-funded "Commission on Gay Lesbian Bisexual and Transgender Youth" consists of radical homosexual and transgender adult activists (including men in dresses and women with beards) who go into schools, use taxpayer money to set up programs, counsel schoolchildren unsupervised, and run Youth Pride Day with kids from across the state.
Current Parental Notification Law is flawed
In 1995 MassResistance (then known as Parents Rights Coalition) wrote and successfully lobbied for the Parental Notification Law (Ch. 71 Sec. 32A) which was signed into law by Gov. Bill Weld in 1996. Unfortunately, the law (which is "opt-out" and is aimed at sex education) has serious flaws and loopholes. In 1995 we did not anticipate the aggressive homosexual agenda in the schools.
David Parker - a parent who stood up and fought back
In 2005, David and Tonia Parker asked that they be notified and allowed to opt their Kindergarten son out of any lessons on homosexuality and transgenderism. The Lexington school system blatantly refused. At one point they had Parker arrested and put in jail overnight when he insisted that they come to an agreement.
Other parents at that same school, Rob and Robin Wirthlin, became upset when their second-grade son was read a book normalizing homosexual romance. The Lexington school system also refused their request to be notified or opt out. The school system was adamant and publicly announced they would continue introducing homosexuality to children in elementary school.
Soon the Parkers, joined by the Wirthlins, filed a federal lawsuit against the town of Lexington and the schools. David Parker was determined to seek justice for all parents in Massachusetts on this issue. He spent $250,000 of his savings on the case.
Parker lost the case in federal court, and lost again on appeal. The judges wrote in their two rulings that current Massachusetts laws allow (and even require) schools to teach all public school children that homosexual behaviors are normal, and that parents have no right to opt out or even be notified before or afterwards. Parents have no choice in the matter.
Furthermore, since the current notification law refers to "human sexuality issues" rather than specifics, the schools successfully argued that homosexuality and transgenderism instead are "civil rights" or "family" issues, etc. And the current law just covers "curriculum" and not other school activities (such as clubs, assemblies, or the "Day of Silence").
David Parker (shown here in handcuffs after being arrested and spending the night in jail) made a huge sacrifice for all of us, not just personally but monetarily. Read more about that here.
We owe it to him to see that his extraordinary efforts were not in vain!
After this incident and the lawsuit, the harassment against the Parker family and other people of faith increased, and the schools overtly accelerated their homosexual programs at the elementary level. The Parker family was forced to home-school their children. Earlier this year they moved out of Massachusetts.
Unfortunately, the Parker case is just the tip of the iceberg. This is happening all over Massachusetts. Parents' rights are being ignored and spat on by out-of-control teachers and administrators working closely with homosexual activist groups.
The David Parker Parents Rights Bill
MassResistance has carefully crafted a new bill to address this issue properly, and close those loopholes. It's Bill H406 which we've named the David Parker Parents Rights Bill. It completely re-writes the current Parental Notification Law. It's a very powerful piece of legislation. It's opt-in, not opt-out. It defines the things introduced in schools which parents want protection from. It includes the broad range of school activities not part of the formal curriculum.
And also, H406 covers the offensive and psychologically intrusive surveys
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Jennings Must Speak Out on his Role in Radical Group ACT UP (frc.org)
We continue to learn still more about the extremism of "safe schools" czar, Kevin Jennings. First, it was how he was "inspired" by Harry Hay--an early homosexual activist who openly defended pedophilia. Now, pro-family activists in Massachusetts have publicized an online video in which Jennings' homosexual partner, Jeff Davis, identifies Jennings as having been a member of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), a radical group that is highly controversial even among homosexual activists.
ACT UP is best known as the group which, on December 10, 1989, sent 4,500 protesters to St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York to protest the church's stance on homosexuality, condoms, and abortion.
Some invaded the cathedral and disrupted the Mass, and one even desecrated the Host during communion.
There were 111 arrests, and even many liberal leaders and pro-homosexual groups condemned the demonstration. While those events were twenty years ago (and we do not know if Jennings was involved), it was only three months ago that Harvard University opened an exhibit titled "ACT UP New York: Activism, Art, and the AIDS Crisis, 1987-1993." Among the key donors to the exhibit was-Kevin Jennings.
To the long list of questions Jennings must answer, we can now add the question of both his role in and his viewpoint on the extremism of ACT UP.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Boycott of Calif. schools in the making
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 10/21/2009
SaveCalifornia.com has launched a new drive to protest a pro-homosexual bill recently signed into law. Randy Thomasson, president of SaveCalifornia.com, tells OneNewsNow he is calling for a boycott over a law designed to force students to honor a deceased homosexual activist.
