Economics Assignment Questions Educational Local Control and Radical Far Right Wingers

What are your college students learning?  This is from an Economics Assignment at Lansing (MI) Community College :

 

What do you think the aim of these questions are?  Will these questions lead to true critical thinking or are they disguised as indoctrination?  Who are the present day radical far right wingers who are trying to transform countries into fascism?  In America, did those radical far right wingers cause the bankruptcy in Detroit, the failure of public/private partnerships using stimulus money (Solyndra and Fiskar), and the phony scandals of:

• Benghazi
• Data mining on select political groups from the IRS

Look at question 3.  Some would argue that control over education policy should be heavily controlled by local governing bodies, such as school districts.  Imagine that.  I don't know how Michigan law is written, but that's how school control is theoretically granted in the Missouri Constitution:

School board may adopt rules and regulations.
171.011. The school board of each school district in the state may make all needful rules and regulations for the organization, grading and government in the school district. The rules shall take effect when a copy of the rules, duly signed by order of the board, is deposited with the district clerk. The district clerk shall transmit forthwith a copy of the rules to the teachers employed in the schools. The rules may be amended or repealed in like manner.

Does the instructor believe local control is a "belief" rather than a granted power?   Does he/she agree with the current educational reform of the Federal government setting up educational public/private partnerships and rendering local school boards powerless?

Is the only job left for school districts to perform is that of paying for the mandates this partnership has dictated?  This is similar to the Common Core structure CCSSO and the NGA are imposing on state legislators.  The elites will take care of those pesky fascist right wingers (and any other groups) and dictate educational policy/development for your local school district and state.  It seems to me the fascists are the private trade organizations and the Federal government funding their organizations.

How would you answer the questions on this test?

We are in the process of determining whether this is teacher generated or from a book. 

Lesson for the Day: Capitalism is Bad. Teacher Tenure is Good.

Joe Kernen of CNBC's "Squawk Box" writes ' Your Teacher Says What?!' in response to his daughter Blake coming home and telling him what she learned that day in school.

Father and daughter are making the interview circuit and Blake, 11 years old, told the story of how she learned in school how factories pollute and should be shut down, regardless of the consequences to the employees becoming unemployed or products being produced. (Don't the voluminous number of EPA regulations ensure that factories aren't polluting?)

Blake related some of her experiences in class, and while she learned how capitalism is bad and little of the positive aspects of making money and being employed, she did learn the teacher's definition of teacher tenure:

Tenure protects teachers from unimportant boo-boos.


I wonder if teaching half-truths or skewed theories could be considered unimportant boo-boos.

Mama, Don't Let Your Babies Grow up to be Brainwashed.

Here is a recording of "Mama, Don't Let Your Babies Grow up to be Cowboys" by the Highwaymen (Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferon):




With all due respect to these fine musicians and songwriters, I have an idea of changing the song to "Mama, Don't Let Your Babies Grow up to be Brainwashed". With the discovery of Communists lecturing in Labor class through University of Missouri advocating violence and civil disobedience as a means to an end, parents need to be aware of what their children are learning in schools.

But don't think this is contained at the university level:

On Tuesday, across the state of Pennsylvania, unions and other Left-wing organizations will be boarding buses and heading to the state capitol in Harrisburg to engage in a mass rally to fight for economic and social justice and against budget cuts. n Lancaster, PA, concerned parents contacted the local newspaper with their concerns, which caused one school to cancel the “field trip”:

Plans to have Wickersham Elementary School students participate next week in a rally opposing cuts in the state education budget have been canceled in the wake of complaints from parents.

The school Wednesday sent home a permission slip asking parents to allow their children in grades three to five to attend the Rally for a Responsible Budget in Harrisburg Tuesday.

“The fact that they’re taking kids and teachers out of school to attend this rally is just plain wrong,” said Julie Zug, whose son is a fourth-grader at Wickersham.

“I have no idea how many schools or districts in Pennsylvania are participating, but it sounds like an awful expense to prop up the teachers’ union.

