WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT EDUCATION IN AMERICA
- THE SAD STATE OF EDUCATION – Look how far this evil has progressed. So far Americans have given up: Our Borders, Our Energy, Our Resources, Our Industry, Our Agriculture, Our Middleclass, Our Land, Our Fishing, Our Food, Our Healthcare and Our Economy. And now we are finding out about Our Education.
Indoctrination of teachers and students. Indoctrination of teachers can only happen when teachers are forced to comply with the Anti-American curriculum attached to Race to the Top (RTT). Why can't Congress pass a bill cutting spending or entitlements? Why there is no outrage? Dumb students who become dumb adults (some serve in Congress) no longer understand Liberty and Freedom, Economics, Government, Civics and the Rights awarded them through the US Constitution. Therefore, future voters won't miss Freedom when it is gone. This indoctrination is in our schools today. Learn more about it below.
EDUCATION LATEST ARTICLES
KIDS ALL OVER AMERICA ARE BEING PUT ON BUSES AND SENT TO ALTERNATE LOCATIONS DURING SCHOOL TERROR DRILLS
All over the United States, school children are being taken out of their classrooms, put on buses and sent to "alternate locations" during terror drills. These exercises are often called "evacuation drills" or "relocation drills" and they are more than a little disturbing. Sometimes parents are notified in advance where the kids are being taken and sometimes they are only told that the children are being taken to an "undisclosed location". In the years since 9/11 and the Columbine school shootings, there has been a concerted effort to make school emergency drills much more "realistic" and much more intense. Unfortunately, the fact that many of these drills are deeply traumatizing many children does not seem to bother too many people. Do we really need to have "active shooter" drills where men point guns at our kids and fire blanks at them? Do we really need to have "relocation drills" where kids are rapidly herded on to buses and told that they must surrender their cell phones because they will not be allowed to call anyone? Our schools more closely resemble prison camps every single day, and it is our children that are suffering because of it.It is also important to keep in mind that much of the time these drills are not the fault of local school administrators. Often, these drills are being mandated at the state level. Our politicians have become obsessed with "school safety" in recent years, and apparently their idea of "school safety" involves deeply traumatizing our kids.
Earlier today I was doing some research and I came across a forum where a parent was describing a relocation drill that would soon be happening at a school in Oklahoma. Well, I went to public schools all my life and nothing like this ever happened when I was growing up, so I wanted to do a little digging to see if this was actually happening around the country or if it was just an Internet rumor.
Unfortunately, what I found out was quite disturbing.
It turns out that "relocation drills" are being conducted at schools from coast to coast.
For example, the following is an excerpt from a letter to parents about a relocation drill that took place in Woodhaven, Michigan….
Our school district continues to focus on the safety of staff, students, and our community. We have a detailed emergency plan so we can respond effectively to major catastrophes. We work closely with the fire and police departments from the City of Woodhaven and Brownstown Township to implement this plan. As part of these efforts, we are conducting a practice emergency drill on May 19th. It will begin at about 9:20 a.m. and conclude by 11:30 a.m. This practice drill will simulate a boiler explosion at Patrick Henry Middle School. We will evacuate all staff and students from PHMS, Erving Elementary School, and the Administration Building.
The Woodhaven and Brownstown Township Police and Fire Departments, DTE Energy, and staff from Wayne County RESA will help secure the buildings and monitor this practice drill. Erving Elementary staff and students will be evacuated by bus to Bates Elementary School, and PHMS students and staff will be evacuated by bus to Woodhaven High School.
But just putting kids on buses and taking them to other schools was not enough. During the drill, some students and school staff were instructed to pretend to be injured. In addition, parents were instructed not to call the school during the drill and children were instructed not to call their parents….
As part of the drill, we will pretend that some students and staff are injured. Pretend victims will be assessed and transported to nearby triage centers. Please be aware that Hall Road and Van Horn Road may be closed to traffic for all or part of this drill. There will be a number of emergency vehicles at PHMS and Erving Elementary School during the drill. Your cooperation is necessary for this practice drill to be successful. During drills and emergencies like the one we are planning:
• Please do not telephone the school. Telephone lines are needed for drill emergency communications.
• Impress upon your children the need to follow directions and take drills seriously.
• During an evacuation drill or a real emergency, students will be kept at their school or will be evacuated to another site. They will be released only to adults listed on their emergency contact form. Any adult picking up a student (reunification) will be required to show picture identification.
• Students and parents should not communicate by cell phones during the drill or emergency situation. Students need to be attentive to the instructions from school and safety personnel.But at least in that drill parents knew where their children would be taken.
That was not the case during a recent relocation drill in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho….
Students at Lakeside School District walked out of their schools this morning to prepare for the worst case scenario. They were transferred by bus to an off-site location in less than a hour. But it was only a drill.
