My mother was a public school teacher. My sister is a principal at a nonprofit high school for troubled teenagers. My wife teaches art in a public high school. Unsurprisingly, I think public schools are very important, crucial even, but I'm in good company. Thomas Jefferson believed public schools were key to the success of American Democracy, and Dick DeVos probably believes that as well. In fact, that might be the very reason DeVos is trying to destroy public schools.
This is not a conspiracy theory - there's a long term plan, funded by AmWay/Quixtar fortune scion Dick DeVos, WalMart-fortune Walton family members, and others. The scheme seeks to undermine public education through the "school choice" movement, through the spread of charter schools and school vouchers, even, some argue, through the "No Child Left Behind" act.
Indeed, here's a handy website where you can read the latest moves in the war on public education... in your very own state.
MEANWHILE...
While Dick DeVos has been busy funding the Christian right and attacking public education, DeVos brother-in-law Eric Prince has been building up the most powerful private army in the world: Blackwater USA (See Nation article on Blackwater).
Here's Jeremy Scahill, summarizing the theme of his new book:
OK, back to Dick DeVos war on public schools:
The website I've earlier referred to, funded by DeVos and the Waltons, seems warm and fuzzy on the surface. But, an interactive map on the site allows visitors, by clicking on any state in the Union, to view details of efforts within that state to undermine public schools
Meet the war on public education : conceived by leaders of the hard Christian right who are opposed to American Democracy and bent on a "long march" to take over existing institutions or else smash those, like public schools, that are in the way of their theocratic goals.
Meet Dick DeVos, brother in law to Blackwater USA founder Erik Prince:
Last March 31, 2006, I covered the Christian right's war on public education and a Department of Education commissioned study that revealed public schools, if anything, outperform their private school counterparts. But, does Amway fortune heir Dick Devos care, or does he view institutions of public education, that Jefferson saw as integral to American Democracy, as obstacles in the way of a long range scheme to undermine democracy ? In a 2002 Heritage Institute address Devos, a leader in the war on public education who wants Intelligent Design in schools, is associated with Christian Reconstructionist views, and has been a significant funder of the "Council On National Policy" and served as the CNP's president in the late 1980's, outlined a "stealth strategy" for eliminating public schools. If DeVos succeeds in his jihad against public schools and American Democracy, maybe his brother-in-law Erik Prince, who owns Blackwater USA, possibly the most powerful private mercenary army in the world, could help out with the ensuing anarchy... for a price, of course.
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Other projects by Christian right groups seek not to destroy public schools but, rather, to transform them from within. The "National Council On Bible Curriculum In Public Schools" seeks to sneak a covert Bible course curriculum - featuring fraudulent revisionist history claiming America was founded as a "Christian Nation" - into public schools.
The NCBCPS project is endorsed buy none other than ... Chuck Norris ! - But, it's no laughing matter. The NCBCPS curriculum is now used by hundreds of school districts from Texas to New Jersey.
'Christian Nation' Mythos Enters America's Public Schools, As 'Bible Curriculum' Reportedly in 382 School Districts [ note: see full story for Norris video ]
Martial arts maven Chuck Norris, legend has it, can defeat packs of savage wild animals, hordes of vicious, armed goons, and even onrushing Mack trucks with nothing more than his hands and feet. Now, Norris wants to kick secularism's ass - he wants the Bible back in public schools. But roundhouse kicks or even the "claw of death" are not especially useful for slipping a sectarian Bible course curriculum touting fake history into public schools. Stealthy, social tactics are needed. Will Chuck Norris become a Liar For Jesus ? We don't yet know but Norris has touted the work of the National Council On Bible Curriculum In Public Schools as it sneaks, in a slick wrapper of dubious and flat-out fraudulent takes on American history, its Christian nationalist Bible course curriculum into public schools, cities, and towns across America. Meet the The National Council On Bible Curriculum In Public Schools (NCBCPS), a stealth effort associated with the far right Council On National Policy and led by a woman who has said God has commanded her to bring the Bible back into public education.
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