“How many parents are unaware their kids are being used in this manner?”

The rally is being sponsored by the Coalition for Labor Engagement and Accountable Revenues, a group that includes the Pennsylvania State Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers and several other public-service unions that are planning to bus hundreds of members to Harrisburg.

In a letter to parents accompanying the permission slip, James said the trip would provide an opportunity to “model the role of good citizenship, free expression, fairness and thoughtful deliberation.”

“Please join us as we … travel to Harrisburg to let our voice be heard for a responsible budget for public education,” he urged parents in the letter.

In addition to the permission slip, the school sent home a sample letter for parents to send to lawmakers opposing education funding cuts, as well as a sample script for parents to read when calling their legislators, according to parents.

It’s unknown how many parents will be having their children be used as a government-union prop. What is also unknown, as referenced above, is the number of parents who may not know that their children are being used as government-union props next Tuesday.

Schools recently celebrated "Earth Day" and a rap song was sung at one school extolling people to save the world and not use plastics (which, by the way, is a legal product and is recyclable). We previously blogged about this brainwashing as "One Word: Plastics. The Gentle Art of Seduction".

As Youtube removed the video, here are the words as recorded. You get the gist:

"The sky is high and the ocean is deep,
But we can't treat the planet like a garbage heap,
Don't wreck it, protect it, keep part of it wild,
And think about the future of your great-grandchild.
Recycle, bicycle, don't you drive by yourself,
Don't buy those plastic products on the supermarket shelf.
Boycott, petition, let the big business know,
That is, we mess it up here, there's nowhere else we can go.
Don't shrug your shoulders, say "what can I do"?
Only one person can do it, and that person is you!"


What do these two instances of a field trip to support unions and a skit at school have in common?

• Your children are being led to believe an important aspect of education is to learn how to boycott and petition.

• Your children are being taught to demand based on their desires.

What happened to teaching children how to be proud of their country, make positive contributions because they are proud of their country and become a good citizen? If the definition of a good citizen today is to petition, boycott, and demand "rights due them" ....heaven help this country.

This is the entitlement society and Nanny State on steroids. This is the government instilling personal values into your children. This is the government deciding appropriate behavior and moral judgments for children, usurping parental authority. Academia isn't waiting until college to snag your kids...it's starting in elementary school now...or earlier.

Parents, don't let your babies grow up to be brainwashed. You have your work cut out for you. I'd much rather our children grow up to be cowboys and cowgirls; they are individuals who are self-sufficient and don't need to boycott or petition or follow someone else's agenda. I propose children SHOULD grow up to be cowboys and cowgirls. THIS should be the primary educational goal for students in Arne Duncan's "Blueprint for America": Children growing up espousing individual liberty and responsibility...imagine that.

University of Missouri Student Lecture: "Capitalism is the Systemic Problem in America" from Communist Party Representative

The Washington Post reports more labor-friendly lectures at a University of Missouri campus. This time it was not a professor:

Tony Pecinovsky, a Communist Party USA representative who is serving as the Communications Workers of America Secretary and Treasurer in St. Louis, spoke to students at the University of Missouri in St. Louis.

Pecinovsky (left) spoke about how important it is support candidates that share the same values as the Communist party. Who has he supported in the past in Missouri elections? Congressman Russ Carnahan and Senator Claire McCaskill.

This is not the first time CPUSA has addressed the University of Missouri. In 2008, CPUSA's Vice Chairman spoke to students about the election of Barack Obama:

"He's only the beginning," Tyner said. "I think he's a transitional president. I think somebody else is going to come in and take it even further."

