SEL: Is This What We Want for Our Children?
Dr. Susan Berry reports, “Schools are hosting adult drag queen stars as story readers to children as young as preschool age and justifying the events as consistent with the latest progressive education panacea known as ‘social and emotional learning.’” Berry has a doctorate in psychology and writes about cultural, educational, and healthcare issues for Breitbart News.
Many have warned that social and emotional learning means something entirely different than the words taken at face value would seem to indicate. What is playing out in schools proves the warnings to be true.
One way social and emotional learning (SEL) is cropping up in schools has to do with normalizing the abnormal. Some schools are not only subjecting students to drag queens, men dressed up as females in costumes that are often outrageous and sexually provocative, but students and parents whose moral compasses tell them something is amiss are subjected to harassment and re-education under the guise of SEL.
A video by Sean Fitzgerald, in conjunction with the David Horowitz Freedom Center and Stop K-12 Indoctrination, says that there is “a push to indoctrinate even very young children in gender ideology — a belief system that subjugates biological sex to whatever gender an individual claims at any given time.”
Fitzgerald says in the video, “Drag Queen reading hours don’t only take place in private book stores and rented spaces in public libraries. Many of these events take place within our public schools.”
At the Drag Queen Story Hour’s website, Alexis Hernandez, a first-grade teacher at the Maurice Sendak Community public school in Brooklyn, New York, says of the cross-dressing readers, “What an amazing way to teach individuality, empathy, and acceptance!” This teacher continues:
“Drag Queen Story Hour gave my first graders a fun and interactive platform to talk and think about social and emotional issues like acceptance, being yourself, and loving who you are. During our debrief … [students] were preaching the incredible lessons they had learned, like ‘it’s OK to be different,’ and ‘there’s no such thing as boy and girl things’.”
Jane Robbins, senior fellow at the American Principles Project, based in Washington, D.C., told Breitbart News that “‘social emotional learning,’ in the hands of radical ideologues, can turn into child abuse.” She says, “These people apparently think children’s stability in their identities should be sacrificed to advance a political agenda.” The target age for Drag Queen Story Hour is three to eight years of age.
Robbins says, “These drag-queen exhibitions seem designed to create gender confusion — known as gender dysphoria, or ‘transgenderism’ — in young children.” She continues, “This condition in turn could lead to treatment that, in the words of the American College of Pediatricians, ‘virtually ensures they will choose a lifetime of carcinogenic and otherwise toxic cross-sex hormones, and likely consider unnecessary surgical mutilation of their healthy body parts as young adults.’” (Breitbart.com, 8-7-18)
For now, the August 2nd David Horowitz Freedom Foundation-associated video can be seen on YouTube. But YouTube is part of the “progressive” tech anti-free speech cabal that continues to strangle the voices of conservatives. So, when Google (its owner) decides the public shouldn’t know about the degeneracy passing for education in our local schools, conservatives will no longer be able to learn about it on YouTube.
In the same way that warnings are now being given about SEL, many years ago other smart people, Phyllis Schlafly among them, warned that the push for acceptance of homosexuality was about more than “equality.” One commenter on the Drag Queen video sums it up well:
“This all started when militant LGBTs told the world all they wanted was ‘acceptance.’ And the perversion has spiraled out of control ever since then. Way back then I was one of the people who believed acceptance was all they wanted.”
YouTube Silences Conservatives
Dennis Prager says conservatives are under attack. At the PragerU website, it says, “YouTube does not want young people to hear conservative ideas as they currently list over 80 PragerU videos — over 10% of our entire library — under ‘restricted mode’ making it difficult for many young people to access our videos.” Restricted mode is allegedly to keep adult and sexual content away from children. But as Dennis Prager says, it is being used to prevent young people from “watching animated, age-appropriate, educational videos” because they contain conservative, pro-America information. More than 80 PragerU videos are restricted.
