By Bruce N. Shortt, J.D., Ph.D.

WELCOME TO THE CONTINUING COLLAPSE! 

 

Exposing Government Schools: The Youth Ministry of the State Church

of Secular Humanism 

  

October, Anno Domini 2009

   

"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it, misdiagnosing it, and then misapplying the wrong remedies."

(Groucho Marx) 
 

Here richly, with ridiculous display,The Politician's corpse was laid away.

While all of his acquaintance sneered and slanged

I wept: for I had longed to see him hanged.

(Hilaire Belloc) 

MORE ON KEVIN JENNINGS:

 BRINGING NAMBLA ELEMENTARY TO YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

In its never-ending quest to be of practical service to Christians, The Continuing Collapse returns this month with the answer to the "socialization" question so often and foolishly asked of homeschoolers and, occasionally, of Christian schoolers: "All education provides socialization. The question is this: to whose values will we socialize our children, those of Christ or those of Kevin Jennings." 

Your interlocutor, Dear Reader, will of course gape at you in incomprehension because he has no more idea what is going on in government education than NBC, CBS, or ABC allows him to know. Consequently, you will need to gird yourself to provide an explanation.  

Who is Kevin Jennings? He is the sodomite Dear Leader has put in charge of discipling children from sea-to-shining-sea regarding human sexuality, the family, and marriage. Although he is deceitfully called the "safe schools czar", he is in fact the national government school sexuality and marriage czar.

What has Kevin Jennings done? The list of his perfidies is too voluminous to catalog here, but let us begin with his founding of the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network as his vehicle for mainstreaming the sodomite lifestyle among 12-18 year-olds.

And just what, in particular, has Jennings been doing through GLSEN? MassResistance provides the following brief compendium of the ways in which Jennings makes government schools unsafe.  Don't fail to click on this link:

http://www.massresistance.org/docs/gen/09d/kevin_jennings/kevinjennings.html

SOMETIMES A PICTURE REALLY IS WORTH 10,000 WORDS

Dr. Judith Reisman elaborates further on Jennings' labors on behalf of mainstreaming the sodomite lifestyle among children.

...GLSEN is as it says, a “network,” organized to demonize the normal, natural sexual life. This network would limit employment in schools, libraries, youth groups, research grants, etc., to those who share their homoerotic visions.

In 1996 one of the “network,” Gay and Lesbian Adolescent Social Services (GLASS), was exposed as systemically abusing children in their “five group homes.” The Washington Times reported:

[S]staff members, members of the GLASS board of directors, and volunteers sexually abused or molested children. A night supervisor was accused of sodomy and threatening children, while a volunteer gave children dildos and made pornographic magazines.

The headlines in this cryptic story, might have noted the fact that the agency confessed to these crimes.

Nevertheless, typical of what is emerging as a “politically correct” view of homosexual child abuse, criminal charges were not filed against the confessed child molesters—even considering their abuse of authority. Their license was “put on probation for five years.” Gosh.

This “private, non-profit 501(c)(3) social service agency” caring for “children and youth who are in foster care, on probation, or who are homeless,” is still open.

In late June, GLASS signed a waiver with the DSS agreeing that its staff and volunteers had engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct… A night supervisor was accused of sodomy and threatening children, while a volunteer gave children dildos and made pornographic magazines….[O]n numerous occasions staff members, members of the GLASS board of directors, and volunteers, sexually abused or molested children….The DSS complaint also accused GLASS President Stan Ziegler of removing children from the group homes and taking them to his mountain cabin for the weekend…. Two of the children testified here Thursday.

SMYAL (left) and others of the sexual network pop up everywhere. SMYAL, GLESN, GLSTN, GLASS apparently believe their Kinseyan propaganda, that children are sexual from birth and that “gay” children are unharmed by sex with adults (rather like Roman Polanski, all is well if you escape).

Gay Culture In America (1993), edited by professor Gilbert Herdt, writes of adult commitment, planning and effort to recruit youth. The advisor, guide, teacher, or “helping hand,” aids seduction and limits potential escapees during every stage of sexual initiation. Employing the language of religion and ritual, Professor Herdt says adult-led groups direct the:

“…adolescent’s entry first into a self-affirming semisecret group, then by collective socialization into a “gay” cultural system…. [Men] seclude and protect the youths, furthering their initiation… which socializes them further into the cultural system of the gay community.” 