Pecinovsky was explicit discussing the tenents of the party's beliefs in the St Louis area campus:

• The idea of the American flag is racist
• America is the "belly of the beast"
• Internationalism is defined how the party can effectively isolate and defeat the ultra-right...comrades in other countries want to defeat the ultra-right"
  
• The progressive wing is uniting to defeat America at home and abroad
• The progressive movement is part of a “larger movement." (He states): “Almost every member of our (communist) organization is a member of a union, is a member of a coalition, is a member of neighborhood association. Is a member of a peace organization.”
• It is important to infiltrate groups already in existence; in fact, the party believes it is necessary to work even in "conservative and reactionary" trade unions
• The systemic problem in America is capitalism. Capitalism is the ultimate enemy
• The main focus of the CPUSA is to build coalitions with organizations that have broad bases and memberships and money such as "Jobs with Justice" and the unions

An important distinction Pecinovsky makes between CPUSA and other Marxist organizations is this: CPUSA does not have the same nuanced view of politics that the other organizations have; CPUSA understands the necessity of not just working against the state but working within the state.

Is that called "gaming the system"? Are politicians such as Carnahan and McCaskill pawns to an end? It might be a good idea to call their offices to determine how connected they are with the Communist Party agenda. You also might ask them if they would make an official statement distancing themselves from this rhetoric.

While you are calling Carnahan and McCaskill, you also might want to call the office of Representative Clem Smith (pictured above on the right). CPUSA certainly has accomplished its goal of electing officials with union ties...who have connections to the Communist Party. Does Representative Smith believe that capitalism is the ultimate enemy? I wonder what the business owners in his district (as well as Carnahan's district) think about this CPUSA belief? Here is a brief description of the party Smith and (now) retired State Representative Rita Heard Day attended last year sponsored by the Missouri Communist Party:

The Missouri Communist Party’s Friends of the People’s World hosted their 18th annual ‘Hershel Walker Peace and Justice Awards Breakfast’ Saturday, May 8, 2010, at the CWA Local 6300 Union Hall, 2258 Grissom Drive , St. Louis.

Newspaper Guild International President Bernie Lunzer was the main speaker for the event.

The honorees were:

• Tony Harris, President American Postal Workers Union (labor)
• Martin Rafanan, Ex. Director Gateway Homeless Services (community)
• State Senator Rita Heard Days, D-14 (public service)
• Clem Smith, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (civil rights)

Missouri Communist Party leader Tony Pecinovsky worked on Clem Smith’s successful 2010 campaign – a service he has personally performed for several other Missouri elected officials.


You can call Pecinovsky yourself if you have any questions about his goals for the party and his vision for America. Check out the 6:42 mark on video 6. He gives his phone number and email address.

This administration insists we have education that will make us "globally competitive". Will speakers from the Communist Party that call for the destruction of capitalism accomplish that goal?

Do we have any politicians in Jefferson City that will start an investigation on why a Communist party official is speaking in a public university lecture class for the purpose of destroying our capitalistic system? Why are taxpayers paying for this indoctrination that furthers a political agenda?

Easter and Spring vs Nudging and Compliance.

I've been trying to put into words why the current government push toward indoctrinating children bothers me so. We've written about how students are being told plastics are bad, to boycott and petition big business; children are expected to dance in Michelle Obama's project without parental knowledge; students in Chicago at the Little Village School cannot bring lunches from home because their parents don't make lunches that are healthy enough.

It doesn't stop with children; the mayor of Boston has banned sugary drinks from all governmental buildings. He states he wants to direct changes in behavior; it is his civic duty.

This is not manipulation of behavior for American citizens by politicians and bureaucrats, this is nudging of our rights out of our lives. This is the antithesis of what Easter and springtime represent: the springing of hope and of new life.

What does hope and new life bring to people? It brings anticipation of a better life. It brings a sense of freedom and purpose. It allows people to think for themselves and gives them a direction to their beliefs. People who experience this hope and springing of new life have a great deal of self-direction and don't appreciate or need governmental authorities mandating their thought processes and personal behavior.

Refer back to the mandates, policies, rules and regulations mentioned above. Do they encourage individuals to think for themselves? Do they allow freedom of expression and thought? Do American children and adults need to be "nudged" to behavior acceptable to the government?

