By Joyce Morrison

 

OPINION - Summer is almost over and our local schools will soon be in session.

Our district is starting early this year because there are plans for a six week break at

Christmas to make the move into the costly new high school. They will call it “Winter

Break” but it is still Christmas.

 

A referendum vote showed over 70% of the people opposed building two new schools

but it was ignored by the school board and school superintendent as they just couldn’t

resist grant money. Like many other small districts, we are now saddled with new

schools we didn’t need at a cost that far exceeded the grant.

 

It is almost as though there is a plan to “bankrupt” our small school districts. If that were

to happen, who would take them over - the state or federal government? There are

school districts nationwide facing this same situation.

 

Fraud has been documented to justify building a new high school in our district but the

attorney general turned her head away when the documentation was sent to her office.

 

In order to comply with grant stipulations, the old school must be torn down, including the

excellent buildings which house an auditorium and second gymnasium. The question

remains “why would a school board, led by a school superintendent who recently retired,

jeopardize themselves in this way?”

 

Property taxes are going to soar, but the school board just doesn’t seem to care how

this affects the elderly and those who live on small incomes. Is it really “for the children?”

Many of this era were educated in a one room school with an outside toilet and can still

beat most of today's graduates when it comes to the three “R's“.

 

The school administration is now complaining they have suffered a major decrease in

income in the education fund, mainly due to a decrease in federal funding.

 

They say an increase in the Homestead Exemption and other “senior citizen exemptions”

are apparently a major problem because revenue generated from property taxes will

decrease next year due to an increase in exemptions which were passed by the Illinois

legislature last year.

 

One of the school board members, a state employee whose salary is paid by tax dollars,

told our local media, “citizens of the state need to continue getting the message out to the

legislature and to the Governor that this is not good for education. We’ve lost significant

ground because the legislature made a decision (exemptions).”

 

Is it really “for the children?”

 

We see young families struggling and many may have to sell their home as they cannot

afford the taxes…..but we have a brand new school where the education is questionable.

Old folks can lose their homes, not eat property or get their prescriptions filled, but we have

a brand new school.

 

Does it take an elaborate facility to teach the three "E's" instead of the three "R's"?

 

“Many educators are helping society achieve sustainability by teaching the three “E’s” -

Environment, Economics and Equity - along with the traditional three “R’s” - Reading,

Writing and Arithmetic,” according to the publication Education for Sustainability, An

Agenda for Action and a Program for Change. I challenge every reader to take a serious

look at this publication to see how the plan has been laid out to change education to a new

paradigm.

 

We have already heard of instances where students can no longer write essays about their

personal belief in Jesus Christ proving this paradigm shift is moving ahead at a fast pace.

 

The change is made using promotion tools from their toolbox such as “building stronger

bridges between the classroom and business, and between schools and communities.”

What this means is they are training “worker bees” in the school to work programs. Only a

few of the top students will move on to a professional level.

 

We now have “service learning,” a program that awards grants to organizations that we may

feel are questionable, and who take students out for volunteer projects. Of course being a

“volunteer” is almost “mandatory” these days which leads us to the question, “how can they

mandate a volunteer?”

 

Teachers will tell you they get discouraged. They can no longer really “teach” since they are

always preparing for tests-- and many tests are in no way associated with the three “R’s”

but are touchy-feely questions which are no one’s business.

 

Although teachers were told for years that there would never be a federal curriculum, most

of them now realize that "whoever writes the tests controls the curriculum."

 

Discipline has gotten out of hand.

 

Teachers have no real "power" to keep their classroom in order and the students know it.

Most teachers will tell you that much of their time is wasted on a few who keep the room in

turmoil stealing precious time from those who are there to learn.

 

One of the finest resources for parents and teachers is the book, "Brave New Schools" by

Berit Kjos and the outstanding articles on her website. Her book should be required reading

for everyone. I started marking the important passages in yellow highlighter and ended with a

yellow book.

 

Outstanding resources can be found on Ed Watch. Alan Quist’s book “Fed Ed” can be found

at this website which explains the Federal Curriculum and why states are being forced to use

it. Michael Chapman’s video “America’s Censored Heritage” is outstanding and the following

questions will be answered on their website.

 

What is happening in our schools that will affect every worker in America?

What happened to local control of our schools?

Why are kids spending class time training for entry level jobs?

Why is time spent on projects and group learning instead of the basics?

Why are businesses training teachers in job skills?

Why are reading, writing and math skills going down?

 

One of President Ronald Reagan’s greatest achievements was to get us out of the United

Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). But by the time he

got us out, many of the concepts were already deeply rooted in our education system.

 

Once again we are tied in with UNESCO as congress voted to "undo President Reagan’s

work and authorized the nation to begin again to pay dues of $60 million annually to this

corrupt organization. That’s an incredible 25% of UNESCO’s total operating budget,”

according to Tom DeWeese of the American Policy Center.

 

DeWeese added:

 

UNESCO is the root of much of the evil oozing out of the United Nations. It is the source

of much of the anti-American education curriculum that is now cropping up in our nation’s

public classrooms. UNESCO is the source of the International Baccalaureate (IB)

program. The IB program teaches our children that they are citizens of the world and

that love of country is an evil that must be abolished. UNESCO says that the IB program

promotes human rights, social justice, sustainable development, population, health,

environmental and immigration concerns. In other words, IB teaches our children to

accept the international socialist agenda.

 

First Lady Laura Bush has said, “President Bush and I are pleased that the

flag of the United States will soon fly beside the flags of the other UNESCO

member countries. Our country returns as a full and enthusiastic participant in UNESCO¹s important mission to promote education, peace and freedom. 

We applaud UNESCO¹s efforts to ensure that every child in every nation has

access to a high-quality education and that no child is left behind.”

 

President George W. Bush said, "As a symbol of our commitment to human

dignity, the United States will return to UNESCO and participate fully in its

mission to advance human rights and tolerance and learning."

 

We have built monumental new schools on the taxpayer’s back.

 

Between 60-70% of our property tax dollars go to our local schools to provide an education to turn our children into “global citizens." Billions of tax dollars go to

fund the liberal universities to further educate students in order to insure they

become solid “global citizens" well prepared to teach others their socialist

ideology.

 

As long as we remain in denial regarding our education system, and until we

get back to the basics and stop throwing tax dollars to “fix the problem,” we will

continue to school our children but they will not be educated, and the final cost

will be greater than can be calculated in dollars.

 

© 2005 IllinoisLeader.com -- all rights reserved

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Joyce Morrison Joyce Morrison lives in southern Illinois. She is a chapter leader for Concerned Women for America and she and her husband, Gary, represent the local Citizens for Private Property Rights. Joyce is Secretary to the Board of Directors of Rural Restoration/ADOPT Mission, a national farm ministry located in Sikeston. She has become a nationally-recognized advocate for property rights.