Their Bus Evacuation Drill started at 9 a.m. and students were transferred to their undisclosed emergency location and returned back to school.
“As you might expect, student safety is our first priority and security is tight even during a practice,” Karyn Stockdale, district clerk, said.
It was later revealed they were bussed to Benewah Wellness Center as their acting evacuation shelter.
It was "later revealed" where the "undisclosed emergency location" was?
I am sure a whole bunch of parents were thrilled when they heard about that.
What purpose is served by herding kids on to a bus and taking them to an undisclosed location?
School officials just seem to take these little "exercises" way too seriously.
For example, check out the tone in the following excerpt from a school newsletter from one school in Pennsylvania….
"As mentioned in a separate letter in our CB Electronic Envelope last Wednesday, our school will be involved in an Off-Site Relocation Drill. This practice opportunity will sharpen our skills and provide us with the chance to review important safety procedures in the event of an emergency. This Relocation Drill is scheduled for Friday, December 16, 2011. Here are some very important reminders for all parents and families:
SAFETY IS OUR TOP PRIORITY!!!!!!
In every classroom, teachers will prepare students for this activity. To ensure that every child and adult arrives safely to the relocation site, no child will be released for any reason during this practice activity or real emergency. All parents are asked to review the detailed letter explaining the official steps for such drills and practice activities."
No child will be released for any reason?
What if there is a family emergency?
What if a child becomes very ill?
Our schools are becoming way too militarized. It really is quite frightening to see what is happening to us.
It takes a lot of effort to pack up all of the students and all of the staff at a school and ship them off to an alternate location.
The following is another example from one school in Iowa….
The second drill is planned for Thursday at 9:15 a.m. During the second drill officials will simulate a relocation of the entire EE-12 student body and staff by school buses.
For some schools, this kind of a drill has now become a regularly scheduled yearly activity.
The following is from a school handbook in Vermont….
Lockdown drills are practiced several times a year. In a Lockdown students remain quiet and undetectable behind a locked door. Students prepare for these drills and are supported by their teachers. Saint Albans City School practices, at least once a year, an emergency evacuation/relocation drill where we leave the school building and go to alternate sites.
Keep in mind that it says "at least once a year". That means that it could happen even more frequently if they want it to.
Some schools even have plans for students to be "housed temporarily" at alternative locations. The following is from a school website in California….
Evacuation Plan: Requires that all building occupants leave and go to an alternate location. Evacuation may mean only going outside and away from the building until an all-clear signal is given. In some circumstances, students and staff may need to be transported and housed temporarily in another location until the Go-Home Plan can be put into operation.
In some instances, parents are encouraged not to pick their children up at all in the event of a major emergency. The following is from an article in the Washington Post….
School administrators in the Washington area yesterday stepped up preparations for possible terrorism, and most school districts told parents that they would be prevented, or strongly discouraged, from picking up their children in the event of a biological or chemical attack.
So what measures would be taken to keep parents from getting to their children?
That is a frightening thing to think about.
But these "relocation drills" are not the only kind of drills that parents need to be aware of.
In many areas of the country, schools are holding "active shooter" drills where men in full military gear are pointing guns at children and firing blank rounds.
The following is one recent example that happened in Brecksville, Ohio….
The emergency drill at Brecksville-Broadview Heights High involved hundreds of students, including members of the Drama Club who portrayed wounded and panicked students.
Junior Ashley Elek said Chardon High School was on their minds as they went through the very realistic looking drill, in which many students were "killed" and "wounded."
In many areas of the country, there is not always advance notice of these "active shooter" drills. Sometimes students are told that there will be an "active shooter" drill and sometimes they are not.
Sometimes teachers do not even know that an "active shooter" drill is coming. When that happens, the results can be incredibly traumatic.
Just check out the following example from New Jersey….
About 50 teachers at a New Jersey school experienced a terrifying moment when a shooting rampage turned out to be a drill, but the teachers didn’t know it.
It happened Aug. 28 at the Phillipsburg New Jersey Early Learning Center.
A man burst into the library and started shooting. But the gun didn’t have any bullets, just blanks.
Teachers took cover under child-sized tables, crying and trembling.
“People are crying. The girl next to me is trembling and shaking. You heard people crying. You heard other people praying. It was pretty dramatic,” one teacher said.
Can you imagine?
Why would we ever want to put our children through that?
I think that some of these twisted sickos actually enjoy the thought of making little kids pee their pants.
In some cases, children are told during these "exercises" that a particular group of Americans is attacking the school.
For example, during a terror drill at a public school in Muskegon County, Michigan, students and teachers were told that "homeschoolers" were the ones attacking them….
"The exercise will simulate an attack by a fictitious radical group called Wackos Against Schools and Education who believe everyone should be homeschooled. Under the scenario, a bomb is placed on the bus and is detonated while the bus is traveling on Durham, causing the bus to land on its side and fill with smoke."