According to their website petition to lift the restrictions, PragerU videos “are produced with the sole intent of educating people of all ages about America’s founding values.”
Here are just a few of the PragerU videos Google believes young people should be prevented from viewing:
Why America Must Lead
Why America’s Military Must Be Strong
Is America Racist?
Are the Police Racist?
What Do People Really Think About
Racial Identity?
Gun Rights Are Women’s Rights
Everyone Should Stand for the National Anthem
Do White Americans Have White Privilege?
Why Did the Democratic South Become Republican?
[Ten Commandments] 7 – Do Not Commit Adultery
The Most Important Question About Abortion
Are Humans More Valuable Than Animals?
What Is Intersectionality?
What is Fake News?
Dangerous People Are Teaching Your Kids
Are 1 in 5 Women Raped at College?
Gender Identity: Why All the Confusion?
What’sWrong with Socialism?
How’s Socialism Doing in Venezuela?
Why Isn’t Communism as Hated as Nazism?
Why Do People Become Islamic Extremists?
Is Islam a Religion of Peace?
Islamic Terror: What Muslim Americans Can Do
What ISIS Wants
Why Don’t Feminists Fight for Muslim Women?
How Is Muslim Immigration to Sweden Working Out?
Israel’s Legal Founding
Google/YouTube routinely permits highly offensive content to be accessible to all. The technology behemoth apparently believes that teaching about American principles is harmful to youth but highly sexual content and Islamic Jihadists’ videos are not.
Colleges Add ‘Niche Programs’ to Boost Enrollment
Enrollment in institutions of higher education has been declining for a number of years, for various reasons. In response, some colleges and universities are adding “niche programs” in order to attract students.
Radical professors promoting leftism and dangerous protests on campus have influenced some parents who would otherwise have been willing to pay for college to decide against it. As merit-based scholarships disappear, some students whose parents are successful enough that they fall below the need-based scholarship levels are unwilling to take on the huge debt they’d incur in order for their offspring to earn degrees. And there are fewer students to go around because of declining birth rates.
Many believe at least some of the decline in enrollment and diminished relevance of a university education is directly related to existing niche degrees like Women’s Studies, Black and Latino studies, and such. Questions about the value of such school divisions vary but all must agree that they cost universities money and resources.
A Hechinger Report editor wrote about newly available programs for the Washington Post. According to the article, some schools are doubling down on niche programs in hopes of attracting students. Programs underway at colleges include a minor in hip-hop studies (Columbia College Chicago); a certificate in food studies, “which covers topics including globalization, art and culture, ecology and health, and religion and sustainability” (Dickinson College); a major in sports communication “with a minor in eSports, the field of competitive video gaming” (Emerson College); a master’s degree in peace education (Elizabethtown College); and a certificate program in social entrepreneurship and aging (Farmer School of Business at Miami University).
Also in the works are a master’s degree program in humanitarian studies (Fordham University); a master’s degree in sport business (Temple University); a certificate program in political campaign management (University of Richmond); and embodiment studies (Goddard College), which is described as “honor[ing] the intelligence of the body and its capacity for insight and liberation with respect to lived bodies, social bodies, and the living earth.”
Western Nevada College is spending $130,000 on a cybersecurity program, which includes building a high-tech computer lab. Five students have already committed to the program and the school needs at least 20 in the class. Security breaches in business and governmental data storage could convince some that there is a need for this program.
The legalization of gambling in many states is driving an increase in casino management programs.
There is concern that some programs are fluff and others will cost too much to be sustainable. Robert Zemsky is senior scholar at the Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy at The University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education. He calls some of the programs “a panic reaction.” Zemsky, author of Making Sense of the College Curriculum says that some schools decide to simply “give students what they want.” (Washington Post, 8-9-18)
Time, expense, and student enrollment will ultimately provide answers about which programs are viable and valuable.
Belmont Abbey College Reliably Builds Resilience
Belmont Abbey College is the sort of place where students can seek higher education and find the beliefs and ideals they’ve learned in their homes and churches supported instead of attacked and demeaned.
