indoctrination

Politics in Elementary School: Unethical Always

/ Jack Marshall / 7 Comments

Believe it or not, Yip Harburg is only 7 years old in this photo...

Third graders at Woodbrook Elementary School in Albemarle County, Virginia recently performed a song called “Part of the 99,” proclaiming their solidarity with the “Occupy” movement’s zeitgeist.  The song was part of a program sponsored by “Kid Pan Alley,” a children’s arts organization. The children worked with a facilitator to develop the theme and lyrics for a song, and that facilitator, who so far has not been identified, obviously, and I mean that in the “do these people really think we’re all idiots?” sense of the word, manipulated the process to produce an “Occupied Youth” moment. A blog got wind of it, and the criticism, richly deserved, erupted on the internet.

Incredibly, the school denies that any indoctrination went on, and claims that the children came up with the lyrics and theme on their own. As “who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?” lies go, this one is superb. Here are the lyrics those third graders supposedly came up with by themselves: Continue reading →

Coercive Indoctrination in the Schools: Unethical, Regardless of the Content

/ Jack Marshall / 12 Comments

A German language teacher at Western Hills High School in Fort Worth, Texas sent 14-year-old honors student Dakota Ary to the principal’s office for telling a classmate that he believes “homosexuality is wrong.”

Ary was then suspended as punishment. Homosexuality isn’t wrong,, but the school was.

Ary, who was raised in a church that believes homosexuality violates God’s laws, has a right to believe whatever he chooses to, and also has a right to express those beliefs as long as he doesn’t denigrate fellow students or incite violence or a disruption. There are words for schools punishing students for their beliefs, and among those words are “indoctrination,” “coercion,” brain-washing,” and “unethical.” Continue reading →

CNN’s Ocatavia Nasr: Another Victim of Cognitive Dissonance

/ Jack Marshall / 4 Comments

Octavia Nasr, a CNN editor and reporter for two decades, just got her walking papers for a 140-character tweet reading, “Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah.. One of Hezbollah’s giants I respect a lot.” The problem is that this particular “giant” was an anti-American, anti-Israeli terrorist who advocated suicide bombings and who encouraged terrorist acts by Hezbollah. In an explanatory blog post that failed to save her job, Nasr blamed the limitations of Twitter, and explained that she didn’t really admire him, just his stance against the abuse of Muslim women.

Maybe. Continue reading →