Truth in love blog

The Continuing Collapse: December EDITION

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 20:24:47 -0600

by Bruce Shortt, J.D., Ph.D.

WELCOME TO THE CONTINUING COLLAPSE!

"Doing the Education Research that Illegal Aliens Won't Do
Since 1997"

December, Anno Domini 2008

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

     Merry Christmas from The Continuing Collapse! This edition runs a bit long because of all the "interesting" news that our highly trained education professionals kindly continue to provide.

     If you want to understand the direction government education will take during the first year of the Dalai Bama, you will need to read to the end. So, please feel free to dip into this edition from time to time while enjoying your favorite Yuletide beverage and cookies.

THE "OFFICE" OF THE PRESIDENT ELECT CHOOSES THE SECRETARY "ELECT"

    To begin, let us consider the Dalai Bama's gift to education, the Secretary of Education "elect", the Right Honorable Arne Duncan, superintendent of Chicago government schools, basketball buddy of the Dalai Bama, and holder of the much coveted Bachelor of Arts in sociology from Harvard.

Recall that the Dalai Bama considers school reform to be among his fortes. After all, from 1995 to 1999 he presided with Bill Ayers over the Chicago Annenberg Challenge program that spent $150 million to improve Chicago's government schools. And perhaps the Dalai Bama can with some justice claim that he has demonstrated unequivocally that he is an accomplished school reformer. After all, the Chicago Annenberg Challenge spent $150 million and accomplished nothing.

Well, perhaps "nothing" is a bit harsh. Below is a Chicagoan's description of an Annenberg Challenge School. Decide for yourself what the $150 million accomplished.

My favorite subject in all of this Chicago mess is the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, which is the project on whose board Bill Ayers and Barack Obama served together. I love this project because right up the street from me, I have an Annenberg Challenge school, which I think is known in the community as the "Peace School," and is very interactive with residents of my little neighborhood. They hold peace studies rallies, drum circles, indoctrinate children in what appear to be Marxist values and hold the weekly farmers market (who said communism couldn't taste fresh?). They are a continual annoyance to me, particularly because, in the summer, my favorite Thai restaurant has a mini-cafe right across the street and I have to stare at their peace signs and "Vote" posters until I seethe, and it ruins my basil chicken.   
Now the Dalai Bama presents the man who is admirably qualified to carry on the Dalai Bama's record of government school reform:

Duncan, hailed by Obama as a reformer, said he would like to take the lessons he learned in Chicago with him when he moves to Washington. “I'm also eager to apply some of the lessons we have learned here in Chicago to help school districts all across our country," Duncan said after Obama formally named him to the job in Chicago. http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=40911

For those unacquanted with the "Secretary Elect", his school reform credentials go far beyond his jump-shot that the Dalai Bama so much admires during their morning basketball games:

In 2007, only 17 percent of eighth graders tested at or above grade level in reading in Chicago Public Schools – the school system administered by Arne Duncan since 2001...

According to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) report for 2007, Chicago public schools have consistently performed below the national average during Duncan’s tenure.

The report measures students at the fourth and eighth grade levels in the subjects of reading, math, science, and writing, and ranks them at below basic, basic, proficient, or advanced levels... http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=40911

So, all, or virtually all, of Chicago's 4th and 8th graders that were recently tested were entirely or mostly educated under the watchful gaze of the Secretary Elect, and his results are impressive.

Among Chicago 8th graders "only" 83% can't read at grade level (there has been no statistically significant improvement in reading scores on the Secretary Elect's watch - one of the key signs of a proficient school reformer), "only" 87% can't do math at grade level, "only" 77% can't write at grade level, and "only" 84% can't do science at grade level. Even more astonishing, the Secretary Elect managed to achieve these arresting results by spending a modest $10,555 per pupil per year.

But the Secretary Elect's accomplishments are certainly not limited to mundane academics. No, the Secretary Elect is firmly committed to a progressive worldview. In fact, he has endorsed establishing The Chicago Social Justice High School - Pride Campus, Chicago's first government high school for the promotion and reinforcement of the sodomite lifestyle.
 Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, some "conservative" and "libertarian" school reform "experts" are clucking the praises of the Secretary Elect because they understand that he has spoken favorably of "accountability", charter schools, "per pupil funding", and "merit pay" for teachers.

Never forget, however, that in government school reform circles "words speak louder than actions".
Thus, as is to be expected, there are reports that some of these same conservative school reformers are queing up to kiss the - ahem - ring of the Secretary Elect so that they can continue to claim to donors and assorted persons at cocktail parties that they still have "access" and are "relevant".

Oh, yes. And where does the Secretary Elect stand on the Annenberg Challenge schools? He worked with the Annenberg Challenge to implement the Challenge's curriculum in Chicago Public Schools. Here is a statement regarding the Secretary Elect from the "Challenge":

The Challenge's work is still carried on today through to the bipartisan Chicago Public Education Fund, which coordinates closely Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan and Mayor Daley . . .

The bottom line is that the Secretary Elect will (1) deliver rhetoric and perhaps some tokenism to the school reformers (who, like Chris Matthews, will be "thrilled"), (2) substantively advance the sodomite agenda in the schools to please the homosexual activists, and (3) use the resources at his disposal to encourage the spread of the ideology embedded in the Ayers/Obama Chicago Annenberg Challenge program.

But, the Dalai Bama's approach ot education can't be fully understood without knowing that Linda Darling-Hammond, a professorette of education from Stanford and a "darling" of the teachers' unions, heads the Dali Bama's education working group.

Darling-Hammond will make sure that the Secretary Elect's rhetoric on school reform is limited to symbolism and that the teachers' unions' troughs will be well filled with tax dollars. In other words, the reformers will get a head-fake, and the unions will get the cash. [BTW, this will be the Dalai Bama's style in all things - he will make a show of "bringing people together" by giving opponents symbolism and his supporters substance. The Rick Warren gambit is a good example. Foolish evangelicals will soften their views of the Dalai Bama because they get a prayer. Meanwhile the abortion industry will get massive amounts of federal money and perhaps FOCA].

WHAT ELSE TO EXPECT
DURING THE REIGN OF THE
DALAI BAMA AND THE SECRETARY ELECT?

Making predictions like these is easier than shooting fish in a barrel - if you can find a barrel of fish these days.

No Child Left Behind will be reauthorized and probably "rebranded" in 2009. While the reauthorization will retain the structure of NCLB, the legislation is likely to get a new name (partly as an effort to deprive Bush of his "education legacy").

The two basic changes to NCLB to expect are: (1) massive additional payoffs to the education special interests billed as "investments" in education and (2) a "reform" of the already nearly meaningless NCLB accountability standards in an effort to make it even more difficult for parents and taxpayers to understand the level of educational malfeasance being perpetrated on our children by our highly trained education professionals.

In sum, the academic shell game will be taken to a new level while increasing amounts of federal money will be handed out to the education special interests.

On the instructional side, indoctrination of children in "progressive" politics and values will intensify. Bill Ayers will not have a post in the new administration, but he will have influence. The Dalai Bama will see that his friend and fellow Alinskyite's vision is advanced as far as possible.

What is that vision? An Investor's Business Daily editorial captured it succinctly:

"Ayers, now a tenured distinguished professor of education at UIC, works to educate teachers in socialist revolutionary ideology, urging that it be passed on to impressionable students."

Christianity will increasingly be treated as if it is the intellectual equivalent of a South Seas "cargo cult", except that it is far more dangerous, and therefore no effort will be spared in eliminating any Christian influence in schools and on the children institutionalized therein.

Nevertheless, the biggest change will probably be the increase in the intensity with which "Progressive" values regarding sexuality, marriage, and the family will be pushed.

Here is a real life example from WorldNet Daily illustrating the type of promotion of the sodomite lifestyle that will become more common. Please note that this took place in one of our very small rural school districts, which, as we all know, are "different":

The mother of a Wisconsin teenager was stunned when her high school senior brought home a questionnaire assigned by his English teacher that asked, among several provocative questions, "Is it possible that your heterosexuality stems from a neurotic fear of others of the same sex?" ....

Hanson's son, Alex, originally thought he was required to complete the questionnaire for the next day's class. He was struggling, however, to answer the following questions:
• What do you think caused your heterosexuality?
• When and how did you decide you were a heterosexual?
• Is it possible that your heterosexuality is just a phase you may grow out of?
• Is it possible that your heterosexuality stems from a neurotic fear of others of the same sex?
• Do your parents know that you are straight? Do your friends and/or roommate(s) know? How did they react?
• Why do you insist on flaunting your heterosexuality? Can't you just be who you are and keep it quiet?
• Why do heterosexuals feel compelled to seduce others into their lifestyles?
• A disproportionate majority of child molesters are heterosexual. So you consider it safe to expose children to heterosexual teachers?
• With all the societal support marriage receives, the divorce rate is spiraling. Why are there so few stable relationships among heterosexuals?
• Statistics show that lesbians have the lowest incidence of sexually transmitted diseases. Is it really safe for a woman to maintain a heterosexual lifestyle and run the risk of disease and pregnancy?
• Considering the menace of overpopulation, how could the human race survive if everyone were heterosexual?
• Would you want your child to be heterosexual, knowing the problems that s/he would face?
•
Hanson told WND she went the next morning to see her son's teacher at Pecatonica High School in tiny Blanchardville, Wis., population 806.

"What does this questionnaire have to do with English class?" Hanson asked. Hanson told WND the teacher's response was that the questions were not an assignment but a discussion guide for the day's class on "tolerance."

