Public Schools @ MindSay 
Hear me now and spread the news: Palin believes creationism should be taught in public schools. She is an anti-science extremist. She's what the conservatives call a "pro-life feminist." I'm not sure what supporting state control over the womb has to do with feminism, but there it is. She owns and carries a gun on her person. She is anti-government. As best I can tell, her politics are no different from Ann Coulter's.
Report Finds (4/29/08)
Little progress has been made in reforming U.S. public schools
since the release of the landmark 1983 report A Nation at Risk
and presidential leadership will be necessary to improve the
nation's education system, a new report from Strong American
Schools' "Ed in '08" ( http://www.edin08.com/ ) campaign finds.
Published by the National Commission on Excellence in Education,
A Nation at Risk found that U.S. schools were being eroded by a
"rising tide of mediocrity," noting systemic problems in academic
standards and expectations, the time allocated for learning, and
the quality of teachers. According to the new report, A Stagnant
Nation: Why American Students Are Still at Risk, few of the ear-
lier commission's recommendations have been enacted, leaving
America's economic future at risk.
The report from Ed in '08, which is funded largely by the Bill
& Melinda Gates and Eli and Edythe Broad foundations, found that
only one state has a pilot program to significantly expand learn-
ing time, only five states have large-scale programs in place
for performance pay or career-ladder incentives, and that even
as students are earning better grades in tougher courses, actual
learning is stagnant or declining. For example, two out of five
high school seniors lack math skills commonly taught in 7th or
8th grade, while reading skills have declined for 12th-grade
students from all backgrounds, including those with college-
educated parents.
"Our schools have been underperforming for twenty-five years.
America is slipping farther and farther behind the rest of the
world academically because we have been unable to enact meaning-
ful reforms or substantially improve student learning in the
last quarter century," said Ed in '08 chairman Roy Romer. "We
know that the American public supports education reform -- the
missing piece is leadership -- on national and local levels.
Without vigorous national leadership, states and schools cannot
significantly improve their antiquated education systems. Stu-
dents in our nation's schools deserve a robust and world-class
education that offers them a pathway towards the American dream."
"Ed in 08 Unveils New Analysis and Report Card Surrounding 25th
Anniversary of A Nation at Risk." Ed in '08 4/21/08.
http://fconline.foundationcenter.org/pnd/15012731/story
In this day in America the Left and Secular Humanists will do their utmost to prevent Christian worship, prayer and symbolism out of Public Schools for the oft misperception of the term “Separation of Church and State.” That term is not found in the original U.S. Constitution nor in any Amendment to the Constitution and especially it is not found in the first ten Amendments known as the Bill of Rights.
As you can probably deduce, I highly disagree with the Left’s extreme incursion in Public Schools and Public Institutions. I agree religion should not be promoted as Establishing a State Religion which is the only intent of the First Amendment; however to completely eradicate religion and especially the religion in which America has its heritage from is ridiculous. The Founding Fathers NEVER had any intent of preventing the principles and morals out of publicly funded institutions, they simply objected to establish any particular Christian Denomination as the State Church and they wanted Americans to have the freedom to believe as they see fit whether they were religious or atheistic or what ever.
Now that is my introductory rant on what I think the Left and Secular Humanism has done in attacking the efficacy of Christianity in Public Institutions.
Now let us get to the point. The Left and Secular Humanism is so intent on multiculturalism and anti-Christianity that they dispose of their own concepts of “Separation of Church and State” when it comes to funding a religion in Public Institutions foreign to America’s heritage. This is particularly true of the religiously politically correct moniker of the religion known as Islam (I prefer the 19th century moniker for it is closer to the truth – Mohammedanism).
Mohammedanism is being taught in Public Schools to the extent that students are made to practice Mohammedan rituals in the name of multiculturalism. For example: the observing the Mohammedan religious holy days of Ramadan again under the guise of understanding and accepting another multicultural way of living. I don’t have a problem with understanding another culture, especially the Mohammedan culture. Americans need to understand the nature of how Mohammedanism grew into a significantly large religion and how intolerance forbids the free thought non-Mohammedan beliefs in Mohammedan culture.
