Leftist school assignments: Think like a Nazi; doses of political bias

Ed Supe blames Common Core for “Jews are evil” assignment

The Times Union reports on a “sophisticated” assignment given to Albany High School students. They were to watch and read Nazi propaganda and then write an argument that Jews are evil and the source of Germany’s problems, using a Nazi perspective. “You must argue that Jews are evil, and use solid rationale from government propaganda to convince me of your loyalty to the Third Reich!,” their teacher instructed.  In addition, the students were asked to include ”any experiences you have with … Jews being evil.”

One third of the English class refused to participate in the assignment.

Albany Superintendent Marguerite Vanden Wyngaard blamed tougher Common Core standards that require “sophisticated” writing linking English composition to other subjects, like world history.

Calling the exercise “especially tone deaf,” New York magazine noted that the assignment could have concerned a wide range of topics.

“I would apologize to our families,” Vanden Wyngaard said. “I don’t believe there was malice or intent to cause any insensitivities to our families of Jewish faith.” Vanden Wyngaard said that the teacher will face some kind of disciplinary action, which could range from a letter of reprimand to firing. “You asked a child to support the notion that the Holocaust was justified, that’s my struggle,” she said. “It’s an illogical leap for a student to make.”

There’s even more. EAG reports that eighth-graders in Wisconsin’s Union Grove School District were assigned to fill out a “Liberalism vs. Conservatism” crossword puzzle — learning some new and very questionable “facts” along the way.

In conjunction with their “civics” assignment the students got a good dose of political bias and indoctrination, as they learned conservatism is “the political belief of preserving traditional moral values by restricting personal freedoms.” And liberalism? That’s “the political belief of equality and personal freedom for everyone, often changing the current system to increase government protection of civil liberties.”

How about teachers coaching fourth graders at Cedar Hills Elementary in Jacksonville, Florida to write, “I am willing to give up some of my constitutional rights in order to be safer or more secure.” Read more here.

On its website, Education Action Group (EAG) says it shines a spotlight on the leftist agenda and activists and their mission to “fundamentally transform” the United States of America through the government education system.

Good luck. America’s children are being indoctrinated by these people each and every school day.

Phoenix Dad with gun stops intruder

A quote worth contemplating

As his daughters, ages 4 and 7 slept, a Phoenix father stopped a home invasion suspect trying to break through their bedroom window just before 2:00 am. Wednesday.  The father shot the man three times, fatally wounding him.

The attempted forced entry occurred in the area of 28^th Avenue and Acoma, where the man was previously observed trying to break into cars.

The suspect, who has not been identified, is described as a 35-year-old white male, who was acting irrationally, and appeared to pull a weapon from his pants.

Police say the homeowner, who was simply trying to protect his family, was not arrested.

 “The only thing that will stop a bad man with a gun is a good man with a gun.”

– Wayne LaPierre, National Rifle Association Executive Vice President.

More Dem hypocrisy: Obama kids’ school has 11 armed guards

Liberals exhibit double standard as they send their own children to high security school

The appalling hypocrisy of Barack Obama, his Senate Democrat cohorts and duplicitous media, as they push for tighter gun controls is nothing short of mind boggling.  They mock the NRA’s CEO Wayne LaPierre for suggesting that schools should consider having a security plan that includes armed guards, while ensuring that they and their own families are protected.

As it turns out, Sidwell Friends, the costly private Quaker school in Washington, DC, attended by the Obama’s daughters Malia and Natasha, has 11 security officers.

These armed officers are in addition to Secret Service protection provided the First Family’s girls. The guards are standard operating procedure for the school.  And this is the reason liberal parents like NBC’s double-talking David Gregory send their children to Sidwell.  They can rest assured knowing their kids will be protected from the carnage that befell children at a school where armed guards were not only not used, but are disallowed.

How typical of liberal elitists. Obama is intent on imposing stricter controls on American gun owners and preventing the parents of other school children from doing what he has clearly done for his own children — who securely sit under the protection guns afford. 

Debbie Schlussel reminds us that Israeli schoolchildren are kept safe by armed guards. Check out the photo accompanying this post.

 

Teachers abandon NEA union

Obama skips NEA convention in DC, sends gaffe-prone Biden

In the most encouraging education news in decades the National Education Association (NEA) has lost more than 100,000 members in this past year.

