No Doubt About it...

"Doubt 'til thou canst doubt no more...
doubt is thought and thought is life.
Systems which end doubt are devices for drugging thought."
--Albert Guerard

We're ending 2006 with the United States on a fast track to oblivion with poor academics and public school systems unable to produce graduates capable of competing in a global economy.

The President’s “no child left behind” plan was a good concept, but it’s not working…imposing system of accountability that results in teachers orienting their curriculum towards passing the test, not achieving in the real world.

As a result, there are 600 schools in Texas now suspected of fudging their TAKS test scores, and school districts all over the country more focused on political correctness and performance review outcomes than academic excellence—which is ironic because both of the former would be improved by boosting the latter.

Not to tar and feather all schools with the same broad brush, there are some schools in every district in the state with dedicated faculties producing exceptional scholars; the next generation is not in a complete dire situation. But one cannot help but wonder how much better things might be, were educators less concerned with some really stupid stuff.

This week one of my co-workers took a little time off to attend his son’s holiday program at school. Not a Christmas program, though, so as not to be offensive to some; no, this was couched as a “winter festival.”

I think it’s pretty sad that the next generation of kids is being raised without full exposure to the magic of Christmas.
Winter Festival??
C’mon—how antiseptic can you get?

If you need more proof that the education system has run off the rails, last month, a 4-year old pre-schooler in Texas was accused of sexual harassment for hugging his teacher…and this morning I read of a kindergarten boy in Maryland who will now have on his school record a blot of sexual harassment for pinching a little girl on the bottom.

No, children should be taught to not pinch one another, regardless of gender. But, c’mon, a five-year old charged with sexual harassment??
How do you even begin to explain that to the child?

You and I should be full of righteous indignation that our tax dollars are being funneled in-part to the salaries of the educrats that foment this kind of idiotic thinking, at the expense of teaching fundamentals necessary for getting along in life.

Let’s have a little less projection of evil intentions on innocent, ignorant little kids, and a lot more solid, academic building blocks presented in the classroom. A little less worry about ‘infecting’ kids with the idea of Christmas, and a little more influence to ask and question and wonder about the world.

If my grandchildren ever come to me with an invitation to their school’s “winter festival,” I may just have to show up in a Grinch costume to confront the principal.