Ringing Bell on Diversity Lesson

by  Cal Thomas                                                                                                                                         Vol. XI, No. 9, October 1998

First there was phys-ed. Then there came driver's-ed. Next, it was sex-ed and then drug-ed, followed by environment-ed. Now, President Clinton wants to add "diversity education" to the long list of nonacademic subjects, even though surveys show the government schools are failing to achieve minimum standards in such critical areas as reading, science, and geography.

At a White House conference on hate crimes held at George Washington University, the president and several Cabinet officers endorsed a kindergarten-through-12th-grade plan to teach children to be tolerant of racial minorities, homosexuals, and the disabled. What makes anyone think the government will be more successful at directing young people's behavior in this area than it has been with drugs, sexual activity, and driving?

The most offensive idea promoted at the one-day affair was the administration's belief that parents are as incapable of teaching their children not to "hate" as they have been ineffective teaching them about sex and drugs. That the schools have failed to achieve their stated objectives in these areas does not deter government from seeking more power.

"Don't you think you almost have to have an organized effort to do it?" asked the president. "There would almost have to be some sort of club or organization at the school- because if you think about it, your parents are pretty well separated." As part of this new federal intervention, the departments of Justice and Education will be sending "anti-hate crime resource guides" to your school district. Yes, it takes a village, doesn't it?

Your parents are a bunch of bigoted imbeciles who probably tell racist jokes and make fun of gays, lesbians, and the disabled. Your children pick this up, and that's why they grow up to be just like you. Only the government, through its re-education camps ... uh ... schools, can straighten out this mess. Give them your poor, tired children, and they will set them free from their homophobia, racism, sexism, and disability-ism.

To the Clinton administration, diversity means there is no right or wrong and that no lifestyle, nation, belief, economic, or political system is to be preferred over any other. If that were true, why do so many want to immigrate to America?

This latest, but probably not last, effort by the government to reprogram the minds of our children must be resisted. Concerned parents are wasting their time trying to reform a corrupt system. Parents should reassert control over their children's lives by pulling them out of the government schools. They should see that their children are educated according to their values and beliefs, teaching them the truth about history and every other subject the schools once taught but have now mostly abandoned.

In Los Angeles, former state Assembly woman Paula Boland is leading the drive to break up the Los Angeles Unified School District, a $5.3-billion government bureaucracy that encompasses 708 square miles. She chairs a group called "Finally Restoring Excellence in Education" (FREE). It opposes the district's social agenda and its refusal to establish a core curriculum and fiscal accountability. FREE Executive Director Scott Wick tells me that the school district relentlessly pursues a social agenda that includes the promotion of homosexuality, free condom distribution, and the teaching of 12-year-old girls how to dispose of used condoms, and to lie to their parents about sexual activity.

Other efforts, including a new one based in Columbia, SC, called "Exodus 2000," are designed to encourage religious parents to withdraw their children from the "pagan public schools" and to either educate them at home or in Hebrew, Christian, or other religious schools. Still other proposals include education savings accounts and school-choice vouchers.

The education monopoly should be ended. Parents are not the enemies of education. Most do not promote hate. We would be better off if we stopped trying to change the system and, instead, withdrew the raw material the government schools need in order to impose a left-win pagan agenda on a new generation.

[Copyright, 1997, by The Los Angews Times Syndicate. Reprinted by permission.]

[Editorial Note: I know the head of Exodus 2000, Rev. Ray Moore, and believe he is right on track. As documented in Rudolph Fleish's book, Is Public Education Necessary, government-run grade schools were first introduced in this country in the 1830's in Massachusetts for the express purpose (express, that is, among the Boston Unitarian initiators of the plan) of separating children from their Christian parents and from the church. Though it has taken 160 years, they have been successful. It is high time Christian parents reclaim their children by removing them from government schools. Home-schooling is by far the best choice, but if that is not possible, a theologically sound Christian school is next. But parents should carefully interview and quiz the administrator and their child's teacher to determine what they believe and what they will teach the children. Review the textbooks, especially those dealing with origins and social issues. Remember, the word "Christian" in the school's name may be a mere selling point and may not at all reflect the curriculum. Will it take time? Of course. But how much effort is your child's life worth? TCP]