What They’re Teaching Johnny

National Catholic Register ^ | October 23, 2004 | Carlos Briceno

[NYer]

NEWTON, Mass. — L. George Chedid wants his eldest son to learn about math and science and all the rest of the academic subjects that children learn in elementary school. But he draws the line at his boy learning about same-sex “marriage” — especially at the impressionable age of 7.

Chedid’s son was in first grade at Burr Elementary School in Newton, Mass., last spring when the principal announced over the intercom that the state was officially recognizing same-sex “marriages.” The school then sent several of its homosexual teachers to various classrooms — from kindergarten through fifth grade — to explain what this meant and to herald the law as a wonderful civil-rights advancement, said Chedid, an engineering professor at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston.

“A kid at that age looks at anything the teacher says as absolute truth,” he said. “The teacher comes in and tells that 7-year-old, ‘It’s okay for Johnny to wear a skirt. It’s fine for Peter to marry Paul.’… It’s indoctrination of these kids that flies in the face of the principles and morals that I’d like to institute in my child.”

The resulting uproar in the town pitted parent against parent, with a generous use of epithets such as “bigots” and “homophobes,” Chedid said.

Chedid and his wife, both practicing Maronite Catholics, decided over the summer to put their eldest son in a nearby Catholic school. They also placed their next-youngest child, who was entering kindergarten, in Catholic school, where Chedid said they are “a lot safer from gay propaganda.”

Chedid said homosexual activists are making marriage a civil-rights matter and completely taking the religious aspect out of it.

In mid-May, forced by a Massachusetts high court, the Bay State became the first in the union to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Earlier this year, legislators passed an amendment that would ban same-sex “marriages” while legalizing civil unions. Before it can become part of the Massachusetts Constitution, however, the amendment has to pass another session of the Legislature before voters can decide the fate of the issue, which should occur in 2006.

In the meantime, same-sex “marriage” and homosexual lifestyles are coming into discussions in school settings and classrooms, parents and teachers said.

Just before the official date that same-sex couples could obtain marriage licenses, the superintendent of the Boston public school system sent a memo to his staff, urging respect for the new law and reiterating a “zero-tolerance” policy regarding any acts that could create an “intolerant” climate in the schools.

“It behooves us, whatever our position may be on this issue, to use this opportunity to help our students understand it as a vital manifestation of some of the principles that have shaped our system of government … as well as another step in our continuing efforts to create a more just society for all of our citizens,” wrote superintendent Thomas Payzant.

Opt-In, Not Opt-Out

As director of Project PARENT — Parents Advocating Responsible Education Not Turmoil — R.T. Neary has been leading the fight in Massachusetts to pass a bill that would give what he believes is justice to parents. The bill would require parents to give written consent before their child attended human sexuality classes. Current state law allows parents to “opt-out” their children: If a parent doesn’t contact school officials and ask that the child not participate, the child attends the classes. Neary’s group advocates giving parents the power to review course materials; if they object, the child is not required to take the class.

The bill stalled earlier this year, but Neary plans to bring it back to legislators in December so that it can possibly be up for a vote next year, he said.

“It’s the civil right of parents to be the prime determinants of the moral values of their youngsters,” said Neary, a public high-school teacher for more than 30 years. “And it’s been usurped by the schools.”

Neary’s statement is consistent with Catholic doctrine and principles, especially that of subsidiarity, a Catechism principle that, applied to families, requires that “larger communities should take care not to usurp the family’s prerogatives or interfere in its life.”

In his 1981 apostolic exhortation, Familiaris Consortio (on the family in the Modern World), Pope John Paul II talked about the importance of the parents’ role in educating their children about sexual matters.

“Sex education,” wrote the Holy Father, “which is a basic right and duty of parents, must always be carried out under their attentive guidance, whether at home or in educational centers chosen and controlled by them.”

One organization that doesn’t support the “opt-in” legislation — the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, which offers sex-education curriculum materials to schools — believes it’s important for sex to be discussed in the classroom.

“We believe that sexuality education is an important part of health education in general,” said Erin Rowland, the league’s spokeswoman, who added that the legalization of same-sex “marriages” in the state has not led Planned Parenthood to change its sex-education curriculum.

“And so a bill that would put a barrier and make it harder for schools to provide comprehensive sexuality education, from our point of view, is a negative. It doesn’t help public health. It doesn’t help get accurate information out there. It doesn’t help young people learn how to protect themselves (and) how to build self-esteem and have positive relationships.”

Planned Parenthood Federation of America made more than $90 million from abortion in 2002, according to STOPP International, a division of American Life League.

Schools in Massachusetts don’t need a classroom to present views on homosexual relationships. A substitute teacher in the Medfield school district, who wanted to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal, described an assembly last spring at Medfield High School, in which freshmen and sophomores were invited to listen to a female comedian.

