Social Foundations of Education

Palestinian "Literature Professor" Salaita Wants Academic Boycott of Israel; More Jihad Activity at Virginia Tech

2009-02-15T20:52:00.010-05:00

My alma mater, Virginia Tech, seems to have become a hotbed of jihadist activity, centered around the engineering and English departments.

Recently, Steven Salaita, jihadist professor of "Palestinian literature," i.e. jihadist tracts, sent a letter to the editor of the Collegiate Times denouncing Israel for defending itself and calling for an academic boycott of Israel.

"We stand in support of the indigenous Palestinian people in Gaza, who are fighting for their survival against one of the most brutal uses of state power in both this century and the last.
We condemn Israel's recent (December 2008/ January 2009) breaches of international law in the Gaza Strip, which include the bombing of densely populated neighborhoods, illegal deployment of the chemical white phosphorous, and attacks on schools, ambulances, relief agencies, hospitals, universities, and places of worship. We condemn Israel's restriction of access to media and aid workers.
We reject as false Israel's characterization of its military attacks on Gaza as retaliation.
Israel's latest assault on Gaza is part of its longtime racist jurisprudence against its
indigenous Palestinian population, during which the Israeli state has systematically dispossessed, starved, tortured, and economically exploited the Palestinian people.
We reject as untrue the Israeli government's claims that the Palestinians use civilians as human shields, and that Hamas is an irredeemable terrorist organization. Without endorsing its platforms or philosophy, we recognize Hamas as a democratically elected ruling party."

It is well know that Salaita was hired by racist, bigoted anti-semite Nikki Giovanni and her lifetime partner Virginia Fowler solely because of his anti-Jewish prejudices. But he is not content with teaching "Palestinian literature." He wants to destroy Israel and brainwash young, impressionable college students into supporting his jihad.

First off, as anyone with any knowledge of the Pentateuch knows, Jews have been the "indigenous" population of Israel for at least 3200 years, which beats the Muslims by at least 1800 years. He "rejects" the notion that Palestinians use "human shields." Yes, and Hamas rejects terrorism.

One thing is true: Hamas IS a democratically elected government, which just proves what our Founding Fathers knew all along. Mob democracy by barbarians is not to be a goal by any civilization.

Islam is organized barbarism, and the more of these type of people we let into our country, the more our country is going to resemble a third world nation.

Notice all the Muslims who signed in Blacksburg who signed this petition to boycott Israel. It seems as if there is an jihadist organization of "students" at Virginia Tech using Blacksburg as a base to spread their ideas in America.

In the same week, the Collegiate Times did a sob story about Suleiman Baraka who lost his son in an "accidental" bombing in Gaza on December 29th of last year. Most likely, the house was not bombed by accident; Hamas members were probably using the house, and these Hamas members are mostly likely relatives of Baraka.

Baraka, an astrophysicist working with Virginia Tech and the National Institute of Aerospace for NASA, came to the United States from Gaza in Oct. 2008. He left his family behind to complete his research but could not predict the violence that was soon to hit his home.
After frantically calling around, he found out that his 11-year-old son Ibrahim had been critically injured with shrapnel found in his brain, hand, and leg. Learning that his son was being taken to a hospital in Cairo, Egypt, Baraka knew he had to leave immediately.

Question: What is a Palestinian doing coming to our country in October 2008 and getting a job as an "astrophysicist" with NASA? Is it now a policy to hire Muslims from terrorist countries and giving them sensitive jobs with our government? Notice how he now wants his entire family to move here to America.

It seems we are not serious at all about protecting our country and Israel from future terrorist attacks.

"America": Banned from School Textbooks and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); Not Politically Correct; Offends Latinos

2008-07-22T21:31:00.006-04:00

One of the best books out there if you are interested in education policy is Diane Ravitch's The Language Police. It is a wonderful, well-researched bestseller by Ravitch, who has a Ph.D. in history from Columbia university and is a professor at New York University, about the purging of true American history and great literature in the public schools, replaced by "multicultural" trash and propaganda. At the end of the book, she gives a thirty-page list of words and situations that are banned from textbooks.

Here is one of them:

"America/Americans (use with care, because it suggests 'geographical chavinism' unless it applies to all people in North America, South America, and Central America; instead refer to people of the United States."

This is the rule for all Scott-Foresman/Addison-Wesley textbooks, Houghtin Mifflin textbooks, Harcourt textbooks, National Evaluation Systems, and New York state public schools.

Here is another:

"American policy, American economy (replace with U.S. policy, U.S. economy)."

Simply amazing. The proper title of our country, "America," has been banned, and we are no longer "Americans." Our country now is "United States" and we are "United States citizens."

This is patently false. The title of our country has NEVER been "United States." It has always been "America." For example, Georgia or Virginia are states in America; they are not states in "the United States."

Also, it is not "chauvinistic" to call ourselves "Americans." There is no continent called "America." There is a region called the "Americas." There is a "North America," which is a continent. There is a "South America," which is a continent.

There is a country, and that country is called "America." There are 50 states, and these states make up the country of "America." The citizens of that country are "Americans," not "people of the United States."

Even if it were somehow chauvinistic to call your country its proper title, it is time to simply and coolly tell Latin Americans to show some tolerance, something they tend to lack. By banning the name of our country to appease them will only incur disrespect and contempt from them for our weakness in trying to appease them.

Sadly, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) has kowtowed to liberals and has banned the proper name of our country from the customs forms. I was shocked when coming back from Panama a few months ago to find that the terms "America" and "Americans" had been completely erased. We are now "United States citizens" (of what country?) and we reside in the United States (of what country?).

Plea to all patriotic Americans: Refer to our country by its proper name, "America" and call yourself an "American." Don't give in to political correctness. If you have to abbreviate, use the abbreviation "U.S.A." and not "U.S."

Virginia Tech Jihadist "Palestinian Literature" Prof Wins Award; Giovanni Claims Middle Passage Facilitates Outer Space Travel for Blacks

2008-05-03T11:22:00.041-04:00

Lesbian lovers Giovanni and Fowler love jihadist Salaita

Update on the wacky Virginia Tech English Department: Virginia Tech's jihadist "Palestinian literature" professor and ungrateful immigrant Steven Salaita, whom I have written about before, is winning many awards for his latest book, Anti-Arab Racism in the USA: Where it Comes From and What it Means for Politics Today, including this one. (How a "Palestinian Literature" professor who received his B.A. from party school Radford University and doctorate in Native American Literature from University of Oklahoma is qualified to write about the history and politics of Israel and "Palestine" is beyond me). His thesis is if Americans do not support Palestianians, it is because we are racist. He cleverly attempts to give Muslims, who killed over 3000 Americans on 9/11 a "grievance status" by making Muslims into an Arab race. Of course, that is what Muslims have always believed: Arabs are not really Arabs unless they are Muslim, hence the second class treatment of Arabs who are Christian or Jew. Muslims are the racists, not Americans. For example, if jihadist Salaita wants to see REAL racism, see how Malays treat the Chinese in Malaysia, the Chinese being the ones who have built up the economic power of Malaysia. However, I doubt that Salaita knows a thing about the real world outside of America.

By the way, I have studied in Malaysia and have worked in Thailand and know that no Muslim would consider himself a citizen of a country unless that country has sharia law. Therefore, Muslims do not consider themselves "American" except for pretending to be loyal in order to better subvert the country.

It is amazing how Virginia Tech's English department has been transformed since they hired Nikki Giovanni--who only has a B.A.--back in the 1990's. Here is an excerpt from a famous poem of hers, "The True Import of Black Dialogue, Black vs. Negro":

"Do you know how to draw blood/Can you poison/Can you stab-a-Jew/Can you kill huh?/ Ni**erCan you kill"

I've written about how radical Giovanni is before here and here, but one naive commenter has claimed that I just don't get it:

"You are reading the poem in terms of black and white. You are looking at what the text says but you are not looking INTO the text. She is sending a message here. Not that you would understand. This is a message for Black people. Over the decades the Black population has fallen and not for something positive. Nigger is not Black people, it is ignorance. In this piece she asking them to leave Nigger (the context of ignorance) behind and rise as a people."

Sorry, I don't buy it. Next thing you know this commenter will be stating that Steven Salaita doesn't really advocate the destruction of Israel and a new Holocaust; he just wants them to "rise as a people."

Steven Sailer has written an excellent article, published in FrontPage Magazine, about just how radical this feminist, Giovanni, is. Lately, though, she just seems to be losing her mind. In her faculty profile she states:

"The recognition of Middle Passage as our porthole to prolonged space travel is a unique way to understand both slavery and space which I explore in Quilting the Black Eyed Pea."

We should not lose sight of the fact, though, that this eccentric who also writes children's poetry is at the core a radical who hates America and Israel. Want proof? The fact that she and her lover just hired Steven Salaita, an extremely radical Muslim hater of Jews, in 2006 offers proof that Giovanni is every bit as radical as when she wrote "The True Import of Black Dialogue."

What was a decent department back when I was a student there has been transformed by hiring radicals and terrorists into a department that produces such students as Cho Seung Hui. "Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit." (Matthew 7:17)

Latest outrage: Just a year after the Nikki Giovanni student, Cho Seung-hui, guns down 32 students, including Jewish hero Liviu Lebrescu, who does Virginia Tech's English department praise (look at bottom right corner in link)? None other than Steven Salaita, the professor of "Palestianian literature" who believes that Israel has no right to exist and that the state should be destroyed. They are boasting that he has won a prestigious award for his B.S. that there exists rampant "anti-Arab racism" in America.

Can Virginia Tech's department become any more corrupt than it already is? Back when I was a student there, Virginia Fowler, radical feminist, had just hired her lesbian lover, the radical feminist Nikki Giovanni. The first thing that Giovanni did was to insult all the English professors in the Collegiate Times.

What were Nikki Giovanni's qualifications? She has only a B.A. and she is Virginia Fowler's lesbian lover. Talk about third-world style corruption.

Anti-Jewish radical Nikki Giovanni is the campus celebrity of Virginia Tech. How does she use her celebrity status? By bullying the campus into hiring more radicals that fit her radical, anti-Jewish agenda.

So who did the lesbian duo hire in 2006? None other than Steven Salaita, a Palestianian jihadist, to teach "Palestianian literature." Question that Virginia Tech refuses to answer: Did English major Cho Seung-hui take any classes from this anti-American and anti-Israeli terrorist/"English" professor, Steven Salaita either in Fall 2006 or Spring 2007? Hmm, I wonder where "Ismael Ax" came from.

Take a look at this unbelievable praise for Steven Salaita, who dislikes any portrayal of Muslim women being mistreated in the Middle East (women are much worse treated in America), believes that Israel has no right to exist and that Obama is too conservative to vote for because Obama now claims to not want Israel to be destroyed:

The Department is delighted to welcome this fall Dr. Steven Salaita, who joins us as an advanced assistant professor of American and Ethnic American Literatures. Steve is no stranger to this part of the country, having grown up in Blueﬁ eld, Virginia, which is still home to his parents. After completing his undergraduate work at Radford University, he entered the doctoral program in Native American Literature at the University of Oklahoma, where he received his Ph.D. in 2003. Although his primary focus at Oklahoma was Native American literature, he also studied Palestinian and Arab American literature. For the past three years, Steve has been an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin/Whitewater, where he has taught a range of courses in American and ethnic American literatures.
Steve’s research primarily takes the form of literary criticism, but he is also drawn to the essay, particularly the political essay, and to creative non-ﬁction. Because his parents are both immigrants, he ﬁ nds that his own writing, critical and creative, is preoccupied with themes of immigration, American-ness, dislocation, cultural multiplicity, xenophobia, and racialization. In terms of research, 2006 has been an annus mirabilis for Steve, who will have three books published by year’s end:
Anti-Arab Racism in the USA: Where It Comes from and What it Means for Politics
Today (Pluto Press, UK); The Holy Land in Transit: Colonialism and the Quest for
Canaan (Syracuse University Press); and Arab American Literary Fictions,
Cultures, and Politics (Palgrave Macmillan).

Who is the encomium about the jihadist Steven Salaita written by? None other than Virginia Fowler. Don't think for one moment they hired Salaita for any other reason than his hatred for America and Israel.

Last year--after "Ismael Ax" gunned downed 32 students--A Feast of Words, The Virginia Tech English Department's publication, was gushing about jihadist Steven Salaita's two recent publications, The Holy Land in Transit and Anti-Arab Racism in the USA: Where it Comes From and What it Means for Politics Today:

Here is what The Holy Land in Transit is about, according to Syracuse University Press:

"Beating The Drums Again. STEVEN SALAITA, assistant professor of English of Virginia Tech, says the Palestinians are currently involved in one of the world’s last colonial wars. In The Holy Land in Transit he sees parallels in the Zionist settlement of Palestine with the colonial conquest of the New World and the consequent displacement of the indigenous peoples. This theme is worthy of further exploration, he says, ‘even though Natives and Palestinians have no other historical connection to speak of...’ Just as Indian attacks on white settlements were a natural reaction to a European colonial invasion, so too Palestinian attacks on the highways and suicide bombings in towns are a consequence to Jewish proliferation in the land.

He sees the European settlement of the New World, at the expense of the Native Indians, as ethnic cleansing, and ascribes the same blame to the returning Jews as they settle the Holy Land at the expense of the original few Palestinians who were living there. "Beating The Drums Again. STEVEN SALAITA, assistant professor of English of Virginia Tech, says the Palestinians are currently involved in one of the world’s last colonial wars. In The Holy Land in Transit he sees parallels in the Zionist settlement of Palestine with the colonial conquest of the New World and the consequent displacement of the indigenous peoples."

It seems the untold story from last year's Virginia Tech massacre is the following:

A disturbed Korean-American teenager enters the Virginia Tech English program. Instead of being guided in the right direction--the love of virtue, God, country, and Western Civilization--he takes classes from disturbed radicals, such as Nikki Giovanni and Virginia Fowler. Instead of learning about our great Western heritage, he gets constant left-wing propaganda from anti-American professors. He very well could have taken Salaita's "Palestinian literature" class. Being already disturbed, he becomes even more disturbed by taking classes from deranged "English" professors. He gets no religious guidance at Virginia Tech except by Muslim sympathizers, including perhaps Steven Salaita and Nikki Giovanni. Then "Ismael Ax" goes on a rampage gunning down students and professors.

Virginia Tech's English Department bears a lot of blame for this massacre.

Joseph McCarthy: Catholic Hero

2008-04-05T15:27:00.012-04:00

I'm working on a Master of Arts in Catholic Theology from Christendom College, one of the most rock solid, truly Catholic universities in the nation.

Recently, there was a talk at Christendom by Dr. William Carroll about Catholic Joseph McCarthy, the American hero that liberals and socialists love to slander.

Let's me review my history:

Just after WWII we stupidly give Josef Stalin all of Eastern Europe. In Asia we incredibly allow Stalin to take over Manchuria and North Korea after the War is over. We refuse to defend free China, a place of paramount importance, and it falls in 1949. The Soviet Union tests its first nuclear weapon in 1949, thanks to espionage in the United States. We tell North Korea, China, and Russia we will not defend South Korea and do not let it arm itself, and North Korea invades the South in 1950.

And yet liberals and socialists want us to believe that communism did not exist at the highest levels of the government?

Only liberals would be stupid enough to believe that. That is about as believable as stating that most Social Foundations professors in the top notch Schools of Education are not socialist. No wonder the average American was up in arms and elected Eisenhower. Probably at no time until now, with the prospect of Muslim/Marxist Barack Hussein Obama getting the Democratic nomination, has our nation been under such threat as it was in the 1930s and 1940s from an alien ideology counter to Western tradition.

