Wednesday, March 08, 2006
This Ought to Terrify You.
I'm not a Neal Boortz fan--I disagree with him completely about Iraq, for example, and consider him more of a neocon than a libertarian--but there are times when he hits such an utter bullseye that I have to stand up and applaud! This is one of those times. What will the ditzy bureaucrats running government schools dream up next to ruin the next generation's minds? If you are reading this and have children, I hope you have decided either to homeschool them or send them to a private school. (Courtesy of Jeffrey Foxmore--thanks.)
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THIS OUGHT TO TERRIFY YOU
Those who listen to my show know that I am not what you might call "friendly" to the idea of government educating our children. Every day I try to find at least one government-education horror story to share with my listeners, and every day that task becomes easier and easier. Just two days ago I was telling you about a school district in Rhode Island that had cancelled the annual spelling bee. An administrator said that the spelling bee violated the spirit of "The No Child Left Behind Act" because one child would win, and the others would be left behind. This government employee/assistant superintendent said that a spelling bee was about "some kids being winners and some kids being losers." So ... no spelling bee. Does this asinine thought process exist in your child's school system? Who knows! I can tell you that I see more and more stories like this every day.
How can parents not understand that turning over their children to the state to be educated will have consequences? Can anyone truly expect that their child will survive such an experience with even the most shallow understanding of the dangers of too much government? If your child is educated in a Catholic private school you would reasonably expect that your child will come away believing that the Catholic way of looking at things is pretty much on mark. Ditto for a Baptist or a Hebrew school. And you somehow think that government schools don't work the same magic? Doesn't it stand to reason that if you send your child to a government school that your child will "learn," if that's the word, that government is the answer to most of the problems they will face in their lives?
Yes, I know government is necessary. I'm not an anarchist. I do believe, though, that the phrase "necessary evil" applies to government more than to any other institution in our lives. I doubt, though, that your child will ever hear that phrase applied to government in their government school classrooms. Nor will they learn that government is the only institution in our lives that can use deadly force to accomplish it's goals. You must know that your children will never be taught that America wasn't created to be a democracy, and that the very people who wrote our constitution and designed our form of government warned us very specifically against the idea of democracy and majority rule. And you certainly must know that your child will never learn in a history class that our founding fathers intended for over 90% of all governing to come from the local level in times of peace.
The list goes on. Day after day your children are presented with nothing but a positive image of government and its role in our society as they sit in their government classrooms being taught by government employees in schools administered by government bureaucrats. When your child finally escapes to the private sector they will be fully trained to depend on government to smooth out all of the rough spots in life.
Now ... let's take a look at an alarming study of high school attitudes toward one of our basic and most precious freedoms; freedom of the press. Last Spring the University of Connecticut conducted a survey of 112,003 high school students across the country. These students were asked if they believe that newspapers should be required to get permission from the government before they publish stories. If our schools were doing their job in teaching our children about basic freedoms, the Bill of Rights and the proper role of government in a free society you wouldn't be able to find 5 out of 100 high school students who would tell you that they believe government should control what stories newspapers can publish. Well .. brace yourselves. Thirty-six percent of high school students believe that newspapers should get government approval of stories before they are published. Another 13% didn't have an opinion. That makes 49% of our high school students, virtually one-half, who have no particular appreciation for freedom of the press.
OK .. so you'll read this, or hear me talk about it on the radio, and you'll shake your head and wonder what is wrong with our schools. Then, tomorrow morning, you'll pack some lunches and send the most precious thing in your life, your child, off to the government for more of this wonderful government education.
=================================================
THIS OUGHT TO TERRIFY YOU
Those who listen to my show know that I am not what you might call "friendly" to the idea of government educating our children. Every day I try to find at least one government-education horror story to share with my listeners, and every day that task becomes easier and easier. Just two days ago I was telling you about a school district in Rhode Island that had cancelled the annual spelling bee. An administrator said that the spelling bee violated the spirit of "The No Child Left Behind Act" because one child would win, and the others would be left behind. This government employee/assistant superintendent said that a spelling bee was about "some kids being winners and some kids being losers." So ... no spelling bee. Does this asinine thought process exist in your child's school system? Who knows! I can tell you that I see more and more stories like this every day.
How can parents not understand that turning over their children to the state to be educated will have consequences? Can anyone truly expect that their child will survive such an experience with even the most shallow understanding of the dangers of too much government? If your child is educated in a Catholic private school you would reasonably expect that your child will come away believing that the Catholic way of looking at things is pretty much on mark. Ditto for a Baptist or a Hebrew school. And you somehow think that government schools don't work the same magic? Doesn't it stand to reason that if you send your child to a government school that your child will "learn," if that's the word, that government is the answer to most of the problems they will face in their lives?
Yes, I know government is necessary. I'm not an anarchist. I do believe, though, that the phrase "necessary evil" applies to government more than to any other institution in our lives. I doubt, though, that your child will ever hear that phrase applied to government in their government school classrooms. Nor will they learn that government is the only institution in our lives that can use deadly force to accomplish it's goals. You must know that your children will never be taught that America wasn't created to be a democracy, and that the very people who wrote our constitution and designed our form of government warned us very specifically against the idea of democracy and majority rule. And you certainly must know that your child will never learn in a history class that our founding fathers intended for over 90% of all governing to come from the local level in times of peace.
The list goes on. Day after day your children are presented with nothing but a positive image of government and its role in our society as they sit in their government classrooms being taught by government employees in schools administered by government bureaucrats. When your child finally escapes to the private sector they will be fully trained to depend on government to smooth out all of the rough spots in life.
Now ... let's take a look at an alarming study of high school attitudes toward one of our basic and most precious freedoms; freedom of the press. Last Spring the University of Connecticut conducted a survey of 112,003 high school students across the country. These students were asked if they believe that newspapers should be required to get permission from the government before they publish stories. If our schools were doing their job in teaching our children about basic freedoms, the Bill of Rights and the proper role of government in a free society you wouldn't be able to find 5 out of 100 high school students who would tell you that they believe government should control what stories newspapers can publish. Well .. brace yourselves. Thirty-six percent of high school students believe that newspapers should get government approval of stories before they are published. Another 13% didn't have an opinion. That makes 49% of our high school students, virtually one-half, who have no particular appreciation for freedom of the press.
OK .. so you'll read this, or hear me talk about it on the radio, and you'll shake your head and wonder what is wrong with our schools. Then, tomorrow morning, you'll pack some lunches and send the most precious thing in your life, your child, off to the government for more of this wonderful government education.