According to the union’s own projections, expectations are by 2014 it could lose an unprecedented cumulative total of about 308,000 full-time teachers and other workers, showing a 16% drop from 2010. Lost dues will shrink NEA’s budget an estimated $65 million, or 18%.

News of the losses hit as thousands of delegates convene this week in Washington, D.C. for the NEA’s annual meeting. Democrat presidential candidates traditionally have courted the reliably liberal group. But this year Obama is skipping the event. Why bother? He knows he has the lock-steppers and their money in his pocket.

During the 2007 – 2008 cycle, the NEA union topped the list of all top national donors, spending in excess of $56 million on left-wing political candidates and causes. But they want more. Last year at the annual conference held in Obama’s hometown of Chicago, the unionists approved a $10 per member increase in their own annual dues for the nearly 3 ½ million members — an additional $32 million — intended to double the “crisis” fund’s annual budget. Read that ‘crisis” as Obama’s reelection. Going forward the NEA has announced that it will hike that amount to $20 per member.

Here is the deplorable overview of Arizona’s teachers union (AEA) massive political spending — $1,106,422 on Democrat candidates — from 2003 – 2012.

Today’s USA Today reports the union is concerned about losing its “clout.”

For a reminder of the union’s actual priorities and what its “clout” covers, watch this brief but shocking video showing former NEA general counsel Bob Chanin’s retirement speech at the union’s 2009 national convention after 41 years as the education associations’ top lawyer. This is a passage in his own words.

“I have found it increasingly necessary to spend time defending NEA and its affiliates against attacks from government agencies, conservative and right-wing groups and unfriendly media. Why you may ask is this so? Why are these conservative and right-wing bastards picking on NEA and it’s affiliates? I will tell you why. It is the price we pay for success. NEA and it’s affiliates have been singled out because they are the most effective union in the United States.

It embraced collective bargaining, it supported teacher’s strikes, it established a political action committee, it spoke out for affirmative action and it defended gay and lesbian rights.”

These are the people who spend more time each day influencing your children than you do. Charter schools are a viable option to government union schools. Check them out. Educate yourself.  Your children and our nation’s future depends on your vigilance.

Lori Anne Madison: A testament to home-schooling

How do you spell p-r-o-d-i-g-y?

Poised, unruffled and bright as a newly minted penny, Lori Anne Madison returned to the Scripps National Spelling Bee to win yet another trophy. The 6-year-old blonde from Virginia, has just become the youngest speller eligible to participate in the competition.

Lori Anne, who is home-schooled, won over 21 other elementary and middle school spelling champs — all of whom were older than her — to win the bee, which enters her into the national competition.

Her winning word “vaquero,” the Spanish translation of cowboy, put her over the top.  Some children might have been intimidated by competing against spellers over twice their age, but Lori took it in her stride. “I was confident because I have been in spelling bees with older kids before and I judge them by who they are, not about age,” the articulate Lori Anne said. “My parents quiz me, I read and I have a really good memory,” she calmly stated.

Watch her self-assured interview on Fox News.

The last phase of the competition can be seen here. It’s well worth your time.

Gardasil: Boys become new target of lucrative drug

Parental choice or federal intervention?

Gardasil, the controversial vaccine said to treat sexually transmitted Human Papilloma virus (HPV), is now being recommended for 11 and 12-year-old boys. The drug is touted as protecting against anal and throat cancers, not a major problem with young boys. Originally it was said to prevent cervical cancer and was being sold as a panacea for girls.

Seeing Red AZ wrote about this problematic drug in July 2008.  It first gained national prominence when Texas Gov. Rick Perry mandated its use after Merck Pharmaceuticals PAC gave hefty donations to his campaign. Perry denied the donations influenced his decision to issue the executive order — bypassing the Texas legislature — from which parents could not opt in, but had to submit a written form to the State Health Department in Austin opting out of having their young daughters receive this fast-tracked, unproven vaccine, on the market less than a year.  Perry’s chief-of-staff landed a lucrative lobbying position with the drug company. 

Now, the latest recommendation by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is likely to broaden the use of the HPV vaccine, since most private insurers pay for vaccines once the committee recommends them. The HPV vaccine is unusually expensive. The three recommended doses cost pediatricians more than $300 and patients are often charged hundreds more.

