Free Republic

As The Chronicle reported today, Galileo High School celebrated Valentine’s Day with a “Love Fest” that featured same-sex marriage ceremonies and safer-sex games. In one exercise, students puts on goggles “that made their vision slightly blurry, simulating a drunken state.” A teacher told students “to put a condom on a wooden penis. Most of the students left air in the condom tip, which could lead to breakage, and that prompted an instructional rebuke from (teacher Raina) Meyers.”

A Colorado high school student quit the school choir after an Islamic song containing the lyric "there is no other truth except Allah" made it into the repertoire. James Harper, a senior at Grand Junction High School in Grand Junction, put his objection to singing "Zikr," a song written by Indian composer A.R. Rahman, in an email to Mesa County School District 51 officials. When the school stood by choir director Marcia Wieland's selection, Harper quit. "I don’t want to come across as a bigot or a racist, but I really don’t feel it is appropriate for students in a...

Professor Amy Kaplan at the University of Pennsylvania explains to educators how to shoe-horn hatred for Israel in their courses - even if the course has nothing to do with politics or history.

Debbie Squires of the Michigan Elementary and Middle School Principals Association speaks to the House Education Committee. "Educators go through education for a reason. They are the people who know best about how to serve children. That is not necessarily true about an individual resident. Not saying that they don't want the best for their children, but they may not know what actually is best from an education standpoint."

Well, at least the kids weren’t singing – everybody now – “Mmm mmm mmm…Barack Hussein Obama.” But the latest example of Big Education fawning over Barack Obama isn’t much better. On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Cass Elementary School in Livonia, Michigan aired a video of still images of Obama, with a speech by King and – strangely – a Bob Marley song playing in the background. Watch video at Big Government (don't know how to incorporate a video here). The students looked about as interested as if they were watching paint dry. It’s unclear how long the song actually...

When parent Jeff Travis saw a lesson sheet his son received in social studies class, he was shocked. Using propaganda that could have been disgorged by the KGB, the flier seemed to elevate communism over “capitalism.” Distributed in Theodore Roosevelt High School in Des Moines, Iowa, the lesson sheet includes a cartoon (portion shown below) that purports to illustrate the differences between the two systems. In the left panel are two unhappy-looking workers with balls and chains tied to their ankles who toil away on one side of a machine while all the profit spills out the other side into...

The elemental force of violence that emanates from islamic ideology should never be underestimated. Naïve politicians and journalists have already made this mistake with the Arab Spring™. Now Iran is in the thick of becoming a nuclear power. The kind of apocalypse that will mean can be seen from a glance at Iranian schoolbooks. Contained in those books is the call for the world government of Islam. Note well: These are not remnants from the dark ages of the Ayatollah Khomeini, rather they are totally current “works,” that have come into existence under the leadership of the “reformer” Chatami. Welt...

I haven’t had many lectures where terms like necrophilia or bestiality came up. That’s why, among all the classes I’ve taken over the past four years, the sociology course I’m taking this semester, Sexuality and the Law, stand outs. It wasn’t until the second class that the professor really delved into the ‘makes you feel uncomfortable and avoid eye contact with the other students’ material. Penis rings, polygamy, chastity belts, the Kama Sutra, and the lack of a female counterpart to Viagra were all discussed, in no particular order of uncomfortableness. Next, the professor gave a brief overview of popular...

(CNSNews.com) – By the time they leave elementary school, children should be able to “define sexual orientation,” and by the eighth grade be able to “define emergency contraception and its use,” according to a report containing controversial new recommendations for sex education in U.S. public schools. “Ideally, comprehensive sexuality education should start in kindergarten and continue through 12th grade,” says the “National Sexuality Education Standards” report, drawn up by a range of advocates, academics and public education officials. The Future of Sex Education (FoSE), an initiative started by sex education advocates, developed the standards “to create a strategic plan for...

“Academic freedom and intellectual diversity are values indispensable to the American university… the concept of academic freedom has been premised on the idea that human knowledge is a never-ending pursuit of the truth, that there is no humanly accessible truth that is not in principle open to challenge, and that no party or intellectual faction has a monopoly on wisdom. Therefore, academic freedom is most likely to thrive in an environment of intellectual diversity that protects and fosters independence of thought and speech.” -David Horowitz, Academic Bill of Rights The American university is heavily touted as the marketplace of ideas....

