< Previous www.TerryLowry.com October 201820The Danger of Government SchoolsBy Cathy Ruse Senior Fellow and Director of Human Dignity Family Research Council The situation in government schools is dire and getting more dire every year. All parents, whatever their circum-stance, must consider the danger government schools present to the souls of their children and even the soul of our country. Activist/author Mary Rice Hasson and philosopher Theresa Farnan get this exactly right in their important new book Get Out Now: Why You Should Pull Your Child from Public School Before It’s Too Late. They explain that, while education achievement markers have been declining, government schools “have been successful in one area: churning out youthful progressives — growing numbers of men and women in the grips of existential confusion, perpetual victimhood, and politi-cal intolerance.” Gender Ideology Hassan and Farnan begin with the hottest of issues roiling American schools, the imposition of “gender ideology.” They call it “the game changer,” and indeed it is. Government schools now preach, and enforce, the radical, anti-science position that biological sex is meaningless, that some kids are born in the wrong bodies, that women have penises, too. Pediatrician and outspoken child advocate Michelle Cretella calls this psychological abuse. She tells the story of a little girl who had been subjected to a male classmate’s “coming out” ceremony as a “trans girl” (orchestrated by the teacher, without the parents’ knowledge). One night, getting out of the bathtub and looking at her long hair slicked back, she burst into tears and asked her mother if she was turning into a boy. This is sheer propaganda, meant to throw children off balance. And it surely does. This is nothing less than child abuse at the hands of those we have entrusted with our children. Attacks on Christianity But sex confusion is hardly the only issue that should keep kids out of government schools. There is also the overt attack on Christianity. Hassan and Farnan tell the story of James Corbett, a California science teacher who was fond of attacking Christianity in the classroom. He told the kids that putting on “Jesus glasses” would blind Christians to scientific truth. He told them that believing in God was as ridiculous as believing in a “gigantic spaghetti monster living behind the moon.” Fed-up parents finally took the case to court and were told by a judge that his classroom behavior was “appropriate and legitimate.” Hassan and Farnan show how government schools can be a one-way ticket for your kids to leave the Church. Anti-Americanism And then there is anti-Americanism. There has been no more influential history book in our time than Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States, a primer for hating America because America has only ever done Cathy Ruse21October 2018 www.TerryLowry.comevil. You can be sure that most of those teaching history to kids have been steeped deeply in Zinn. Hassan and Farnan point out that the National Network of State Teachers of the Year recommend a smelly book called the Social Justice Book List that lists the themes of “classism, racism, xenophobia, sexism, and transgen-derism.” This is for kids in pre-school through sixth grade. If you wonder why your 4th grader comes home sounding like Jeremiah Wright and worse, this is why. Not in Your Lifetime It goes without saying that there are good and faithful teachers, too; faithful to their calling to educate and not indoctrinate. They, too, are victims of the ideologues. If they resist, they risk losing their jobs. In fact, we know teachers in government schools who have chosen to leave rather than teach this wicked nonsense. The bad news is Hassan and Farnan make clear “you cannot fix these problems, not in your child’s school life-time anyway.” What this means is you have to get your kids out now, today. It also means that you should work hard to change the school systems anyway, for the sake of their kids, for the sake of the country. Cathy Ruse is Senior Fellow and Director of the Center for Human Dignity at Family Research Council. This article was co-written with Austin Ruse, President of C-Fam. This article appeared in The Stream on September 10, 2018. Weekdays 2:00 to 3:00 PM on FM 100.7 The Word. Visit www.TerryLowry.com www.TerryLowry.com October 201822Child-Centered Education FundingGuest Editorial by Allan E. Parker, Jr., JD President, The Justice Foundation The greatest need for educa-tion refor m today is for more child centered funding. Under child-centered funding, or Education Savings Accounts, the parents or guardians choose the school that is best for their child. The education money, which is already held in trust by the State for the child, then follows the child to the school of the parents' choice. Child-centered funding is the real key to unlocking student achievement and ending the failures and the indoctrinations of public schools. We have been casting more money at the problem and wringing our hands for decades. More money, without restructuring the funding mechanism, will not produce any significant reform or advancement. Only by empowering the consumer to make the decision about where to spend their money