But this is no bargain. Vaccinating the nation’s 11- and 12-year-old boys will cost almost $140 million annually, with the one-time “catch-up” among males 13 to 21 costing hundreds of millions more. Taxpayers, via federal subsidies, pay for about half of all vaccinations.

Not only are the CDC committee’s recommendations routinely used by private insurers to determine which vaccines to pay for, but the Obama administration’s Fed-Med legislation of 2010 requires insurers participating in health exchanges to offer vaccines recommended by the committee. The Wall Street Journal wrote in 2007 that widespread use of the drug would guarantee the drug maker billions of dollars in annual revenue.

Vaccination rates in girls have remained relatively low, as parents balked when reports were released about the lack of substantive testing on the drug, coupled with the motivating profitability factors for the drug manufacturer. So boys are the next best option for Merck & Co.

This excellent editorial on Gardasil appeared n the Journal of the American Medical Association, declaring that “serious questions regarding the overall effectiveness of the vaccine” needed to be answered and that more long-term studies were called for. The article concludes with this cogent observation: “When weighing evidence about risks and benefits, it is also appropriate to ask who takes the risk, and who gets the benefit. Patients and the public logically expect that only medical and scientific evidence is put on the balance. If other matters weigh in, such as profit for a company or financial or professional gains for physicians or groups of physicians, the balance is easily skewed. The balance will also tilt if the adverse events are not calculated correctly.”

You‘re teaching WHAT to my child?

No wonder home schooling is gaining adherents

This New York Post article on sex ed curriculum to be taught in New York City public schools is more than eyebrow raising.  The topics are shocking — yet the courses will be mandatory in middle and high schools next year.

If that’s not bad enough, check out the asterisk* marked subjects that will be taught to 11 and 12-year-old children. The specifics are graphic enough that we’ll let you check out the topics of study yourselves. There are four short paragraphs marked in this manner. Whereas the first two will have you steamed, the last two are guaranteed to enrage.

Student field trips will include a visit to the local pharmacy, where they will compare and contrast condoms in terms of brand, price, and specific features. Others will research and map out a route from school to clinics providing birth control and STD tests. The children are also directed to Columbia University’s Go Ask Alice astoundingly graphic website.

Johnny might not be able to read, but he’ll soon find out that bestiality is not a course in grooming and obedience training for pooches at the neighborhood veterinarian’s office.

The proficiency percentages of New York City school children on National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tests are unacceptably low. Just 22 percent of the city’s eighth graders and just 29 percent of the city’s fourth graders are reading at grade level.

Eighth-grade reading has shown no improvement since 2003. But even with “significant” fourth-grade gains, only 35 percent of city fourth-grade students are proficient in math, according to NAEP data.

Students won’t be prepared for the competitive international marketplace, but they’ll be able to price shop condoms and probably teach Bill Clinton a thing or two about….well, you know.

Here is the research report titled “Sex Ed in the NYC Public School System.” Prepared by the long-controversial SIECUS and NARAL Pro-Choice New York, it includes the Obama administration’s HHS Director Kathleen Sebelius’ stamp of approval. NARAL has gone through several incarnations since its 1969 inception — first as National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws. It then became the National Abortion Rights Action League and later National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League. Now it merely uses the less revealing acronym. But don’t be fooled. The objective is still to undermine family and religious values.

Vouchers give parents educational choices

Republican congressional gains, exposure of unions, enhance parental choices

Tucked in among poor test scores, falling literacy rates and slipping standards of far too many American public schools is the good news heralding the expansion of school choice across the nation. As of this month according to Dr. Edwin Feulner of the Heritage Foundation, 18 states and Washington, D.C., have policies that support private-school choice. But public-school choice options are also continuing to grow. On top of that, there are millions of children participating in K–12 courses online. Meanwhile, home-schooling and charter schools are becoming more widespread.

Arizona is among the groundbreaking reformers. In April, Gov. Jan Brewer signed legislation creating an Education Savings Account program for special-needs students. Under it, Arizona deposits 90 percent of the state per-pupil education funding into a savings account that parents control. They can use it for private-school tuition, online education, home-schooling, or to save for college. The funds follow the child instead of automatically going to the neighborhood public school, and what is unused in one year can be rolled over to the next. Up to 17,000 special-needs students are expected to be eligible for the program this year.

