I write this while enjoying a week on a lake in southern Maine. It’s the same place we’ve gone for our annual family reunion for over 30 years. Here, it seems the sun is always shining. The weather is always warm. The kids are always off playing games, competing with their uncles, and laughing with their cousins. Life couldn’t be better, and yet, I know this peaceful bliss won’t last long. The illusion of never-ending warmth and carefree living will come to a halt too soon.
Within a few short days, we’ll return to New York. The boys will nitpick each other for several hours on the drive until I finally yell something about leaving one or all of them on the side of the road and threaten to have them walk the rest of the way. They’ll be quiet for five minutes and it’ll start over again: “He touched me.” “Did not.” “Did so.” “He touched me first.” “Did not.” “Did so…”
When we finally arrive home, they’ll sprawl on the couch, zoned out on mind-numbing iPods, and complaining that it’s too hot to even swim, never mind play basketball, call a friend or (heaven forbid) mow our small, scraggly lawn.
The much anticipated carefree days of summer will grow old and all of us, even my children who obstinately refuse to admit it, will look forward, just a bit, to that first day of school. Unfortunately, that anticipation will only last until the reality of public schooling hits home and I again remember why I had so wanted to homeschool our children.
Starting School
While I’d be foolish and naïve to mourn days of coal stoves, one room schoolhouses, and spinster teachers, I cannot help but look back at how education has changed and wonder how we’ve gotten so off track. I cannot help but long for the education of days long past and whisper prayers for days ahead as my children get deeper into the school year.
It’s not so much that I long for my kids to write on slates or walk uphill both ways through the snow. I have nothing against them learning to use the technology that may lead one of them to cure cancer or invent a device to purify putrid water for third world children. I support them learning about other cultures and ideas in our ever shrinking world.
But…
It’s that “but” that gets me every time because education is no longer about the three R’s. Reading, writing, and arithmetic have changed in form from slate tablets to iPads, from computation to complex problem solving, but, that’s not the biggest challenge we face. The importance of being able to do subjects well has increased in our ever more technologically advanced society, but schools now spend less time on the basics and more time promoting social values. This is pervasive in US public schools, but it is of global concern and affects more than those just in the public education system.
In public education, government dictates what values should be taught. Oddly, values education usually promotes the individual, an issue brought up by Pope Francis in his recent Amoris Laetitia, and governments dictate what values are. While it promotes tolerance for sexual orientation and gender equality, values like respect are often tossed to the side in favor of tolerance. In our attempt to be inclusive, we’ve allowed our values to be excluded beginning at the very earliest levels of the educational system when our children are most vulnerable to new impressions.
Politically Correct
Stories about same-sex households and politically correct characters are read to children at the earliest levels. While many parents dismiss these stories as just stories and even more have no idea of what goes on in the child’s classroom, stories have power. Jesus knew this when teaching His followers and use parables to make important concepts easy to understand and relate to.
While it’s easy to think you know what’s goes on in your small child’s classroom or to shrug off that prickly feeling on the back of your neck when your child is little because you assume he or she is too young for it to matter, parents of older children face different issues. Older children are less likely to talk about what goes on in the classroom and more likely to face direct confrontation with Catholic values. What’s worse is that programs designed to present liberal ideas are often given a positive sounding spin. This keeps parents in the dark and furthers the gap between parents and children.
Mix It Up Day is one such program. This program says it’s designed to decrease bullying by having children sit next to someone they don’t normally sit next to at lunch. Children are then encouraged to ask their new friend questions and get to know each other. It sounds like a good idea. Few can argue against wanting children to make new friends, but this program pushes the agenda of the Southern Poverty Law Center which promotes homosexual relationships, gay marriage, and left-wing ideals. Going to the Mix It Up homepage brings you to a site that shows it is politically active. It even goes so far as to have a big ELECTION 2016 button which instills fear in students wishing to vote for certain candidates. Make no mistake; Mix It Up Day, which will be October 25th this 2016, is about much more than making a new friend at lunchtime.
High School
Keeping track of what goes on in the high school classroom is even more difficult. Here, you may see rainbow stickers on classroom doors with the words, “Safe Space” on them and we can all be glad members of the LGBTQIA community are welcomed there. After all, Jesus told us to love our neighbor. What’s hard for many to comprehend is that we can love someone even when we don’t love their actions. We can love someone even while believing what he or she is doing is wrong.