Here is a great excerpt for the talk at Christendom on hero Joseph McCarthy about his importance and key place in American history:

"If you are Catholic and have believed any of the slanders against McCarthy, you should know first of all that Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin was a loyal Catholic who was buried with a rosary around his neck,'" Carroll said at the beginning of his lecture. “Surely such a man deserves at least a hearing before the tribunal of your soul before you condemn him on hearsay evidence.”

It is amazing how much benefit our nation has received from loyal, conservative Catholics (Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, John Roberts, Joseph McCarthy, Rick Santorum, Laura Ingraham, etc.) and how much damage has been inflicted by reprehensible, liberal "Catholics" (John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi)--those who call themselves Catholic but are in reality simply traitors both to the Catholic truth and the American ideal.

Classic Book Recommendation: Richard Henry Dana's Two Years Before the Mast

2008-02-11T14:54:00.002-05:00

Would you like a great book recommendation, a book that is easily one of the very best achievements in American literature? Here it is: Two Years Before the Mast by young Richard Henry Dana, Jr. It was published in 1840 and was a huge success. I just finished reading it, and, believe me, it is one of the best books in American literature.

Yet, sadly, very few Americans have even heard of this book, which demonstrates the power that liberals and Marxists have had in censoring our great literary heritage. Having a Master of Education from University of Virginia, I know first hand the prevalency of censorship by Social Foundations education professors, and it is well documented by others.

It is time to take back our heritage. Unethical liberals and Marxists censor in very many subtle and underhanded ways. The chief way--ever since the late 1980's--has been to replace any piece of great literature by "dead white males" (the stupid, racist, and disparaging term these self-hating, liberals gleefully employ) and replace it with dull, shallow, "multicultural" pap.

It generally takes 50 years or so to declare a work a "classic" because it is all too hard to separate fad from greatness, as liberals are proof of. Of course, liberals automatically canonize anything new and "multicultural"as great. Then, they teach this junk, which means replacing truly great literature that has stood the test of time and generations.

Another way I have noticed liberals censor literature is by picking only literature that is most easily "deconstructed," in their opinion. To "deconstruct" a "text" for liberals and Marxists simply means to trick gullible students into believing that a "text" supports Marxist beliefs, when, in fact, none exists. You can often see this on the summaries on backs of books recently published, often to the most absurd degree. For example I've actually seen 1984 being advertised as a work that shows how "conformity" can cause a nightmarish regime. No, not communism or socialism but, rather, "conformity." Liberal professors and editors love to employ this trick on Charles Dickens' works, in which they often place a liberal, social message that simply is not the major component to his works. However, they would have gullible students believe that it is.

Another artful way that sneaky liberals and Marxists use to censor works is simply not to teach any uplifting works. For example, I never have understood why Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter is always taught in high schools and never his sunny, uplifting (and much better, in my opinion) The House of the Seven Gables. Why always F. Scott Fitzgerald's depressing The Great Gatsby and never Ray Bradbury's appealing, intriguing, and poignant Dandelion Wine and William Saroyan's The Human Comedy, with the same qualities?

Answer: Liberals and Marxists dislike students getting anything that uplifts the soul and makes students look at America with pride in her achievements and lifestyle. Therefore, they should only get gloomy and depressing Hemingway and Fitzgerald in modern American literature, for instance. Fitzgerald is great, but there is no reason why The Great Gatsby should always be taught. Of course, liberals love it to hoist some sort of anti-capitalism message upon students. Hemingway, though, I find to be grossly overrated, in comparison with other classic American literature.

The most prevalent way to deny our citizens our heritage, both Western and American, though, is to simply censor any works that have the least bit of objectionable, un-PC material. Entire works have disappeared from the corpus of great literature taught to students: Ivanhoe, The Royal Road to Romance, Brave New World, Typee, A Christmas Carol, The Three Musketeers, Pilgram's Progress, She Stoops to Conquer, Gone with the Wind, Robinson Crusoe, Kim, and Lord Jim come to mind. They all have scenes or attitudes that sanctimonious, insufferable liberals feel students should not be exposed to at all. Because these authors were not enlightened enough to espouse the modern liberal opinions of these postmodern gnostic censors, these works ought to be purged from our Brave New Liberal Utopia. Thanks to these intolerant liberals, much literature of great merit has been completely eliminated. An example in the post just below is how many Americans have never even heard of Christina Rossetti's wonderful poem "In the Bleak Midwinter."

Richard Henry Dana's Two Years Before the Mast fits into this latter category. It is a magnificent work. Young Dana takes time off from Harvard College to join a merchant vessel bound from Boston for a two years voyage around Cape Horn to California in 1834 and 1835. He writes extremely eloquently about his adventures on board, the hard but rewarding work of a sailor, his impression of California and the Spanish and Indian natives there, and the often terrifying challenges at sea. For example, on the return voyage around the Cape in the middle of winter is terrifyingly suspenseful.

Two Years Before the Mast obviously has been banned by liberals because Dana's opinions on the lazy Californians does not conform to Marxism. In addition, he has a concluding chapter in which he proposes how the life of a seaman can be improved (and it sure isn't through big government). Education is important but not enough. It must include religion (censor time!): "With the sailor, as with all other men in fact, the cultivation of the intellect, and the spread of what is commonly called useful knowledge, while religious instruction is neglected, is little else than changing an ignorant sinner into a powerful one."

To Dana, knowledge of the tenets of the Bible and practicing them are necessary factors in improving lifestyle and character. He documents abuse of sailors, but he never portrays them as victims, something modern liberals and socialists would do.

Is this not evident today in the public schools, where the neglect of student character has allowed for all sorts of societal ills, from gangs to poverty to teen pregnancy to shallow consumerism? Thank you liberals, including Social Foundations education professors.

Two Years Before the Mast, one of the greatest achievements of American literature is unfortunately, thus, not well known. It has extremely valuable documentation on the lifestyle of 1830's California, the day-to-day work of a merchant sailor, and the adventure and danger of the seas that recommends it as a great American classic. The remarkable American character is evident in this book. Unfortunately, liberals have attempted to purge Two Years Before the Mast from the American canon. Thankfully, it was a recommended book on the "Ravitch-Atkinson Sampler of Classic Literature" found in the back of Diane Ravitch's excellent and highly recommended The Language Police, her bestselling expose on censorship in public schools.

Gloucester Cathedral Choir - In the Bleak Midwinter

2008-01-24T21:58:00.001-05:00

We sang this song at my church, St. Michael's Catholic Church, last Sunday as the opening hymn, and I was really impressed with this song. It is a beautiful song and perfect for this frigid midwinter.

In the Bleak Midwinter is wonderful poetry and one of the rare great poems that also makes a great song. It is certainly one of the best poems about the Christmas and winter season.

This has to do with education in the sense that so few Americans are familiar with this great poem by the devout conservative Anglican Christina Rossetti. Why? For the same reason that so few are familiar with their heritage. Liberals in the schools and education schools have pushed horrendous multiculturalism upon students and censored any works with the least bit of religious sentiment. Thus, students are completely unfamiliar with a huge amount of our heritage, especially since the some of the best achievements have been religious in nature.

Sense and Social Foundations

2008-01-15T13:05:00.001-05:00

Classic literature can be a great place to learn about education policy and philosophy because classic literature by nature has such keen insights into man's behavior and relationships, which is why the literature is considered "classic" in the first place.

For example, Charles Dickens' Hard Times, equally as great as his more famous works, is a terrific novel about the follies of utilitarian and vocational education, which became all the rage among the Progressives (today called "liberals" or "socialists") in the early 1900's, such Columbia's Teachers College's Edward L. Thorndike, whom Diane Ravitch states in Left Back is "broadly recognized as one of the foremost leaders of progressive education" and William Heard Kilpatrick, who literally influenced the entire nation's education philosophy by training nearly all future education professors in the early 1900's from his base at Teachers College. To Kilpatrick, subjects should only be taught if they have socialist utilitarian value. Goodbye to an education in the humanities. Hard Times is an insightful expose into the follies of this utilitarian style of education that has so influenced today's liberals and socialists, including nearly all of the "Social Foundations" professors and other educationists in today's education schools.

Today's liberal educationists are equally as utilitarian as their predecessors in that they believe that all subjects exist only to promote socialism and "social justice." Therefore, math and science are only useful as far as they promote multiculturalism or environmentalism, for example. The Humanities are only valuable if postmodern interpretations can hoisted upon students. Education for its inherent worth is anathema to today's liberals and socialists who dominate education faculties. Their motto: If you can't "deconstruct" it to promote socialism, Marxism, feminism, multiculturalism, gay "rights," and other philosophical errors that they slavishly adhere to in opposition to our classical, Western, and Catholic heritage, it is not worth teaching.

I just finished Jane Austen's wonderful novel Sense and Sensibility. Jane Austin is one of the authors whom liberals and socialist college professors and other shallow, unethical people such as Hollywood screenwriters most absurdly attempt to "deconstruct" and make into a proto-feminist or socialist. In fact, she would be considered a "conservative" or "traditionalist" in today's parlance, which is why she must be "deconstructed" by Orwellian college professors.

Austen in Sense and Sensibility has wonderful insights into education philosophy and how education influences character. Therefore, it is well worth analyzing for students studying education philosophy and policy. She be considered to be a promoter of the type of "character education" that education traditionalists promote and liberals despise.

The shallow, pleasure seeking character of Willoughby is amazingly like what the type of male public schools shape and then put out in droves, and Marianne, who is attracted to and jilted by Willoughby, is exactly the type of female you get from today's public schools. Willoughby and Marianne are entirely influenced by their sensibilities and have very little sense. On the other hand, it is apparent in the novel that traditional morality and a strong academic, humanistic education, combined with virtue--the kind that is sadly absent in most of today's schools--produce people like Elinor and Colonel Brandan, characters with virtue, sense, and charity, exactly the type of individuals that American schools should be forming but aren't.

Austen describes the selfish character of Willoughby through Elinor's perceptions of him:

Elinor made no answer. Her thoughts were silently fixed on the irreparable injury which too early an independence and its consequent habits of idleness, dissipation, and luxury, had make in the mind, the character, the happiness, of a man who, to every advantage of person and talents, united a disposition naturally open and honest, and a feeling affectionate temper. The world had made him extravagent and vain. Extravagence and vanity had made him coldhearted and selfish. Vanity, while seeking its own guilty triumph at the expense of another, had involved him in a real attachment which extravagence, or at least its offspring, necessity, had required to be sacrificed. Each faulty propensity, in leadijng him to evil, had led him likewise to punishment. The attachment from which against honour, against feeling, against every better interest he had outwardly torn himself, now, when no longer allowable, governed every thought; and the connection, for the sake of which he had, with little scruple, left her sister to misery, was likely to prove a source of unhappiness to himself of a far more incurable nature.

Jane Austen could easily be describing, 100 years beforehand, the negative effects of the foremost "progressive" education philosopher John Dewey's education principles: The error that education ought to be based on the "experiences" of the child and governed solely by the interests and whims of the child. He believed this style of education would produce a more just style of government, for him socialism. He is right on the latter (except that socialism is never just), ironically, because his style of education produces, as Austin notes, selfish, coldhearted individuals concerned with shallow pecuniary values (for the good of themselves, not others) and an elite status, exactly the type of individuals who would support John Dewey's socialism--as long as they are in the elite in this socialist government. Everyone gets poorer, but they remain in the elite. It is not surprising that Dewey was a big fan of the Russian Revolution and even visited Russia in the late 1920s.

These type of individuals that Dewey's philosophy and today's public schools, which have been so influenced by him, produce care only about their own pleasures and have no care for traditional morality or other's happiness. Austin writes about Willoughby, "'The whole of his behaviour,' replied Elinor, 'from the beginning to the end of the affair has been grounded on selfishness. . . .His own enjoyment, or his own ease, was in every particular his ruling principle.'" In other words, John Dewey's philosophy that education should be guided by the students selfish whims.

The Catholic belief that Natural Law is unchanging and immutable can explain why Jane Austin a century beforehand so accurately describes the rotten fruits of John Dewey's "education as experience" philosophy and its numerous recycled fads that it has created: "discovery learning," the self esteem movement, learning through projects, students learning "at their own pace, "fuzzy math," and constructivism. No wonder the public schools produce shallow, self-destructive, pop-culture oriented individuals, similar to Willoughby, and those with all sensibility and no sense, similar to Marianne, who self-destructively are attracted to individuals like Willoughby.

When Marianne, through experience, finally gains some sense, she explains how to become a better person. This could easily describe the goal of today's conservative education reformer and traditionalist: "The future must be my proof. I have laid down my plan, and if I am capable of adhering to it my feelings shall be governed and my temper improved. . . .As for Willoughby, to say that I shall soon or that I shall ever forget him would be idle. His remembrance can be overcome by no change of circumstances or opinions. But it shall be regulated; it shall be checked by religion, by reason, and by constant employment."

Religion, reason, and employment (hard work): Exactly the three things "progressives" most deny today's grade school and college students. They get rid of all aspects relating to God in school and society; they destroy reason through their assault on our European, classical, and Catholic heritage and their promotion of barbaric cultures through "multiculturalism." They, through affirmative action and other forms of promotion not based on merit, war against employment and assiduity.

No wonder our society produces so many Willoughbys and Mariannes, and so few Elinors and Colonel Brandons.

Refreshing and Rare: An Actress with Integrity

2007-11-15T21:14:00.001-05:00

The other day I was thinking back to a terrific play I saw in high school at the Folger Shakespeare Theater in Washington. I used to always go watch the performances downtown performed by the Shakespeare Theatre Company. The play was The Merry Wives of Windsor with Sir John Falstaff played by the magnificent Pat Carroll. The performance was considered historic and got raves in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and other reviews. I also saw her in Mother Courage, which also was performed at the Shakespeare Theatre.

Being a big Wikipedia fan, I decided to check out Pat Carroll and see what she was up to lately. She has done a lot of television and theatre performances. She is perhaps best well known (especially to kids growing up in the 80's and 90's) as Ursula the Octopus in Disney's The Little Mermaid, Ursula being one of Disney's great tradition of vampish villainesses, including Cruella DeVille and Madame Medusa that everyone remembers.

So I look up her up in Wikipedia. What a surprise and a nice one at that! It turns out that Pat Carroll is a devout Catholic that picks and chooses her roles based on traditional Catholic morality:

"As a devout Roman Catholic, her religious views inform her choice of what roles to accept, and in which productions to appear. According to a Current Biography article, she is a supporter of the Republican Party."

It is always refreshing to find the occasional actor or actress that has achieved some degree of fame and also happens to have moral integrity. It is even more stunning in this age of superficial stars who worship multiculturalism, whose highest moral compass is their own superficial whims, and who become liberals to appear intelligent, showing how naive and uneducated they actually are.

Meet Steven Salaita, Jihadist English Professor at Virginia Tech

2007-09-29T19:27:00.000-04:00

My dictionary defines jihad as "a war of Mohammedans upon others, with a religious object." Steven Salaita, English professor at Virginia Tech and advocate of "Palestinian literature" (as well as the extermination of Israel) fits this bill exactly.

Every semester I receive as an alumnus of the Virginia Tech English department a copy of "A Feast of Words," a newsletter update of the going ons of the Virginia Tech staff and students in the English department.

It is the usual postmodern nonsense that quickly goes into the trash bin. Take the first paragraph of the commentary by Carolyn Rude, the chairwoman of the department: "Those of us who work with words understand the role of narrative in defining who we are and where we will go. Our stories become our destiny as well as our story. They become the "truth" as surely as measurable facts."

Notice the quotes around "truth" and the postmodern relativism. This is so normal that it hardly fazes me.