In another case in New Jersey, students were told that the gunmen were from a group of "fundamentalist Christians" called "The New Crusaders"….
"Investigators described them as members of a right-wing fundamentalist group called the 'New Crusaders' who don't believe in separation of church and state. The mock gunmen went to the school seeking justice because the daughter of one had been expelled for praying before class."
What possible purpose do drills like those have?
Sadly, those running things keep wanting to make these kinds of drills as frequent as possible.
In New Jersey, new guidelines require that a "security drill" be held at public schools at least once a month.
As you can see from this document, an "evacuation to relocation site" drill is one of the kinds of drills that can be chosen to satisfy this requirement in New Jersey….
The following are examples of other security drills that schools can hold:
• Shelter-in-place; Reverse evacuation; Evacuation to relocation site; Testing of school’s notification system and procedures; Testing of school’s communication system and procedures; Tabletop exercise; and Full scale exercise.
When I was growing up, there was just one kind of emergency exercise. When the fire alarm sounded, we all trudged out to the football field. We stood around and talked for a few minutes and then we went back inside.
But the environment in U.S. public schools today is totally different. Our children are being forced to endure endless "relocation drills", "lockdown drills" and "active shooter drills".
These drills are just another reason why many parents have decided that it is time to pull their kids out of the government schools entirely.
Our public schools more closely resemble prison camps than they do institutions of learning. Millions of our kids are leaving high school dumb as a rock, but they do know what to do when the alarm goes off.
So what do you think about these drills? Please feel free to post a comment with your opinion below….
***Epilogue***
The following is video of a relocation drill in Oklahoma that just happened….
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OBAMA’S EDUCATION DEPT. PARTNERS WITH SOROS
Seeks world where 'each person on Earth can contribute to sum of all knowledge'
The Department of Education has partnered with billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Institute to promote a global education initiative that seeks “a world where each and every person on Earth can access and contribute to the sum of all human knowledge.”
Education Secretary Arne Duncan kicked off a $25,000 “Why Open Education Matters” competition that will give a cash prize for the best short video explaining the benefits of what is known as Open Educational Resources, or O.E.R., for students, teachers and schools.
O.E.R. is a form of global teaching that uses digital materials made available free through open licenses, which allow uses of the materials that would not be easily permitted under copyright alone.
The O.E.R. model of teaching heavily utilizes social media. A 2007 O.E.R forum announced the education group’s mission of creating “a world where each and every person on earth can access and contribute to the sum of all human knowledge.”
O.E.R leaders expressed hopes of using the education initiative to balance what they referred to as the digital divide between the “global North” and the “global South.”
In his remarks to launch the “Why Open Education Matters” competition, Duncan said O.E.R. “can not only accelerate and enrich learning – they can also substantially reduce costs for schools, families and students.”
The “Why Open Education Matters” competition is sponsored and organized by three groups – the U.S. Department of Education, Soros’ Open Society and a group known as Creative Commons.
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share.
Creative Commons was founded in 2001 by Lawrence Lessig, a technology adviser to Obama. Lessig works closely with a Marxist activist who has argued for the dismantling of the U.S. capitalist system and whose George Soros-funded group petitions for more government control of the media.
Lessig has been mentioned as a future candidate to head the Federal Communications Commission, the FCC. He is an activist for reduced legal restrictions on copyright material and advised Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.
Lessig reportedly has known Obama since their days teaching law at the University of Chicago. Lessig now teaches at Harvard.
Lessig drew some controversy during the 2008 campaign after he circulated a video depicting Jesus lip-syncing to Gloria Gaynor’s late 1970s disco hit “I Will Survive.” In the video, a mock Jesus is seen stripping down to just a diaper while he effeminately struts along a city street and finally gets run over by a speeding bus.
Lessig is a close associate of Robert W. McChesney, an avowed Marxist who favors the dismantling of capitalism.
McChesney founded Free Press, a Soros-funded organization with close ties to the White House that petitions for more government control of the news media.
Lessig has penned numerous op-ed pieces with McChesney, and the duo have worked together on numerous media projects.
WND previously reported Free Press published a study advocating the development of a “world class” government-run media system in the U.S.
WND reported Free Press Policy Director Ben Scott was named in May 2012 as a policy adviser for innovation at the State Department.
McChesney is a professor at the University of Illinois and former editor of the Marxist journal Monthly Review.
“In the end, there is no real answer but to remove brick-by-brick the capitalist system itself, rebuilding the entire society on socialist principles,” wrote McChesney in a column.
The board of Free Press has included a slew of radicals, such as Obama’s former “green jobs” czar Van Jones, who resigned after his founding of a communist organization was exposed.
