"1MAN4ALL" <forahmad@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:ba13f877.0409091921.563c69f5@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> concernedparent@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(Elizabeth Kennedy) wrote in message
news:<fdf198f8.0409081600.4cb0314a@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>...
> > I think individual parent's wishes should be respected by our schools.
> > Especially, any wishes concerning any family's religous beliefs or
> > modesty concerns.
> >
> > I am a Christian Mom of a 9 year old daugher. Last week she started
> > the fourth grade in which the elementary school begins requiring
> > showers. This is much too young! Children this young are very
> > impressionable and are not old enough to have fully developed a proper
> > sense of Christian modesty. I do not want my child to be taught that
> > public ****ity and group showers are OK just because some liberal
> > school administrator thinks this is a great idea.
> >
> > All the girl's shower together completely ****, as this is what the
> > school encourages and coerces them to do. The girl's school showers
> > are just one open communal room which my family believes is associated
> > with the type of bad morals we teach and pray that our children avoid.
> >
> > I complained to the PE teacher, but she was very condescending. She
> > agreed my daughter could wear a bathing suit, but still has to shower
> > with all the other students who are ****. The peer pressue of the
> > other students and the teacher is too much for a young 9 year old
> > child and my daughter has already asked me if she can just shower
> > unclothed like the other kids so she can fit in. The school also
> > refuses to let my daughter shower in a private room elsewhere in the
> > school.
> >
> > Conservative Christian parents (and other religions, like Muslims) are
> > going to start fighting back. Amazon.com lists a book about Concerned
> > Parent's fight against Jr. High PE teacher (
> >
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1410735990/qid=1094673967/sr=8-
> > ) with one parent's courageous example.
> >
> > People who encourage or sup****t these forced shower policies are
> > helping to violate the privacy of are precious innocent children.
> > Check out the following poll for an example:
> >
> > http://www.misterpoll.com/1335548515.html
> >
> > The voters of this poll should have more respect for individual and
> > religious rights as guaranteed in our country's constitution!
>
>
> Here are some briefs outlines of my Education program:
>
> Education debate in this country has been limited to vouchers (which
> is an admission that some public schools are performing poorly),
> smaller class sizes, and performance tests for students and teachers.
> Little attention is ever paid to what is actually taught in schools.
>
> 1. I would put greater emphasis on teachings basics i.e. English, Math
> and Science and reduce number of electives that students normally
> take. In High Schools, students will be required to take courses in
> English Grammar, Letter Writing, Personal Finances, and Computer
> Science.
>
The cl***** I'm seeing that you'd be reducing at the secondary level would
be Foreign language, fine arts, and history. With the exception of fine
arts, these aren't electives for college bound students-are you implying
they should be? Most electives taken by college bound students ARE
additional courses in the major academic subjects.
Also, are you pondering eliminating fine arts and PE at the elementary
level? Social studies?
What are you terming "computer science"? Most students need little
instruction on using a computer or basic software applications, even in an
inner city school. A rigorous course in OOP would require a pretty high
level of mathematical understanding to go in, and anything else would be
obsolete within a year or two (as are the "teach yourself X language" and
many computer language cl***** now).
> 2. Middle School and High School students will be required to take one
> "Courtesy, Civics and Ethics" course one semester each year. They will
> also take an additional course in Logic, Religion or Philosophy each
> semester. If they choose to take a religion course, the parent or
> church groups will be allowed to provide volunteer teachers to teach
> religion. So, for example, a Rabbi would teach a religion class to
> Jewish students and a Muslim parent or Imam would be able to teach
> Muslim students. Religious education would be totally optional.
> Students will be able to take a philosophy class one semester and a
> religion class in another. Atheist students can stay in philosophy
> class or take a logic class. If students wish to take a religion class
> (in which their own religion would be instructed) there would have to
> be a minimum number of students of that religion before that class can
> be offered_ let's say ten. (Students from different grades may also be
> in one class). Parent groups of different sects may also join to have
> a common teacher in order to have the required number of students for
> a class.
>
> For religion class the only thing that school would provide is
> classroom space. This would do away with the need to have
> parochial/Sunday schools. Church groups will also be allowed to
> provide donations to the schools rather than spend millions in
> building religious schools. The end result would be a much better,
> more disciplined student population and greater community involvement.
> Note also that I am proposing a separate "Courtesy, Civics and Ethics"
> class once a year. In this class, students will be taught how to
> behave and understand their role in society.
>
I love the idea of the Courtesy, Civics and Ethics course-except that I'd
suggest it start younger, before patterns of behavior are as set. By the
middle school level, many students have completely adopted a herd
mentality,
and look to the herd for behavior.
The Shelby County schools attempted to do this sort of religion class a
few
years ago, and had real difficulty with getting enough students to have it
form at a given high school. I don't know if any of the articles on the
battles to create the class and the results are still online or not.
|