The comedian, a lesbian who spoke for about a half-hour, talked about how she had to hide her homosexuality during her high-school years in Massachusetts, but was pleased that the climate had changed so much that now homosexual couples could marry — and she cited her upcoming marriage as an example, the teacher recalled.

He said her talk — which, in his estimation, was “advocacy” of her lifestyle — was “disappointing” to him as a “taxpayer, as a Catholic, as a Christian.”

Providing Alternatives

Catholic teachers who may have to deal with a curriculum that leads to discussions about homosexual topics have to walk a fine line in their jobs — while also living their faith, said Peter Cataldo, research director at the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Boston. If, for example, a Catholic teacher has to discuss a book that deals with homosexual “marriage,” he should also present materials in opposition or that offer critiques from the standpoint of natural-law ethics, he said. That would allow the teacher to avoid cooperating in providing “immoral ideas and values to the children and, at the same time, it should also avoid using specifically religious ideas in the classroom,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Massachusetts bishops are formulating an “across-the-board” response to issues that have come up surrounding the same-sex “marriage” law, said Daniel Avila, associate director for policy and research at the Massachusetts Catholic Conference.

“We think that the claim that same-sex ‘marriage’ is no different than traditional marriage and this is a constitutional right is an untruth,” Avila said. “And it will be an untruth that, when promulgated by official institutions like public schools, will do great harm to people who are seeking the truth and especially to families and parents concerned about the well-being of their children.

“They will be confronted with the claims that same-sex ‘marriage’ is a constitutional right and is a good thing,” he continued. “It will force them to come to grips with what their faith and their values mean. It will be a difficult process. Because kids will come home and say, ‘Gee, this is what everyone in school is saying, and how come we’re different?’ It will be a challenge and an opportunity, I think.”

Carlos Briceno is based in Seminole, Florida.

Reprinted with permission from the National Catholic Register, October 10–16, 2004. All rights reserved.

[NYer]

Chedid and his wife, both practicing Maronite Catholics, decided over the summer to put their eldest son in a nearby Catholic school.

How unfortunate that the Chedid family does not reside within proximity to San Diego, CA, where, Maronite priest, Fr. Nabil Mouannes, founded the first Maronite Catholic School in 2000. The following is from the San Diego News Notes journal.

ST. EPHREM MARONITE CATHOLIC ACADEMY, the parish school for grades K-10 of St. Ephrem Maronite Catholic Church, opened on September 5 in El Cajon. The church, which is located at 750 Medford Street, is under the Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles and pastored by Father Nabil Mouannes. The academy, in its first year of operation, has 20 students from 10 families. It is staffed by two full-time teachers, one part-time science teacher, and volunteer part-time aides.

According to principal Michael Horvath, "Each school day begins with Holy Mass. The Academy is loyal to the Holy Father and the traditions of the Church. The curriculum is as Catholic as possible, utilizing solidly Catholic texts from the past and present.

"The philosophy of the school is the salvation of souls through excellence in education. St. Ephrem Academy is an extension of the Gospel witness in the home, whereby parents are the primary educators of their children.

"St. Ephrem Academy is grateful to the El Cajon planning commission for granting it the proper conditional use permit for a school, the neighbors for their support, the Eparchy for their approval, and the benefactors who have come forward with their financial help. It is most especially grateful to Father Nabil Mouannes for his vision in the founding of the first Maronite Catholic School in the United States."

[NYer]

“A kid at that age looks at anything the teacher says as absolute truth,”

Ping!

[ventana]

Bump. V's wife.

[little jeremiah]

Homosexual Agenda Ping - The whole article, while true, is so cautiously understated that it looks like shades of grey rather than the eye-blinding black and white it should be.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not faulting the writer at all. I'm just a hot head.

;-)

Even if - IF - kids can opt out of the specific sex ed classes, just attending screwel with a bunch of other kids who are being polluted, indoctrinated and recruited will harm them. And it's obvious from this article (and many more like it) that this assault on truth and morality doesn't just happen in specific classes. The stench of pro-"gay" indoctrination permeates the entire cirriculum. In fact, it's obviously a stated, proud policy. Anyone keeping their kids in public screwels in MASS (or in California, for that matter) is playing Russian roulette with their kids.

Let me and Scripter know if you want on/off this pinglist.

[DirtyHarryY2K]

Chedid’s son was in first grade at Burr Elementary School in Newton, Mass., last spring when the principal announced over the intercom that the state was officially recognizing same-sex “marriages.” The school then sent several of its homosexual teachers to various classrooms — from kindergarten through fifth grade — to explain what this meant and to herald the law as a wonderful civil-rights advancement

No, There just "Two consenting adults" in the privacy of their own bedrooms!

When are people going to realize the truth? Their real goal is to indoctrinate the children into believing there is "nothing wrong" with the perverse ideology of homomarriage, And sodomy.