However, one thing did, something I found quite disturbing. Virginia Tech has just hired an English professor that openly promotes jihad and the extermination of Israel: Steven Salaita.

In the Recent Faculty Publications in "A Feast of Words," I found this book promoted: Anti-Arab Racism in the USA: Where it Comes From and What it Means for Politics Today: Steven Salaita (Pluto Press, 2006). Here is the description in "A Feast of Words":

"Steven Salaita blends personal narrative, theory and polemics to show how deep-rooted Anti-Arab racism in America affects everything from legislation to cultural life, shining a light on the consequences of Anti-Arab racism both at home and abroad."

The premise is definitely from Pluto: America is a racist country where peaceful Muslim Arab-Americans are the victims of violence and hatred, not the perpetrators, and that this supposed racism at home fuels jihad against America. Therefore, when we are attacked like on September 11, we deserve it because we are racists.

Here is another description of the book, which also seems--surprise!--to be published by the University of Michigan.

Of course, the Patriot Act is a crime that Professor Salaida rails against in this pro-Arab and anti-Israeli and anti-American book. It seems according to the Arab jihadist Virginia Tech English professor that fellow Arab jihadists in America are protected by the Constitution they aim to destroy and should be able to plot against us without having their conversations be recorded because we are a racist country that is causing them to hate us. What logic! This type of thinking certainly does not have its origin in America and Europe's Western civilization with its influences of Judaism, Greek and Roman philosophy, and Christianity. Of course, places such as Virginia Tech's English department have dedicated themselves to destroying and replacing our heritage, not celebrating it. Therefore, even a supposed literature professor, like jihadist Steven Salaita, can be an expert of sociology. They can invent a nonexistent field such as "Palestinian literature" and then use that as a platform for their jihadist agenda. They are then in demand by all the postmodern departments that stupidly prize this "multiculturalism."

In another openly anti-Semitic book advertised in this semester's "A Feast of Words," Steven Salaita openly declares that Palestinian terrorists are involved in a "colonial war" against Israel. The book description by the publisher states that Salaita proposes in the book that "Indian attacks on white settlements were a natural reaction to a European colonial invasion, so too Palestinian attacks on the highways and suicide bombings in towns are a consequence to Jewish proliferation in the land." This is shocking that in 2006 Virginia Tech would knowingly hire such a person.

Here are some questions for Virginia Tech, which seems to be a hotbed of Muslim extremism these days:

1) Did they know that Steven Salaita advocates the destruction of Israel when they hired him? He states implicitly that Israel should never have been created. Therefore, logically, he would have no problem if it were wiped off the race of the earth.

2) Did anti-semitic celebrity Nikki Giovanni have any say in hiring Steven Salaita?

3) Did Steven Salaita teach Cho Seung-hui? If not, what contact did he have with him? It is hard to believe that this constant bashing of America would not have had an effect on him.

"'Tis time to give 'em physic, their diseases are grown so catching." Shakespeare in Henry VIII.

Update

2007-09-12T11:51:00.001-04:00

I just got back a couple of days ago from a week and a half in Puerto Rico and a week cruise in the Caribbean. It was a lot of fun but am not looking forward to going back to work.

Favorite island in the Caribbean? Definitely Puerto Rico. It feels very American and prosperous, and both San Juan and the island are gorgeous.

I'm not going to be blogging as much in the coming months. I'm taking two classes at Notre Dame Graduate School at Christendom College in the evenings: Intro to Theology and Patristics. I'm also going to concentrate on mastering Spanish.

However, in the near future I will post a recommended book list for those interested in the field of Social Foundations of Education--the bizarre term that is used in most education schools for the fields of the social sciences as applied to education. I don't like term "Social Foundations" at all--education is actually very personal and not social at all . The main purpose of education should be on academics and our Western heritage, not on socialization and socialism, the main concerns of most Social Foundations professors who try to hoist liberalism and Marxism upon aspiring young teachers. However, it has been the accepted term for several decades now--just as "social studies" is the accepted term.

Very few people outside of education schools actually take the time to study the history, philosophy, and policy of American education, and yet it is an extremely important subject for the future of our American and Western heritage. I will have more posts on the subject this fall. I'll also have more exposes on the inanities of Social Foundations professors, so keep checking back every couple of weeks or so!

Weekend Geography Quiz

2007-08-18T14:52:00.001-04:00

In what country is the Catholic St. Maron monastery in Annaya, founded in 1828? The Maronite Church goes back to the fifth century and has always been in communion with Rome. It was founded by St. Maron and became a distinctive rite. It was rediscovered in the West during the Crusades. The Maronite rite escaped destruction by the Mohammedans because of diplomatic and military pressure by the West. Here is a picture of the mystic St. Maron:

Here is the St. Charbel church on the grounds of the St. Maron monastery:

The Maronite order of monks and hermits was formed in 1695. Here is the Hermitage on the St. Maron monastery grounds:

St. Charbel (1828-1898) is one of my favorite Catholic saints. He took vows to become a monk in 1853 in Annaya and became a priest in 1859 in the Maronite order. In 1925 the process for his beatification was begun, and he was beatified in 1865 and canonized in 1977:

Let's pray to St. Maron and St. Charbel for their intercession in the conversion of all Muslims, who worship the false moon god, to the true God and Faith:

The St. Maron monastery receives thousands of pilgrims each year. In which country was the Maronite rite founded, and where is the St. Maron monastery?

What is the Purpose of Education?

2007-08-11T16:06:00.001-04:00

For Catholics, the purpose of education is to gain knowledge to change the world for the better in a Catholic and traditional Western sense. This necessitates a strong liberal arts curriculum and a commitment to orthodox Catholic values.

These days it is almost impossible get a genuine liberal arts, humanistic education because of the nutty postmodernists who have taken over virtually every department in the humanities around the world and who attempt to replace truth with jejune, heretical ideas that have no origin in Western Civilization. However, it is still possible to get an excellent education outside these postmodern, Marxist reeducation centers.

From the mission statement of Christendom College, an orthodox Catholic university on the banks of the Shenandoah River that has a graduate school in Alexandria, Virginia, President Timothy O'Donnell discusses what real education entails:

"A Catholic university must have at least four of the following "essential characteristics." First, the Holy Father says there must be a Christian inspiration which is found not only in the individuals who make up the college or university, but throughout the university community as such. Secondly, in the light of the truths of the Catholic Faith, there must be an ongoing reflection upon the growing body of human knowledge to which the university seeks to add its own unique contribution in the field of research and writing. Third, within the university there must be "fidelity to the Christian message as it comes to us through the Church." It is here, particularly within theological discourse, that the necessity of adherence to the teaching of the Magisterium as an authoritative font of truth is emphasized by the Pope. Fourth, there must be a commitment on the part of the institution to serve the entire people of God and the entire human family of mankind "in their pilgrimage to the transcendent goal which gives meaning to life." That transcendent goal is none other than God, who beckons all men to eternal happiness in the beatific vision. Here again, in all four points the importance of faith is seen. It is central and vital to the integrity to the Catholic university. In an authentic Catholic university, "Catholic ideals, attitudes, and principles penetrate and inform university activities in accordance to the proper nature and autonomy of these activities.'"

A good example of an authentic Catholic education, the new Chavagnes International College in France for grade level students. Here is the reason it was founded:

"Every profession should be able to be evaluated. The difference between Roman Catholic schools and non-Catholic schools is that Roman Catholic schools are supposed to produce young people with a substantively different worldview. As recently as the 1970s, Catholic bishops were saying that Catholicism should permeate every aspect of the curriculum. How do you measure if this is successfully communicated? It doesn’t wash for Catholic headmasters and religious-education teachers to say, 'Our pupils may not go to Mass, but they are very committed to world peace and social justice.' However, rather, than bemoaning this fact, we decided to do something about it."

I'm envious. Those boys are getting an excellent education that many of us were denied. However, you can always educate yourself at any stage in your life. I'm getting an M.A. in Theology from Christendom College. My main purpose was to get an excellent education in the humanities to best understand Western Civilization. One of my friends from Virginia Tech who eventually went on to get a doctorate in microbiology from Johns Hopkins also takes classes at the Christendom graduate school in Alexandria. He has stated how much of an education he lacked before taking these classes, and he attended the best high school in Fairfax County, The Thomas Jefferson School, and some of the best colleges in the nation.

What we are lacking is a genuine, conservative Catholic education, and this is why Christendom College has been such a blessing.

Another excellent school with an authentic Catholic focus is St. Thomas More Academy in Raleigh, North Carolina. Here is their philosophy, a philosophy that is genuinely in the Western tradition:

"STMA recognizes that students must understand themselves and how they are created before they are able to help others. Our late Holy Father wrote in Fides et Ratio 'The admonition Know Yourself was carved on the temple portal at Delphi, as testimony to a basic truth to be adopted as a minimal norm by those who seek to set themselves apart from the rest of creation as 'human beings', that is as those who "know themselves".' We recognize that the search for truth is one that has sparked the keenest minds of all ages to understand their fundamental nature and to uncover the mysteries of the world around them. This gave rise to the arts and all the sciences, and is primarily why STMA uses a classical curriculum, because it has proven to help shape the mind and temper the intellect so that it is most disposed to think and reason, ask the right questions so that the answers can be understood within proper context."

Many Catholic colleges, in response to this need of true liberal arts, have been set up around the world or have been around for a while and are still true to authentic Catholic education. For example here is what Dr. Anne Carson Daly says about the excellent Belmont Abbey College:

"'Belmont Abbey College is a special, blessed place with a terrific sense of community, and it is a community devoted equally to faith and reason,' said Daly. 'I feel privileged to work with a faculty that is not only remarkably talented but also extremely devoted to both the College and their students.'”

Faith and Reason: Unfortunately these are two things that postmodern obsurants eschew, and so it is very difficult to get a real education these days at your average high school or university. After all, there is only one subject sacred to liberals.

A good Catholic education, of course, should always stress the liberal arts. The Christendom College webpage has an excellent explanation on the value of the liberal arts.

Catholic education (and all education) needs to get back to our roots.

Weekend Geography Quiz

2007-08-05T07:55:00.000-04:00

Every weekend, I have the "Weekend Geography Quiz" to celebrate the field of geography, which arrogant "progressives" subsumed under the field of "social studies" (along with history) as far back as the 1910s.

From Diane Ravitch's Left Back, a terrific history of American education, about how "progressives" invented "social studies" in the enormously influential 1917 Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education (CRSE), a federal report sponsored by the National Education Association.:

"The chairman of the Committee on Social Studies was Thomas Jesse Jones, the specialist on racial matters who had written the important federal report Negro Education. A well-known proponent of industrial and trade education, Jones was one of the first to coin the term of 'social studies.' This new field was formed by the intersection of two congenial ideas: one was social efficiency, or teaching students the skills and attitudes necessary to fit into the social order; the other was 'the new history,' whose advocates believed that the content of history in the schools should be selected on the basis of 'the pupil's own immediate interest' and 'general social significance.' Proponents of social studies believed that pupils could not possibly be interested in history unless it was directly related to the present.

"The trouble with history, it seemed, was that it frequently didn't have a social purpose at all; too often, it was geared toward satisfying the student's imagination or curiosity, which modern educators deemed socially useless. In its preliminary report, the Committee on Social Studies proclaimed that 'good citizenship' would be the goal of social studies: 'Facts, conditions, theories, and activities that do not contribute rather directly to the appreciation of methods of human betterment have no claim.' Even civics, which was a study of government, had to change to a study of 'social efforts to improve mankind. It is not so important that the pupil know how the President is elected as that he shall understand the duties of the health officer in his community.'"

Diane Ravitch goes on to give a quote from this Committee's report about why they thought that "social studies" was more important than history, civics, and geography. From the report:

"'The old chronicler who recorded the deeds of kings and warriors and neglected the labors of the common man is dead. The great palaces and cathedrals and pyramids are often but the empty shells or a parasitic growth on the working group. The elaborate descriptions of these old tombs are but sounding brass and tinkling cymbals compared to the record of the joys and sorrows, the hopes and disappointments of the masses, who are infinitely more important than any arrangement of wood and stone and iron.'"

Notice the Marxist undertones from this Committee's report of 1917. This report was enormously influential and tragically transformed the entire character of America's schools. You can see its influence in the fact that we still call history and geography at the elementary and middle schools levels "social studies" and the disparagement of subject matter that has no socialist utility. This is yet another reason to take back the schools from the "progressives."

Amazingly, socialists and liberals have attempted to take credit for the Civil Rights Movement, which was a successful movement by Blacks THEMSELVES to gain equal rights that were viciously denied them by DEMOCRATS and LIBERALS in the South. This movement liberals have falsely (and racistly--as if Blacks were not able to organize the Civil Rights Movement themselves without the paternal guidance of liberals) taken credit for gives them the ability to throw the epithet "racist" to anyone who disagrees with their "progressive" and socialist ideas (think The Great Society, discarding prayer and morality in schools, and busing for integration) that tore apart Black communities. The social utilitatrian and "progressive" education methods that date back to the CRSE's report and before are the some of the root causes for societal problems facing the Black community today.

This week's Weekend Geography Quiz:
This attractive city of about 300,000 in the heart of the cotton belt was settled along a river in the area of the Alibamu Indians.
On December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus, and a bus boycott was launched until the city desegregated the mass transit system in December 1956. Martin Luther King lived here from 1954 though 1960:
This city has not only been integral to the Civil Rights Movement, it has also had important musical contributions. The great Hank Williams lived here and is buried here in in Oakwood Cemetery.

The city has an important historical and musical legacy, but it is also a city of modern cultural achievements. It has a world-renowned Shakespeare theater and is home to the seventh largest Shakespeare festival in the world. It puts on many productions throughout the year:
This city also has the fifth largest museum in the world, the new Fine Arts Museum, also in the huge and attractive Blount Cultural Park that houses the Shakespeare theater. In 1910, the Wright winter flying school was set up in this city by the Wright brothers, and its legacy is still found today in that this city is an important Air Force training center. This very hot and humid city is a city of oaks and pines with many very attractive neighborhoods. It is also very religious. Every other building seems to be a church.

Finally--best of all--this city is home of the VERY BEST hot dogs in the world--even better than Atlanta's the Varsity--and was ranked in the top ten best hot dogs in the U.S. by the Travel channel (it should be number one). They can be found at Chris' hot dogs, founded in 1917,on Dexter Avenue near the Capitol:
What is the name of this all American city?

Top Seven Classic Novels Banned from High Schools

2007-07-31T19:49:00.000-04:00

Gerald at the very popular Catholic blog Closed Cafeteria has a nightmarish but true post about the proposed sex education curriculum in Germany. My first thought was the novel Brave New World. However, so many in America would not be familiar and thus warned about the implications of such a program because they have been exposed to mediocre teen lit and insipid multicultural trash instead of great literature from their time in high school and college. When Barack Hussein Obama states he wants sex education for kindergarteners, many young people instead of running away from this guy as fast as they can as they should, are embracing him because they feel proud of their multiculturalism in this Brave New World. There are so many lessons about life that teenagers should be gaining from classic literature but are not because much of classic literature has been banned from classrooms across the nation. Thus, teenagers are not warned or educated about many of life's lessons and will have to experience them the hard way.

I've come up with the top seven classic novels (in no particular order) banned for a variety of reasons from classrooms that teenagers (and all educated adults) should be familiar with because of the important lessons that these novels provide:

1. Brave New World

Aldous Huxley's absolutely dazzling science fiction novel about a liberal world shows a society where God is banned, leaving an incredible spiritual void that is filled with sex, drugs, and shallow social relationships. The novel is surprisingly sexually explicit, but it is perfectly suited for teenagers, who instead of being attracted to this type of sex and drugs are guaranteed to be repelled. Liberals are bringing us at warp speed towards this type of society of "community, identity, stability," so teenagers should definitely be forewarned and forearmed to combat this type of society. It is not surprising why liberals have banned this book. They are embarrassed at how similar their ideal society is to that of this book!

