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UPDATE: Scholars Continue to Attack New History Standards for ‘Pervasive Anti-Patriotism, Focus on America’s Shortcomings’ [+video]

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College professors from across the country are taking a stand against what they call bias in history standards of a new Advanced Placement exam. . .

Part of their letter [to the College Board] reads:

The new framework is organized around such abstractions as “identity,” “peopling,” “work, exchange, and technology,” and “human geography” while downplaying essential subjects, such as the sources, meaning, and development of America’s ideals and political institutions, notably the Constitution. Elections, wars, diplomacy, inventions, discoveries—all these formerly central subjects tend to dissolve into the vagaries of identity-group conflict.

Susan Hanssen, University of Dallas history professor, said on “Fox and Friends” that “there’s kind of a pervasive anti-patriotism that’s being taught in schools”. . .

“There’s no discussion of limited government, checks and balances, the idea of natural rights, the idea of the laws of nature and nature’s God. There’s a real gap in the teaching of American history,” she said. (Read more from “Scholars Reject New History Standards for ‘Pervasive Anti-Patriotism, Focus on America’s Shortcomings'” HERE)

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Christian Crawford Talks Graduation Prayer [+video]

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On Thursday night at the Clay-Chalkville High School graduation ceremony, roughly 300 young men and women were given the key to adulthood.

Christian Crawford didn’t need that key. The departing senior kicked the door down and stepped into the role of a man before the commencement celebration was even over.

As the seniors settled in and the graduation began, a member of the Cougar Stadium crowd experienced a medical emergency, and that’s when the school’s librarian, Shannon Petty, looked to Crawford for an answer.

With the poise and confidence of a seasoned leader, Crawford took to the microphone and did something many Americans do on a daily basis, but it was extraordinary. He paused for a moment, looked beyond the beaming stadium lights and delivered a prayer that won’t soon be forgotten.

“It only takes one person,” said Crawford. “One person stands up and says ‘okay, I’m going to stand for the word of God, regardless of what people say.’ It’s important that we stand on the word of God.” (Read more from “Christian Crawford Talks Graduation Prayer” HERE)

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School Bans Teen From Flying American Flag, Community Outrage Ensues [+video]

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Photo Credit: Controversial Times

Photo Credit: Controversial Times

Peyton Robinson, a senior at York Comprehensive High School in South Carolina, was flying an American flag and a POW-MIA flag on the back of his truck – until the school took them off his truck. . .

When he arrived at school on Wednesday, a school administrator told Robinson to take the flags down, saying “someone” had complained about them. He was later pulled out of class and told to meet an administrator in the parking lot, he said, where he found school officials had already removed the bolts that secured the flags, took the flags down, and “laid my flags in the middle of my truck when I wasn’t even there” . . .

The community has rallied around Robinson and his flags and staged a demonstation. As many as 70 cars full of students and adults arrived at the school with people waving flags along the street. . .

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Under overwhelming public outcry, the school gave in. An announcement on the school district says:

Due to the outstanding display of patriotism through peaceful demonstration, it is apparent to us that many are not happy about this policy. School officials have reviewed the standing policy regarding flags and have decided that an exception will be made for the American flag, as long as the size of the flag(s) does not create a driving hazard.

(Read more from “School Bans Teen From Flying American Flag and Quickly Regrets It” HERE)

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Obama Regime Pushes Public Boarding Schools: Government Wants to Own “Certain Kids, 24/7” [+video]

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CORRECTION-US-POLITICS-WHCA-OBAMAA short drive from the Georgetown University campus where President Obama excoriated wealthy parents who send their children to private schools on Tuesday, his education secretary proposed creating similar schools for children – paid for by the taxpayer of course.

“One idea that I threw out, is the idea of public boarding schools,” Arne Duncan said at the National Summit on Youth Violence Prevention in Crystal City, Virginia.

“That’s a little bit of a different idea — a controversial idea — but the question is, do we have some children where there’s not a mom, there’s not a dad, there’s not a grandma, there’s just nobody at home?