Obama’s former “Internet czar,” Susan P. Crawford, spoke at a Free Press May 14, 2009, “Changing Media” summit in Washington, D.C.
Crawford’s pet project, OneWebNow, lists as “participating organizations” Free Press and the now disbanded Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN.
Crawford and Kevin Werbach, who co-directed the Obama transition’s Federal Communications Commission review team, are advisory board members at Public Knowledge, a Soros-funded public-interest group.
A Public Knowledge advisory board member is Timothy Wu, who is also chairman of the board for Free Press.
Like Public Knowledge, Free Press also has received funds from Soros’ Open Society Institute.
With additional research by Brenda J. Elliott
Aaron Klein is WND's senior staff reporter and Jerusalem bureau chief. He also hosts "Aaron Klein Investigative Radio" on New York's WABC Radio. His latest book is the N.Y. Times best-selling, "The Manchurian President: Barack Obama's Ties to Communists, Socialists and Other Anti-American Extremists."
PARENT EMPOWERMENT IN EDUCATION FL H1191/S1718
There has been intense bipartisan wrangling over the parent trigger measure (H1191/S1718 Parent Empowerment in Education) which peaked when Sen. Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormond Beach and Senate Democratic Leader Nan Rich tried to remove the proposal (SB 1718) from a list of more than 50 measures being sent to the floor on special order.
Committee chairman John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, backed up by Senate Majority Leader Andy Gardiner and Senate President-designate Don Gaetz, refused to grant the pair the option of voting solely against the “Parent Empowerment” measure, which they both oppose. After the meeting adjourned, Rich said it was the first time all session a bill was not allowed to be removed from the list.
Near the end of the meeting, Lynn repeatedly tried to ask Thrasher to allow her to vote no on the bill. An increasingly angry Thrasher finally cut Lynn off and, speaking over her, ordered the vote on the entire package, which passed by an unusual 4-3 vote, setting the “special order” calendar for Thursday. Lynn, Rich and Sen. Chris Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale, rejected the entire list rather than sign off on the parent trigger bill.
Lynn called the block vote a “political maneuver” that was “inappropriate and incorrect.” But Gardiner, R-Orlando, chimed in, reminding Lynn that it was a procedural maneuver on the part of a bipartisan coalition led by Rich and Sen. Jack Latvala, R-St. Petersburg, that kept the measure from being withdrawn from a committee and sent to the Senate floor and instead required a special – and very rare – Saturday morning budget meeting to move the bill along. (Thrasher and Gardiner are an odd coalition, considering they are locked in a fight over the 2014-2016 Senate presidency.) Gaetz, R-Niceville, agreed, accusing the bipartisan group of an “effort to stymie the process so the bill could not get to the floor.” Gaetz is a co-sponsor of the bill.
What is really going on here? Has anyone questioned the involvement of Jeb Bush and his Foundations in regard to the passage of this bill? Or any Education bill in Florida? Do not forget Sen. Simmons R- Orlando, made a point of announcing his recent conversations with Bush. When Sen. David Simmons needed his colleagues' support on the education budget last week, he dropped a powerful name on the Senate floor. "I had a conversation last week with former Gov. Jeb Bush in which we discussed this and his support of it," Simmons said of the provision to spend $119 million on reading programs at low-income schools.
Why is Senator Simmons communicating with Jeb Bush about Florida's education – he is not chair of that committee?
As far as I am concerned, the Bush name comes up more than it should! Do the Florida legislators not remember JEB BUSH IS NO LONGER THE GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA AND HE AND THE NCLB ARE THE REASON FLORIDA HAS BEEN FLAT-LINED IN EDUCATION FOR THE LAST 12 YEARS! Why is the former governor still playing a significant role in shaping state education policy and additionally, why are the rest of our legislators ALLOWING it?
This session, Bush and his nonprofit organization, the Foundation for Florida's Future, have helped to fast-track a stream of legislation that could reset the education equation in Florida. The bills, moving steadily through both the House and Senate, could gradually shift the financial and competitive advantage away from traditional public schools to private schools and charter schools, which are often managed by for-profit companies. Other proposals push virtual-learning initiatives.
The foundation says it supports high standards and accountability for all schools: public, charter, private and virtual included. If this is really true, then why did Bush and his Foundations support Race To The Top (RTTT) and the new Common Core Standards (CCS) being implemented into the Florida schools? FOR THE MONEY FROM ARNE DUNCAN AND OBAMA AND THEN THE CONTROL OF THE CHARTER SCHOOL ISSUES BY HIS FOUNDATIONS????
