Parents across the country organized, vowing to “take back education” from the communist influence that had been infiltrating the country since the late 1950s. Where do we start? The decline of education has With 45 Communist goals, abandoning socialist education and replacing it with traditional classical learning is an important first step in Texas.Texas has addressed this issue with new TEA Open Educational Resources (OER) for K-5 Reading and Language Arts (RLA) and K-9 Math, returning to paper materials instead of digital lessons.
(Disclosure: I served as an expert reviewer for the RLA.) Reading and phonics lessons are taught through age-appropriate, highly engaging stories about history, literature, art, and culture, with history and religion as foundational tools in literature.
Nationwide, the current public school curriculum contains destructive Communist goals: dumbing down the curriculum, normalizing homosexuality, obscenity, and pornography, discrediting the family, banning all religious expression in schools that supposedly violates the principle of “separation of church and state,” discrediting the Founding Fathers and the Constitution, discouraging the teaching of American history, eliminating all fine art and sculpture, and discrediting American culture.
TEA OER will eliminate all radical ideologies aimed at undermining natural law, separating families, and reshaping societal values, and return public education to rigorous academic learning.
In an effort to stop the Texas Board of Education (SBOE) from approving the curriculum, critics have discredited and even threatened supporters, and invented outrageous lies. Why are people so desperate to stop the approval of a curriculum that would return our schools to strong academic centers? The answer to these actions always seems to be money, bribes, power, or the limelight.
If OER is adopted, billions of dollars will be lost to those at the bottom who prey on our children and our public school systems: highly paid district and local officials who administer SEL and LGBT programs; doctors who surgically remove young body parts; and Big Pharma's puberty suppressants and lifelong medications for mentally disabled students. Fewer computers in traditional classrooms could mean fewer taxpayer dollars in EdTech coffers. Powerful teachers unions would lose control of the classroom. When people are no longer indoctrinated and dumbed down, those who seek control and power will find it harder to control a well-educated citizenry.
In a CBS 5 news report, a prominent Rice University political science professor argued that the curriculum violates the “segregation clause” of the Constitution, which of course doesn't exist. What's being banned is an officially government-sponsored church.
Some claim that Christian nationalism has been unconstitutionally incorporated into the curriculum. The term is primarily used to denigrate conservative Christians who defend the role of religion in American public life, and is the latest Communist strategy to divide and indoctrinate Christians. This is an attempt to silence anyone who opposes open borders, same-sex marriage, men in women's locker rooms, abortion, or gender reassignment.
Some people demand equal attendance in classes of other religions. Why should they do that? Our founding documents are based on Judeo-Christian principles. Students learn that the basis for the principle “all men are created equal” in the Declaration of Independence is linked to Magna Carta, which is linked to the world's most famous sermon, Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. Students learn why the Sermon on the Mount is a key component of Western Civilization. Students learn the values and principles that lead to the British colonization of North America, the founding of our country, and the way our government was designed to function. Students learn that despite what has been said, America is not a democracy, but a constitutional republic with a representative democratic system of government.
It is important that students acquire knowledge of the Bible because it is the most widely read book in the world. The Church had a strong influence in medieval Western Europe, and so there are many references to Christianity and the Bible in history and literature. Students need religious background to understand literary references and historical events.
Do we really believe that a country where Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Islam are the majority religions would allow Christianity into its school curriculum? Why should America submit to a progressive socialist left that wants to eradicate Christianity and pave the way for a totalitarian government?
This country is being hollowed out by the destruction of Christian morality. No amount of money or security can protect schools from mentally ill shooters. Until we instill morality and positive character in our young people, help them understand love for others and themselves, and teach self-control, violence will continue. OER RLA does this through classroom activities and stories about the Golden Rule, the Good Samaritan, and the Sermon on the Mount, where children learn how to be good neighbors and treat others with courtesy. If schools would stop teaching extreme sex education that leads children down a dark path to confusion and mental instability, and instead teach moral education through OER, more children would be mentally healthy.
American students were once the most creative in the world, thanks to what and how they were taught. As a result, America became the world leader with millions of inventions and the richest country on earth. America is no longer a country of great inventors. In fact, low adult literacy rates cost the economy $2.2 trillion per year. OER takes us back to the old days with lessons that teach creativity and critical thinking. There is also a great unit on becoming an inventor. Removing entire languages and digital learning and bringing back phonics and cursive improves reading comprehension. With a highly literate workforce, America can be competitive in the global marketplace again.
While progressive education seeks to discredit and eradicate all memory of the high culture of Western civilization, OER RLA presents many short stories about the Middle Ages, including the construction of magnificent cathedrals, artistic masters such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Donatello, and Shakespeare, the Renaissance, and the history of Western culture.
Many parents are pulling their children out of public schools, but some are not. If school districts continue to use extremist ideological materials, America-hating, illiterate, crazy progressive socialist leftists will storm schools and increase hostility towards public education. School districts may not have a choice about whether to use new academic curriculum if they want to keep their students and funding. When teachers start using approved OER, academic achievement will rise in Texas and mentally healthy students will be able to self-regulate.
The good news is that this outstanding curriculum is free for anyone to download and use, including homeschoolers and other state residents. As Texas moves forward, so does the nation.
Dr. Carol Hornsby Haynes is an education policy analyst, curriculum consultant, and historian.