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May 6, 2002 Vol. 2, No. 7

* Penn and Teller Sign the Proclamation * So Does Nathaniel Branden * The Oprahfication of Government Schools * Know Your School Children ** More Federal Hoops, Traps and Prisons *

--> Penn and Teller, the magician/comedy team, have signed the Alliance's Proclamation on separating school and state. The pair visited the Alliance's booth at the Foundation for Economic Education's first annual conference held this past weekend in Las Vegas.

--> They weren't the only VIPs to visit the booth. Psychologist, author, Objectivist philosopher Nathaniel Branden also signed the Proclamation, to which we must add after our hearty welcome aboard, "What took you so long?"

--> The Alliance's separation movement has gotten a tremendous boost in the past weeks in the wake of Dr. Dobson's call to California parents to leave the government schools and Dr. Laura's concurrence.

--> These celebrity endorsements also add to our momentum. Opinion leaders bring publicity, prestige and new proclaimers to the Alliance. Please consider encouraging opinion leaders to sign the Proclamation. http://www.sepschool.org/Proclamation

--> Michelle Malkin in her column last week presented an alarming scenario of psychological manipulation for the benefit of, well, who knows whom but clearly not school children. It's another one of those save the children crusades, this time save them from each other, or more precisely, from the bullies among them.

See Dick and Jane weep
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/michellemalkin/printmm20020419.shtml

--> Gee, I always thought that it was my responsibility to protect my children from bullies, not the job of a school (heaven forbid my children should ever be so compromised), or a teacher, or some itinerant psycho-babbler. Silly me.

--> From the article: "Unbeknownst to Seattle school officials and parents who raved about the workshops, Resource Realizations has a dubious history.. Yet, the Seattle schools' superintendent, Joseph Olchefske, seemed only mildly perturbed that the company coaching Seattle schoolchildren to get all choked up -- and then foisting their promotional flyers on the overwrought kids -- is also a defendant in several lawsuits involving claims of emotional abuse at its behavior-therapy facilities."

--> When I was in high school, a new basketball coached us in a touchy-feel, reveal-your-secrets session at a team dinner. Confessions, high emotions and tears flowed all around the table. Afterward, there was disapproval among the faculty that I didn't understand. Clearly the administration agreed with the faculty, however, because that teacher didn't come back the next year.

--> Now, as a parent, reading about the Oprahfication of the government schools, I do understand what the disapproval was all about. No adult should lead a psychological exploration into the minds of vulnerable teens, particularly in a group and without the participation of the children's parents. That any parent would praise such a program is beyond comprehension. Or maybe the program is beyond their comprehension. It is likely beyond most parents' notice.

--> Malkins' excellent conclusion reads: "Now, there may be legitimate private businesses out there that provide real help to families with emotional problems. But even so, they have no place in taxpayer-funded schools whose primary function is supposed to be filling students' heads -- not emptying their lachrymal ducts."

--> More on the psycho-babble band aid slapped on iatrogenic government school diseases next time with a review of Stossel's latest video, "The In Crowd."

--> Just when you think you fully understand the term Orwellian, some government school program comes along to humble you. This time it's the database junkies in Ohio claiming that the FedEd devil made them do it.

"Students' personal data to go to state: Akron school officials raise privacy, security fears over details sought "http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/local/3096047.htm

--> Ohio parents should shut this one down right away by refusing to give any more info than name, rank and serial number. I'll bet $100, though, that there won't be one peep of protest from Ohio parents over this.

--> Notice there is no one quoted in the article who objects to these dossiers on first principles, questioning whether it is the legitimate role of government to be collecting such records and handing them over to a private accounting firm, in true Mussolini fashion?

================= ANNOUNCEMENTS =================

--> If you missed the live Marlin Maddoux program that featured Alliance President Marshall Fritz and Exodus Mandate founder Ray Moore, you can still listen to it on the internet. Follow this link to the April 24th show:

================= SPECIAL OFFERS =================

In "Victory without Vouchers," Alliance President Marshall Fritz shows how victory is possible without vouchers and even contends that they are a step in the wrong direction. Get this 90 minute audio tape including responses from Andrew Coulson and David Friedman as a School Liberator special, just $1 plus $3.50 shipping--a whopping $7 off. Call Nikki at 559/292-1776 to order--TODAY.