The supporters of this legislation say the efforts will lead to dramatic improvements in student achievement! Really? Where is your proof? This is propaganda and supposition on their part! "This will make the Sunshine State a national leader in education reform." How is this possible when Florida continues to put "garbage in – garbage out?" This is not the fault of the teachers – this is the fault of the curriculum and textbooks they are given to work with! Legislators -
- Continue to change the rules of the game
- Blame teachers for not playing the game right and they haven't given them all the rules
- Placing all this control in the hands of those who will make financial gain through our children
- Who have financial interest in Charter schools voting on related legislation
- Refusing to listen to those who know what FL needs in relation to education
- Continually using the words "low-income" schools – what are they using to determine which schools fall into that category?
- It is time to let educators take care of the education of our children rather than legislators who know nothing about education but $$.$$
"It is about equalization," said Sen. Stephen Wise, the Senate Education Committee chairman and a supporter of the foundation's agenda. "We need to challenge the status quo so that parents and children have choices." (I think Senator Wise has chosen wisely to retire this year!)
Critics, on the other hand, see targeted strikes meant to chip away at Florida's traditional public schools by diverting more tax dollars to private corporations through voucher programs and charter schools.
This bill and the House companion H1191, is a cash cow for for-profit charter schools and private management companies. The “parent trigger” measure will also make hay for Gov. Jeb Bush’s non-profit Foundation for Florida’s Future and probably will include his Foundation for Excellence in Education.
Bush is backing the bill, pushed by the LosAngeles based Parent Revolution and education reformer Michelle Rhee and fiercely opposed by teachers’ unions and a Florida coalition of parent-led groups, including the PTA. This time I whole-heartedly agree with the Teacher's Unions. Do your research parents! (Parent Revolution Executive Board and Funders are among others: Walton Family Foundation; Gates Foundation; Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors) Danger! Danger!
Patricia Levesque, executive director of Bush’s Foundation, sent out a blast e-mail asking supporters to contact their senators to urge them to vote for the bill. But that wasn’t all. “Additionally, won’t you help us in our efforts to fight those opposed to parents’ rights? Please consider making a one-time contribution of $500 or $1,000 or a monthly contribution of $50 or $100 to the Foundation for Florida’s Future. With your support, we can ensure that parents have representation and more options as it relates to their child’s education,” Levesque wrote.
AND YOU THOUGHT THERE WAS NO PROFIT FOR JEB BUSH'S FOUNDATIONS!!!
Levesque sent out the missive in response to a blast message from the left-leaning Progress Florida condemning the bill. According to the exchange, the forces lining up on either side of the issue range from Koch brothers to the League of Women Voters. (Do you rEally think this is not the WORLD SERIES OF EDUCATION – LOOK AT THE PLAYERS?
“Anti-public school extremists in the Florida Senate are trying to pull a fast one, and we need your help right now,” the Progress Florida e-mail began. “So, if not parent groups, who are really behind this latest attack on public schools? According to Parents Across America “model legislation based on the Parent Trigger has been written and promoted by ALEC, the shadowy organization backed by the Koch brothers that has a radical right-wing agenda.” And who profits? Not parents and students. No, the ones who profit are unaccountable corporate charter school operators who aren’t held to the same standards as public schools and don’t necessarily have the best interests of students, parents or teachers at heart.
I continue to try and tell you that the fastest growing business in America is starting a Charter school and then grow into a Consortium! No proper over sight and the statement above is ABSOLUTELY correct.
LET ME STATE PLAINLY, I AM NOT AN EDUCATOR, DO NOT FAVOR EITHER PARTIES, NOR NORMALLY SUPPORT THE UNIONS. For far too long we have been operating under a system which has been putting the interests of adults before those of the children with years of disastrous results. This push to manipulate the Education of our Children, the most precious possession we have is not only wrong but just plain immoral!
WHY ARE THEY PUSHING SCHOOL CHOICE?
By Sean O’Neill Bear Essentials contributor. Americans For Prosperity hosted a panel discussion on School Choice last night at Loyola Academy, a private Jesuit school for inner city young men. School Choice is blitzing the nation with the message "shining a spotlight on effective education options for every child." The St. Louis panel touched on those options.
The panel consisted of Dick Morris (political strategist and commentator), Dana Loesch (Radio host and CNN commentator), Mike Podgursky (Professor of Economics University of Missouri) and Robbyn Wahby (Executive Assistant to STL Mayor Francis Slay). The panel discussed educational topics such as:
- charter schools
- vouchers to private/parochial schools
- the effect of teacher unions on public education
- the rising cost of funding to schools with negligible rise in test scores
- the reasons schools are failing
- data to determine failing schools
- the falling population in the city residential areas and how it affects the STL city public schools
Podursky nailed it when he gave some of the reasons public schools are failing:
- there is a lot of regulatory crust
- no innovations and no free market
- different kids have different needs and one specific school cannot meet all the needs of all the kids
- schools are tied too heavily to standardized testing
"How is sending students to charter schools (schools supported by taxpayers dollars and under the same government mandates) freeing them from the regulations, lack of innovation, teaching to a student's need vs the system, and reducing the testing?"
