We are hearing a lot about charter schools lately. Don’t be fooled. They are a tax-funded system.
More and more parents are having concerns about their children in the government-funded system. There’s plenty of reason for concern. The compulsory school laws force parents to send their children to school. If you don’t, you face arrest. I know about this personally because I faced arrest back in the seventies for this reason.
Most parents want their children to be educated and they should be. I think we can all agree on that. Nevertheless, there are many questions of how to do that when parents are accustomed to sending their children to public schools.
I live in North Georgia and sometimes storms come through and knock the electricity out. I lived in Florida for several years and experienced hurricanes that knocked the electricity out for days. When that happens, we must find another solution: candles, oil lamps, flashlights, among other things, to compensate for a need that no longer works. We do not replace the electricity unless you are one of the rare ones who have a generator. When faced with problems in our lives, we must consider alternative ways of handling them and frequently we must dispel the notion of “replacing” and think creatively.
There are other ways to educate your child than through the public school system. There are some good private schools around. Many home school their children now a day. But home schooling is not the answer for many, particularly if both parents work. Some who can afford it hire a tutor to come into their home to teach their children.
You cannot replace the socialist system of tax-supported schools with more socialism and expect different results. That’s what “charter schools” are trying to sell the American people on. You can “Google” charter schools on your computer and get information about them. However, in my opinion, it’s a lot of propaganda, designed to make charter schools sound like the desirable replacement for a different brand of socialism.
Here in the county where I live, there is a charter school called World Language Academy. The dictionary defines “charter” as, “a formal document by which a government grants special rights or privileges to a person, company or its people.” The dictionary defines “academy” as, “a secondary school, usually a private one.”
Therefore, when we hear the world “charter academy,” we think a special private school. However, it is NOT a private school, but a government-funded school paid for by taxpayers the same as any other public school. The modus operandi of the way the money is dispersed to them is different.
The charter school concept is the brainchild of Milton Friedman. New Orleans was the first to implement “shock and awe” charter schools to replace the other public system. Charter schools are privately run by government funds. One hundred twenty three public schools were replaced by 31 schools and 4700 members of teachers unions were fired. A few young ones were rehired.
According to The New York Times, New Orleans was, “the nation’s preeminent laboratory for the widespread use of charter schools.”
The charter school in this county has dual language programs and about 200 students in kindergarten and first grade are taught several foreign languages including Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. According to an article in the local paper, Gainesville Times, one parent of a 5-year-old is quoted saying, “I’m looking for her to be a worldly adult, not just a member of the United States of America, but a member of the world.”
I suspect this parent is quite correct. The purpose of starting very young children learning these foreign languages is to make them worldly and citizens of the world. This is preparation for the one-world government we hear so much talk about lately. And when this happens, this country will not be a free country with ownership of private property rights, much of which has already been lost and taken over by political government. The massive bailout program of $700 billion passed by Congress recently was another giant step in that direction.
With the loss of individual freedom and the speed with which this country is changing to a system of socialism, plus all the talk of a “one-world government,” the change over in the schools from English only to teaching foreign languages to kindergarten children, is a frightening prospect as I view it.
We really first began hearing about “shock and awe” tactics when the U.S. invaded Iraqi. The usage of this measure by Rumsfeld came from Friedman’s Chicago School.
If you are interested in this subject matter, I suggest you read my previous blog titled “In Schools, Foreign Language Being Taught to Preschoolers.”
Let Freedom Ring!
JUST ME,
AC
