You may have noticed the emphasis on all things global within Pine-Richland School District (PRSD): Cultural Fusion club, Global Studies wing of new STEM/STEAM addition, Global Issues and Awareness course, Model United Nations (UN) Club, mock G-20 Summit, participation in C.A.U.S.E. (Creating Awareness and Understanding of our Surrounding Environment) competition, UNICEF boxes for Halloween, Empty Bowls fundraiser, etc. This is going on is most local school districts, but why? Is it to make our children more tolerant and understanding of other cultures, or is something more?
"Pine-Richland School District sees the Pittsburgh G-20 Student Summit as a chance for students to participate in discussions of G-20 topics," said district spokeswoman Rachel Hathhorn. "We want them to be global citizens. A lot of our students wanted to be a part of the G-20. This is a great forum for them to participate." (emphasis added) (9-17-09 Tribune-Review)
Global citizenship is not about helping students gain an appreciation for other cultures, a respect for the customs, to relate better to people of other countries. It is about putting the global agenda first, adopting policies (treaties)* of the United Nations (UN) without regard to the negative impact upon our country. These treaties would restrict, for example, the use of our land and our natural resources, dictate how we raise our own children, and require submission to the International Criminal Court which does not provide the protections of our own legal system. Why is it ok for Brazil to drill for oil in its coastal waters, but not us? Does the earth care where a spill occurs? The restrictions put on our country are not intended to protect the environment but to redistribute our wealth, to diminish our influence as a free nation, to eliminate our freedoms delineated within our Constitution. As the public school system indoctrinates our youth by elevating the UN and all other countries while minimizing the greatness of our own country, the result will be a generation of voters who will be willing to give up our sovereignty to global governance via the UN.
This is why we see a persistent negative history of our country being taught. American exceptionalism is a foreign concept to our young people, who have learned everything bad about our country with all of the good diminished. We have the best system of government in all of history. We have an exceptional legal system. We have opportunities that the rest of the world lacks, not because we took advantage of others but because we have a philosophy that if we work hard and persevere, we can achieve great things. How easy it is to forget that our country was formed by immigrants who came here deliberately to have a better life.
*Treaties not ratified by the United States include the Biodiversity Treaty, the Treaty on the Rights of the Child, Agenda 21, the Kyoto Treaty and the Treaty establishing the United Nations International Criminal Court.
I have come to a conclusion...I admit that the students and parents are determined to sway your idea of our school just as you are determined to get your point across in these blogs...except there is a major difference in the purpose of our posts. The students and parents are responding to defend our school, a good school at that! And you are blogging because................. oh that's right, no one knows! Yes you are a tax payer...that's great..fantastic, simply amazing.....MOVE!!! Move if you don't want to pay the taxes, because your blog seems to be trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill. Here I am doing the same as the rest of the PR community, trying to persuade you to think differently of our district, but just honor this simple request...stop blogging. 10 years from now, will you look back and say....wow, I am so glad I blogged about Pine-Richland and harmed that school....?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - why do you care that Crosbycat is blogging? Why does it bother you so much that you went so far as to ask her to stop? Do you fear that there is some truth to what she says and that she may actually influence others? Please do not assume that everyone in PRSD thinks the way you do. Why don't you stop reading it if it bothers you so much? I personally think that Crosbycat is doing a great service to the community. In the end, the truth will prevail.
DeleteYou say that "in the end, the truth will prevail." But what is truth, and what is opinion? Very early on at PR, students learn how to detect truths and opinions. Crosbycat's statement "The restrictions put on our country are not intended to protect the environment but to redistribute our wealth, to diminish our influence as a free nation, to eliminate our freedoms delineated within our Constitution" is her opinion, not the truth. Her statement "We have the best system of government in all of history" is definately her opinion. Students at PR are taught to make their own decision, and the teachers do their best to not include bias in their lessons and documents so students are able to decide things for themselves.
DeleteHave you been to a class at PR before Crosbycat? Statements of yours like "American exceptionalism is a foreign concept to our young people, who have learned everything bad about our country with all of the good diminished" come without you having ever stepped into a class. I have never once heard a teacher saying "America is bad" or "All the other countries are better than America." Teachers try to give students the facts about America, which isn't the "America can do no wrong" opinion which you seem to think. America, and Americans, can make mistakes, and students need to learn this. If you want your children to learn that America is some perfect nation that can't do anything wrong, home school them.
ReplyDeleteAs a student, learning more about the environment is extremely important to their future. The generation of our students and their children are the generations that will be most affected by environmental problems, and they need to learn how to solve these problems, before our planet is completely uninhabitable. The only way to solve these problems is to work with other countries.
I respect your opinions Crosbycat, but I'm extremely surprised that you think that the opinion that America is somehow fundamentally better than other countries should be taught in school. Its this type of attitude, that "We're better than you," that results in these environmental problems. Countries can't work together if one country thinks it's better than all the others. As you say, America was built on the principal of equality, and this equality should be shown between the US and other countries also.