THAT question was NEVER answered. This is the problem with the School Choice movement in general and in Missouri with the funding of charter schools. It never addresses the underlying fact that the government is still providing the blueprint and the rules and regulations for what the children are learning. The money is being transferred to "free markets" (which conservatives love) but the system is still controlled by the government. That's not really free market, is it? That's not really an authentic choice for parents, is it?
Dick Morris stated, "Choice is where you send your child to school and the money follows the child." He outlined why this is a revolution in education and gave his reasons why this choice movement is needed:
- In the 1960's and 70's the "Rankings of the States" was released by the NEA. The states began to fund education more heavily: test scores did not change
- In the 1980's, states were pushed to upgrade the curriculum and standards and demand better testing: results did not change
- In the 1990's, NCLB was instituted focusing on which schools were failing and concentrating efforts to increase testing scores: no uptake occurred
Based on this dismal track record, Morris believes we need to be creative and provide options for education: school choice.
Morris stated, and apparently believes, education needs to be creative and innovative and released from NCLB type mandates. Amazingly, the subject of Race to the Top mandates (and those "mandates formerly known as RTTT" implemented in states which didn't receive RTTT money) and Common Core standards was never mentioned by Morris. What the school choice advocates are advocating just doesn't make sense. State educational providers are operating under NCLB on steroids and Morris is stating that you can choose your publicly funded school and it's a true choice in education? How are more federal governmental mandates allowing more local control? Is it that these folks just don't get it, or is it they just don't care? Is the idea of "we have to do SOMETHING overrides a thoughtful approach to educational problems?"
Morris additionally stated. "We will never have the political will to close the failing schools. We're just going to close the empty ones". There it is. Through choice, most parents will take their kids out of traditional public schools. The remaining public schools are going to be populated with the kids who aren't motivated or who have undiagnosed disabilities, whose parents are disengaged from the education process and for whom an alternative school has not yet been opened. Morris believes, in a free market, some group will step forward and bring those kids into their alternative school, and the now empty public school will be closed.
Morris may be correct, that we are seeing an education revolution, but it is on the delivery of education, not the education itself. What kind of choice is this being foisted on and paid for by taxpayers? Free Market or more of the same governmental control?
What IS the magic bullet and allure of charter schools that allegedly makes them so much better in terms of education in the eyes of School Choice advocates? Is it the delivery and school expectations from the charters that apparently don’t exist in the traditional public schools? If it is, why aren't we pushing for those things from our public schools now? It's not true free market competition since standards and assessments are still controlled by government regulations. So what is it?
My opinion would be the promise of funds and support from the Bill Gates Foundation and the Jeb Bush Foundation for Excellence in Education since the implementation of more Charter school’s is their prime goal along with Michelle Rhee. This way Bill Gates can additionally put in HIS software with his curriculum of choice (IB or other UN curriculum’). The eventual goal is to have Charter schools somehow be free of the state guidelines and regulations so they can implement their own still using our tax dollars.
You see – no one is watching! Not here in Florida! Not the state or county school boards! Their recently released FCAT scores, of which they give us nothing else to go by, show the Charter schools are not really doing that much better than the public schools.
Charter schools are being instituted as Gulen (terrorist) charter schools, Greek Academies, all the while still using your tax dollars and in addition locate themselves in low income areas so they then can also get from the Federal government Title I funds and the Funds for “free and reduced lunches” along with other federal goodies handed out to these schools. What is wrong with the parents who are sending their children to these schools? They are not filled with Turkish or Greek children, but White and Hispanic!
Taxpayers – you are not watching your children’s schools. Why are you entrusting the most precious thing you have over to the hands of total strangers who for the most part could care less about your children? I am not talking about the teachers – I am talking about the elected school board members and the school superintendents. The only time they support the teachers is when they think any criticism against them personally falls back on the school boards.
Again – HOME SCHOOL! You can do it!
UNITED NATIONS AGENDA 21 “SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT” INTRODUCED IN THE U. S. CONGRESS
The old saying that "the devil is in the details" is obvious when it comes to "sustainable development" (SD). Launched at the international level, SD is promoted through U.N. Agenda 21 (a "global plan of action"), U.N. Earth Charter initiatives, and Education for Sustainable Development processes, to name a few. Less known is the support for the global agenda by certain members of the U.S. Congress.
This document contains a list of bills introduced in the U.S. Congress from 1987 to 2011 that are related to "sustainable development" agendas. Collectively, the proposals underscore the fact that "sustainable development" has tentacles reaching into all areas of life, and, is behind many problems at local, county, state, and national levels.
