Thread: Indoctrination of our youth

If you are OK with a child of yours being spoonfed misconceptions about the world and life in general then by all means don't check out these stories. Might I suggest you read a few more posts and maybe even make a few more BEFORE you start telling other that thier concerns are invalid. Had you done any reading on this forum before shooting off your fingers then you would know Jolie's concerns are very many and very diverse. Troll bowling anyone???

Originally Posted by stresseater

If you are OK with a child of yours being spoonfed misconceptions about the world and life in general then by all means don't check out these stories. Might I suggest you read a few more posts and maybe even make a few more BEFORE you start telling other that thier concerns are invalid. Had you done any reading on this forum before shooting off your fingers then you would know Jolie's concerns are very many and very diverse. Troll bowling anyone???

I am kinda impressed - two out of three posts this person has made were negative commnts towards moi. LOL Who has the "Troll-Be-Gone" ?

Gay fairy tale sparks civil rights debate
By Jason Szep
Mon Apr 24, 8:28 PM ET

LEXINGTON, Massachusetts (Reuters) - The crown prince rejects a bevy of beautiful princesses, rebuffing each suitor until falling in love with a prince. The two marry, sealing the union with a kiss, and live happily ever after.

That fairy tale about gay marriage has sparked a civil rights debate in Massachusetts, the only U.S. state where gays and lesbians can legally wed, after a teacher read the story to a classroom of seven year olds without warning parents first.

A parents' rights group said on Monday it may sue the public school in the affluent suburb of Lexington, about 12 miles west of Boston, where a teacher used the book "King & King" in a lesson about different types of weddings.

"It's just so heinous and objectionable that they would do this," said Brian Camenker, president of the Parents Rights Coalition, a conservative Massachusetts-based advocacy group.

Camenker said he believes the school, Joseph Estabrook Elementary, broke a 1996 Massachusetts law requiring schools to notify parents of sex-education lessons. "There is no question in my mind that the law is being abused here," he said.

"I wouldn't be surprised if in the next couple of weeks there was some kind of (legal) action taken," he said.

Lexington Superintendent of Schools Paul Ash said the school was under no legal obligation to inform parents the book would be read to the classroom of about 20 children. "This district is committed to teaching children about the world they live in. Seven-year-olds see gay people. They see them in the schools. They see them with their kids," he said.

"I see this as a civil rights issue. People who are gay have a right to be treated equally," he said. "If it were North Carolina, this would be a whole different story. But the law in Massachusetts is that gay marriage is legal. We have lots of gay families in Lexington."

The issue erupted in Lexington when parent Robin Wirthlin complained to the school's principle after her 7-year-old son told her about the reading last month. She then turned to the Parents Rights Coalition, which released a statement on the issue to Boston media last week.

Since then, Ash has been swamped by e-mails on the issue from across the country, some in support but many written in anger including one from a North Carolina man who threatened "to beat his head into the ground," he said.

"I handed that one to the police," said Ash.

CULTURAL DIVIDE

The issue underscores a growing cultural divide over the issue of gay rights at a time when legal challenges seeking permission for gays and lesbians to marry are pending in 10 states. Two U.S. states have legalized civil unions.

It also comes as California considers introducing school textbooks highlighting the role of gays in its history.

Some legal scholars said the depth of emotion on the issue nationwide means educators should include parents in the debate on exactly when to start educating children on homosexuality. "There is a difference between what is required and what is the right thing to do," said Charles Haynes, senior scholar at the First Amendment Center, which produces guidelines for schools and teachers on issues such as same-sex marriage.

"Some people believe that we are moving toward a kind of normalization of homosexuality as part of the fabric of our life. Others believe we are going in the other direction. Because we are now in a fork in the road where we are debating this, public schools are not the place to settle it," he said.

"King & King" was ranked eighth among the top 10 books people wanted removed from libraries in 2004, according to the American Library Association. Its Berkeley, California publisher, Tricycle Press, said complaints over the 32-page book first surfaced in 2004 in North Carolina.

An Oklahoma legislator last year cited the book as reason to impose new restrictions on library collections.

Written by two Dutch women, the book has sold about 15,000 copies in the United States since it was translated and published in 2002. A sequel, "King, King and Family," about a royal same-sex family written by the same authors, was published two years later.

