Well of Life: 2011

I got off on a rabbit trail today for sure! The HSLDA posted an article about the latest NEA annual convention in Chicago and said that again, the NEA denounced homeschooling. I've long believed (even when I was in college to become a teacher) that the NEA wasn't what they claimed to be, but this denouncing business.....well I wanted to know more about that, because that means they're denouncing my family. So off I went in search of what the NEA had to say about homeschooling, and then whoa, got wrapped up in their 106 page resolution document. I felt I had to comment on some of the things I found.

If you want to check my quotes (in blue), check it out here. National Education Association 2010-2011 Resolutions

A-11. Use of Closed Public School Buildings. The Association believes that closed public school buildings should be sold or leased only to those organizations that do not provide direct educational services to students and/or are not in direct competition with public schools.

Is the NEA afraid that a better school might move into the 'hood? I mean we wouldn't want that to happen, because the kids might have a better educational choice than a government/union-run school. What's the NEA got to be afraid of IF they're offering the best education possible?

The NEA also seems to think they paid for those buildings and not, you know, the tax payers, who probably don't give a rip who buys or rents the building so long as they don't have to continue paying upkeep on a building that's not being used.

A-14. Financial Support of Public Education. The Association believes that:

Funds must be provided for programs to alleviate race, gender, and sexual orientation discrimination and to eliminate portrayal of race, gender, sexual orientation and gender identification stereotypes in the public schools.

B-51. Sex Education. The Association recognizes that the public school must assume an increasingly important role in providing the instruction. Teachers and health professionals must be qualified to teach in this area and must be legally protected from censorship and lawsuits. The Association also believes that to facilitate the realization of human potential, it is the right of every individual to live in an environment of freely available information and knowledge about sexuality and encourages affiliates and members to support appropriately established sex education programs. Such programs should include information on sexual abstinence, birth control, family planning, diversity of culture and diversity of sexual orientation and gender identification, sexually transmitted diseases, incest, sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and homophobia.

B-52. HIV/AIDS Education. The National Education Association believes that educational institutions should establish comprehensive human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) education programs as an integral part of the school curriculum.

B-71. Conflict Resolution Education. The National Education Association supports the adoption and use, at all educational levels, of proven conflict resolution strategies, materials, and activities by school districts, education employees, students, parents/guardians, and security personnel as well as the school community to encourage nonviolent resolution of interpersonal and societal conflicts.

B-39. Multicultural Education. The National Education Association believes that multiculturalism is the process of valuing differences and incorporating the values identified into behavior for the goal of achieving the common good. Multicultural education should promote the recognition of individual and group differences and similarities in order to reduce racism, homophobia, ethnic and all other forms of prejudice, and discrimination and to develop self-esteem as well as respect for others.

At what point will the teaching of math, reading, history, and geography commence, and when will the schools cease to be used as the fixer of societal ills?

A-25. Voucher Plans and Tuition Tax Credits. The Association opposes voucher plans, tuition tax credits, or other such funding arrangements that pay for students to attend sectarian schools. The Association also believes that any private school or agency that receives public funding through voucher plans, tax credits, or other funding/financial arrangements must be subject to all accountability measures and regulations required of public schools.

So basically the NEA opposes people using their money (tax dollars) to educate their children at a school of their choice. I mean that almost sounds American or something and we can't have that.

Also, in most states, home educators are classified as private schools. See how the NEA wants to get their foot in the door to regulate home educators? This is why the HSLDA has advised home educating parents to reject any and all vouchers from the government, because vouchers will come with strings attached. And read the last sentence of B-82 below. Notice how greedy the NEA is - they want home educators' money, but by golly they aren't going to give them anything for those dollars except attempts to regulate them!

B-82. Home Schooling. The National Education Association believes that home schooling programs based on parental choice cannot provide the student with a comprehensive education experience. When home schooling occurs, students enrolled must meet all state curricular requirements, including the taking and passing of assessments to ensure adequate academic progress. Home schooling should be limited to the children of the immediate family, with all expenses being borne by the parents/guardians. Instruction should be by persons who are licensed by the appropriate state education licensure agency, and a curriculum approved by the state department of education should be used. The Association also believes that home-schooled students should not participate in any extracurricular activities in the public schools.

I will refer you to this article here. The author really makes you look in-depth at how illogical the NEA is.

H-1. The Education Employee as a Citizen. The Association urges its members to become politically involved and to support the political action committees of the Association and its affiliates.

H-7. National Health Care Policy. The National Education Association believes that affordable, comprehensive health care, including prescription drug coverage, is the right of every resident. The Association supports the adoption of a single-payer health care plan for all residents of the United States, its territories, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

I-2. International Court of Justice. The Association urges participation by the United States in deliberations before the court.

I-3. International Criminal Court. The Association believes that the United States should ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and recognize and support its authority and jurisdiction.

I-9. Global Climate Change. The Association believes that humans must take steps to change activities that contribute to global climate change.

I-12. Human Rights. The National Education Association believes that the governments of all nations must respect and protect equal access to education as embodied in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

I-17. Family Planning. The National Education Association supports family planning, including the right to reproductive freedom. The Association also urges the implementation of community-operated, school-based family planning clinics that will provide intensive counseling by trained personnel.

