Merely asking the question will shock and offend many because the education of our children is right up there with Motherhood, Apple Pie and the American Flag. It is not something to be questioned. And, even if you are so inclined, where do you start? With public education who know's who is really in charge, where decisions are made or who makes them?
I drive a school bus in Omaha and, as is my nature, I engage students in conversation whenever possible. It makes the job interesting. As a citizen, a tax payer and an observer of things, I offer the following excerpts from recent conversations. It's a small sample and you'll have to accept my word that it's a typical sample. Hopefully this will provide food for thought and even inspire conversation on the subject.
When asked what they were learning in History, the four fifth graders seemed reluctant to answer. As most parents know, that's not unusual when you try to engage youngsters in conversation. I asked if they knew who the first president was? They didn't. Did they know what we celebrate on the Fourth of July, I asked? Again, not a clue. Does the name Abraham Lincoln mean anything, I asked? They stared, blankly, until one perked up and said, excitedly, "I think he made a speech." One of his friends then quickly put him down with "No, no, stupid, that was Martin Luther King!" They then went on to explain that they were learning how the Indians helped set up our government. These were not dumb kids. Ignorant, yes, but not dumb. Actually they were very bright. How do I know that? They told me so, for one thing they had no lack of was self esteem.
Working on a project with a sixteen year old girl from Lincoln, I asked, "What are you studying in History?" She said she was "learning how the Indians helped create our government." I must have looked askance for she and her mother quickly admitted that they had doubts and questions about what the girl was being taught. These were good, intelligent people who have accepted the notion that, when it comes to education, their 'place' was to not question what is being taught.
When an Omaha high school girl got on the bus carrying a text book titled LITERATURE, I asked if she wanted to be a writer? She said " She said, yes, she did. The she went on to explain that, in school, she was learning how the Indians were responsible for creating literature.
Now, it is not my purpose to focus negatively on the American Indians, or to question their contributions to our culture. Nor is it my purpose to cast doubt on teachers. They have too much on their plate already and it is not my intention to add more. And, if the girl and her mother in Lincoln accept the notion that they should keep doubt and questions to themselves, how can you expect a teacher, her job on the line, to speak out?
THE QUESTION IS: What is the education bureacracy's agenda, here, and why are they pushing it? It must be an agenda that is coming from 'on-high' for how else can you explain such similar information/propaganda being dispensed at different schools, in different grade levels and in different cities, at the same time? Is it an agenda designed to glorify and lift-up the American Indians? Or might its purpose be to tear down, demean and make irrelevant the Founding Fathers and what they created - The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution?
According to Webster's Dictionary, "A Trojan Horse is a person or thing intended to undermine or destroy from within." This begs the question, have we created our own Trojan Horse in The Department of Education? If so, it would mean that the occupants of that 'Horse' have been infiltrating our schools and culture for decades, dumbing-down each new generation and stealing their knowledge of and reverence for the Founders and the miracle they brought forth.
Who wants to believe, or even think, thoughts like these? Nobody! Certainly not I. On the other hand, if there be any truth here it means that we are funding the tool for our own demise - our own Trojan Horse.
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