Wednesday, March 28, 2007

A strange Catholic university

Catholic University of San Francisco Promotes Abortion, Same Sex Marriage and Contraception

The University of San Francisco (USF), a Catholic college, features on the front page of its website a festival that includes at least two films that promote abortion and same sex marriage, and a report by four USF nursing students that includes recommendations for contraceptive use. The 2007 Human Rights Film Festival (March 19th - 21st) is sponsored by USF's Office of the Provost, College of Arts & Sciences, Gender & Sexuality Department, University Ministry, and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (LGBTQ) Caucus among others.


One of the films presented, "Rosita," tells the story of a nine year old Nicaraguan girl who becomes pregnant after being raped. The girl's parents are determined to obtain an abortion for her, even though abortion is illegal in their country. According to the description of the movie, "[the] parents move forward only to be forced into battle with two governments, the medical establishment, and the hierarchy of the Catholic Church." "One Wedding and a Revolution" is a sympathetic look at San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's 2004 decision to grant "marriage" licenses to same sex couples. The film is billed as containing "historic footage of the tearful exchange of vows between long-time lesbian activists."


Meanwhile, USF touts "as an impressive example of students assisting the community" a birth spacing study by four nursing students which was adopted by the Contra Costa Department of Public Health. Unfortunately, the study promotes contraceptives. "If there is a legitimate need for some mothers in Contra Costa County to delay subsequent pregnancies, Catholic teaching on marriage, chastity and natural family planning would have provided the nursing students with an opportunity to promote authentic, Catholic solutions," said Patrick Reilly, President of the Cardinal Newman Society.

"As a Catholic institution, if the University of San Francisco will not support the Catholic position on issues, at the very least it has an obligation to not promote issues that directly contradict Catholic teachings on some of the most pressing moral issues of the day. "The Church is very clear that abortion is intrinsically evil, that marriage can only be between one man and one woman, and that contraception use is a sin. It is a scandal that USF, an institution that is not shy about touting its Jesuit heritage in marketing materials, would actively work against these fundamental Catholic truths."

Source




BIASED BRITISH UNIVERSITY ADMISSIONS CHALLENGED

UCAS challenged over proposed new application form

A civil liberties group has asked the Commission for Racial Equality [CRE] to intervene over the University and Colleges Admissions Service’s [UCAS] proposal to provide data about potential students’ ethnicity to Admissions Officers before rather than after the selection process is complete.

Liberty and Law director Gerald Hartup has written to CRE chair Professor Kay Hampton complaining about the proposal on the grounds that it would be in blatant breach of good equal opportunities practice propounded by the CRE over many years.

Monitoring forms the CRE has always argued should be anonymous, kept separate from any application form and from the entire selection process.

Where they are not this can and does allow ruthless discrimination at the selection process. This was evidenced notoriously by the use of equal opportunities data about their race being used last year to reject 289 white male applicants from consideration with Avon and Somerset and Gloucestershire Police Services.

Mr Hartup stated: “We must learn our lesson. We cannot trust Chief Constables with confidential information but they were at least breaking the law. How can we possibly allow the careers of students to depend upon the self denying integrity of Admissions Officers under pressure to come up with the results necessary to achieve maximum funding.”

“Should UCAS go ahead with their misguided policy they must expect legal action by students who can never be sure that the reason for their failure to obtain a place at their preferred institution was because their race did not fit the Education Secretary’s matrix.”


Liberty and law has written to UCAS Chief Executive Anthony McClaren urging him to drop the scheme. It has also written to OFFA [Office for fair Access] that has “a role in identifying and disseminating good practice and advice connected with access to higher education.”

More here




Australia: Literacy suffers as teachers take on propaganda roles

PRIMARY schools are swamped by a cluttered curriculum that places equal importance on issues traditionally taught by parents, such as awareness of dog attacks and nutrition, rather than the core skills of literacy and numeracy. The Australian Primary Principals Association, representing more than 7000 government and non-government primary schools, will today release a position paper calling for a charter to redefine the role of primary schools and cull the curriculum to focus on education rather than social welfare.

APPA president Leonie Trimper called on the nation's education ministers to discuss the issue at their meeting next month and form an independent group of primary educators to draft a charter. Ms Trimper said it was time to reassess the curriculum and the importance placed on different aspects of traditional subjects like literacy. "Are there things in literacy that should be of lesser importance: for example, is viewing as important as listening, speaking, reading and writing?" Ms Trimper said. "We would rather do less and do it well and make sure it's well resourced."

Ms Trimper said rather than schools supplementing parental responsibilities, the pendulum had swung too far. Schools were now forced to offer breakfast programs, values education, nutrition, personal finance, road safety, and even awareness of dog-biting and parenting programs. A joint report by the APPA and the federal education department in 2004 found that primary schools were also under-funded; for every $100 spent on a high school student, only $73 was spent on a primary school student. Ms Trimper said the needs of primary schools rarely featured in public debate or government policy.

The policy paper prepared by Greg Robson, from Edith Cowan University, says the pressures placed on primary schools "may well be undermining their capacity to deliver continuing success". "The pressures are significant, the expectations unrealistic, the appreciation of what is needed underdeveloped and the phase has lost its pre-eminence as a point of focus in education," the paper says. Professor Robson, who oversaw the introduction of highly criticised year 11 and 12 courses as head of the Curriculum Council in Western Australia, said a charter should reposition primary schools as the key phase of schooling.

The national umbrella group of parents and citizens organisations, the Australian Council of State School Organisations, yesterday supported a charter that refocused primary schools on the traditional core tasks of literacy, numeracy and socialisation. ACSSO executive officer Terry Aulich said primary schools were overloaded with excessively detailed curriculum and were forced to deal with social problems without adequate resources.

Source

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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL schools should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the poor and minimal regulation.

The NEA and similar unions worldwide believe that children should be thoroughly indoctrinated with Green/Left, feminist/homosexual ideology but the "3 R's" are something that kids should just be allowed to "discover"


For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, DISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH and EYE ON BRITAIN. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here. For times when blogger.com is playing up, there are mirrors of this site here and here.

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

How strange it is to see all of the self rightous people claiming they are fit to judge a fellow human being.The world would be a better place if they would look at the FEARS that activate their intolorance and haterd because someone is different from them or does not subscribe to THEIR way of thinking.
Lily