My Educational Experiences:
Elementary Education
I went to elementary school on Long Island. Clara H. Carlson Elementary School to be exact. It was a great school and I attended from Kindergarden all the way through the Sixth Grade. While here I was taught by many great educators who have prepared me well for the next level of my education. I can not really say that I encounter any good, or bad experiences because this was a while ago so for me to try and remember stuff that happened is obviously difficult. I can't say I really encountered anyone pushing their views upon me or anyone other either. No book bannings or anything like that either, we were pretty much allowed to read whatever we wanted. In fact we were even encouraged to do so. They believed that as long as we were reading then it was essentially good because people were learing to read. This is contrary to today where we have Liberal's banning almost every modern classic because it contains language that is questionable to them. Meanwhile these same Liberal's are also changing the way history is taught by leaving out important and significant events in American History which causes confusion for many of these kids. I was lucky enough that I did not have to deal with any of this during my elementary years, however, I worry about the kids now and especially for those of the future including my future children. I do not want them to go to school's where they are going to be suspended for reading Huckleberry Finn or Tom Sawyer, or Romeo and Juliet. I don't want them to go to a school where they will be taught the American History as according to the Liberal's. I believe that children should be taught the skills neccessary for them to learn how to read, write, and perform arithmatic. Education is extremely important and it all starts with a sound base and that base begins with elementary education. If we are taking modern classics and classics away from these children then we are setting dangerous precedents as well as taking knowledge away from these kids. We must stop these Liberal's who are taking over our school's and taking away from our children's educational experiences and their rights as well. We must do it because they are too young to do it for themselves.
Religious Education & Views
Coming Soon!!
High School Education
My high school educational experience was not that bad overall. I mean I did tend to slack off adademic wise but that would be my only gripe. I first started off at Sewanhaka High School in Floral Park, New York (which was a Blue Ribbon School....National School of Excellence). Sewanhaka was a great school, I mean I have not really been back to visit so I do not know how it is doing now but when I went there it was certainly one of the top schools to go to in the area if you were not going to a Private or Catholic school. For the most part Political affiliations and Ideaologies were kept out of the classrooms. This helped to foster independent thinking and let the students decide on their own. After my sophomore year my family decided to move upstate to Putnam County Brewster, New York.
My junior year I attended Brewster High School in Brewster. This was another great school as well. However, there have been claims for a long time that the upstate schools were better than the schools in New York and Long Island but even though Brewster was a great school I thought that when it came to academics that Sewanhaka was better (although I could be wrong this is just what I observed for the most part). At the same time as this I also decided to attend the Communications Academy in Yorktown Heights, New York. This was another great school where I studied Computer Graphics. My senior year I was able to attend the Communications Academy full-time while also taking English 12, College English 101, Participation in Government, Economics, and Physical Education all at the same school but I would still recieve my diploma through Brewster High School. I jumped at this opportunity because the teachers at the Communications Academy in my opinion actually cared about the lives and education of their students. They took an active interest as opposed to just being their to do their jobs. Their methods were what some would call uncoventional, however, they worked and I believe that this program should be adoopted in many other schools as well. For English classes we went to coffee houses to discuss our reading, and go over topics. In Participation in Government/Economics class we often had many open debates and discussions about news and issues in which the teachers not only lectured but they participated with the students. Even the physical education class was somewhat uncoventional as we often went on nature hikes, and one time we even went up a small mountain where we had all our classes from the top! We would often discuss poetry and transendentalism as well as many other topics while on our nature hikes. This made all the students and teachers actively involved and everyone wanted to come to school.....no one wanted to miss a day because the fourteen or so of us that were the first to participate in this program became a small 'family' together. This program also prepared us for college by allowing many of us to receive three college english credits for english composition 101 and through our open discussions and debates which prepared us for the classrooms and lecture halls.
College Education
On to college. Should be a great experience. For many it is, and I guess for me it is as well, however, I do have a major complaint and that is the lack of Conservative classes available and the lack of Conservative representation as a whole on campus (newspapers, speakers made available, professors, classes,etc.) It has become aware to me that many Colleges and Universities have a Liberal Bias and this might be because of the recent study that shows that more than 90% of College Professors of Liberal Arts & Sciences are Democrat/Liberal!! This gives a new meaning to the words "Liberal Studies"! In studying the Liberal Arts you are supposed to be taking a broad range of subjects in order to allow you to think more independently, clearly, and broadly, however, this can not be done if there is a lack of Conservative classes available and only Liberally biased ones taught by Liberally Biased professors.
Our Universities are supposed to educate, train our future leaders, provide information, research, advance our scientific and medical knowledge, and shape us as a people (the problem with this last one is that many of us are being shaped in to Liberally Bias people with wreckless views that are destroying this country and undermining the government and the principles and values on which it was founded). What is the point in getting a 'Liberal' education if it is one-sided? These colleges and universities are not teaching intellectual freedom. They are teaching you the freedom to conform and conformity leads to decadence. Even student activiites such as writing for the school newspaper can be difficult for those with Conservative viewpoints. Many of the Conservative student newspapers are NOT funded by the university (which shows an uneven or not even a distribution of funding for student activities), many of these papers and students have to seek financial backing from outside sources while those students who are more Politically Correct and conform to the Liberal ideals get all the funding they want. Even when it comes to public speakers there is more funding available to those who favor Liberal views than those who do not. Conservative faculty is often discriminated against as well and to do this is a clear violation of academic freesom. Political Indoctrination is NOT education!
A recent article by David Horowitz has made this point and there have beem quite a few features on the popular nighttime debate program Hannity & Colmes. In the Horowitz article he states the Center For The Study Of Popular Culture in conjuction with other interested organizations is launching a "Campaign For Fairness and Inclusion In Higher Education". They want university administrators to implement the following demands:
1. Conduct an inquiry into political bias in the hiring process for faculty abd administrators, and seek ways to promote fairness towards-and inclusion of- diverse and under-represented mainstream perspectives.
2. Conduct an inquiry into political bias in the selection of commencement speakers and seek ways to promote fairness towards-and inclusion of- diverse and under-represented mainstream perspectives.
3. Conduct an inquiry into political bias in the allocation of student program funds- including speakers' fees- and seek ways to promote fairness towards and inclusion of diverse and under-represented mainstream perspectives.
4. Institute a zero tolerance policy towards the obstruction of campus speakers and meetings and the destruction of informational literature distributed by campus groups.
5. Adaopt a code of conduct for faculty that ensures that classrooms will welcome diverse viewpoints and not be used for political indoctrination, which is a violation of students' academic freedom.
Now this clearly does not relflect all schools and their officials, however, there is a wide majority of them that do have a Liberal Bias and this can not be ignored. I myself have been to a couple of Colleges and I have experienced Liberal Bias from certain professors and administrators and then again I have also had professors and administrators who work hard in order to keep Political Ideaology and Indoctrination out the classrooms and try to keep it off the campus as well. I will not name those Universities and Colleges where I have experienced it out of respect and the same goes for the professors and administrators. I am not saying to ban politics entirely from campuses (I am a political science major so that is definately not my intent) rather what I am saying is that there is a bias here that needs to be looked at and that in order to get a real 'Liberal' education we must incorporate as many views, classes and whatever else is necessary in order to achieve that end. The idea is not to produce robots but rather free thinking individuals fully capable of being able to make decisions for themselves and not what their professor tells them to do or to think!
Education In This Nation:
What is wrong?
What is needed?
Statistics
Spending per pupil
Percent of High School Graduates
SAT Scores
Etc.
