Jimbalaya
Big government schools? Who needs them?
By JIM HARRINGTON
| Article published on Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2005 |
|
 |
As if Christian parents and others wary of the public and private school systems didn’t already have enough ammo to justify their self-determination of their children’s education, this latest report of liberal bias in the nation’s school adds gusto to their armory.
Bret Chenkin, a high school English and social studies teacher in Vermont, gave his class a vocabulary test that some claim is anti-Bush. The students had to pick the correct word out of two choices to give the sentence its correct meaning.
For example, one question on his test asks the following:
“I wish Bush would be (coherent, eschewed) for once during a speech, but are theories that his everyday diction charms the below-average mind, hence ensuring him Republican votes.”
You don’t have to be conservative or strictly Christian to be one of the estimated 51,000 homeschooled students in the state. Some parents like the flexibility of a homeschooled curriculum. Plus, they get to spend time with their kids. (I once profiled a young boy whose mother was a Scientologist.)
As angry as Chenkin makes conservative backers of President Bush, and anybody who wants to keep politics out of elementary or secondary education, the political
scenario could be different. I remember, for instance, my high school World History teacher who made the charge that Chrysler Corporation’s troubles in the 1970s, and the federal government’s financial bail out would not have been necessary had the auto workers and their union not been so greedy.
When zealots of either political stripe force their values and opinions on children, society responds by finding their own way to teach their young.
Or they seek help from the very government they dislike.
Take the Student and Faculty Academic Freedom in Postsecondary Education bill that was pushed by state Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala. It didn’t reach the governor’s desk, but Baxley, the chair of the House Education Council, and many others feel that public school teachers sometimes harass kids with their hard-core opinions.
Baxley’s bill was more about protecting an adult student’s feelings in college, as opposed to safeguarding a minor from a bullying teacher, but Baxley is tapping into something that’s felt by many parents. Folks are tired of being attacked by Big Government, especially when their kids are at stake.
My only concern is that teachers like the Vermont educator, who says he actually presents all sides of a political issue, will shy away from anything controversial.
It’s been said that democracy is “messy,” maybe education shouldn’t be so squeaky clean.
Whatever the outcome of the Vermont school board’s investigation into the matter, you can bet that a few more parents will forgo public and private education and teach their kids on their own.
More power to them.
Jim Harrington is the editor of the Largo Leader, Clearwater Citizen.
|
Article published on Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2005
Copyright © Tampa Bay Newspapers: All rights reserved. |