~~snip~~ The Girl Scouts have a cross-dresser in the front office. Ten years ago, Girl Scouts media relations officer Joshua Ackley was frontman for the “homopunk” band the Dead Betties. In publicity shots, he’s dressed in women’s clothing, and in music videos, he appears to be naked and feigning masturbation. The video for “Hellevator” portrays a woman being strangled in an elevator shaft while Mr. Ackley flashes a menacing grin. Today he issues press releases, posts news and views on the Girl Scouts’ blog, and tries to mollify moms who are concerned about Girl Scout ties with Planned Parenthood. In...

Climate change subscribers say the fight against global warming will require younger soldiers. On Monday, the National Center for Science Education, a nonprofit group that denounces intelligent design and supports an evolution-only curriculum in the classroom, will expand its mission. The organization of scientists, anthropologists and others is turning its attention to climate change, and it will mount an aggressive effort to teach the nation’s schoolchildren that climate change is real and is being driven by human activity. “For 20 years, we’ve helped teachers cope with what we can only describe as societal or political problems in teaching evolution. They’re...

This month a report surfaced of 3rd graders in Charlottesville, Virginia singing a song that the kiddos wrote (or so we were told) about being part of the 99% “Occupiers.� Here is a sample of the lyrics that the 9-year-olds supposedly drafted and then crooned for their comrades in class. I used to be sad, now I’m satisfied ’Cause I really have enough Though I lost my yacht and plane Didn’t need that extra stuff Could have been much worse You don’t need to be first ’Cause I’ve got my friends Here by my side Don’t need it all I’m...

School Defends “Occupy” Song For 8-year-olds By Todd Starnes/TWITTER A Virginia school district is defending a song allegedly written and performed by a group of third graders about the Occupy Wall Street movement that conservative bloggers are calling a form of indoctrination. The song, “Part of the 99,” was performed by children at Woodbrook Elementary School in Albemarle County, Virginia. A spokesman for the school system said as far as they were concerned there isn’t a controversy and called criticism of the program unfortunate. “We really don’t censor the topics that students come up with,” school spokesman Phil Giaramita told...

Via CBS 19 News: The School Board in Charlottesville is clearly out of line, and not fooling anyone with their lame explanation for how kids came to sing a class warfare song at an assembly. Indoctrinating other people’s children with their political message is a tactic leftists use all the time. Conservatives shouldn’t stand for it, and need to continue to sound the alarm about this story.

28 Signs That U.S. Public Schools Are Rapidly Being Turned Into Indoctrination Centers And Prison CampsDecember 30, 2011 It has been said that children are our future, and right now the vast majority of our children are being "educated" in public schools that are rapidly being turned into indoctrination centers and prison camps. Our children desperately need to focus on the basics such as reading, writing and math, but instead a whole host of politicians, "education officials" and teachers are constantly injecting as much propaganda as they possibly can into classroom instruction. Instead of learning how to think, our children...

The Kindle and Nook may make for not only the most important advance in reading since Gutenberg, but also, quite likely, a major lesson in unintended consequences. Especially for the educational establishment, because for the first time in history, Americans should be able to envision a future without public-school teachers -- indeed, a future without public-school administrators or state departments of education with their rigidly enforced, politically correct social-transformation curriculum. A future without onerous school taxes, "education president(s)," self-preening school boards, or million-dollar classrooms. But most happily, a future without a single supercilious finger wagging in our face as we're...

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) announced that the U.S. Department of Education has awarded a major Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge grant to the Washington State Department of Early Learning. This award will allow Washington state to continue investing in high-quality early learning to make sure more children across the state enter school ready and able to learn. The state applied for $60 million, and while award amounts from the $500 million pool have not yet been released, it is expected that the state’s award will be in that range. Washington state was among...

American conservatives should think long and hard about where they send their kids to college. It’s a serious matter. After all, what can you become these days without a degree? If the Left has their way—if you obtain a college degree in due time—you WILL become a liberal. I fully realize that this has the potential to sound incredibly hypocritical coming from someone who is currently attending college – specifically someone who edits a publication comprised entirely of collegiate writers. But you’ll soon see why the awkward position I am in is entirely necessary.