These are quotes. Their “adolescent” initiates are often, says Herdt “fourteen” years old. More teachers molest students per capita than do Catholic priests. The first school safety step is to tell your state school board to tell the President to fire Jennings. Most important for school safety would be to arrest Mr. Jennings as an example for others who would aide and abet in the sexual abuse of a child. http://www.ednews.org/articles/demand-the-arrest-of-kevin-jennings.html

Remember, on a per capita basis more teachers molest students than Catholic priests. (see, e.g. http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53824)

Remember, too, that the 1972 "Gay Rights Platform" urged the abolition of all age-of-consent laws, which would eliminate the crime of statutory rape, and that Jennings has praised Harry Hay, who was a long time supporter of NAMBLA. Consequently, you can bet grandma's silverware that Jennings is making government schools far more welcoming to pedophiles.

For the  bolder of TCC's readers, perhaps next time you run into someone at church or elsewhere who is rendering his children to Caesar, innocently ask him "But what  about socialization?"

AND NOW... BACK TO THE MORE MUNDANE WAYS IN WHICH GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS AND THEIR HIGHLY TRAINED EDUCATION PROFESSIONALS HARM CHILDREN

Occasionally the New York Times takes a small step outside the liberal plantation to note that all is not well with our "single payer" government school system. Here we have Nicholas Kristof shocked to find that government school unions protect the multitude of incompetent highly  trained education professionals employed by the government schools. O Tempora! O Mores!

The Democratic Party has battled for universal health care this year, and over the decades it has admirably led the fight against poverty — except in the one way that would have the greatest impact. Good schools constitute a far more potent weapon against poverty than welfare, food stamps or housing subsidies. Yet, cowed by teachers’ unions, Democrats have too often resisted reform and stood by as generations of disadvantaged children have been cemented into an underclass by third-rate schools...

In another case cited by Mr. Brill, the union hailed its defense of a high-school teacher — who had passed out in front of her class, allegedly smelling of alcohol, with even the principal unable to rouse her. The union fought to secure her return to teaching, Mr. Brill wrote, until she passed out again, and her “water bottle” turned out to contain alcohol...

 

A Los Angeles Times article this year recounted how a teacher rebuked an eighth grader who had been hospitalized for slashing his wrists in a suicide attempt. “Carve deeper next time,” the teacher allegedly advised. He was even said to have added: “You can’t even kill yourself.” A review board blocked the termination of that teacher...

 

The Los Angeles Times investigation found that it is so expensive to remove teachers that the authorities typically try to do so only in cases of extreme misconduct — not for something as “minor” as incompetence...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/15/opinion/15kristof.html?_r=2&ref=opinion

WE MAY NOT BE MUCH GOOD AT RUNNING AN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS, BUT WE

ARE EXPERTS IN OPERATING

RE-EDUCATION CAMPS

Yes indeed. What our highly trained educational professionals may lack in intellect and character they certainly make up for in their ideological zeal.

Officials at a Pennsylvania school targeted a middle school student who came to class wearing a pro-life t-shirt with the message, "Abortion is Not Health Care." Officials at Crossroads Middle School in Lewisberry ordered the student to remove the shirt on the day of President Obama’s public address to students.

School officials deemed the shirt “inappropriate,” saying it might insult somebody -- even though the school routinely allows students to wear other shirts with other potentially offensive messages... 

The student wore his shirt to express his religious viewpoint on abortion and did so without incident until his fifth period teacher sent him to the principal’s office to see whether the shirt was “appropriate.”

There he was ordered to remove his shirt on the grounds that it might insult somebody. He was sent to the nurse’s office, where he turned his shirt inside out because he had no other shirt to wear.

http://lifenews.com/state4499.html

"School Reform" and the Reauthorization of

"No Dollar Left Behind"

Our ever-so-rational friends at the Cato Institute have kindly provided a graph to show how much improvement in education has been accomplished by pouring trillions of "school-reform" dollars down the rathole of government education :

The debate over No Child Left Behind re-authorization is upon us.

