I remember how it was -- JR
Education Freedom--the Civil Rights Issue of our Time
Education is free. Freedom of education shall be enjoyed under the condition fixed by law and under the supreme control of the state. -- Karl Marx
The state must declare the child to be the most precious treasure of the people. As long as the government is perceived as working for the benefit of the children, the people will happily endure almost any curtailment of liberty and almost any deprivation. -- Adolph Hitler
“I’m not going to let parents come into schools and actually take books out and make their own decisions. I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.” --Democrat candidate for Governor Terry McAuliffe
Perhaps you remember the song "Teach the Children" by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. In the perspective of the progressive socialist left the word 'teach' is replaced with 'indoctrinate'. I find it interesting that the first person to introduce the idea of state control of education was one Karl Marx. With the rise of power of the leftist teachers’ unions we are witnessing the manifestation of one of Marx's fundamental planks as written in his book, The Communist Manifesto.
Our children are being forcibly indoctrinated in the philosophy of cultural Marxism masquerading under the title of Critical Race Theory. It appears that the current Supreme Court nominee, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson lied about her knowledge and understanding of Critical Race Theory (CRT) at the school for which she serves as a Board of Trustee, Georgetown Day School. I tend to believe that such would disqualify her from being considered for a position on the highest court in the country. No, not her support of CRT, but lying about it.
We are watching history being redefined by the progressive socialist left, such as America was not founded on July 4th 1776, but rather in 1619. How could such an absurd assertion be taken seriously, certainly be allowed to have any credence in the realm of academic study?
I reside in Texas, and one would think that the education system would be great here, but that is not the case. Texas ranks near the bottom of education in America. In Texas nearly 67% of 4th graders cannot read at grade level.
Instead, kids in Texas, such as in the Austin Independent School District (ISD) are having LGBTQI+ (I think I got all the letters right) pride celebrations and parades along with instruction. As well, the kids are being told they should not share this with their parents, which harkens back to Terry McAuliffe's comment.
Just recently we had two major universities in Texas, University of Texas and Texas A&M University have their faculty senate vote overwhelmingly, to "teach" Critical Race Theory on their campuses. In essence, the faculty has decided to proliferate cultural Marxism on a state funded college campus.
At the University of North Texas, a father who is fighting to protect his young son from being transitioned by way of puberty blockers and hormonal therapies was shouted down and cursed at by leftist students. I actually thought a college campus was a place for diversity of opinions for the purpose of furthering education.
As well, in Texas, and all over America, parents are finding very questionable, highly sexual, books in school libraries. When parents step in to protect their children, leftists call them "extremists" or even “domestic terrorists.” Perhaps the best unintended consequence of the COVID shutdowns was that parents finally saw what was happening in our schools, and they were appalled. The movement to empower parents and protect children is growing, as can be seen by the attention around the movie “The Mind Polluters.”
Leftist elected officials and the teachers’ unions are allowing children to be abused by this indoctrination even as they insist on insidious masking mandates that further stunt their social development.
We must reassert educational freedom and parental choice in America, this is the new civil rights battlefield. My very own parents made the decision about my early education realizing that a good quality education unlocks the doors to equality of opportunity. If we continue down this current path we lessen the opportunities for our children, but we increase the ability for others to determine their outcomes. If taxpayers, parents, are the ones funding public education, then they are the investors and have a definitive interest in their return on investment.
The time is upon us to take back control of education in America; it is not the realm of the State. It does not exist for the control of the progressive socialists and Marxists. Education exists to unleash our freedom of conscience and enable us to be critical thinkers and productive members of the American society...not mindless lemmings.
If Americans are to Live Free, then we must reestablish educational freedom for the sake of our future generations. If we fail, then the sage wisdom of Ronald Reagan could come true, "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same."
We pass on freedom by teaching children it as a core foundation of our country rooted in our founding documents, such as the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution--not by holding LGBTQI+ parades and advancing gender dysphoria while attacking parents.
Steadfast and Loyal!
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A NJ University Will Offer a Masters Degree in 'Happiness Studies'
Centenary University in New Jersey announced the launch of a new degree program, a "Master of Arts in Happiness Studies."
The program, which the school said is the first of its kind, will "explore the implications of happiness for individuals, the workplace, and our broader society" and will cost students $17,700. According to the university's announcement, the program will launch virtually in the fall.
Centenary University President Bruce Murphy said in his announcement at the World Happiness Summit in Miami, Florida on March 18 to mark the United Nations International Day of Happiness that the program was designed to "promote well-being and resilience in the midst of current world stress."
"This online, 30-credit graduate degree is an interdisciplinary program designed for leaders who are committed to personal, interpersonal, organizational, and societal happiness," Murphy said. "Grounded in science and research, this new degree will study happiness and resilience to prepare graduates to make an impact in a wide range of fields."
Centenary University is a private college in Hackettstown, New Jersey, with about 1,100 students enrolled. The university partnered with the Happiness Studies Academy to create the new happiness degree program.
