Brian, so sorry to hear this and even more sorry to inform you this is just the beginning. I have two kids already in high school. One in a Catholic school and one in a public school, but it is a public school that you need to actually test for admittance into, it is considered one of the three elite public schools here in NYC. They both went to Catholic school for elementary school. While private school, in my opinion anyway, is much more preferable than public education it is far from perfect.
My son, in 8th grade, was taught by a nun that the Crusaders were the aggressors against the peaceful islamic world. This same nun also had the kids say "native American" whenever they read the word Indian, even if it actually says Indian in the book.
My daughter took the National Merit Scholarship. She recieved the commended scholar award, that is the second level. The top level is the actual National Merit scholarship. My daughter(half white/half asian), and three other white girls recieved the commended award. A black girl and a hispanic girl recieved the National Black merit Scholarship and the National Hispanic Merit Scholarship even though they both scored lower than the four white girls and even though they all attend the same private school.
Even though both my kids are excellent students grade wise and do very well in school they had no clue who Presley O'Bannon was, that George Custer was at Gettysburg, did not ever hear of a revolutionary war commander even though we live on a street named after him, never heard of Anzio, never heard of Charles Martel or Jon Sobieski, did not know what the Nuremberg trials or the McCarthy hearings were, this list could go on for pages. Just trying to make a point of how certain things are conviently left out of education. I have made sure that I educated them where school was lacking. I unfortunetly cannot do this with math though but I guess there is not much political indoctrination that can be done in mathematics, is there?
Brian, about confronting the teachers. I have done so in the past and was on the verge of doing so just this week once again. There is a double, actually multiple edged sword, here. First, as sad as this sounds, your kid then becomes a target of these radical lefty teachers. Second, your child gets embarressed by his fellow students. First grade this might not be a big issue yet but it will be in a few years. Third, because of these first two things it can alienate your own kid against accepting knowledge from you. I am far from an expert, just relaying my opinion based on my experience. My best advice would be to continue to educate your children to the truth and when they are old enough they will understand the difference between the truth and what they need to do just for the grades.
What got me going this week was seeing my sons school newspaper. It seems one of the clubs had a guest speaker, a former black panther. When the speaker was asked what the biggest mistake the panthers made was his reply was not that they hated white people or killed cops but that they should have been more liberal with promoting women in their ranks. I was fuming and was going to complain to the principal but my son was begging me not to because of the ramifacations that would come back to him. Yes, I am the parent and when absolutely neccesary I will confront what needs to be confronted but also as a parent you need to know when to pick a fight with your childs concerns thought of.
There were two lines in the movie the Patriot that make me always think of this dilemna of being a parent and a patriotic American. The Mel Gibson character said, " I have a family, I don't have the luxury of principles". The Heath Ledger character replied, "When I have a family I won't hide behind them".
It's tough, I know from experience. I don't know if I said anything helpful, I probably ranted and rambled more than anything else, but I truly know what you are going through.