2. 1984

This is a dynamite novel by George Orwell that truly is one of the best in the English language. There are three parts in the book. Parts 1 and 2 come across as thrillers whereby the two main protaganists attempt to escape and come to grips with the totalitarian society they are in. Part 3 is totally unexpected and is one of nightmarish horror and will knock you out. This book packs a devastating and disturbing punch. It is unforgettable, and teenagers will be certain to avoid having society go this route that liberals are taking it. Teenagers will be familiar with the terms "Orwellian" and "doublethink" and are sure to be wise enough when liberals start engaging in these activities to call them on it. 1984 has been banned from schools supposedly because of the sex and the intensity of the horror, but that is not to be believed. After all, liberals want sex education for kindergarteners, so it is not possible that liberals would ban a book for sex. The real reason 1984 is banned is because socialists and "social justice" advocates do not want students to be aware of their true agenda (or are not fully aware of it themselves and do not want to be reminded of the actual horror of it ). In fact, if forced to teach this novel, liberals will engage in doublethink themselves and claim absurdly that 1984 is a novel about a society that doesn't value nonconformity and, thus, bizarrely attempt to implicate capitalism and democracy. That's classic doublethink. 1984 is about and only about the horrors of socialist totalitarianism.

3. Ivanhoe

This novel by Sir Walter Scott is perhaps the best historical fiction ever penned, and yet it has been banned from virtually every classroom in America for its anti-Jewish stereotypes in the character of Isaac. First of all, it is somewhat strange that liberals and socialists are so concerned with anti-Jewish stereotypes when they so openly are against the War on Terror and embrace themselves so readily the culture of Islam and Muslim nations. David Horowitz's Unholy Alliance details the close relationship between the Left and Muslims. Leftists, who have banned Ivanhoe, are as anti-Semitic as they come. Thus, it seems that Ivanhoe is actually banned more out of spite for the literature of "dead, white males." Never mind it is one of the most engaging and magical reads in Western literature and that teenagers will really take to it. Furthermore, the character of Isaac (while comical) is also one of the most fascinating in Western literature. The reader is certainly to have sympathy and respect for Isaac. Furthermore, the Jewish Rebecca is one of the most sympathetic, winning characters in Western literature. So, teenagers are much more likely to have a POSITIVE view of Judaism and a distaste for Isaac and Rebecca's treatment than not from reading this book. Liberals are always so eager to nannyishly ban books for what they perceive are negative stereotypes in order to superficially appear enlightened. Instead of banning great literature, however, they should look in the mirror and reexamine their anti-Semitic support of jihadists' agenda. Teenagers should definitely be exposed to this colorful and memorable novel that positively portrays the chivalry and high culture of the Middle Ages (another possible real reason that liberals have banned this book). It will definitely interest them in the history of Western Civilization.

4. Vanity Fair

Vanity Fair is a magnificent book. It is extremely long but engrossing throughout, thanks to Becky Sharp, one of the most fascinating and scheming characters in English literature. I can't help but think that Margaret Mitchell modeled Scarlet O'Hara for her Gone With the Wind (another great banned novel students should be exposed to) after her. There is a lot of comedy and drama in this wonderful novel in which Becky is determined to rise in society, connivingly using every ruse possible. This novel by William Makepeace Thakeray is a terrific expose of the superficial vices or the upper echelon of society--and, of course, remains timely today. This novel is a must for teenagers because they are absolutely guaranteed to be put off by things like superficial, Paris Hilton-like fame and Hollywood pop culture. This classic novel contains an immense amount of wisdom that students should be exposed to. I don't know why this is no longer taught. Perhaps the length takes up too much time for banal multicultural lit. . .or do liberals uncomfortably see themselves in the characters of this brilliant novel?

5. The Portrait of Dorian Gray

If Brave New World will turn teenagers off of casual sex and Vanity Fair will expose the banalities of pop culture, then The Portrait of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde's great novel, will have teenagers question self-centered gratification of one's desires at the expense of others and of moral and religious principles. Oscar Wilde was one of the most gifted writers of the English language. His wit, dialogue, and descriptions of scene are some of the freshest and most delightful in English literature. The comedic The Importance of Being Earnest is one of the best plays ever written. Oscar Wilde was a flamboyant genius who lived in high artistic society of Victorian London. Yet in The Picture of Dorian Gray, he questions the values of this aesthetic and hedonistic lifestyle of "art for its own sake." In the end, it simply is not fulfilling. Oscar Wilde, as everyone knows, was homosexual, yet he questions the lifestyle that so many gay activists are pursuing. Dorian Gray is a young man mesmerized by his portrait submitted by an admirer. He is brought into a lifestyle he is enthralled with by another friend, a new artistic acquaintance he is attracted to in high society. He pursues nonstop his self gratification. For some reason, though the years pass, he remains beautiful on the outside but on the inside his soul is corrupt and disgusting as shown on his portrait. The more he sins, the more disgusting and evil the portrait becomes. The characters are heterosexual in the novel, but Oscar Wilde makes it clear through descriptions and dialogue that homosexuality is the issue here. It just was simply not possible at that time to openly write that type of novel. However, the implications are there, and teenagers most likely will not be as tempted to get into this type of lifestyle. At least they will have the wisdom of this great novel to fall back upon.

6. Great Expectations

Every teenager should be exposed to Charles Dickens, yet amazingly very few are. Dickens simple is the very best writer in our English heritage. He has the most memorable, fascinating characters, both major and supporting. I would say David Copperfield is my very favorite novel in all of English literature. Great Expecations is another, and this one provides great lessons to teenagers though its memorable and appealing protaganist Pip, who goes from being poor to a wealthy young gentleman through a mysterious benefactor. As he becomes engrossed in money and the debonair lifestyle of the young and wealthy (hello Hollywood?), he becomes more self aware and builds his character as he discards the superficial. This wonderful, memorable novel is a must for students and provides great lessons about life, what is truly important. Dickens is a wealth of wisdom that students should feast upon. This novel will truly build character.

7. Silas Marner

For some inexplicable reason, George Eliot has been banned from the classrooms, mostly from indifference. Yet she is one of the most brilliant writers of our English heritage. I would say she is the second best writer of the novel, second only to Dickens. Silas Marner is a gem of a novel. The protaganist selfishly withdraws from society and miserly cares only about accumulating gold. He adopts a young orphan who is found abandoned in his yard and is touchingly transformed as he cares for the young orphan and reintegrates himself into society. This novel provides a wealth of wisdom about many topics from suffering, materialism, and charity, and it is highly memorable.

Weekend Geography Quiz

2007-07-29T20:05:00.001-04:00

This city is considered to be the Oriental St. Petersburg because of its beautiful, European and Russian influenced architecture:
This city has beautiful summers but frigid, Siberian winters. It is world famous for its winter ice festival that draws tourists from all over the globe:

This city has a spectacular treasure trove of various styles of European, Russian, American, Japanese, and Chinese architecture, reflecting the international mixture of the population of the city during the first half of the 20th century. The city has had a large population of Russians, Americans, French, Japanese, and Chinese. It had a large Jewish population. Many Whites Guards fled here after the Russian Revolution. The city is now a bustling city of 4.5 million people. What city is this that has played such an important role in 20th century world history due to its proximity to major world historical events?

"Breaking Free" from Failed Public Education

2007-07-25T18:28:00.000-04:00

Sol Stern from the Manhattan Institute has written a terrific book on education policy--Breaking Free. I can't recommend this book highly enough for those interested in education policy.

Surprisingly, most social conservatives are well-informed on matters of foreign policy and domestic politics--but are often completely uninformed when it comes to education policy. I'm not sure why this is, but my guess is it is because a lot of us are products of public education and lack perspective. Plus, most rely on the mainstream media for information about education. For example, I've noticed many conservatives will naively take the education union lines without question that teachers are underpaid and overworked, smaller classrooms are good, "child-centered" classrooms are conducive for learning, a qualified teacher is a "certified" one, school systems need more money, standardized tests are bad, etc.

Breaking Free bursts many of the myths about public education. I would say this book is one of the very best in exposing the inanities of "progressive" public education (in this case the New York school system) and the crazy, selfish rules the American Federation for Teachers and the National Education Association have hoisted upon entire school systems. It is also a passionate and well-researched plea for vouchers, the only solution that will reform public education. Stern proves in Breaking Free that school choice is truly the only way to break the cycle of poverty (just as economic choice is the only way for a capitalistic society to function and bring success to a nation). Most inner city parents know this solution intuitively, but the unions and liberals steadfastly refuse to let them exercise their right to choose their schools--a choice hypocritical, wealthy liberals exercise everywhere when they place their kids in prestigious private schools.

Too many great quotes in this excellent book, but here are a few:

On Left-wing favorite Jonathan Kozol (an unabashed communist) that almost all education students have to study:

A typical chapter [of On Being a Teacher], "Disobedience Instruction," tells teachers how to encourage skepticism of authority by calling attention to "those ordinary but pathetic figure who went into Watergate to steal, into My Lai to kill--among other reasons, because they lacked the power to say no." According to Kozol, teachers should also invoke mass murderer Adolf Eichmann, whose "own preparation for obedient behavior was received in German public schools"--which resemble our own in aiming to produce "good Germans, or good citizens, as we in the United States would say."

All the book's model lessons aim to teach little children to withstand America's state-sponsored brainwashing and to open them up to the self-evident truths of feminism, environmentalism and a Marxist interpretation of history. At the end of the book, Kozol thoughtfully provides a long list of left-wing publications and organizations--including the information agencies of the Chinese and Cuban governments--where teachers can get worthwhile classroom materials. But, he warns teachers, be stealthy about all this; you can't altogether neglect teaching the basic skills, because administrators or parents would then see how politically motivated you are. [my emphasis]

Parents, particularly those of minority children, should dread the prospect of having one of Kozol's guerilla cadre in charge of their children's classrooms; such teachers are almost never much good at imparting basic skills, because they almost always embrace the ed schools' latest progressive pedagical fads. The teacher who feels compelled to denounce every one of Columbus's depredations against the Arawaks--as my son Dani's fourth-grade teacher at P.S. 87 did--is also likely to believe that standardized tests are bunk, that math and reading should never be taught through drill, that children should not be taught "mere facts" and that the very idea of literacy is merely a Western conceit.

On the "progressive" fads that are pervasive in public schools, including P.S. 87, considered one of the best public schools in New York:

We first became uneasy when we learned that P.S. 87 was using a new method called "the writing process," based on the assumption that all children were "natural writers." The old-style concern about sentence drill, grammar and spelling squashed natural childhood talents, we were told, while the new method let children's creativity flow by dispensing with these stifling rules and letting kids write down in journals whatever came to their minds, including their own invented spelling. They would then revise these entries, with but a smidgen of guidance from the teacher.

P.S. 87 didn't seem to hold teachers accountable for making sure that students attained some objectively measured level of writing competence. Indeed, the parents of children who were less "natural" writers than others, who couldn't compose a correct sentence by third or fourth grade, were still hearing assurances that all children develop at their own pace and that there really is no "correct" way to write. In other words: don't worry, be happy.

I have a Master of Education from what is considered a prestigious education school--The Curry School of Education of University of Virginia--and believe me, these "progressive" fads are taught almost exclusively to aspiring teachers. Furthermore, in most Social Foundations of Education classes, a political worldview akin to Jonathan Kozol's is disturbingly exclusive in most classes. Thankfully, in the my introductory Social Foundations class at UVA, we were exposed to E.D. Hirsch, Jr., a nationally prominent reformer and education traditionalist (most likely because he was a University of Virginia professor). Despite his stature and influence in the reform movement, most students are sadly not exposed to his writings. This reason is most "social justice" professors know with certainty if exposed to traditional ideas of education and nutty "social justice" theories, the game is up. Students will choose the former with a fair exchange of academic ideas. Therefore, most schools of education refuse to give students the whole picture.

From my perspective, UVA had an unusually well-balanced Social Foundations department, and even so I would say 80% of the professors would fall into the "guerilla cadre" social justice types--a good example is one of my former professors at UVA and my number one fan, nationally prominent education scholar Dan Butin, now professor at Cambridge College (and who has so tolerantly threatened to sue me for libel in a post below)--or Deweyan liberals, such as the head of the Department, Bernadette Black (even though I completely disagree with Dewey's philosophy, she was an excellent professor who gave a well-balanced perspective of Social Foundations), and about 20% education traditionalists. Most schools would be 100% the former and 0% the latter, so UVA is truly quite remarkable.

Because public education teachers have to be licensed and most have received their educations from these Left-wing Schools of Education (Dan Butin is prominently quoted in the article by David Steiner linked), it is not surprising that so many teachers, especially young ones, are gung-ho advocates of "progressive" methods that so harm especially our nation's inner city children. The only solution, Sol Stern discovers, is school choice. From the terrific chapter "Catholic School Lessons" on how Catholic schools are doing a far better job at educating than public schools:

The early scholarship attributed Catholic schools' superior performance to their more rigorous academic curriculum and their greater degree of discipline. But researchers also credited the distinctive organization of Catholic schools. Free from the central bureaucratic controls then beginning to weigh heavily on public schools, the Catholic schools seemed more like autonomous communities--yet were accountable to their students' families. James Coleman observed that whereas the public schools sytem had become an arena for the clash of political and economic interests, Catholic
schools were infused with an atmosphere of trust and cooperation between teachers, administrators and parents, based on a shared moral vision.

Stern, an expert on New York's Catholic schools, gives a whole slew of statistics showing irrefutably how Catholic schools--with the highest amount of minority students and less than half the budget of New York's schools--score far higher on tests and graduate far higher number of students, than do New York's public schools. Yet liberals refuse to acknowledge Catholic schools' success and give students and parents the choice to exit the nihilistic public schools. Some "social justice."

Sol Stern's Breaking Free is a wonderful first hand account of the failures of public education and the imperative of school choice. It is certainly one of the best education policy texts out there, and I highly recommend it as a reference.

Weekend Geography Quiz

2007-07-21T18:19:00.000-04:00

I was in Raleigh, NC last weekend and couldn't post the quiz, but here it is again. This weekend takes you to the 42nd largest city in United States territory, an important seaport and tourist center. This city has great beaches and is a huge embarkation point for cruises:
The Old City has a huge fortress and walls, and this city is one of the oldest in the New World: Here is a portion of the Old City:
The city has a modern transportation system:
The city is predominantly Catholic and is named after St. John the Baptist. What city is this?

Classic Book Recommendation

2007-07-18T18:41:00.000-04:00

When I first was using Diane Ravitch's The Language Police as a reference for one of my Social Foundations classes, I was immediately impressed with the Atkinson-Ravitch Sampler of Classic Literature in an appendix at the back of the book. No moral relativism, emphasis on multiculturalism, disparagement of "dead white males," or promotion of teen literature. Just a list of great literature that students should be exposed to while in school. I decided to photocopy the list for my own reference but then ended up buying the book because of its use as a reference in combatting in my classes the "progressive" education that has been so harmful to our nation and, in particular, to lower income students.

One entry in the Sampler of Classic Literature particularly intrigued me--Richard Halliburton's The Royal Road to Romance, written in 1925:

"Adventure is the hallmark of this unique and enduring travelogue. Fresh from Princeton University, Halliburton and a pal set out in the early 1920s to view other parts of the world, and Royal Road is an account of that unforgettable first trip. Writers attest to Halliburton's formative influence, and readers still are caught by the freshness, wanderlust, and charm that mark this work."

