schools – Zombies Uncensored

Ethnicity: Another Reason for Private Competition in Public Schools

These two racially charged stories of government involvement in the public school system make a another good argument for getting government out of the public schools. It’s unfortunate that what brings these stories to the public’s awareness in the racial element, because the underlying problem of forced political education is obscured.

Arizona governor signs bill banning ethnic studies (rawstory.com)

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has signed a bill targeting a school district’s ethnic studies program, hours after a report by United Nations human rights experts condemned the measure.

State schools chief Tom Horne, who has pushed the bill for years, said he believes the Tucson school district’s Mexican-American studies program teaches Latino students that they are oppressed by white people.

Michigan Grade School Ends Black-Only Lunch Group (npr.org)

“Lunch Bunch is no longer,” district spokeswoman Liz Margolis said in an e-mail to AnnArbor.com. “It will be discussed among staff and some parents and be reworked. It has a valuable goal of assisting children who are not performing well on the MEAP, and this effort will continue.”

Dicken Principal Mike Madison drew criticism from parents following his decision last week to take members of the African-American Lunch Bunch on a field trip to hear a black rocket scientist at the University of Michigan speak. Only black students were invited on the trip.

In the United States there is a commonly held value of respecting other opinions; this respect is not present when it comes to educating the youth on issues dealing with race and ethnicity.

If there were respect for opposing views, there would be open competition among public schools and the force of government would not be used to teach community standards on racial issues.

The issue isn’t about how Arizona or Michigan chooses to teach students on issues of race; the problem is ignoring that parents can not choose how their children are taught. The choice for parents is to either pay for private schools or move to another school district.

It does not matter to me if you are for or against how either of these states handles race in schools. If it were left up to me, I would not have the subject taught at all–not use the force of government to see that my view was forced upon everyone.

If there were private competition of public schools, there would still be schools that teach racial issues like the ones in Arizona or Michigan, but it would also open the doors for schools focused on reading, writing, and arithmetic instead.

A free market for schools would allow parents to make the decision for themselves, there would be an open market for schools teaching parents version of political correctness–and, more importantly, a market for schools NOT teaching political correctness.

Pres. Lincoln: ‘Ship ’em back to Africa’

Southern Avenger Jack Hunter: Slaves to ‘Settled’ History

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPCDPhLoA5U&feature=player_embedded

Southern Avenger Jack Hunter: Liberals, and quite a few mainstream conservatives, believe that any questioning of official Civil War history is not even to be permitted.

The controversy over declarations honoring Confederate soldiers opens the question which facts from the Civil War are permissible, and makes yet another argument for getting the government as far away from the public school system as possible. Part of the reason for the lack of civility when it comes to discussions about the civil war is due to how the war is taught in school.

The recent debate over the moral high-ground led me to dig deeper into the history of the war–deeper than what I was taught in school. A little research led to several “that wasn’t in my history book” moments.

Ron Paul had pointed out several times the Civil War might have been avoided if slaves were bought by the federal government to free them.

PAUL: No, I don’t think he was one of our greatest presidents. I mean, he was determined to fight a bloody civil war, which many have argued could have been avoided. For 1/100th the cost of the war, plus 600 thousand lives, enough money would have been available to buy up all the slaves and free them. So, I don’t see that is a good part of our history.

I dug a little deeper and learned something new: what Paul was referring to is called compensation emancipation. President Lincoln did propose compensated emancipation for slaves in six Union slave states. In the proposal Lincoln sent to the Union states, slaves had the cost at $400 per slave, $300 in compensation to the slave owner, and $100 for deportation and colonization.

Not only did Lincoln propose compensated emancipation, on April 16, 1862, it was enacted, at least in the District of Columbia. After the Civil War started, President Abraham Lincoln signed the The District of Columbia Emancipation Act, which ended slavery in the Capital and compensated former owners loyal to the Union $300 per slave.

At the moment, I’m not so sure about Paul’s view that Lincoln was “‘determined to fight a bloody civil war,” because Lincoln supported a version of compensated emancipation; I can’t say I see Lincoln as a great President, though, because Lincoln held a ‘ship ’em back to Africa’ attitude.

At the moment, I say I’m not sure because I have no way of knowing what other facts were buried in Civil War history. The unpopular and obscured facts from Civil War history I’ve stumbled upon feels akin to finding out you’re adopted, because the country I thought I came from turns out not to exist.

Government Controls the Past, Government Controls the Future

There is always some danger in handing control over to government; for once control of anything is handed to the government, it can and probably will be used for other purposes other than the originally intended goal. I want to touch of the problem of handing control of the education to government and using schools for government agendas.

Yesterday, I blamed my lack of knowledge about the tenth Amendment on the public school system. I believe that schools not emphasizing the importance of pitting the thirst for power between the states and the federal government to balance power might be a result of historical editing. I’m assuming the idea behind this omission was to avoid another Civil War; by leaving out the issue of states having self governance, the Civil War became only about slavery.

Schools have been used to promote political agendas by all sides in politics. These two videos, one from the left and one from the right, make a strong argument for taking control away from government and privatizing schools. As long as the power to decide which textbook to teach from, or what goes into a textbook, rests with those with political interests, textbooks will be used to promote political ideology. (continues after videos)

FoxNews on Biased Textbooks

The Young Turks on Biased Textbooks

From George Orwell’s 1984: If all records told the same tale — then the lie passed into history and became truth. He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past.

To put it another way: when government controls the past, the government controls the future.

Unless you are well-off, you have to move to a school district where the majority views match those you want for your children. Why not just allow private competition between schools or school vouchers? If there was competition among schools, you could just move your kids to another school rather than having to move everything you own.

Government Controls the Past, Government Controls the Future

FoxNews on Biased Textbooks

The Young Turks on Biased Textbooks

To put it another way: when government controls the past, the government controls the future.