"With Harvey Milk Gay Day now the law for California government schools, and a handful of sexual indoctrination laws already existing that are in effect throughout the entire school year, parents have to at least boycott Harvey Milk Day or days or week," Thomasson urges.
Randy ThomassonThe boycott, he says, needs to be established by parents to protect their children, but also to drive home a point that they do not want their children indoctrinated with a pro-homosexual philosophy.
Thomasson feels that taking students out of the government school system is the only way to accomplish this protection. He adds that parents also need to be aware of the quality of education their children are receiving in California.
Thomasson reports that "on the academic chart, California is among the lowest academically in the country. On the sexual indoctrination chart, California leads the pack with Massachusetts following."
Given these statistics, the West Coast pro-family, pro-child organization hopes that the boycott will convey the message that time in the classroom should not be used in a way that might risk losing average daily attendance funds. In addition, Thomasson believes California parents need to be concerned enough about the welfare of their children to begin homeschooling or sending them to private or religious schools.
Joined: Jul 2005
Current Posts: 1715
An unexcused absence is an unexcused absence. Those who take the day off will be self-identifying themselves as homophobes (with an attached assumption that the poor innocent children are being indoctrinated in the home to be homophobes, as well). It is perfectly legal, of course, to be homophobic and to not like gay people. As long as you punish only your own children with your neolithic views, that too is permissible. I think the schools will have a much more friendly atmosphere when the children of all homophobes stay at home. Maybe they should do so permanently.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Prevent school-wide 'Harvey Milk' exercises
Harvey Milk Gay Day is optional, so pro-family citizens must speak up (Savecalifornia.com)
Every pro-family citizen is upset with Arnold Schwarzenegger signing "Harvey Milk Gay Day" into law in California. In addition to rescuing your children and grandchildren from the immoral government school system, many have asked, "Is there anything else we can do?" YES, THERE IS.
We've been reminding you that the only way to truly protect your children from a raft of existing sexual indoctrination laws is to homeschool or church-school them.
But you can also try to prevent school-wide and district-wide Harvey Milk "suitable commemorative exercises" every May, on or around May 22.
You see, by creating an official policy against "Harvey Milk Gay Day," a school district can do much to prevent individual principals and teachers from promoting the notorious Harvey Milk to impressionable children.
Why? Because SB 572 says it's up to school districts and individual schools whether to accept and embrace "Harvey Milk Gay Day." Many liberal school districts will, but others won't if school board members and principals receive a flood of calls and emails.
So direct your anger and do something good today to love God and love children:
PLEASE PICK UP THE PHONE
1. Call your area's government SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD MEMBERS and tell them to reject Harvey Milk Gay Day. Urge the school board members to pass a proclamation or policy prohibiting Harvey Milk curriculum and exercises. Such a policy would prohibit all the schools in the district, as well as individual teachers, from promoting Harvey Milk's sexual indoctrination to children as young as kindergarten.
Find the government school district office in your community: Search by name or city, then click the "District Web site," then find the link for the school board members, then call and email the board members (usually five per school district).
2. Call INDIVIDUAL PUBLIC SCHOOLS -- elementary, middle, and senior high -- in your community. Urge school principals to reject Harvey Milk Gay Day. Speak to them directly on the phone or leave a message to say you don't want "suitable commemorative exercises" honoring Harvey Milk happening at this school.
Find individual government schools in your community: Search this database to call and email the principal at each government school in your community.
LEARN HOW TO RESCUE YOUR CHILDREN
The sad truth is, with or without Harvey Milk Gay Day, cross-dressing teachers and homosexual-bisexual-transsexual instruction and activities is already the law for children in every California government school. Parents have a moral obligation to rescue their children from perverse brainwashing.
Visit RescueYourChild and SaveCalifornia.com's Facebook page to learn how you can homeschool or afford a solid church school or help start up a low-cost church school.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Obama's "safe schools" czar Kevin Jennings helps fund outrageous Harvard U. "Act Up" exhibit involving sexual perversion, child pornography, and anti-Catholic bigotry!
Kevin Jennings, Barack Obama's "safe schools" czar in the US Department of Education, is listed among those providing "gifts and grants" to fund a bizarre "Act Up" exhibit currently at Harvard University.
The exhibit includes horrible anti-Catholic bigotry, child pornography, and various descriptions and depictions of sexual perversion. It also includes posters accusing various public officials of murder during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 1990s and a call to terrorize offices of the National Institute of Health.
