Points to ponder

[Howard Scott]

Are there any Tea Party efforts to engage High School and College students in ongoing activities, or to open a forum for them to discuss school policies or curriculm that is primarily dominated by a liberal agenda?

Is there any need for our group to have member emails shared, to pass around relevent information about the movement as a whole, or do we have a clearing house for quick dispersal of this type of information?

Would calling for a Tea Party rally to be launched in NYC, should the Gitmo terrorists be brought there for trial, combining some sort of financial boycot with protest demonstrations, be a worthy undertaking?

 

[Gary Bolles]

Funny you should ask. I taught in a high school for the last few years and I must say that Public Schools and Universities have a well deserved reputation for being entrenched "liberal democratic" institutions. I'm not really convinced that the curriculum, per se, is primarily driven by a liberal agenda, though. In my personal experience, the curriculum content standards are of fairly high quality. However, there absolutely is a liberal slant to the teaching and in the overall school environment. Almost all of my school co-workers were very liberal democrats; that a school environment should reflect the mindset of its employees is not a surprise to me. Why there are not more "conservative" teachers is the mystery. We all know that public education is a democratic stronghold. Why is that? Compared to other areas, like unions, education does not seem to be especially suited to liberal/progressive/socialist ideals. But there's obviously some correlation between the personal traits and values which lead an individual into teaching and the traits and values which lead to liberal democratic politics. The "liberal agenda" in public schools will exist until more "conservatives" become involved in education, period. IMHO - Gary

[Howard Scott]

The problem areas are History, Philosopy, Literature and other ideology type classes. There have been televised reports of our history books being revised to make more politically correct versions of history. There is also something called "white guilt" being a subject of debate, and there have been students on Fox news protesting that controversial viewpoints being taught by teachers are without opposing points of view. I dont believe the students are capable of challenging radical/socialist/progressive teachers bent on distorting civil/social directions. But would those students have need of more traditional points of view to be able to argue the issues?

Gary Bolles said:

Funny you should ask. I taught in a high school for the last few years and I must say that Public Schools and Universities have a well deserved reputation for being entrenched "liberal democratic" institutions. I'm not really convinced that the curriculum, per se, is primarily driven by a liberal agenda, though. In my personal experience, the curriculum content standards are of fairly high quality. However, there absolutely is a liberal slant to the teaching and in the overall school environment. Almost all of my school co-workers were very liberal democrats; that a school environment should reflect the mindset of its employees is not a surprise to me. Why there are not more "conservative" teachers is the mystery. We all know that public education is a democratic stronghold. Why is that? Compared to other areas, like unions, education does not seem to be especially suited to liberal/progressive/socialist ideals. But there's obviously some correlation between the personal traits and values which lead an individual into teaching and the traits and values which lead to liberal democratic politics. The "liberal agenda" in public schools will exist until more "conservatives" become involved in education, period. IMHO - Gary

[Chairman's Committee]

There have been events recently on College campus by conservative groups who have advertised on this and other liberty sites. As a whole I am confident that many students can reason the actual sense of what is going on. My experience has been that the wildly liberal teachers and professors relegate themselves to areas that they feel can make an influence on the students. The tea party and 9-12 movement has also been proactive in electing conservative school board members. One of the strongest things that we can also focus on is to push for strong school vouchers legislation here in Colorado.

As for your question on distribution of information you can send me email at [e-mail]. I go through piles of mail and forward or attach good info in mail or newletters.

And on the last topic I would hazard a guess that a super majority of our membership is not in support of Gitmo detainees recieving Constitutional rights and using our court system for their defense. However I am fully aware that the Tea Party Movement is just one of many in this nation so if there were to be NYC trials I will work to see what the Tea Party Movement on the East Coast is ready to do. You might want to check out what Dick Armey is working on with his Tea Party movement as well as some other national sites to keep on top of those events.

Fredrick Lindner
ATP coordinator

[Cathy Mitchell]

I think there are so many liberals in the public schools because the colleges that educate teachers have a very liberal slant, so most are indoctrinated there. Their formative years are spent hearing liberal ideology, and many do not have a strong parental influence to counter-act it. The arrogance/narrow-mindedness displayed by college educated liberals is astounding. They think of conservatives as un-educated NASCAR fans, rich people with no heart or mindless religious robots. It's hard to have a conversation with someone who has no respect for your point of view.

Gary Bolles said:

Funny you should ask. I taught in a high school for the last few years and I must say that Public Schools and Universities have a well deserved reputation for being entrenched "liberal democratic" institutions. I'm not really convinced that the curriculum, per se, is primarily driven by a liberal agenda, though. In my personal experience, the curriculum content standards are of fairly high quality. However, there absolutely is a liberal slant to the teaching and in the overall school environment. Almost all of my school co-workers were very liberal democrats; that a school environment should reflect the mindset of its employees is not a surprise to me. Why there are not more "conservative" teachers is the mystery. We all know that public education is a democratic stronghold. Why is that? Compared to other areas, like unions, education does not seem to be especially suited to liberal/progressive/socialist ideals. But there's obviously some correlation between the personal traits and values which lead an individual into teaching and the traits and values which lead to liberal democratic politics. The "liberal agenda" in public schools will exist until more "conservatives" become involved in education, period. IMHO - Gary