Washington, DC
October 31, 2008
The State May Steal Your Child: “Let me control the textbooks, and I will control the state,” said Adolf Hitler. Today’s education is tomorrow’s understanding. The textbooks are a key source in education, as are our teachers. In 2006, a second-grade teacher in Massachusetts read “The King and King” for her wedding-themed story time. The story is a colorful depiction of a prince choosing to marry the brother of a proposed princess. One boy related the story to his parents. They were livid. Upon complaining to the teacher, principal, superintendent, school committee chairman, and, eventually, a US District Judge, Mr. and Mrs. Parker were met with the unified argument: “Gay marriage is legal,” and the school wanted “to present all points of view.”
Two arguments battle over whether public education would be affected by Proposition 8, the CA state constitutional amendment that would establish marriage to be solely between a man and a woman. Those against the proposition claim that there would be no effect on what is taught. “Proposition 8 has nothing to do with schools or kids. Our schools aren’t required to teach anything about marriage. And using kids to lie about that is shameful,” said Jack O’Connell, the state superintendent of public instruction and former democratic state lawmaker. Delaine Eastin, the president of the state board of education and former state superintendent of public instruction, went on to say, “Proposition 8 has nothing to do with education, and the proponents know it. Not one word in Proposition 8 mentions education and no child can be forced, against the will of their parents, to attend any health-related class. California law prohibits it.”
Those for the proposition contend that without the proposition, same-sex marriage would be taught as an alternative lifestyle in the public education system. “O’Connell’s cleverly worded denials try to trick voters into thinking schools do not teach about marriage,” said Chip White, press secretary for “Yes on 8.” “But for the 96% of public schools that teach sex education, state law requires them to teach about marriage. Perhaps if O’Connell spent less time making false statements in TV ads,” said White, “he’d have more time to read his own website.” Star Parker, the founder and president of the Coalition of Urban Renewal and Education, said, “It doesn’t take much to conclude that just about every kid in California’s public school system gets some kind of instruction about marriage at some time. Should homosexual marriage remain a legal institution in California, there is little doubt that children graduating from California’s public schools will see homosexuality and homosexual marriage as normal and legitimate as proverbial American apple pie.” She goes on to say, “If Proposition 8 has ‘nothing to do with schools or kids,’ then why has the California Teachers Association [CTA], the union of California’s teachers and public school employees, contributed well over $1 million to the ‘No on 8’ campaign?”
The million-dollar donation made on October 14th by the 340,000-member union was one of four CTA donations to “No on 8.” On July 30th, it had made a $250,000 donation, and on October 16th, it made two donations of $12,096 and $50,000.
This is not the only connection that can be made to education. Last year, Arnold Schwarzenegger signed four bills—SB 777, AB 394, AB 102, and AB 14—that in total prohibits any type of discriminatory bias against gender and sexual orientation including cross-dressing and sex changes in instruction or school activities. These bills affect everything from textbooks, sex education, homecoming activities, and bathrooms and in some way relate to genders. Even the words dad, mom, male, and female could be considered harassment if said in the context of traditional marriage in the presence of a person claiming a different sexual orientation.
Randy Thomasson, the president of Campaign for Children and Families (CCF), a leading force in the fight against these bills, said, “Arnold Schwarzenegger has delivered young children into the hands of those who will introduce them to alternative sexual lifestyles. This means children as young as five years old will be mentally molested in school classrooms. Shame on Schwarzenegger and the Democrat politicians for ensuring that every California school becomes a homosexual-bisexual-transsexual indoctrination center.”
Interestingly, Hitler said, “[T]his new Reich will give its youth to no one, but will itself take youth and give to youth its own education and its own upbringing. When an opponent declares, “I will not come over to your side,” I calmly say, “Your child belongs to us already. . . . What are you? You will pass on. Your descendants, however, now stand in the new camp. In a short time they will know nothing else but this new community.”
Biblical Values Make Thinking People: Joel Belz praises the Christian school and homeschooling for training free-thinking individuals with a “Biblical value system” in his article “Children of the State: Do Not be Surprised at Socialized Education’s Product,” which was released on WorldMag.com. Calling public schools socialized schools, he said, “Socialized medicine? Most of us recoil at the idea. Socialized airlines? Reminds us of Aeroflot. Socialized banks? When it happened last month, it terrified us. But socialized schools? Nine out of ten of us patronize them regularly.”
Belz’s thought process on this issue came from his dad, who maintained that he would rather have the government help out in feeding and housing his children than in shaping their minds. He said that a non-socialized education is beneficial for society in that “it is about producing thoughtful and earnest citizens. The bells of freedom on every front traditionally ring more clearly where a biblical value system has been inculcated. No one should expect anything resembling such a result from secularist state-sponsored schools, which will naturally glorify the state. No one should be surprised when that’s what happens.”
Belz encourages his readers to look into Christian schools and the homeschool products that are available while saying that we can shape the future through the education of our youth. “It’s too late, to be sure, to have much impact on next week’s election. But so long as there are more kids and future generations, and so long as they have minds and hearts to shape with God’s great truth, it’s not too late at all to make a difference for elections yet to come.”
To read the full article, Click Here.
Does Life Really Matter?: Students for Life of America (SFLA) released a video this week with footage of a Planned Parenthood employee in New Jersey explaining to a mother that her 22 week unborn child may survive a late term abortion and be born alive, but she explains that “it wouldn’t be able to survive on its own so eventually the baby does die.”
Kristan Hawkins, director of SFLA, said, “I was absolutely stunned when the Planned Parenthood nurse revealed that allowing a baby to die after being born alive is a common practice for abortionists.” The video also links Senator Obama to this practice by referring to his vote against the Born Alive bill in the Illinois state senate, which would have ensured that infants who survived an abortion would receive proper medical attention and would not be left to die. “It [the video] begs the question of why a presidential candidate will not support human rights protections for babies born alive during an abortion procedure,” Hawkins said.
This is not the only video this week that criticizes Sen. Obama for his stand on abortion. Gianna Jessen is an abortion survivor who attacked Obama for his IL votes in an ad that began airing in September. She was then used in an ad by Sen. Obama where he claimed her accusations were inaccurate. This week, Jessen released a second video in which she addresses his criticism: “Seen this ad? In it, Senator Obama personally attacks me. I’ve dealt with worse; I survived an abortion.”
The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) has ranked Sen. Obama with a 0 percent rating based on his votes on life issues. Sen. McCain received a 75 percent rating from the NRLC. A recent poll by the Barna Group shows that despite the vast differences between the candidates’ views on abortion, born-again Christians are divided on the candidate they support with 43 percent for Sen. Obama and 45 percent favoring Sen. McCain. Dave Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group, says those Christians who support Obama do so because they believe he would help the economy, end the Iraq war, and restore a good reputation for America.