Religious bigotry. This poster depicts Cardinal O'Connor, comparing him to a condom. Under the condom is written "This one prevents AIDS."
The exhibit opened last week at Harvard University's prestigious Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts and nearby buildings. The main exhibit runs until Dec. 23. MassResistance was there for opening night, Oct. 15.
It was extremely disturbing. This exhibit is a "celebration" of anger, terrorism, religious bigotry, and sexual deviance. It's considered a serious mainstream event by the elite academic and homosexual communities.
In many ways it's a window into what the homosexual movement - including many who teach in colleges and high schools across the country -- thinks of children, America, religion, society, and you.
For any public official to be involved with this and funding it (much less a person in charge of directing the nation's children's "safety") is beyond offensive. It's every parent's nightmare.
Child porn: This page from a book with blacked-out areas was enlarged as a wall poster at the exhibit by a group of lesbian "artists in residence" calling themselves "Fierce [bleep]." It's one of many depicting depraved sexual situations, some involving children. It apparently describes an adult sexually asssaulting a girl. (Note: Lesbians always refer to adult females as women. They're only called girls if they're children.)
As we've reported, Kevin Jennings (who once hosted Barack Obama in his home during the presidential campaign) is a former member of Act Up and has praised NAMBLA activist Harry Hay.
Jennings is also the founder of the national homosexual group GLSEN (Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network), which sets up "gay straight alliance" clubs in high schools and middle schools across America and pushes "gay and transgender awareness days", "gay youth pride days", the Day of Silence, and other homosexual / transgender activities in schools across the country.
But worse, GLSEN is supported by the Massachusetts Legislature, which has written GLSEN into state law as part of the Massachusetts Commission for GLBT Youth. Despite pleas from parents over the years, the House and Senate leaders continue to block any attempts to remove GLSEN from the state's public schools.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Educating teachers, schools on religious rights
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 10/24/2009
The Rutherford Institute has launched its annual campaign to educate educators and the public on the U.S. Constitution. Institute founder John Whitehead explains the need for the campaign, which is designed to teach the ABCs of the Constitution in the classroom.
"[T]here are groups out there that for years have been peppering...and hammering the schools that there's is an absolute separation of church and state in America, and [that] you can't do Christmas in the schools, you can't pass out religious literature, you can't have Christian clubs," says the attorney, who points out that the latter argument violates the Equal Access Act and constitutes a violation of federal law.
According to Whitehead, schools "buy into it too often" when those groups persist in harassing school authorities.
In terms of constitutional religious rights it is even worse, according to Whitehead, who says usually children -- and sometimes teachers -- are denied their rights.
"Recent studies show that students and teachers as well don't know anything about the Constitution -- they don't know anything about the Bill of Rights, essentially," he observes. "Barely three or four percent can even pass the immigration exam that 93 percent of foreigners can pass."
Educators, parents, and students can obtain a copy of the ABCs of the Constitution and ask for a copy of the Bill of Rights by going to The Rutherford Institute's website.
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Exhibiting Poor (or is it Porn?) Judgment (frc.org)
If this is "America's Safe Schools Week," then Kevin Jennings has a unique way of celebrating it. In conjunction with the event, the President's safe schools "czar" is nowhere to be found. Could it be that he's too busy sponsoring a pornographic AIDS exhibit at Harvard University? The people over at MassResistance have made an appalling new discovery about Jennings that may finally be his undoing.
After learning that he sponsored the "Act Up" exhibit in Massachusetts, the group did a little digging to see what the display entailed. The images from the exhibit are so vile and disgusting that we can't even link to them.
Believe it or not, the man in charge of protecting our schools has endorsed a celebration of perversion that includes video pornography, religious defamation, photos of genitalia, and stories of child pornography, cross-dressing, and sadomasochism.
Unlike the incident of covering up child sexual abuse, this is not something that happened 20 years ago! Jennings donated to support the exhibit this year! The photos are so disturbing that any donation would have been too much--yet his name is there, listed as a proud patron.
While it's important to keep your children away from these images, it's even more important to keep your kids away from Kevin Jennings!
Contact your congressmen today and urge them to join Rep. Steve King's (R-Iowa) fight to remove this man from the Department of Education!
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
UK Parents Lose Right to Remove Children from Sex Ed Classes
Religious schools will be required to teach about homosexuality, contraceptives
By Hilary White LONDON, November 10, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The British Labour government has announced that parents will have no right to remove their children over the age of 15 from explicit "sex education" programs in schools.
