Saturday, February 3, 2024

The Undeclared War on Parents

 From Voice of the Family:

Last September, the Biden administration announced that the Department of Health and Human Services would no longer approve the placement of children in need of foster care in homes that did not affirm the homosexual and gender identity agenda. The American Family Association warned that the assumption underlying this new policy is that Christian homes cannot provide a safe environment for children.

For almost forty years, it has been the policy of successive UK governments to provide birth control and abortions to underage girls without the knowledge of their parents. By promoting this method of social engineering as medical treatment, the National Health Service has successfully robbed parents of the right to make medical decisions in the best interests of their children. One unforeseen consequence of this policy has now made Britain notorious for the medical abduction of critically ill children (too numerous to name) to prevent them from receiving treatment abroad. 

Finally, the coordinated promotion of comprehensive sex education by the United Nations,8 the World Health Organisation9 and the European Union threatens to nullify what remains of the legal recognition of parental authority. The magnitude of that misfortune will dwarf even the tragedy described by Isidore in his sermon on the fate of the boys of Thessaloniki. The evidence of the devastating effects of widespread sex education is beyond dispute. Not only does the sexualisation of children at increasingly younger ages leave them more vulnerable to abuse and exploitation by adults, but it often turns children themselves into predators. A report published on 15 January 2024, into Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation in England and Wales revealed the horror of a society which had sexualised generations of young children. The data presented by the National Police Chief’s Council showed that in 2022, fifty-two per cent of all cases of child abuse and sexual exploitation “involved reports of children (aged ten to seventeen) offending against other children, with fourteen being the most common age.” The report noted:

“This is a growing and concerning trend involving a wide range of offending. Whilst some include exploratory online sexual behaviours, some of the most prevalent forms include serious sexual assaults, including rape.”10

While the publication of this report should provoke demands for a radical change in policy, the influence of the sex education lobby is so strong that even the most damning evidence is used to call for even more explicit sex education programmes supposedly to protect children from the increasing danger of abuse. 

600 years ago, under the devshirme system, Janissaries were forbidden to take wives. Instead, they were encouraged to prey on younger boys.11 Fear of “Turkish pederasty”12 drove some parents to inflict an injury on their sons, like a broken arm or leg, in the hope that it would render them unsuitable for military service.13 It was they reckoned better “to go into life maimed or lame, than having two hands or two feet, [and] be cast into everlasting fire.” (Mt 18:8) Such measures would not provide a solution in our time, but urgent action is required and personal sacrifices must be expected. (Read more.)

 

Equity grading. From The Easton Gazette:

The education system, not wishing to be outdone by the "participation trophy" sports movement has instituted their own version. It's called "equity grading" and if you don't think it's real pay attention to your local education officials as they fall all over each other using the phrase to convince parents that this approach will actually help kids learn and achieve. Watch this news story from Portland, Oregon:

Portland Public Schools considers major grading changes | kgw.com

Note that they say that schools that have instituted this philosophy have "more motivated students." Question is, motivated for what?

The main idea of "equity grading" is that students should only be graded on their assessment results in class. There are no grades for homework, classwork, class participation, hard work etc. Students cannot be penalized for late work or work not handed in at all. The overriding idea is that every student should get an "A" in class.

It's called "equity grading" because one of its premises is that many children come from different circumstances, cultures, economic situations with different levels of support from parents, families, communities, etc. so they should not be held to the same grading standards as other children. In fact, they should not have to be held to deadlines, hand in assignments for grades, or do homework for grades. Educators say that some kids can't hand work in on time and do homework and some kids just don't want to do classwork.

It may sound good to many folks who will say, "Well, what's wrong with that? It's not fair to hold everyone to the same standards. " Remember, we are not talking about children who are special needs and/or those who are intellectually limited. We are talking about children who are of normal or above intelligence who come from different ethnic, family, or economic backgrounds. They are children who can do the work. The theory, which claims to eliminate bias, is actually judging students in the most biased of ways, by who they are, their demographic, and not by what they do. They have virtually given up on the potential for some students to do what is required in order to learn.

In equity grading, students can either do the classwork or not, do the homework of not. It won't matter as long as they are "proficient" in skills come test time. Notice I said "proficient" not "accomplished" or "expert." Proficient means you can do the most basic skills in a basic manner, enough to get by. So, if you barely pass the test with a 60%, you are considered just as accomplished as the student who passed with 100%. All students get "A's" regardless of if they did classwork or homework, and regardless of percentages on exams. (Read more.)


Meanwhile, in Maryland.... A bill to make pornography available to children in schools. From Jan Greenhawk at the Easton Gazette:

It's becoming so common place now that many people don't even blink an eye when it happens. The State of Maryland, in an attempt to control the indoctrination apparatus of our public schools, will neuter school boards who are responsive to local citizens. The Legislature will do this by enacting laws and mandates that give the power of those local, elected school boards to unelected state bureaucrats.

The "Freedom to Read Act" is the latest poison pill in this effort. It falls in line behind many other bills presented or passed in the last two years in the tyrannical Maryland General Assembly. Infamous HB 119, a bill which would have mandated local school systems to adhere specifically to the prurient goals of the "Health and Sex Education Framework," went so far as to threaten systems with a "fine" if they didn't comply. Thankfully, after serious resistance by the Maryland Association of Boards of Education and local school boards across the state, the bill died a swift death. (Don't worry, they are bringing in back this year thanks to Howard County Delegate Vanessa Atterbeary.)

Of course, the biggest takeover of local control is the Blueprint for Maryland's Future, which mandates everything from programs provided, teachers' salaries, and, of course, county funding. This latest proposed bill, SB 0738, seems innocuous by its title. It's something Progressives do all the time, name a bill with a title that sounds great but really is anything but what it says. Calling it the "Freedom to Read Act" makes it sound like a bill that will encourage people to read. Maybe it should say, "Freedom to Read PORNOGRAPHY Act." (Read more.)

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