As Anngie stated in her latest posting:

It is one thing to be a watchdog. But we also need people to act.

Remember Easter and springtime and what they represent. Take the hope of new life and new beginnings and refuse to be nudged by a system that represents the nanny state of mandates, rules, regulations and oppression. Isn't this why we broke away from England? Didn't our founders believe that people could and should make their own individual decisions, no matter how mundane they may be (i.e., choosing your own lunch, drink, whether to join in a dance or if you want "paper or plastic")? It is becoming increasingly apparent the Federal, State and local governments believe you, the taxpayer, who pays the taxes that allows these systems to operate, is too ignorant to live your life and make good decisions for you and your family. They will cheerfully take your money...and your rights along with those mandated taxes.

What's happened to us that we (and our politicians) allow ourselves to be "nudged" into a governmental idea of acceptable behavior? What are you going to do about it? You could go to school board meetings or sit on a curriculum committee. Volunteer to go on field trips to determine exactly where your child is going and what he/she is hearing. Ask your child about his/her activities and what was learned that day in school. Start paying attention and if need be, start "nudging" back.

Teaching Socialism to Grade School via the Constitution

News of this bit of indoctrination made the rounds of the internet today...

The Promise Of America Is. . . Socialism? That’s exactly what is being taught in many American public schools.

Under the guise of teaching children to read, the seeds of Socialism are being planted within the minds of young children. Do you believe that the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States mandates the following?

The People’s basic needs must be met in a country. Needs for housing, education, transportation, and health care overseen by our government system.

Those are the words being chanted over and over and over by school children around the country. They are part of an educational program called Building Fluency Through Practice and Performance. This section is called ‘The Promise of America’ and it breaks down the fifty-two word single sentence that is the Preamble. Here is the original:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Disguised as a reading exercise, the Preamble has been turned into a five page choral project with commentary planted inside this very simple sentence. Here is an example. Make note of what the children (R5, R6, & R7) are being asked to read after the words ‘promote the general welfare’:

People’s basic needs must be met in a country. Needs for housing, education, transportation and health care, overseen by our government system.

When did the Preamble or the Constitution include the government meeting the people’s needs for housing, transportation and health care?

Instead of teaching the Preamble and Constitution as it is written, schools from coast to coast are indoctrinating children to Socialism thanks to a company called Teacher Created Materials. TCM sells ‘The Promise of America’ to thousands of school districts all across the country as well as over 100 countries around the world. Several phone calls to TCM, its‘ printing company Shell Education and New York City sales outlet Sussman Sales provided little specific data on just how many schools are currently using the ’Promise of America, ‘ but one company rep told The Blaze the “Fluency program is really really popular.”

Blaze Exclusive: Socialist Mantra Hidden in Grade School Chants | The Blaze

Find out if this is being taught in your school.

Al Gore, Ethanol, and Science Curriculum Exposed as Fraudulent?

This is a fascinating article in the Wall Street Journal about Al Gore and his about-face on the wisdom of supporting ethanol subsidies:

Welcome to the college of converts, Mr. Vice President. "It is not a good policy to have these massive subsidies for first-generation ethanol," Al Gore told a gathering of clean energy financiers in Greece this week. The benefits of ethanol are "trivial," he added, but "It's hard once such a program is put in place to deal with the lobbies that keep it going."

No kidding, and Mr. Gore said he knows from experience: "One of the reasons I made that mistake is that I paid particular attention to the farmers in my home state of Tennessee, and I had a certain fondness for the farmers in the state of Iowa because I was about to run for President."

We recently wrote about the EPA's involvement in setting educational policy, which includes teaching about the benefits/drawbacks of using ethanol. I pulled up some Internet information on the EPA, its stance on ethanol and how it was being taught in the public school setting. Searching "EPA and public school curriculum", this appeared from from The NEED Project (National Energy Environmental Development Project), page 9:

Using ethanol as a fuel helps farmers by providing additional uses for their crops. Ethanol is a cleaner fuel than gasoline; it makes the air healthier to breathe. Using ethanol also means we don't have to import as much petroleum from other countries; Ethanol is good for the economy, the environment, and the country.

