The following article is courtesy of Michael Connelly
In my last blog post I talked about the dumbing down of the students in our schools and how it is causing us to fall behind much of the rest of the world in critical areas like math and science. However, that is just the beginning of the problems we have in education in the United States, and most of it is being caused deliberately.
In recent decades much of our educational system has been taken over by liberals and even far leftists who envision the schools as a place to re-educate our children to be virtual drones whose only allegiance is to the all powerful “state.” In order to be successful in this the left must turn our students away from their family values, their religion, and our national heritage of freedom and limited government.
The techniques that are being used are not new, they have been successfully used in the past by the communist governments such as the Soviet Union and China, and of course the Nazis were very good at the outright brainwashing of citizens, especially the younger ones. Before they actually came to power in the government, they had infiltrated the German university system and forced out all of the Jewish professors and any other administrators and teachers who opposed the Nazi world view.
Pro Nazi professors used their positions to teach propaganda to their students and intimidate those who didn’t go along with them. Students who didn’t enthusiastically follow the party line failed their classes and were ultimately expelled. This same type of approach is being used today in many American institutions of higher learning.
For years, it has become increasingly hard for professors who are conservative in their political views to get and/or keep a teaching position on many university campuses. This is particularly true for those conservatives in disciplines such as history or political science. On a large number of campuses you would be hard pressed to find anyone teaching in those areas that are not far left or at least liberal.
As for the students at these so called institutions of higher learning, they are increasingly being subjected to a continuous barrage of political propaganda and if they attempt to resist this indoctrination they are threatened and intimidated. Examples range from simple pettiness to the actual denying of degrees to those students who are not “politically correct.”
At my alma mater, Louisiana State University, an astronomy professor segregates his class by isolating students who do not agree with his theory that the United States is primarily responsible for the now discredited theory of global warning. Such students basically have to sit in “the corner” and if they try to defend their position the professor mocks them openly and accuses them of potentially causing the death of billions of people. One such rant has actually been caught on video.
The University of Minnesota has attempted to go much further. It has proposed that anyone who seeks a degree in education from that university must be certified as politically correct on every issue from abortion and gay marriage to the superiority of socialism as a form of government. If students do not conform to these leftist views they will be denied their degrees unless they agree to take a series of “remedial” classes where they will be taught to be politically correct.
These are not isolated instances. They are occurring in colleges throughout the United States and there are numerous law suits pending by students who have failed classes or been denied degrees not because they failed to perform the required work, but simply because they are not willing to give up their political or religious views in order to conform to leftist ideology.
Now the same thing is happening in the public schools around the country. Students from elementary through high school are being subjected to increasing amounts of political propaganda. This is being orchestrated by a combination of measures being forced on teachers and students by the Federal government, far left teachers unions, and local and state school boards and Departments of Education controlled by liberals.
It started with the successful attempts to remove all references to God from the classroom and has spiraled out of control since then. The vast majority of teachers, students, and parents are caught in the middle and often feel helpless. Teachers are increasingly being forced away from teaching the basics in such subjects as reading, writing, math, science, and social studies in order to spend more time on so called “values education.” The values that are being taught often do not reflect the feelings of most teachers or parents.
They include such things as global warming, alternative lifestyles such as gay marriage, the joys of safe sex, even to elementary children, and the need for the destruction of our form of government and our capitalist economy. If you doubt what I am saying I urge you to look at the textbooks your children or grandchildren have.
For example, the theory of evolution is taught as an absolute scientific fact and no mention is allowed of any possible alternative theories such as creationism. In fact, in some schools teachers can be terminated for even mentioning creationism as an alternative. What happened to open discussion in the classroom? I can remember some lively debates on this issue when I was in high school, and we were allowed to reach our own conclusions. When it comes to history, our children are being taught revisionist history. They are not learning what really happened, but what the left wants them to think happened.
Right now the State of Florida is preparing to require that American history courses taught to high school students begin with the reconstruction period following the Civil War. In other words, students will learn nothing about the founding of this country. They won’t be taught about the Revolution, the Declaration of Independence, or the Constitution. They won’t even hear the names of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, or Benjamin Franklin mentioned in their history classes, and they certainly won’t know about our Judeo Christian religious heritage. This is just the latest example of what is happening in schools all over our country.
It conforms to the philosophy of the far left that our American heritage is one of greed, conquest, war, and evil. If that is what we allow our children to be taught, and believe, then our nation is doomed. It is time we get rid of the Federal Department of Education and take back our schools and our heritage!
It can be done. Last fall the school district in Mansfield, Texas accepted a grant from the Federal Department of Education that would have required students in certain schools to take courses in the Arabic language and Arabic Culture. It seems that the DOE has identified Arabic as a “language of the future.” Parents fought back, particularly since such courses would undoubtedly include teaching of the Muslim religion, yet no teaching of Christianity is allowed in the schools. The parents won and the program has been cancelled
Michael Connelly
Personal website and Blog http://michaelconnelly.viviti.com/
Author of “The Mortarmen” a book about my father’s unit in WWII; “Riders in the Sky: The Ghosts and Legends of Philmont Scout Ranch” ; and my just released novel ”Amayehli: A Story of America“.
I also teach law courses via the Internet through colleges and universities worldwide including a course on “Constitutional Law: The Bill of Rights”: at: http://www.ed2go.com/courses/cl1. To find a college or university near you, and learn about my other courses go to Education To Go’s website at www.ed2go.com.
Check out my radio talk show every week called “Our Constitution” at this link: http://www.radiosandysprings.com/showpages/OurConstitution.php