Under new plans put in place by the government, sex education will be implemented starting at the age of 5 throughout the education system, including in religious schools. However, Ed Balls, the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, has issued a ministerial statement saying that all children need to receive at least one year of sex education as teenagers before the age of consent at 16 - meaning that parents will lose the right to opt-out for children over 15.
Under the new sex education rules, Catholic and other religious schools will be forced to teach children about contraception and homosexuality "within the tenets of their faith," a caveat that Daily Telegraph columnist Gerald Warner called "simply a cynical method of enforcing anti-Christian values on faith schools."
Balls said in the announcement that religious schools would be forced to give details about sex, contraception and homosexuality. Balls said, "You can teach the promotion of marriage, you can teach that you shouldn't have sex outside of marriage, what you can't do is deny young people information about contraception outside of marriage."
"The same arises in homosexuality," he added. "Some faiths have a view about what in religious terms is right and wrong - what they can't do though is not teach the importance of tolerance."
Until this change, parents had the right to withdraw their children from sex education under the 1996 Education Act. This summer the Family Planning Association (FPA), a key player in creating the new directive, issued a demand to government that parents' right to remove children from classes be revoked.
FPA is the national affiliate of International Planned Parenthood Federation, the world's largest pro-abortion organization. The government granted the demand despite the fact that their own public consultation found that nearly 80 per cent of respondents believed parents should retain the right to withdraw their children at any age.
Paul Tully, general secretary of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), said the plan was just a means of increasing government control in its determination to "deliver its anti-life policies to children."
The Christian Institute's Mike Judge called the move a "terrible intrusion of the right of parents. The government isn't responsible for educating children, parents are. Parent's don't lose that right on their children's fifteenth birthday."
"There can't be a teenager left in Britain that doesn't know how to roll on a condom," Judge told the BBC. "Sex education has been a disaster. We need less of it, not more of it."
But despite a steady chorus of protest from parents and religious organizations and the mounting evidence of the failure of such programs, the push to introduce very young children to the intricacies of human sexuality has been under way from Britain's abortion and contraceptive lobbyists for decades, and is only intensifying.
Read related LSN coverage:
UK Study Reveals Reproductive Health Clinics for Teens Increases STD and Out-of-Wedlock Births
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Are California public schools safe for children?
A raft of immoral, anti-family laws is motivating parents to rescue their kids
(Savecalifornia.com) 11/18/09
It's shocking but true. Because of recent bad laws and politically-correct trends, here is what children in California public schools are guaranteed to receive before they graduate:
1. Homosexual-bisexual-transsexual "education"
2. No effective discipline
3. Negative peer pressure and negative socialization
4. Less academic success, on average, than private or home schools
5. Distribution of condoms and birth control pills without parental consent
6. "Confidential" abortion referrals and outside counseling without parental consent
7. No teaching how to truly avoid STDs; "abstinence-only" education is prohibited
8. Widespread rejection of religious and moral values
9. Anti-God, pro-evolution education
10. Less safety, on average, than private schools
That's the bad news. Discover the good news and get the answers you need at our all-new, special-project website, RescueYourChild.com.
Joined: Jul 2005
Current Posts: 1715
Actually, public schools are a direct plot to brainwash children to become servants of the state, passed down through a secret society from the evil and twisted mind of Thomas Jefferson
Joined: Feb 2004
Current Posts: 2436
Sex ed, lies, and modern culture
Marcia Segelstein - Guest Columnist - 11/3/2009
Perhaps your local school's sex ed is taught as part of health class. That would be ironic, since in most cases, teaching sex education has less to do with health than indoctrination. In fact, much of what's taught under the heading of sex ed actually allows for practices that are distinctly un-healthy.
In her latest book, You're Teaching My Child What?, Dr. Miriam Grossman exposes the lies inherent in sex ed teachings and the dangers those lies pose for children. Grossman is also the author of Unprotected: A Campus Psychiatrist Reveals How Political Correctness Endangers Every Student. (Read Marcia Segelstein's column last year on that book)
To understand how modern sex education came to be, it's necessary to go back to Alfred Kinsey. Dr. Kinsey's academic training was in the classification of insects. But his personal obsession was sex, so he made it his field of study. Kinsey was, Grossman writes, "a bona fide mental case." He filmed sexual encounters with his wife and among his staff as part of his so-called research. According to Grossman, "Kinsey was all in favor of adult-child sexual contact – what we think of as child molestation – and considered adults who engaged in it 'much maligned.'" He believed monogamy to be "unnatural," and he disapproved of abstinence.
watch commentary icon smallWhy should we care about Alfred Kinsey? "Because," Grossman writes, "modern sex education derives from the personal philosophy of this man....He set out to prove to the world, and probably himself, that there really wasn't anything wrong with him; and lo and behold, it turned out that his research on human sexuality did just that."