...Principal Dave McSherry... told WND that the discussion was part of a comprehensive curriculum in critical thinking skills, preparing the students to make decisions on their own in college and beyond...

"We're not promoting homosexuality," McSherry said. "We never have, never will."
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=82529

Don't forget: government schools never promote homosexual sodomy, just tolerance, critical thinking, and the ability "think independently" [which is a euphemism for encouraging children to adopt "progressive" values opposed to those taught by their parents and the Bible].

NO, THE CONTINUING COLLAPSE IS NOT MAKING THIS UP:

LESBIAN "YOUTH" MORE LIKELY TO GET PREGNANT

It must be the fault of the "lesbian" boys the girls are hanging out with.

VANCOUVER - Lesbian and bisexual youth are up to seven times more likely to get pregnant than their heterosexual peers, a study of British Columbia students has found.

The surprising findings were published in the Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality. The data used for the research were gathered from adolescent health surveys done in B.C. schools in 1992, 1998, and 2003...

Results from the surveys, which were conducted anonymously among about 30,000 students in grades 7 through 12, indicated as well that boys are more likely to cause a pregnancy if they identify as gay or bisexual...

In the 1998 survey, 10.6 per cent of girls who identified as bisexual reported pregnancy, and 7.3 per cent of lesbians reported pregnancy. Among the heterosexual girls, 1.8 per cent reported pregnancy...

The survey data did not provide Saewyc with concrete explanations for the heightened risk of pregnancy among gay, lesbian and bisexual youth, but she said there are several possible reasons...
http://www.vancouversun.com/teens+higher+risk+pregnancy+study/1082366/story.html

The conjectures offered as explanations for this interesting phenomenon by the author of the study are just P.C. pap. What is happening is in part a reflection of the confusion and immorality engendered by highly trained education professionals.

The beginning point is understanding that girls are increasingly coming from homes without fathers and that they desperately want attention from boys.

One way to get this attention in the government school culture is to act like a lesbian or bisexual with another girl in front of an "appropriate" group of boys. This not only gets the desired attention, but it also allows the girls to pose as the sexually enlightened among the hoi polloi.

The boys, in turn, recognize an opportunity when they see one, and present themselves to the girls as similarly enlightened. Then many of the "enlightened" find an excuse to "hook up" as a sign of solidarity among "progressives".

This mating ritual may be a bit more complicated than one you might observe in the Amazon rain forest or Borneo, but this or something like it is the explanation. Howard Stern's show has been exploiting this phenomenon for years.

WAPO WRITER DISCOVERS THAT GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS DON'T PROMOTE JUST
THE SODOMITE LIFESTYLE

Of course, it isn't only the sodomites who are trying to promote their peculiar conception of fun in government schools, but the heterosexual side of the government school follies is normally ignored as yesterday's news.

Recently, however, a writer for the Washington Post, at the risk of being considered an aging fuddy duddy, raised the question of whether government school promotion of bastardy is really such a good idea:

...Once a girl gets pregnant....the school leaps in to do everything for her. But I wonder: Is it possible that all this assistance -- with little or no comment about the kids' actions -- has the unintended effect of actually encouraging them to get pregnant? Are we making it easier for girls to make a bad choice and helping them avoid the truth about the consequences?

And for many, it does seem to be a choice. "There's a myth that these pregnancies are accidental," says school nurse Nancy Runton. "But many of them aren't. I've known girls who've made 'I'll get pregnant if you get pregnant' pacts. It's a status thing. These girls go around school telling each other how beautiful they look pregnant, how cute their tummies look."...

Social worker Terri Wright says that for many girls, getting pregnant before they turn 18 is a rite of passage. "They don't wear sweatshirts or baggy dresses to conceal their pregnancies," says Wright. "I get invitations to baby showers. Girls bring me pictures of their kids dressed up like little dolls."

"There is zero shame," agrees school nurse Runton. One girl walked into a colleague's class last month, announced that she was pregnant and began showing her sonogram around...

Cynthia says that lots of her friends actively tried to get pregnant, but she didn't. Like many girls she knows, she was getting a shot of the contraceptive DMPA/Depo-Provera every three months at the teen health clinic starting when she was 13....[then]  she missed her shots and got pregnant at 15 by an 18-year-old guy....

The fact is, says Robert Wolverton, medical director of the teen health clinic, most of these girls and their families see no problem with being unmarried and having a child at 16 or 17.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/12/AR2008121203507.html

"BUT OUR SUBURBAN AND RURAL SCHOOLS ARE DIFFERENT..."

When the vomiting, tremors, and chills she felt each morning became overwhelming, Jessica Polmann started selling her body to finance her heroin addiction and halt the debilitating physical symptoms of withdrawal. The petite, blond cheerleader, who made the honor roll before she started doing heroin at age 13, received $60 and some cigarettes each time she had sex with a man in his 50s who lived near her suburban New Jersey home.

Jessica also traded sex for drugs with her dealers and male friends if they had extra bags of dope....

She even introduced her friends and boyfriend to heroin to expand the pool of people she could call on to pick up more drugs. "I was," she says now, "really disgusting."

Polmann, now 18, is just one in a wave of teens and 20-somethings in suburbs across the Northeast who are becoming addicted to and dying from abuse of heroin and prescription opiates like OxyContin. Once prevalent mostly in big cities, heroin has been spreading out to smaller towns in New England and the mid-Atlantic as the drug is becoming more widely available in a highly pure, inexpensive form that can be snorted.

Many of these young addicts get started on prescription drugs, move on to cheap heroin that can be snorted, and end up injecting it for a more potent high. Either way, the effects have been deadly.

In Massachusetts, for example, the number of opiate-related deaths, which include overdoses and fatal drug interactions, among people ages 13 to 30 was five times as great in 2006 as it was in 1997. And according to drug intelligence, law enforcement, and treatment officials at both the federal and state level, the trend has not yet shown signs of reversing or slowing down.

...Five years ago, the National Drug Intelligence Center noted in its annual report that heroin was just beginning to move into the suburbs...[In] 2008, the NDIC's National Drug Threat Assessment, which is based on interviews with local law enforcement and public-health officials across the country [warned]... that heroin abuse "is increasing among young adults in a number of suburban and rural areas."

Low-level dealers had found the suburbs could be quite lucrative because they could more easily monopolize the local heroin market.
http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/national/2008/12/05/heroin-hits-the-suburbs-hard-amid-wave-of-drug-abuse-by-teens-and-20-somethings.html

FORTUNATELY, THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA ARE STILL ABLE TO RECOGNIZE
A REAL THREAT TO EDUCATION
WHEN THEY SEE ONE

There is no more gloriously quixotic group in government education than the Texas State Board of Education. Not only is there a genuinely conservative majority, but they are willing to stand up for decency, Christian principles, and effective pedagogy.

Needless to say, the SBOE majority is depised by the mainstream media, our highly trained education professionals, Texas Democrats (including leftists of all stripes), and the Texas Republican establishment (which is all too happy to do the bidding of the the education special interests). In fact, the Rino Republicans in Austin not infrequently try to undermine the power of the SBOE (which is an elected body).

Recently one of the conservative members of the SBOE, Cynthia Dunbar, published a book in which she not only told some of the truth about government education, but she also told Christians that they should be more actively involved in public policy. GASP.

Predictably this has the unusal suspects in a snit...the nerve of that woman...

AUSTIN — A member of the State Board of Education is drawing fire from a watchdog group because of her critical views on public education in a new book she has written that advocates more Christianity in the public square.

Board member Cynthia Dunbar, R-Richmond, should be booted from the Committee on Instruction following the publication of a new book in which she attacks a public education system she helps govern, the Texas Freedom Network's president said Thursday.
In her book, One Nation Under God, Dunbar argues that the country's founding fathers created "an emphatically Christian government" and believed that government should be guided by a "biblical litmus test."

Dunbar endorses a belief system requiring "any person desiring to govern have a sincere knowledge and appreciation for the Word of God in order to rightly govern."

She calls public education a "subtly deceptive tool of perversion." The establishment of public schools is unconstitutional and even "tyrannical," she writes in the book, because it threatens the authority of families, granted by God through Scripture, to direct the instruction of their children.

Her book was not written for the general public, said Dunbar, whose 16-county area includes Fort Bend and Brazoria counties and part of Travis County.

"It's mainly an educational tool to the body of Christ," Dunbar said, adding that Christians appear to be targeted once they become active politically.

"I don't think most people in the churches are aware of the venom against Christian America," she said. "So, it's more of a wake-up call to be informed, to be involved. They are fine with the body of Christ as long as we stay hidden in our four walls of the church, sitting quietly in our pews....
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6148239.html

We need many more Christians with the courage of Dunbar and the other SBOE conservatives. By the way, not only are the SBOE conservatives courageous, they
serve without compensation.

A TALE OF TWO CITIES
Washington, D.C., and Detroit

    The TIME Magazine cover story may be the beginning of the end for Michelle Rhee, the controversial head of the Washington D.C. school system. On the cover TIME did Rhee no favor by posing her in a classroom holding a broom and wearing an expression that comes close to a scowl.

    Inside the article, the "broom" symbolism becomes obvious as the reporter tells readers that Rhee has fired 270 teachers, hired assistants to help process the paper work for firing more, and has gotten rid of principals that she felt weren't performing, including the principal of her daughters' school. Equally bad from the education establishment's perspective, Rhee wants teachers to give up tenure for merit pay. [Undoubtedly, Washington D.C.'s highly trained education professionals and teachers' unions have a different take on the broom symbolism and the photo - it is an image of Rhee as the Wicked Witched of the East holding her broomstick.]

