HOMOSEXUALITY ACCEPTANCE IS NOT SCHOOL BUSINESS

HOMOSEXUALITY ACCEPTANCE IS NOT SCHOOL BUSINESS

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD Traditional Realist

Public school teachers do not have an easy job. They often complain about the lack of student preparation when children enter school. Teachers have advocated for higher readiness skills for kindergarten entrance. The lack of sleep, poor nutrition, obesity and acting out children have been highlighted in the media recently as obstacle in the education of modern students.

Our public schools are not functioning as well as in the past compared to other developed countries. Our national drop out rate in college is approaching 50%. The National Assessment of Education Progress has demonstrated we are 31st in math 23^rd in science and 17^th in reading as compared to other developed countries. The 2011 SAT results were the lowest ever recorded in reading and writing sections for college bound seniors. Only the scores of 43% of the students taking the SAT were predictive of success in college while 67% were not.

We as a nation have made education a high priority. The present administration has increased the education budget by billions over the past three years with no significant positive results. Public education is receiving half a trillion dollars per year from local, state and federal governments with little return on the investment.

The issues facing public schools are deep rooted and complex. Yet progressive politicians and educators are engaging in social engineering instead of focusing on improving student achievement.

Dakota Pope a 14 –year-old student from Ft. Worth, Texas was given an in-school suspension for telling a fellow student that homosexuality was wrong. According to Liberty Council attorney, Matt Krause, representing Dakota, the student was inappropriately informed by his German teacher that homosexuality was ”happening all over the world and you have to accept that homosexuality is just part of the culture now.”

Furthermore, Attorney Krause stated “There has been a history with this teacher in the class regarding homosexual topics. The teacher has posted a picture of two men kissing on the wall that offended some of the students.”

This teacher’s off subject attempt at desensitizing and indoctrinating students in homosexual acceptance is undermining the focus and quality of public education. This teacher is wasting student’s valuable time by attempting to impose his personal progressive agenda. The teacher’s subjective opinion on the state of homosexuality is not part of his job description of teaching German. This is an abuse of his power as a teacher sanctioned to teach German and malpractice by the school district for not monitoring and disciplining the staff member.

The school district has not explained why the 9^th grade German teacher was discussing homosexuality. There was no comment on any disciplinary action for the teacher‘s unwarranted comments. Students should not lose their First Amendment rights just because a school official feels their comments may offend some other student.

Even if Dakota’s comment personally offends someone he still has the right to Freedom of Speech. In the United States an individual can inform a fellow student that he disagrees with his teacher’s controversial opinions and concerning the morality of homosexuality. This is especially true due to Dakota’s strong religious background, which is protected by our Bill of Rights.

Acceptance of a person’s sexual orientation is not the same as tolerance. Muslims, Christians and Jews should not have to alter their moral and religious beliefs to conform to an atheist or secular viewpoint. People who believe that homosexuality is contrary to natural law and is religiously sinful should not be punished for their views.

It is wrong when a student is punished for voicing his honest opinion on personal or moral issues. Once a school system allows its staff to engage in this unprofessional behavior it should be denied government funds. The public buildings are no longer being used for education but have become centers of indoctrination.

In the entertainment media it is becoming common place to titillate the audience with explicit homosexual behavior as two teenage boys kissing on the television show “Glee”. The parents have the ability to censor their children from watching the program. On the other hand government schools have a captive audience of young minds and therefore have an obligation to all the taxpaying citizens to educate the citizens in the fundamentals of a classic education. They do not have a public mandate to alter or to eradicate the moral values of our children.

There is no place in our Constitutional Republic where our government can or should force the public to accept homosexuality or any other type of sexual relationship. Our Constitution does not permit our government to deny citizens their moral beliefs. Public schools should concentrate on giving our children a solid education while protecting their individual liberties

Dr. Maglio is the author of Invasion Within and Essential Parenting. He is a psychotherapist and the owner/director of Wider Horizons School.

Visit: www.drmaglio.com.

IB DEBATE SHOULD HAPPEN BEFORE NOT AFTER ADOPTION BY OUR SCHOOLS

IB DEBATE SHOULD HAPPEN BEFORE NOT AFTER ADOPTION BY OUR SCHOOLS

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD. Traditional Realist

The International Baccalaureate Program has been rejected after being implemented in 74 schools. Recent schools that have dropped the IB Program are: Coronado High School, CA, Loara High School, Anaheim, CA, Wilmer Amina Carter High School, Rialto, CA, Woodland School, Cartersville, GA, Zionsville Community High School, Zionsville, IN, Apollo High School, Owensboro, KY, Hillwood High School, Nashville, TN, Virginia High School, Bristol, VA, William Fleming High School, Roanoke, VA.

