Last week, my main point was that liberals couldn't care less about changing anything in public schools because they are producing exactly what liberals want. And that biased programming will deepen in the minds and hearts of America's young people unless we patriots stand up in every community, resist those progressive tides and demand alternatives.
There are ways to improve national academic imbalances. In Part 2 here, I give seven ways to counter that torrent of progressivism. Among the list of correctives that have been proved to work are the following:
1) Vocalize your opinions to local, state and federal representatives that government and unions need to have less of a role in running our children's education and more of a role in supporting parents' educational decisions for their children. Children belong to their parents, not to the government or unions. And parents must retain the right to personalize their children's education as they so wish.
2) Don't blindly accept a public school's or university's education plan based solely upon its name, past reputation or slick marketing. Confront the administration. Ask the hard questions of teachers and professors.
3) If you experience teachers or courses that create an intimidating atmosphere for expressing varied opinions, disparage alternative views, or advance one-sided political or social ideologies, report them to the administration or the school board. And if your concerns aren't heard, go to the district office. If the district doesn't listen, then take your complaints to other parents and the online community by posting blogs or sending mass e-mails. If our government isn't going to hold our academic institutions accountable, then its citizens must.
4) Encourage local schools and colleges to accept Students For Academic Freedom's "Academic Bill of Rights" and "The Student Bill of Rights," which are located online.
5) Consider starting a countercultural mission by teaching or assisting in a public school, college or university or even in the U.S. Department of Education. Whether or not you have a child in a public school, you still can be an active and vocal part of your school's board, PTA or equivalent. Volunteer to assist in any way that could balance the academic current.
6) And what if public schools don't improve or match the values and beliefs in our homes? Then we must remove our children from public schools and seek private alternatives, chartered schools, Christian schools or home schooling co-ops. Encourage older children to attend a private, conservative or Christian college or university, such as Liberty University or Patrick Henry College on the East Coast and Biola University, Azusa Pacific University, Pepperdine University, Westmont College or Bethany University on the West Coast. As I said last week, if you want to improve U.S. public education, support the competition.
7) Lastly, work to install a Bible curriculum into your public school district. Yes, it's legal, constitutional and being placed right now in thousands of schools across the country. A brand-new electronic version of the curriculum is available this week. The National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools' curriculum has been voted into 572 school districts (2,086 high schools) in 38 states, from Alaska and California to Pennsylvania and Florida. Ninety-three percent of school boards that have been approached to date with the curriculum have voted to implement it because the course helps students understand the Bible's influence and impact on history, literature, our legal and educational systems, art, archaeology and other parts of civilization. In this elective class, students are required to read through their textbook -- the Bible.
For a contribution of any size, you will receive a starter package with a step-by-step guide, all legal data necessary to satisfy the questions of school board members, letters from school districts that have implemented it, the table of contents of the Bible curriculum, and other NCBCPS information.
Send to: National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools, 2816-A. Battleground Ave., Box 313, Greensboro, NC 27408. Phone: 1-877-On-Bible or 336-272-3799. Fax: 336-272-7199. Website: http://www.BibleInSchools.net.
Thomas Jefferson was an enthusiastic advocate for public education and believed it was the key to preserving a republican government and society. Yet he was equally an ardent opponent against "any tyranny over the mind of man." Whether that dominance were sectarianism or secularism, conservatism or liberalism, Jefferson (and, I believe, our other Founders) would oppose and seek to correct today's disproportions in our nation's public schools.
If Jefferson supported reform in public education as a prerequisite for a lasting republican nation, would he not expect the same of us today?
(Speaking of education, I'm encouraging readers of my culture warrior column also to read my new weekly health and fitness column, "C-Force." Last week's article was titled "7 Roads to Brain Fitness.")
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