“There’s just certain kids we should have 24/7 to really create a safe environment and give them a chance to be successful,” he said.

Never mind that cynics will already point out that every state in America as a department of child services intended specifically to take care of children without parents. (Not to mention the already too-large juvenile justice systems.) (Read more from “Obama Regime Pushes Public Boarding Schools: ‘Certain Kids We Should Have 24/7′” HERE)

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Public School to Reward Students With Trip to Christian Ministry

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victoryministrysportscomplex_featuredThe North Middle School in Joplin, Missouri, is taking eighth-grade students to a Christian ministry on May 7.

The Friendly Atheist notes that the trip is a reward for the students who have been preparing for the Missouri Assessment Program tests.

The permission/liability form for parents lists the destination on the cover page as the “Victory Sports Complex,” but the Friendly Atheist notes it’s actually called the Victory Ministry & Sports Complex . . .

The Friendly Atheist notes that the permission/liability form states in the fine print:

“We (I) understand that the officers, officials, agents, other participants and employees of Victory Ministry and Sports Complex may be inviting me or (my) our students to Bible studies and local churches of the Christian faith. While at any Victory Ministry and Sports Complex location or event (my) our student(s) has permission to participate in worship services, Bible studies or any other activities that may pertain to the Christian faith.” (Read more from “Public School to Reward Students With Trip to Christian Ministry” HERE)

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Farmington Schools: Rosaries ‘Inappropriate’ at School, Against Dress Code

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Farmington_Schools_Rosaries_39inappropriate39_at_school_against_dress_code-syndImport-073813For many, the rosary is a symbol of the Catholic faith. But one mom says her daughters are getting sent to the principal’s office just because they’re wearing theirs to school.

“She asked me, ‘do you know what the rosary means?” and I was like, ‘yeah, it’s something I believe in,” said Latanyia Clah. The eighth-grader at Tibbetts Middle School in Farmington says she and her sister Larissa started wearing their rosaries to school after their mom gave them as gifts for Christmas.

“They asked me if I sell drugs because I was wearing my rosary,” said Clah . . .

“The dress code is more, ‘what is appropriate or inappropriate,’ and we have come to the consensus that it is inappropriate,” said Farmington Municipal Schools Assistant Superintendent Frank Stimac.

Stimac says while there was no direct policy against rosaries, after consulting a local priest and finding a prevalence of gang members using rosaries as symbols, school administrators have the right to ask students to stop wearing them — or at least put them inside their shirt. (Read more from “Farmington Schools: Rosaries ‘Inappropriate’ at School, Against Dress Code” HERE)

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Public Schoolers Rally to Get Religious Message Back on School Sign: “We’re Taking a Stand for the Lord”

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Photo Credit: KSLA

Photo Credit: KSLA

A group of student protestors at a Louisiana middle school has succeeded in getting “In God We Trust” back onto its official marquee after the phrase was removed by administrators in response to a tangle with the American Civil Liberties Union.

“We are taking a stand for the lord,” Joey Ketchum, a district parent and local Baptist pastor, told Fox Carolina regarding the protesting students at Ridgewood Middle School in West Shreveport.

The brouhaha began last week, after the ACLU Louisiana wrote an open letter to Caddo Parish superintendent Theodis Lamar Goree regarding official religious statements that had allegedly been made by the principal of another district school, Walnut Hill Elementary.

The principal, said the letter, dated March 30, “has engaged in a pattern of religious proselytization by sending messages to parents invoking prayer, and through a lengthy ‘Principal’s Message’ on the school’s website,” which the ACLU noted is in violation of the First Amendment and U.S. Constitution. “The United States Constitution requires public schools to ensure that state-supported activity is not used for religious indoctrination,” the letter continued. “There is no question that the Principal has violated these legal mandates by repeatedly invoking God, prayer, and Christianity throughout official school publications.” The correspondence urged the principal to stop, for the district to look into the situation, and to “immediately remove all religious references from the website of Walnut Hills and any other schools in the Caddo Parish school district.”