"We believe all children deserve to see themselves in books and these books were published for the children in gay families and for their friends" said Tricycle publisher, Nicole Geiger.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060425/...achusetts_dc_1

Lawsuit over "Brokeback Mountain" in class
Sun May 13, 8:20 PM ET

CHICAGO - A girl and her grandparents have sued the Chicago Board of Education, alleging that a substitute teacher showed the R-rated film "Brokeback Mountain" in class.

The lawsuit claims that Jessica Turner, 12, suffered psychological distress after viewing the movie in her 8th grade class at Ashburn Community Elementary School last year.

The film, which won three Oscars, depicts two cowboys who conceal their homosexual affair.

Turner and her grandparents, Kenneth and LaVerne Richardson, are seeking around $500,000 in damages. "It is very important to me that my children not be exposed to this," said Kenneth Richardson, Turner's guardian. "The teacher knew she was not supposed to do this."

According to the lawsuit filed Friday in Cook County Circuit Court, the video was shown without permission from the students' parents and guardians.
The lawsuit also names Ashburn Principal Jewel Diaz and a substitute teacher, referred to as "Ms. Buford."

The substitute asked a student to shut the classroom door at the West Side school, saying: "What happens in Ms. Buford's class stays in Ms. Buford's class," according to the lawsuit.

Richardson said his granddaughter was traumatized by the movie and had to undergo psychological treatment and counseling.

In 2005, Richardson complained to school administrators about reading material that he said included curse words. "This was the last straw," he said. "I feel the lawsuit was necessary because of the warning I had already given them on the literature they were giving out to children to read. I told them it was against our faith."

Messages left over the weekend with CPS officials were not immediately returned.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070514/...IOw7e9tzms0NUE

1) A "R" rated movie should not be shown in a Middle School class. Did they not have educational films to check out of the school's library ?

2) Why do I have the feeling that if this family had been Muslim instead of what I take to be Christian, that all their concerns would have been imediately tended too and the teacher in question reprimanded ?

Is the 'Have Sex and Take Drugs' brigade coming to your kids' school next?

In last week's installment of Great Moments in Public Education, we saw one teacher foisting Brokeback Mountain on students in one classroom and another school faking a surprise gun attack on sixth-graders. This week, it's Sex, Drugs, and CYA at a public school in Boulder, Colorado. The Denver Post reports on a recent assembly at Boulder High School in which a panelist encouraged students to engage in sex and drug use. His comments were met with laughter from fellow panelists and cheers from the audience.

Now, get this. When a mother and daughter complained about the remarks and read from a transcript of the assembly during a school board meeting, they were chastised--and told to stop reading what the panelists said because the school board members deemed it "inappropriate"

School district rethinks policies on CU panels
Complaints were made after a Conference on World Affairs panel at Boulder High last month on teen sex and drug use.
By John Ingold Denver Post Staff Writer
05/16/2007

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_5904322

Boulder - School officials here are re-evaluating their policies for allowing panels from the University of Colorado's Conference on World Affairs to be held at Boulder High School, after a parent and a student complained that a panel about teen sex and drug use was too graphic and permissive in tone.

The controversy stems from an April panel called "STDs: Sex, Teens and Drugs." The discussion was dotted with frank talk and provocative comments about sex and drugs. "I'm going to encourage you to have sex, and I'm going to encourage you to use drugs appropriately," panelist Joel Becker, a Los Angeles clinical psychologist, told the students. "And why I am going to take that position is because you're going to do it anyway."

But the panelists also encouraged the students to be responsible, to be educated and to make good choices. "This is about thinking about the choices you're making today and how they're going to affect you over the long haul," said Andee Gerhardt, a community-engagement leader with Ernst and Young.

Board president halts excerpts

Boulder High sophomore Daphne White and her mother, Priscilla, complained to the Boulder Valley school board last week about the panel, saying that the high school should not host events that tell students it is OK to use drugs and have sex. "The panel discussion was a completely irresponsible and dangerous invitation to Boulder High students to have sex and take drugs," Daphne told the board.