According to the academy's website, its mission is to "lead the happiness revolution by educating leaders who are themselves dedicated to personal, interpersonal and communal flourishing."
The degree will include parts of several other disciplines, such as psychology, philosophy, neuroscience, finance, business, literature, religion and music.
"This fully online accredited MA in Happiness Studies focuses on educating leaders who are committed to the cultivation of wellbeing in themselves and others, to the fulfillment of society’s potential for both happiness and goodness," the program's website reads. "Regardless of your area of interest and action—be it in business, education, psychotherapy, coaching, health or law—the rigorous ideas and evidence-based interventions that are part of the MA in Happiness Studies will help you bring out the best in your family, colleagues, clients, students and yourself."
Centenary University has received nearly 40 applications for the program since it was announced on March 18.
The program's site states that the purpose of offering a degree in happiness is "to provide students the opportunity to engage academically with that which [philosopher] William James refers to as 'human life's chief concern.' By receiving a broad theoretical foundation coupled with applied, practical knowledge, students will become positive change agents, creating a better, happier world."
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The Biden administration has quietly declared war on charter schools
The decades-long honeymoon between Democrats and charter schools was too good to last.
Starting in the Reinventing Government era, Democrats like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama praised public charter schools for their innovations. Many “No Excuses” charters, in particular, succeed in teaching low-income African-American and Hispanic children when many traditional public schools fail, as decades of research demonstrate.
Even traditional liberal Hillary Clinton got boos from a National Education Association audience during the 2016 presidential campaign when she made positive remarks about charter schools, despite criticizing for-profit schools of all kinds. (A few charters are managed by businesses.) With this and other remarks, Clinton showed that she supported low-income parents, even at the cost of some union support.
But now, with Democrats going woke and a new president in town, the US Department of Education has declared war on charter schools, using obscure bureaucratic rulemaking to kill the federal charter-school program without having to explain why.
On March 11, a Friday when media attention was focused on Ukraine and the Senate’s Thursday-night passage of the $1.5 trillion bill to fund federal-government agencies for the rest of the fiscal year, the Biden administration’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education issued 13 pages of rules designed to cut off charter schools from federal support and that will likely serve as a model for state regulations limiting charters.
The administration’s proposals clearly took months to prepare, and their publication not even 24 hours after the key funding vote cleared the Senate, and after important House and Senate votes gave charter supporters in both parties less clout to bargain for changes, was timed to get as little notice as possible.
The administration is also employing a truncated comment process. That may sound arcane, but here’s why it matters for democratic governance. In accord with the 1946 Administrative Procedures Act, to ensure transparency, proposed new regulations are published in the Federal Register, with lengthy public-comment periods before rules are finalized. This gives time for experts, interest groups and the public to offer input, making regulations both more legitimate and more realistic.
For example, when Education Secretary Betsy DeVos rewrote Title IX sexual-assault investigation rules in 2020, she did so after an 18-month process that considered more than 124,000 public comments, producing better regulations because of this transparency.
For less-controversial proposals, a two-month public-comment process is the norm. Yet the Biden administration has allowed just one month for input on its proposed charter-school rules, from their publication March 11 to the closing of public comment April 13. For charter opponents, the fix is in, with devils in the details.
Among other things, proposed rules strongly recommend that charter schools seeking federal funds “collaborate with at least one traditional public school” and “provide a letter from each partnering traditional public school or school district demonstrating a commitment to participate in the proposed charter-traditional collaboration.” This is like letting General Motors veto where Honda can sell cars.
Charters must also prepare a “community impact analysis” demonstrating “unmet demand for the charter school, including any over-enrollment of traditional public schools.” Of course, the worst traditional public schools are under-enrolled because parents of means left long ago. That means this regulation could remove options from low-income parents — all in the name of equity.
Likewise, the proposed rules require reporting on the “racial and socio-economic diversity of students and teachers in the charter school, and the impact of the charter school on racial and socio-economic diversity in the public school district.” In the real world, many charter schools exist to serve low-income students, so their demographics differ from those of the surrounding school district.
Again in the name of “equity,” this change would slash funding to charter schools and encourage their opponents to attack as “racist” charter schools that provide education options to the (overwhelmingly minority) parents who need them most.
All schools buy goods and services from businesses. The proposed rules would require extensive reporting requirements for charter schools — but not district schools — that contract with for-profit companies providing anything from food service to tutoring. This will harass charters with extra paperwork.
As my own research shows, big charter networks such as the Knowledge Is Power Program schools have the lawyers and connections to survive more regulations, but regulations reduce the numbers of charters started by educators of color and disproportionately shutter schools that serve students of color. In practice, regulations purported to advance equity do exactly the opposite.
The good news is that parents of the 3.5 million students in charter schools have until April 13 to tell regulators and Congress how they feel about the Department of Education’s attack on their schools.
https://nypost.com/2022/03/28/the-biden-administration-declares-war-on-charter-schools/
***********************************My other blogs: Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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