[August 24th] -- Nothing in education brings out the emotions like school choice does. And well it should.

My wife and I moved our family from St. Louis Missouri to West Palm Beach Florida in the fall of 1985. I had taken a job with a better firm that paid more money, and our family was beginning to reap the rewards that hard work offered. We spent a good deal of time finding the "right" place to live to make sure that our daughter was going to attend the "right" school. We found a nice apartment in an ideal part of West Palm. Once moved in, my wife and I went to the local elementary school to register our daughter.

"You can't send your daughter to our school" said the principal. It seemed that that part of Florida was under a judges bussing order, and in the name of forced segregation, Kira was going to be bussed to a predominately black part of the county, nearly a 40 minute bus trip from our home. Luckily, we were able to circumvent the law because we had a "special needs" child in our home, and my daughter was able to attend the local school.

Today, school choice is as important a topic as it was 20 years ago. Many parents, working with local legislators, are trying to create a "voucher" system, which would allow familes to send their kids to the schools of their choice. Of course, the NEA and is subsidiary associations are against the idea. And that's fine. But when members of either side create information that is less than factual, they only hurt themselves.

Phi Delta Kappa recently published the results of an opinion poll they commissioned which suggested that only 37% of Americans supported voucher programs. Thinking something was askew, the Friedman Foundation asked the Harris Poll Company to create a poll of their own. The Harris Poll showed that 60% of Americans supported school vouchers. Why the difference?

Phi Delta Kappa used a "loaded" question, asking if the person supported using public funds to send students to "private" schools. Of course, this is not how vouchers work. Parents can use the voucher at any public or private school. When Harris added the "public" to the "private" schools in the question, support for vouchers received an astonishing 23% increase.

Phi Delta Kappa is on the same page with the NEA. They seem more intent in maintaining the status quo rather than admitting that something needs to be done to give our future generations a chance for any real success in their lives. Perhaps vouchers are the answer, perhaps they are not. But truth and accuracy should never be shunned in the hopes of making any side of an argument more palatable.

# posted by Farid Rushdi @ 3:16 PM 0 comments

[August 15th] - When I was a young boy just beginning public school, there was no political fight regarding the teaching of Darwin's theory of evolution. As late as 1963, God was as prevalent in public schools as blackboards. Oh sure, Darwin's theories were explained, but evolution was but one of several ideas discussed.

Then Came Madeline Murray O'Hare.

Her lawsuit effectively removed God from the classroom. In that vacuum, Darwin's theories became the only answer to the question, "Where did we come from?" No longer were educators allowed to teach "Intelligent Design." For the next forty years, America's school children were faced with an "Iron Curtain" of thought that was erected by the secularists that offered only one side of the story. Teacher's in many school districts faced dismissal if they brought up the possibility of intelligent design in their classroom. One district in New Jersey dismissed a teacher for wearing a cross around her neck, citing the separation of church and state as being all encompassing. The question is, why?

Teach the students, teachers. Don't indoctrinate them. If you believe that science supersedes America's strong religious roots, then allow the kids the opportunity to see both sides and then trust them to make the right choice. I believe strongly that every student has the right to make an informed decision, especially on the topics that tear at the very fabric of society. I'd much rather have a student make a choice that opposes my own personal beliefs then be forced to believe something because they weren't given all the information.

# posted by Farid Rushdi @ 7:38 AM 0 comments

[August 5th] - This mascot is simply wrong. Although I personally do not believe that schools who have chosen Native American names and mascots are inherently racist, there is such a thing as good taste and decorum. Mascots that are created using stereotypes and caricatures shouldn't be used by schools.

That said, no government entity or private group or organization should have the ability to forbid their use simply because certain specific individuals within that group or organization feel they are offensive.

The NCAA, which governs college athletics, announced August 4th that they would not allow any member school to participate in post-season play if their team mascot is brought to the venue, or if the mascot is represented on the team uniforms or other team property. Currently, there are 18 schools who have been singled out for this ban, including Florida State and the University of Illinois.

The NCAA does not have the right to forbid certain schools to participate in post season tournaments because they believe the school is fronting an offensive stereotype of Native Americans. Forget for a moment that the First amendment protects the actions of these schools. The problem we face is that where will this alleged "offensive" status be applied and by who. These schools have been singled out because of strong Native American lobbying. But why stop with Native Americans? Are we not concerned that the Michigan State Spartans name and mascot might be offensive to some Greeks? Certainly, the team's mascot is stereotypical of a Spartan soldier. Why is that OK but a man on a horse portraying a Seminole Indian is not? I attend Idaho State University, and a school in our conference, Northern Arizona, is known as the "Lumberjacks" with a big, burly stereotypical lumberjack mascot. Couldn't that offend men who cut down trees? We could find schools like this in every conference across the country.

It is no one's business but the schools as to their team names and mascot. When the NCAA begins to decide which names are offensive and which we are not, and they then become no different or no better than any group who haphazardly discriminates based soley on their personal beliefs. Don't believe it can happen? A few years ago, the NCAA passed a resolution that said all NCAA teams had to play on any day asked of it in the post season, including Sunday, or that school would be forced to forfeit the game. This was known as the "BYU" rule, as no other team had a problem with Sunday play. It took a backlash from many of the nation's secular schools to force the NCAA to change its mind.

It's just not right.

# posted by Farid Rushdi @ 11:56 AM 0 comments