At one point, school board president Helayne Jones told Priscilla White to stop reading excerpts from the panel discussion because the language was inappropriate for the meeting. "But it was at Boulder High School," Priscilla White responded. "If they can listen to it, I think you can listen to it."

Board members agreed some of the language was inappropriate and asked officials to investigate. School district spokesman Briggs Gamblin said that as a result of the controversy, Boulder High will no longer require students to attend the panel discussions and will more carefully vet the panels. As of now, Gamblin said, the high school intends to continue hosting the panel discussions every spring. "We think the overall message was one of being positive and healthy in your choices and taking personal responsibility for not making choices until you are ready to make them," Gamblin said.

"Responsibility ... to be candid"

Conference on World Affairs director Jim Palmer said Boulder High students and a representative from the school choose the topics each year and help choose the panelists. He said none of the panelists told the students they should or shouldn't use drugs or have sex. Rather, he said, the panelists told students to make decisions that are appropriate for them and to know the consequences. "When you're talking to high school students about these issues," Palmer said, "I think there is a responsibility on the part of adults to be informed and to be candid."

--------

The assembly was taped. Students were required to attend. KHOW radio talk show Caplis and Silverman have audio of the panel.

http://2005.khow.com/pages/shows-cap...rticle=2139028



Another parent assailed the school administration's CYA tactics in the matter.
http://denver.yourhub.com/Boulder/St...ry~307584.aspx


The organizers say they were just speaking "candidly."
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drm...539466,00.html


Here are the panelists who appeared at the sex & drugs assembly: http://www.colorado.edu/cwa/cgi-bin/...=750&year=2007

Joel L. Becker http://www.colorado.edu/cwa/bios.html?id=750&year=2007
Andee Gerhardt http://www.colorado.edu/cwa/bios.html?id=773&year=2007
Antonio Sacre http://www.colorado.edu/cwa/bios.html?id=604&year=2007
Sanho Tree http://www.colorado.edu/cwa/bios.html?id=542&year=2007

5th Grade Teacher Has Children Sign "Bring Our Soldiers Home" Letter

by Lisa De Pasquale — 06-01-2007 @ 06:52 PM Reader Comments (2)


http://www.humanevents.com/rightangl...dren_sign_brin


Fifth Grade Teacher Jan Bobek of Soldotna Elementary School in Soldotna, Alaska recently sent a brightly colored letter signed by her students that said, "Bring our soldiers home! They are our family." The letter was forwarded to me by a staffer who received it in the DC office of a Congressman from another state. One can only assume that similar letters were sent to other congressional offices.

Given that the students only had to sign their name, there is no educational value in this note to a congressional office from another state. It's clearly a political message that's being sent by the teacher on taxpayers' dime.

I experienced a similar situation when I was in 12th grade. My teacher asked the entire class to write a letter against a piece of legislation under the guise that it was practice for writing a business letter. If passed, the bill would have affected her job since it was to increase scholarship standards in the course she taught. Since I was 18 (and a smart aleck), I spoke up in class against the assignment. Nine and Ten year-olds can't be expected to do the same.

If you would like to voice your opinion on Ms. Bobek's assignment on the taxpayers' dime, contact the county's K-12 curriculum director here. Ms. Bobek's contact information appears on the letter ...


Click over to Human Events for the full-size image

Now, imagine the uproar if a public school teacher forced her students to sign and send letters with camouflage that said: "We support the troops--and their mission. They are our family." or "No retreat, no surrender!"



Oh, here's a reminder about what the jihadis are teaching their kiddies:






YouTube Deletes Copy of Hamas Video
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/webl...mas_Video&only

The Hamas supporter at YouTube who goes by the name “engahmed” has now gotten YouTube to delete the second copy of his evil child abuse video; isn’t it nice that YouTube is protecting the jihadis’ copyrights, while allowing them to post videos glorifying terrorism and murder?

So here it is again, with a local copy this time, because Hamas should not be allowed to hide this stuff, with or without YouTube’s complicity.