That, apparently, is when Ridgewood removed “In God We Trust” from its marquee — even though the phrase has been ruled as constitutional in many court cases, including a year ago, when a group of atheists and the Freedom From Religion Foundation lost a court fight to have it removed from U.S. currency. The decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit referenced many past decisions upholding the use of the phrase, noting, “The Court has recognized in a number of its cases that the motto, and its inclusion in the design of U.S. currency, is a ‘reference to our religious heritage,’” adding that “the printing of ‘In God We Trust’ on our coins serve the secular purposes of solemnizing public occasions, expressing confidence in the future and encouraging the recognition of what is worthy of appreciation in society.” (Read more from “Middle Schoolers Rally to Get Religious Message Back on School Sign” HERE)

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You’ll Never Guess the Disgusting Lesson Five Year Old’s Were Taught in This School [+video]

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Photo Credit: KAZUHIRO NOGI / AFP / Getty Images

Photo Credit: KAZUHIRO NOGI / AFP / Getty Images

Officials at Mitchell Primary School are apologizing after a book about a transgender child was read to most of the school’s K-3 students.

“We have a practice of if a topic is considered sensitive, parents should be informed,” superintendent Allyn Hutton told SeaCoastOnline.com.

“In this situation, that didn’t happen. The whole culture at Mitchell School is about teaching tolerance and respect. The people presenting the lesson thought (the book) was one more piece of teaching that lesson.

“In retrospect, we understand that toleration is tolerating people of all opinions,” Hutton said.

Criticism flooded the district after Fox News host Sean Hannity posted about the lesson on his website, prompted by a Mitchell school mother who was angry she wasn’t given advanced warning that teachers were reading students the book “I am Jazz” by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings, the news site reports. (Read more from “You’ll Never Guess the Disgusting Lesson Five Year Old’s Were Taught in This School” HERE)

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Feds Spend $149,890 on “Mindful Eating Intervention” for Third Graders

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BLD138315The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is spending nearly $150,000 to test a “mindful eating intervention” on third graders in California.

A grant awarded earlier this month outlined the project that will use the methods of a Zen teacher to try to fight childhood obesity and turn kids into “change agents” to teach others how to eat healthily.

The project, entitled, “Foodie U: The Impact of a Pilot Mindful Eating Intervention on Food Behaviors Among Children and Families,” will focus on low-income Hispanic children.

“The elementary school age is a crucial period for developing life-long dietary habits while parents still significantly influence their food intake,” the grant said. “A school-based mindful eating intervention with parent involvement may positively influence children’s food behaviors.”

Mindfulness is a New Age meditation technique that traces its origins from Buddhism. People engaging in mindfulness are encouraged to focus on the present moment “non-judgmentally.” A 60 Minutes segment on mindfulness showed Anderson Cooper using the practice by eating in silence very slowly, focusing on every bite. (Read more from “Feds Spend $149,890 on ‘Mindful Eating Intervention’ for Third Graders” HERE)

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Disgusting: 14 Boys Accused of Sex Crimes at California High School [+video]

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Los Angeles police descended on Venice High School on Friday, arresting nine students in connection with a series of sex crimes that began more than a year ago and involved at least two female classmates.

All but one of the arrests were on campus; authorities were attempting to locate five other students. The investigation began after a parent reported the allegations on Tuesday.

As detectives investigated, they discovered at least one photographs showing sex acts, according to law enforcement sources. A photo that appears to show two teenagers engaged in a sex act has been circulated on social media. Allegations involved both consensual sexual acts between minors and coerced acts, which complicates the case, police said.

Twelfth grader Gabriel Siria said he was on his way to his second-period history class Friday morning when he walked past two school administrators with police officers. He watched as three students were handcuffed in the hallway outside of class.

Law enforcement officials stressed the investigation is still in its early stages and that police made the arrests quickly in an effort to prevent any more incidents. (Read more from “Disgusting: 14 Boys Accused of Sex Crimes at California High School” HERE)

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