Our founding fathers knew that an educated public was necessary to
protect and preserve our republic. Therefore, they passed the Old
Deluder Satan Law in 1647 which required towns to provide a school where
reading, writing, and the Bible would be taught. Since then,
progressive educational policy makers have been undermining that early
view of our republic.
Preserving our republic is still possible if the root of the problem
is understood, if energies are focused, and if reformers are determined
to eradicate the cause. To date, the approach to educational reform has
been like that of a neighbor whose yard is a bed of dandelions. He picks
the flower heads and leaves the roots to grow deeper and stronger to
produce multiple flowers next week. The root of the problem facing
education has grown thick as a sequoia tree.
The Department of Education disseminates federal educational funds to
the states to make sure the mandates which follow those funds are
properly implemented. Common Core Standards are federally mandated
standards which define what is to be taught in each subject in every
classroom across the United States.
According to the Aspen Institute’s “A New Civic Literacy: American
Education and Global Interdependence,” increased federal control of
education is essential to provide policy experts unfettered access to
school curricula and to programs for teacher preparation. According to
the proposal, this move is vital to “enhance the capacity of Americans
to cope with interdependence,” a phrase meaning a one-world order. These
policies are focused on changing the values and traditions of the
American public—not on improving the academic achievement of America’s
students.
Hundreds of federal policies and policy papers by educational experts
indicate that once the Federal government gains sufficient control of
schools, the next step is to increase UN involvement and to change the
way schools are funded. Once the states no longer fund the educational
system, citizens will have no more control over education than they do
over their retirement or their health care.
When the federal government decides that homeschooling curricula does
not enhance the capacity of Americans to cope with global
interdependence or a global economy, what will happen to homeschooling?
Those who have focused on charter schools as the solution seem
unaware of ways the program is being exploited to create a federal
crisis that will eventually result in the elimination of all charter
schools. Albert Shanker, President of the American Federation of
Teachers, encouraged establishment of charter schools in 1988. Created
in Minnesota in 1991, charter schools were originally intended to be
privately funded and free from state laws and regulations.
When private funding was not available, federal and state tax dollars
provided this educational option. Providing federal dollars without
state laws has resulted in an exploitation of charter schools. Foreign
money has created Islamic charter schools, and groups like LaRaza have
created schools which advocate a return of portions of the United States
to Mexico. Once those schools are in place, private money typically
dries up and is replaced by state and federal tax money which funds
these anti-American schools.
Corruption, fraud, and embezzlement run rampant in the charter-school
system. Whenever progressives embrace an idea, one must wonder why. Are
these people looking forward to the day that tax payers will be made
aware of these problems, a crisis will be created, and tax payers will
rebel against the misuse of their tax dollars by charter-school
programs? If so, what will Federal Governmental Policy become regarding
charter schools?
A website called “Charter School Scandals”
is a quick resource for research in this area. The Advocates for
Academic Freedom website blog page has numerous articles that provide
in-depth coverage of all issues presented in this article.
The only effective solution to the problems facing education today is
to eradicate the source: the federal funding and federal mandates
imposed on the educational system. If we want to protect our right to
choose an educational setting for our children, if we want to protect
our republic, we must commit to a long, difficult battle.
Progressives have never relented nor must we. Our mantra should be:
Remove the federal mandates and federal funding from education and
reallocate those funds to the states.
Read more: http://politicaloutcast.com/2013/03/why-liberals-want-voters-ignorant/#ixzz2MOHDBxFC