Children in Gaza perform a monstrous “play,” dressed as suicide bombers and terrorists, waving knives and guns, in front of a crowd of doting parents. 20070527HamasKidsPlay.mov



This has been around awhile, but since it proves my point so well, it’s worth a reminder. http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/1747.htm

Anti-war educators exploit 'The Children' in the name of peace

Ready to gag? Check out this nursery school video from NYC, in which three-year-old toddlers are used as props for an anti-war protest at a local politician's office. The video is at NYPress politics blog: http://www.nypress.com/blogx/display...m?bid=94319322



That green construction-paper thingie that looks like it's about to devour the two little boys is a "Tree of Peace." The NYPress explains:

A protest against the war in Iraq, the May 30 gathering drew a small group of moms, dads and toddlers from a classroom at Amalgamated Nursery School to the district office doorstep of Congressman Eliot Engel (D-Bronx/Westchester/Rockland) The handmade tree, crafted by 17 children during pre-school class time, was a statement against American troops remaining in Iraq and a call to pursue peaceful paths to end all world conflicts. This gift, however, seemed more like a Trojan horse, designed to gain an invitation inside so that the children’s far-left leaning parents could rail against the war and the congressman’s initial vote in support of it.

Allah recounts several other examples of Left-Wing Political Child Abuse.
http://hotair.com/archives/2007/05/3...protest-props/

See also : Video: The littlest moonbat

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8x14cLGh5o&eurl=

Via FR. Imagine one of Olbermann’s special comments delivered by someone who’s not just likeable but downright adorable. She’d pull twice his audience and MSNBC could probably get away with paying her in ice cream and coloring books. Dan Abrams, call your office!

I *still* find this one disturbing ... http://www.bigbigforums.com/news-inf...wing+Greenberg

Do you know what your kids are learning in their public school classrooms?
Stanley Kurtz examines how Saudi-backed teaching materials have found their way into American education:
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q...zljMzk4ZDFiYmQ

Believe it or not, the Saudis have figured out how to make an end-run around America’s K-12 curriculum safeguards, thereby gaining control over much of what children in the United States learn about the Middle East. While we’ve had only limited success paring back education for Islamist fundamentalism abroad, the Saudis have taken a surprising degree of control over America’s Middle-East studies curriculum at home.

How did they do it? Very carefully…and very cleverly. It turns out that the system of federal subsidies to university programs of Middle East Studies (under Title VI of the Higher Education Act) has been serving as a kind of Trojan horse for Saudi influence over American K-12 education. Federally subsidized Middle East Studies centers are required to pursue public outreach. That entails designing lesson plans and seminars on the Middle East for America’s K-12 teachers. These university-distributed teaching aids slip into the K-12 curriculum without being subject to the normal public vetting processes. Meanwhile, the federal government, which both subsidizes and lends its stamp of approval to these special K-12 course materials on the Middle East, has effectively abandoned oversight of the program that purveys them (Title VI).

Enter the Saudis. By lavishly funding several organizations that design Saudi-friendly English-language K-12 curricula, all that remains is to convince the “outreach coordinators” at prestigious, federally subsidized universities to purvey these materials to America’s teachers. And wouldn’t you know it, outreach coordinators or teacher-trainers at a number of university Middle East Studies centers have themselves been trained by the very same Saudi-funded foundations that design K-12 course materials. These Saudi-friendly folks happily build their outreach efforts around Saudi-financed K-12 curricula.

So let’s review. The United States government gives money — and a federal seal of approval — to a university Middle East Studies center. That center offers a government-approved K-12 Middle East studies curriculum to America’s teachers. But in fact, that curriculum has been bought and paid for by the Saudis, who may even have trained the personnel who operate the university’s outreach program. Meanwhile, the American government is asleep at the wheel — paying scant attention to how its federally mandated public outreach programs actually work. So without ever realizing it, America’s taxpayers end up subsidizing — and providing official federal approval for — K-12 educational materials on the Middle East that have been created under Saudi auspices. Game, set, match: Saudis.

Rick Moran has more at The American Thinker and wonders:
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/...classroom.html

“Who could ever believe that a foreign country would be able to influence the curricula of American schools in such a way? And do it without any oversight by the federal government?

Maybe the feds could start a program “No Slanted View Of Middle Eastern History Left Behind.”

The curriculum in our government schools is lousy and polluted enough without the stealth infiltration of Saudi propaganda. Time for some oversight and loophole-closing. Anyone in Congress awake?


