Michigan Senate Bill 122

Ok, I have decided to regroup, refocus and get back on track. My attempt is to focus on Michigan politics for awhile, although I am sure that many of our issues will overlap into national issues. So in the spirit of this great state here is my first topic for Michigan.

Senate Bill 122 introduced by Senator Clark-Coleman (D) – in layman’s terms; this bill changes the school requirement that children report to school if they turn five by December 1st of that current school year. Under the current law, a child is required to report to school if they turn six by December 1st of the current school year.

For instance, under the current law, if I felt my child was not socially, intellectually or just not ready for school I would not have to send my child to Kindergarten until they are 6. If this new proposed bill passes, if my child was four years old and yet was turning five before December 1st of the current school year, my child would legally have to report to school.

The main question is, why would they change this requirement? And several subsequent questions are as follows:

Why would they take away the judgment call of the parents to determine when their child is ready for school?

Why would the government want to force children into school at an even younger age when many children are held back for this very reason?

What benefit do children receive from this law?

What benefit does the government receive from the law?

Does this usurp parental rights to decide what is best for our children or do the education bureaucrats truly know what is best for our children?

While this is conjecture I will definitely stake claim in the fact that the reason they are attempting to change this requirement is multi-faceted. While all the benefits are for the state and none for the children. This bill is really quite brazen, greedy and arrogant if one analyzes the intent behind this legislation.

1. First and foremost what would the educational community gain from this new requirement? After all, many times children are not ready at this age, especially boys who develop mentally at a slower rate than girls and the teachers have a harder time trying to keep all of their students at an even learning place. So what happens, then the children need to be sent to special reading classes because they are behind, or they need extra help which requires more programs or teacher aides etc. to help these children and that costs…..oh wait a minute. Money. Could that be it?

Yes, the first answer I believe, is what is known as the root of all evil…..money. When children enter school they have a price tag attached to their cute little heads. In Michigan, I believe it is $6,700. So, the more children we have in school the more money the educational community will receive from the government. Who else has the mentality that "the more kids I have the more money I get from the government"…..people with a welfare mentality. You can't deny the educationcrats are starting to walk like a duck.....

So the first reason I believe for this bill is money. Our children are little piggy banks. Remember, money is power.

2. They have actually developed and attempted to justify these new programs called “early education.” The education bureaucrats would like to have 0-5 (ages of children) enter early education programs (eventually required by law) and have this be an extension of the k-12. 13 years isn’t long enough to attempt to indoctrinate our children into your liberal ideology? Now you want to get a hold of OUR children from birth to ensure the parents are not our children’s main source of adult authority and say in their lives? If you think I am exaggerating and that these people truly respect your authority as a parent consider the following quotes:

In Allegan County ISD literature they state, “We must stop thinking of zero to five (preschool years) and K-12 (the school years) as two separate entities. They are, in fact, two facets of the same thing.”

National Education Association, in their In Brief newsletter, stated: “Radical right extremist are also attempting to impose a curriculum that mirrors their values and inculcates fundamentalist Christianity….In communities all over the country, members of the religious right have attempted to impose censorship and the teaching of creationism on the public schools.”

Are those comments too benign for you? How about these quotes:

National Education Association in Today’s Education (1983-1984), “The NEA believes that communications between certified personnel and students must be legally privileged. It urges its affiliates to aid in seeking legislation that provides this privilege and protects both educators and students.”

In other words, they don’t want parents involved in possible major decisions and issues children may be having. They should change their NEA mantra to “what happens at school, stays at school”. They are attempting to take away a parents authority and rights.

Former NEW President Catherine Barrett made clear the objective of the National Education Association when she said, “Dramatic changes in the way we raise our children in the year 2000 are indicated, particularly in terms of schooling…..When this happens – and it’s near – the teacher can rise to his true calling. More than a dispenser of information, the teacher will be a conveyor of values, a philosopher…We will be agents of change.”

Last line sound familiar? She spoke these words in 1973. This has been their main objective from as we early as the 1940’s. I will go into that in another blog.

So if you question the reasoning behind this piece of legislation that seems so insignificant, just remember, the frog that jumps in a pot of boiling water will jump out. A frog in a pot of cool water will boil to death because it does not realize the temperature is being turned up incrementally. Call Senator Clark-Coleman and oppose this legislation.