Out of all the great classic literature I've read, I would say that Royal Road is perhaps my favorite book of all time, and it certainly is the one of the best pieces of travel literature ever written. Halliburton's style is infectious, and he has a way with words and descriptions that few other authors can even approach. There is a joy of life in the work, and the book is a perpetual memorial to youth and the pleasures of discovering new worlds and cultures.

Here is Halliburton describing his musings on the campus of Princeton that led him to take his vagabond trip around the world after graduation:

"A wave of exultation swept over me. Youth--nothing else worth having in the world. . .and I had youth, the transitory, the fugitive, now, completely and abundantly. Yet what was I going to do with it? Certainly not squander its gold on the commonplace quest for riches and respectability, and then secretly lament the price that had to be paid for these futile ideals. Let those who wish have their respectability--I wanted freedom, freedom to indulge in whatever caprice struck my fancy, freedom to search in the farthermost corners of the earth for the beautiful, the joyous and the romantic.

"The romantic--that was what I wanted. I hungered for the romance of the sea, and foreign ports, and foreign smiles. I wanted to follow the prow of a ship, any ship, and sail away, perhaps to China, perhaps to Spain, perhaps to the South Sea Isles, there to do nothing all day long but lie on a surf-swept beach and fling monkeys at the coconuts.

"I hungered for the romance of great mountains. From childhood I had dreamed of climbing Fujiyama and the Matterhorn, and had planned to charge Mount Olympus in order to visit the gods that dwelt there. I wanted to swim the Hellespont where Lord Byron swam, float down the Nile in a butterfly boat, make love to a pale Kashmiri maiden beside the Shalimar, dance to the castanets of Granada gipsies, commune in solitude with the moonlit Taj Majal, hunt tigers in a Bengal jungle--try everything once. I wanted to realize my youth while I had it, and yield to temptation before increasing years and responsibilities robbed me of the courage."

I love this book! His adventures are always dramatic, hilarious, mesmerizing, poignant, amusing. He encounters fascinating characters along the way that drift into and out of his life of travel. Royal Road is a captivating ode to the adventures of youth. This book made Halliburton a superstar, and it was followed by The Glorious Adventure, New Worlds to Conquer, The Flying Carpet, and Seven League Boots--all terrific.

It is also important to note--from an education standpoint--that Halliburton appears to have had an excellent education, from his knowledge of ancient history and mythology, Latin, and poetry. Many of these subjects have disappeared from the curriculum to be replaced by. . .well, nothing, which is a shame. These subjects interested Halliburton and were formative evidently. In turn, these subjects still inspire, as do Halliburton's books. It is a perfect example of how our culturally common heritage inspires additional classics.

Here is a letter to the editor in Memphis Magazine that sums up Halliburton's influence on the Greatest Generation:

"I stumbled on your years-old piece about Richard Halliburton this evening and it surely touched a chord. A teacher read to us from one of his books when I was in 7th grade; it set me on a lifetime of travel - including climbing Mt. Fuji, as he did. Now closing in on 75, I am planning my last major trip, having seen all of the world I ever wanted to - all because of Halliburton. Why not reprint some of his writings in your magazine? Let folks see what the world was like when it was innocent and all travel outside Tennessee was a Glorious Adventure.
~ Geoff Smith, Seattle, WA"

Halliburton was one of the most famous Americans in the 1920s and 1930s. His influence can be measured by the fact that one of the most persistent urban myths is traced back to his writings--that the Great Wall of China is the only man made object visible from the moon. He disappeared in 1939 in a voyage from Hong Kong to San Francisco.

So why do so few people know of Halliburton today? I can only conjecture. It seems he is a victim of the pernicious Left-wing purging of great literature. So much of our canon has been systematically forgotten, from Sir Walter Scott to Rudyard Kipling, because of political correctness. Halliburton, because he is so interesting, naturally made a few politically incorrect statements in his writings. It is one reason his writings are so fascinating and not completely dry and insipid like the politically correct, multicultural, censored garbage in today's anthologies. My guess is that his greatest sin for liberals, though, was that he dismissed communism in a trip to Russia in the early 1930s, while so many of the elite were gushing about it.

There is a decent Wikipedia article on Halliburton and another good one about his life. Halliburton was one of the great American writers and definitely deserves to be rediscovered.

Vive L'Eglise Catholique!

2007-07-14T08:46:00.000-04:00

The five conservative Supreme Court justices--Scalia, Thomas, Alito, Roberts, and Kennedy--are all Catholics, so it should be enough to show that Catholicism culturally is an intellectual religion with an emphasis on learning and knowledge, unlike a certain Revolution liberals are celebrating today. These days conservative Catholics are some of the staunchest defenders of our liberty, freedom, and traditions from liberal postmodern assault, which is a main reason for the anti-Catholic bias in mainstream academia and pop culture.

Conservative Catholics these days are also defenders of traditional learning and our classical heritage. Just as Catholic monasteries steadfastly preserved classical texts from the onslaught of barbarians during the early Middle Ages, contemporary conservative Catholics are preserving the traditional focus on learning from the onslaught of the modern day postmodern barbarians, as this news story about eight students from Christendom College receiving honors on the National Greek exam demonstrates:

The faculty of the Classical and Early Christian Studies department take great satisfaction in seeing young scholars mature who are equipped to use intelligently the sacred and secular patrimony of our civilization memorialized in Latin and Greek,” Department Head Dr. Edward Strickland said. “As recently as last year, the Holy Father declared, ‘Quite rightly Our Predecessors have considered knowledge of Latin of great importance for those who deal with ecclesiastical and liberal studies to be able to make fully their own the tremendously rich teaching of these disciplines. Therefore, we urge those scholars zealously to endeavor that as many as possible have access to this treasure and obtain the excellent knowledge that it has to bestow.’”
At Christendom, in addition to Classical and Early Christian Studies (CECS), the Theology and Philosophy departments require their students to have adequate mastery of Latin or Greek. Students who study classical languages have been shown to consistently score highest on the GRE and find it to be especially useful for such professions as law, insurance, medicine, fictional or technical writing, library science, or management: careers that demand high literacy and/or a technical vocabulary.

There has been a pervasive myth since the French Enlightenment era and the liberal Protestant German scientific ascendancy in the late 1800s that the Catholic Church and the Middle Ages were barbaric times, unconcerned with science and erudition. This idea is patently false, as can be proven through historical records and also through common sense observation of today's trends:

Who are some of the staunchest defenders of liberty, learning, and true science? Conservative Catholics, as well as conservative Jews and Evangelicals. Flannery O'Connor jokingly stated (with truth) that Southern evangelicals are much more Catholic intellectually than they would ever care to realize; we can see this these days in the alliance between conservative Catholics and Evangelicals in defending our nations liberties and traditions.

Who are some of the most barbaric defenders of false science (e.g. global warming), barbaric militants against tradition (does the phrase "dead white males" ring a bell?), and barbaric proponents of narrow-minded bigotry (intolerant multiculturalism, i.e. stating that minorities cannot embrace the heritage of the West)? Liberals.

It is important to note that when American Catholics, Protestants, and Jews move away from conservative ideology, they are rejecting their American and Western heritage for the following ideas that have no roots in our great tradition: liberalism, multiculturalism, socialism, communism, and postmodernism. Christians and Jews should, by definition, be conservatives. It is important to preserve and safeguard our traditions. Rejecting liberalism should be a key component.

On this Bastille Day, let us celebrate that we are heirs to our great American heritage, which, because it embraced tradition, did not have a Revolution, and eschew the destructive ideals of the French and Russian Revolutions, which attempted to supplant tradition. Vive les Etats-Unis and l'Eglise Catholique!

Homosexuality and Montgomery County Schools

2007-07-08T16:52:00.001-04:00

Wealthy Montgomery County, MD in the Washington suburbs has one of the most "progressive" public school systems in the nation, so naturally it is not surprising that they are gung-ho about teaching public school children sex education. Scratch the last two words, make that "gung-ho about teaching public school children to be sexually active."

Again, the liberals in Montgomery County are attempting to sneak in PC, pro-gay active lifestyle propaganda into the curriculum in the guise of "sex education" (as if we can't somehow figure out sex on our own without schools "teaching" it; talk about hubris) and inflict these harmful attitudes upon impressionable 8th graders right at the beginning of adolescence. Parents: I have an M.Ed. in Education Policy and can't say repeat it enough: Pull. Your. Kids. Out. of. Public. School.

Of course, mountebank liberals claim this gay-rights agenda in the proposed sex education curriculum in Montgomery County is all in the name of "tolerance" and "compassion."

Sorry, I don't buy it for one second. If it is in the name of "tolerance" and "diversity," why then no mention of this eloquent plea for men to give up the homosexual lifestyle by Michael Glatze, a former gay activist? Should school children not be allowed to obtain these opposing viewpoints?

For Orwellian liberals running our school districts, the answer is in the overwhelming negative.

From the Washington Examiner article about the hyper-gay agenda in Montgomery County schools:

"The filing contends that certain viewpoints — such as the possibility of being an ex-gay — are left out.

'That’s one other orientation they refuse to acknowledge,' Garza said. 'We don’t want to tell kids that whatever orientation they choose; they’re stuck.'”

The truth is they are not stuck, but liberals won't admit this fact. Here is a great article on the subject by an excellent priest, Father Paul Scalia, here in the Diocese of Arlington. (Can you guess whose son he is?) Sex education is quite simply about promoting lifestyles that liberals feel will benefit them politically. Loose women and active gays generally support Democrats. Hook them on fruitless lust while they are young and ruin their lives.

On the flip side of the coin, Christians generally vote conservatively. Therefore, better not have them understand anything about their Western, Christian heritage! It's better to get them hooked on sex at in early age. They then will hopefully reject their Christian morals and, thus, their conservative ideals. That has been the rationale for "progressives" in the school system for decades now. Create more self-absorbed "useful idiots."

It is the same thing about religion in schools. The church-state separation that liberals always bring up means nothing to them. It is simply a ruse to keep Judaism and Christianity out of the schools, so kids will not be influenced by these positive values. Want proof? Liberals have no problems with bringing in "goddesses" into the schools or allowing Muslims to pray in public schools.

It is only Christian values liberals have a problem with. Thus, the whole charade about church-state separation being interpreted to mean no mention of Christian values in the public sphere, something no where to be found in the Constitution.

So it is not suprising that liberals try to silence opinions that don't promote their socialist utopian vision for the future; thus, Michael Gratze's opinion should not be allowed in Montgomery County schools:

"'Knowing no one who I could approach with my questions and my doubts, I turned to God,' he writes. 'I'd developed a growing relationship with God … Soon, I began to understand things I'd never known could possibly be real, such as the fact that I was leading a movement of sin and corruption.'
He said it became clear to him that 'homosexuality prevents us from finding our true self within.' At this point, Glatze was 30, and had been living with a homosexual identity for 16 years.
"He came to realize that homosexuality is pornographic; '[it] destroys impressionable [young] minds and confuses their developing sexuality.'
'Homosexuality came easy to me, because I was already weak,' he writes. He explained that he noticed his attraction to men a year after his father died. 'At an early age, I was already confused about who I was and how I felt about others,' he writes.
'My confusion about "desire" and the fact that I noticed I was "attracted" to guys made me put myself into the "gay" category at age 14.' He came out as gay at age 20, a year after his mother died."

Isn't it ironic? When Michael Gratze was a PC openly gay activist, his opinion was solicited by school districts; when he comes to the truth, grows up, and thus is no longer PC, his opinion is no longer allowed in schools.

Talk about intolerance.

Weekend Geography Quiz: The Portuguese Age of Exploration

2007-07-07T18:05:00.000-04:00

I dropped my Toyota off in Crystal City to get it serviced today, so I decided to take the metro to the National Shrine, the huge Catholic basilica at Catholic University. What a beautiful and impressive cathedral it is! I always like going there to pray. I ate lunch at Union Station and then stopped at the Sackler Gallery to see the exhibition on the Portuguese Age of Exploration.

What a zoo at the Smithsonian! I usually try to avoid the tourist areas in the height of the summer tourism months. First of all, there was a huge backup to even get on the escalator to exit Smithsonian Station on the Mall. Then the Freer and Sackler galleries were packed. I have a B.A. in Asian Studies from University of Maryland, so I often go to the excellent Freer and Sackler galleries, which both specialize in Asia. Almost always, they are virtually empty. Today, though, they were packed with people, so I can't even imagine what the other Smithsonian buildings were like.

The Portuguese exhibit was quite good. I would have expected liberal opprobrium on Western culture in the explanations, but it was well-balanced. The only irritating liberal aspect to the exhibition was the title of the section about the Portuguese influence on Kyushu island in Japan. The epithet was "Southern Barbarians in Japan" without any quotes around "Southern Barbarians," as if liberals aver that all Westerners were barbarians and all other cultures are superior. Of course, liberals would NEVER use the term "barbarians" or "savages" and would put quotes around them if used by Westerners about any group, e.g. "The shipwrecked Portuguese soldiers looked up and saw cannibalistic 'savages' behind the palm trees." Cannibals living in the jungle are never savage; only Westerners are.

Liberals assert that no culture is "savage" or "primitive" except Western Civilization, and the only violent religion is the Christian faith, never Islam. Fortunately, other than that one title, the exhibit was very well done overall.
By the way, one irritating thing about the Freer and Sackler galleries of the Smithsonian in the past three or four years has been the furtive attempt by liberals to place "C.E." and "B.C.E" into newer exhibits while keeping just enough "B.C.'s" and "A.D.'s" as if no one will notice and complain to Congress. Liberals have a vampiric antipathy to Jesus Christ and God, so it is natural they abhor the terms "B.C." and "A.D." However, they need to show more tolerance for our heritage. In Thailand, they date with the year of the Buddha, and no one in his right mind has a problem with that. Of course, when it comes to Western Civilization, liberals are not in their right mind. In any case, liberals are quite dull and are not the brightest creatures around. They still don't comprehend that "B.C.E." and "C.E." are still dating from Jesus Christ and pointing to His existence.

In honor of the great Portuguese Age of Discovery of the 1400s and 1500s, this weekend's geography quiz will be a place that was heavily influenced by the Portuguese.

What is the name of the following state that was a Portuguese colony from 1510 to 1961? There are numerous cathedrals like the following in its old capital, a UNESCO World Heritage Site:
The heroic St. Francis Xavier, one of my favorite saints, is buried in this church: Another beautiful Cathedral: The capital city is called, not surprisingly, Vasco-da-Gama. This former Portuguese colony is world famous for its incredible beaches, and tourism is the largest industry:

An old Portuguese fort:

So what scenic and historical former Portuguese colony is this?

Happy Independence Day!

2007-07-04T09:01:00.001-04:00

Happy Fourth of July, everyone! Some points to remember today:

The Declaration of Independence was a conservative movement, an act of preserving and conserving (Latin; servo or conservo) our rights. Today's conservatives are heirs to the Founding Fathers' ideals. Today we celebrate those ideals with the birth of our great nation.

It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.
John Adams

The Declaration of Independence and the events that followed up to the establishment of our Constitution were hardly part of a "revolution." Revolutions destroy the past. The American Independence embraced the wisdom of the past. Compare that to true Revolutions: The French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, the Cultural Revolution by liberals and socialists in the 1960s, Pol Pot's Khmer Revolution of the 1970s. All of them destroyed and wreaked havoc in the name of a utopia that would never work. Today's liberals are children of these principles.

Our conservative Founding Fathers created the greatest country in world history: The United States of America. I have traveled and lived all over the world--from Europe to Asia--and know with certainty this truth. Liberals, on the other hand, have created some of the most vile regimes the world has ever known.

