The Anti-Educational Effects of Public Schools

The Anti-Educational Effects of Public Schools is  perhaps one of the most well-articulated and creative looks at some of the problems of compulsory public education I’ve ever read. (Hat tip to Lori!)

“Indeed, some of the teachers there are genuinely competent and interested in the advancement of their students. It is just that virtually all the incentives are wrong…The very environment of a public school brings with it severe consequences — some unintended, others intended perhaps in part — that turn it into the virtual antithesis of true education.”

Even mentioning public schooling in a negative light evokes deep emotion in many, reinforcing the ingrained loyalty placed in us by the system itself.

This article actually discusses several angles you may have not even considered before (what is “school spirit” really about anyway?) and the author (though not a Christian that I can tell) does a superb job of candidly exposing some of the downfalls of public education.

His conclusion?  Deep budget cuts to the educational system could be the best thing to ever happen in our country to the real pursuit of education.

Worth the read!  I’d love to hear your thoughts when you’re done.

The Anti-Educational Effects of Public Schools

Is the Classroom Harming Boys and Society?

Need another reason to homeschool?

“…we’re not as concerned as we ought to be about the millions of young men who are floundering or lost.

But they’re there: The young men who are working in the lowest-level (and most dangerous) jobs instead of going to college. Who are sitting in prison instead of going to college. [My note: I would also add "instead of becoming entrepreneurs", understanding the great opportunities that await and are not limited to those with college degrees.] Who are staying out of the long-term marriage pool because they have little to offer to young women. Who are remaining adolescents, wasting years of their lives playing video games for hours a day, until they’re in their thirties, by which time the world has passed many of them by.

Root Problem

Whether in the prison system, in my university classes or in the schools where I help train teachers, I have noticed a systemic problem with how we teach and mentor boys that I call “industrial schooling,” and that I believe is a primary root of our sons’ falling behind in school, and quite often in life.

Two hundred years ago, realizing the necessity of schooling millions of kids, we took them off the farms and out of the marketplace and put them in large industrial-size classrooms (one teacher, 25 to 30 kids). For many kids, this system worked — and still works. But from the beginning, there were some for whom it wasn’t working very well. Initially, it was girls. It took more than 150 years to get parity for them.

Problem With Industrialized Schooling

Now we’re seeing what’s wrong with the system for millions of boys… Read more »

Homeschooling: “You’re Just Parroting What You’ve Been Taught”

Jasmine Baucham had a great post about the error of a typical homeschool argument we hear often.  I found it excellent food for thought…

“I’m going to be completely honest here:

Some of us have a huge bias when it comes to arguments about education.

You know the kids I’m talking about.

They’ve been educated in an echo chamber, a place where the curriculum is a unified effort to teach them one way to think.

They learn to view the world through a single lens: the worldview that they’re being taught.

They don’t live in the real world.

They’ve been told what to think and how to act from a young age; their responses to certain stimuli are deeply ingrained in them. And because of all of this, they’re biased. When they speak, they’re often just parroting what they’ve been taught….”

Read the rest at Joyfully Home

Christians: A Form of Godliness Denying Its Power?

(First sentence edited…my apologies if it sounded unloving.  I had just come from the discussion that spurred this post, and was feeling a little “charged”

I wonder why so many Christians never stop and say, “What are we doing wrong?” I’m amazed at how quickly some get upset about any suggestions outside the “norm”, yet are equally upset when their children turn out like that norm.   I get comments to posts about dating that go something like, “Well, I think it’s silly to expect your children to refrain from a physical relationship during the dating years….” or “How will they know if they want to marry someone if they don’t see what kind of kisser they are?” (I’m serious.)

But then the same parents are angry when their child comes home pregnant.  (Scratching head.)

Then comments to the public school debate that go something like, “We are supposed to be in the world”, completely disregarding any biblical principle that suggests that to be “in the world” has nothing to do with allowing our children to be taught by a secular religion and becoming a “companion of fools”, the values of which usually trump any the parents try to impart.

But I digress….kind of.

My sister and I were talking yesterday about the high school classmates she had met up with on Facebook.  About half of them were already divorced, having just graduated from high school a few years ago.  Unfortunately my sister is one of them.  It should be noted, this was a Christian high school.  Most of the kids came from “Christian” homes.  One of the classmates was in jail for murder, one had a near-pornographic picture as her profile, and several others were involved in lifestyles not mentionable.

“For men…shall be…lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;  Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” 2 Timothy 3:4-5

I’m just shaking my head asking, “What is wrong with this picture?” Divorce happens.  Maybe.  But at such alarming rates?  Among Christians?  Children out of wedlock happens.  But this often?  Fornication.  Divorce.  Drugs. Crime.  Aren’t these the things that Paul admonished the church to “not even let it be mentioned among you”?