What is NEED? This is from its website:

In 1980, the NEED Project began as a one-day celebration of energy education. A Joint Congressional Resolution established National Energy Education Day. A Presidential Proclamation from President Jimmy Carter proclaimed the need for comprehensive energy education in our nation’s schools, a reduction of our dependence on fossil fuels, and increasing use of renewable energy technologies and energy efficiency. As NEED celebrates its 30^th Anniversary, it continues to make an impact on energy knowledge of students, teachers, and the public. NEED is successful. The vision and goals established by the Board of Directors ask that the NEED staff, teachers, students, partners and sponsors work to provide energy education curriculum and training to every appropriate classroom in the nation.

The curriculum on the website is dated 2008-09 so it is probably the most up to date information teachers use to teach about ethanol. Do you think the curriculum will be amended and denote a current philosophy about ethanol as noted by the WSJ?.....

Meanwhile, the greens have slowly turned against corn ethanol, thanks to the growing scientific evidence that biofuels increase carbon emissions more than fossil fuels do.

Maybe not. Review the NEED National Sponsors and Partners (pg 24). The vast majority are lobbying groups. Let's revisit Gore's words:

"It is not a good policy to have these massive subsidies for first-generation ethanol," Al Gore told a gathering of clean energy financiers in Greece this week. The benefits of ethanol are "trivial," he added, but "It's hard once such a program is put in place to deal with the lobbies that keep it going."

Do you think the educational programs funded by the lobbyists for NEED will change anytime soon? Why are lobbyists helping to form educational policies? Perhaps this needs to be in the revised ethanol curriculum:

Mr. Gore's mea culpa underscores the degree to which ethanol has become a purely political machine: It serves no purpose other than re-electing incumbents and transferring wealth to farm states and ethanol producers. Nothing proves this better than the coincident trajectories of ethanol and Mr. Gore's career.

The Battles in the Academic Asylum as fought by David Horowitz...and local watchdogs

Here's an article from one of my favorite writers, Robin of Berkeley from American Thinker, writing about David Horowitz. I agree with Robin, he is a fearless modern day Paul Revere:

One of Horowitz's burning passions is restoring sanity to our schools. For years, he's launched a virtual one-man campaign to expose the extreme left-wing bias among university professors. Horowitz figured out early on what the radicals were doing: earning their Ph.D.s, infiltrating the universities, and brainwashing students into radical ideology. With tenure-for-life academic positions, the radicals then brought like-minded professors into the fold and shut out conservatives.

Robin talks about David's zeal in exposing the left progressives' agenda in higher education. As she writes in American Thinker:

he has made it his life's mission to expose the Left's extreme agenda. Like a modern-day prophet, Horowitz forecast that a Shadow Party, masterminded by George Soros, would seize control over the Democratic Party.

We posted about Horowitz' fortuitous email I received which provided the answer to the question I posed in a previous blog, when and why is the State Department involved in education? Horowitz detailed the donors to the Clinton Foundation and their stated progressive left goals:

Clinton Foundation donors Peter Lewis, Bren Simon, and George Soros are also members of the Democracy Alliance, the nonprofit that would create a permanent political infrastructure of nonprofits, think tanks, media outlets, leadership schools, and activist groups—a kind of “vast left-wing conspiracy” to compete with the conservative movement.

Read the entire article at American Thinker. I'll leave you with the last paragraph:

Horowitz is a warrior, a real man, not the feminized kind that our universities spawn. He sticks his neck out for women treated as subhuman under radical Islam, and for college students, who are pressured and bullied. He's an unwavering, tenacious voice of sanity in the academic asylum.

If Horowitz can almost singlehandedly take on higher education, make it your resolve to watch your schools on the local and state level. The academic asylum is not limited to higher education any longer. It's even at the kindergarten level.