October 27, 2011, Education Week reported in Idaho, “opponents have taken to the streets to publicize their concern that the IB Program is spreading an anti American ideology in local schools…similar controversies erupted in Utah in 2009 and Michigan in 2005, the AP notes.” UN Agenda in Public Schools, Donny Harwood www.youtube.com/ watch?v= NG10x_RLBXI

There is blowback not only nationally but also internationally. Premier Gordon Brown abandoned the IB Program in the UK as being too expensive. The actual cost in the United States is difficult to ascertain. “Cost of the IB Programme is perhaps the most difficult information to acquire. We have done exhaustive research on the subject and without exception every school district that has purchased the programme has hidden information or otherwise blocked our efforts to obtain any definitive understanding of what this program costs. “ Jane Aiken, Merrimack Valley Taxpayers About to be Scammed,” Bedford Journal.

In Merrimack Valley School District, NH, cost for the program was estimated to be $135,000 by the IB presenter at a school board meeting and $3.1-3.7 million dollars over five years by the knowledgeable expert on the IB Program, Lisa McLoughlin. State Representative of NH, Seth Cohn, had to intervene to emphasize that a board member contradicted herself in stating where the IB training took place and its cost. The actual breakdown of the IB proposal for the length of the program should be provided to the public to make an educated decision. http://truthaboutib.com/ usschooldisputes/merrimackvalleynh.html

The IB Program has flown under the national media’s radar scene but is bursting forth in many local school districts throughout the USA. The issues are similar from district to district. The local citizens were not informed and did not participate in the debate to adopt this expensive and controversial program. The more the communities learned about the IB Program, the greater the objections they had. The implementation of the IB Program without wide local acceptance is done by design. International Baccalaureate in Bedford, Anti-American? www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTI0osj4W9w

In 1996 the IBO joined with UNESCO, part of the United Nations. They formed an international educational model that is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. A major goal of IB is to develop global citizens who will support the legitimacy of legislation for the international common good, not for their nations.

Thomas Sowell, a renowned Stanford University economist, wrote in the Jewish Review, “It (IB) also has a left wing hidden agenda as so many fad programs do. One of the program’s supporters gushed that it teaches students how to think globally and how to make us part of the world. One of the parents critical of the program put it quite differently. She said it "promotes socialism, disarmament, radical environmentalism, and moral relativism, while attempting to undermine Christian religious values and national sovereignty."

The IB Program has been artfully marketed to local school districts. Terrice Bessier, educational development specialist of the Open Society Institute, documents some of the progressive heavyweights such as George Soros, then Senator Obama and Arne Duncan to be proponents of this program.

The Obama administration through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has provided millions of federal dollars as seed money to defray the start up costs of the program. Local leaders are often seduced into backing this program to receive the federal funding. The local citizens get stuck with the recurring costs to complete the program.

There is minimal transparency in the stealth process to receive approval of the school board according to people around the country as voiced on their websites and on YouTube. Concerned citizens receive minimal notification and the meetings are made as inconvenient as possible to discourage participation. They are packed with proponents of the IB Program and any vocal opponents are isolated, ridiculed or personally attacked. These techniques have been effective in limiting opposition to the program.

There are many good reasons to silence public discussion. The assessment of the IB student’s work is not done by the local district but by international examiners, which numbers range from 5000 to 10,500. What are their qualifications? Local community parents have said the IB Program has an anti Christian bias. Does this program have a “pro-bias” to any religion? Does the school district relinquish control of the curriculum content? Does all the money paid for the program go to Geneva, Switzerland? What is the exact cost of the program to the taxpayers?

The IB Program controversy is far from over. It continues. These questions should have been asked before, not after school districts decide to adopt the IB Program.

Our school board, along with citizens should do their due diligence to protect our children’s minds and the future of our nation from being hijacked from within.

Dr. Maglio is the author of Invasion Within and Essential Parenting. He is a psychotherapist and the owner/director of Wider Horizons School.

Visit: www.drmaglio.com.