(see the link above for Phylis Schafly's article on how public schools shape American Culture)
I was born in 1962, and in 1967, when I attended Kindergarten, my Catholic parents purposely sent me to public rather than Catholic schools because of some negative experiences our cousins had there.
When I was attending Jr high, Values Clarification hit the public schools. My father used to get involved in heated discussions with my teachers on open school night, on the topic, "exactly whose values are we clarifying?" The next morning, he'd warn me which of my teachers would be trying to find out 'whose father was that lawyer who argued with me last night?'
A sex ed program that included discussion (positive of course) of abortion and homosexuality was to be implemented in the high school. Dad and Mom unsuccessfully tried to get our pastor in the battle, and found themselves working with valiant Baptists instead. Most of our Catholic friends assumed that our moral values would be taught, and refused to get involved. With the support of a handful of parents, my parents managed to get an alternative sex ed program, one that required a parental signature.This program did not contain objectionable content, but the teachers mocked the students who wanted to sign up for this program. I was prepared by my parents for a fight, so when signing up for 'sex ed B' as it was called, the teacher at the table said, "what's the matter, honey, your parents don't want you to learn about sex?""No," I replied, "they just want to teach me their way!"
I tired of defending my faith against anti-Catholic bigotry in high school, whose teachers' ideas of European history was a study in how Catholics oppressed the people via the Inquisition, etc, until the Reformation and Enlightenment freed mankind from religious fanaticism. The course ended, naturally, with the fable of how Pope Pius and the Jesuits were in league with the Nazis. I learned a lot, having to do independent research to defend the Church against these lies, but I had no friends.When I was pummeled mercilessly in a senior boys indoor soccer class, as a sophomore (was this retaliation for Title IX?) I quit public school for good.
I chose to go to the Catholic all girls high school my mother attended to get as far away from the public school world as possible, and in many ways I did.
I was taught how to write, something I still enjoy immensely, I found like- minded friends and was rewarded with good grades and appreciation for academic achievement. I regained my self-esteem, and even learned to be a public speaker, something discouraged by the public school's hostile environment.
The Kinsey Report, however, had slithered into the minds of the nuns, and I was taught essentially the same sex-ed in Catholic High School that my parents fought against in public school. Only this time it was more insidious, as it had the stamp of moral authority, "sister says go out and get a diaphragm, don't listen to that old man in Rome, he ignored his advisors when he wrote "Humanae Vitae", and he doesn't understand women anyway.""Oh, and don't show your mothers your notebook they wouldn't understand"sister concluded.
I should have known better, but I swallowed it hook, line, and sinker! It led me to years of suffering until God in His infinite mercy, gave me a wonderful Hispanic Catholic husband who was raised in a nation with some traditional values in the schools, to set me straight. I became a teacher, and now teach part-time at a local Community College which is even worse that either of my high schools.
In the Literary Magazine, a young woman proudly wrote an essay about her abortion, and a young man wrote a 'comical' essay about killing some of his siblings to get more money from his grandparents! These are the best and the brightest students this school has to offer?! I shudder for the future of this nation!
Is it any wonder that I homeschool my three beloved daughters!!
