A Liberal Education

The president of the National Association of Scholars, Stephen H. Balch, Ph.D., had this to say about the state of education in the U.S. today: "Trendy courses, bloated bureaucracies, and intolerance toward students and professors holding politically incorrect views have become the norm on the majority of our campuses. Grades are routinely inflated and curricula dumbed down, while truth and intellectual integrity are treated as forms of racial, sexual, and capitalist oppression."

I'm sure most of us agree that religion has no place in our educational system, but neither do personal politics and ideologies. A Luntz poll of Ivy League professors revealed a startling political bias. In the 2000 elections ... a mere 9% of professors surveyed voted for George Bush. Nationally, professors who identify themselves as liberals vastly outnumber professors who classify themselves as conservatives. Needless to say there is variation depending on the particular fields of education. In Schools of Law or Medicine the ratio is almost 1/1, but in Colleges of Behavioral Science and Humanities liberals overwhelmingly outnumber conservatives: 10/1 in political Science, 14/1 in Humanities, 9/1 in Classics, and most astounding of all 30/1 in Anthropology.

Here's the scariest paragraph from that article:

"Every child in America entering school at the age of five is mentally ill because he comes to school with certain allegiances to our founding fathers, toward our elected officials, toward his parents, toward a belief in a supernatural being, and toward the sovereignty of this nation as a separate entity. It is up to you as teachers to make all of these sick children well -- by creating the international child of the future."
-- Dr. Chester M. Pierce, Professor of Education at Harvard, addressing the Association for Childhood Education International.

"I'm sure most of us agree that religion has no place in our educational system..."
***I'm not sure I agree with that statement. Welcome to Free Republic.

We have been discussing inexpensive ways to fast track kids through high school to avoid the liberal agenda and other idiocies so characteristic of public schools today:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1315730/posts?page=84#84

Unfortunately my thread title was not well thought out, because some parents might instinctively skip over it due to attached stigma, whether real or imagined.

That is indeed the beauty of this country.
***I agree. And don't forget that it is the beauty of this forum as well.

We can agree to disagree.
***That's always been a bit of a trite cliche. But that's okay. The Republican tent has grown quite inclusive. My concern is that antichristian activists might try to kick social conservatives out of the tent.

Certainly my kids will learn about religion from their parents. I do not, in any way shape or form, trust this to any institution, government sanctioned or otherwise.
***That sounds like you have some kind of personal problem with authority. The issue as far as this forum is concerned is what the constitution says. When liberals quote the "separation of church and state", they seem to forget that it was a citation of a letter by Thomas Jefferson, not something in the constitution. In addition, the original intent was to keep politics out of religion, not religiosity out of politics. Our founding fathers were very mindful of the Church of England being in charge of things. And our founding fathers were very in favor of religion being taught in public schools.

That is why I am leary of religion having a presence in public education.
***That has served as an excuse for far too long. The result has been the debacle we see with public education today, which includes gang activity, drugs, murder, violence, sexual predation, and all other kinds of degenerative behavior. If you contrast the results that private education is able to accomplish with fewer resources, then the issue is no longer religion, it is results. Public education first started with the Bible as a primary reading tool and the results were far better than what we have today. Is the reason why you are against religion in public schools is because you are not a Christian? Please elaborate.

Can we trust that these educators stick to the 'curriculum'? I don't think so.
***I agree. The educators have been entrusted to stick with the curriculum, and they have replaced it with NAMBLA, NARAL, ACLU, and various other liberal agendas. We would all be happy with an agenda-free curriculum, but, just as a garden will grow weeds when untended, the liberals will spout their godless curriculum when left to themselves in a default condition.

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