Culture Clips – February 06, 2007

You're Opposed to Same-Sex Marriage — You Must be a Member of the Ku Klux Klan

Justin Boone is a senior high school student at Community Schools in Michigan. He contacted our office with a matter of serious constitutional concern. By all accounts, Justin is a first-rate student and wonderful citizen of his school. He is a member of the National Society of High School Scholars, an emergency room volunteer at a local hospital, and will be a student in the Honor Government class next semester. Moreover, to further demonstrate Justin's academic ambitions, he is taking classes in Japanese and Mandarin Chinese at the local Michigan Community College. In short, Justin is a dedicated student and active citizen.

Last semester, Justin was enrolled in a course entitled "Law and Public Speaking." As described in the student handbook, this course aims to “help students understand the legal system in America while given the opportunity to develop oral expression through practice." One of the many purposes of the class is to help students “become more self-confident to function in a free society — even if they never make a public speech after they leave this course.”

Late last year, Justin and three other students presented their public speaking topic regarding the issue of same-sex marriage. This topic was approved ahead of time by Justin's teachers. In preparing for and delivering their speeches, Justin and the other members of his group followed and fulfilled each and every guideline provided by their instructors. Justin initially selected the topic in question and served as the moderator for the group. As moderator, Justin introduced the topic and gave a brief summary of the points each member of the speech group was to deliver.

Justin presented closing remarks as well.

The students covered the following areas in making their presentation:

1) Religious opposition to same-sex marriage;
2) Political opposition to same-sex marriage; and
3) Scientific evidence as it relates to same-sex marriage.

Despite their hard work, each member of the group received a failing grade for their assignment. Other than brief notes sketched out by the teachers on evaluation forms, Justin was not presented with any details or reasons as to why he and the other members of his group received an “F” for their presentation.

The day after the presentation, Justin met with one of his teachers regarding an assignment unrelated to the same-sex marriage issue; however, the teacher brought up the previous presentation on the same-sex marriage issue and told Justin that he “reminded” him “of the Ku Klux Klan.” This comment was made in the presence of other students in the classroom. Later that same day, during the Law and Public Speaking class, the teacher stated, in front of the students present for class, that the presentation of Justin's group was “offensive” and made reference, once again, to the Ku Klux Klan — to which the other public speaking teacher publicly commented, “pointed hats and long-flowing robes.”

Jay Sekulow
Townhall

--

Mental Health Screening at School

Mental health screening of all children is the goal of legislation introduced into many state legislatures this year. Typical of these controversial bills is the Missouri bill that would require every Missouri school district, in collaboration with "the office of comprehensive child mental health," to develop "a policy of incorporating social and emotional development into the district's educational program."

The Missouri bill requires schools to "address teaching and assessing social and emotional skills and protocols for responding to children with social, emotional or mental health problems." The bill also requires the Missouri State Board of Education to set "social and emotional development standards."

One marvels at the arrogance of government officials who think they can set children's social and emotional standards. Where on the chart would they place a child crying because he fell and skinned his knee?

Cortland County, N.Y., has already announced a plan to screen annually every fifth-grader and ninth-grader for mental health problems. The purpose, according to the county director of youth services, is "to raise awareness that mental health issues are in essence no different than other physical issues, such as heart disease." Apparently, you are not "aware" if you think otherwise. The screening process, which takes 15 minutes, involves getting the kids to answer a series of yes-or-no questions, on either computer or paper. It is claimed that parental permission will be necessary, but all children of any age in foster care will automatically be screened.

Mental health screening is based on the assumption that 10 percent of children suffer from a mental disorder severe enough to cause impairment, and that 5 percent of children have emotional or behavior difficulties that interfere with learning, friendships and family life.

Phyllis Schlafly
Townhall

--

Down with Self-Esteem

Remember self-esteem? It was one of the sillier — and more dangerous — fads in educational circles, which keep going round and round. The theory was that promoting kids' self-esteem was going to convince them they were great. And it just might. But that's no guarantee they are great. On the contrary, this kind of psychological scam could have the opposite effect. Having been told how well they're doing throughout their well-insulated school years, these kids could be in for the shock of their nice, cushioned lives when they're thrown into the real world. And discover that their education wasn't so great after all. Or that a better word for it might be shoddy. The realization might be so crushing they'd just give up.

Some of us had hoped this fad had come and gone. It had. But now it's come back. Bad ideas apparently never die; they just go underground for a while. There they lurk, like an infection, waiting to crop up again in the strangest places.

Paul Greenberg
Townhall

--

Utahns Win Hard-Fought Victory for School Choice T

he late Milton Friedman, who was the nation's foremost advocate for school choice, would be more than pleased with the news coming out of Utah. By a vote of 38-37, the Utah House last Thursday approved the first-ever statewide universal school choice plan.

Utah's plan is modest, and at the same time revolutionary. It would reimburse parents sending their children to private schools between $500 and $3,000 a year based on their family income. Parents whose kids currently attend private school would not be eligible unless their income was low enough. But all new kindergartners would qualify, so that by 2020 all private school students would be eligible for vouchers.

State Rep. Steve Urquhart, the bill's chief sponsor, says the breakthrough in winning House approval was the realization that it wouldn't harm public education. The bill stipulated that for five years after a voucher student left the public system, the district would get to keep much of the money the state had paid for his education. Given that the average district gets $3,500 from the state and the average voucher is expected to be $2,000, a typical school district would gain some $1,500 every time a student left its system.

John Fund
Opinion Journal

Click here to sign up for Meridian's FREE email updates.