THE CASE OF THE CAPTURED CHILD IN AMERICA'S CLASSROOMS (Part IV)
Students, who are forced to absorb propaganda from one ideological sway, do not have the means nor the courage to leave the classroom in the midst of a lecture. They are truly a captured audience.
Last week, I left you with these questions:
Are the public schools completely God-less?
Do we empty our public schools of Christian and other faith-based children?
Is there a way to balance subject matter so that children do not feel uncomfortable?
Before I attempt to answer those questions, here is a review of the most important points from the last three blogs (links found in those blogs):
In the genesis of American education, both teachers and students were guided by Christian principles.
Throughout our country’s history, inequities in education existed, based on region, race, gender and social class. This is still true today.
Teacher Colleges began almost 100 years ago. Then, as now, history and test scores tell us most states have not done enough to prepare new teachers.
Consequences for poor achievement have been diminished over the decades. Covid exacerbated this with a complete removal of behavioral and academic expectations for locked down children.
The United States is no longer recognized as one of the top world contenders in educating its children.
In 2015, a national test given to Christian students showed that 90 percent of students from Christian homes attending public schools are firmly grounded in basic tenets of secularism.
According to the Pew Research Center, Christianity is the world’s most persecuted religion across all nations. No one is burning Christians at the stake in America. Ideologically forced learning instead of the act of burning!
No child should ever feel uncomfortable in any American classroom.
What about private, parochial and home schools? Cost, cost, cost and the unavailability of today’s parents to hold full time jobs in a shrinking economy and teach their kids from home.
Here’s a headline that might surprise you. It’s from Christianity Today: Public Schools Aren’t Godless. Ask the Christians Who Feel Called to Stay. According to Pastor Clark Frailey, living in Oklahoma, “People were saying our schools were Marxist, socialist, atheist—and that just wasn’t our experience as local church pastors.” Despite the headlines, many Christian educators told Christianity Today they haven’t seen cause for outrage in their own school systems and feel convicted to remain in the classroom. And this from 14 years in the field: teacher Brittany Braun has not been asked to quiet her faith or push an agenda she didn’t believe in. The first question is answered: our public schools are not God-less. I experienced that first hand as a Christian educator from 1971-2017.
How about the headline Every School is Religious? Here are the thoughts from Doug Wilson (author of Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning): Education is a completely religious endeavor. It is impossible to impart knowledge to students without building on religious presuppositions. Education is built on the foundation of the instructor's worldview (and the worldview of those who developed the curriculum). It is a myth that education can be nonreligious - that is, that education can go on in a vacuum that deliberately excludes the basic questions about life. It is not possible to separate religious values from education. This is because all the fundamental questions of education require religious answers. Answer to question two: emptying out our public schools of faith-based students will not change the perspective. World view and Biblical view dictate how curriculum is designed and received.
But the contradiction between how faith-based students are treated as opposed to their counterparts stings! Here is a portion of a Pew Research Center report on holiday programs in the public schools: Christmas-themed music programs also have raised constitutional concerns. For a holiday music program to be constitutionally sound, the courts maintain, school officials must ensure the predominance of secular considerations, such as the program’s educational value or the musical qualities of the pieces. The schools also must be sensitive to the possibility that some students will feel coerced to participate in the program (Bauchman v. West High School, 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, 1997; Doe v. Duncanville Independent School District, 5th Circuit, 1995). Moreover, the courts have said, no student should be forced to sing or play music that offends their religious sensibilities. Therefore, schools must allow students the option not to participate. Oh the irony! The words which pierce the souls of Christians: Moreover, the courts have said, no student should be forced to sing or play music that offends their religious sensibilities. Therefore, schools must allow students the option not to participate. You can guess my questions. Should a faith-based student be forced to participate and be graded on his views of the biology of life starting after birth? Should a student of faith be forced to participate and be graded on his views of evolution?
If the government truly believes in equity and diversified education, students of faith must not only be included in the public school population but their belief system protected. Their freedom of thought and speech must be treated in the court of public opinion with the same amount of reverence the schools give to students who wish to change their pronouns and gender.
The following are court-tested cases: The Federal Court stated it best in 1999: “The discriminatory suppression of student-initiated religious speech demonstrates not neutrality but hostility toward religion because the: ‘exclusion of religious ideas, symbols, and voices marginalizes religion. When the public sphere is open to ideas and symbols representing nonreligious viewpoint, culture and ideological commitment, to exclude all those whose basis is ‘religious’ would profoundly distort public culture.’” - Chandler (1999) U.S. Federal Court.
“Religion Clauses must not be interpreted with a view that religion be suppressed in the public arenas in favor of secularism. The Constitution “does not require total separation of Church and State.” ... Not only is the government permitted to accommodate religion without violating the Establishment Clause, at times it is required to do so.”- Brown v. Gilmore (2001)
And from the Supreme Court: “The state may not establish a "religion of secularism" in the sense of affirmatively opposing or showing hostility to religion, thus "preferring those who believe in no religion over those who do believe." ... Refusal to permit religious exercises thus is seen, not as the realization of state neutrality, but rather as the establishment of a religion of secularism.” - U.S. Supreme Court, in Abington Township v. Schempp (1963). Question number three answered: not only should the curriculum take into consideration the faith-based student but it is required to do so.
Where do we go from here? My final blog on this subject will address four points of view: student, parent, teacher and administrator and how they must maneuver through the curriculum so all children feel comfortable in America’s classrooms.
I leave you with this: The First Amendment does not convert our schools into religion-free zones. I am deeply troubled that so many Americans feel that their faith is threatened by the mechanisms that are designed to protect their faith. When the First Amendment is invoked as an obstacle to private expression of religion, it is being misused. Religion has a proper place in private and a proper place in public, because the public square belongs to all Americans. -President Clinton NYTimes 1996
LAST WORD: What has happened to our country since President Clinton spoke those words can best be described as an abysmal failure of leadership in education. From the local, state, and federal levels, our educational system is failing our children. And those children are the future of this country.
Order your copy today. Winner of the 2020 Topshelf and 2022 Mainstream Media Non-fiction Book Award. AMAZON REVIEW: Teachers and parents young and old will gain from reading her straighforward narration of her experiences. Highly recommended.
I would be happy to address your school, district, school board or Teachers’ College. RESCUE THE TEACHER, SAVE THE CHILD! is equipped with thoughtful questions at the end of most chapters designed for students, parents, teachers and administrators. Let’s encourage a national conversation on education for all of our children. You can reach me at rescuetheteacher@yahoo.com.