For several years now I have had an idea for a novel simmering on the back burner of my mind. (This time frame is not unusual; it took three decades of simmer and one of writing for my first novel to see printer’s ink.) The working title for my back burner project has been Clouds Without Rain, from “Like clouds and wind without rain is a man who boasts of a gift he does not give.” (Proverbs 25:14 ESV) The key scene is a smoky back room meeting between fictional characters John Dooley and Horatio Mann. These two entirely imaginary villains concoct a scheme to take over America not by violence or political action, but by surreptitiously flooding the public schools with subversive curricula. Over a few generations, these patient masterminds propose to convert the entire US population from independent thinking, free market capitalists into mind-numbed robots groveling at the government teat.
I hadn’t progressed very far with this idea, for lack of a good cast of supporting characters and a credible plot line until this week. In one short periodical, Eagle Forum’s March edition of Education Reporter, I found enough ingredients to move the pot from simmer to boil. In one article, the Reporter cites recent research published in the Archive of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine concluding that “abstinence-only sex education can be more effective than so-called ‘comprehensive sex ed.’” Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation identifies eleven other studies that found abstinence programs reduce sexual activity. Not only that, Rector notes that abstinent teens are happier, less likely to drop out of high school, and more likely to graduate from college. If this is surprising news to you, perhaps it is because previous positive evaluations of “comprehensive” sex ed programs by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) are not supported by the evidence and suffer various methodological problems, according to two independent reviewers. In less kind words, the CDC has been promoting false information.
Another attack submarine waiting to be included in my plot was discovered in a reprint of a National Review article by Roger Kimball commenting on the legacy of one Howard Zinn. (I won’t even have to change his name because it already sounds sinister.) Few people outside academia would recognize Zinn, but as Kimball reports, Zinn’s A People’s History has been beloved by progressives since it was published in 1980. And why not, as it encapsulates their hatred of America as an imperialistic, “wellspring of earthly evil,” according to John Perazzo from frontpagemag.com. Purporting to tell history from the perspective of “the slaughtered and mutilated,” Zinn does his job as well as a tour guide at Versailles who presents a tool shed as exemplary and then comments on how shabby the whole place really is, says Kimball.
So we have the degradation of both morals and morale underway; what else might thicken the stew? How about an Orwellian plot to track the success (an uncover the failures) of the clandestine educational plot. The front page of the Forum’s March Reporter details Obama’s plans to require applicants for "Race to the Top" money to establish pre-K through college data systems to “track progress and foster continuous improvement.” If these records included only test scores, it might not be cause for alarm, but much more is anticipated. Other data may include Social Security numbers, disciplinary records and family wealth indicators. One has only to consider the things that go into “disciplinary records” these days to worry about their misuse. In our PC crazed academy, fostered by “outcome based,” touchy-feely standards of “tolerance,” the potential for mischief is beyond troubling. One wonders if nine-year-old Patrick will suffer later recrimination for threatening his schoolmates with a weapon, a two-inch plastic toy that he placed in the hands of his Lego policeman.
It would be sad enough if our public education system had merely failed to deliver the promised gift of a well informed citizenry. The real story of my novel is that the clouds which appear not to bring the promised rain in fact bring a deadly radiation of poisonous thoughts that will ultimately set the stage for America’s destruction through internal decomposition. Think about that the next time you hear one of Obama’s people talking about setting national standards for education. Maybe if I get my book in print quickly, I can look like a prophet when disaster comes. Or maybe we can stop it.
I hadn’t progressed very far with this idea, for lack of a good cast of supporting characters and a credible plot line until this week. In one short periodical, Eagle Forum’s March edition of Education Reporter, I found enough ingredients to move the pot from simmer to boil. In one article, the Reporter cites recent research published in the Archive of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine concluding that “abstinence-only sex education can be more effective than so-called ‘comprehensive sex ed.’” Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation identifies eleven other studies that found abstinence programs reduce sexual activity. Not only that, Rector notes that abstinent teens are happier, less likely to drop out of high school, and more likely to graduate from college. If this is surprising news to you, perhaps it is because previous positive evaluations of “comprehensive” sex ed programs by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) are not supported by the evidence and suffer various methodological problems, according to two independent reviewers. In less kind words, the CDC has been promoting false information.
Another attack submarine waiting to be included in my plot was discovered in a reprint of a National Review article by Roger Kimball commenting on the legacy of one Howard Zinn. (I won’t even have to change his name because it already sounds sinister.) Few people outside academia would recognize Zinn, but as Kimball reports, Zinn’s A People’s History has been beloved by progressives since it was published in 1980. And why not, as it encapsulates their hatred of America as an imperialistic, “wellspring of earthly evil,” according to John Perazzo from frontpagemag.com. Purporting to tell history from the perspective of “the slaughtered and mutilated,” Zinn does his job as well as a tour guide at Versailles who presents a tool shed as exemplary and then comments on how shabby the whole place really is, says Kimball.
So we have the degradation of both morals and morale underway; what else might thicken the stew? How about an Orwellian plot to track the success (an uncover the failures) of the clandestine educational plot. The front page of the Forum’s March Reporter details Obama’s plans to require applicants for "Race to the Top" money to establish pre-K through college data systems to “track progress and foster continuous improvement.” If these records included only test scores, it might not be cause for alarm, but much more is anticipated. Other data may include Social Security numbers, disciplinary records and family wealth indicators. One has only to consider the things that go into “disciplinary records” these days to worry about their misuse. In our PC crazed academy, fostered by “outcome based,” touchy-feely standards of “tolerance,” the potential for mischief is beyond troubling. One wonders if nine-year-old Patrick will suffer later recrimination for threatening his schoolmates with a weapon, a two-inch plastic toy that he placed in the hands of his Lego policeman.
It would be sad enough if our public education system had merely failed to deliver the promised gift of a well informed citizenry. The real story of my novel is that the clouds which appear not to bring the promised rain in fact bring a deadly radiation of poisonous thoughts that will ultimately set the stage for America’s destruction through internal decomposition. Think about that the next time you hear one of Obama’s people talking about setting national standards for education. Maybe if I get my book in print quickly, I can look like a prophet when disaster comes. Or maybe we can stop it.
That sounds both relatively interesting and at the same time a bit terrifying to even consider. I would be intrigued to read this if it came out in print.
ReplyDelete-The Student