Here is some coverage of Rhee from the Washington Post that touches on the TIME story, as well as some other matters:

The Atlantic Monthly, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times have chronicled her battles with the Washington Teachers' Union. The PBS "NewsHour" and "60 Minutes" have trailed her up and down school corridors. She can be seen at A-list gatherings, from Herbert Allen's annual Sun Valley, Idaho, retreat for corporate moguls to education summits hosted by Bill Gates and the Aspen Institute....

Last week, on the cover of Time, D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee cemented her status as the national standard-bearer of tough-minded, no-excuses urban school reform. She is photographed at the front of a classroom, stern-faced and clutching a broom, symbolizing her promise of sweeping change....

Others see her pursuing a national platform for a message that is hostile to older, experienced teachers and partial to younger instructors from nontraditional training programs such as Teach for America, where she started her career...
Describing Rhee's unusual outspokenness for a school leader, Time reporter Amanda Ripley writes:

Then she raises her chin and does what I come to recognize as her standard imitation of people she doesn't respect. Sometimes she uses this voice to imitate teachers; other times, politicians or parents. Never students. "People say, 'Well, you know, test scores don't take into account creativity and the love of learning,' " she says with a drippy, grating voice, lowering her eyelids halfway. Then she snaps back to herself. "I'm like, 'You know what? I don't give a crap.' Don't get me wrong. Creativity is good and whatever. But if the children don't know how to read, I don't care how creative you are. You're not doing your job."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/07/AR2008120702255.html

From the quote in the story you can see that Rhee comes across rather like Attila-The-Hen with Valley Girl diction (" I'm like, You know what..."). Please understand, The Continuing Collapse admires anyone, including a government school employee, who fires incompetent teachers. There, however, is Rhee's difficulty.

Most of the teachers in the D.C. schools would probably strike the average parent as perhaps being better cut out for a job as a greeter at Walmart. Don't doubt that the teachers themselves know that their "school gig" is probably the only way they will enjoy indoor work with no heavy lifting, and doubtless they harbor fears that someone, like Rhee, will discover that they have no business being in the classroom.

Enter the unions. What teachers' unions offer above all else is ironclad job security. A school regime in which an administrator like Rhee can fire teachers and reward others with merit pay is anathema to the unions because it makes them irrelevant.

Consequently, the education establishment has an enormous stake in making sure that Rhee does not succeed, particularly now that she has such a high profile (note that she is not only on the cover of TIME, but is also hanging out with jet setters and the "beautiful people" of the salons of Georgetown).

Will the education establishment succeed in ousting Rhee? Let us contemplate another Washington Post story - this time about D.C.'s charter schools:

...Students in the District's charter schools have opened a solid academic lead over those in its traditional public schools, adding momentum to a movement that is recasting public education in the city....Without unions and seniority rules, they can decide who to hire and fire. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/14/AR2008121402654.html

Although the unions hate charter schools, The Continuing Collapse suspects that they see opportunity in the relative success of D.C.'s charters. After all, if Rhee's approach were any good the charters would not be out in front. In fact, the education establishment's narrative might continue, "all Rhee has done is create division, discriminate against older teachers, and showboat, but she really hasn't gotten results."

Is this "narrative" honest or logical? In the world of politics it doesn't have to be either to be an effective weapon. The Continuing Collapse believes that Rhee will be gone before the end of the Dalai Bama's first term, either by being let go or, more likely, by being forced out by a slowly growing tide of restrictions that eventually so impede her effectiveness that she quits.

The education establishment simply can't allow firing teachers and merit pay to be perceived nationally as an effective way to "reform" schools. As a result, Rhee, who has become the face of that particular approach to "reform", must fail. When all is said and done,
the teachers' unions' girl-Friday, Linda Darling-Hammond, will probably be tasked with finding a subtle way of getting rid of Rhee.

This brings us to Detroit - figuratively, of course, because no one would actually want to go there.

"AND ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST"

Connie Calloway, like Rhee, was brought in as a "no nonsense" outsider to clean up a school district that was a grossly embarrassing monument to government ineptitude. Unlike Rhee, however, Calloway had a local school board and a district that had deep "legacy" problems of all kinds. Not the least of the legacy problems was a financial nightmare that was created by at least two generations of fiscal mismanagent. Once those problems became fully apparent, the State of Michigan stepped in to take over the financial affairs of the district:

Three years after it stopped managing Detroit Public Schools, the state announced Monday it plans to return, this time to take control of the district's financial operations.

The district's financial operation is in such disarray that Michigan Department of Education intends to install an emergency financial manager with the power to negotiate contracts, hire and fire staff and close schools....

The decision follows months of controversy over the district's finances, with administrators going from declaring a fund surplus to saying the school system faces a $408 million deficit, forcing the board to approve hundreds of layoffs and other cuts. Vendors also came forward to say they weren't being paid, and the district had to rely on the state to advance funds so the school system could meet its payroll....
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081208/METRO/812080412

While it isn't surprising that Detroit schools, like many school districts, suffer from rampant financial irregularities (a.k.a. fraud, theft, and managerial incompetence), it was interesting that this became the pretext for the school board to fire Calloway after she had been on the job less than 18 months.

Calloway obviously didn't create the financial problems. In fact, according to at least one parent, it was Calloway's uncovering of financial and other improprieties that was the real reason for her ouster:

Tamara Wills, a parent of two children, later shouted at the board and said parents should pull their kids out of the district on the next pupil count day in February.

"This is the first time we have a superintendent who listens to you," she said. Wills added that Calloway has uncovered misspending and stealing in the district and said the board should keep her.... http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081216/SCHOOLS/812160369/1409/METRO

Unlike their suburban counterparts, Detroit's parents seem to understand that the entire education establishment is the real problem. Stay tuned for more drama out of Detroit:

After the meeting [at which Calloway was fired], about 75 parents and students formed a coalition, vowing to walk out of schools and protest Wednesday. Members are asking that officials "get rid of the whole district and start from scratch," said Raheem Warren, who has seven children in DPS. "(Calloway is) not the only problem. She can't turn schools around in one year." http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081216/SCHOOLS/812160369/1409/METRO

By the way, for those of you wondering about the caliber of people who serve on major school boards, meet Detroit's Reverend Murray:

DETROIT -- Almost nine months after six children were removed from his care for allegations of abuse and neglect, Detroit Public Schools board member Reverend David Murray has failed to persuade authorities he is fit to have them back...
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081205/METRO01/812050394/1409/METRO

Speaking of Detroit: The New Illegals

A new wave of illegals is pouring across the border. No, not illegal aliens coming across our southern border, but native born students sneaking across the Detroit School District border into adjoining districts to escape Detroit's highly trained education professionals:

...this year, some districts have hired staffers to investigate them [border jumping students]. At least one fines parents who send their children to school illegally.
Districts like Southfield, Birmingham, Grosse Pointe and Dearborn investigate hundreds of students attending schools illegally every year, sent by parents who lied about living within a district's borders in an effort to give their children what they believe to be better educational opportunities and safer learning environments....

More parents and residents within districts are raising concerns about such students benefitting from a district's tax dollars and decreasing state aid funds...

"As people see schools having to make financial reductions, they're obviously wanting to make sure that the people who are entitled to the services are the ones receiving them," said Marcia Wilkinson, spokeswoman for Birmingham Public Schools...

The district came under pressure in 2005 from parents concerned about the residency status of some students. The Avondale School District in Oakland County faced a similar situation last year. The district hired a staffer who conducted residency checks this past summer on about 1,000 students whose parents rent housing or live with other residents...Southfield, which has two staffers handling residency investigations, removes up to 200 students every year after checking the status of the 3,000-some students living in apartments and any others suspected of attending school fraudulently, officials said...
http://www.freep.com/article/20081214/NEWS05/812140458/1007

So why has The Continuing Collapse devoted so much space to the problems of two school districts? Because both illustrate the impossibility of what even the average secular parent would consider meaningful school reform.

A TEACHER'S CERTIFICATE:

ONE OF THE SEVEN WARNING
SIGNS OF PEDAGOGICAL INCOMPETENCE

...Traditional state certification rules help to limit the supply of "certified" teachers. But a new study suggests that such requirements also hinder student learning.

Harvard researchers Paul Peterson and Daniel Nadler compared states that have genuine alternative certification with those that have it in name only. And they found that between 2003 and 2007 students in states with a real alternative pathway to teaching gained more on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (a federal standardized test) than did students in other states.

"In states that had genuine alternative certification, test-score gains on the NAEP exceeded those in the other states by 4.8 points and 7.6 points in 4th- and 8th-grade math, respectively," report the authors in the current issue of Education Next. "In reading, the additional gains in the states with genuine alternative certification were 10.6 points and 3.9 points for the two grade levels respectively."

The study undermines the arguments from colleges of education and teachers unions, which say that traditional certification, which they control, is the only process that can produce quality teachers. The findings hold up even after controlling for race, ethnicity, free-lunch eligibility, class size and per-pupil state spending....

President-elect Barack Obama has expressed guarded support for education reforms like merit pay and charter schools. Yet he chose Linda Darling-Hammond to head the education policy team for his transition. Ms. Darling-Hammond, a professor at Stanford, is a union favorite and vocal supporter of traditional certification. She's also been a fierce critic of Teach for America and other successful alternative certification programs....
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122912779960403217.html

This study couldn't have been better timed to illustrate the union payoff agenda behind the choice of Linda Darling-Hammond to head the Dalai Bama's education working group.

