Re-thinking Re-education : The Story of the Hilltop Children's Center in Seattle

My last post detailed the unbelievable situation at Hilltop Children's Center in Seattle. The teachers at Hilltop perform the most amazing curriculum contortions, and see their work educating children as a "political" tool to generate a socialist nirvana. You can read my last blog here or the article by Hilltop's Mentor Teacher Ann Pelo here.

Prior to doing research on Pelo and her comrades (yes, communist inference intended), I thought this level of social engineering took place only in the lofty halls of academia, the Hillary Clinton campaign war room or, thanks to her husband, the U.S. Military. How wrong I was. It seems there is a whole cadre of educators linking arms around this system of learning.

Pelo's article was featured as a cover story for "Rethinking Schools" magazine. The publishers are in the vanguard of teachers pushing for educational change along the lines of Pelo's efforts. Although self-identifying as an activist organization, Rethinking at first paints their vision in very broad strokes saying, "public education is central to the creation of a humane, caring, multiracial democracy." Lest you think the inclusion of race in that statement is odd, Rethinking's website continues with this gem:

"While writing for a broad audience, Rethinking Schools emphasizes problems facing urban schools, particularly issues of race."

And there you have it. Rethinking Schools approaches the same socialist promised-land as Pelo, but from a different route. She wants to break down the walls of capitalism, while Rethinking arrives at the same destination by wiping out all racial inequality, an enemy which, by Rethinking's own definition doesn't exist.

Further into its manifesto, Rethinking asserts that, "...racial and class inequalities are growing in our country." No doubt some inequality still exists in America. I know I don't pull down the same income as say, Bill Gates. But are today's disparities due to race and the enforcement of a class structure? There are literally hundreds of laws, regulations and best practices that effectively close if not eliminate any inequality between races, especially in the schools. Does Rethinking really believe that some races are afforded better educational opportunities than others?

My wife and I both work to provide for our three children. Without question, we don't have the financial resources to fully-fund our oldest daughter's college education. But does that mean she has fewer opportunities than any other college student? Has she been denied access to any part of the educational process because she's Caucasian or not as well-off as wealthier students? Absolutely not. She can pursue the same educational opportunities as anyone else, but she'll have to take different, more difficult routes to get there.

As for public schools, all children are welcomed regardless of what economic level or race they come from. But Rethinking's vision isn't really about equal access; it's about equality at the expense of freedom. In their world, all things and all people should be equal without distinction. No winners or losers, no haves and have-nots because such delineation would be unfair to those who must work harder than others to achieve the same success. Their world is one where all are the same, and to suggest that one's skills are better honed or applied to a certain task than another's is to create an "inequality" that simply cannot be tolerated. In fact, Rethinking lists several items about which they think we should be "discouraged." They include:

"School districts nationwide continue to slash budgets; violence in our schools and cities shows no signs of abating; attempts to privatize the schools have not slowed; and the country's productive resources are still used to make zippier shoes, rather than used in less profitable arenas like education and affordable housing."

Okay, I'm with them on stemming violence. But an attempt to privatize schools, and making footwear the public obviously wants is discouraging? No mention of terrorists or global warming caused by Al Gore's hot air? And how in the world does Rethinking link education and affordable housing? I guess the better educated we are, the more we'll realize how guilty we should feel for spending money we earned in ways that benefit our families instead of everyone else's. This is the basis of their thinking and it's communism/socialism at its very core.

Think it won't affect your schools? Re-think again. They boast adherents in all 50 states and all 10 Canadian provinces. If Rethinking has its way, American schools will become "classrooms...where students and teachers gain glimpses of the kind of society we could live in..." You get three guesses as to what kind of society they mean, and democracy and republic are not correct.

*Quotes from: Rethinking Schools website; www.rethinkingschools.org Copyright 2002 Rethinking Schools