Teachers Go Too Far

I read this today in an article by Thomas Sowell.

– “The arrogance of third parties, who take it upon themselves to treat other people's children as a captive audience to brainwash with politically correct notions, while taking no responsibility for the consequences to those children or society, is part of the general vision of the left that pervades our education system.”

As a parent, this is exactly how I have felt on numerous occasions. My ten-year-old’s teachers have been filling his head with pro-Democratic rhetoric for the last two years. Teachers I admire as well as teachers I dislike have been abusing their power to indoctrinate impressionable minds into their ideology. This is an abuse of power of the most reprehensible kind. Teachers do hold our children captive in their classrooms. In this state regulated setting, it is not their place to foster their ideals upon our children. They were hired to teach state approved subject matter, not share their beliefs or voting preferences.

If, and I do emphasize if, politics are to be discussed in the classroom, then it needs to be done fairly and in depth. Which opens up an entire cannery of worms. For example, can we really discuss the beliefs of the two parties without bring up abortion? It is a pivotal point.

Last night as we watched the debate, it kept niggling at me that my son was an Obama supporter based upon what his teachers had told him. Should I allow him to remain in the bliss of ignorance or should he be indoctrinated into the real world.

I decided to take the plunge.

I explained what abortion was. This little boy loves babies and the knowledge that people are free to kill them did not sit well with him. I explained many pro-choice advocates do not believe life begins until birth and so do not look upon it as murder. He didn’t buy it.

I hated to have to do that, but I feel his teachers backed me into that corner. It would be wrong for him to continue to believe all about the Obama campaign is sunshine and roses. It isn’t. Not by a long shot.

Some may say that now I am the one who is unduly influencing this child. Perhaps, but he is my child and as his parent, it is not only my right, but more importantly my responsibility to raise him in the beliefs as I see fit. If knowing the whole truth, or as wholly as we can ever achieve, he still decides to believe in Obama, then that is his choice. What I resent are teachers who present only the utopian image.

And, while I am on the subject. This greatly disturbs me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVn59TC2QqM&NR=1

My Muslim faith? I have a great deal of difficulty believing this was just a slip of the tongue. Of course it is possible, however, as a life-long Christian I cannot image ever making that slip. Somethings your subconscious protects you from.

If the man is a Muslim, fine. But don’t hide behind the cross just to get elected.

Back Home Again

Tonight, all will be back home again. The boys came back from their weekend trip to baseball mecca last night. I came home from visiting family and friends in Pennsylvania this morning and the girls are, as I type, flying somwhere over Georgia. Luckily with a much shorter layover in Atlanta this time.

So tonight, for one of the few times this summer, all will be laying their heads upon their own pillows. For the next two weeks, until summer camp begins, all will slumber under our roof.

Then, on August 22, it changes forever. My oldest will leave us for college. Four years of incubation and transition until he is launched upon the outside world. I wonder if he comprehends this transition is as difficult on us as it is on him.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Yesterday my two daughters (15 & 13) boarded a plane to fly to Florida, all alone. The sensation of watching that jet speed down the runway and take flight with my babies on board is beyond definition. To see that huge machine grow smaller and smaller, knowing my sweet daughters were somewhere inside seemed a breech of physics. They couldn't possibly grow so small as to disappear from my sight. A hundered pounds, plus and minus, of flesh and blood doesn't vanish into the blue sky. It isn't possible.

At the point where the plane was still visable, I experienced such a sense of helplessness. If they had driven off in a car, I could follow. But where they were was completely beyond my reach. No car could take me there, no ladder so high as to climb to them. I could see where they were, but I couldn't reach them.

Beyond my reach. Children beyond a parent's reach. The definition of heartache? Perhaps I have too many children beyond my reach at this moment. A son tearing away maternal bonds as he prepares to enter college in the fall. Another son living so in his own mind unexpected actions knock me off my pins. Daughters disappearing into the blue.

Leaving on a Jet Plane. Keyword - leaving....
(Just realized I quoted another JD song)