SPEAKING OF THE QUALITY OF OUR CERTIFIED HIGHLY TRAINED
EDUCATION PROFESSIONALS...

The following story is particularly amusing because California educrats responded to the NCLB requirement for establishing standards for qualifying teachers as "highly qualified" by adopting standards that amounted to something only slightly more rigorous than a teacher being able to fog a mirror [No, The Continuing Collapse is not exaggerating. Even the very liberal California Congressman George Miller was angry about it.].

As a Sacramento Superior Court prepares to decide whether California public schools may require testing of all eighth-graders in algebra, a new study finds that 1 in 3 middle-school algebra teachers is unqualified to teach the subject...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/10/BAOT14L2C9.DTL&type=education

Let's see... the reason the 8th graders should NOT be tested is what? The teachers' qualifications, or lack of same, would be made apparent by the testing. The point of the testing is to show whether there is a problem. So, who benefits from parents, taxpayers, and students not knowing if 8th graders can do algebra? Who do you think knows without any testing whether the teaches really can or can't teach math?

Oh well, at least the students are being taught by what California educrats deem "highly qualified teachers".

In the following story, a highly trained education professional in New York resorted to a time-honored government school technique used to avoid embarrassing scrutiny. Unfortunately, she got caught.

A Bronx high-school administrator [ Assistant Principal Ruth Ralston] brazenly erased 1,000 wrong answers on her students' algebra Regents exams and swapped them for the correct responses...

Ralston's motives were not made clear, but she was already on thin ice with school officials for poor performance, and major budget cuts were looming.

The positive test results would have looked good on her resume since she was the math Regents-exam organizer.
Ralston still teaches three classes a week at the school.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/12042008/news/regionalnews/cheat_rap_vs__bronx_educator_142611.htm

In Houston, a lot of the highly trained education professionals apparently have found a way to avoid worrying about test results - for a reason the story makes obvious.

The Houston school district plans to dispatch drug-detecting dogs to every campus in coming weeks in search of illegal narcotics in employee parking lots.

The move, which Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra announced Monday, follows a recent string of teacher drug arrests...
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6153247.html

LOOKEE HERE! WE'RE DOING BETTER ON AN INTERNATIONAL TEST!
(Or, "Borat's Revenge")

Well, here we go again with a political press relations play designed to amaze and impress the rubes at the county fair. This story trumpets important improvement by US 4th and 8th graders on the TIMSS (an international math and science test):
http://thebulletin.us/articles/2008/12/12/top_stories/doc4941f4f8cbc70008686389.txt

...And here is at least part of what is really going on:

The Bush administration has always been in bed with the education establishment. Please remember that Teddy “the swimmer” Kennedy was his collaborator on NCLB. Bush’s DOE Secretary, Spellings, was a senior advisor on education and other policy issues to Bush in Texas.

You may also recall that much of Bush’s campaign in 2000 was based on the “Texas Education Miracle” and his promise to bring that miracle to Washington - a promise that resulted in NCLB.

After the 2000 election (perhaps with some reporting a little before the election), it became apparent that the “Texas education miracle” was largely the result of data manipulation.

Of course, The Continuing Collapse doesn't want to be entirely critical. There is indeed a continuing Texas education miracle: if your child gets a good education in Texas government schools, it's a miracle. But The Continuing Collapse acknowledges that that would make a very poor campaign theme.

What does all this have to do with the happy, clappy news about the TIMSS? The Bush administration, like other administrations, is trying to leave with a “legacy”. Part of that “legacy” is having reformed the government school system through NCLB. NCLB, however, is widely detested and has not been reauthorized. Without reauthorization, the Bush “education legacy” will sink out of sight faster than the General Belgrano.

Consequently, when the administration thinks there is something that looks favorable for influencing reauthorization of NCLB, the administration has had Spellings trot out “good news”. It hasn’t worked so far, but the administration is still trying to create a favorable climate of opinion for reauthorization in Congress next year. It might work. After all,the new administration and Congress are owned by the education special interests. So, it would not be surprising if in 2009 The Messiah and his minions “reformed” (weakened) the already laughably weak accountability standards in NCLB while dumping an avalanche of additional money on his friends, particularly when it can be made to seem that reauthorization is good public policy.

This would be a true Washington “win-win”. Bush gets to claim an education legacy and the education special interests get more money and even less accountability.

The losers, of course, are the taxpayers, children, and parents out in fly-over country. But they don’t matter as far as our Washington masters-of-the-universe are concerned.

Why should this “good news” be greeted with a snicker? The Continuing Collapse will hum a few bars of the tune, and you can figure out the rest.

Let’s take, for example, the wonderful news that our fourth graders scored 11th out of 36 countries in math (based on the NCES chart). But in the 2003 administration of the TIMSS our 4th graders came in 12th out of 25 in math.

Where a country ranks depends to a large extent on who participates. [Please note that the NCES site indicates that there were 36 countries that participated in 2007, not 35 as reported in the posted article] Obviously, there are some changes in participation in comparison with the 2003 test.

What are they? Well, in 2003 11 countries did better than the US. All of those countries participated in 2007 except Belgium, and all that participated in 2007 except Hungary continued to have higher scores than the US. In addition, a country that participated in 2007, but not 2003, beat the US by a substantial margin - that wealthy, educational powerhouse - Kazakhstan.

If you look at the rest of the 2007 participants, you see that three educationally relatively weak countries from 2003 - Cyprus, Moldova, and Philipines - that you would expect to continue to score below the US didn't participate in 2007. But...the 2007 test added many more countries like this (e.g. Ukraine, Kuwait, El Salvador, Yemen, Colombia, etc.)

What does this mean? Well if you look at simple rank order, which the educrats and journalists will seize on if they think it helps with public relations for the education industry, it is likely that if Belgium (Flemish) had participated, the US would have been 12th, just as in 2003, but with the added indignity of having been trounced by Kazakhstan. Moreover, the fact that in 2007 it would have been 12th out of 37 (adding Belgium back in) instead of 12th out of 25 largely reflects the addition of a lot of countries like Algeria. In sum, the rank order part of the story is relatively meaningless.

Ah, but what about the actual TIMSS scores and the fact that US 4th graders scored 529 in 2007 vs 518 in 2003? Well, that might indicate some improvement, but if you look at the notes in the report you find out that the US met statistical sample guidelines for sample participation rates only after substitute schools were included.

In fact, we had the second lowest participation rate (and thus 2nd highest substitution rate - 30%) of any country in 2007. Why? It isn’t discussed, but I would wager that school districts like Detroit, LAUSD, and Dallas were underweighted and that substitute schools came from better districts. In addition, the 2007 TIMSS allowed “within school exclusions for intellectual disabilities and non-native speakers”. Here we clearly have a smoking gun.

“Within schools” exclusions like these have been carefully cultivated over the last decade by our highly trained educatin professionals to increase school revenues (this is a key reason why the ranks of “special ed students” have grown), payoff the bilingual lobby with a jobs program, and, especially, “game” our own accountability tests. With the right exclusions The Continuing Collapse can give you just about any average you want.

Are our highly trained education professionals the only ones interested in "shaping" outcomes through manipulating participation rates and exclusions? No, but we are probably the world's foremost practitioners of these black arts, and our highly trained education professionals probably stand to lose the most if the public loses any more confidence in them.

Of course, The Continuing Collapse has barely scratched the surface of what is questionable here, and many of the people who make a good living as school reformers, on the one hand, and as school defenders, on the other, will to-and-fro these results until the average parent and taxpayer are thoroughly wornout and simply decide to accept the Lake Wobegon reality that is being constructed for them...which is one of the reasons for the toing-and-froing.

Nobody who isn’t paid to do it and who hasn’t got a large paid staff has the time to drill down into the internals on what DOE is offering up to find all the buried statistical bodies. Rest assured,however, your government schools (if your children attend them) aren’t “different” in any meaningful sense (unless Detroit is your benchmark).

BY THE WAY, as for impoverished, backward Kazakhstan doing significantly better than our 4th graders in math.... Think of it as Borat's Revenge.

"ACCOUNTABILITY" WITHOUT CONSEQUENCES

You may wonder how The Continuous Collapse can fearlessly predict what will be done with NCLB. Actually it is easy. Just read what the people who have influence with the Dalai Bama have to say.

Below we have a union president calling for eliminating accountability under the guise of calling for accountability without "punishment" (i.e. no consequences for failure).

...Randi Weingarten [the lesbian who is President of the American Federation of Teachers]: We need a federal law that is really aligned with how to get continuous sustainable improvement in our education system. How do we address the achievement gap head-on? How do we improve teaching and learning head-on? How do we build a workable accountability system that helps and doesn't punish schools?... http://thebulletin.us/articles/2008/12/12/top_stories/doc4941f4f8cbc70008686389.txt

Here is another article promoting the idea that holding highly trained education professionals accountable for failing students is "punishment". The Continuing Collapse naively thinks that, on the contrary, subjecting students to such highly trained education professionals is punishment. Note that the article mentions how states are scamming NCLB by lowering testing standards.

Many educators are looking to President-elect Barack Obama to revise a much-maligned federal initiative requiring annual tests to chart the progress of every school in the country...
Schools are punished if not enough students pass the tests for several consecutive years. The entire faculty can be asked to reapply for their jobs, or school operations can be turned over to an independent operator or the state.

As each year passes and the passing standards increase, more schools are being put into the "failing" category. According to data collected by the National Education Association, at least 15 percent of schools in most states did not meet standards last year, and in some states the percentages rose in recent years to 50 percent.

Pressure is building to find a more precise way of focusing on the worst schools.

