fantom Loc: Colorado

I agree that schools should not be used for indoctrination or propaganda but they have been used that way for eons.

Today they seem to exist for that purpose and education itself is secondary. It is a shame our children are leaning the "values" of socialism and the evils of capitalism.

In the recent past they indoctrinated kids in South America, Iron Curtain countries, Nazi occupied countries, Red China etc etc.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Schools don’t all indoctrinate. They may teach things that certain parents don’t agree with — on all sides of various issues. One of my favorite professors said that, “Until you can effectively argue for the other side of an issue from your own, it might be a good idea to shut up and listen.”

Some of us are open to science and math and social tolerance, and some aren’t. Some of us know dangerous demagoguery when we see it. Self-righteous fundamentalists of every stripe are likely to complain about those with open minds.

donb17

trainspotter Loc: Oregon

trainspotter Loc: Oregon

Well Sir.....YOU open YOUR mind to YOUR children.....NOT mine...(please).

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

My three kids are grown young adults with strong senses of justice, a commitment of service to others, and good moral convictions. They are doing fine with only occasional input from us, when they ask for it. We can trust them to define success and to succeed on their own, as did we.

fantom Loc: Colorado

You are sadly mistaken or uninformed. I spent some time looking at various text books used by the county's elementary and high schools and what they are teaching the kids is incredible. I won't go into detail, but the content was definitely strongly slanted toward a specific political agenda.

I would also visit high schools for Habitat for Humanity and noticed that the schools are plastered with photos that are posted for the kids. Many schools seemed to concentrate on scantily clad young rock stars, noted for their somewhat tawdry life styles.

Another school, that is a charter school, has a lobby lined with copies of large, famous pictures that each represent "virtues" that the school feels are important for the students to understand and practice.

For example the Washington Crossing the Delaware painting represented courage. Other paintings were used to portray justice, friendship, integrity, responsibility etc. The students see these everyday entering the school and then they turn a corner and see a very large photo of Winston Churchill with excerpts from his ...on the beaches speech. There are numerous pictures and speech excerpts from Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt and many foreign dignitaries in the halls. This school is obviously indoctrinating the students also.

So, parents should consider carefully and make their choice as to which influence they want their kids to be exposed to. It sounds like you lucked out and your kids weren't deluged with pictures and exhibits extolling the virtues of naval piercing but were steered towards being informed useful citizens.

I will end this long-winded post by saying that based on my own observations, and informed input from others, many American schools appear to be in the propaganda business first and education is secondary. (Naturally, many teachers will dispute this and some have told me that they are appalled by some of the policies and educational content directives that are forced upon them by the school administrators.) I have a friend who grew up in Amsterdam, under the Nazis in WWII, who has strong opinions on this subject also, that I will not bore you with, but his experiences endorse what I believe.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

We were lucky to send our twins to two of the then best magnet schools in Charlotte (and NC). The elementary was a learning immersion/talent development dual-track magnet. The middle school was an international baccalaureate magnet with a national principal of the year award winner. The EOG test scores for these schools averaged in the 90 to 96 percentiles, year after year, about 20 points higher than most Charlotte schools (2004 to 2014, when we left).

These schools were inner city success stories. My kids got a multi-cultural, multi-racial view of life that prepared them to work with nearly anyone. Those years were magical.

soba1 Loc: Somewhere In So Ca

Its too close for comfort, is it a subtle effort to sexualize children even more.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

True, and compared to the stuff on the video I saw being read to a school board by angry parents (mostly Moms) this one is Mother Goose.

The stuff they were reading included just about every single four(or whatever) letter word that Jr High boys are so in love with using to show how "adult" they are. You know the ones with d, p, f, s, c - the ones from old Anglo Saxon that mostly end with a k and having to do with sexual activity or the anatomy of sexual organs. And these were supposedly literature assignments, not science or anatomy.

soba1 Loc: Somewhere In So Ca

How far we have fallen.

AirWalter Loc: Tipp City, Ohio

You mean those with "sick" open minds. There is nothing good about exposing young children in schools with the type of things of a sexual nature like is happening now. Your people of an open mind and you are blind to the facts that our country has been invaded by many sick and evil people who wish to destroy America and what she has always stood for in the past. Those who truly care about our children, their futures, and America are getting very tired of this evil nonsense.

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

That garbage does not belong in school curriculum.

trainspotter Loc: Oregon

YOU missed the POINT....I have 3 GREATgrandkids....2 GRANDkids...and a 40+ year old daughter...(I'm talking SCHOOL aged children). Were "your" kids raised on "Benny the BEAVER meets Dick the horse'? Of course NOT.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

No, by "open minded people," I mean those with enough faith to challenge their own beliefs, just like my religion professors, philosophy professors, humanities professors, and yes, pastor did in my formative years.

Hiding sex from kids only makes it more tempting and fascinating to them. Explaining it early, in the proper context, does wonders for helping them relax about it. It helps them ignore much of the dangerously inaccurate street chatter. It helps them learn to form deeper relationships than just sexual ones, by giving it CONTEXT.

Every girl I knew in high school who got pregnant had no clues about birth control or the relationship between sex and pregnancy! It was no different at my twins' high school, 40 years later. Enforced ignorance is NOT a good thing, at any age. It just leads to tragedy and degradation.

Evil is believing that someone who does not think as we do is somehow inferior. It is an automatic assumption that THEY are evil because they are different. Guess what? They're quite capable of thinking the same about us!

I'm an American. I keep a copy of the US Constitution and 27 Amendments on my iPhone and on my end table. THAT DOCUMENT is what the United States stands for. Yet very few Americans know what is really in it, have read it in the last five years, or understand the reasons behind its articles and each amendment. We may not agree with it, but it's the foundation we live by.

We don't go deeply into Constitutional Law in public schools. A deep dive into it reveals why this country is far stronger than its adversaries. It reveals both its resilience and its flaws, too.

Studying the Constitution and Amendments also reveals what is NOT there, which is quite a lot of the folklore about "what America has always stood for." Much of "what America has always stood for" isn't in any way official. It's just assumptions based upon hearsay, plus domineering traditions of WASP culture, a "might makes right" mentality, and a "we stole this country fair and square" mindset. THAT's not America. It isn't in the Constitution or Amendments, and it isn't what the Founding Fathers and the Amenders intended. Those who think it is need to re-visit the Constitution and its 27 Amendments, and study a little history.

When I worked for the Census as a field supervisor last year, I took the same Oath of Office taken by Vice Presidents and all other government workers except the President (who takes a different, slightly simpler Oath):

“I, { name }, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”

https://www.governmentworkerfi.com/federal-employees-oath-of-office/

That Oath is an awesome responsibility. When we hired enumerators, every one of them had to read the Oath, recite the Oath, and sign a copy of it. Not one of them in my area refused to do so. I wish more people would have to take it. Aside from my wedding vows and the Oath I had to take as part of being certified as a Project Management Professional, it's the most important pledge I've made. It means the Constitution comes before all else. No individual, party, or other entity is above that. We are a nation of laws, not of people.