Parent Desperately Trying to Be Heard by Sinister System
1-5-2003
Dear NAPTA Reader:
I write to bring you this horror story so that you may be encouraged
to investigate your own child's classroom and discover what is going
on there. But merely knowing the activities is not enough. You must
dig deeper to find out the whys and wherefores of classroom
methodologies and the philosophies of those who developed them
and for what purpose.
Benjamin Bloom, who authored two important works that all teachers
both secular and Christian are schooled in, Blooms' Taxonomies of
Educational Objectives I and II, was once quoted as saying that
"Good teaching is [considered] challenging a student's fixed
beliefs." What are those fixed beliefs, and where did they come
from? The kids' parents? The church?
In January of 2002, in my daughter Ashley's biology classroom,
a video was shown. The following paper is what I prepared in
response to this event. It went out to every parent whose child was
in the classroom and every school board member. The response was so
dismal (one parent!) that I could only conclude that the parents
actually approved of the showing! Please keep in mind that this is
only ONE event among many other minor events, but all contributing
to what teachers (and evidently parents!) think "education" is today.
As you are thinking on these things, multiply this event by
hundreds and thousands across America. Then you may no longer
wonder why the children are shunning moral absolutes in favor of,
"Well, everyone else is doing it, why can't I?" type reasoning.
It took practically an act of Congress for me to get on the
agenda to speak to the school board to complain about this video (school
boards have ways to keep parental objections and concerns at arms
length!), but when I finally got to speak to them, it was in the
early summertime and the video was shown in January! One of the
school board members actually giggled and made faces through my
whole presentation while my back was to them. I contacted an
Internet news site (CNS News) and one of the reporters called
to interview me by phone.
He also contacted Hot Springs High School and tried to get the
Principal John Shewmaker's reaction, but he declined comment.
The reporter then called the Arkansas Board of Education and was
given the typical song and dance by someone there regarding the
semantics of "local control" which, by the way, is a farce. As
long as there is federal funding of the public school system,
whatever you term local control is completely out of the picture.
My own personal awareness of something gone terribly wrong in the
schools came early on in 1999 in a dramatic fashion, though I'd had
previews in years gone by. Ashley, then 12 years old, brought home
a "nosy questionnaire" as a homework assignment. It asked some
pretty personal questions, so I called the teacher. To make a long
story short, Ashley didn't do the assignment, and she didn't get a
bad grade either. I rather pointedly asked that she be given another
assignment to do.
The questionnaire asked how many people live in your home?
Who are they? How many rooms do you have in your home / apartment?
How many hours a week do your parent(s) work? Do you work?
If so, how many hours a week? How many radios does your family
have? Televisions? VCRs? Telephones? Cars? What are your most
valued possessions? What do you wish for in the future? And beside
all this, they were to draw a picture of their home and show where
their most valued possessions were! I drew the line right then
and there.
This was actually part of a geography / social studies lesson.
There were pictures of families on posters around the classroom
depicting them and their extended families that lived with them
and with their possessions. Of course none of them were shown as
having as much as Americans, naturally.
And while you may think this would be a GOOD thing, in which
the kids would be THANKFUL, that they, as Americans had so much,
never mind that! You may not be aware that the UNITED NATIONS
is involved in our education system. In 1993, the governors of
the 50 states were instrumental in implementing UNESCO's "lifelong
learning", and "cradle-to-grave" agenda in the United States, thanks
to now former President Clinton and his wife Hillary along with
Marc Tucker and Ira Magaziner of the National Center on Education
and the Economy located in Washington, D. C.
The idea of this exercise is to manipulate the feelings of the
students to dramatically demonstrate to them that Americans have
more than their share of worldly wealth, and that we are actually
"bad Americans" for having so much. This is psychological
manipulation, which I have termed "micro-terrorism in the classroom".
And no classroom teacher no matter what their level of education
is qualified to administer such a psychological test.
I hope you will realize that the public schools are not the place
for children. It's too dangerous.
Charlene Sanders
Hot Springs, Arkansas
charliegirl2005@sbcglobal.net
Read Charlene Sanders'
PLEA TO HER SCHOOL BOARD
that, like boards all over our nation, had and has
NO INTENTION OF LISTENING TO PARENTS.
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