Another Reason We Homeschool Our Kids

This post could be subtitled "Reason # 173 Why We Don't Want Our Children Anywhere Near A Public School", but that wouldn't have fit in the title section above.

I've been wanting to write something meaningful on here for a few weeks now (it's been nearly a month since my last original post), but haven't been able to decide what to take on. For a week or so I was really fired up over the Cynthia McKinney story. For those of you that don't know, she's the U.S. Representative from Georgia that PUNCHED A CAPITOL POLICE OFFICER IN THE CHEST at a security point, then blamed it on him for being racist. It's a long story, and I'd encourage you to check it out. When I last heard, the situation was before a grand jury, but more than likely she'll get a slap on the wrist when she should already be serving time for assault. You or I would be if it were us.

Then, and I still may tackle this one, I was going to give my take on the illegal immigration debate that's currently sweeping the nation. As you've probably gathered by now, I ALWAYS have an opinion on things. However, I like to have an EDUCATED opinion on things, and I'm still looking into the whole immigration thing and learning more before I jump into talking about where I stand on it.

So, there I was, once again faced with the dilemma of what to write about when, as luck would have it, talk radio came through for me again. I was listening to the Quinn and Rose Show (local out of Pittsburgh....syndicated in a few other cities.....soon to be on XM Radio....check 'em out if you can at www.warroom.com) this week and they happened to be discussing a story out of Massachusetts (big surprise). You can read the story for yourself if you'd like, but here's the main gist. A teacher at Joseph Estabrook Elementary School read a book called King & King to his second grade class. On the surface, that doesn't sound too bad, right? Lots of elementary school classes have storytime. The book starts out telling us about a queen that had ruled for many years. She decides she's tired of the life of a queen and wants to step down and have her son, the prince, take over and become king. Before he does so, though, she wants him to find a wife, so the search begins for the perfect princess. By the end of the story, the prince cannot find a princess he wants to marry, but instead finds...yes, you guessed it.....another PRINCE that he wants to marry. The book ends with a "gay wedding" between the two princes, including a kiss, and the reader is told that the two princes live "happily ever after". Which of course, leads to the aformentioned reason #173 I don't want my kids in a public school.

Why in the world is a public school system indoctrinating SECOND GRADE STUDENTS on homosexual marriage? Kids that age shouldn't even KNOW what homosexuality is, any more than kids that age should know where babies come from. Furthermore, why is a public school teacher indoctrinating 7- and 8-year old children on ANY kind of marriage? Last I heard, it was not the responsibility of school teachers to present different types of relationships as normal, abnormal, or otherwise. When I sent my kids to school, my expectation was that they would learn things like math....reading.....history....geography.....y'know, that outlandish, ridiculous stuff that I learned when I was in school. (Not coincidentally, these are the types of subjects that our country's public school kids AREN'T learning appropriately, as testified by the growing number of illiterate kids that can't even tell you who the current Secretary of State is even though they just graduated from high school.) I spent 17 years of my life in school (and that was just 5th grade! just kidding), and I can't remember EVER being taught about ANY type of marriage or relationship being "normal". And, oh by the way, EVERY year of that schooling was spent in a religiously-affiliated private school. The teachers, principals and superintendents understood that this was something that I should have been learning at home from my parents! It's my responsibility, as a parent, to train my children on moral issues at home, to prepare them for life outside of the home.

Paul Ash, the superintendent of the public school system where this happened defended the teacher's actions, stating that same-sex marriage is legal in Massachusetts, and that the school system is "committed to teaching children about the world we live in". So, Mr. Ash, I have to ask you where you're going to draw the line that divides what you want to teach the children of Massachusetts and what you won't teach them. It's abundantly clear that the line is drawn where your agenda stops, and the beliefs of mainstream America begin. Mainstream America (close to 90%, last figures I saw) believes in God....I'm sure you won't be teaching any theology classes in any of your schools, will you, Mr. Ash?

I know that some of you reading this started calling me a homophobe (maybe even with an adjective in front of it) three paragraphs ago, and if you choose to look at me that way, I cannot control that, nor is it likely that I can change your opinion. I will say, however, that I've never met a gay person I was afraid of (by definition, isn't that what a homophobe would be?) If two people choose to live in that type of relationship, they have every right to make that choice. I disagree with it from a moral, social, and economic standpoint, but I wouldn't shove that opinion in their faces unless they asked me. I think you just have to be concerned about what this kind of behavior from teachers in public schools will lead to next. Will the next story be about a boy that marries his dog because Fido doesn't nag as much as his girlfriend? Will we have books published by NAMBLA (North American Man/Boy Love Association) being read to our young children, teaching them that it's OK for a twelve year old boy to have a sexual relationship with an adult man as long as it's "consensual"?

You hear the term "slippery slope" thrown around a lot, probably too much, but in this case that's exactly what this is. If I were to ask my dad (he's 60) if he ever would have dreamed when he was my age (35) that something like this would be an issue someday, I'm confident his answer would be a resounding no! If we do not draw a line in the sand now and "rein in" these public schools today, what will my kids be writing about and dealing with in the schools 25 years from now? It scares me to even think about it.

By the way, if you really want to know the other 172 reasons we don't want our kids near a public school, it'll take awhile, but I can make a list!