Difference between revisions of "Public schools in the United States"

Revision as of 20:14, August 25, 2009

Public schools in the United States are liberal and atheistic^[1][2][3][4] government institutions that employ 3 million people and spend $411.5 billion annually at a cost of $10,770 per student.^[5] Spoken prayer, the Ten Commandments, and sharing of faith are expressly forbidden in public schools' classrooms during school hours, and teaching of morality is implicitly disfavored.^[6][7] Homosexual indoctrination is common as early as elementary school in more liberal states.^[8]

Public school students in America have these characteristics:

• 30% fail to graduate from high school,^[9] and more than 40% of minorities fail to graduate;^[10] the real drop-out rate may be 50%^[11]
• Nearly 70% leave high school unqualified to go on to four-year college.^[9]
• 77% have used illicit drugs. Fatal overdoses are common but underreported; public schools are required to present drug "education" to kids^[12]
• More than 60% of public school teenagers (in one regional study) watch more than 3 hours of television a day, compared with a national average of 35%^[13]
• One in three teen girls in the United States is estimated to get pregnant at least once before age 20.^[14]

  About 10% of the girls become pregnant in a typical school; about half have abortions, and about half give birth; public schools "educate" kids about sex^[15]

• "About 160,000 students miss school daily because they fear being bullied," and in Hawaii students viciously fight each other and post videos of it on Youtube.com.^[16]
• 20% go on dangerous "binge drinking," and 50% drink illegally^[17]
• 10-20% become addicted to cigarettes^[17][18]
• 35% are overweight^[19]
• Nearly 10% have mental health problems^[19]
• More than 10% of public high schools have a pro-homosexual student club
• California public schools, largest in the nation, now rank at the bottom in academic achievement. ^[20]

Undermining traditional concepts of right and wrong

In response to the perception that public schools have stopped teaching morality, many state education departments have or are in the process of developing "morality" that avoid good and evil, right and wrong, and instead present under the heading of "character" education.^[21] The lack of appreciation for right and wrong can surprise outsiders, and even school principals. When one public school student was charged with felony computer crime for altering the grades of 20 students, the principal said, we "want to teach them what's right and wrong, and it's tough for some kids to catch on to the idea that changing grades is the wrong thing to do."^[22] The impact of the removal of morality from the public school curriculum (which is also used in private schools) is that "more than one in three boys (35 percent) and one-fourth of the girls (26 percent) — a total of 30 percent overall — admitted stealing from a store within the past year."^[23]

History and Terminology

In 1647, Massachusetts Puritans enacted the second law, after Scotland in 1616,^[24] establishing universal public schools in the English-speaking world to block the attempts by "ould deluder Satan to keepe men from the whole knowledge of the Scriptures".^[25] Each settlement larger than 50 families was required to pay a schoolmaster to teach reading, writing and religious doctrine to the children in the community. Beginning in 1670, Massachusetts provided tax funding for school maintenance. This model was then copied throughout the colonies, and even throughout the world.

Many children did not attend public school for the first two centuries. It was not until 1852 that Massachusetts became the first state to require attendance by students aged 6 through 16, and it was not until 1918 that all states had compulsory attendance laws. High schools did not generally exist until after the Civil War, and kindergarten did not exist until it was created in St. Louis in 1873.

In the United Kingdom, the term "public school" means the exact opposite of its American usage, and refers to the most expensive and prestigious private schools, such as Eton College, Harrow, and a few others. The term public was used because the school was open to all public applicants, albeit ones that could afford to pay the fees. The UK equivalent of US public schools are called state schools which provide education for free to all pupils.

The first UK state school, Beverley Grammar School, was founded in 700AD. Despite the fact that around 90% of UK children are educated at one, state schools are looked down upon and derided. This is especially so of the 'Bog Standard Comprehensive' where images of teachers wearing stab vests and knife arches and invoked.