One way to slow the progress of radicalism is to be certain students avoid colleges that are hotbeds of progressivism. Families don’t want their children to lose their way during four years of indoctrination and pressure by those with whom they morally disagree.
Belmont Abbey College is a private Catholic institution founded in 1876 by Benedictine monks and is affiliated with the Order of Saint Benedict. It is located near Charlotte, North Carolina. About 1,400 students are enrolled there.
As of the 2018 Fall Semester, accepted Belmont Abbey College students at or above the level of sophomore will have the opportunity to study in Milan, Italy, at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore di Milano. The new Study Abroad program includes courses in Business and Economics, Banking and Finance, International Relations and Global Affairs, Literature and Philosophy, Fashion and Design, Language, and Sociology.
A Graduate with the Gumption to Fight Back
Former Virginia House of Delegates member Bob Marshall graduated from Belmont Abbey College. After 28 years as a Virginia state legislator, Marshall has quite a bit to say about politics and education.
He was defeated in a 2017 race by a Democrat who reportedly received over $1 million, much of it from out-of-state contributions, along with the help of non-resident left-wing activists. Marshall raised about $300,000, which was his highest war chest ever and would have been more than enough to defend his seat in a typical election cycle.
One reason Marshall’s opposition was so well-funded was that the person running against him is transgender. The Human Rights Campaign and other LGBTQ-promoting organizations sent volunteers as well as money. A practicing Catholic who has remained faithful to what he learned at Belmont Abbey College, Marshall opposes abortion. Planned Parenthood sent money and workers to fight against his re-election.
Marshall says that “Virginia is one of just a handful of states that imposes no limits on who can contribute, or how much, to a political campaign.”
Bob Marshall wrote an important book that was published in February of 2018. It is titled Reclaiming the Republic: How Christians and Other Conservatives Can Win Back America. About the need to take action to stop progressives from taking over the U.S. Congress in future elections, Marshall says, “Inaction, imprudence, or timidity on our part in the face of this growing threat is morally unacceptable, politically unwise, and socially suicidal.”
In his book, he also points out the importance of local politics, especially school board elections that determine whether or not progressives are allowed to force their wacky ideas on our children. Marshall says we have to stop the “moral collapse” of America.
A commentator at North Carolina’s DailyHaymaker.com wrote an article about Marshall’s work, aptly titled “New Book Offers Guide on Standing Up to the Leftist Hordes.” The article also offers more details about the nasty political campaign against Marshall.
Rather than collapse in defeat, Marshall took action by writing a book that serves as a roadmap for conservatives. He exhibits the sort of resilience that it is hoped young people begin to learn while still in school.
An Exciting and Practical Niche Program
Looking at student activities available at Belmont Abbey College (BAC), the Motorsports Club draws interest. What might this be? Further investigation shows that the college offers a major in Motorsport Management, as well as the club.
Students enrolled in this program build “business careers in the multi-billion dollar motorsport industry through partnerships with sanctioning bodies, teams, tracks, media, sponsors, agencies, and attractions.”
All BAC students are “guided by the tenets of Catholicism, and the Benedictine hallmarks.” These include “stewardship, community, and discipline.” Students receive “a well-rounded education that promotes wise and ethical decisions.” Those in BAC’s Motorsport Management degree program are no exception.
Humpy Wheeler, Jr. is co-founder of the degree program, a major supporter of it, and is the former President and General Manager of nearby Charlotte Motor Speedway.
According to Rolando Rivas, Director of Marketing and Communications for BAC, the program has a 100% placement record with some of the most prominent U.S. and international racing individuals, venues, and organizations. BAC students intern with top names in racing and motorsports sanctioning bodies, including NASCAR, IndyCar, Formula 1, and NHRA drag racing. Graduates are currently in positions with NASCAR; Jeff Gordon, Inc.; Chip Ganassi Racing; RSM Motorsports; and the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Executive Director Pat Wood is focused on developing current partnerships and expanding “real world” business experiences for students.