A “food insecure” Muppet is helping to promote a national “Food for Thought” campaign that teaches poor families to seek out nutritious food and to eat on the taxpayers’ tab.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuits and other opponents of the current policy allege that its language, which instructs staff to stay neutral on discussions of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender topics in the classroom, perpetuates a hostile environment for the GLBT community in district schools. Several teachers have also said the policy is difficult to interpret and apply. But the majority of school board members have stood behind it, saying it is an important policy to keep teachers neutral on a controversial and sometimes polarizing topic. The new policy states that "teachers and educational support staff shall not advocate personal...

Sure enough. His grandson’s “World History” teacher, Jim Duarte, fed a steady dose of radical left wing propaganda to his students, disguised as classroom assignments. ................ Healy’s written reply also contained a thinly-veiled warning for Benson: “…the district respectfully requests that you refrain from any publication of this document or any portion thereof. We trust you will appreciate this serious concern and avoid any potential legal ramifications that could result.”

When teenagers reveal that they had sexual experiences before age 13, shouldn't every effort be made to find out something about their sex partners? That concern is missing from recent reports about the "risky behavior" of teens who call themselves homosexual, where these students report much higher pre-teen sexual experience than their heterosexual peers. -- What is curious is our culture's mixed messages about early child sex and who the "partner" of that child is. The party line for years to kids in middle school or in "gay" materials pushed on teens has been promotion of early sex while providing...

The year 1963 was very significant for America in many ways. It was the year that the Negro American, the term used back then, revolted openly but in non-violent fashion against a discriminatory system found especially in the south; it was the year that John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States, was assassinated; and it was the year that the new President, Lyndon B. Johnson, confirmed America’s continued economic and military support of South Viet Nam. It was also the year, however, that a less remembered court decision took place that had far reaching effects on American cultural...

One of the greatest dilemmas facing American students today is the perennial threat of leftist indoctrination on college campuses. In recent years, institutions of higher learning – which have historically been places for enlightened thought and dissenting opinions – have increasingly become breeding grounds for radical liberalism. College courses, which are often taught by biased professors who espouse leftist ideology, fail to adequately challenge undergraduate students and often leave many of them woefully unprepared for the real world. In his most recent work, Please Enroll Responsibly: Avoiding Indoctrination at College, attorney turned political activist Lee Doren examines pragmatic ways students...

Here we are again, the Left exploiting children to push their own convoluted agenda. This time, it's Van Jones using children to push his 10-point "Contract for the American Dream" plan. Ironically, in the video the children plead to increase Social Security taxes so our seniors can have a secure retirement. Too bad Van Jones isn't telling these kids that when they get a job and start paying into the Social Security system, they'll never see a dime of their own money back when they retire. Points made in the video: 1. Invest in American's Infrastructure 2. Create 21st Century...

The couples losing their virginity? Finn and Rachel and…Kurt and Blaine! Yep, the couple — who was featured on the cover of EW’s Gay Teens on TV issue – finally decide to take the next step in their relationship. It’s all handled very delicately and is incredibly moving. I can’t think of another network series that’s taken a teenage gay relationship so far or been so progressive.

The National Education Association (NEA), the largest labor union in the country, offered a $5,000 Learning and Leadership Grant to two Wisconsin teachers who intended to use the funds to “help first and second grade students” become “activists.” The description of the grant for teachers Andrea Burmesch and Tara Krueger of Muskego Elementary read: Ms. Burmesch and a team of colleagues will develop a critical literacy inquiry based unit of study to help their first and second grade students understand the role that power plays in their lives. The teachers will learn how visual literacy and technology, particularly website and...

WARNING: very explicit content. NEW YORK, October 24, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The recommended curriculum for a mandatory sex education course to be implemented in New York middle and high schools next year directs students to a website that details “safe sex� practices regarding bestiality, coprophagia, and other extreme sexual fetishes. The New York Post reported on Saturday that assignments in a workbook recommended by city education officials included giving middle schoolers “risk cards” to rate the safety of such activities as anal sex, oral sex, and “intercourse using a condom and an oil-based lubricant.� Teens are also told to learn...

The sad case of Jamey Rodemeyer, a 14-year-old gay kid who committed suicide after being bullied, has inspired Lady Gaga to try to get involved in the situation. She’s insisting that bullying be made illegal. Since she’s a spoiled pop star suggesting an idea that’s about as sensible as wearing a meat suit, she probably won’t have much luck with it. And she certainly shouldn’t.That being said, I have more empathy for Jamey Rodemeyer and other kids like him because I was bullied in high school and can tell you that it’s a horrible experience. Not only are you afraid...

