Educational Tyranny

Liberty-minded Americans will be interested in the following press release from the National Education Association:

Nation's Educators Sound the Alarm on School Dropout Crisis

NEA's Plan for Reducing School Dropouts
NEA and its 3.2 million members believe every child in America should attend a great public school. It is a basic right of every American. The mission of NEA is to unite our members and the nation to fulfill the promise of public education that prepares every student to succeed in a global society.

We also believe that providing great public schools for every child is the shared responsibility of NEA and its 3.2 million members/educators, as well as parents, families, communities, businesses, and government at the national, state, and local levels.

NEA has developed 12 action steps to address the nation's school dropout crisis. While there are many ways to address this problem, NEA has chosen steps that are the most promising based on a wide range of experience and data.

NEA's 12 Dropout Action Steps:

1. Mandate high school graduation or equivalency as compulsory for everyone below the age of 21. Just as we established compulsory attendance to the age of 16 or 17 in the beginning of the 20th century, it is appropriate and critical to eradicate the idea of "dropping out" before achieving a diploma. To compete in the 21st century, all of our citizens, at minimum, need a high school education.
   
   
2. Establish high school graduation centers for students 19-21 years old to provide specialized instruction and counseling to all students in this older age group who would be more effectively addressed in classes apart from younger students.
   
   
3. Make sure students receive individual attention in safe schools, in smaller learning communities within large schools, in small classes (18 or fewer students), and in programs during the summer, weekends, and before and after school that provide tutoring and build on what students learn during the school day.
   
   
4. Expand students' graduation options through creative partnerships with community colleges in career and technical fields and with alternative schools so that students have another way to earn a high school diploma. For students who are incarcerated, tie their release to high school graduation at the end of their sentences.
   
   
5. Increase career education and workforce readiness programs in schools so that students see the connection between school and careers after graduation. To ensure that students have the skills they need for these careers, integrate 21st century skills into the curriculum and provide all students with access to 21st century technology.
   
   
6. Act early so students do not drop out with high-quality, universal preschool and full-day kindergarten; strong elementary programs that ensure students are doing grade-level work when they enter middle school; and middle school programs that address causes of dropping out that appear in these grades and ensure that students have access to algebra, science, and other courses that serve as the foundation for success in high school and beyond.
   
   
7. Involve families in students' learning at school and at home in new and creative ways so that all families-single-parent families, families in poverty, and families in minority communities-can support their children's academic achievement, help their children engage in healthy behaviors, and stay actively involved in their children's education from preschool through high school graduation.
   
   
8. Monitor students' academic progress in school through a variety of measures during the school year that provide a full picture of students' learning and help teachers make sure students do not fall behind academically.
   
   
9. Monitor, accurately report, and work to reduce dropout rates by gathering accurate data for key student groups (such as racial, ethnic, and economic), establishing benchmarks in each state for eliminating dropouts, and adopting the standardized reporting method developed by the National Governors Association.
   
   
10. Involve the entire community in dropout prevention through family-friendly policies that provide release time for employees to attend parent-teacher conferences; work schedules for high school students that enable them to attend classes on time and be ready to learn; "adopt a school" programs that encourage volunteerism and community-led projects in school; and community-based, real-world learning experiences for students.
    
    
11. Make sure educators have the training and resources they need to prevent students from dropping out including professional development focused on the needs of diverse students and students who are at risk of dropping out; up-to-date textbooks and materials, computers, and information technology; and safe modern schools.
    
    
12. Make high school graduation a federal priority by calling on Congress and the president to invest $10 billion over the next 10 years to support dropout prevention programs and states who make high school graduation compulsory.

Groups like the NEA want control of your children from the time they are able to crawl. The plan is to start conditioning them early so that they can be formed and shaped into functional members of the socialist collective.

Still think public education is the way to go?

America: Freedom to Fascism

Aaron Russo's hard-hitting documentary, America: Freedom to Fascism, had a very limited release across the country. Fortunately, it is now available online via Google video.

WARNING: Viewing this film may cause you to become very angry - and it should.

More Evidence of a Police State

In many ways, America is still freer than most countries, but much of that freedom is an illusion. One of the most telling factors is the number of people in prison. A recent Reuters article discusses the U.S. incarceration rate:

Tough sentencing laws, record numbers of drug offenders and high crime rates have contributed to the United States having the largest prison population and the highest rate of incarceration in the world, according to criminal justice experts.

A U.S. Justice Department report released on November 30 showed that a record 7 million people - or one in every 32 American adults - were behind bars, on probation or on parole at the end of last year. Of the total, 2.2 million were in prison or jail.

According to the International Center for Prison Studies at King's College in London, more people are behind bars in the United States than in any other country. China ranks second with 1.5 million prisoners, followed by Russia with 870,000.

Okay, but that just means that we're tougher on violent criminals, right? Well, not exactly:

"The United States has 5 percent of the world's population and 25 percent of the world's incarcerated population. We rank first in the world in locking up our fellow citizens," said Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy Alliance, which supports alternatives in the war on drugs.

"We now imprison more people for drug law violations than all of western Europe, with a much larger population, incarcerates for all offenses."

Ryan King, a policy analyst at The Sentencing Project, a group advocating sentencing reform, said the United States has a more punitive criminal justice system than other countries.

"We send more people to prison, for more different offenses, for longer periods of time than anybody else," he said.

Drug offenders account for about 2 million of the 7 million in prison, on probation or parole, King said, adding that other countries often stress treatment instead of incarceration. ...

... Julie Stewart, president of the group Families Against Mandatory Minimums, cited the Justice Department report and said drug offenders are clogging the U.S. justice system.

"Why are so many people in prison? Blame mandatory sentencing laws and the record number of nonviolent drug offenders subject to them," she said.

When we start locking up non-violent "criminals" for hurting no one but themselves, we have officially crossed the line into tyrannical territory.

One of the problems with the Justice Department report is that it only focuses on those who are in prison, on probation, or on parole. Countless Americans are penalized in other ways every day.

If you don't think we live in a police state, take a drive without wearing your seat belt and see how long it takes before a cop writes you a ticket. On your next trip to the grocery store, park in one of the 25 seldom-used handicapped spaces. Try replacing those broken concrete steps in the front of your house without a permit. Light up a cigar within ten feet of a public building entrance and see if you aren't harassed by someone in uniform. Try starting your own business without first paying for the appropriate forms to ask permission from the government, without paying the proper license and filing fees, without getting a tax ID number and charging sales tax, etc. And if you're really daring, walk boldy through an airport security line without removing your shoes.

I suppose it could be worse. I am thankful that I haven't been dragged from my bed in the middle of the night and shot. But shouldn't living in the "Land of the Free" mean more than that?

Something tells me that the Founding Fathers wouldn't even recognize the America of today as the country for which they fought and died. If they could see us now, I think they would call for an immediate repeal of the Declaration of Independence. Why go through the pains of bringing liberty to people who clearly don't want it?