Some argue that states should be able to take into account the improvement a school's students make on the tests. Instead of only measuring whether today's fifth-graders have passed a test, schools might also be evaluated on how much those fifth graders knew at the end of fourth grade and whether they moved ahead by at least a year. That could help urban schools whose students may come to school years behind their counterparts in the suburbs.

There is growing evidence that some states have made their tests easier, creating a disparity between standards among states.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-id.education07dec07,0,3786265.story

Here is an example of how even the largely toothless standards established under NCLB are making themselves felt at the state level.

More than 1,000 Florida [low income] public schools do not meet federal academic standards and are drifting toward failure....Another 1,500 Florida schools don't meet the federal standards, either. But all except a handful of them aren't threatened by the law because they don't receive federal cash. Many of those that escape federal sanctions are in more-affluent neighborhoods, such as Dommerich Elementary in Maitland....
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/education/orl-nochild0808dec08,0,7002146.story

Rest assured, the Dalai Bama and the Secretary Elect will find a way to get rid of the growing embarrassment being caused by the current version of NCLB as a way of shielding our highly trained education professionals from bad publicity. Most parents will also probably be relieved, too, because they don't like bad news. Of course, the changes will by portrayed by an obedient MSM as an improvement of standards and a "refinement" of accountability.

THE EDUCATION ESTABLISHMENT'S
"IRON RICE BOWL" IS IN DANGER
OF CRACKING

If the caption bewilders you, see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/special_report/1999/09/99/china_50/iron.htm

One benefit of the recession: budgetary "pain" that must be shared...Below we have a few stories in which we see that the tax eaters, including our highly trained education professionals, may be turning a bit cannibalistic.

Utah

The governor's budget recommendations have education leaders, teachers and parents worried about the future of Utah's schoolchildren.

"You can only squeeze a turnip so much," said Sandi Barber, who teaches Gifted and Talented classes at Orchard Elementary School in West Valley City.

"The bottom line is: What are we doing to our kids?" Barber said.
State public education budgets will get a 3 percent to 4 percent cut for fiscal year 2010, as recommended by the governor....
http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705268645,00.html

New York

ALBANY — Providing New York's school districts with the flexibility to run on a four-day week could have some advantages, but it could hamper education quality and interfere with child-care arrangements, experts said Wednesday.

Charles Dawson of the state School Boards Association told the Senate Education Committee that there were potential cost savings in a four-day school week... http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20081211/NEWS01/812110338/1003

California

Republican legislative leaders released a long-awaited plan Monday to ease the state's massive shortfall without raising taxes.

Republican Senate leader Dave Cogdill and GOP Assembly leader Mike Villines said their joint proposal would cut $22 billion from the state's projected two-year $40 billion shortfall.

The GOP plan proposes that voters be asked to approve a stiff state spending cap, and it proposes a wide range of changes to environmental and labor laws to bolster businesses.

The proposal would cut deeper into public schools, $10.6 billion, than proposals by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger or Democratic leaders...
http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/1475895.html

Nevada

After a discussion called "emotionally repugnant" by Superintendent Walt Rulffes, Clark County School Board members Thursday night voted 5-1 to accept economic assumptions requiring $120 million in budget cuts for the 2009-10 school year.

If the school district proceeds with the recommended cuts, as many as a thousand jobs would be eliminated, including 260 administrative jobs and cuts in teaching and support staff.

"These cuts will hurt kids," School Board member Carolyn Edwards said. "I'm saddened, but that's where we are."

School Board member Larry Mason was the lone opposition in the 5-1 vote, arguing that Nevada has underfunded education for decades. The School Board should not validate further cuts of 14 percent for next year's budget, he said...

The district will need to shore up its savings before it seeks more bonds for school construction.
http://www.lvrj.com/news/36038649.html

Kansas

Public school districts were shortchanged this month because the state doesn’t have enough funds, officials said Monday....

The state paid the 297 school districts $165 million for the month of December, which was $55 million or 25 percent less than the amount school districts were supposed to receive, officials said.

Goossen said he didn’t know when the state would make up the 25 percent. “I hope that will be soon. That will depend on when the revenue comes in,” he said.
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2008/dec/08/state-about-25-percent-short-payments-school-distr/?kansas_legislature

Wisconsin

Amid a swirl of uncertainty about where things will stand a few months from now, Milwaukee School Board members say administrators should develop a budget for MPS for next year that has no increase in spending.

While none of them was happy about it - and such a budget could still mean a substantial increase in property taxes for schools - the board's budget committee agreed 6-0 late Thursday that budget-makers should get the zero-increase guideline for developing a 2009-'10 budget.

If nothing changes, the result almost certainly would be another year of higher taxes for reduced services. While total spending could be kept flat, there are likely to be raises due teachers and other employees under labor contracts still to be negotiated, and other costs are sure to go up, such as a $12 million increase in payments on MPS debt. Those factors would crimp what can be paid for, and the vote can be seen as a strong signal of difficult decisions that lie ahead.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/35641039.html

Washington

The list of possible school closures in Seattle rose Wednesday from seven to nine....The district, she said, is working under a tight timeline if it wants to close schools by September, and the state budget picture continues to get worse. District staff say it looks increasingly likely the district's state funding could be cut as much as $20 million....

The district has said it has roughly 9,000 more seats than students overall — although the staff stresses that is a rough estimate. The superintendent's initial recommendation would have roughly reduced that by about 3,000 seats....

School closures alone will not save nearly enough to fill the district's budget gap, but they would help.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008468344_webschoolclosure04m.html

Virginia

Facing the prospect of cutting an additional $1 billion to $1.5 billion from the state's two-year budget, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said yesterday that the next round of cuts will include layoffs and reductions in funding for K-12 education....
http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/state_regional/state_regional_govtpolitics/article/CUTS051_20081204-232608/140690/

Louisianna

After several years of solid gains, state aid for public schools faces “dramatic” reductions because of the state’s looming shortfall of $1.3 billion, education officials said Wednesday....
http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/35519639.html

A NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION

We have an opportunity to accelerate the collapse of the government school system by stripping it of its public aura of legitimacy, defunding it by encouraging everyone to remove their little "revenue units" from the system and by working to defeat bond elections, and exposing our highly trained education professionals and the education special interests for the corrupt yokels they are.

This means, among other things, kindly but firmly confronting the Vichy Christians and Quisling pastors in our midst with the truth about what the government schools are doing to our children, our families, our churches, and our culture.

The situation under the coming administration is going to be truly dangerous. We need to be the Godly advocates for Christian education that we are intended to be.

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.

“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

The SBC and Calvinism: A Correction

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:52:54 -0600

In my original blog on this topic, I stated:

This, coupled with the release of Family Driven Faith, and planting Grace Family Baptist Church, set off a chain of SBC events that would culminate in the SBTC Youth Ministry Forum, and (some would argue) the recent “Patriarchy” rant at Midwestern Seminary by Cynthia Kunsman.

Let me state clearly that Dr. Kunsman’s presentation was part of an Evangelical Ministries to New Religions (EMNR) conference. Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary hosted the conference, but had no part in choosing, vetting, or approving the speakers and/or topics. Thus, Kunsman did not act as a representative of the school. In fact, MBTS President Phil Roberts “rebuked” Kunsman for her comments (see here). Moreover, Ethics Daily reported:

The EMNR... board and the administration at Midwestern Seminary concurred that [Kunsman] made "unwarranted and misinformed accusations against Christian teachers and ministries, including the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood and agencies within the Southern Baptist Convention."

I do not mean to imply that MBTS is in agreement with my views on age-integration, and FIC (that’s an entirely different matter), or that they are supporters of the extreme forms of patriarchy Kunsman addressed in her presentation (and which few Christians would practice, or condone). I simply wish to make the record clear. Dr. Kunsman is not a representative of the SBC, nor do her views represent MBTS.

VB

The Continuing Collapse: Post-Election EDITION

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 09:57:54 -0600

by Bruce Shortt, J.D., Ph.D.

WELCOME TO THE CONTINUING COLLAPSE!

"Doing the Education Research that Illegal Aliens Won't Do
Since 1997"

Post Election Edition 2008

FIRST, A LITTLE GOOD NEWS
(Half of Minnesota's school bond levies failed)

      Many readers of The Continuing Collapse were anxiously waiting to find out  what the presidential election would deliver. Now we know that the American electorate was carrying "Rosemary's baby". But, rather than contribute to feelings of post-partum depression, The Continuing Collapse wants to point a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy electoral landscape.

    As devoted readers know, The Continuing Collapse has predicted that American taxpayers are going to begin to revolt against government school bond levies. Here is a "the-cup-is-half-full" report from Minnesota.

About half of the levies and bond issues that were on ballots in school districts across Minnesota have been approved. The other half have failed....
http://wcco.com/local/school.levy.bond.2.856913.html

    The Continuing Collapse suspects that Minnesota is not an anomaly and that many bond levies around the country went down to defeat. Undoubtedly the education establishment is trying to suppress a sense of panic.

    By the way, should you learn learn of a bond levy where you live, get in touch with Paul-The-Bond-Slayer (Paul Dorr).

SPEAKING OF ROSEMARY'S BABY...

Below is a video that was created to illustrate what a Zogby survey found out about the people who voted for Dear Leader.

As you watch this video, ask yourself (1) what worldview do these people have and where did they get it, (2) why are their "databases" virtually empty, (3) why are their faculties of critical analysis undeveloped, and (4) why are they so susceptible to having their opinions formed by the media?

