** Previously recorded by Phyllis Schlafly // March 2014 **
Public schools used to be very different from what they are today. Back in 1951, the National Education Association (NEA) published the “American Citizens Handbook,” which proclaimed, “It is important that people who are to live and work together shall have a common mind — a like heritage of purpose, religious ideals, love of country, beauty, and wisdom to guide and inspire them.” That goal was fortified by selections for kids to memorize: Old and New Testament passages, Ten Commandments, Lord’s Prayer, Golden Rule, Boy Scout oath, and patriotic songs.
Then public schools started to change under the influence of humanist John Dewey and his followers. Sidney Simon sold a million copies of his book “Values Clarification” urging kids to abandon their parents’ old-fashioned values and make their own choices about what is right or wrong.
We had a year of toying with new History Standards which omitted many historical leaders and facts that most Americans believe students should learn, and we suffered the much advertised fads, one after another: “Goals 2000,” “School to Work,” “Outcome-Based Education,” “No Child Left Behind,” and “Race to the Top.” They were all used to delude parents into believing that schools were producing a new generation of smart kids, but like the kids in the Lake Wobegon radio program, every child is just above average. Meanwhile we had the Kinsey invasion of curriculum to teach explicit sex education to younger and younger children, shredding them of their natural modesty. Fads continued with death education, suicide education, environmental education, and endless promotion of “self-esteem.”
Don’t look to the regular courts for a remedy. Nearly all federal court decisions are pro-public schools and anti-parents’ rights.