Except it isn’t.

In his recent speech kicking off the discussion, education secretary Arne Duncan asked not whether the central federal education law should be reauthorized, he merely asked how.

Let’s step back a bit, and examine why we should end federal intervention in (and spending on) our nation’s schools… in one thousand words or less:

http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2009/09/30/chart-of-the-day-federal-ed-spending/

Please bear in mind that because the education establishment has a well known penchant for finding creative ways to falsify or distort testing results, the graph probably conceals a statistically significant decline in academic performance since 1970.

What Will Our Highly Trained Education

Professionals Think of Next?

Ticketing 10 year-olds

We may have the solution to the "school funding crisis"! In Texas, our highly trained education professionals can have 10 year-olds "ticketed" and fined for disrupting class.

Here we have a 10 year-old who, undoubtedly at the behest of El Paso's highly trained education professionals, is being drugged with psychotropic drugs. The child's reaction to the drugs is that he can't stay awake. As a highly trained education professional tries to force the drugged child to stay awake, the drama unfolds:

EL PASO, Texas -- A 10-year-old student was given a $260 ticket for disrupting class at his school, KFOX-TV in El Paso reported.

For the boy's mother, the incident all started with a phone call at around 9 a.m. one day...Walka did not know that her son's trouble in class would hit her in the pocket.

She said her son was on medication for a behavioral disorder and couldn't stay awake in class at Travis Elementary School.

"So he fell asleep again, and when they tried to wake him, he got angry," Walka said.

She said her son then left the classroom after a teacher tried to restrain him. She said her son also made noise in the hall. He lay down on the floor and wouldn't get up. For disrupting class, officers at El Paso Independent School District gave her 10-year-old son a ticket for $260, a class C misdemeanor.

Walka said her son did not hurt anyone.

"It was just devastating. I was just so angry. He doesn't understand," Walka said.

The station spoke with EPISD officials who said the ticket is legal under Texas law.

"The Texas Family Code does allow for a student who is 10 years of age or older to be cited under this type of offense," said Berenice Zubia, a spokesperson for EPISD.

A reporter found a copy of the law on a legal Web site, showing it falls under Texas Education Code 37.124, although an age was not specified in that version... 

 http://www.theindychannel.com/education/21215165/detail.html 

The fine was ultimately waived, but think of the potential revenue stream!

Nevermind that no one knows what effect psychotropic drugs ultimately have on children's developing brains. Perhaps someone will figure out that if you think your children should just say 'No' to drugs, you had better just say "No" to government schools.

$44 Million Budget  Shortfall Triggers Chaos

The Continuing Collapse has been telling you for years that relatively small reductions in funding (on a percentage basis) will cause the government school system to begin to implode. Here is another story -  just as a reminder.

WASHINGTON - A massive layoff of teachers and support staff at D.C. public schools triggered chaos outside of McKinley High School Friday afternoon.

The melee happened after school let out, as students and parents filled McKinley's parking. Many were upset about the layoffs of 388 school employees, including 229 teachers. 

"The students were emotional, you know, they were upset to see their teachers being escorted by the police officers, knowing that they did nothing," said Saymendy Lloyd, a parent activist...At some point the interaction between a group of people -- mostly students and police -- turned violent...Not all schools had the same violent reaction to the layoff notices. Things were quiet at Spingarn High School, where counselor Glenda Smith learned she'd be terminated after two decades with the system.

"It's a difficult day for both staff and students," she said. "At this school in particular and at all schools across the city, because great changes are taking place."

Spingarn parent Dana Terry says the layoffs have her concerned about "the quality of the education that the children will receive."

"Because," she said, "if you're short-staffed that means if you have more kids in the classroom and ratio won't be good for learning, or the environment. Like, right now, one of the schools is asking parents to come in and volunteer." 

The teachers union agrees and may now file a lawsuit, according to its president, George Parker.

"There's no way you can remove 266 teachers from the classroom and have it not impact the quality of education," he said...

 

Police would not comment on the violence or the video other than to confirm officers made two arrests.

D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray released a statement Friday, pledging to hold hearings on the school system's layoffs.

