This video has been posted in many blogs recently. Earth Day Song. It is a song written for Earth Day with catchy lyrics like “Recycle, bicycle, don’t drive by yourself don’t buy those plastic products on the supermarket shelf“ and ”Boycott, petition, let the big business know / that if we mess it up here, there’s nowhere else we can go.” It comes from a state approved textbook in Tennessee. What is significant about this song is some parents' reaction to it. One mother was so appaulled that her child was being taught to blindly boycott big business that she met with school administrators and requested that the song be removed from a planned school concert. The school principal hid behind the choice of the Tennessee school board in approving the text book and did not remove the song. She even chided the mother saying she was sure there were other songs in this book that she probably would not approve of. So this mother did what others have begun doing with increasing frequency.
She contacted other parents in her school and began an effort to petition the state board of education to remove the book from the approved textbook list. This scenario, of parents banding together to demand that their voices be heard, is being repeated in schools across the country. They do not choose to homeschool their children or put them in private schools because they cannot in good conscience allow the indoctrination of any child to continue. They reject the message they receive from administrators that they are alone in their objections. And they find allies in other parents who only needed someone to sound the trumpet.
It is one thing to be a watchdog. But we also need people to act.
This is excellent. Pushing oneself to act on these things may get the adrenaline going on full power, so be prepared for that jolt.
ReplyDeleteThe push-back against you is intended to intimidate, especially if your child is embarrassed.
But allow it to tick you off and inspire even tougher action.
I fought my child's school on her being in kindergarten all day, instead of half....it is not a law. I persisted, alone, and won. The impact of many can turn a tide.
The monster is at the door.
You are correct. We do need more than parents moved to outrage, we need parents to realize that they have hired schools to do a job, and they need to be held accountable when they fail at that job. Parents need to act on that outrage, and above all be public and open with it. If one is upset by a school's action, you can be there are others. Work together!
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