Watch This! http://www.howobamagotelected.com/

Please bear in mind that the video was designed to reflect the results of a statistically valid survey. We now have the electorate that those who control the government schools want us to have.

If you have cable or broadcast television in your home, The Continuing Collapse suggests that now would be a good time to save some money and disconnect your home from the the MSM. One of the few tools we have at our disposal is defunding the leftwing media.

MORE EVIDENCE OF THE FAILURE OF CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP

    One of the lies often told by evangelical and other Christian leaders is that educating your children in government schools isn't a moral issue. The Continuing Collapse, however, has pointed out that rendering your children unto Caesar isn't merely sin, it is gross sin. Moreover, The Continuing Collapse is constantly providing evidence of the fruit of American Christianity's addiction to that middle class welfare entitlement known as "public education."

   Now comes Barna Research with yet more data showing where our faithlessness in the education of our children is leading American public. In a study of 16-29 year-olds, the most recent generation of "youth" spewed forth from the government schools we find that rejection of Christianity and hostility toward Christianity are rising.

HERE'S A GRAPH WORTH TEN THOUSAND WORDS

The Proportion of those "Outside"
Christianity is Growing with Each Generation

Source: The Barna Group, Ltd. 2007

    What is plain from the graph is that self identification with Christianity is rapidly decreasing. Why is there such a disparity in identification with Christianity between older and younger generations? Is it because in 1963, when the 61 year-olds who were surveyed were 16 years-old, churches had more money, programs, and youth groups than are available to today's 16 year-olds? Were there more "youth pastors"?

    Or, could have to do with the fact that in 1963 the secular left was still some years from gaining complete control of the government school system and so had not gotten complete control of forming the worldview of that generation?

    Some may try to claim that this decline is just something transient and that the problem will resolve itself as this cohort of young people grow older. Barna disagrees:

As pointed out in the Barna Update related to atheists and agnostics, this is not a passing fad wherein young people will become "more Christian" as they grow up. While Christianity remains the typical experience and most common faith in America, a fundamental recalibration is occurring within the spiritual allegiance of America’s upcoming generations...One reason that Christianity’s image is changing is due to the shifting faith allegiances of Americans. Simply put, each new generation has a larger share of people who are not Christians (that is, atheists, agnostics, people associated with another faith, or those who have essentially no faith orientation).

    Unfortunately, the data showing a generational collapse of identification with Christianity is not the worst of what the data show. Paralleling a rise in those "outside" Christianity is a dramatic rise in hostility toward Christianity. Here's Barna:

...The study shows that 16- to 29-year-olds exhibit a greater degree of criticism toward Christianity than did previous generations when they were at the same stage of life. In fact, in just a decade, many of the Barna measures of the Christian image have shifted substantially downward, fueled in part by a growing sense of disengagement and disillusionment among young people.

For instance, a decade ago the vast majority of Americans outside the Christian faith, including young people, felt favorably toward Christianity’s role in society. Currently, however, just 16% of non-Christians in their late teens and twenties said they have a "good impression" of Christianity.

    Ah, but it gets worse. If you are an evangelical your "approval rating" by 16-29 year-olds outside Christianity has fallen below the approval ratings for Congress and used car salesmen.

One of the groups hit hardest by the criticism is evangelicals.... negative views [about evangelicals] are crystallizing and intensifying among young non-Christians. The new study shows that only 3% of 16 - to 29-year-old non-Christians express favorable views of evangelicals. This means that today’s young non-Christians are eight times less likely to experience positive associations toward evangelicals than were non-Christians of the Boomer generation (25%).

While Christianity has typically generated an uneven reputation, the research shows that many of the most common critiques are becoming more concentrated. The study explored twenty specific images related to Christianity, including ten favorable and ten unfavorable perceptions. Among young non-Christians, nine out of the top 12 perceptions were negative. Common negative perceptions include that present-day Christianity is judgmental (87%), hypocritical (85%), old-fashioned (78%), and too involved in politics (75%) - representing large proportions of young outsiders who attach these negative labels to Christians.

    Now, why would today's young non-Christians be 8 times less likely to express a positive view of Christianity than Baby Boomers? And why would would their criticisms be intensifying and crystalizing around such claims as Christians are "judgmental", "too political," "hypocritical", and "old-fashioned"?

    Could it be that these young people are being discipled in government schools in a worldview that tells them, for example, that moral values are relative and that any belief system that fails to conform to the values of the popular culture is behind the times and "old-fashioned"?

"Well," Pastor Billy Bob might say, "after all, these young people are not Christians so this isn't surprising."

Unfortunately, even Pastor Billy Bob probably won't be pleased to discover what Barna found among young churchgoers:

Even among young Christians, many of the negative images generated significant traction. Half of young churchgoers said they perceive Christianity to be judgmental, hypocritical, and too political. One-third said it was old-fashioned and out of touch with reality.

    "Judgmental", "old-fashioned and out of touch with reality", etc. Sounds as if a very large percentage of young churchgoers are using the very same worldview to criticize Christianity as the non-Christians. The Continuing Collapse wonders how this could possibly be....unless it has something to do with the young non-Christians and the young churchgoers being discipled by the same institution - the government schools.

     But, as they say in the late night Ginzu Knife infomercials, "There's more!"

Interestingly, the study discovered a new image that has steadily grown in prominence over the last decade. Today, the most common perception is that present-day Christianity is "anti-homosexual." Overall, 91% of young non-Christians and 80% of young churchgoers say this phrase describes Christianity. As the research probed this perception, non-Christians and Christians explained that beyond their recognition that Christians oppose homosexuality, they believe that Christians show excessive contempt and unloving attitudes towards gays and lesbians. One of the most frequent criticisms of young Christians was that they believe the church has made homosexuality a "bigger sin" than anything else. Moreover, they claim that the church has not helped them apply the biblical teaching on homosexuality to their friendships with gays and lesbians.

    Splendid. 80% of young churchgoers believe that Christians are guilty of the significant sin of thinking that practicing and promoting homosexual sodomy is a significant sin. [Note to self: Send memo to God about how he screwed up that Sodom and Gomorrah thing, as well as Romans 1 and those other "anti-homosexual" portions of the Bible.]

    But we aren't done. No, an age group whose grasp of history somehow doesn't include being able to identify Winston Churchill or who we fought in WWII is convinced that Christianity isn't what it used to be. [ Ironically, perhaps we can all agree about that].

When young people were asked to identify their impressions of Christianity, one of the common themes was "Christianity is changed from what it used to be" and "Christianity in today’s society no longer looks like Jesus." These comments were the most frequent unprompted images that young people called to mind, mentioned by one-quarter of both young non-Christians (23%) and born again Christians (22%)...."That’s where the term 'unChristian' came from.

    Recall that previously Barna found that evangelical teens (who because of the passage of time now fall within the age-cohort of this study) had little grasp of the fundamentals of Christianity. Now these young churchgoers believe that in some past "golden age" Christianity attained closer to the noble ideals they have absorbed through being institutionalized in government schools.

     In short, it is quite plain that for a large percentage of the young churchgoers the worldview of the government schools and media is normative, not the Christian worldview. So, in the minds of young churchgoers and those within the church who are their enablers, the churches need to change in order to fix what's wrong.

Young people are very candid. In our interviews, we kept encountering young people - both those inside the church and outside of it - who said that something was broken in the present-day expression of Christianity. Their perceptions about Christianity were not always accurate, but what surprised me was not only the severity of their frustration with Christians, but also how frequently young born again Christians expressed some of the very same comments as young non-Christians."

Not surprisingly, Barna reaches an obvious conclusion.

This represents a significant migration away from the dominant role that Christianity has had in America.

But perhaps a more insightful conclusion would be that visionless, cowardly, weak leadership can accomplish things like this every time.

   A word of caution: Please don't assume that Barna shares The Continuing Collapse's interpretation of his data. As far as The Continuing Collapse can determine, Barna has a book to sell and would probably like some consulting gigs with churches to help them repair their "brands"....churches need better marketing and communication and all that.

    The Continuing Collapse, however, leaves it to you, dear reader, to reach your own conclusions.

http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdateNarrow&BarnaUpdateID=280

AND NOW FOR MORE TALES FROM THE GOVERNMENT SCHOOL CRYPT

    You may remember that The Continuing Collapse reported a few months ago that the former President of the NEA, Reg Weaver, was meeting with some church leaders about further collaboration between churches and the NEA. In fact, the possibility of making churches affiliate or associate members of the NEA was broached. Think of it as "Vichy Christianity."

    Now the new President of the NEA, Dennis Van Roekel, is back on the trail trying to entice Quisling pastors into finding ways to "partner" with the NEA. The price of this proposed "civil union" between churches and our highly trained education professionals is that pastors not tell the truth about government schools from the pulpit.

...Questioned about what he would like to see churches do to help public schools, Van Roekel answered, “I would like them to stop preaching from the pulpit that they are bad.”

Then he added, “I would like us to figure out new ways for us to be partners.”

From his perspective, communities of faith and schools got caught in the crossfire over issues like prayer and religious holidays. He said the two institutions should not have “an adversarial relationship” and should find common ground, expressing a traditional commitment to the separation of church and state.

Van Roekel did say that he did not support the teaching of creationism in public schools: “I believe it’s a religious doctrine and we shouldn’t be teaching that … Evolution is a theory of science...."
http://www.ethicsdaily.com/article_detail.cfm?AID=11251

OK Pastor Billy Bob. You can "partner" with the NEA as long as you realize that as far as our highly trained education professionals are concerned, your worldview is less welcome in schools than a skunk at a garden party. And they get to make the rules.

A LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA FOR OUR QUISLING PASTORS

   Just in case you were still in doubt about what our highly trained education professionals think about God and Christianity, below we have a must watch video concerning a Vermont school that sends children out of class to say Pledge of Allegiance because of the phrase "under God".

   So, children who want to say the pledge are now being treated like smokers. In other words, belief in God is just another bad habit that the schools need to help children get over.

    Even our Quisling pastors and their Vichy churches ought to be able to see that the civil union that NEA President Van Roekel proposes with churches is likely to end up in a Massachusetts divorce court.

http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=222643

THE TRUE FACE OF TEACHERS' UNIONS:

WE DON'T CARE IF YOU ARE TEACHER OF THE YEAR. ALL THAT MATTERS IS WHETHER YOU HAND OVER YOUR MONEY AS "DUES"

BISMARCK – North Dakota’s new Teacher of the Year was barred from a reception held to honor top teachers because she declined to join the North Dakota Education Association, education officials said. One denounced the move as “hurtful and vindictive.”

Beth Ekre, a sixth-grade teacher at Carl Ben Eielson Middle School in Fargo, showed up for the Oct. 23 “Celebration of Excellence” social at a Fargo hotel, hours after her selection as North Dakota’s Teacher of the Year was announced at an NDEA instructional conference.

...“It was a humiliating experience,” Ekre said. “It’s one of the most uncomfortable situations I’ve ever been in.” http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=220652&section=news&freebie_check&CFID=112533685&CFTOKEN=98215328&jsessionid=88307b420af53744753f

LAWS? WE'RE HIGHLY TRAINED EDUCATION PROFESSIONALS.

WE DON'T NEED TO OBEY NO STEENKIN' LAWS.

    If you can get away with flagrant educational fraud and contributing to the delinqency of minors, why worry about committing other kinds of fraud?

Years after being advised by a state agency to stop, the Dallas Independent School District continued to provide foreign citizens with fake Social Security numbers to get them on the payroll quickly....

Some of the numbers were real Social Security numbers already assigned to people elsewhere. And in some cases, the state's educator certification office unknowingly used the bogus numbers to run criminal background checks on the new hires, most of whom were brought in to teach bilingual classes.

The practice was described in an internal report issued in September by the district's investigative office, which looked into the matter after receiving a tip. The report said the Texas Education Agency learned of the fake numbers in 2004 and told DISD then that the practice "was illegal."
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/111408dnmetdisdsocials.3d93dbc.html

How many highly trained education professionals will go to prison for identity fraud? Anyone want to take the other side of a wager of 0?

DEAR OLD MR. CHIPS HAS LEFT THE BUILDING. EDDIE HASKELL IS NOW IN CHARGE
(if you don't get the reference, go search YouTube for Mr. Chips and Eddie Haskell)

     Nostalgia prevents many Christians from thinking rationally about government schools. Middle-aged pastors and laymen alike tend to perceive government schools through a fog of fond remembrances from the time they were nine years-old. Surely schools can't be so very different today, they say. After all, the government school employees in their congregations seem pleasant enough and respectable (and they are a source of church revenue, after all).

EDUCATION IS OUR JOB NUMBER 1!

(and if you believe that line from our highly trained professionals, you might be at risk of responding to emails from Mrs. Miriam Abacha who needs your help in claiming $20 million)

      Here is a story that reveals what today's highly trained educaion professionals' priorities actually are.

Call it a case of the Red and Black flu.

Tired of struggling to find enough teachers to staff its classrooms on the Friday before the annual Georgia-Florida football game, the Clarke County (Ga.) School District -- which includes Athens, home of the University of Georgia -- decided to cancel school altogether.

According to area media reports, 137 teachers last year called in sick the day before the big game, and the district was able to find only 113 substitutes.

School administrators studied the absences over the years and found a pattern -- almost twice as many teachers call in sick the Friday before the annual game in Jacksonville, Fla., about 360 miles away, than on an average school day. So the district decided to call off school the Friday before the game. And Clarke County is not alone; the schools in nearby Madison and Oglethorpe counties also are taking the day off.

Although some parents and teachers are questioning whether the day off places too much emphasis on football over academics, at least one school administrator believes it's a wise move on the district's part.

"I've heard parents say that it's ridiculous, but the reality of the situation is, if there are so many people in this system and this community that go to the game -- if that's a reality -- it's irresponsible [to have school on that day] if that really is our community," said Barrow Elementary School principal Tad MacMillan, according to the Athens Banner-Herald. "I think the school system is wise to factor that in when they plan the calendar."
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3674820

GOVERNMENT SCHOOLED STUDENTS UNCONSCIOUSLY ENGAGE IN SELF-PARODY

     Here is more evidence of how the "self-esteem" movement has run amuck in government schools. Someone needs to tell these "near voters" that Lake Woebegon is a joke. Not everybody can be above average.

   Employers, save yourself a headache. Hire a homeschooler.


WEDNESDAY, Nov. 12 (HealthDay News) -- Today's American high school students are far likelier than those in the 1970s to believe they'll make outstanding spouses, parents and workers, new research shows.

They're also much more likely to claim they are "A" students with high IQs -- even though other research shows that today's students do less homework than their counterparts did in the 1970s.

The findings, published in the November issue of Psychological Science, support the idea that the "self-esteem" movement popular among today's parents and teachers may have gone too far, the study's co-author said....

She believes that decades of relentless, uncritical boosterism by parents and school systems may be producing a generation of kids with expectations that are out of sync with the challenges of the real world.

"High school students' responses have crossed over into a really unrealistic realm, with three-fourths of them expecting performance that's effectively in the top 20 percent," Twenge said...

Compared to their counterparts from the '70s, today's youth also tended to rate themselves as more intelligent and were more likely to say they were "completely satisfied" with themselves...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20081112/hl_hsn/usteensbrimmingwithselfesteem

THE END IS IN SIGHT
(of this edition of The Continuing Collapse)

   Because you have so faithfully worked your way to the end of this lengthy edition of The Continuing Collapse, here is a reward. Much of the creation/evolution debate focuses on Darwinism. Christians ought to know that cosmology provides evidence of design that is extremely embarrassing to the Dawkins/Harris/Dennett axis of atheists.

    The following very readable article will provide you with a powerful additional apologetics resource. Cosmology offers a choice between a designer and something like Hinduism. You might ask those who opt for the "multiverse" explanation how they feel about cows and Occam's Razor.

Desperately Fleeing God in Cosmology

Nov 17, 2008 — Does the fine-tuning of the universe require belief in God? Or will multiverse theory allow for a self-perpetuating, eternal, godless cosmos? Tim Folger explored this topic in an interview with Andrei Linde, a cosmologist currently at Stanford, in Discovery Magazine. The opening line sums up the controversy: “Our universe is perfectly tailored for life. That may be the work of God or the result of our universe being one of many.”

    Folger and Linde stated repeatedly and emphatically that our universe appears designed. They discuss the multiple fine-tuning coincidences, like the mass of protons, that would rule out stars and life if they were just 0.2% more massive than they are. “We have a lot of really, really strange coincidences, and all of these coincidences are such that they make life possible,” Linde says. Folger asserted that physicists dislike coincidences. To avoid them, some cosmologists have been driven to postulate that our universe may be just one of many. We just inhabit one of the very, very rare lucky ones where the constants of physics came together by chance to permit life:
Call it a fluke, a mystery, a miracle. Or call it the biggest problem in physics. Short of invoking a benevolent creator, many physicists see only one possible explanation: Our universe may be but one of perhaps infinitely many universes in an inconceivably vast multiverse. Most of those universes are barren, but some, like ours, have conditions suitable for life.
The idea is controversial. Critics say it doesn’t even qualify as a scientific theory because the existence of other universes cannot be proved or disproved. Advocates argue that, like it or not, the multiverse may well be the only viable nonreligious explanation for what is often called the “fine-tuning problem”–the baffling observation that the laws of the universe seem custom-tailored to favor the emergence of life.
“For me the reality of many universes is a logical possibility,” Linde says. “You might say, ‘Maybe this is some mysterious coincidence. Maybe God created the universe for our benefit.’ Well, I don’t know about God, but the universe itself might reproduce itself eternally in all its possible manifestations.”
Those interested can read the whole article, where Linde and others elaborate on the pros and cons of the multiverse hypothesis. One line on page 3 stands out. Bernard Carr, a cosmologist at Queen Mary University in London, said, “you might have to have a fine-tuner. If you don’t want God, you’d better have a multiverse.” Linde admitted in the end that he cannot predict whether the multiverse hypothesis will gain traction any more than he can know anything at all: “What can you predict? What can you know about the future?”
The prophet Amos teased those in his day thinking wrongly about the day of the Lord’s judgment: “It will be as though a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him!” he said. “Or as though he went into the house, leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him!” (Amos 5:19). If Linde thinks he can escape God by running toward naturalistic cosmology, the bear of ultimate questions will gnaw on the bones of his speculation. If he runs into the house of the multiverse, the serpent of ultimate causation will bite his circular reasoning. The multiverse cannot escape from the question, “Why is there something instead of nothing?”

    The multiverse conjecture abandons science and reason. It throws up its hands and puts faith in the Stuff Happens Law: anything can happen, anywhere, anytime, without any reason, and we can never know why (see 09/15/2008 commentary). Linde may feel comfortable that this law fits in with his own Hindu background, but he cannot call it science. See the 10/23/2008 commentary about the “naturalism-of-the-gaps” fallacy.