 

A series of rallies in support of teachers is planned at McKinley and other schools as earlier as Monday, ABC 7 News has learned.

video http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/1009/665098_video.html?ref=newsstory http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/1009/665098.html

Conservatives and Christians need to stop complaining about the culture and schools, and they need to stop bleating about "school reform". Instead, they need to become the parents their children need and that the Bible commands them to be,  and they need to give up their addiction to "free public schools", otherwise known as aid-to-dependent parents. 

OUR SCHOOLS ARE DIFFERENT

The Check is in the Mail, Too.

We all know that almost every parent and pastor who claims "our schools are different" knows better. The real issue is priorities, and right now most Christian parents and pastors are choosing irresponsibility and "stuff" over children.

Here is yet another survey that shows that love of money is the root of our educational sin against our children. The bottom line: 84% of Nebraskans would choose anything other than a public school if it were "free". 75% would prefer a "religious" (the MSM can't bring themselves to say "Christian") education for their children.

School choice has long been a topic of debate among those concerned with American education. Should the government have a monopoly over education? Or should Americans instead be allowed to use vouchers to send their children to schools that could compete with the government’s public school system? Paul DiPerna of the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice recently interviewed 1,200 “likely” Nebraskan voters to see how residents of the state feel about issues with education, including school choice. The study has a 95% confidence level.

DiPerna’s study found that Nebraska’s Democrats, Republicans, and Independents often agree on key points regarding education. As an example, as many as 52% of Democrats, 53% of Independents, and 59% of Republicans in Nebraska support tax-credit scholarships. Eighty-four percent of total voters claimed to prefer a system that would allow parents to choose between public schools, private schools, charter and virtual schools, and homeschooling. Approximately 55% of Nebraskan voters say they generally favor school vouchers—and this number increases among Independent voters, two-thirds of whom support the idea. According to DiPerna, “Three times as many voters say they prefer a private school (48%) rather than a regular public school (10%). And among voters who claim to prefer private schools, a full 57% would prefer to send their children to religious private schools rather than non-religious ones.

DiPerna includes information about regional responses, explaining that voter location in the state appears to influence the responses: people in the southern region of Nebraska tend to be more supportive of the public school system than people in the northern region, for example, and voters from suburbia are typically happier with public schools than voters from urban and rural areas. DiPerna also notes that “families with household incomes between $25,000 and $75,000 are much less positive than other income groups” when it comes to public schooling.

DiPerna asked voters to describe the greatest challenges they see to Nebraska’s public school system. The top three challenges listed were:

• lack of accountability (29%);

• overcrowding in schools (23%); and

• poor parental engagement (21%).

DiPerna points out that while only 16% of parents “said they would choose a regular public school for their child,” almost 90% of Nebraskan students are enrolled in public schools. He notes that while over a tenth of Nebraskan parents would like send their children to charter schools, Nebraska has yet to enact a charter school law. “An overarching theme emerging out of the survey results is a major disconnect between parental schooling preferences and actual school enrollments,” DiPerna concludes.

http://www.campusreportonline.net/main/articles.php?id=3332

Parental and pastoral irresponsibility and greed. That's what it comes down to. Unless this changes soon America will be gone and a new pagan dark age will be upon us. 

That's a wrap for this edition of The Continuing Collapse. So, TCC bids you a fond "adieu" and asks you to:

REMEMBER:

1. Feel free to circulate The Continuing Collapse.

2. If you aren't hearing about at least some these government school problems from your pastor, why is he your pastor?
 

3. FRIENDS DON'T LET FRIENDS SEND THEIR CHILDREN TO GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS. 

“I had motive for not wanting the world to have a meaning; consequently assumed that it had none, and was able without any difficulty to find satisfying reasons for this assumption. The philosopher who finds no meaning in the world is not concerned exclusively with a problem in pure metaphysics, he is also concerned to prove that there is no valid reason why he personally should not do as he wants to do, or why his friends should not seize political power and govern in the way that they find most advantageous to themselves. … For myself, the philosophy of meaninglessness was essentially an instrument of liberation, sexual and political.” Aldous Huxley (evolutionist, leftist, and grandson of T.H. Huxley, known as "Darwin's bulldog"): Ends and Means, pp. 270 ff.

 “Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don’t mean to do harm – but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.”

T.S. Eliot