Student Prayer in Public Schools

The White House announced the release of Revised Religious Guidelines for America's Public Schools on May 29, 1998. Within this announcement, President Clinton stated, "Nothing in the First Amendment converts our public schools into religion-free zones, or requires all religious expression to be left behind at the school house door." --President Clinton, July 12, 1995^[26]

In 2003, the Education Department released the following guidelines that clarified and added requirements to Public Schools to ensure the religious rights of students.^[27]

Schools that don’t allow students to pray outside the classroom or that prohibit teachers from holding religious meetings among themselves could lose federal money, the Education Department said late last week.

The guidance reflects the Bush administration’s push to ensure that schools give teachers and students as much freedom to pray as the courts have allowed.
The department makes clear that teachers cannot pray with students or attempt to shape their religious views. The instructions, released by the department on Feb. 7, broadly follow the same direction given by the Clinton administration and the courts. Prayer is generally allowed provided it happens outside the class and is initiated by students, not by school officials.

The department, however, also offered some significant additions, including more details on such contentious matters as moments of silence and prayer in student assemblies. And for the first time, federal funds are tied to compliance with the guidelines. The burden is on schools to prove compliance through a yearly report.

Public schools and declining literacy

Since the rapid expansion and liberalization of public schools after World War II, students' literacy levels have dropped significantly. While the average 14-year-old had a vocabulary of 25,000 words in 1945, the equivalent student in 2000 had a vocabulary of only 10,000 words, a severe disadvantage in an increasingly textual world.^[28]

Teaching the Bible in Public Schools

The National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools^[29] (NCBCPS) provides a program for teaching the Bible in public schools. Currently, the NCBCPS's Bible curriculum has been voted into 462 school districts (over 1,900 high schools) in 38 states. Over 210,000 students have already taken this course nationwide, on the high school campus, during school hours, for credit.

Effect of liberal mindset on textbooks

Textbooks (K-12) have been systematically analyzed in a study funded by the U.S. government. The 1986 findings were that massive, systematic liberal bias exists, resulting in several information blackouts in four key areas of modern American life—marriage, religion, politics, and business. While an actual conspiracy was then ruled out, the cause was found to be a "a very widespread secular and liberal mindset" pervading "the leadership in the world of education [and textbook publishing]"^[30].

Professor Larry Schwikart, of the University of Dayton, wrote a book about biased textbooks. False claims common in those texts included that the founders wanted a "wall of separation" between church and state, that "Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation only because he needed black soldiers", and that "Mikhail Gorbachev, not Ronald Reagan, was responsible for ending the Cold War". ^[31]

Dismissal of Tenured Teachers

Due to the strength of the nations teachers union, it is nearly impossible to fire a bad performing teacher with tenure. The process can take years and involves countless steps to even attempt. The union claims that the protections are needed against arbitrary and malicious lawsuits.

The New York public schools system has approximately 700 teachers accused of insubordination to sexual misconduct. They remain in seclusion from the classroom but are paid full salaries until their cases are heard, sometimes from months to years later. All because their union contract makes it extremely difficult to fire them. ^[32]

Flow chart for firing teachers in the nations second largest school district, Los Angeles Unified School district

Pre-1962 Graduates

Given that public schools educate about 90% of Americans, it is astounding how few prominent Americans attended public school after the banning of school prayer in 1962. Here is an impressive list of prominent Americans who attended public schools before the banning of prayer.

• Ronald Reagan^[33] graduated from Dixon High School, Illinois
• Dwight D. Eisenhower^[34] attended Abilene High School in Abilene, Kansas
• Richard M. Nixon^[35] attended Fullerton and Whittier High Schools, California
• Gerald Ford^[36] attended Grand Rapids South High School, Michigan
• Lyndon B. Johnson^[37] attended Johnson City High School, Texas
• Harry S Truman^[38] attended Independence High School, Missouri
• H. Ross Perot^[39] attended public schools and Texarkana Junior College, Texas
• Richard Cheney^[40] graduated from Natrona County High School in Casper, Wyoming.
• Colin Powell graduated from Morris High School, NY in 1954 and received his B.A. in geology from the City College of New York in 1958 ^[41]
• Billy Graham graduated from Sharon High School, NC in May 1936^[42]
• Michael Medved graduated from Palisades High School, CA ^[43]
• The Wright Brothers attended public schools in Richmond, India and Dayton OH but did not graduate ^[44]
• Roy Jay Glauber, Nobel laureate, graduated from Bronx High School of Science, Bronx, NY in 1941. ^[45]
• Frederick Reines, Nobel laureate, attended Union Hill High School, NJ, during the late 1930's. ^[46]
• Oliver North, US Army Officer, political commentator, graduated from Ockawamick High School in 1961. ^[47]

