I agree whole-heartedly that this “program” represents indoctrination and has no place in the schools. There is also a broader point here, as well. The “teaching” of current events in general has no place in the schools, especially the elementary and middle levels. Political and social issues are way beyond the ability of school age children to grasp, understand, and form opinions on. They simply don’t have the depth of knowledge, life experience, or mental maturity to deal with these issues.

The purpose of primary education should be, but is not, to teach the child to use the cognitive functions of his brain…i.e., to learn how to think. This means, for example, to not only absorb facts but to understand and integrate the factual knowledge he acquires, to understand the proper hierarchy of that knowledge, and to organize it in his brain via writing. Regardless of one’s position on the homosexual or any other issue, no one who really cares about education should support injecting current events into the curriculum of school children TOO YOUNG to be able to develop informed opinions and to be able to back them up with THEIR OWN reasoned, coherent logic.

The sad fact is, though, that our public schools have become indoctrination camps. They have become the focal point of all kinds of pressure groups seeking to impose some social or political agenda. Therefore, I now advocate full tax credits for education, giving parents full control over the choice of their children’s school, educational content and standards, with the goal of breaking up the government’s public school monopoly. The ultimate solution to our education woes is to abolish the public schools, ending government’s role in running them. Government-run schools are not consistent with the principles of a free society or of individual rights.