As Catholics, we want all our children to be safe, just as we want all people to be safe whether you are in a classroom in Sandy Hook or a nightclub in Orlando, you are a child of God and loved by Him. The problem with the safe spaces concept is that it does not promote safety for the child who believes in marriage meaning one man, one woman forever. It does not promote safety for anyone other than those who follow what government dictates values should be when government should be protecting values of all, especially of the minority. A child who believes in one man-one woman forever must walk into the Safe Space classroom knowing it is not safe for him, knowing he cannot express his views without facing re-education and often ridicule or worse.
Liberal Agendas
The Day of Silence, usually held in April, is perhaps next of the most incredible days celebrating diversity which promotes liberal agendas and excludes faith-based Catholics, Christians, or other groups too. During this day students wear tape over their mouths or use other visible signs to show they support victims of LGBTQIA bullying, a community they say has no voice. This seems a bit over the top to many who say this group has had a huge political voice over the years, pushing out Catholic Christian ideals through its own bullying tactics. While the Day of Silence is meant to show what it’s like for members of the LGBTQIA community who have no voice, Catholics may question what would happen if they arranged a Day of Silence for victims of abortion or rape or domestic violence, religious persecution or any number of other life and death issues involving silent victims.
Unfortunately, this agenda and what we as parents must watch out for is not confined to public schools. Even some Catholic schools and many Catholic colleges promote such programs and go on to have great influence over our children’s future voting habits as well as their eternal souls.
Our Kid’s Eternal Souls
Fortunately, there are a few programs being put into place to counteract some of this. For example, Bring Your Bible to School Day will be held October 6th, 2016 and See You at the Pole, a day when students of all faiths are encouraged to meet at their school’s flagpole to begin the day with prayer, is held in September. This year it will be September 28th. In addition, to counter The Day of Silence, The Day of Dialogue, also held in April, is designed to get students talking about God’s plan for Marriage and relationships. The problem is that so few students are comfortable introducing this. Maybe because they lack the Safe Space to do so? It takes a strong Child to present God’s plan for Marriage to high school friends who desire free, inconsequential sex and are told in school to experiment until you find who or what feels right for you. Students looking to open dialogue open themselves up to an array of challenges from fellow students but also from faculty, staff, administrators, and other parents.
When It Violates Our Faith
The bottom line is that schools are no longer about primarily teaching the Three R’s. Anyone who believes otherwise is fooling herself and affecting future generations. As parents, it is not enough to send our children to school and not question the hidden, or even blatant, education they are being fed or wonder what marks that education leaves on their development. We must keep lines of communication open and our thinking clear and explanations simple. We must live a life above reproach and take frequent advantage of the Sacrament of Reconciliation with our children. We must educate ourselves about what goes on at all levels and then stand up when things are said or done that violate our faith or the dignity of any individual.
It is not enough to keep our eyes down and hope it goes away. The enemy is here in sheep’s clothing. He has proven he is not going away, and he is coming for your child in bold new ways.
The good news is, God is here too, and He gives you tools that are far more valuable in His Kingdom when you seek and train with them. Give your child the tools he needs to face battles you can’t imagine and pray for his success. He needs your help for more than academics this school year.
God Bless…
7 thoughts on “Welcome the School Year with Wariness & Skepticism”
Let me comment by making a few observations as a former public high school administrator of a public school for 30 years.
(1) The USA is a constitutional, democratic republic. We the people simply means the majority….
(2) Sectarian schools are established to transmit the values of the sect that sponsored and supports them, i.e. Catholic Schools, Jewish schools, Episcopalian schools, etc. Sectarian schools are often and in most cases exempt from federal and state mandates. For example they can have Catholic only clubs, Bible study groups, etc.
(3) Public schools are established to provide education and transmission of cultural and constitutional values to all who attend; although many states allow parents to opt out from certain programs in health education oriented areas. We teach that gays cannot be discriminated against or bullied, that transgendered people are equal, that contraception is a method to prevent conception, that abprtion is legal, that all people of religion, race. sex, nationality an origin are equal and have equal rights under the Constitution. We teach a respect for the law. We have an “open forum” mandate that means that if we allow Gay-Straight alliances to meet in school, then we must allow Bible Study groups, Muslim prayer groups, etc…..all groups to meet based upon the same criteria. It’s the law.