Belmont Abbey and Winston-Salem State University, another North Carolina school, offer the only four-year undergraduate degree programs in the nation with the Motorsports specialization.
Education Briefs
When a Florida teacher ran out of paid sick leave while still needing to undergo more chemotherapy for colon cancer, his call for help from fellow educators resulted in a transfer of more than 75 days, given to him by teachers, administrators, and cafeteria workers. Robert Goodman is 56 years old and has taught history at Palm Beach Gardens Community High School for 23 years. Since diagnosed with stage III cancer in April, Goodman had been using Facebook to document his medical journey; his appeal for help posted on that site included a “selfie” taken at a treatment facility in Palm Beach. “Within four days he had enough sick days to cover an entire semester.” (CNN, 8-14-18)
In August, Craigslist founder Craig Newmark funded a $1 million grant for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education to be administered by DonorsChoose.org for teachers at schools where more than half the students are low income. Now 65 years old and decades removed from actual involvement with the operation of the online site, Newmark’s private foundation has given $40 million to journalism initiatives, including a $20 million endowment to what is now called the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York. He says, “I’ve learned that a trustworthy press is the immune system of a democracy.” (Forbes, 8-13-18)
More and more states are approving marijuana use although scientists say it “can lead to mental health problems, such as schizophrenia,” and a recent study has found that “the drug can harm the brain and damage memory.” Scientists at the University of Lancaster in England and the University of Lisbon in Portugal published a study in the Journal of Neurochemistry that shows “cannabis can also shrink memory-related structures in the brain, most notably the hippocampus.” (Daily Mail, 7-20-18)
Book of the Month
Dear Father, Dear Son: Two Lives … Eight Hours, Larry Elder, WND Books, 2012, $25.95
New York Times best-selling author and nationally syndicated radio talk show host Larry Elder had more than a few misconceptions about his father during his childhood, and they lasted into adulthood.
This book is the tale of a son coming to grips with who his father really was and how he influenced his son’s life. It is a gripping story about how wrong young people can be, as well as how difficult it can be to parent and to survive hardship. Elder exposes ways that misunderstandings can lead to relational casualties due to the limited outlook of inexperienced youth.
The senior Elder grew up in the south, was a black man during the age of the Jim Crow laws and traditions that hindered or downright prevented people from thriving, or even to be able to meet the basic needs of their families. Randolph Elder served in the Marine Corps during World War II, when it was segregated.
Randolph eventually saved enough money while working two janitorial jobs to open a small place in Los Angeles called Elder’s Snack Bar, and as business owners often do, he worked seven days a week. Larry says, “The pressure to make the café succeed made him even angrier and made us fear him even more.”
Experiences made the elder Elder behave in a gruff and serious manner. The son misunderstood and misinterpreted his father.
Larry Elder writes in the book:
“I hated my father — really, really hated him. I hated working for him and hated being around him. … We feared him from the moment he pulled up in front of the house in his car.”
Their relationship was marked by distrust, misunderstandings, and “whippings” as punishment for misbehavior.
There was a period of ten years that Larry refers to as a “cold war” during which father and son had no meaningful conversations. Then they finally spoke, for eight hours straight.
The loss of those ten years is both tragic and beautiful. The ugliness that surrounded their father-son relationship finally fell away and the son could clearly see and understand his father.
It would have been better for them both if they’d been close during all the years they were estranged. But maybe only such deep fissures could result in the profound understanding made clear through the telling of this emotionally moving and historically informative story.
