We Don’t Need No Education……….We Only Need our Thoughts CONTROLLED!

Okay, so those aren’t the actual lyrics by Pink Floyd, but it sure seems to be the purpose of our Public Schools these days. I have been feeling the sting of all this for quite a while.

I have a 6-year-old daughter who attends Kindergarten at our local Elementary School. One day last week, we were driving along and she says, “Black people listen to black music, but Kevin’s not black and he listens to black music.” (Kevin is my 15-year-old son, her brother.) I thought I was going to head over an embankment. SHE’S SIX! Where on EARTH did she get THAT? As I start asking her questions about her statement, I couldn’t believe my ears! “White people listen to country music.” (This one ticked me off more than the last comment!) Then she says, “Mrs. (so-and-so) likes Usher and Brittany Spears. She dances to their music all the time in her house.” YES- my knuckles turned white as I found myself gripping the steering wheel.

After asking a few questions, I realized that one of her teachers had been “sharing” this information with her class. This wasn’t a conversation taking place out on the playground where the kids were just hanging out talking with the teacher. They were gathered in a circle, sitting on the floor. Rather than trying to teach her that her teacher was full of hogwash- this wouldn’t be helpful to her in the future- I decided to just teach her to question things she hears; even if she hears it from sources she considers to be credible or truthful. So I asked her, “Well, can black people listen to country music?” She says, “I don’t know. I don’t know much about black people.” NOW I AM HEARTBROKEN! Out of the 6 or 7 friends that she plays with and talks about all the time, only 2 of them are white, the others are black (African American). Then I ask, “Can white people listen to black music?” She replies, “I don’t know much about white people either.” Finally I asked, “What is black music?” She answers, “Rap!”

I don’t even know where to start. Before I continue my rant, let me lead you to two articles in the news; 'Anti-Racist' Message in Mass. Math Class and Student awarded for Bush-Hitler project;Compares president's policies to Nazi pillage of Europe. What are our schools doing? When I read the first article about the ‘Anti Racist’ message in teaching objectives I can’t help but think they are doing EVERYTHING backwards. The key to teaching children to respect others is teaching them to respect themselves! But all the anti-racism teaching in the world will NEVER get anywhere if they are taught things like “White people listen to country music.”

I don’t take issue with the idea of teaching kids to not be racist. I do take issue with their methods! When parents are making comments like, "My children do not know Christopher Columbus, except that he was a racist who caused the death of many innocents or the founders of the nation. They have hardly heard of George Washington or Abraham Lincoln even though we live in the area that began it all. What they do know about is the wonders of Ghana, Mexico and China," we are looking at some SERIOUS problems for this next generation. Then when I read things like this; “Academic advocates of multicultural education say anti-racist education and multicultural education are very close in definition and say many people don't have a good idea of exactly what racism is, so they don't understand efforts to combat it in the classroom,” I realize that the battle is going to take AN ARMY of concerned parents who are committed to being vigilant in making sure that changes are truly made. How condescending! We don’t understand efforts to combat racism in the classroom because we don’t know have a good idea of exactly what racism is? Oh, I get it. You defend this crapt by claiming that YOU have the corner market on understanding racism; therefore, you get to define it- and ultimately just decide that it is YOUR job to teach OUR children YOUR agenda, using YOUR methods, and AT THE EXPENSE of teaching the skills and curriculums that schools were DESIGNED FOR! PERFECT! JUST PERFECT!

I want to make it clear that I am not attacking ALL teachers. I am not attacking ALL schools. I happen to know some WONDERFUL teachers, and there is NO DOUBT that our teachers deal with things that you just couldn’t pay me enough to deal with. Being able to spend 7-8 hours a day with 30 children, and having to reach certain goals and criteria is a GIFT! It is truly a GIFT- and a GIFT that I DON’T HAVE! Not having this gift does not however, mean that I don’t understand when someone is abusing their time with my children and it certainly doesn’t mean they are at liberty to teach whatever THEY feel is important.

Then we have the other story about a 17-year-old kid who “insisted he was trying to make comparisons between the U.S.-led war in Iraq and the German blitzkrieg without actually equating Hitler to Bush.” Uhuh, sure and “No mommy, I didn’t eat the brownies,” says the 3 year old with a face covered with chocolate. Who is teaching this child? WHO? Has this kid SEEN pictures of the dead bodies and the walking skeletons found in NAZI concentration camps? Show me Jeffrey Eden, where the U.S. lead war in Iraq has ANY comparison to the spewing of Anti-Semite propaganda and systematic extermination by ANY race or religion! In fact, Bush had consistently defended Islam. He has reached out to Muslims and Arabs time and time again.

Amazing how none of his teachers had bothered to show him pictures of the mass graves of WWII and the pictures of HUSSEIN’S mass graves in Iraq. It was SADDAM who targeted people- women and children included- for violent attacks, based strictly on their race and/or religion! It is Hitler that did this same thing! This is PURE evil. The worst part is the teacher smacking an “A” on a student’s project that is steeped in propaganda and VOID facts! Even more disturbing is the Rhode Island Scholastic Art people giving him an AWARD for it!
To top it all off, I hear teachers get upset with people who choose to home-school. I have witnessed a public school teacher try and berate a friend of mine for home-schooling his children. The kicker- my friend is a PROFESSOR! YEAH! A PROFESSOR! The gall! It is like a mechanic sending his car out to be fixed by a government agency more interested in making the cars look pretty than actually worrying about how the car RUNS!

There is so much more to say on this- but I think I’ll let you all cover the rest. I need to head to my local high school for some tips on how to dress my 4 year old……….