So, it is equally important to note that the majority of Catholics, Christians and others in the USA do not support the Catholic Church’s position on birth control, the “innately disordered” condition of gays. gay marriage, etc. Public education reflects the values of THE PEOPLE. Why? Because it’s the law.
If a person does not accept these values send your kids to a sectarian school which may or may not educate in these values depending if its a fundamentalist school or a progressive religious school,
The law and Constitution and State constitutions determine the nature of public education, The People…the majority not a minority.
And yet the will of the majority of the people in communities and school districts all over the country, which is the foundation of public education, are being ignored by the federal government in its quest to force secularism and moral relativism down our throats. As an educator you should know that there is nothing in the U.S. Constitution that says the federal government has a role to
play in public education. This is one of the many rights that is granted to the states.
You might also want to familiarize yourself with the history of public education in this country — https://catholicstand.com/religious-schools-fundamental-liberty/
Boy, do you have little knowledge of American public education and its roots. First, your blog reference espouses anti Catholic conspiracy theories which are no longer existent. Second, American public schools were modeled on the Germanic ethos of preparing workers for the workplace.
Of course, the responsibility for public education rests with the states, but that responsibility is importantly necessary to be consistent with the constitution in areas of civil rights, non discrimination, handicap accessibility, freedom of religion and from religion, freedom of speech and assembly, equal protection, etc. The responsibility of states for education is limited by the constitutional interpretations of legislation and Supreme Court decisions. The right of children with disabilities to a free and appropriate education (FAPE) is a legislative mandate, as is 504 protections and ADA. Rights of speech, rights no to be a captive education of any religion, rights to assembly, etc. There are guaranteed by the constitution. The right of gays to be free from any discrimination, the right to contraception, etc. are all guarateed by SC decisions. As the Court was clear:”Students do not shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse door.” Data is clear that the vast majority of Catholic, Christians and all citizens support gay rights, gay marriage, contraception (95%) and making children knowledge about their rights. The days f indoctrination are gone along with segregation in school (Browm v BofE. Public education evolves ….Study all history, not conspiritorial posts.
Boy do you have little knowledge of American public education and its roots. You are picking up on the history of public education since the 1920s and 30s after John Dewey managed to turn public education into a ‘system’ designed to turn out workers for the workplace. Just about when the long, slow decline began. Did you even bother to read the “The Blaine Amendments & Anti-Catholicism” report from the 2007 U.S. Commission on Civil Rights that was linked to in the article? I did. You might find it enlightening. Anti-Catholicism is alive and well in the U.S.
Also your claim that “the vast majority of Catholic, Christians and all citizens support gay rights, gay marriage, contraception (95%) and making children knowledge about their rights” is a bit over the top. Only 55% of Americans support same sex marriage according to the most recent Pew Poll and that is primarily because millennials, gen x-ers and ys have been brain washed by the secular morally relativistic media into thinking it’s a “right.” In 2001 only 37% of the population supported it.
Take your Liberal ideas and revisionist history elsewhere. As the Catholic Stand masthead says this site is about “Living the Truth the Church Teaches.“
I would take the lack of responses to your article as many, many heads simply nodding in agreement. We need to get Washington DC out of education altogether and put it back in into the hands of local school boards. But traditional Catholics and conservative Protestants also need to run for seats on local school boards and scream and shout when their state school superintendents try to push secular progressive policies.
You are SO right Gus! It has to begin at the local level, and even parents who homeschool need to be ACTIVE! While there are faith filled students, teachers, and administrators out there, too often they speak behind the scenes or quietly out of fear or something. We need to be involved (and not just in our own families), and we must be courageous.
Thank you for commenting.
God Bless You.
You are SO right Gus! It has to begin at the local level, and even parents who homeschool need to be ACTIVE! While there are faith filled students, teachers, and administrators out there, too often they speak behind the scenes or quietly out of fear or something else. We need to be involved (and not just in our own families), and we must be courageous.
Thank you for commenting.
God Bless You.
PS Hi Gus…Sorry for taking so long to post this. I was camping with my boys and responded but it wouldn’t publish for some reason. Thanks again for commenting! 🙂