FOCUS: Decoding the Truth About Common Core
“They are asked to solve a math problem in ten steps instead of three, and they are asked how they ‘feel’ about a math problem that involves no calculations.”
by Ruth Sundeen
First published in the Summer 2018 issue of The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, which is available in both print and digital formats. Each issue contains more than 120 pages of uplifting articles, teaching units and ideas, cutting-edge interviews with key industry players, product reviews, resource guides and curriculum information. SchoolhouseTeachers.com is the curriculum site for The Old Schoolhouse®, and provides more than 400 courses, planning and recordkeeping resources for homeschool families, and access to over 450 videos and World Book Online. Reprinted with permission.
Another homeschool mom had just asked me: “Do you know anything about Common Core?” I responded again: “No, not really.” Finally, I’d had enough. It was time to do my own research so I could give my support group and my friends some answers about Common Core. Common Core is in the public schools, Catholic parochial schools, and promises to walk in the front door of our homeschooling families—unless we as homeschooling parents wake up and get informed and involved.
Common Core State Standards (CCSS), according to their website (www.corestandards.org/what-parents-should-know/), are a set of “clear, consistent guidelines for what every student should know and be able to do in math and the English language arts from kindergarten through 12th grade. The standards were drafted by experts and teachers across the country and are designed to ensure students are prepared for today’s entry-level careers, freshman-level college courses, and workforce training…new standards also provide a way for teachers to measure student progress throughout the school year….” This would all be great, if it were true.
As parents, we know firsthand what we want in a good education for our children, but what the government means and what most parents mean are two different things, so let’s begin by looking at the six standards listed on the Common Core website and decode Common Core (CC).
CC is internationally benchmarked. (This is a myth.)
Dr. Sandra Stotsky, one of the top English educators in the U.S., and one of only two people on the CCSS committee with a degree in a content area, not education (Dr. James Milgram, math professor, is the other), says that she requested, again and again, the documentation to show that CC was benchmarked, and no one could ever show her any evidence at all that any such thing existed; and she insists that she was persistent. (Check out her YouTube conferences.)
CC is rigorous. (Myth)
We, as parents, think rigorous means to present challenging material at a high level, ahead of what young people would get in an average school; in other words, they’re pressed harder and challenged more than the average student; “elite,” if you will. CC equates “sounds complicated” with “rigor.” Instead of presenting students with foundational math concepts, they are asked to solve a math problem in ten steps instead of three; and they are asked how they “feel” about a math problem that involves no calculations. Dr. Stotsky and Dr. Milgram subsequently resigned from the CC standards committee because the English and Math standards were so low that they refused to sign off on them. Both are now traveling around the country enlightening parents about CCSS.
CCSS are research and evidence based. (Myth)
In an hour-long interview at Harvard University in 2013, Bill Gates himself said, “It would be great if our education stuff worked, but that we won’t know for probably a decade.” There is no research; there are only promises, figments of CC advocates’ wild-eyed imaginations. If there’s no research, there is no evidence. Conversely, there is research that shows the harm CC is doing to our students, but none to support anything but good intentions. It is reported that students taught with CC get higher scores on standardized tests, but when you look, you find that the “research” was funded by organizations set to profit by the adoption of CC. I just finished my teacher certification courses and found many of the pro-CC articles were either directly or indirectly funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, strong financial backers of CC. When you see education software that is supposed to really improve your child’s learning, check to see who is producing and marketing the material; there are too many to list here. Do your homework and follow the money. If not backed by long-term reliable research from a reputable source, stick to traditional methods of education that have proven successful.
CC is aligned with college and career expectations. (Myth)
What is a college education today? Search Google for “lowering standards in education” and you’ll find many articles on the qualifications of incoming college freshmen, including an article by Marc Tucker (edweek.org, 2015), who says, “the first two years of college add virtually no value at all, and not much value for the rest.” This sentiment is echoed by many other researchers, bloggers and college professors. What do colleges really expect to “turn out” at graduation? There’s enough research to show that college expectations and parental expectations are diametrically opposed. We know many college graduates today are finding it difficult to find a job after they graduate, but they still have college loans. Business research shows that we don’t need more doctors, nurses, technicians, lawyers, and scientists as much as we need people to run cash registers in low income professions, so the level of education of our young people has been lowered so that they are incapable of functioning as well-educated citizens. Educated individuals tend to question things instead of blindly following.