A couple of years ago I browsed through my niece’s high school history book and was amazed to discover that Jimmy Carter was one of our greatest Presidents, and that Gorbachev ended the Cold War!

So this isn’t surprising. We’re living at the onset of the misinformation age and things will only get worse.

It’s not always obvious. My kids studied the Middle East in Sixth Grade Social Studies. I complained at a board meeting that they had to memorize the Five Pillars of Islam, yet the curriculum never even mentioned Christianity or Judaism. There was nothing blatantly anti-Semitic or anti-infidel (I would have noticed however, Islam, as well as the entire M.E., was portrayed as culturally rich and bucolic.

This type of thing has been going on for years in the name of multiculturalism. Almost all world history texts have to be signed off by numerous ethnic and cultural pressure groups before they will be published. Diane Ravitch of the Hoover Institution and Brookings has carefully documented the process in The Language Police, published in 2003.

Islamic groups carefully monitor what is going into the history books, and almost all of the most popular history texts adopted by the states paint Islam in wonderful light. Therefore, gullible students learn how glorious, highly advanced Muslim culture “spread” throughout North Africa and the Middle East, whereas Christian culture “conquered” and “invaded” other lands.

Flashback: This is a Saudi textbook. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...051901769.html

This is a Saudi textbook.
(After the intolerance was removed.)
By Nina Shea
Sunday, May 21, 2006; Page B01

Saudi Arabia's public schools have long been cited for demonizing the West as well as Christians, Jews and other "unbelievers." But after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 -- in which 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis -- that was all supposed to change.

A 2004 Saudi royal study group recognized the need for reform after finding that the kingdom's religious studies curriculum "encourages violence toward others, and misguides the pupils into believing that in order to safeguard their own religion, they must violently repress and even physically eliminate the 'other.' " Since then, the Saudi government has claimed repeatedly that it has revised its educational texts.

Prince Turki al-Faisal, the Saudi ambassador to the United States, has worked aggressively to spread this message. "The kingdom has reviewed all of its education practices and materials, and has removed any element that is inconsistent with the needs of a modern education," he said on a recent speaking tour to several U.S. cities. "Not only have we eliminated what might be perceived as intolerance from old textbooks that were in our system, we have implemented a comprehensive internal revision and modernization plan." The Saudi government even took out a full-page ad in the New Republic last December to tout its success at "having modernized our school curricula to better prepare our children for the challenges of tomorrow." A year ago, an embassy spokesman declared: "We have reviewed our educational curriculums. We have removed materials that are inciteful or intolerant towards people of other faiths." The embassy is also distributing a 74-page review on curriculum reform to show that the textbooks have been moderated.

The problem is: These claims are not true.

A review of a sample of official Saudi textbooks for Islamic studies used during the current academic year reveals that, despite the Saudi government's statements to the contrary, an ideology of hatred toward Christians and Jews and Muslims who do not follow Wahhabi doctrine remains in this area of the public school system. The texts teach a dualistic vision, dividing the world into true believers of Islam (the "monotheists") and unbelievers (the "polytheists" and "infidels").

This indoctrination begins in a first-grade text and is reinforced and expanded each year, culminating in a 12th-grade text instructing students that their religious obligation includes waging jihad against the infidel to "spread the faith."

Freedom House knows this because Ali al-Ahmed, a Saudi dissident who runs the Washington-based Institute for Gulf Affairs , gave us a dozen of the current, purportedly cleaned-up Saudi Ministry of Education religion textbooks. The copies he obtained were not provided by the government, but by teachers, administrators and families with children in Saudi schools, who slipped them out one by one.

Some of our sources are Shiites and Sunnis from non-Wahhabi traditions -- people condemned as "polytheistic" or "deviant" or "bad" in these texts -- others are simply frustrated that these books do so little to prepare young students for the modern world.

We then had the texts translated separately by two independent, fluent Arabic speakers.

Religion is the foundation of the Saudi state's political ideology; it is also a key area of Saudi education in which students are taught the interpretation of Islam known as Wahhabism (a movement founded 250 years ago by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab) that is reflected in these textbooks.