Post-1962 Graduates

Here is a much less impressive list of celebrities and others who attended public school after prayer was banned in 1962:

• Pat Tillman, NFL football player and US Army soldier graduated from Leland High School CA ^[48]
• Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, attended Miami Palmetto Senior High School FL.^[49]
• Jerry Yang, co-founder of Yahoo.com, graduated from Sierramont Middle School, and Piedmont Hills High School, CA. ^[50]
• David Filo, co-founder of Yahoo.com graduated from Sam Houston High School TX. ^[51]
• Kathryn D. Sullivan, NASA astronaut and first American woman to walk in space, graduated from Taft High School, Woodland Hills, California, in 1969. ^[52]
• S. Christa Mcauliffe, astronaut participant, graduated from Marian High School, Framingham, Massachusetts, in 1966. ^[53]
• Mae C. Jemison, NASA astronaut and first African-America woman in space, graduated from Morgan Park High School, Chicago, Illinois, in 1973. ^[54]
• Ellen Ochoa, NASA astronaut and the first Hispanic-American woman astronaut, graduated from Grossmont High School, La Mesa, California, in 1975. ^[55]
• Jeana Yeager, aviator, graduated from Commerce High School GA in 1970.^[56]
• Brad Pitt, actor, graduated from Kickapoo High School in Springfield, Missouri, 1981. ^[57]
• Tom Cruise, actor, attended several public high schools including Glen Ridge High School, New Jersey during the 1970's. ^[58]
• John Sununu, Senator, graduated from Salem High School in the 1970's. ^[59]
• John Edwards, politician, attended public school in Robbins, N.C. during the 1960's.^[60]
• Spike Lee, producer, actor, graduated from John Dewey High School, Brooklyn, NY.^[61]
• Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, left public school after attending in Seattle until the age of twelve.^[62]
• Rush Limbaugh graduated from Central High School, MO in 1969 and attended Southeast Missouri State University for two semesters ^[63]
• Frank Wilczek, Nobel laureate, attended Martin Van Buren High School, Queens, NY, during the late 1960's. ^[64]
• Sgt. 1st Class Randall Shughart, U.S. Army, Battle of Mogadishu hero, Medal of Honor recipient; graduated from Big Spring High School in Newville, PA in 1976. ^[65]
• Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith, U.S. Army, Iraq War hero, Medal of Honor recipient; graduated from Tampa Bay Vocational Technical High School, FL in 1988. ^[66]
• Cpl. Jason Dunham, U.S. Marines, Iraq War hero, Medal of Honor recipient; graduated from Scio High School NY, in 2002.^[67]
• Lt. Michael Murphy, Navy SEAL, Afghanistan War hero, Medal of Honor recipient; graduated from Patchogue-Medford High School in 1994. ^[68]
• Laura Bush attended James Bowie Elementary School, San Jacinto Junior High School, and Midland Lee High School in Midland, Texas (Graduated 1964).^{[Citation Needed]}
• John Cromwell Mather, Nobel laureate, graduated from Newton High School, Newton, NJ in 1964. ^[69]
• George Fitzgerald Smoot, Nobel laureate, graduated from Upper Arlington High School, Upper Arlington, OH in 1962. ^[70]
• Hugh David Politzer, Nobel laureate, graduated from Bronx High School of Science, Bronx, NY in 1966. ^[71]
• William J. Clinton^[72] graduated from Hot Springs High School in Arkansas in 1964

References

See Also

• Public school culture
• Teacher Pay