Looking at the bills, it becomes clear that we the people must elect officials to represent us who will not allow the excessively regulatory, costly, liberty- and property-rights-destroying "global plans" into our institutions. We need representation by those who will reject the unaccountable pressure groups that promote "sustainable development" ideas that result in higher taxes, increased debt, and a lower living standard. This means we must scrutinize our choices for U.S. President, Congressional and state legislators, governors, city/county/state officials, and school boards members.
For those who are unfamiliar with U.N. Agenda 21 and "sustainable development", SECTION I contains some background information. But I encourage you to seek others who — through their years of research and experience — have much knowledge about the endless troubles that link to these U.N. issues (see Learn More, p. 15-16).
Research by Debra K. Niwa, January 2012
BILL GATES – CONTINUING TO BUY HIS WAY THROUGH EDUCATION AND CIRCUMVENT THE CONSTITUTION!
By Diane Kepus, Bear Essentials contributor. I know many people out there believe Bill Gates and his Gates Foundation are not only the savior’s of the world and have everyone’s best interest at heart and I used to believe that also. That was until I began to research education and where it has been headed for the past 135 years. Bill Gates and his wife Melinda are Progressives and very deeply embedded in the Agenda 21 movement for a One World Order and they continue to use their large arsenal of funds to help push that agenda. One of those agenda’s is Education.
One might as well refer to the Department of Education as the Department of Bill Gates. He has spent an enormous amount of money on the initiatives benefiting Microsoft and pre-determined vendors. This is how Gates is becoming the czar of education (it's really quite creative):
- He is taking over the public education realm by his foundation providing Common Core Standards (the "free"-thinking philanthropy) to states if they will agree to use its blueprint. Let us not forget it was Bill Gates who funded the writing of the new Common Core Standards (CCS) by someone who was not even an educator.
- If the states agree to do so (under financial pressures from the Federal Government), the Gates Foundation can control what and how students learn.
- He's done this by crafting the standards under which students will learn.
- The states have been ruled impotent in exercising their sovereign right to educate their citizens in the manner deemed appropriate by the state by this takeover of education.
- The Common Core Standard’s package to the states also requires the states to purchase computers, Gates software and other items to store and manage all the information about your children and their educational progress with the whole country and whom ever else manages to obtain the information. It is the Progressive way of tracking your children.
That's the basics in a hand basket and it is your children who will suffer from the new CCS and control by the Federal Government. Gates gives money to the government and schools to further his agenda and he reaps the benefits of the business that agenda creates along with furthering his Progressive agenda. The common core is an integral part of that agenda. If the common core standards are not implemented, the whole plan falls apart.
Now I would like to introduce the “American Legislative Executive Council”. Sounds impressive doesn’t it? When you look them up you find this group is made up of elected Representatives from different states, a Board of Scholars, a Private Enterprise Board (Coca-Cola; Johnson & Johnson; Kraft; Intuit and many more) with the current Public Chair being David Casas (GA) representative and the Private Chair being Mickey Revenaugh, Jr., co-founder of Connections Academy – a Virtual School Company who sells their online education to private, public and charter schools.
Just last week the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) called for the demise of the Common Core Standards: “A package of model legislation opposing the common standards gained ground yesterday at the American Legislative Exchange Council. The organization's education task force approved the package.”
Listed on ALEC's website is the description of its Education mission:
The mission of ALEC’s Education Task Force is to promote excellence in the nation’s educational system, to advance reforms through parental choice, to support efficiency, accountability, and transparency in all educational institutions, and to ensure America’s youth are given the opportunity to succeed.
If ALEC takes its mission seriously, then this model legislation is long overdue and should have been introduced when the talk of common core standards and a national curriculum was introduced by Bill Gates and the Department of Education.
Now is the time to look into this organization which is described not as a lobby or a front group. ALEC is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, behind closed doors, corporations hand state legislators the changes to the law they desire that directly benefit their bottom line. Along with legislators, corporations have membership in ALEC. Corporations sit on all nine ALEC task forces and vote with legislators to approve “model” bills. They have their own corporate governing board which meets jointly with the legislative board.
Now for the good news!
On the heels of the ALEC announcement, did Mr. Gates say to ALEC…."not so fast"? No he did not! Instead, Bill Gates is not only buying the Department of Education, it seems he is attempting to buy out ALEC as well. A grant was given to ALEC by Gates for educational reform in November 2011 for – are you ready? $376,635.00 From the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation website – Purpose: to educate and engage its membership on more efficient state budget approaches, to drive greater student outcomes, as well as educate them on beneficial ways to recruit, retain, evaluate and compensate effective teaching based upon merit and achievement. To be distributed over a period of 1 year, 10 months.
Now to be fair, this $376,635 grant is not for common core standards. This $376,635 grant is to assist in enacting the ADDITIONAL Race to the Top mandates. Gates is employing the same methods used in setting Federal Education Policy; he is giving money to an organization to establish his agenda.