Crosby-cat, Are you unable to help your children understand that, although far from perfect, we are fotunate to have been born American? Is your confidence in our American way of life so weak that you cannot help your children navigate the pros and cons of democracy and capitalism? Do you worry that your children are more likely to listen to outside influences than what they hear at home? Maybe this is a parenting issue. Maybe one day you can experience other cultures with your children and expand your world, and learn that knowledge is not dangerous and protest is not unpatriotic.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your comments 100%.
ReplyDeleteThe U.N. agenda is NOT what we want to promote in our schools!!!
How do we put a stop this nonsense?
You are ridiculously stupid. I refuse to argue with you.
DeleteI am quite disgusted at the propaganda being promoted in the PR school district, especially in the high school. I believe that many, if not most parents are unaware or uneducated about what is happening in the U.N., especially, the U.N. Treaties!
ReplyDeleteI plan to get more involved!!
It sure seems like we are living in "Bizzaro World". Crosbycat is not attacking PR Schools for utilizing leftist material, she is pointing out that they are presenting students with only one point of view in a very biased manor which is not allowing them to hear a presentation of all perspectives and to draw their own conclusions. For all the preaching about "Critical Thinking" there seems to be a tremendous amount of trepidation on the part of the PR Administration and teaching community to give the students access to a more conservative perspective which would be supported with writings by conservative thinkers. This would be done to supplement all of the extremely left leaning list of materials and authors that Crosbycat has outlined in this Blog. Not one student or post has pointed out any materials, readings, or lessons which has clearly laid out a conservative arguement in an unbiased manor. When one reads the many posts you would think one student would point out where Crosbycat is wrong and provide substantiation that the PR School District is indeed providing a well balanced education which outlines schools of through ranging from extremely conservative to Marxist and allow the students to process it all, do their own research, take their questions to people they respect (and to whom their grades don't depend)and formulate an opinion. The students have been unable to list any materials that they have utilized that would refute Crosbycat's arguement and show that the shool is doing what they should be doing in providing a balanced education. It would be shocking to find out if any student realizes that Man Made Global Warming is not a fact and that there is a portion of the scientific community that teaches and believes in normal fluctuation of the Earth's temperature. I would wonder if they have been taughts that some in the acedemic community have been caught doctoring data related to Global Warming because it did not support their agenda and/or political affiliation. I wonder if they are taught that regulations related to industry and their impact on the enviroment are crippling US companies and causing families to lose jobs to places like China and India where they freely pollute the air, sacrificing their air quality for manufacturing opportunities. If Global Warming is real, yet only the United States regulates itself and other large countries, with even larger populations continue to pollute, what possible impact could be made on the problem. I know that these are all inconvenient arguments to make when one has an agenda to fulfill and it is easiest to make to students who have yet to go out into the world and earn a living, pay bills, maybe take some personal risk and start a business. All of these things can certainly have an impact on one's thinking. Young people's opinions are much easier to shape when they aren't faced with these particular types of challenges and the person they are trying to please is their teacher who assigns them a grade. The world of Pine Richland may seem big according to their "global" agenda but is very small when considering the diversity of America.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I don't feel like thinking through all of the documents that I have ever read in high school, off the top of my head I can point out that we read Edmund Burke's conservative Reflection on the Revolution, which argues against the radicalism of the French revolution in AP euro. It was not presented in a biased manner at all, considering the reading was assigned and then we, as students, discussed our interpretations in a seminar in class. Also, I've never really heard global climate change even mentioned by a teacher in school, so you can't really pin that one on pine-richland. I don't know anyone who is "trying to please" his or her "teacher who assigns them a grade," and so adopts his or her viewpoints.
DeleteYou can't say that America should be viewed as a "City Upon a Hill" and then question why we aren't in tune with Brazilian policy. If you think America is the best, then maybe we should set an example for the Brazilians.
ReplyDeleteI believe that we should learn the culture and history of other countries and cultures as well, so that we can see how they see things. One of my favorite songs is "The Living Years".
"Say it loud, say it clear; you can listen as well as you hear.
It's too late, when we die, to admit we don't see eye to eye."
By learning more about other cultures and countries, you can be an advocate for world peace, as you can see the world through someone else's eyes, too. They should teach the right and wrongs of America... We're sure as hell a great country, I'll give you that. But we're not perfect, and both sides of the story should be told, so that people can choose what to think.
Don't call yourself an advocate of America when you don't know what America is truly all about. It's about freedom to be whatever culture and religion you are. What you're saying isn't American; it's closed-minded conservatism.
My daughter pointed out your blog to me; she found it interesting and thought I might as well.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I don't agree with every view you have, I really enjoy the fact that you have taken the time to place your opinions down in what is, for the most part, a well written blog that explains your stance fairly well. Kudos to you.
Too often people simply go along with whatever over-cooked half-brained idea is slammed down their throats; it is refreshing to see a dissenting opinion. This blog reminds me of an excellent quote: "If you always find yourself with the majority then it is probably time to stop and reflect". It is a shame that so many on this blog, including yourself, feel they need to remain anonymous; THAT may be the saddest statement of all written here in cyberspace.
All the best to you and your followers.
One of the "things global" going on in Pine-Richland that you pointed out was Model UN. I would just like to point out to you that this club was started by students and is virtually run by students, so the school district itself has little to do with it accept to let us go on occasional trips to tournaments.
ReplyDelete