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NEA Advised to Stick to Basics, Avoid 'Touchy-Feely' Topics
By Jim Brown and Bill Fancher
August 23, 2002
(AgapePress) - The vice president for policy at the Family Research Council is critical of the "blame America first" mentality being promoted by the National Education Association on its "Remember September 11" website.
The controversial website provides lesson plans that urge educators to discuss "historical instances of American intolerance," and to be careful not to suggest that any group is responsible for the 9-11 terrorists attacks. Retired Lt. Col. Robert Maginnis says such an approach will not help America heal as a nation. [See Related Article]
"The thing that ought to be happening in classrooms that day should be to focus on the essentials of reading, writing, and arithmetic -- and not sitting around playing 'touchy-feely' about one's emotions a year after an attack," Maginnis says. "I think that most Americans recognize there's a threat, the kids recognize there's a threat -- but the best thing we could do for our children is to try to communicate that we're trying to rise above this."
Maginnis says he cannot help but wonder where the NEA got the idea that it was their job to provide such "guidance" to teachers across the country.
"It really raises questions about the recommended materials," he says. "Not only the books, but also some of the music that they suggest -- and then some of the historic issues that they think it's relevant for us to consider, such as the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. In fact, one of the books they suggest addresses that topic."
Maginnis says on the first anniversary of 9-11, it is important for Americans to be industriously working and applying the skills given by God, instead of dwelling on past injustices. He says he is hoping educators will ignore the plans being promoted by the NEA.
Shocking Response
Meanwhile, a terrorism expert says America was greatly underestimated by those who planned and supported the attacks last September. He says that is why it is a new world in terrorists' minds today.
Those who put together the attacks on America did weigh the consequences of their action -- but they used the scales built by previous administrations, not those built by George W. Bush. Heritage Foundation terrorism expert Jim Phillips says the terrorist world was caught off guard by the U.S. response to 9-11.
"I think they were shocked -- especially the Taliban in Afghanistan, which was very arrogant in thumbing its nose at the U.S," Phillips says. "And then even after September 11, when it became clear that there was going to be a war in Afghanistan, because the Taliban refused to expel Osama bin Laden, even then I think they thought the United States was going to fight a war along the lines of what the Soviets fought after they invaded in 1979."
Phillips says U.S. military technology has been the key to that success. "[Terrorists] were shocked by the accuracy of some of the weapons because they were [accustomed] to Soviet 'carpet bombing'."
According to Phillips, in the wake of the U.S. response to 9-11, terrorists must now reassess what it means to attack America.
© 2002 AgapePress all rights reserved.
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John 3:3;Mark 8:34-38;James 1:27
Posts: 3529 | From: Orange, Texas | Registered: Jun 2002
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