Lehigh Valley Conservative

Now this guy is educationing his children.

http://www.redstate.com/diaries/mailloux/2008/nov/26/why-we-home-school/

 “Why We Home School”
 
An article from the “Red State” (above link)  I had to print the whole article, a must read.  This family gets it, not much will be left after the Education System get done with your kids.  Between the teaching of the children, the Unions, and our corrupt Democratic and Republican Parties, and the rest of the un-righteous folks what the hick can we do?  But cling to our guns and turn to our Bibles and our God.
READ IT and to this young man I say “Thanks” may God protect your family.
    
 “My wife and I have 4 children. Two of them are currently in home school. The other two will join the class when they reach kindergarten age.
I admit that I was originally lukewarm on the idea of home school. It was my wife who sold me on the concept and it is she that gave up her career to become a full-time, home school teacher.
My wife can wax poetic about the benefits of home schooling. She’s a positive person and is naturally inclined to discuss the joys and outcomes of home schooling. I, on the other hand, am a bit more cynical and suspicious. The benefits of home schooling are indeed worth trumpeting from the highest tower. Equally worth noting, however, are the progressive “educational” theories that are being avoided by not sending children to public schools. This is the flip side of the coin, and it takes a good cynic to wax poetic about it. So fasten your seat belts and grab a stiff drink, because you’re not going to like what’s being peddled in public schools.
There are two educational theories (aka “pedagogies”) that should give every conservative parent of a school age child great pause and substantial dread. They are “Critical Pedagogy” and “Multiculturalism.” Both theories are eagerly and broadly embraced by schools of education throughout our nation.
It is the job of schools of Ed to train future teachers. Those teachers, in turn, are set loose in the public schools to teach not only reading, writing, and arithmetic, but also progressive political ideology. They’re even trained to teach hard sciences, such as chemistry, within a progressive political bent.
In a nutshell, Critical Pedagogy trains teachers to become activists for social justice. It assumes that the United States is an oppressive culture deeply in need of socialistic revolution. Talk of hegemony (either corporate/capitalist or white/racial, take your pick) is to be liberally sprinkled throughout lesson plans. Here are some of Critical Pedagogy’s tenets from Joe L. Kincheloe, author of, “Critical Pedagogy.”
· All education is inherently political and all pedagogy must be aware of this condition.
· A social and educational vision of justice and equality should ground all education.
· Issues of race, class, gender, sexuality, religion, and physical ability are all important domains of oppression and critical anti-hegemonic action.
· The alleviation of oppression and human suffering is a key dimension of educational purpose. Schools must not hurt students–good schools don’t blame students for their failures or strip students of the knowledges they bring to the classroom.
· Education must both promote emancipatory change and the cultivation of the intellect–these goals should never be in conflict, they should be synergistic.
· The politics of knowledge and issues of epistemology are central to understanding the way power operates in educational institutions to perpetuate privilege and to subjugate the marginalized–”validated” scientific knowledge can often be used as a basis of oppression as it is produced without an appreciation of how dominant power and culture shape it.
· Education often reflects the interests and needs of new modes of colonialism and empire. Such dynamics must be exposed, understood, and acted upon as part of critical transformative praxis.
Pretty wordy, eh? Welcome to higher education. Any carbon cap and trade schemes should be limited to muzzling the gaseous emissions of education professors. The world would be a better place. Also, as a further aside, I’d like to see the word, “pedagogy,” fall from the common vernacular of higher education. “Pedagogy” is one of those 50 cent words that I’ve come to truly loath, mostly because it drips constantly, like a leaky faucet, from the mouths of education professors.
OK, sorry for the tangent. Back to the topic . . .
Multiculturalism falls under the umbrella of Critical Pedagogy. It’s a specialization focusing mostly on race and gender, but more and more so, it also features sexual orientation (i.e. gay rights). Multiculturalism also assumes an oppressive American system that is rigged from top to bottom to benefit white people at the expense of “people of color.” (Or men at the expense of women; or heterosexuals at the expense of homosexuals . . . take your pick). Multiculturalism also features a good sized dollop of moral relativity. No non-western culture is seen as superior to another. However, the common denominator is that western culture is always the oppressive bully in the world neighborhood. Everyone else, culturally speaking, is equally good. It’s America that’s the problem (hegemony, colonialism, racism, blah, blah, blah, etc.). Multiculturalism is truly a definable subset within the world of Critical Pedagogy, with its very own corrosive theories such as “White Privilege” (for a better explanation of White Privilege, see my previous post on the topic from November 21, 2008).
Home schooling effectively avoids the extremely wacky educational theories of Critical Pedagogy and Multiculturalism. And, both are running rampant in public schools. In and of itself, home schooling’s benefits are legion (low student to teacher ratio, cross-generational exposure, flexibility, reinforcement of a healthy family dynamic, etc.). But, avoiding the socialistic indoctrination of the public schools is nothing to shake a stick at either.
Another side benefit of home schooling is that it likely drives William Ayers (distinguished professor of education, washed up domestic terrorist, and friend to Barack Obama) into a blind fury. Surprise! Ayers is a champion of Critical Pedagogy. Home schooling puts children outside the reach of Ayers’ efforts to bring his revolution from the streets to the schools. In some way, being a thorn in Ayers’ side also strikes me as a good thing; it’s another home schooling perk!
Perhaps in a future post on reasons to home school, I will discuss some of the other serious maladies within the public schools: twisted sex/health education and the teaching of evolutionism (mind you, this is not the teaching of the science of evolution. I don’t have a problem with that. If, however, evolution is used to make a case for atheism, then I do have a problem with that. The scientific method is incapable of proving or disproving the existence of God. Evolutionism does not belong in public schools).
Finally, Happy Thanksgiving to one and all here on Redstate! I’m fairly new to blogging on Redstate (or for that matter, blogging at all). But, here at Redstate, my wife and I have found an excellent community of thoughtful and respectful individuals. I’m honored to be a small part of that and I’ve learned much from reading the posts of fellow diarists.”

What do you think?  We Shall See shortly.