Tag Archives: Public School

News

Public schools warn coaches for bowing heads at student-led prayer

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It’s bad enough that public schools don’t educate children well, but they also do things like this.

Excerpt:

Some football coaches are in trouble for something they did with their players. They said a prayer.

That has the school district taking action.

And the policy, while it may be the law, has plenty of people up in arms.

Every school district has a responsibility to follow the law, and separate private faith from public school. It can be a fine line at times. One crossed in Sumner County, it seems, when the coaches didn’t say a word during a student-led prayer, but they did bow their heads.

In a town like Westmoreland, faith and football seem to matter.

“We’re just respectful, God-fearing people up here,” resident Tony Bentle said.

Bentle called games for Westmoreland High School for 42 years.

“A lot of history. A lot of changes. A lot of football,” he said.

So when he, like a lot of people, heard what happened after a recent game at the middle school.

“It actually blew my mind, that we had come to that point,” he said. “Nobody in this town is offended if you pray. Nobody.”

During a student-originated, student-led prayer, four coaches bowed their heads. They didn’t say a word.

But the principal and the district found out.

“We’ve been telling our principals to kind of be looking for those things, because that is kind of a shift in how things have been done,” Sumner County Schools spokesperson Jeremy Johnson said. “It can in no way appear like it’s endorsed by Sumner County Schools personnel.”

Where do you think this happened? It happened in TENNESSEE. But this is what you can expect from public schools – they are run by the government, and religion is a rival to the government in terms of having conflicting views of what people should be doing with their lives.

Christians really need to get serious about cutting funding for these public schools and voting for politicians who support school choice. Michele Bachmann has the best record on that issue.

News

Public school teacher suspends student for disagreeing with homosexuality

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From Fox News.

Excerpt:

An honors student in Fort Worth, Texas, was sent to the principal’s office and punished for telling a classmate that he believes homosexuality is wrong.

Holly Pope said she was “absolutely stunned” when she received a telephone call from an assistant principal at Western Hills High School informing her that her son, Dakota Ary, had been sent to in-school suspension.

“Dakota is a very well-grounded 14-year-old,” she told Fox News Radio noting that her son is an honors student, plays on the football team and is active in his church youth group. “He’s been in church his whole life and he’s been taught to stand up for what he believes.”

And that’s what got him in trouble.

Dakota was in a German class at the high school when the conversation shifted to religion and homosexuality in Germany. At some point during the conversation, he turned to a friend and said that he was a Christian and “being a homosexual is wrong.”

“It wasn’t directed to anyone except my friend who was sitting behind me,” Dakota told Fox. “I guess [the teacher] heard me. He started yelling. He told me he was going to write me an infraction and send me to the office.”

Dakota was sentenced to one day in-school suspension – and two days of full suspension. His mother was flabbergasted, noting that her son had a spotless record, was an honor student, volunteered at his church and played on the school football team.

[…][Liberty Counsel attorney Matthew] Krause called the incident “mind blowing” and said the teacher had frequently brought homosexuality into ninth grade classroom discussions.

“There has been a history with this teacher in the class regarding homosexual topics,” Krause said. “The teacher had posted a picture of two men kissing on a wall that offended some of the students.”

Krause said the picture was posted on the teacher’s “world wall.”

“He told the students this is happening all over the world and you need to accept the fact that homosexuality is just part of our culture now,” Krause said.

The school district would not comment on why a teacher was discussing homosexuality in a ninth grade German class.

Wow, this happened in Texas? But in a way, it’s not surprising because the public education segment of society is so liberal. (It’s a public school) I find the fact that the boy’s parents are forced to pay taxes to support this school alarming. I find the power differential between student and teacher and the power of the marking pen alarming. If people are going to discuss these issues, they should have a free choice of where to go to school and speak about these issues without fear of being graded down by activists. This is a case where you have the government forcing their opinions onto individuals using the individual’s own money to pay for the indoctrination.

I do think we can learn something from this, though. I think you can have a lot more success talking about moral issues like this if you don’t say “The Bible says” or “X is wrong”, but instead just talk about what social science says about what children need growing up, and the health risks of the homosexual lifestyle, and so on. If you’re going to talk about anything like this with non-Christians, you’re exposing yourself to persecution, because they are not accustomed to discussing morality objectively. So the best thing to do is to talk about the evidence, and worry more about how behaviors can harm children, society, and even the person who is choosing to do the behaviors. Start with a simple example like fatherlessness and no-fault divorce. It is  easier and safer to talk about evidence, and whether the evidence is true or false, than to make judgements without evidence, and to erect barriers. The student has not been well prepared by his parents for the world as it is, and he is in for a world of hurt because of his ignorance.

Be sure you are aware of the secular case against gay marriage before you start to talk about things like this. I can also recommend excellent books about homosexuality to anyone who is interested, which explain what causes it and how it affects a person’s health.

News

Indiana voucher program offers hope to low-income students

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From the Courier Press, news of the latest success for Republicans in their long war against public sector teacher unions.

Excerpt:

Kristy Wentworth of Evansville said she was never dissatisfied with public education, and her three children, who attended schools in the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp., were making good grades.

But when friends told her about Indiana’s new private school voucher program, she was intrigued.

After some discussion, Wentworth enrolled her children this year at Evansville Lutheran School, which is near her home. It didn’t take the single mother long to decide her choice was correct. Her children — who are in grades 7, 6 and 4 — are thriving at Evansville Lutheran. Wentworth noted the school’s small class sizes, and she marveled at the frequent communication she receives from her teachers.

“They come home from school excited, they leave for school excited. They can’t wait to get there,” Wentworth said. “(The school) encouraged them to sign up for Boy Scouts and volleyball, and on the first night they made the kids feel so welcome.”

Wentworth recently lost her job, and she said she couldn’t have afforded a private school without the voucher program, which proponents say helps overall educational achievement and closes achievement gaps along socioeconomic lines.

And these private schools help children to perform better in testing.

Can greater competition among schools help? That’s what state education officials are banking on. While scars from the lengthy spring debate over vouchers heal, they are encouraging local school districts to embrace the new environment.

Local nonpublic schools have courted voucher students. As of Friday, 114 were awarded to students in the EVSC district — the fourth highest number in the state.

Officials with the EVSC, meanwhile, point to recent academic progress, its network of community partnerships aimed at meeting students’ most fundamental needs and classroom innovations.

Delaware Elementary School, which is in the same neighborhood as Evansville Lutheran, has made strides in several areas in a short period of time, said Heather Ottilie, parent of a Delaware third-grader.

Delaware is in its second year as an EVSC “equity school.” Along with two other schools of similar socioeconomic demographics — McGary Middle School and Evans School — Delaware is free to have longer school days and longer school years and has more leeway in curriculum and rules. The three equity schools all showed gains on the spring ISTEP.

Ottilie said Delaware has placed heavy emphasis on independent reading. Other innovations include the use of netbook computers and iPod Touches in classrooms, world language instruction and new learning programs such as LEGO robotics, which emphasize problem-solving skills.

“I love it,” Ottilie said. “Everything is hands-on … the kids aren’t just doing worksheets.”

What is the conservative plan to help the poor? Is it wealth redistribution? Does that even work? Or is there a way to produce better results for the poor through free market capitalism? Those who advocate big government never bother to ask these questions. For those who take the time to study economics, the answer is clear – what works to reduce costs and raise quality is choice and competition.

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