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More Federal Hoops, Traps and Prisons?
By Angela Wittman

On January 8, 2002, President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The price tag on this "new" law is 26.5 billion dollars. This is reported to be eight billion dollars more than the last Clinton educational bill. The bill passed in the U.S. House of Representatives 381 to 41 and in the U.S. Senate 87 to 10.

According to the U.S. Department of Education's Community Update newsletter for January and February of 2002, this is a historic new law that will change the culture of the nation's elementary and secondary schools in order to improve student achievement. "We owe the children of America a good education," said the president at a signing ceremony at an Ohio high school. "And today begins a new era, a new time in public education in our country. As of this hour, America's schools will be on a path of reform and a new path of results." "For the first time federal policies will focus squarely on improving student achievement," [Secretary of Education] Paige said. The report goes on to say that the new law is considered to be the most sweeping reform of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act since it was first enacted in 1965.

I submit to you that this is nothing more than a repackaged federal intrusion into our God-given right as parents to over see the education of our children.

Bush's education legislation will add new federal programs into the old Goals 2000 educational system. While virtually none of the goals in Goals 2000 has been met, many of the programs have been implemented in the government schools and will not be easily discarded.

Under the guise of "accountability" legislation; parents and taxpayers will be deceived into thinking they have "local" control of the schools. A federal mandate for testing will undoubtedly lead to a federal curriculum that has more to do with feelings and beliefs than actual knowledge of facts. If you have not examined a government school textbook lately, please do so. You will be amazed at the lack of factual information they contain. While serving as a school board member in my community, I reviewed the "new" textbooks being proposed by the administrators for adoption by the schoolboard. I was alarmed at the cultural shift from our national sovereignty to the teaching and emphasis on other cultures. When I asked the local elementary school principal if there were other textbooks available for adoption, I was told that the content of other textbooks would not vary much, even though the publisher and book cover may be different.

In conclusion, let's review the educational goals set in 1990 by the National Education Goals Panel as recorded in their publication, The National Goals Report: Building a Nation of Learners 1999:

#1. By the year 2000, all children in America
will start school ready to learn.

#2. By the year 2000, the high school graduation
rate will increase to at least 90 percent.

#3. By the year 2000, all students will leave
grades 4,8, and 12 having demonstrated competency
over challenging subject matter including English,
mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics
and government, economics, arts, and geography.

#4. By the year 2000, the nations teaching force
will have access to programs for the continued
improvement of the professional skills.

#5. By the year 2000, U.S. students will be first
in the world in mathematics and science achievement.

#6. By the year 2000, every adult American will be
literate and will possess the knowledge and skills
necessary to compete in a global economy.

#7. By the year 2000, every school in the U.S. will
be free of drugs, violence, and the unauthorized
presence of firearms and alcohol.

#8. By the year 2000, every school will promote
partnerships that will increase parental involvement
and participation.

While none of these national education goals has been met; the hoops, traps and prisons are all in place. Isn't it time to completely andeffectively separate school and politics?

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Angela Wittman is a resident of Waterloo, Illinois and a former School Board Member. She is the former Founding President and Southern Illinois Coordinator of Citizens for Educational Freedom (an organization committed to implementing school vouchers)--a position from which she recently resigned. Angela is the Treasurer and Downstate Coordinator for the Constitution Party of Illinois. She is married with two grown sons, writes a monthly column for the local newspaper, The Clarion, and sells Real Estate in the Southern Illinois area.

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This article is included for information only. The Alliance does not necessarily endorse any or all of Mrs. Wittman's opinions.

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FINAL THOUGHT

"And what is a good citizen? Simply one who never says, does or thinks anything that is unusual. Schools are maintained in order to bring this uniformity up to the highest possible point. A school is a hopper into which children are heaved while they are still young and tender; therein they are pressed into certain standard shapes and covered from head to heels with official rubber-stamps." - H.L. Mencken

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THE SCHOOL LIBERATOR is a FREE service of The Alliance for the Separation of School & State, 4546 E. Ashlan #3282, Fresno CA 93726 (559) 292-1776. We are a non-profit, grass roots educational organization dedicated to informing people worldwide how education can be improved for all-not only the poor-by liberating schools from politics. For more information go to http://www.sepschool.org
Publisher: Marshall Fritz
Editor: Cathy Cuthbert
Copyright 2002, The Alliance for the Separation of School & State, Inc. All rights reserved.

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