It is important to keep this truth in mind when liberals around the world--from Western Europe to Asia--bitch and moan that conservative Americans don't embrace the fantasy of global warming, aren't sufficiently secular, are "racists" for not letting every Muslim enter the country, should not support the great country of Israel, are too backwards religiously, should never fight a war ever, should listen to their postmodern "wisdom" more, should embrace the boring game of soccer, etc.

Answer: We conservative Americans rescued you in World War I, World War II, destroyed the Cold War through military spending while you wanted us to "negotiate" and cut military funding, cleaned up in Asia the problems you left, prevented communism from spreading throughout the world, and now are defending the world from Islamic Terror while you want to appease Muslims by not fighting and giving in.

The United States will rescue you again. But just remember: America, a nation that embraces our Founding Fathers' wisdom and foresight, is the one you will always turn to whenever you get yourselves into trouble because of your liberal values. Happy Independence Day!

Weekend Geography Quiz

2007-06-30T16:33:00.000-04:00

What volcanic and earthquake prone island is this?
The island is a treasure trove of ancient architecture, including this spectacular Buddhist monument built between 750-850 A.D. It is considered to be one of the seven wonders of the world:
In the vicinity of the famous Buddhist monument in the center of this island is the following stunning Hindu monument built in 850. The whole area is dotted with notable Buddhist and Hindu temples:

The island has volcanoes, beaches, the spectacular monuments pictured above, and the following huge capital city:

What exotic island is this?

A Life Richer With Poetry

2007-06-28T17:44:00.000-04:00

Good poetry used to be a staple of education, but today much great poetry has fallen by the wayside. Beautiful and memorable poetry has been replaced by mediocre multiculturalism and shallow avant-garde pop. Anthologies used in public schools carefully count how many minorities from every conceivable ethnic group are represented in the name of diversity--instead of the quality--of the poetry. Many great poets are sadly ignored.

Thus, students are much more likely to recognize Nikki Giovanni than Rupert Brooke, and this is a shame for Western Civilization. In addition, because of the emphasis on those who "question the assumptions" of Western Civilization (they really should be studying our heritage and questioning what has made our society so successful--while questioning the motives of those who "question the assumptions" of our heritage), they include avant-garde, minority power, and beat poets that are simply mediocre and who are memorable for their image rather than their talent. So even with an emphasis on diversity, minorities that celebrate Western Civilization, such as the excellent Countee Cullee, whose model was John Keats, are ignored. They may have extraordinary talent but not the "socially correct" attitudes in the pop consumer mold that embodies "progressive" education.

This can have a disastrous effect on certain students, both ignorant of our grand heritage and more captivated by pop, avant-garde image than substance and talent. They are convinced that free verse and exchanging "you" for "u" is hip and copping an image is everything. The results are predictably shallow and juvenile. But, look, I'm acting like a beat poet! Only problem: Take away the image and there is no substance or talent apparent.

An exceptional alternative to the the politically correct textbooks that will give anyone interested, including students, a sampling of great and inspiring poetry: Poetry of Youth, edited by Edwin Markham. It is described in the Atkinson-Ravitch Sampler of Classic Literature:

"In its seriousness of purpose and the quality of its selections, perhaps no better anthology ever existed for middle and high school students. Regrettably, the book is no longer in print, but copies are obtainable through libraries and secondhand bookshops. The contemporary selections stop with the mid-1930s, but this range of poetry reflects over three centuries of literary heritage. Poems are categorized in terms that youths can understand, and each selection is introduced with just enough explanation so that students can connect with the work as they begin to read. This anthology deserves to be reprinted--and sought out by teachers and parents."

Regrettably, it has become hard to find because The Language Police, in which The Atkinson-Ravitch Sampler of Classic Literature was found, was a bestseller and many people have already tried to find the book. It definitely should be reprinted.

Poetry should also be memorized. Marva Collins, the pro-academic education theorist and traditionalist who is refreshing in a era of theorists who distrust academic matter and our heritage, made memorizing poems part of her curriculum. Her autobiography and educational theory is in the inspiring Marva Collins' Way: Returning to Excellence in Education. She states:

"When I started at Delano I was impressed by the principal, an older German man, a classical scholar who read the Iliad to students during lunchtime. He had faculty workshops where he recited Donne, Yeats, and Byron, stopping in the middle of a poem to ask his teachers to supply the next line. When they couldn't, he waved his hand with disgust and said, 'Some of you aren't worth a Sam Hill.' I learned a lot from him, and I began teaching poetry and classical literature to my students. Above all the principal taught me that a good teacher is one who continues to learn along with the students."

Liberals, who wilt like daisies at the mention of "classical literature," reciting poetry, and memorizing anything, would no doubt call both of them "reactionary."

Marva Collins instructs her students, "Now you've got it. Every scholar, every writer, every thinker learned from those who came before." That is exactly what liberals do not want students to know, hence why they attempt to replace academic matter, traditional subjects, and learning techniques with "progressive" methods that deemphasize our heritage. Tradition is the enemy, and they replace it with a new utopian multicultural and dumbed down curriculum with a modernist focus. Students attempt to learn to discover for themselves--the "progressive" jargon is "discovery learning"--but this type of learning, while fine in some ways, is almost impossible to be successful at without having a core basis of knowledge of the past.

The best way to know poetry is to find a good anthology like Poetry for Youth. Another one that includes selections of literature is Diane and Michael Ravitch's new The English Reader: What Every Literate Person Needs to Know. Memorize and closely analyze selections of poetry. Elizabeth Kantor in The Politically Incorrect Guide to English and American Literature counsels:

"You should be learning poems by heart (even if you have the time for intensive structural analysis, but especially if you don't). Poetry is meant to be memorized--meant not so much by the people who write it as by its very nature. All the formal features that distinguish poetry from prose--rhyme, meter, and so forth--are also devices that assist the memory. Originally (before writing was invented), poetry was simply language arranged so that it could be remembered and recited again."

Poetry is an integral part of our English and American heritage. We should attempt to memorize and analyze great poems, not only to admire each great poem's merit but also to enrich our lives.

Weekend Geography Quiz

2007-06-23T13:16:00.000-04:00

This subtropical, clean, and attractive city has the stunning backdrop of this always active volcano:

Though the population is only about 500,000, the importance of this city is demonstrated in its key role in history: The heroic St. Francis Xavier landed in this city, the British bombarded it in 1863, and a revolutionary industrialization for an important country was started here.

It also has a famous garden:

What is the name of this fascinating city?

Classic Literature

2007-06-23T07:44:00.000-04:00

There are many reasons to study classic literature.

Dr. Elizabeth Kantor lays out of few of them in this excellent article.

Unfortunately, the obscurants who run the education establishment (William Bennett calls this liberal influential admixture of powerful unions, schools of education, and organizations "the Blob") are social utilitarians and denigrate classics instead of promoting them.

They don't come right out and admit this fact, of course; rather, they subtlely attempt to destroy the heritage by absurdly claiming it is irrelevant, the "dead white males" comment one hears so often, or racistly claiming it has no relevance for minorities and must be replaced by modern "multicultural" writings. What these liberals really are saying is that if Johnny has brown skin he cannot possibly relate to Shakespeare. This is the classic definition of a racist, and these racists run the "Blob."

In any case, liberals are stating that literature has no place in their future social utopia they are so striving to bring about.

Conservatives, on the other hand, want to preserve our great heritage. For example, at CPAC this year, there was a prominent place for literature. There were several panels devoted to education and academic subject matter. In Latin "conservo" means "to keep, to preserve," and conservatives want to preserve our great democratic values and our magnificent Western classical and Christian heritage.

This is in contrast to liberals, who are out to destroy our heritage. Again, these liberals are the ones running the public schools, which is reason #957,123 to snatch your kids out of public schools and make sure they are going to conservative private Catholic (or other denomination that respects our American heritage) schools.

If you either would like to study literature for yourself or need some homeschooling materials, here are three great resources, well worth purchasing as references:

The Politically Incorrect Guide to English and American Literature by Elizabeth Kantor. Like the all the books in the Politically Incorrect series, this is an excellent and fun introduction to a subject liberals have either dumbed down, denigrated, or obscured. Throughout the book, Kantor refers you to other references that will be invaluable in your enriching journey studying our great heritage in literature.
A Student's Guide to Literature by R.V. Young. Like all the books in the wonderful ISI Guides to the Major Disciplines series, this one is only few dozen pages but jam packed with concise and valuable information. This whole series would make a great addition to your library, and they are not expensive. On a side note, ISI had a booth at CPAC this year. It was Sunday, the last day of the conference, and I asked how much some of the other books in the series were. The girl said she would give me the whole series (about 15 books) all for just $20. That made my day!
The bestseller The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn by Diane Ravitch. This is an absolutely terrific and stunning expose on the politically correct textbooks schools use, but it is also a rally call for bringing back our heritage in literature and history. Best of all, there is the invaluable reference in an appendix "The Atkinson-Ravitch Sampler of Classic Literature for Home and School." It is not just a list but also a explanation of the value of each work (some of them have been unfortunately collectively forgotten by the population as a whole) and the books listed are guaranteed to enrich one's life. For instance, in the list for "10th grade" (the grades are arbitrary and interchangeable according to choice), you have Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice, Catherine Drinker Bowen's Miracle at Philadelphia, Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre and Vilette, Rupert Brooke's "The Soldier," Willa Cather's My Antonia, Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage, Richard Henry Dana, Jr.'s Two Years Before the Mast, Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations, Frederick Douglass' Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, W.E.B. Du Bois' The Soul of Black Folks, Alexander Dumas' The Three Muskateers, The Count of Monte Cristo, and The Man in the Iron Mask, George Eliot's Romola and Silas Marner, etc. (I'm only up to "E.")

Embarking upon the voyage of great literature is a life-enriching experience that should not be denied to anybody, yet liberals have attempted in the name of a future socialist utopia to deny all American children this part of our Western heritage. Unfortunately, many of us who graduated from public schools are heirs to obscurantism. However, there is an easy remedy, which can be begun with throwing off the shackle of liberalism and embracing our heritage.

Hard Times for These Postmodern Times

2007-06-18T19:23:00.000-04:00

I just finished yet another terrific Charles Dickens novel--Hard Times. It is every bit as wonderful as his other more well known books David Copperfield, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, and A Tale of Two Cities. Of all the novelists in our spectacular heritage of English literature, Dickens has to be the best: some of the most memorable characters in literature from the main characters to the often offbeat supporting characters; a grand mix of drama, comedy, and mystery; and a brilliant way with words like few other authors. When a Dickens novel ends, it is always with disappointment and regret that the story is over. Dickens truly is a joy to discover and his stories enrich one's life, as does all great literature.

Sadly, very few American students these days ever have the opportunity to discover Dickens in today's postmodern schools. Why? Because of goofy liberals, of course, who run the school establishment and control the curricula. "Dead white males" are out and "multicultural" teen literature is in. During the immigration debate, proponents of the amnesty bill have accused conservatives of being against "brown people," which is truly ironic because liberals, as demonstrated by their paternalistic attitude, are actually the biggest enemies of "brown people."

These racist, patronizing, arrogant liberals actually believe with sincerity that "brown people" (and anyone not white) somehow do not possess the ability to relate to and appreciate classic British and American literature. They just wouldn't be interested and could never appreciate it. For this racist, bigoted attitude, liberals actually feel they deserve plaudits for what they perceive is their elite sensitivity to minorities' needs.

So instead of the magnificent novels of Dickens, Eliot, and Scott (just to name a few excellent writers of our common cultural heritage who are no longer taught in English classes), foolish liberals actually believe that teens can only appreciate "teen literature" and that "persons of color" can only relate to novels written by "persons of color." According to liberals, "persons of color" and teenagers have no ability to transcend their immediate surroundings and background.

To put this blatantly racist attitude into perspective, imagine if your father were in the State Department and you as a high school student were living in, say, Japan. In a Japanese literature class in which you would be eagerly awaiting the treasures of Japanese literature, your Japanese teacher decided because you are white or black, you could not possibly relate to Japanese literature. Therefore, the Japanese teacher must only give you Lafcadio Hearn. This is the exact same attitude liberals have for minorities. Liberals, own up to your racist attitudes and get rid of them!

Amazingly, these racist low expectations make up the attitude of our professors of education who seek to hoist these racist and degrading ideas upon thousands of schoolteachers across the country. This concerted effort seems to be paying off, which is not too surprising considering that teachers have the very lowest GRE scores of all groups taking the test. Bimbo teachers of both sexes now actually feel that it is important only to teach "multiculturalism," and they brainlessly parrot the line that about students not being able to relate to "dead white males" (and evidently "white females" as well since Eliot is rarely taught).

Consider the following anecdote: In the worst class I took at UVA's Social Foundations program for my master's--Anthropology of Education by up and coming Marxist professor Dan Butin whose career is skyrocketing, thanks to his socially correct attitudes--we actually had an excellent required text: Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez. It is a very moving and touching autobiography which celebrates assimilation and is vehemently against bilingual education and affirmative action, just like Linda Chavez's excellent organization CEOUSA.

Unfortunately, Butin in the class discussion cleverly led it in such a way that liberals in the class had sheer indignation that Rodriguez was a Hispanic that had the audacity to 1) be against affirmative action and bilingual education; 2) not appreciate their noble efforts at helping him in a cruel capitalistic society; and 3) get a doctorate in Renaissance literature instead of Chicano Studies. One red-headed woman who was big into the theatre arts scene of the Washington area dramatically declared Rodriguez to be a "pompous ass." His crime: Not appreciating his Mexican heritage by getting a doctorate in Renaissance literature and being against all the programs liberals have deigned to grant poor benighted minorities to help them. What ingratitude! Note: Rodriguez was born in America and did not even speak Spanish. Yet to racist liberals in the Anthropology of Education class, including the professor, Rodriguez was still a Mexican and his heritage was only that of Mexico, not that of Britain and America. Hence, liberals' animosity to classic literature.

Back to Hard Times, which like all classic British literature is the heritage for all American students, despite color, race, or background:

Hard Times is a wonderful novel and shorter than most Dickens' novels. It is filled with memorable, unique characters: self-made, boastfully humble factory owner Mr. Boundersby; the aristocratic lady Mrs. Sparsit whom Mr. Boundersby supports, school owner Mr. Grandgrind who only teaches facts, young Louise and Tom Grandgrind who have grown up under his regimen; factory workers Stephen Blackpool and his girlfriend Rachael; a mysterious old lady who has a fascination with Mr. Boundersby; young, abandoned, charming Sissy Jupe; the wonderful characters at the circus where Sissy's father has worked, the roguish, diabolically rakish young aristocratic Jake Harthouse. Their lives, from all backgrounds intertwine in the backdrop of the successful factory city of Coketown with an entertaining and moving mixture of drama, comedy, and mystery, like all of Dickens' novels.

Hard Times is notable for its theme that to lead a truly enriching and noble life of dignity, one must be educated in the humanities, not just in impersonal, scientific "Facts." Liberal utilitarianism ironically leads to a degrading fascination with consumer pop culture that, in fact, leads many to dissipated, meaningless, cold lives, which is completely unanticipated by those advocates of utilitarianism. To have imagination, empathy, and love for fellow man, one must be educated in the humanities.

Sadly, liberals have not only deigned that teenagers and minorities are not capable of relating to Western Civilization, they also have decided to destroy the humanities in the name of socialist utilitarianism. Every work of Western Civilization must be deconstructed in order to support socialism. In other words, they are completely against teaching the humanities for its own inherent worth. Liberals are the modern day heirs to Mr. Grandgrind's social utilitarianism, except for these advocates of "social justice," facts must only support socialism.

