In The Name Of Our Children

Reflecting the angst of America's public education complex, the popular publication "Education Week" is worrying out loud at what "a crop of conservative senators" might do to the status quo in public education.

In fact Education Week expresses significant concern that these "conservative senators whose views aren't necessarily in lockstep with those of educational leaders" might greatly alter the rewriting of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

Lockstep?

That's an interesting word choice to positively describe how public education makes progress.

Education Week is concerned that these "out of step" radical types might "return considerable control over schools to the state and local levels."

I suspect they also fear parents seizing the opportunity to become more involved as well.

God forbid.

Education Week explains their resistance to these who are not in "lock step" with the program is on behalf of America's children.

Who are these tyrants who seek to steal and destroy our children's education and future?


Education Week, which consistently echos the talking points and the closed door strategies of the American public education complex, says those most feared are presidential candidates: Senators Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio---so far.

There is much less concern toward Jeb Bush. They note he is a strong advocate of Common Core Standards and is not nearly the threat posed by the others.

However, there are others about to announce their candidacy that will also cause them concern, I'm certain.

The Ed. Week says even if these candidates don't become the GOP nomination, prolonged exposure to their ideas may have a negative effect on educational progress.

These concerns seem to be more a disclosure of the real motives of public education than a desire to actually improve education in America.

A closer look at the public education complex always reveals duplicitous motives. What's wrong with local control of education?

Well, among other things, it diminishes federal government control over our children.

The Ed. Week article says even if any of these 3 candidates "stay in the race for a protracted period, his candidacy could move the Republican Party ---and ultimately the next administration---further to the right on K-12 issues."

Why are these "out of step" conservatives so feared?

Here are Education Week's fear factors in their own words:

• Cruz, Paul and Rubio have all "sought to scale back the federal role in K-12 education."

• "All three GOP lawmakers have supported legislation aimed at allowing states to opt out of most federal K-12 regulations."

• "Sens. Cruz and Paul have publicly called, as well, for dismantling the US Department of Education" And, "In a recent meeting with donors, Mr. Rubio also called for scrapping the Education Department altogether."

• "Both Sens. Cruz and Paul have backed legislation that would specifically prohibit the federal government from forcing or encouraging school districts to adopt certain standards or a specific curriculum, administer a particular assessment, or even mandate testing at all."

Education Week acknowledges that there will be more undesirables soon announcing their intentions to run for the presidency of the United States, but appears to lament that these first candidates already have the ability to "elevate conservative policy reforms, including pushing for states to steer clear of any federal role in education and letting federal dollars be used for school choice."

Public education is dysfunctional on so many levels.

The Templeton Foundation has completed one the most comprehensive studies on student achievement titled, "A Nation Deceived: How Schools Hold Back America's Brightest Students."

The 80-page study begins with this intro: "America's school system keeps bright students in line by forcing them to learn in lockstep manner with their class mates."

Lockstep.

It's in depth, but worth the time to read.

The Washington Post published an article featuring University of Washington Professor Kenneth Zeichner defining how very dysfunctional public education is in regard to teacher placement. He warns parents to be "accurately informed about the certification status of their children's teachers so they can question the wisdom of...disproportionate assignment of the least qualified teachers to our most vulnerable students."

Lee Culpepper, a former US Marine Corps officer and "reformed" high school English teacher, has written a stinging analysis of American public education as it stands---or lies---today.

He says the problems in public education are not systemic. They're different and worse than that. Secularism, he believes, has replaced Christian values and principles with its own religion.

Culpepper begins: "For the past half century public education has operated like a double-agent enemy mole that hides in plain sight while it sabotages society. When liberals began the pretense of patrolling the wall between the church and state in the 1960s, they targeted the free exercise and influence of Christianity and Judaism. Apparently, however, enforcing the First Amendment was merely a ruse."

"Today," he says, "the Democratic Party ordains the moral values, tolerated behaviors, and permissible beliefs that public school students must learn."

He says the problem with public education is that it has become the tool of choice in support of a secular religion, purposefully created in the absence of Christian influence.

Culpepper rightly notes that liberals and progressives point out that public schools do not promote God as proof that education is nonreligious. Denial and deception allow these people to pull off this otherwise conspicuous operation. By simply refusing to call their religion a religion, they have disguised their ability to circumvent the First Amendment.

He concludes, "Despite the evident government worship and subsequent exotic morality that has infiltrated public schools, many Americans indoctrinated in this system simply refuse to believe that is happening. Then again, these are the same people who choose to ignore that public school teachers are twice as likely as other parents to send their own kids to private schools."

Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Prayerful.