I-34. Gun-free Schools and the Regulation of Deadly Weapons. The Association believes that strict prescriptive regulations are necessary for the manufacture, importation, distribution, sale and resale of handguns and ammunition magazines. A mandatory background check and a mandatory waiting period should occur prior to the sale of all firearms.

Excuse me, but what is all this doing in the resolutions of the National Education Association? What on earth does this have to do with teaching kids how to read, write, our place in history, and where Sri Lanka is on a map? I guess I'm out-of-date on what an education consists of these days. One could conclude that the NEA is pushing their own agenda, which incidentally isn't about teaching the 3 R's to children afterall.

I-33. Freedom of Religion. The Association opposes any federal legislation or mandate that would require school districts to schedule a moment of silence.

I think this should be changed to Freedom From Religion, because that's what this is all about.

B-24. Education of Refugee and Undocumented Children and Children of Undocumented Immigrants. The NEA believes that regardless of the immigration status of students or their parents, every student has the right to a free public education in an environment free of harassment....the association supports access to higher education for undocumented students and access to financial aid and in-state tuition....where they reside. The association further believes that students who have resided in the United States for at least five years at the time of high school graduation should not be held responsible for the decisions they were not legally able to make but rather should be granted legal residency status.

I-22. Immigration. The Association opposes any immigration policy that denies educational opportunities to immigrants and their children regardless of their immigration status.

A free education where? Here in the USA? There the NEA goes again, spending our money like it's their own. So, how do you feel about illegal immigrants coming to our country with their illegal status children, who then receive a free education and resources (free from harassment of course; those pesky government immigration workers). Then their reward is to be granted immediate residency status because it wasn't their fault their parents came to the country illegally. Does it sit well with you?

I get that it's not the student's fault their parents brought them here, but the penalty for illegally coming into the country is expulsion - you and your illegal family. Is it fair to break the law and then expect something great to come out of it? Or is it fair for wrong-doers to take responsibility for their actions, especially when those actions effect other people? How do you feel about undocumented students getting financial aid that could've gone to a legal American citizen? The NEA thinks the undocumented student should have equal access to financial aid.

I know I'm a radical thinker in this matter, but I believe that if you're not a legal citizen or married to a legal citizen, then you AND your children (who may or may not have been born in the USA) should not be considered legal citizens and should not receive any benefits thereof. This isn't the 1800's anymore when people were coming through Ellis Island to start a new life in a virtually empty country. These are people sneaking into the USA, undocumented, and in many cases, getting access to things they haven't earned a right to. That's wrong. (and don't go bother me with stories about people coming into this country because of political unrest in their homeland, etc. etc. We all know I'm not talking about those people.)

B-30. Educational Programs for English Language Learners. The Association believes that ELL students should be placed in bilingual education programs to receive instruction in their native language from qualified teachers until such time as English proficiency is achieved.

I-58. Linguistic Diversity. The Association believes that efforts to legislate English as the official language disregard cultural pluralism; deprive those in need of education, social services, and employment; and must be challenged.

Ebonics anyone? I think I have an idea what the NEA is trying to say here. Let's keep non-English speaking students segregated in ESL classes for years at the tax payer's expense. We wouldn't want to place non-English speaking students in a class for, say, an entire year where they learn nothing other than the English language so that they can then assimilate into regular classrooms and be a part of the cultural diversity of their school. No, segregation based on language is a far better option.

(As an aside, I was friends with Maria, a young girl who came to this country when I was in second grade. I didn't know her that year because she was learning the English language her first year in this country. She then joined her classmates the following year, albeit a year older than the rest of us, and then continued her education as a regular 'ole kid in a regular 'ole classroom, graduating from high school. Imagine that.)

C-15. Extremist Groups. The National Education Association condemns the philosophy and practices of extremist groups and urges active opposition to all such movements that are inimical to the ideals of the Association.

First thing I had to do was look up the word "inimical". Big, fancy word that means unfriendly, antagonistic. Makes me wonder why they didn't just use that word instead of a word that's not seen in every day language. "The NEA condemns the philosophy and practices of extremest groups and urges active opposition to all such movements that are antogonistic to the ideals of the Association. " It definitely has a more militant sound to it, for sure.

So back to section C-15 of the resolutions. Basically anyone who is unfriendly or even antagonistic to the ideals of the NEA is an extremist group?? Talk about extreme thinking. CONDEMN ANYONE WHO OPPOSES YOU. Sounds like the talk of an extremist group to me, and definitely one that home educators, as well as parents who use public education, should be wary of.

We decided that our old deck (20+ years) needed to be replaced. It was so bad that you couldn't even walk barefoot on the deck without chancing splinters in your feet. While we were at it, we decided to put in a pool. And while we were at that, we decided to add in an upper deck to access said pool. While it's not 100% complete (the deck portion, that is), the pool has been getting a work-out since it warmed up in late May. Here's a few photos of the kids showing off their moves.

Charlotte lines up for her jump

I didn't ask, but I think it's called the frog jump.

Ker-plunk

Now a word about my new radio. I knew we'd be clocking some hours outside in the pool this summer, so when asked what I wanted for my birthday last month, I said "a poolside radio to listen to some tunes while we were in the pool!" Mike, my carpenter husband, went out and found me the mother of all radios. Here it is, and I gotta say it rocks!!