HARTFORD, October 18, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.coom) - Several students at a Hartford high school expressed horror and left the auditorium when two male members of a city-funded school play shared a passionate kiss onstage on Friday. School officials said they opted against informing parents about the event ahead of time, saying that the students needed exposure to homosexuality, and hailed the “chaotic” reaction as a victory for raising the gay issue. The kiss occurred during Hartford Public High School’s production of “Zanna, Don’t!,” a play depicting a world in which homosexuality is normative and heterosexuals take up the role of “outcasts.”...

The United States continues to suffer from a raging jobs crisis. The national economy is stagnating. Some 25 million people in America who want to work cannot find full-time jobs. Governors in many states are punishing public employees and undermining their collective bargaining rights while enacting measures to suppress youth voter turnout and limiting access to higher education. Students leaving college are saddled with crushing debt. America wants to work, and a new movement of students and young people is growing to demand that our leaders get to work creating good jobs. As part of that movement, we are organizing...

Students in a Texas public high school were made to stand up and recite the Mexican national anthem and Mexican pledge of allegiance as part of a Spanish class assignment, but the school district maintains there was nothing wrong with the lesson. It happened last month in an intermediate Spanish class at Achieve Early College High School in McAllen, Texas — a city located about 10 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border. Wearing red, white and green, students had to memorize the Mexican anthem and pledge and stand up and recite them in individually in front of the class. That didn’t...

California Schools Scrambling To Add Lessons On LGBT Americans Many are flummoxed about how to carry out a new law requiring California public schools to teach all students, from kindergartners to 12th-graders, about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans. David Columbus, a senior and president of Downtown Magnets High School's Gay-Straight Alliance club, said he was pushed around and called names since he was 3 because he liked Barbie dolls. But, he said, he has thrived in the school's supportive environment. Teresa Watanabe October 16, 2011 At Wonderland Avenue Elementary School in Laurel Canyon, there are lesson plans on diverse...

Pundits routinely assert there is a cheating epidemic in American education. A few statistics can confirm the extent of the problem. Researchers at the University of Nebraska surveyed students and found that “89 percent said glancing at someone else's answers during a test was cheating, but 87 percent said they'd done that at least once. Also, 94 percent said providing answers to someone during a test was cheating -- but 74 percent admitted to doing it.” » If you like this article, please subscribe to our daily newsletter Our_Cheating_HeartPaying someone else to write your course work is also common, and...

The Texas school where a teen was punished for saying homosexuality was wrong has apologized and stated the boy “has the right to express an opinion in a manner consistent with law and policy.” The Fort Worth Independent School District has issued a letter fully vindicating high school freshman Dakota Ary, who was given in-school suspension for telling another student that he believes homosexuality is wrong because of his Christian faith. The controversy surrounded an incident that happened when Dakota was in Kristopher Franks’ German language class at Western Hills High School and the topic of homosexuality arose. Dakota said...

  Now They Want To Ban “Bless You” David C. Stolinsky Oct. 3, 2011 High-school teacher lowers student’s grade for saying “Bless you” when a classmate sneezes.− News item Theophobia means “fear of God.” This is not a normal fear, as in the biblical “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” That type of fear is a magnified version of our feeling for our parents: a mixture of love and respect, tinged with a bit of actual fear. Nor is it a fear of divine punishment. On the contrary, this is a pathological, neurotic fear. It is...

A father's complaint that his daughter's homework promotes the Muslim faith could lead to a lesson change in Cobb County. Channel 2's Tom Regan talked to the father who showed him where his daughter’s homework which said there's nothing wrong with having multiple wives...

The Times Atlas Of The World, regularly updated since the Victorian age, proudly presents itself as ‘the most authoritative atlas in the world’. But its latest hefty edition, published at the eye-watering price of £150, has become the focus of a bizarre climate change row. The new atlas shows the ice in Greenland — the northern hemisphere’s largest ice cap — to be melting so fast that, since 1999, nearly a sixth of it has vanished. An area the size of Britain and Ireland combined, once covered in ice and snow, has now become ‘green and ice free’. The publishers...