    A feeling of desperation runs through the article: isn’t there some way we can escape the obvious that God created this fine-tuned universe? Their cure is worse than their ailment: stuff happens. May as well give up on rationality altogether with that kind of explanation. The Stuff Happens Law may disqualify as a scientific law, but the Law of Human Depravity has 100% predictive success. Paul explained, “there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one” (Romans 3:11-12). Without God providing a way back to reason through His Son Jesus Christ, (Romans 5), we would be running from God from one fantasy to another forever...

    http://creationsafaris.com/crev200811.htm#20081117a

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.

“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

The SBC and Calvinism: A Personal Perspective

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 14:00:34 -0600

Those who know me have probably asked me at one time or another why I am part of the Southern Baptist Convention. To tell you the truth, I’ve been thinking that a lot myself lately. I am especially disturbed by events at the recent John 3:16 conference sponsored by Jerry Vines Ministries, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, Luther Rice Seminary and Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. The conference represents a growing antagonism in Southern Baptist life toward those who embrace the Doctrines of Grace. Unfortunately, this conference lacked some of the the balance and tact of the Building Bridges Conference. See critiques here, here, and here. The last link is especially revealing since James White was labeled a hyper-Calvinist while he was in London pressing the claims of Christ among Muslims! Hyper-Calvinist? “You keep using that word... I do not think it means what you think it means.” (Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride)

For a ‘lighter’ take on things look here. I only post this because I have been bombarded with questions as to where I am in this ‘fight’. Of course, it is not much of a fight. The SBC establishment is firmly and openly anti-Calvinist. There is no question about that. There is but one question. How long before the SBC realizes that defeating Calvinism would represent a Phyrric victory at best. Anyone paying attention sees the stark contrast between ministries like T4G, 9Marks, Desiring God, and the SBC Annual meeting. One of these groups is known for being 1) anti-Calvinistic, 2) highly politicized, and 3) void of the youth and vitality needed to sustain it in the future (hence, that ubiquitous question, “Exactly why are you in the SBC?”).

As for me, the SBC is still home. I am still a Baptist by confession and conviction. However, the is not the welcoming place it was for me earlier in this decade. In 2001 I had the privilege of being appointed Chair of the ‘Teller’s Committee’ at the Annual Convention in New Orleans (unfortunately, flooding in Houston prevented me from attending what would have been my first Convention). In late 2002 I got a call out of the blue from LifeWay/Broadman & Holman (the Southern Baptist publishing arm) offering me --an unpublished, unproven author-- a three-book publishing deal, which I accepted. I wrote The Ever Loving Truth (B&H, 2004), and The Ever Loving Truth Bible Study (LifeWay, 2004), before parting ways. During the same period, I received three invitations to preach at the SBC Pastor’s Conference (the event that kicks off the Southern Baptist Convention) in 2002, 2004 and 2005 (a family commitment prevented my participation the first year). This was, as we say here in the South, high cotton! Not many guys in their early thirties who have never pastored a church get a shot at preaching in the Pastor’s Conference. As my dear friend and brother, Derry Hodge said at the time, my “star was on the rise.”

However, things have changed drastically since then. That change is due in large part to three main issues that left me on the outside looking in. First, many of my brethren and I do not agree on the urgency of Christian parents giving their children a Christian Education. Though the Baptist Faith and Message seems to state the matter plainly (See Baptist Faith & Message, 2000, section XII: Education), my view is deemed extremist, un-evangelistic, and unwarranted. My partner in crime Bruce Shortt and I discovered that government education was a sacred cow not to be messed with in the SBC. In 2004, our education resolution created a firestorm, but fell to defeat. In 2005, we rang the bell again and gained a victory. However, while the Associated Press, and thousands of other publications (including Ethics Daily) covered the 2005 story incessantly, there was a virtual blackout over at Baptist Press. A look at the stories they wrote about ‘yours truly’ before vs. after 2005 makes for an interesting search to say the least. Not to mention the fact that we were taking on the homosexual agenda and received international coverage, but the BP blackout concerning my part in the resolution persisted.

My second SBC faux pas was going public with my position on Youth Ministry/Family Discipleship. While I voiced concerns for years, these were not “public” until I began to blog about them, then preach about them on the SBC stage. In February of 2006, I preached the message, The Centrality of the Home in the Evangelism and Discipleship of the Next Generation at the SBTC Evangelism Conference. I began to call Youth Ministry into question, not just for its shallowness, or ineffective track record (as did Christian Smith, George Barna, Mike Yakonelli, Alvin Reid, Allen Jackson, Richard Rossand scores of others); I had the audacity to point out the fact that it wasn’t even biblical in the first place. This, coupled with the release of Family Driven Faith, and planting Grace Family Baptist Church, set off a chain of SBC events that would culminate in the SBTC Youth Ministry Forum, and (some would argue) the recent “Patriarchy” rant at Midwestern Seminary by Cynthia Kunsman.

However, neither of these constituted fatal infractions. I co-sponsored an education in 2004, but preached at the SBC in 2005. I stood against YM for years and while many were uncomfortable, I was still part of the gang. That is, until I came out of the closet. No... I’m not gay. It’s far worse than that. I’m a Calvinist! That’s right, I’m a fire-breathing, TULIP believing, five-point Calvinist. That, my friends, is the unpardonable sin in contemporary Southern Baptist life (unless your name is Al Mohler and you’ve been President of the flagship Southern Baptist Theological Seminary since you were in your early thirties and happen to be the most intelligent, articulate, winsome public face the Convention has).

I was ‘outed’ in 2006 when I preached at the Desiring God National Conference. Prior to that I had preached at Alistair Begg’s conferences, but Desiring God was the fatal blow. After that the questions began to swirl. After preaching a message in a Pastor’s conference in 2006 a dear friend approached me (he is a well-known Calvinist whose name I won’t mention... TOM ASCOL ...and I was going to be preaching in his church the next day). He was laughing about a debate he overheard between two pastors. The issue? Whether or not I believed regeneration precedes faith! These brothers had begun to put two and two together but they just knew it couldn’t be four. It was as though I had contracted AIDS. These guys were actually mourning! “I had him in my church!” one of them lamented. I could have done a lot of things and been just fine. However, the dreaded “C” word has become a death sentence in “mainstream”

Southern Baptist life. Some may say that’s not it at all. Perhaps I’m simply too controversial, or vitriolic. Really? Then explain Ergun Caner (whom, by the way, I consider a friend even though we differ on this issue). Caner has been on of the most vitriolic voices in recent SBC history. However, his vitriol has been pointed at the enemy, Calvinism. Jerry Vines called the Prophet Mohammad a “Demon-possessed pedophile” and brought scorn on the entire Convention, but he hosts conferences with some of the top names and institutions in the SBC. Jerry Fallwell made a career out of vitriol and controversy and the SBC gave him the Keys to the Kingdom when he joined. No, I don’t think vitriol is my crime. My crime is being a part of a movement the SBC sees as a threat to evangelism, and our already declining baptismal numbers.

Calvinists can be an easy target when it comes to evangelism and baptism. Never mind names like Augustine of Hippo, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Adonirum Judson, William Carey, Charles Spurgeon, Richard Baxter, Matthew Henry, John Bunyan, George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, Arthur Pink, Boyce, Andrew Fuller, Luther Rice, J.L. Dagg, Daniel & Abraham Marshall, D. Martin Lloyd-Jones, J.I. Packer, Ian Murray, D.A. Carson, John Piper, James White, Tom Nettles, Tom Schriner, Tom Ascol, Timothy George, Mark Dever, and Al Mohler. The strawman (who doesn’t believe in evangelism because he believes in election) that was beaten about the head and shoulders at the John 3:16 Conference is a much easier target. Can you imagine that conference with the living members of the aforementioned list sitting there defending themselves? I’d pay a pretty penny to see that!

Instead, guys like White get hammered for not believing in evangelism while out doing evangelism! Good thing we’re protecting the Convention from the likes of him. If not we might start having bus tours with slogans like “Everyone Can”. Convention leaders with churches that boast memberships of 10,000 when their actual attendance (resident, participating, regenerate, ‘real’ members) is well under 2,000. Or fire engine baptistries to coax children into the sacred waters (Paige Patterson called this “blasphemy” right before calling Southern Baptists “some of the worst paedo-baptizers there are”). If we don’t rid ourselves of guys like White, we may end up adding a category in our baptismal reports for “Under Age 6,” or have a pastor join the Youth Ministry at the beach and have himself and staff ‘re-baptized’ in an effort to ‘prime-the-pump’ and get the baptismal numbers up for the annual beach retreat (true story!). Or who knows, if the likes of James White are not stopped, we may have non-Trinitarians like T.D. Jakes come and teach at our conferences.

Of course anyone paying attention knows these atrocities are actual occurrences in our beloved Convention and they are the types of things Calvinists (like White) bemoan. Moreover, our Arminian and Amyraldian brethren also despise these things (funny how people berate Calvinists for “following doctrine named for a man” when the various other positions are named for men as well). Unfortunately, they don’t despise these atrocities quite as much as they despise Calvinism. So where does that leave me? Still here. Sill lovin’ the brethren. Still holding to the Doctrines of Grace. Still in the SBC. No longer considering a future of any significance in the Convention. Praying for reconciliation, revival and reformation. Grieving over the status quo. Still holding to the Fives!

The Five Solas
Sola Scriptura
Sola Fide
Sola Gratia
Solus Christus
Soli Deo Gloria!
The Five Points
Total or Radical Depravity
Unconditional or Sovereign Election
Limited Atonement/Particular Redemption
Irresistible or Effectual Grace
Perseverance of the Saints

VB