CCSS are built upon the strengths and lessons of current state standards. (Myth)
Many states that initially used CC have rejected it because it was inferior to what they already had in their own school systems. We already had one of the best educational systems in the world until CC came along. Alexis de Tocqueville, in his book Democracy in America, commented on the high educational level of all the Americans he encountered. In 2012, Dr. Samuel Blumenfeld reported that “up to 60 million Americans — one-third of the adult population — cannot read their local newspaper” and that was six years ago.
Informed by other top-performing countries to prepare all students for success in our global economy and society. (Myth)
Many of the countries who “appear” to be more academically successful than the U.S. are socialistic or dictatorial in nature (Finland, China, Vietnam, Germany, Russia). In fact, the U.S. public school system was patterned after the German Prussian militaristic, dictatorial model of education, used to “train school children in obedience to the state.”
CC is state led. (Myth)
Why is this important? Because the U.S. Constitution expressly forbids federal involvement in education. Of course, this law was originally broken in the 1970s when the U.S. Department of Education was created. When Race to the Top funds were offered by the federal government, states were told that those funds would be withheld unless they adopted all of CCSS. This is illegal, but it worked, and 46 states signed on in order to get the funds. Several states have subsequently opted out of CC due to the low standards, but currently, nearly every public school and, according to the National Catholic Register (January 2016), “about 100 out of 195 dioceses and archdioceses have chosen to adopt these standards.” And since a federal lobbying group holds the copyright to CC materials, teachers are not allowed to be flexible, but must teach every word as written.
I found it very disturbing that not one time, in all six elements of CCSS presented on the CC website, does it mention students learning as one of the goals of CCSS.
As a homeschooling mom, I know the financial sacrifices it takes to home educate our children and how tempting it is to take advantage of the “free” laptops and textbooks available in the public school’s virtual schools; or use public school textbooks because they’re so cheap; or contemplate sending our children to private Christian schools that, due to insufficient funding, are using “free” public school textbooks.
We must remember that these are our children. John Taylor Gatto says it is unbelievable that parents are willing to turn their children over to strangers for eight hours a day to teach them material that they often disagree with. Having taught over 700 students in my home, I can tell you I had parents that I never met because their children came “with a friend.” That parent did not know me, but trusted me. And if you’re using an online curriculum, you don’t know anything about these teachers, but you trust the curriculum provider. CC is creeping into our homeschooling curricula, and digital media is one of the main vehicles for getting it into the minds of our children. We need to be more diligent; we are our children’s first line of defense. We must do our own research; don’t just listen to our friends, do what everyone else is doing, or put our heads in the sand and ignore the danger signals.
Did you see the phrase “to ensure students are prepared for today’s entry-level careers, freshman-level college courses, and workforce training?” What do you think the word “common” in Common Core means? It means every student will be taught the same thing on the same day in every school across the country; this means all subjects will be taught to the lowest level. When Dr. Sandra Stotsky was questioning Jason Zimba, lead writer of CCSS math, he admits “CC math is not meant to prepare your child for college math and is not rigorous… not made for STEM.” What parent wants this for a child?
Students are also subjected to high-stakes, high-pressure testing all year long. Some schools report taking as many as 6-8 weeks just for CC test preparation. And who do you think is grading these high-stakes tests? Test providers actually advertise on Craigslist for people to grade your child’s test and they are instructed to “see” more of one score than another each year, thereby invalidating the results of the test, but gathering a tremendous amount of personal information on your child and your family (by now you’ve heard of data mining).
If you thought this was just for elementary and high schools, David Coleman, one of the main architects of CCSS, has a new job: he’s now president of the College Board and is in charge of all the high school AP courses and the college entrance tests that will now have to conform to CCSS. What are his credentials? He has none; he has no educational training, yet he’s writing the standards that every teacher in the U.S. must follow in order to keep their jobs.