Years later, thanks in large part to the work of Dr. Judith Reisman, we now know that Kinsey's research into the sexual practices of Americans was flawed, to put it mildly. Even at the time, many questioned it. Lawrence Kubie, a leading psychiatrist of the day, said that Kinsey's research was filled with "inaccurate data...errors, exaggerations...ideas that are patently absurd." The popular press, on the other hand, bought it hook, line and sinker. As did the public: his first book was a bestseller.
Nonetheless, the influence of Alfred Kinsey can't be diminished. "Kinsey's findings spawned a revolution and transformed western culture," writes Grossman. Besides convincing a gullible public that bizarre sexual practices were the norm in America, his legacy was carried on by his associates and passed on to America's youth. Mary Calderone, who worked closely with Kinsey, founded SIECUS, which stands for Sex Information and Education Council of the United States. Today SIECUS thrives as the nation's preeminent sex ed organization and primary advocate for "comprehensive sexuality education." Not surprisingly, prior to forming SIECUS with seed money from none other than Hugh Hefner, Calderone had been director of Planned Parenthood.
Grossman writes that Calderone wasn't interested in having SIECUS teach about treating or preventing disease. "Like Kinsey, she was crusading for social reform...[She] believed there was an urgent need to break from traditional ideas about sex, especially the way it was taught to young people. She found fault with the model used in school-based programs because they focused on preventing pregnancy and venereal diseases...[now called sexually transmitted diseases]. Calderone believed that when the negativity of sex education is added to society's repressive morality, the result is too many no's."
SIECUS managed to work its way into school sex education programs across the country emphasizing sex as "positive, natural and healthy." Calderone teamed up with another Kinsey acolyte, Lester Kirkendall, and SIECUS began its radical transformation of sex ed. Grossman writes, "[T]hey embarked on a crusade to inculcate in American youth what were seen by them as eternal, unquestionable truths." Those "truths" included beliefs that "physical pleasure has worth as a moral value," and that "the boundaries of human sexuality need to be expanded." Traditional Judeo-Christian values were out. Kinsey's off-the-wall values were in.
In an interview with National Review Online, Dr. Grossman described a pamphlet called "Talk About Sex," published by SIECUS, written "especially for teens." There are eight pages on sexual rights. Among other things, the pamphlet tells teens that they "have the right to decide exactly what behaviors, if any, you are comfortable participating in." Dr. Grossman suggests trying to imagine a pamphlet on nutrition for teens that said: "There are many types of diets. A diet low in saturated fats, carbohydrates, and sugars helps prevent obesity and cardiac disease. Some kids try to keep a healthy diet, others don't. You have the right to decide what to eat." No school – or parent – would tolerate such absurdity. And yet the nation's premier sex education organization tells teens to decide for themselves.
Having treated a myriad of college students as a campus psychiatrist at UCLA, Dr. Grossman knows too well the results of "comprehensive sex education." Many of her young patients came to her already infected with herpes, Chlamydia and HPV. They were not only scared and upset: they were shocked. They'd been taught about "safer sex." They hadn't been taught about the lack of protection condoms, for example, provide against STDs, or the emotional devastation that can result from casual sexual encounters.
That one man's demented notions of sexuality have worked their way into a "respectable" organization used by schools from coast to coast is shocking. That children are being taught that an "anything goes" attitude toward sex is normal and healthy, thanks to that organization, is tragic. More on that in my next column.
After ten years as a producer for CBS News, forty-something years as an Episcopalian, and fifteen years as a mother, Marcia Segelstein (mvsegelstein@optonline.net) considers herself a reluctant rebel against the mainstream media, the Episcopal Church (and others which make up the rules instead of obeying them), and the decaying culture her children witness every day. Her pieces have been published in "First Things," "Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity," and "BreakpointOnline," and she is a contributing editor for Salvo magazine.
Opinions expressed in 'Perspectives' columns published by OneNewsNow.com are the sole responsibility of the article's author(s), or of the person(s) or organization(s) quoted therein, and do not necessarily represent those of the staff or management of, or advertisers who support the American Family News Network, OneNewsNow.com, our parent organization or its other affiliates.