will we force improve-ment from the bottom up. The child-centered funding choice mechanism acts as a catalyst to induce change on both the individual and system wide level. Example: Combatting Bullying For example, if bullying is a problem for a young person, they can immediately transfer to another school. Life improves for that child. If they are the only one affected, nothing changes at the old school. However, if bullying is a significant problem and two to five percent of the parents start leaving, taking their children's money with them, Administrators will be bound by duty, and under this new system by their own financial self-interest (as funding could decline) if they don't fix it, to take action. By taking action to reduce bullying and to keep students who were once afraid of the bully, the stu-dent and the parent are more secure in the public school setting. The exodus because of bullying stops. Teaching Values, Morals, Right and Wrong As a Christian, I advocate for child centered funding. Many parents want to bring Christian values, morals, instruction in right and wrong along with our Christian beliefs back into their children's education. Since 1962, the Supreme Court has blatantly kicked God out of the public schools. However, in Zelman v. Harris, 536 U.S. 639 (2002), the Supreme Court said that Legislatures could let parents Allan E. Parker, Jr. 23October 2018 www.TerryLowry.comWeekdays 2:00 to 3:00 PM on FM 100.7 The Word. Visit www.TerryLowry.comchoose to take their children's public education money to a private religious or secular school, if they so desire. Since 1962, the public schools have declined, especially in terms of discipline and values. Now we are seeing the death of children in public schools. It is not the public schools' or teachers' fault; it is the fault of the United States Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has given the ‘green light’ so that everyone can find a better school that incorporates their values, whether Christian or non-Christian. That is the free exercise of religion, not the establishment of religion. All Can Benefit As the bullying example demonstrates, as some con-cerned parents leave and take their money with them, the bullying problem at the entire school was addressed and handled by the administrators, benefiting every child. This is exactly how free markets work. The same mechanism works with failure to read by third grade (too common now), safety, or some weird experi-mental curriculum, for other examples. School choice allows innovation, but the only kids who experience the innovation are the ones whose parents say, "Sounds good. I will try it." If it works great, other schools will voluntar-ily copy it. Today, as teachers can too often attest, educa-tion fads come and go based on who controls the top level of admin, not reality based results. Next boss comes, new fad. Free public education paid for by the State of Texas is already the right and entitlement of every child in Texas, whether they attend a public or private school. It’s time for child-centered education funding. We need to give every-one the choice for child-centered education funding through education savings accounts. Not every child is served best by public educa-tion. It’s now time to empower the student and the parent to make the right choice for them. Child-Centered Funding Helps All Students As the bullying example demonstrates, as some con-cerned parents leave and take their money with them, the bullying problem at the entire school was addressed and handled by the administrators, benefiting every child. This is exactly how free markets work. The same mechanism works with failure to read by third grade (too common now), safety, or some weird experi-mental curriculum, for other examples. School choice allows innovation, but the only kids who experience the innovation are the ones whose parents say, "Sounds good. I will try it." If it works great, other schools will voluntar-ily copy it. Today, as teachers can too often attest, educa-tion fads come and go based on who controls the top level of admin, not reality based results. Next boss comes, new fad. Free public education paid for by the State of Texas is already the right and entitlement of every child in Texas, whether they attend a public or private school. It’s time for child-centered education funding. We need to give every-one the choice for child-centered education funding through education savings accounts. ABOUT THE AUTHOR In 2000, Allan Parker was designated a “Hero for Children” by the Texas Board of Education for “significant contributions to public school education in Texas, and for outstanding contributions to the success of the Texas pub-lic education system.” Allan Parker, President of The Justice Foundation (for-merly the Texas Justice Foundation), is a former Professor of Law at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas, where he taught Education Law and Civil Procedure. He was a Visiting Professor at the University of Texas, and studied International Human Rights at the International Human Rights Institute in Strasbourg, France. He taught International Human Rights at the St. Mary’s Institute on World Legal Problems in Innsbruck, Austria in 1992. Next >