His exact words: "Libertarians would much rather see/let people DIE and then SUE, before letting the government regulate drugs." He then quickly moved on to marijuana and has previously provided jokes as to "toking up" in regards to Alexis de Tocequville(the french historian known for explaining Democracy in America) while of course garnering attention and laughs from the young adults in this class.

“REMEMBER, THE REASON WE’RE GOING TO THE MOSQUE IS TO CONTINUE OUR LEARNING,” Jonathan Rabinowitz tells his sixth-grade social studies students. Dressed in a button-down shirt and khakis, the lanky 38-year-old teacher stands in the aisle of a school bus idling behind Wellesley Middle School. He holds up a hand to quell chatter and giggles from the 11- and 12-year-olds. “I want to be proud of your behavior. Make us proud in how you ask questions.” Katie Pyzowski, her hair pulled back in a headband, sits quietly in a window seat as the din of her classmates resumes. Just a...

LOS ANGELES (KTLA) -- A back-to-school campaign is drawing criticism for encouraging graffiti among school-aged children. The campaign, dubbed by the art-retailer Aaron Brothers as "Artrageous," is hosting free events and giving out free "graffiti starter kits" to participants. But city council members are calling the move outrageous by promoting an act of vandalism as art. Councilman Dennis Zine introduced a resolution this week trying to stop the company from hosting the event, claiming kids may be tempted use the tools for illegal reasons. Zine is seeking a seek and desist order to legally prevent the store from holding the...

Since California Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 48 into law on July 14, the curriculum for California public schools must include “the role and contributions of…lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans” in California and American history. Already, those on the left are preparing to defend the law in courts, while those on the right are driving petitions to overturn the law by a ballot initiative. Why go to all that trouble? Because the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over California and a handful of other states, has already made clear that there can be no opt-outs of...

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Will the Children’s Television Workshop give way to same-sex puppet love? An online campaign is calling for the producers of TV’s “Sesame Street” to allow characters Bert and Ernie to get married in an attempt to “put an end to the bullying and suicides of LGBT youth”, according to the group’s Facebook page. The petition letter adds that “[w]e are not asking that Sesame Street do anything crude or disrespectful by allowing Bert & Ernie to marry”, suggesting that the show “even add a transgender character to the show…in a tasteful way”.

This idea isn't going to make a big splash with Rubber Duckie. An online campaign to pressure the producers of "Sesame Street" into having lovable roommates Bert and Ernie get married is gathering steam. Getting hitched would change things for Ernie, who has long sang about how his bath toy, Rubber Duckie, "was the one." More than 700 people have signed on to the petition, posted at change.org. "We are not asking that Sesame Street do anything crude or disrespectful," reads the petition for the muppet merger. "It can be done in a tasteful way. Let us teach tolerance of...

Honestly, do 8 year olds really understand stock trade transaction taxes or the implications of universal health care? Never mind … it’s the message, using the last refuge of a failing socialist state … children. Didn’t they try that in Wisconsin? Via Hot Air … this apparently is part of the Van Jones new liberal Tea Party effort. From Moveon.org Remember that liberal tea party that Van Jones is building? Here’s one of their first big initiatives: The “Contract for the American Dream,” in which fresh-faced load-bearers for an imploding entitlement regime cheerily read cue cards calling for more weight...

http://www.breitbart.tv/van-jones-and-moveon-use-kids-to-push-left-wing-initiative/

Here is another fine example of liberal indoctrination from college professors as this instructor has taken students to the DREAM Act protest that was held on July 26, 2011 outside of the White House in Washington, D.C. The goal of the protest was to get Obama to stop the deportation of illegal immigrants from the United States.

A Dothan teacher arrested last week on a sex crime charge involving a student now faces at least one additional charge for allegedly molesting the same 16-year-old male student. Dothan police investigators talked about some of the evidence in their case against 30-year-old Calvin Bell-Tharpe at a bond reduction hearing Monday. Attorney Shaun McGhee, who represents Bell-Tharpe, asked the court to reduce his client’s current $175,000 bond. Dothan police arrested Bell-Tharpe on Friday on a charge based on a recently enacted law of a school employee having sex with a student. District Court Judge Benjamin Lewis denied Bell-Tharpe's bond reduction...

This is a little reminder of what we're fighting against. We are not merely fighting for our way of life, we are fighting so our children and grandchildren can be free.