Take Hard Times for instance. This is generally liberals' favorite of of Charles Dickens' novels because they mistakenly feel that it can best be twisted most effectively into supporting their misguided anti-capitalistic, socialistic agenda. Witness Signet's description of the novel on the back cover, which unfortunately shows that Signet has bought into postmodern desecration of classic literature:

"Red brick, machinery, and smoke-darkened chimneys. Reason facts, and statistics. This is the world of Coketown, the depressed mill town that is the setting of Charles Dickens' most powerful and unforgettable novels. . . .

"Hard Times is Dickens' scathing portrait of Victorian industrial society and its misapplied utilitarian philosophy."

What? Hard Times is nothing of the sort, as any honest person who has actually read the novel will tell you. My description of the novel above--its memorable characters whose lives intertwine in a fascinating mixture of mystery, drama, and comedy--is what the novel is about. Liberals' seething hatred of the capitalism in its most brilliantly successful--culturally and economically--Victorian society comes through in this blantantly biased Signet description of the novel.

So, to sum up, obscurant liberals do not want you to be exposed to our Western heritage of classic literature, but if somehow you are, you must be programmed in a form of doublethink to deconstruct it and dislike it--thus having no knowledge of our heritage in order to be a better "useful idiot" for their failed ideas and nihilistic values. What is the outcome of their modern day socialist utilitarianism, which is very similar in its eschewing of the humanities to the utilitarianism in the novel? The outcome is students bored with "multiculturalism" and "teen lit" and turn to consumer culture and unfulfilling pop attitudes, much the same as does the "whelp" Tom Grandgrind.

Rebel against these utilitarian liberals. Educate yourself and expose yourself to our magnificent heritage and pass it on to others to enjoy and relish.

Weekend Geography Quiz

2007-06-16T19:11:00.000-04:00

What royal capital city is this?

You'll definitely want to spend more than "one night" in this fascinating tropical city of 8,000,000. The city is famous for its "golden temples" and enchanting cultural sites such as the Grand Palace:

There are many canals in this city and a main river that is used for transportation, including the many water taxis:

The Skytrain is a comfortable, convenient, and scenic way to get around the metropolis:

This is one of my favorite cities in the world, and it really grows on you the longer you stay here. What is the name of this intriguing city?

September 11, 1683

2007-06-12T18:54:00.000-04:00

Do you know what key battle happened on September 11, 1683 and its significance for Western Civilization? Why might Osama Bin Laden have chosen that date to attack the country that exemplifies Western Civilization--America? If you don't know the answers to these questions, you're not alone.

There are a number of subjects that used to be staples of a good education for grade school and college that are no longer taught, and, thus, key aspects of one's education are neglected. Some of these subjects are classical history, logic, Latin, and the history of science and mathematics. The Trivium is gone and, in fact, most students have no idea what it is except those lucky enough to go to traditional Catholic schools. These days it is almost impossible to get a good education in the Humanities from colleges, as most departments have been completely taken over by postmodernists. Thus, while most students who go to both public and private schools might feel like they have a substantial education, they truly do not.

One such subject that has been neglected but one which everyone in the West should know is Catholic history. As the brilliant Catholic historian Hilaire Belloc states, "Europe is the Faith, and the Faith is Europe." Without a knowledge and appreciation of Catholic history, one cannot have a knowledge and appreciation of Europe or Western Civilization.

What Belloc means by the statement "The Church is Europe, and Europe is the Church," a statement he makes in Europe and the Faith, written just after World War I and very much a reflection on the War, is simply that out of all Europeans and Westerners Catholics really are the ones who can most understand and defend the West.

The statement does not mean that the Catholic Church is only Europe. It is quite the opposite. The true Europeans these days are faithful Catholics from all over the world. A devout Filipino has more of a European sense than does a postmodern European. Belloc calls this the "Catholic conscience of Europe." Hence, the Heritage has shifted. Those who have broken themselves from the Faith--postmodernists, liberals, communists--are no longer Europeans. They are no longer the heirs of the great Western Civilization.

Once separated from Europe--the cradle of our civilization--they wreck incomparable harm. Their culture has arisen from outside the civilization of the West, which is the values of the Catholic Church. Belloc calls these who have broken away "the outer, the unstable, the untraditional--which is barbarism--pressing blindly upon the inner, the traditional, the strong--which is Ourselves: which is Christendom: which is Europe." This applies to the German kulturcampf leading to a new alien, non-European Teutonic culture that menaced Europe, Nazism, Communism, and now postmodernism and multiculturalism. These barbaric philosophies have no roots in European, Catholic civilization. They are alien philosophies.

Once we understand this fact, history becomes much more lucid. For example, we often learn that World War I was a great example of a war with no reason, complete folly of bickering selfish, capitalistic states. Without a knowledge of Catholic history, we are in complete ignorance of the truth.

In fact, Prussia was an alien, almost neo-pagan state with values utterly separated from the "Catholic conscience of Europe." Thus, Prussia had to be stopped and was by those who did have a sense of freedom and Europe civilization. The heretical Teutonic ideas (partial heirs to Martin Luther's revolution) did not go away and were morphed into Nazism, itself of origin far beyond the Western, Catholic civilization. World War I was barbarism versus the Catholic heart of Europe.

Catholics and those with this "Catholic conscience of history" can intuitively grasp the dangers facing Western Civilization. Belloc states, "For the Catholic, the whole perspective falls into its proper order. The picture is normal. Nothing is distorted to him. The procession of our great story is easy, natural, and full. It is also final."

Belloc states, "The Catholic alone is in possession of the tradition of Europe; he alone can see in judge in this matter." Does he mean that conservative Jews, Protestants, and others cannot grasp this history? Of course not. What he is simply stating is that those sympathetic and with a great knowledge of the Catholic Church--first and foremost Catholics of course--are the ones who are best able to grasp history and apply it to the future. Whether they know it or not, they share in what Belloc terms the "Catholic conscience of Europe."

However, these days most people, including Catholics, know almost nothing about Catholic history, and if they do, it is often told by hostile historians who have broken themselves away from the tradition. Belloc discusses this problem:

"But the modern Catholic, especially if he is confined to the use of the English tongue, suffers from a deplorable (and it is to be hoped), a passing accident. No modern tongue gives him a conspectus of the past; he is compelled to study violently hostile authorites, North German (or English-copying North German), whose knowledge is never that of the true and balanced European."

Because of Belloc's extensive and intimate knowledge of Catholic history, he is amazing prescient. Take this quote for example from The Great Heresies, written in 1938:

"Whatever the cause be, Mohammedanism has survived, and vigorously survived. Missionary effort has had no appreciable effect upon it. It still converts pagan savages wholesale. It even attracts from time to time some European eccentric, who joins its body. But the Mohammedan never becomes a Catholic. No fragment of Islam ever abandons its sacred book, its code of morals, its organized system of prayer, its simple doctrine.

"In view of this, anyone with a knowledge of hisotry is bound to ask himself whether we shall not see in the future a revival of Mohammedan political power, and the renewal of the old pressure of Islam upon Christendom."

While almost everyone else at the time thought the idea of Islam reappearing was ridiculous because of the backwardness of the Muslim countries, Belloc was warning of its resurrection:

"These things being so, the recrudescence of Islam, the possibility of that terror under which we lived for centuries reappearing, and of our civilization again fighting for its life against what was its chief enemy for a thousand years, seems fantastic. Who in the Mohammedan world can manufacture and maintain the complicated instruments of modern war? Where is the political machinery whereby the religion of Islam can play an equal part in the modern world?

"I say the suggestion that Islam may re-arise sounds fantastic--but this is only because men are always powerfully affected by the immediate past:--one might say that they are blinded by it.

"Cultures spring from religions; ultimately the vital force which maintains any culture is its philosophy, its attitude towards the universe; the decay of a religion involves the decay of the culture corresponding to it--we see that most clearly in the breakdown of Christendom today. The bad work begun at the Reformation is bearing its final fruit in the dissolution of our ancestral doctrines--the very structure of our society is dissolving."

Belloc explains and warns that Islam is not losing its vital force:

"In Islam there has been no such dissolution of ancestral doctrine--or, at any rate, nothing corresponding to the universal break-up of religion in Europe. The whole spiritual strength of Islam is still present in the masses of Syria and Anatolia, of the East Asian mountains, of Arabia, Egypt and North Africa.

"The final fruit of this tenacity, the second period of Islamic power, may be delayed:--but I doubt whether it can be permanently postponed."

Unfortunately, Europe is not listening. Western Europe for the most part has lost its "Catholic conscience of history." In its place is multiculturalism, postmodernism, neopaganism with no roots in European, Catholic civilization.

We need to regain our Catholic, classical, and Jewish heritage anew. One last thought. Guess what date Belloc in The Great Heresies (written in 1938) states should be one everyone in the West should know: September 11!:

"But not so very long ago, less than a hundred years before the Declaration of Independence, the Mohammedan Government centered at Constantinople had better artillery and better army equipment of every kind than had we Christians in the West. The last effort they made to destroy Christendom was contemporary with the end of the reign of Charles II in England and of his brother James and of the usurper William III. It failed during the last years of the seventeenth century, only just over two hundred years ago. Vienna, as we saw, was almost taken and only saved by the Christian army under the command of the King of Poland on a date that ought to be among the most famous in history-September 11, 1683. But the peril remained, Ilsam was still immensely powerful within a few marches of Austria and it was not until the great victory of Prince Eugene at Zenta in 1697 and the capture of Belgrade that the tide really turned--and by that time we were at the end of the seventeenth century."

Gee, Osama Bin Laden knows our European history better than we do. My professor of Church History I and II, classes I have taken at Christendom College for a Master of Arts in Systematic Theology, stated that astute Catholic analysts (he works for the Department of Defense) knew why Osama Bin Laden had chosen September 11 to attack. It was a key battle in the defense of the West, one that rankled with ambitious terrorists like himself.Hilaire Belloc is so remarkably prescient because of his great knowledge of history but most of all because of his "Catholic conscience of history." Let's all regain this knowledge of Catholic history in order to better defend the West.

Weekend Geography Quiz

2007-06-09T11:40:00.000-04:00

This week's geography is pretty easy, thanks to the distinctive, world famous twin towers. What spread out capital city is this? Here is the colonial heart of the city with the distinctive Moorish architecture of the railway station:

Here is the famous Central Market next to the large Chinatown district:

Another picture of Chinatown:

So what is the name of this attractive capital city?

Newletter States Virginia Tech English Department "Wounded," Celebrates Giovanni's Poem

2007-06-07T19:26:00.001-04:00

Like clockwork, whenever an atrocity--be it September 11, 2001 or the Virginia Tech massacre occurs--liberals react with utter confusion. They are deeply troubled, befuddled, and have no resources to cope other than themselves.

The Virginia Tech English department is no exception. Normally, as an alumni I receive after every semester the platitudinous newsletter "A Feast of Words," updating alumni on the comings and goings of the department. This semester we got a letter from Dr. Carolyn Rude describing the reaction of the department to the shootings at the English Department:

This experience continues to be intense and troubling for us. The fact that the shooter and two students who were English majors has brought the tragedy home to us in a very powerful way. As a faculty we have struggled with a profound sense of loss and waste--so many young lives suddenly gone in a senseless act of violence. The loss is personal as well as monumental.

The tone that comes across is that the liberals in the department are utterly baffled. How could this possibly happen to us? The reason they are perplexed is because liberals live their whole lives ignoring evil, God, tradition, and absolute values. They live in an unreal world where truths do not exist. They ignore danger, terrorism, and thus are caught completely unaware when an act as heinous as September 11 occurs. Likewise, they ignore signs of evil and are taken aback that an evil individual in their department could have committed such a massacre, though all the signs were there.

Though we may ignore evil, evil certainly does not ignore us. Life is truly a battle between good and evil, much of it fought in the spiritual realm. This is a central tenet of the Catholic faith. On this subject, all I can say is thank God for our military confronting it in Iraq and conservatives running foreign policy to attack it head on instead of ignoring those who wish our destruction. Thank God for Pope Benedict and orthodox Catholic bishops, priests, and religious battling it in the spiritual sphere. Liberals, on the other hand, ignore evil like a bunch of ostriches reacting to danger.

Two observations about the reaction by professors at Virginia Tech to the shootings and especially the special newsletter to alumni of Tech's English Department:

First, notice the complete absence of the mention of God, prayer, or religion. They completely eliminate God and yet are deeply disturbed that evil fills the vacuum. They thus have nothing to fall back on, no truth to turn to other than themselves. This was apparent to many people. That was one of the first things my good friend from Tech who went on to get a doctorate at Johns Hopkins in microbiology noticed.

So where do liberals turn? Of course to themselves: "Our faculty and students have called on their deepest strengths and resources to help as they can." Yes, but what are these resources? All they can turn to is the cold comfort of moral relativism. This direction does not satisfy or nourish, hence the confusion.

Second, surprisingly there has been no mention of classic literature or poetry to express universal truths and give consolation and solace, and this is supposed to be an English department. For example, one excellent classic that attempts to make sense of why certain persons would be targeted and died without any outward sign plan and seemingly randomly is The Bridge of the San Luis Rey by Thorton Wilder. There are many classic poems to turn to, timeless truths passed down in a cultural tradition.

But forget it. Not only is there no mention of God or religion, there is no mention of classic literature. After all, postmodern, "social justice" professors eschew this tradition and denigrate the great literature of "dead white males." All "text" is equal. Therefore, these clueless professors have absolutely nowhere to turn, except narcissitically to themselves, which is not all that comforting.

No wonder they are still "deeply troubled." God is out because He didn't suit their lifestyles, and classic literature doesn't suit their utopian, socialist vision of the future.

Instead they turn to Nikki Giovanni (speaking of ignoring evil, let's ignore these poems of hers) and use the atrocity to celebrate Nikki Giovanni's narcissitic "poem" "We Are Virginia Tech." In fact, all English alumni were mailed a copy of her "poem." In the letter to alumni, Dr. Rude states, "On Monday, when classes resumed, we hosted an open house in the department for our majors and graduate students and faculty to reaffirm our connections. Nikki Giovanni signed copies of her poem, 'We are Virginia Tech.'"

Yippee! She signed poems. Cold, nihilistic comfort indeed.

Weekend Geography Quiz

2007-06-02T09:14:00.000-04:00

What capital city is this?

Clue: This bridge leads into the city:

Back in the U.S.A.

2007-05-29T20:05:00.000-04:00

It was terrific this weekend getting away from the foreign country of the Washington metropolitan area and going to Real America. I went to the Coca Cola 600 in Charlotte on Sunday.

NASCAR fans are the best Americans around, and they exemplify the characteristics that have made America such a great country: common sense, patriotism, intolerance for political correctness, competitiveness, devotion to country, honor towards the military, personal independence, and Christian values. Though you see different races and ethnic groups, there is no bogus multiculturalism; it is unity for the values that have made the greatest country in the world. No wonder liberals cannot stand NASCAR fans.

What a refreshing change to see true America that liberal traitors despise. The opening ceremonies featured a moving rendition of taps with reverential silence by the crowds, "God Bless America" on bagpipes, a rousing rendition of The Star Spangled Banner by LeAnn Rimes, and an excellent opening prayer by a chaplain at the awesome, conservative Catholic college of Belmont Abbey that (horrors to liberals) featured the phrase, "And we ask this your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen." I noticed throughout the prayers the fans had bowed their heads.

Best of all were the many troops who had come over from Fort Bragg in uniform. It was heartwarming to watch NASCAR fans approach the troops, give a word of thanks and appreciation, and then shake the troops' hands.

Despite what liberals believe, a study of the history of Western Civilization will easily show that the defenders of civilization have always shared these values that NASCAR fans hold and have been very similar in character. It has always been the elites who have caused problems for society, which have to be rectified by the nonelites who hold traditional values. Elites may call NASCAR fans "rednecks," but these loyal Americans--far more noble and less barbaric than liberals--are what hold America together.

