Leftist Baggage Weighs Down Education Bill

Leftist Baggage Weighs Down Education Bill

Wes Vernon
Thursday, May 17, 2001

WASHINGTON - What started out as a bright hope of the President Bush’s administration has become a disaster, as his strongest allies in Congress see it.

A cornerstone of his plan as governor of Texas, school choice with vouchers, was one of the first victims of the president’s efforts to reach out for Democrat support.

Several Republican members of the key education panels have let it be known that they are bailing out on this one.

They are hearing from the grassroots and the party’s base.

Concerned Women for America, the largest public policy women’s organization, complains that "the worst part of the bill is a hate/thought crimes requirement,” which amounts to "a license to persecute children if they do not agree to support the homosexual agenda.”

A culturally Marxist "political correctness” is already enforced on many college campuses. This would extend that culture to the lower grades. Up until now, the propaganda in the lower grades has often tended to be more subtle.

Other problems with the measure on the part of its critics include the following:

It replaces academic performance with the lowest common denominator. In other words, don’t encourage the brightest kids to excel. Academic achievement is not promoted.

Education is effectively defined as nothing more than work skills.

The core curriculum preaches the moral equivalency of all beliefs and behaviors, radical environmentalism that renounces the rights of private property and national sovereignty, Earth worship, radical feminism, and a challenge to the traditional role of authority of parents and families.

Some of the tests are intrusive and end up profiling the behaviors of students and their families.

The secretary of education would become a de facto national superintendent of schools. He would be in charge of approving every state plan.

As one critic puts it, "States are rendered powerless to throw off the radical agenda.”

The bill is supposed to hit the House floor today. There is a lot of unhappiness with this one. Much of the grumbling comes not from the president’s enemies, but from his friends who are complaining about substantive issues.

Some left-wingers are unhappy only because the measure, as they see it, does not throw enough money at a failed education system.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:

Bush Administration

A product that might interest you:
Shop NewsMax.com`s store for the best deals on books, tapes, videos and more!