HOWEVER teaching students rituals is like promoting its faith. This is the very thing the Left and Secular Humanism does not allow Christianity to do in Public Schools under their belief of the Separation of Church and State.
It gets worse! Now American tax payer money is actually paying for Arabic Culture schools for foreign children of Arabic descent or immigration complete with speaking in Arabic and Mohammedan prayer moments and a curriculum financed by Saudi interests which include the Wahhabi Sunni school of thought which is the radical Islam of Mohammedan terrorists like al Qaeda, the Taliban and Hamas – all listed terrorist organizations by the U.S. State Department.
The most controversial school of this nature is in New York – the Khalil Gibran International Academy (KGIA). Daniel Pipes points out that teaching Arabic culture is a good thing; however the way Arabic curriculum is scheduled to be taught is in a way that glorifies Pan-Arab nationalism or in my interpretation – glorifies Mohammedanism as the supremacist religion of the planet and denigrates other cultures. Alicia Colon writing as a critic of the curriculum that the pro-KGIA people have accused critics of KGIA as being hate mongers and bigots. The pro-KGIA people point especially to Stop The Madrassa as a preeminent hate group however when Colon investigated the website she found nothing comparable to hate. It is a website critical of promoting Mohammedanism and skewing the academic truth on the American dime. In all this Colon wonders, “Where is the ACLU?” After all the ACLU is in the forefront organization keeping Christianity out Public Institutions and Public Schools is high on that ACLU list of persecution. Colon was also astounded that the pro-KGIA people were sending her HATE mail of the deviant quality that made anti-KGIA critics look like saints.
KGIA was so last year; however that Public Institution’s example is beginning to be set up in other parts of America.
The State of Minnesota is now funding the same kind of Arabic Public School and according to an Act For America e-newsletter I received recently may be even on a worse scale than the KGIA.
The Act For America e-newsletter points out that the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TIZA) is on the public dime for foreign Mohammedans too poor to attend the private Madrassa school in the same area yet are taught the same anti-American radical Islamic message.
And since I had to check a source, viz. the Stop The Madrassa blog; I have discovered that the blog has posted same article as Act For America did by Katherine Kersten of the Star Tribune (*Registration Required) which links Muslim American Society (MAS) with TIZA. Hello! The MAS has been linked to radical extremist terrorists and Islamists like Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.
- advanced sciences: chemistry, physics, botany, etc.
- advanced languages: Spanish, French, German, etc.
- advanced math: algebra, geometry, calculus, etc.
- advanced social studies to include global issues, politics (taught objectively, of course), and social evolution
- advanced literature: to include the research and development of academic writing, in depth critical analysis, psychological analysis of literature
- additional electives like psychology, computer programming, film-making
Consider one 17-year-old boy who twice failed grade 10. This student's IQ score, at barely 100, allowed him to squeak into the public school's regular program, but his school's testing practice prevented the boy from rising past the bottom scores in his class. For a while, in spite of his difficulties to pass most tests, the student desperately tried to succeed at school. Life on a farm taught him the value of hard consistent work, and the boy's easy-going nature splashed color on classroom activities. His infectious laughter made him a sought-after friend to both peers and staff. The shop teacher told how he frequently hung around to help out after class, and how, when volunteers were requested, he was first to respond.
Although the boy mastered few skills championed in traditional Western curricula, he clearly possessed his own unique array of talents. While he showed higher than average inter-communication ability, however, he withdrew and often grew noticeably quiet when tests were handed back...
"One principal suggested that the boy came to school with the 'wrong abilities.' Other educators, like his science and music teachers, suggested that the school issued this student the 'wrong tests.' … Unfortunately, however, the boy failed grade 10. Already stung by two previous failures and rather than repeat again, eventually he simply dropped out of the high-school system."
(McKenzie's article -
Multiple Intelligences: It's Not How Smart You Are, It's How You're Smart!)
- What is a basic education?
- What do you think should be part of a basic public education?
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