Scholars estimate that within the Saudi public school curriculum, Islamic studies make up a quarter to a third of students' weekly classroom hours in lower and middle school, plus several hours each week in high school. Educators who question or dissent from the official interpretation of Islam can face severe reprisals. In November 2005, a Saudi teacher who made positive statements about Jews and the New Testament was fired and sentenced to 750 lashes and a prison term. (He was eventually pardoned after public and international protests.)

The Saudi public school system totals 25,000 schools, educating about 5 million students. In addition, Saudi Arabia runs academies in 19 world capitals, including one outside Washington in Fairfax County, that use some of these same religious texts.

Prince Turki al-Faisal, the Saudi ambassador to the United States, has worked aggressively to spread this message. "The kingdom has reviewed all of its education practices and materials, and has removed any element that is inconsistent with the needs of a modern education," he said on a recent speaking tour to several U.S. cities. "Not only have we eliminated what might be perceived as intolerance from old textbooks that were in our system, we have implemented a comprehensive internal revision and modernization plan." The Saudi government even took out a full-page ad in the New Republic last December to tout its success at "having modernized our school curricula to better prepare our children for the challenges of tomorrow." A year ago, an embassy spokesman declared: "We have reviewed our educational curriculums. We have removed materials that are inciteful or intolerant towards people of other faiths." The embassy is also distributing a 74-page review on curriculum reform to show that the textbooks have been moderated.

The problem is: These claims are not true.

A review of a sample of official Saudi textbooks for Islamic studies used during the current academic year reveals that, despite the Saudi government's statements to the contrary, an ideology of hatred toward Christians and Jews and Muslims who do not follow Wahhabi doctrine remains in this area of the public school system. The texts teach a dualistic vision, dividing the world into true believers of Islam (the "monotheists") and unbelievers (the "polytheists" and "infidels").

This indoctrination begins in a first-grade text and is reinforced and expanded each year, culminating in a 12th-grade text instructing students that their religious obligation includes waging jihad against the infidel to "spread the faith."

Freedom House knows this because Ali al-Ahmed, a Saudi dissident who runs the Washington-based Institute for Gulf Affairs , gave us a dozen of the current, purportedly cleaned-up Saudi Ministry of Education religion textbooks. The copies he obtained were not provided by the government, but by teachers, administrators and families with children in Saudi schools, who slipped them out one by one.

Some of our sources are Shiites and Sunnis from non-Wahhabi traditions -- people condemned as "polytheistic" or "deviant" or "bad" in these texts -- others are simply frustrated that these books do so little to prepare young students for the modern world.

We then had the texts translated separately by two independent, fluent Arabic speakers.

Religion is the foundation of the Saudi state's political ideology; it is also a key area of Saudi education in which students are taught the interpretation of Islam known as Wahhabism (a movement founded 250 years ago by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab) that is reflected in these textbooks.

Scholars estimate that within the Saudi public school curriculum, Islamic studies make up a quarter to a third of students' weekly classroom hours in lower and middle school, plus several hours each week in high school. Educators who question or dissent from the official interpretation of Islam can face severe reprisals. In November 2005, a Saudi teacher who made positive statements about Jews and the New Testament was fired and sentenced to 750 lashes and a prison term. (He was eventually pardoned after public and international protests.)

The Saudi public school system totals 25,000 schools, educating about 5 million students. In addition, Saudi Arabia runs academies in 19 world capitals, including one outside Washington in Fairfax County, that use some of these same religious texts.

Prince Turki al-Faisal, the Saudi ambassador to the United States, has worked aggressively to spread this message. "The kingdom has reviewed all of its education practices and materials, and has removed any element that is inconsistent with the needs of a modern education," he said on a recent speaking tour to several U.S. cities. "Not only have we eliminated what might be perceived as intolerance from old textbooks that were in our system, we have implemented a comprehensive internal revision and modernization plan." The Saudi government even took out a full-page ad in the New Republic last December to tout its success at "having modernized our school curricula to better prepare our children for the challenges of tomorrow." A year ago, an embassy spokesman declared: "We have reviewed our educational curriculums. We have removed materials that are inciteful or intolerant towards people of other faiths." The embassy is also distributing a 74-page review on curriculum reform to show that the textbooks have been moderated.

The problem is: These claims are not true.

(continues ... )