[Raquel]

These liberal educators, not only push the gay agenda but they also advocate premarital sex, birth control and masturbation, regardless of whether or not the parents approve. When it comes to education, the President has it right, how about making sure that our children can read and write before they go on to the next grade (why hasn't anyone else thought of this simple idea?), save the liberal morality (not sure if you can call it morality) for their own children in the privacy of their homes or their friends at the country clubs or at CBS or the New York Slimes. And leave the rest of us alone.

That's their biggest problem, they want freedom of speech, as long as it's them speaking. It doesn't matter what's being said or who is being exploited. How unfortunate that the democrats have allowed the liberals to take over their party. They are a joke, I can't even listen to the blather anymore. I mean they really think Americans are stupid. Just look at how the Kerry surrogates lie cheat and beg. I wish they would all go back to Massachusetts or Europe or whatever rock they crawled out from and lie to each other, rather than us.

[Clint N. Suhks]

(not sure if you can call it morality)

It has a name, it's called the religion of "Moral Relativism". It's taught at all levels. My Kid had it in 7th grade in his "English Class".

Yikes!

WhooHoo...Red Sox just won!

[mlocher]

I'm just a hot head.

me too.

i know that this thread is about the teaching of homosexuality in public schools, but there are a whole lot of things taught in my school district to my kids that i disagree with. this is just one of many. fortunately, homosexuality is not applauded (yet) in my school district, but manifestdestiny has been replaced with the theory that columbus brought much evil to the native americans....all religions are studied, except christianity, evolution is sold as a theory not as an hypothesis ...

sorry for the rant and going off on a tangent

[DirtyHarryY2K]

It has a name, it's called the religion of "Moral Relativism". It's taught at all levels. My Kid had it in 7th grade in his "English Class".

Enlighten me, [Moral Relativism] As in My morals may or may not be relative to your morals?? Just like to know what it's all about for future references. I'm starting to hear the term a lot these days.

[dsc]

http://www.moral-relativism.com/

Moral relativism is the view that ethical standards, morality, and positions of right or wrong are culturally based and therefore subject to a person's individual choice. We can all decide what is right for ourselves. You decide what's right for you, and I'll decide what's right for me. Moral relativism says, "It's true for me, if I believe it."

NAMBLA uses moral relativism to justify their disgusting and criminal practices. In essence, it goes back to the serpent whispering, "You shall be as gods," because a god can decide for himself questions of right and wrong.

[dsc]

"And leave the rest of us alone."

Absolutely. They go on and on about more money for education, when we already spend several times an ammount that would be sufficient, if they weren't wasting it on this kind of insanity.

We need to abolish the DOE, outlaw the NEA, and fire everybody except classroom teachers, nurses, janitors, lunch ladies, and principals and assistant principals. And we need to make darn sure there's no excess there, either.

Principals can be accountable to locally elected, unpaid school boards, and that's all the bureaucracy we need.

[Clint N. Suhks]

As in My morals may or may not be relative to your morals??

The "religion" of "Moral Relativism" means there is NO Absolute right or wrong. Murder might be OK in one culture but not in another. Torture is OK in some but not others. Abortion is OK if depends on whether she thinks it is "her" own body and NOT two persons.

I'ts all about common sense vs. liberal "theory".

[DirtyHarryY2K]

As long as a person can "Rationalize" it to a point that they're happy with it themselves then it's ok? Oh, I see. LMAO! Murderers, rapists, prostitutes, etc. should be ecstatic!

[television is just wrong]

My kids know about all this stuff. They don't do drugs, have had several "gay'les" teachers. They are saavy, spot gays and lesbians a mile away. This is nothing new. We have helped them put it in the right perspective.

Most of the kids laugh and mock the gay,les teachers behind their backs. Bad stuff happens. My kids have two supportive parents and a decent self image. Dealing with it just fine.

My daughters kindegarten teacher was gay. My sons fifth grade teacher was gay. Both kids had gay coaches in marching band, and lesbian in P.E.

It is life today. School is prepratory for life. Right wrong or otherwise, my kids I think are well rounded, not gay or les, and smart as can be. I'm proud of them. I do not have control over who the school dist. hires, I just deal with it.

Other options, homeschool your kids, shelter them, and when they become of age, they will still have to deal with the real world.

It is more important that they have an intact family life. Parents staying together and peaceful constructive home life. That's my opinion and experience, take it or leave it.

[DirtyHarryY2K]

I'ts all about common sense vs. liberal "theory".

Read Orwell's book 1984>>>

"Not merely the validity of experience but the very existence of external reality was tacitly denied by their philosophy. The heresy of heresies was common sense". George Orwell - 1984. On the Thought Police.

[Salvation]

This story is sickening......to think that this was really done in classrooms.............

[little jeremiah]

It's not really a tangent, it's just part of the same continuum. The basis being that there are no moral absolutes, there is not "real" truth, it's all relative, and nothing has any objective reality.

Except, of course, the leftist world view.