by Jean Vierra
If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war. As it stands, we have allowed this to happen to ourselves.
-- “A Nation at Risk” (U.S. Dept of
Education, 1983)
- A National Tragedy
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The 1983 A Nation at Risk report sparked off a
frenzy among educators and politicians into creating new task
forces, new comprehensive programs, and increasing taxes to
improve the public educational system and their image. However,
despite the overwhelming response and effort invested, David
Boaz, Executive Vice President of the Cato Institute and editor
of Liberating Schools: Education in the Inner City,
reports that SAT scores dropped by 4 points in 1991.
The US Department of Education revealed that for the first time in the history of the United States, American students educated in government run schools are graduating knowing less academically than their parents did when they graduated, and that in 1995 US students are still lagging behind other industrial countries in major subjects such as math, science and literacy. This crisis is affecting millions of American students and will affect the future of this country. It has been 12 years since the 1983 “A Nation At Risk” report and in spite of the millions of tax dollars poured into the government-run school system to improve it, public schools have gotten worse by most accounts.
Many universities and colleges complain that too many graduates of high schools come unprepared for higher learning and must enroll in remedial classes wasting time and money. Lets not forget that high school graduates have spent 12 years in the public school “educational” system.
- Goals 2000 —The Elitist Solution
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As if this isn’t tragic enough, there is a movement by the
“education elitists” of this country to implement a new program
dubbed Goals 2000. Goals 2000 looks
practical, worthwhile, and innocent on the surface, but as one
studies the program it becomes clear that this is just another
attempt by the liberal socialists to socialize this country
through the educational system and undermine parental rights.
There is a battle going on in America today. It is a battle over
winning the minds and hearts of our youth.
It appears there is a scheme to keep the masses uneducated and in poverty. We all know that the uneducated masses are easier to control. Could that be what the elitists in government hope to achieve?
According to Sheldon Richman, author of Separating School and State, government-run schools are turning children into obedient creatures of the state. Vin Suprynowicz, a syndicated columnist, refers to public schools as government propaganda camps. Joseph Sobran another syndicated columnist, wrote:
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the only cure for the evils of public education is to get
the state out of the education business entirely.
Many concerned Americans point to the monopoly the government has in America’s educational system. Many proclaim that the government has no business in education and that America’s arrogant and aggressive teachers’ unions have poisoned the public school system with their socialist indoctrination. In a commentary piece David Boaz wrote:
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Right now the United States actually has a more socialist
school system than Sweden, Russia, or the Czech Republic, all
of which have recently implemented voucher plans.
- Tax Vouchers —A Common Sense Solution
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Competition through the tax voucher system is the answer to
reforming our educational institutions in America. Competition
through freedom of choice, to include public, charter,
private, parochial, and home schooling. Freedom of choice will
give parents more control over their children’s
education.
Most families of every state cannot afford to send their children to private schools and cannot teach their children at home so they are trapped in the failed public school system where less and less time is spent on academic basics and more and more time on social engineering.
The emphasis on social engineering has led to curricula that include:
- building a false sense of self-esteem instead of competence,
- bilingual education,
- multiculturalism,
- diversity — including tolerance of alternative lifestyles,
- Outcome based education (OBE),
- Sex education.
The obsession that many educators in the public school system have with sex-education is mind boggling. President Clinton's former surgeon general, Jocelyn Elders, wanted masturbation taught in the public schools. Many schools have incorporated demonstrations on how to put on a condom and condom distribution into their curriculums.
Academic basics, the teaching of right and wrong, morals, family values, and self discipline are of little importance in a socialist and communist society. This is why there is a growing number of parents teaching their children at home if they cannot afford to send their children to a private school.
Tax vouchers would create competition in education like America has never seen before. Many private schools educate their students for less money and with fewer administrators, and are getting better results academically. A higher percentage of students graduating from private or home schools go on to colleges and universities with little if any remedial training.
Most parents want their children to have the best education possible. Most parents take pride in having their children excel in school and anticipate a successful career even surpassing that of their own. Unfortunately, most children are not getting the best education possible and parents need to brace themselves for a future with some very disappointing results. Parents need more control over their children’s education and the only way to obtain it is to teach their children at home or through the tax voucher system -- a GI bill for children.
- The Organized Opposition
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Needless to say, the teachers’ unions are fighting tooth and nail
to defeat the implementation of a tax voucher plan. Teachers
unions are big supporters of President Bill Clinton, is it any
wonder why the children of America are denied freedom of choice
in education? Do not forget that Bill and Hillary Clinton send
their daughter, Chelsea, to a private school. These “elitists”
are the champion defenders of “chiiillldren’s rights” for
everything but choice by the parents in the children's education.
Education is crucial to one’s future and the future of a society. The government and the teachers’ unions should be doing everything possible to provide the best education for every child in America, but aren’t.
The teachers’ unions deliberately suppress education while they proclaim to have the best interests of America’s youth at heart. Why aren’t they striving for excellence with the millions of dollars that the taxpayers provide for government schools?
- The Dumbing Down of America
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This dumbing down of America has manifested itself over a period
of 30 to 40 years. It is the result of lax-discipline, and the
implementation of “innovative ideas” such as the “new math”, and
the “look and say” or the “whole language” reading methods that
have led to widespread illiteracy. The California Department of
Education has declared “whole language” a failure and is
encouraging educators to teach “phonics” a tried and true reading
method that has proven valuable for many years —a method that
should never have been dropped from the curriculum of public
schools.
“Grade inflation” that began in the 1960’s and used in primary and secondary schools has contributed greatly to the dumbing down of America. Grade inflation is used to help build self-esteem and to continue to pass on students that otherwise would fail. William Cole, a literature instructor at Harvard University, writes that grade inflation rewards mediocrity and discourages excellence.
America is in the process of creating a generation of young adults unprepared for higher learning and the business world. Ironically this comes at an age of high technology and when millions of tax dollars are used to finance government-run schools. When it comes to education in America, children are the big losers. In the end, America loses.
- One World Government...
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How can America hope to compete in this world with the majority
of its youth schooled in these incompetent institutions? How
does America remain the superpower of the World? It appears that
the goal of the liberal socialists in control of public education
is to lesson America’s power and to have America become just
another country under the United Nations.
If the masses become too ignorant to defend the Constitution of the United States of America, it would not be difficult for the elite socialists in this country to have it replaced with a UN Constitution. New World Order, Anyone?...
- It's not too late... yet!
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We, the American people, continue to send our children to these
miserable socialist institutions despite the numerous reports of
mediocre education and violence in America’s public schools
today. WE need to demand competition via the voucher system! WE
need to vote against the liberal socialist elitists that refuse
to allow vouchers yet send their own children to private
schools!
Support a Smarter America... Demand vouchers... and a return to the academic basics!__JV