The Texas School Board, amid liberal angst and heartache, managed to pull off a vote that might have saved the future of capitalism, liberty and freedom for the next generation. I don’t feel that’s an exaggeration because what our children miss learning about their heritage- the mistakes, the triumphs, the heroes and the zeroes, influences their futures negatively. If a child grows up without any knowledge of the consequences of tyranny or without the appreciation for those who fought for our liberty, they are easily influenced to give up their personal rights as adults for the “greater good” of the collective people or the government.
This struggle within the Board has been completely misrepresented in the media and liberal blogs as a “conservative” victory because the media, in all of its madness, has painted the Constitution and our original Founding documents as “partisan” material which holds no place in the classroom.
We all know that our public education from elementary on through college undoubtedly has a liberal slant, and not a tiny one. It’s been dictated and selectively filtered by liberal and socialist professors and curriculum writers since the early 1900’s who have an agenda to desensitize, manipulate and rewrite the history that they feed to our children – all without any other frames of reference to battle their opinions.
The Texas School Board, led by Don McElroy, fought to put some balance back into the curriculum with their suggested amendments.
I have no problem teaching students about Karl Marx- as long as they include the consequences of socialism. It’s a part of our world history and it is relevant. But if you are going to teach my child about Socialism than I demand that Karl Marx also be held up to Adam Smith and the capitalistic, free market system that has made this country the wealthiest and most prosperous nation in the world.
I’m very excited about the clarification of church and state. We are a generation who wrongly believes that not only is this Constitutional, we have been led to believe that it was intended for the church to be kept out of the state instead of the state kept out of the church by preferring one religion over another. And as such, liberals over the years have been allowed to create a hostile environment for the church in any public or state forum.
In fact, the very same Congress who approved our Constitution also passed the Northwest Ordinance where they put strong emphasis on the need to teach religion and morality in our schools. “Article 3: Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall be forever encouraged.”
They actually defined Religion as a “fundamental system of beliefs concerning man’s origin and a relationship to the cosmic universe as well as his relationship with his fellowmen” and Morality as “a standard of behavior distinguishing right from wrong.”
Instead, we have turned into such a society that if a 3rd grader sits in the school cafeteria, bows his head and thanks God for his lunch and some fool gets his panties in a wad over it, that child could get suspended and the parents could end up in court defending those rights. How far we have fallen!! We take all mention of God out of our schools, remove all traces of the Ten Commandments, allow no moral absolutes lest it should offend someone, and then wonder amongst ourselves why we’ve lost so many of our children to drugs, alcohol and teenage pregnancies!
Now let me vent concerning one that I’m very unhappy about. This one is a direct result of somebody on the board who incredibly considers themselves a strict Constitutionalist.
Cynthia Dunbar, a lawyer from Richmond, managed to strike Thomas Jefferson from the list of historical figures our children will be studying. Yes, the same Thomas Jefferson who as one of our Founding Fathers helped pen the Declaration of Independence, one of the primary influences of Republicanism (in the original sense), individual liberties and states rights. The same man who was Secretary of State under Washington, who became our third President, engineered the purchase of the Louisiana Territories and maintained America’s neutrality in the war between France and Great Britain.
My understanding of Dunbar’s reason for striking him from the list is because of his often misunderstood statements concerning the separation of church and state. But isn’t this like throwing the baby out with the bathwater? History should be told AS IS. Not sugarcoated to fit a certain philosophy or erased altogether because someone doesn’t agree. Wouldn’t it be far more beneficial to teach our students the contexts within his original statements, and correct the misnomers from the past, rather than forgetting this incredible revolutionary leader altogether?
Ms. Dunbar, erasing history because of bias makes you no better than the liberals and progressives who get up each day and rewrite history lessons based on their own personal philosophy. And in doing so you are reducing your own credibility as the “strict Constitutionalist” you have labeled yourself as.
I feel certain that there is something wrong when Country music makes the history book but Thomas Jefferson doesn’t. It’s no wonder that the national home-schooling rate has increased by 75% in the last eight years!
In closing, I leave you with a few quotes from this great man whom should never be forgotten.
“All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent…” ~Thomas Jefferson
“Educate and inform the whole mass of the people…They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.” ~Thomas Jefferson
“I predict future happiness for American if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.” ~Thomas Jefferson
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