And I think again of Einstein’s brilliant quote:

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results.”

So before you write off some “zany” idea like homeschooling or an alternative to dating, consider the proven alternatives.   We are doing something terribly wrong, and it’s high time more people say “enough is enough”.  If we claim to be new creatures, let us live like it, and not just give lip service.

“For you at one time were dark, but now are light in the Lord: let your behaviour be that of children of light…”  Eph. 5:8

Radical Gay Activist Appointed to the Department of Education

Hat tip to Tawny…

Kevin Jennings, radical gay activist, has been appointed to the Department of Education, in charge of the “Safe Schools” program.

If you are a Christian and have children in public school, make sure you read this…

(I might as well state the disclaimer right up front…this is a Christian blog.  And as such, I firmly believe that homosexuality is an abomination to God.  That does NOT mean I hate homosexuals or promote hatred for them.  I am no more anti-gay than I am anti-cohabitation.  I’m anti-immorality, whatever form it takes.  So if you comment to blast me for “hating”, don’t.  I’ll delete the comment because you’re incorrect.  This is not the place to try to convince me that immorality should be accepted and taught to our children.  You won’t.)

I wanted to offer yet another reason Christians must strongly consider whether it is acceptable to allow our children to be taught by the state.  And let me prod you to think about this…if we truly uphold all lifestyles of sin as sin, making no distinction about “levels”, why are we so easily outraged about a homosexual agenda being taught to our children, but we’re not bothered by the humanist agenda?  Or by the immorality being taught in the health classes under the guise of  “sex education”?  Or by the other teachings that oppose what we believe about God and truth?   Let’s give no allowance to be called hypocrites.  In my opinion, this is not a better reason to remove our children fro public schools; it’s just another one.

Obama has appointed Kevin Jennings as Assistant Deputy Secretary at the Department of Education.  Kevin Jennings is the founder and head of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN).  He is operating under the guise of promoting “safe schools”, where he claims his agenda is to protect children from harassment regardless of their sexual orientation.

But if there are any doubts about how this agenda is promoted, in a nutshell, they try to inundate people (read in this case “students”) with the language, expressions and familiarity of the homosexual lifestyle to “break down barriers” placed by “prejudice and ignorance”.  That’s their version and Jennings admits that “the affirmation of the lifestyle equals ’safety’ “.

It should be noted, that in order to desensitize children to the homosexual lifestyle, they have to be desensitized to immorality altogether. You can’t convince children that homosexuality is OK, until you first convince them that sex–in any form–is OK (it’s happening in Britain schools).  Folks, in case you didn’t know, we are witnessing a time in history when you are called “ignorant” for teaching your children that sex before marriage is wrong.  Or that virtually anything is wrong, for that matter.  There is no wrong; only choices.  And the state plans to “set right” that ignorant brainwashing by teaching your children otherwise. I’m not being hyper, I promise.  Ultimately, the religion of tolerance (America’s religion of choice) forces the state to keep pushing back anything established as *wrong*.    After all, being wrong may hurt my feelings.

If you feel brave enough to investigate what kind of sick, disgusting things are being taught at the GLSEN conferences (the group Jennings heads up), it may help you to understand that I’m not being an alarmist.  But I will warn you that what I read from a Massachusetts’ conference (my audio didn’t work) is jaw-dropping explicit–bordering sadism.  The conferences receive federal funding, are supported by the Dept. of Education and have students as young as 14 in attendance.

Here are a few details about Jennings and his network:

” The group’s target has been to place these clubs (GLSEN) in all U.S. schools, K through 12.”

In a speech in a New York church in 2000…

“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!” — Jennings speech to Marble Collegiate Church, March 20, 2000.

(How’s that for irony…one of his “safe schools” tactics was to declare a no-name-calling week.  He has been hired to promote respect and kindness for all. Do you really think that is his aim?)

At a GLSEN conference, Jennings told his fellow gay teachers that they must teach kids to accept homosexuality “before the children have a chance to be prejudiced by their parents and churches.”

What Does the School Bus Have to Do With the Future of American Healthcare?

“One of the mantras we hear repeatedly these days is, “we don’t want socialism.”  While that sounds good (and conservative, and constitutional, and patriotic, etc.), it rings hollow when you consider the overwhelming majority of the people leading the charge have their children in what amounts to socialized education.  What’s the difference?  If you’re really against government-run, socialized programs, yank your kid off the yellow prison bus and just say no.”

Read the rest of  The Yellow Prison Bus and the Future of American Healthcare