"Teach-in" or political indoctrination?

An article in today's Dallas Morning News details a California "teach-in" held May 1. For this "teach-in" protest, regular curriculum was suspended. Social Studies Teacher Craig Gordon said the goal was to raise awareness among students who may not have a firm grasp of the relationship between what happens at home and what happens "out there." "I want them to actively think about the priorities of society, because they are the ones who are going to be most affected," Gordon said.


Of course, a third of Gordon's students were missing. Latino students staged their own protest, marching in front of the school to complain about their perceived lack of immigrant rights. If they're so oppressed here, my suggestion to them is to go back to Mexico where they can get a real quality education.


Anyway, back to Mr. Gordon. Despite what he says, Mr. Gordon doesn't want his students to "actively think." He wants them to think the way he does. Examples from his discussion topics prove the point: students from elementary to adult education discussed "everything from whether the U.S. was committing acts of violence against innocent people to whether American businesses were getting rich on the backs of the poor." I don't know about you, but that sounds a little biased to me. One worksheet handed out to students assessed current events: "About 1,000,000 Iraqis are dead and 4,000 American soldiers . The war will cost the U.S. about $2.8 trillion. Our schools don't have money. Many people don't have health care." Do you think this man is a liberal or a conservative? If he's not indoctrinating, you shouldn't be able to tell.


And all these young skulls full of mush (as Rush would say) are falling for this crap. "We don't have any money because it's all going to the war," said Ashley Lawless, an 18-year-old senior who, moments before, had been obsessively fixing her hair.


District officials, while not sanctioning the teach-in, didn't condemn it, either. They said they recognized the need to teach current events, and these lessons exemplified that.

Make no mistake -- these were NOT current events lessons. The teach-in was nothing short of political indoctrination. And if it ever occurs in my school district, they'll have more than a bunch of Mexicans protesting in front of the school!