In fact, The Wall Street Journal has already dubbed 2011 “The Year of School Choice,” noting: Choice by itself won’t lift U.S. K-12 education to where it needs to be. Eliminating teacher tenure and measuring teachers against student performance are also critical. Standards must be higher than they are.

But choice is essential to driving reform because it erodes the union-dominated monopoly that assigns children to schools based on where they live. Unions defend the monopoly to protect jobs for their members, but education should above all serve students and the larger goal of a society in which everyone has an opportunity to prosper.

This year’s choice gains are a major step forward, and they are due in large part to Republican gains in last fall’s elections combined with growing recognition by many Democrats that the unions are a reactionary force that is denying opportunity to millions. The ultimate goal should be to let the money follow the children to whatever school their parents want them to attend.

The Boston Globe now reports that within weeks after Indiana began the nation’s broadest school voucher program, thousands of students have transferred from public to private schools, causing a spike in enrollment at some Catholic institutions that were recently on the brink of closing.

In July we covered the massive fraud in test scores in Georgia and Pennsylvania — reaching into the highest levels of school administrations.

Given a choice, parents opt for what’s best for their children. The good news is that option is now increasingly available.

No armistice in California’s lopsided culture war

Sexual minorities advance agenda with Brown at helm of state

Democrat Gov. Edmund “Jerry” Brown signed a bill yesterday making California the first state in the nation requiring that lessons about homosexuals, bisexuals and transgenders be integral to social studies programs in the state’s public schools.

Brown signed the controversial bill autjhorizing the one-sided curriculum after the Democrat majority state legislature passed the bill last week on a largely party-line vote.

State law already mandates that public schools teach about women, African Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, European Americans, American Indians and labor unions  — as diversity trumps unity in California.

The new law, SB48, requires the California Board of Education and local school districts to adopt textbooks and other teaching materials that cover the contributions and roles of sexual minorities, as soon as the 2013-2014 school year.

“Gay” rights advocates said they will be vigilant about making sure schools across California comply. No word from them on bringing up lagging test scores in reading, language and mathematics.

Carolyn Laub, the founder and executive director of the Gay-Straight Alliance Network that works to establish gay-straight clubs in schools, declared such clubs now exist in 55 percent of California’s high schools. Wann’a bet the Latin, math, astronomy, ROTC, FFA and community service clubs no longer exist?

Ban on homemade lunches: Obama rules in Chicago’s public schools

The Chicago Tribune demonstrates the lengths to which liberals will go to overshadow the role of parents, blatantly infringing on their responsibilities to their own children’s basic needs.  Government has constituently enumerated powers. Nannyism is not one of them.

Michelle Obama wants to tell us what and how to eat, although few of us can afford to emulate the Obama’s exclusive dietary tastes.

But at Chicago’s Little Village Academy, most students must take the school provided meals — both breakfast and lunch — or go hungry. Unless they have a medical excuse, they must eat the food served in the cafeteria. Bringing lunch from home is now verboten.

The Trib reports that dozens of students took the provided lunch but threw most of it in the garbage uneaten. No matter.  Although the children might not get their nutrition, the puveyor’s bank accounts get very fat.

Any school that bans homemade lunches also guarantees more money in the pockets of the district’s food provider, Chartwells-Thompson. The federal government pays the district for each free or reduced-price lunch provided, and the supplying commissary receives a set fee from the district per meal.

Back in 2005, the catering contract was worth $100 million in managed annual volume, servicing 613 schools and 426,812 students in the Chicago area, alone. Annual revenue at that time was projected to exceed $52 million. Under the terms of the agreement, Chartwells-Thompson, a division of Charlotte, N.C.-based, high-dollar stock trading Compass Group, provided the food service for all six regions comprising the Chicago Public Schools System. We attempted to find more recent corporate financial remuneration information from the catering company, but it appears to be well concealed. However we were able to locate this 2010 report on “Diversity and Inclusion” including their abhorrence of gender discrimination (pages 7 and 8).

The Chicago School District is the third largest in the United States, leading us to question whether this is about nutrition or mammoth sums of money.

Read the Chicago Tribune article here.