Do you think this is a subtle or not so subtle message to the ALEC Board by the Gates Foundation to support the Gates vision of education…even though the common core standards are not constitutional? Will the ALEC Board fulfill its mission or will it be bought out like the Department of Education? The Department of Education turned over a government website to the Gates Foundation to monitor. From the Washington Post: “The decision to turn over “TEACH to Partners in Learning” serves to expand the already outsized influence Gates and his fortune have on public education”.
Gates is spearheading the implementation of common core standards, teacher hiring and teacher evaluations. State legislators can stop the implementation of standards and unfunded mandates. Will the ALEC Board support this model legislation or will it fold like Arne Duncan, take the money….and pretend it promotes Jeffersonian principles?
Gates along with his partnership with his friend Jeb Bush and the Jeb Bush Foundation for Excellence in Education are intent on a complete takeover of the educational delivery and content while utilizing taxpayer money. At the same time these two Foundations along with dollars acquired from the Wal-Mart Foundation, are on a fast push for an increase in the number of Charter school throughout the country. On the surface this sounds great until you start checking into the charter schools and how they are not being overseen by the local school boards, no oversight as to the curriculums or textbooks being used, where outside funding is coming from and to top it off, which one of your legislators might have a monetary interest in the Charter school business – because a business is what it is.
Make no mistake parents, Education as a whole has become a very big business, with you as a taxpayer funding a large share of it while others are making a profit and it is NOT in the “best interest of your children” that is at the forefront.
FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Diane Kepus is a regular contributor to several web sites addressing Agenda 21 and education in America. She is a researcher, wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother who sees the damage being done to our country because of our public education system. Her own web site is www.educatingflorida.com
EVEN CONSERVATIVE SCHOOLS INDOCTRINATE?
The OccupyWallStreet protests have caused Glenn to zero in on what he views as one of the biggest culprits in the progressive agenda – colleges and universities. At the same time that universities raise the cost of education, liberal professors indoctrinate students and turn them, slowly but surely, against the values their parents hold dear. As Woodrow Wilson once said, “The purpose of a university should be to make a son as unlike his father as possible.” But what do you do? That was the question raised on radio this morning.
“If you have kids in college and they’re going to come home this Thanksgiving. There’s three kinds of kids coming on the Thanksgiving, and future weekends, and Christmas,” Glenn explained on radio.
“There’s one, the kid that was raised right, and we are all blessed. We’re all blessed with — if we’re lucky we got one of these kids for some reason they connect with the truth, and centered, and it has nothing to do with us. It’s been a kid that’s been centered their whole life, and they just got it. That kid is coming home. And he’s going to say you will not believe what’s going on in the universities. It’s out of control. It’s nuts. Mom, dad they’re doing these things, and everything else. You just feed that kid and you just plant their feet, and you get on your knees, and pray with them, and do everything you can to make sure they’re recharged before they go back in the lion’s den,” Glenn said.
The second kid, Glenn explained, is the one who comes home and thinks they know everything and can’t wait to get out on their own. “Basically, me,” Glenn joked in reference to his past. “They’re the ones that are part of the Occupy Wall Street. They’re the ones that are lost or on their way to being lost.”
Glenn said that the third one is the one who would say “I just don’t know what to think.”
“This is the child that we need to be worried about. This is the child that is coming back, and they may even strike out at you. But it is a cry for help because they have always loved and respected mom and dad. They have always respected and loved mom and dad. And they’ve always felt comfortable but they weren’t on their own fuel. They were using your fuel and they believe it. But now they’re in the throes of discovering it, and gaining a testimony of the things that are true, the country, values, God, they are now in the throes of that,” Glenn said.
“The problem is that they have been sitting in a classroom for three months, three years, whatever it is, and they’ve been slowly but surely told in a million different ways mom and dad don’t know. That’s old dated thinking. That’s outdated ridiculousness. The world has progressed past that,” Glenn said.
This is exactly what happened to one of radio co-host Pat Gray’s daughters.
“They pretty well indoctrinated her. We felt her on phone conversations sort of slipping away. And going to the other side of virtually every argument that. She was pretty well indoctrinated Obama is really cool and cares about the poor. Fights for the little guy, and I was just stunned,” Pat explained.
So Pat went to work and brought home one of his audio machines and sat his daughter down. He proceed to play clip after clip of Obama and other progressives advocating radical progressive policies in their own words. His daughter was shocked and wondered why her professors never told her that side of the issues.
“It turned her around. It took some time and she thought about it. Over time over a few days after she assimilated the information,” Pat said.
The experience was an inspiration for the video montage below, which shows progressives advocating socialist and Marxist policy in the United States. Glenn played this on radio, and encouraged listeners to share it with their children as these things are not being said in colleges and universities.