As if this wasn’t enough, given the fact that newly-graduated teachers from most public universities are trained in CC (since CC is in most public and private Catholic schools, and the course I recently finished for teacher certification required us to write all assignments using CC state standards), I think it’s safe to assume that they will bring this background and training into the Christian schools and homeschool co-ops. Additionally, I’ve personally seen CC standards-based textbooks in Christian schools, “because public school textbooks are free.”
I want to make it clear that I am not being critical of the teachers themselves. Many of them are being forced to teach CCSS or lose their jobs. And many of them see what it’s doing to their students and resort to subterfuge, and actually teach their students properly when no one is looking. Dr. Peg Luksik has this advice for teachers: “If you are a teacher in a classroom, stay as long as you can stand it; they can fire you. Protect the children in your care as long as you can, which is hard … close the door and protect as many students as you can.” She also tells parents of children who want to go to college to prepare to be teachers (and who will be required to teach CC): “Shop for a good, clean, noncompliant (non-CC-compliant) college. If you’re supposed to be a teacher, you really need to be one.”
What can we do about all of this? Dr. Duke Pesta says, “Even if we, right now, in earnest, start to pull this out and everybody in the country joins with us, it’s going to take 20 years to get rid of it, if we start now. Can you wait twenty years to give your kids a good education?”
“If you’ve got your kids in the public schools, you’re going to lose them… there are no safe schools. A poll done about a year ago: ‘88% of American parents agree that the public school system is broken … only 19% think their school is broken.’ My schools are fine; that can’t be true. Figure out a way to put them in safe private schools, because 50%-60% of all the private schools have gone Common Core, or homeschool them. I don’t know any other way.”
He then encourages us, as parents, to get involved, saying, “If even 10% of America’s moms and dads (32 million) demanded real education, you’d get it tomorrow.”
Ruth Sundeen has a B.S. degree in Biology. She home-educated her two children for 18 years, and taught other students high school science, including biology, chemistry, physics, and anatomy and physiology. She has taught high school science in private Christian schools for the past three years, and recently completed the requirements for teacher certification with ACSI. She teaches at SchoolhouseTeachers.com. Mrs. Sundeen is passionate about teaching science from a special creation standpoint, helping students develop a love of science, a strong grasp of the scientific evidence to support special creation, and the conviction that they can make a difference in the world. She and her husband, Larry, live in Louisiana.
Paddling as Discipline
A kindergarten through ninth-grade charter school in Hephzibah, Georgia, will use corporal punishment to keep misbehaving students in line if their parents provide written consent. The option offered by the Georgia School of Innovation and the Classics was reported by several news outlets including Daily Mail and “CBS This Morning.” Reaction has ranged from support to outrage.
About one-third of parents signed the form giving the school permission to paddle their children on the buttocks. According to Superintendent Jody Boulineau, response has been varied. He says, “I’ve heard, ‘Great, it’s about time, we’re so glad that this is happening again, they should’ve never taken it out of schools.’ All the way to, ‘Oh my goodness, I can’t believe you are doing that.’”
At the TapHaps website, a reporter writes that strong reactions to the policy aren’t surprising “since discipline is such a personal choice.” She continues, “However, it’s not just the parents who have to deal with their children when they aren’t being raised properly. Bad behavior is not only difficult for educators to handle, it disrupts the other students who are trying to learn.”
The TapHaps reporter concludes:
“The bottom line is, bad behavior in schools needs to be addressed. If you don’t want the school to do it, ensure you are taking care of that responsibility at home. It seems this Georgia charter school figured out the perfect way to do that. If a paddling is out of the question, disobedient pupils will be suspended and sent home where the parents can decide the appropriate punishment. One can only wonder if any parents might change their minds about the paddling policy after dealing with their suspended child for a few days at home. (TapHaps.com, 9-11-18)”
