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such as "Animal Literature," or
"Film Studies," no wonder illiter–
acy is virtually epidemic!"
The
Most lmportant Knowl–
edge-lgnoredl
The best public schools , of
course, are safe, and do produce
literate students. But where are
the schools that teach the way of
God? Many operate in subtle
ways to ridicule belief in God or
His laws.
The average child will spend
some 16,000 hours in school.
Thosé hours will have an enor–
mous influence in his life. In the
public schools,
at best
those hours
wi ll be neutral toward God; at
worst, public schools indoctrinate
children in a virtual religion of
SECULARISM.
In an interview in
Human
Events
in 1979, attorney William
Ball, one of the ablest constitu–
tional lawyers in the United
States, described just how public
schools can undermine belief in
God and His Word:
"So let's take a ch ild who
comes from a fundamentalist reli–
gious household. That child has
been taught to consider that the
Bible is the word of God. He
comes into public school class anq
let's say there is a reference to the
Bible and he says to his teacher,
well, that's the word of God, isn't
it? And children will do that kind
of thing. The teacher then is
going to have to respond in one of
severa! possible ways.
"The teacher can say, well, the
Bible is wonderful literature.
There's Shakespeare and the
Bible and they're wonderful
pieces of literature.
But this to
the fundamentalist is to contra–
die!, material/y contradict, the
concept of the Bible as being a
sacred instrument whose virtue
doesn't líe in its being a piece of
literature.
Or secondarily, the
response will have to be that we
don't say whether it's true, false
or anything else; we can't pass
any judgment on it.
"But
the fact of having to
avoid that judgment,
JiRe the fact
of having to avoid speaking about
or preaching the word of God,
implies-and
especially to the
14
child-a
lack of importance."
(Emphasis added.)
God has given parents a duty to
see that children are brought up in
His religion. The Bible does not
indulge in any trendy ideas about
' ' letting the child decide for him–
self." The Bible is
notan
unbiased
or "ne1,1tral" or "nonjudgmental"
book: "And these words, which 1
command thee this day, shall be in
thine heart: and thou shalt teach
them diligently unto thy chil–
dren ... " (Deuteronomy 6:6-7;
see also Genesis 18:19, and Deu–
teronomy 4:9 and 11: 19).
As a parent, you have a duty to
see that your child's school does
not actively teach against God's
laws-which many do!
ln Australia, for example,
there are state-operated kinder–
gartens where the children are
not even permitted to give thanks
to God for their food (as they
have been taught at home). A
number of textbooks used in the
United States present stories that
are "open ended"- where a con–
clusion about what is right or
wrong is del iberately left out in
an effort to make the student
"think about his own values."
On the surface, of course, this
may sound fine, but the damage is
subtle: by telling students they
should decide for themselves what
is right and wrong (which is where
the first humans-Adam and
Eve- went wrong!), the textbooks
propagandize that there
are no
absolute, objective, universal
val–
ues- that the only values are those
held by the studénts themselves.
The danger is not cónfined to
the odd English class textbook.
U.S. News
&
World Report
states that many educators now
complain that children's minds
are "being bent" by various
schemes designed by psychologi–
cal or sociological engineers. The
same magazine also has reported
that one group, the Children's
Defense Fund, -has charged that
"too many schools are subjecting
problem children to psychological
treat.ment ,
including
the use
of
mind-altering drugs in sorne
cases. "
(Emphasis added.)
The Bible reveals that at the
time just before the return of
Christ, the hearts of the children
would
need to be turned toward
their parents
(Malachi 4:5-6),
and vice versa. Yet some public
schools use textbooks that do
their little bit to turn the hearts
of the children
against
their par–
ents! Columnist Andrew Tully
cites the following passage from a
school creative writing textbook:
"Recount some incidents you
or those you know have experi–
enced which illustrate how paren–
tal interfercnce in the personal
lives of their sons and daughters
can lead to misunderstandings,
broken relationships, or even fam–
ily tragedies."
Here are public school text–
books propagandizing students
against "parental interference"!
The bias of the text is obvious:
family and parental authority
should be broken down.
Another case of bias against
God's law was the federally
funded
Man: A Course of Study
series. Under a cover of anthro–
pology, the series introduced
fifth-graders to subjects such
as
wife-swapping, murder of grand–
parents and mating with animals.
Worse, the program subtly indoc–
trinated students that such prac–
tices are morally permissible
because they are accepted in vari–
ous cultures around the world;
and, after all, as the trendy idea
goes, you have no right to "put
down" someone else's culture (no
matter how dbgenerate!).
Psychological testing is another
way in which
sorne
public schools
alienate · children from their par–
ents. Some
VERY PERSONAL
ques–
tions are asked.
J ames
L.
Kilpatrick reports
that he was sent one question–
naire from California that asks of
fifth-grade boys, "Do you often
play with your penis?" The same
questionnaire asked of little girls,
"Do you often see your father
with no clothes on? "
The practice of asking such
questions is so widespread that
U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch felt
compelled to introduce legislat_ion
that would prevent any student
from ever being required to sub–
mit to psychological tests or ques-
(Continued on page 36)
The
PLAIN TRUTH