H.W. Crocker III, in his excellent survey of Western Civilization Triumph: The Power and Glory of the Catholic Church, states about the knights who held Europe together through the assaults of the Vikings, the Huns, and Islam:

But their hearts were in the right place. One can usefully think of them as rather like the motorcyclists who descend on Washington D.C, every Memorial Day wacing American and MIA flags. Only the "Bikers for the Bishop of Rome" would be waving the papal flag or the white flag with the crimson cross of the Crusades. The best of them would be staffing monasteries, designing cathedrals, and creating the cultural tapestry of the Middle Ages.

The effete East, where almost every heresy to threaten Western Civilization arose, did not have the values to withstand these assaults. The West did, thanks to those who were loyal--just as NASCAR fans are loyal to American values--and held together the West to bring about the flowering of cultural, intellectual, scientific, and military superiority over all other cultures. While liberals gleefully and stupidly embrace every fad antithetical to Western values--liberalism, multiculturalism, socialism, etc.--conservatives have held the country together, built it up, defended it, and made America into the great country it is.

Weekend Geography Quiz III

2007-05-26T08:38:00.001-04:00

What capital city with 80,000 inhabitants in less than one square mile is this? Clue: The country has a huge tourist industry. The following is the international airport:

El Condado de Fairfax

2007-05-24T17:21:00.001-04:00

Where would you guess this school is located? Texas? California? Mexico?

Wrong. It is in Fairfax County just 10 miles from the White House.

Fairfax County Public Schools are generally a barometer of trendy "progressive" fads that spread throughout the nation, so watch out!

Two questions for Fairfax County Public Schools and, in particular, the principal of this particular school:

1) What kind of message does this send to Hispanic students trying to learn English?

2) Is it fair to privilege one ethnic group above others in the United States?

We have always been a multiracial melting pot with English as the unifying language. Students from all over the world from Asia to Africa, Europe to South America learn English as their first foreign language. They expect that English will be national language of America.

Except hare-brained liberals who have been indoctrinated in socialist multiculturalism. They feel that "career day" and "PTA meeting" are far too difficult for Hispanics to understand. Therefore, they must translate everything for them. At the same--a real plus for liberal education leaders like this principal of Bucknell--they feel they come across as elite, sensitive to foreign cultures, and oh so much more understanding than those Americans who wish for Hispanics to learn our national language and assilimilate for their own good and the good of our country.

There is a huge disconnect going on here: The elite liberals want to show their sensitivity for all the world to praise; Hispanic parents simply want their children to learn English and would rather their children be immersed in the English language, something that liberals are loathe to accept. After all, without bilingual education and multiculturalism, they cannot demonstrate how much they care and receive promotions and kudos from other elites.

Bilingual education is a dangerous multicultural trend that is both harmful to students and society.

Here are some suggestions for further research. Check out:

1) Linda Chavez's think tank Center for Equal Opportunity. They have excellent resources for combatting harmful bilingual education.

2) Matt Sanchez's editorial about bilingual education and his experiences with it, despite being born in the U.S.A.

3) Mexifornia, the terrific essay by Victor Davis Hanson.

4) Articles about bilingual education from Education Next, the terrific education magazine by the Hoover Foundation.

If liberals in Fairfax County Public Schools are going to go ahead and show their sensitivity by translating everything into Spanish for Hispanic parents, there would be one thing I would like to have them translate: a message by the Diocese of Arlington telling parents about their pledge to not turn any parent who wants their children to be educated in Catholic schools, no matter what the financial conditions or legal status of the parents.

One thing all Hispanic parents should do: Pull your kids out of "progressive" Fairfax County schools and place them into solid Catholic schools, where your kids will get an excellent American education, great universal Catholic values, and valuable character education, and they will be much more likely to achieve success and avoid joining gangs. They will learn Catholic ritual and not feel a need to get the ritual and values they lack in nihilistic Fairfax County schools from gang members.

Setting High Standards For Yourself

2007-05-21T19:26:00.000-04:00

Harold W. Stevenson and James W. Stigler prove convincingly in The Learning Gap: Why Our Schools Are Failing and What We Can Learn from Japanese and Chinese Education that one of the main reasons the Confucian countries far outperform the United States in achievement tests is because they set high standards for their students. In addition, they teach to the middle in classes and they do not place their students on different tracks. Everyone is expected to perform to their utmost ability and attain their highest potential. Discovery learning and child-centered "progressive" techniques that liberals love are eschewed.

Incidently, the Confucian countries in education use methods that our military and athletics teams and coaches use, which is why they are so successful in academics while the United States dominates both militarily and in sports culture and the Olympics. The enemy to success has always been "progressivism" and liberalism. The common simile of liberalism being like acid, destroying everything it touches, is true.

While living in Korea, some of the things I most respected about Koreans were their competitive spirit, high standards, and how they would push themselves to constantly improve their lives. My Korean friends would always be learning something new, whether it be tennis, Asian painting, or foreign languages.

In short, Americans should push for much higher standards in their own lives. One of our top goals should be to constantly improve ourselves intellectually, spiritually, and physically. Here are some high standards that everyone can set for themselves:

Intellectual

Stop watching television or limit yourself to only a couple of hours a week. When I lived in Bangkok for a year, I had no TV in my apartment, and it was such a blessing. I could accomplish so much more without the distraction. Even now, I don't care for TV at all.
Instead of watching television, learn several foreign languages. It is an urban myth that children learn foreign languages better than adults. The truth is that adults are far more efficient learners of foreign languages than kids and can learn them much faster. The only area that kids beat out adults is in pronunication. It is difficult for adults to learn to speak another language with native pronunciation. But in all other aspects--speaking, listening, reading, and writing--adults outperform kids. While it might take kids six years to learn a language to intermediate level, adults can do it in less than a year.
So start learning foreign languages and set strong goals for yourself. If you are 30 years old, say that by the time you are 35, you will know fluently three Romance languages and two Asian languages and stick to these goals. These goals are not impossible. I've recently taught myself Italian to the intermediate level in about six months. Definitely learn our common Western language of Latin.
Some excellent texts I find for learning foreign languages are the Living Language series. It is what they use in Fairfax County Adult Education classes, the large county of one million inhabitants that I live in. They are cheap, excellent quality, and effective. The CD's are more expensive, but you can easily check them out from the library. University of Hawaii press has good material for Asian languages.
Purchase Diane Ravitch's terrific book The Language Police. The book is wonderful and enlightening, but best of all is the Ravitch-Atkinson Sampler of Classic Literature in the appendix, with notes about the merits of all the great works selected. Set a goal that you will read every book listed. Classic literature will provide much fulfillment in your life, especially to those who have been exposed to too many postmodernists.
Explore our great American cultural heritage in music. Arhoolie Records is a great place to start. We have such magnificent cultural roots in music. Almost all great music started in the South. Learn about our Americana traditions. Some excellent singers who have consistently explored American tradition in music are Maria Muldaur (gem after gem of blues and jazz albums in the 90's and 00's) and the wonderful French Canadian singers Kate and Anna McGarrigle (both American and Canadian folk traditions).
Set a goal to travel to various countries. Pick a region, such as Asia, you would like to specialize in and explore that area in depth.

Spiritual

It is very important to be spiritually healthy. The Rosary is magnificent and extraordinarily powerful Catholic tool of prayer. I've seen a bumper sticker stating that it is the "atomic bomb" of prayer. Please try it and say it every day.
Thankfully, in traditional dioceses such as the Arlington Diocese, where I live, many churches have 24 hour Eucharistic adoration. Take advantage of it.
Finally, go to Confession at least once every couple of months. Cut out all sexual distractions and immoral actions.
Separate yourself from those who lead you down the wrong track in life.
Attend a Roman Catholic mass that is more traditional in nature, with good music and a reverant liturgy. Again, the Arlington Diocese, thankfully, has many excellent conservative priests, particularly the younger ones under 45. But if you are in a more liberal diocese, you can still seek out more conservative parishes.

Physical

Try to go to the health club or gym at least twice a week. Luckily, my employer has a large gym that is only $8 a month to join, so I go twice a week.
Don't drink or smoke. It is far better to be sober than drunk and smoking enslaves you. If you smoke with some willpower it is not difficult to quit.
There is no excuse to be overweight. It is simply a matter of how many calories you put into your body versus how many your burn off. Cut out all snacks and eat a light meal for dinner.

Don't become enamored with liberal shallow pop culture. Stick with these high intellectual, spiritual, and physical goals. Discipline is the key to leading a life of right action. Unfortunately, in most "progressive" schools today, intellectual, spiritual, and physical discipline and high expectations are nowhere to be found.

Weekend Geography Quiz Question II

2007-05-18T16:38:00.000-04:00

From these pictures, which city is this?

Clue: The following ancient city destroyed by the Mongols in the 1200s is down the great river that passes through the above city:

Think of a famous poem by Rudyard Kipling, and you will definitely know the answer. I'll post the answer in a couple of days.

Liberals' Favorite Religion: Themselves

2007-05-15T19:17:00.000-04:00

During my studies for a B.A. in Asian Studies at UMUC while I was working in Korea, one of my most difficult but rewarding classes was the required Asian Philosophy. It was taught by a Canadian professor with a PhD in philosophy who lived in Seoul, and the textbook was the excellent Asian Philosophies by John M. Koller (highly recommended but expensive).

The class was challenging because for the average American, the material is completely foreign. Furthermore, the religions and philosophies of Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Confucianism (more a philosophy than a religion), and Taoism have a highly developed tenets and thousands of years of writings. Imagine learning Catholicism and Protestantism for the first time in a semester class having only had a superficial exposure to Christianity. I thought I would never survive the term. However, my effort paid off and I ended up with an "A" in the class, and living and traveling around Asia helped me with my comprehension of the philosophies. I also took another class in Anthropology of Asian Religions by the terrific Janice Sacherer Turner, the foremost authority in the world of the Himalayan Sherpas, who got her doctorate from the Sorbonne in Paris.

As a Catholic not at all interested in converting to Eastern religions (although I have great respect for the traditions)--Catholicism has the fullness of truth-- I was always interested in how many similarities there were with Buddhism, particularly the Mahayana version, with Catholicism. In addition, both Theravada and Mahayana have strict moral and ethical codes with the Noble Eightfold Path.

For example, premarital sex, homosexual sex, and contraception are wrong in Buddhism. There is a hell in Buddhism where the wicked go. The boddhisatvas are very similar to Catholic saints. There are many aspects with Catholicism. In fact, in the amazing and wonderful movie Into Great Silence, there is a definite Eastern feel that is 100% Western in culture and tradition. It is just that people are not familiar with this aspect of traditional Catholicism that it feels foreign to them.

From a Catholic theological perspective, there are reasons for the similarities. The great Asian religions were created before the Incarnation of Christ, so they do have some revealed truths, and these truths are the ones that find their similarities with Catholicism, the fullness of truth.

What always is comical about liberals, though, is how they almost always reject the rich and noble tradition of Catholicism (or other Protestant religions) and our beautiful language Latin and turn to Eastern traditions and philosophies.

There is a common Catholic saying: "Heresy always begins below the belt." Almost always, liberals reject Catholicism because the teaching about proper sexuality is too much for materialistic liberals interested in instant self-gratification to handle. They coolly state, "I will not serve" and either (1) continue to think of themselves as Christian but attempt to reformulate the religion in their image by dumbing it down (see God is Love's comment on Matt Sanchez's post "Scaling Terrorism," a perfect example, or (2) reject Judeo-Christian philosophies altogether and turn to exotic and fun religions and spiritualities that conform to their sexual proclivities.

The second always has comic results for those who actually know the Eastern religions and philosophies--either by living in Asia or having studied firsthand the actual philosophies-- because liberals almost never follow the true Eastern religions, such as Buddhism or Taoism, the latter particularly in vogue with shallow liberals these days. They rejected Catholicism for its strict moral rules in rebellion over the sexual rules that God has in fact ordained for our own true happiness, yet they then reject the exact same aspect in the Eastern religions. Self control and restraint below the belt is extremely difficult for these adolescent liberals (think Richard Gere), which is why, of course, they rejected the dignity of Western religion in the first place.

For instance, study the history, beliefs, and actions of Taoism, and witness how far shallow liberals have bastardized this great Chinese tradition. From a newletter advertisement I received in the mail "Healing Tao Retreats" about the wonders of the liberal Tao:

What does Tao teach about sexuality?

The principles of energy flow are nowhere more pleasurable and downright fun than in the bedroom. Single or married, straight or gay, the Daoist arts of the bedchamber profoundly improve sexual health. From strengthening your glandular and hormonal systems, to experiencing truly mystical full-body orgasms, the ancient chi science of sexology will allow you to merge spirituality with sexuality. In alchemy, this sexual play occurs deep inside your body-mind--very dynamic fun meditations.

Strange--this is a very novel form of Taoism, one that bears no resemblance whatsoever to the Taoism I studied in my Asian Philosophy class and which was described in Asian Philosophies, the text we used. Come to think of it, the Buddhism that liberals often practice (e.g. Hollywood stars) bears no resemblance to the Buddhism in Asia. Liberals just pick and choose superficial aspects of these exotic religions and philosophies and mesh them to themselves, of course never conflicting with their liberal sexual lives. After all, that is why they left Western traditional religion: They wanted to get away from anything that limits their pursuit of sexual and material fulfillment. The emptiness that arises, they then try to fill with Eastern philosophy, rejecting the exact aspects that they reject in Catholicism.

In the end, liberals simply do what they do best: Worship themselves.

Geography: What City Is This?

2007-05-12T13:26:00.000-04:00

Geography used to be an important field of study for students; unfortunately, with the ascendancy of the education philosophy of John Dewey in the 1920s and 1930s, it became a field subsumed under "social studies." For obscurant, anti-academic matter liberals like Dewey and his disciples, a subject like geography, as with all subjects, has no value unless it serves a political means to advance a social agenda, in Dewey's case socialism. To these "progressive" oafs, if academic subject matter does not promote correct social attitudes and politically correct behavior, it is only "trivia," hence the hostility by "progressives" to subject matter.

Geography, as with art and architectural history, literature, and history, needs to be taken back from these liberal, utilitarian educationists who, in the name of "social correctness," have stripped these noble fields of any inherent value, thus effectively killing interest in these subjects.

One example: As I was flying from Bangkok to Singapore, I sat next to an interesting young guy from England, and we chatted throughout the two hour flight. He majored in geography, which I stated was a fascinating subject. He stated he thought so too when he first decided to specialize in it, but the "geography of feminism" and other deadly postmodern courses killed his interest. That is postmodernism for you and typical of so many subjects that clinical, utilitarian liberals, who are so wrong politically, economically, and ethically, are out to destroy through their tiresome and misguided activism.

Therefore, in the spirit of Richard Halliburton's wonderful classic travelogue The Royal Road to Romance, perhaps the best of its kind ever written, I will attempt to help take back this subject of geography by getting back to what the subject of geography is supposed to embody: a study of the adventure of mankind in various lands, topographies, and cultures. The study of geography should inspire a joie de vivre, wanderlust, and desire for adventure and romance. In addition to this inherent interest in and of itself, by studying geography and traveling to other lands and cultures, one can hopefully understand one's own land and history better.

In honor of the great subject of geography, which literally means "to describe the earth," every weekend I will post a picture of a city or region around the world. From the topography and architecture in the picture above, does anyone know which city this is? Clue: It is a city with a population of two and a half million.

I will post the answer in a couple of days.

Liberal Revision of History

2007-05-09T18:32:00.000-04:00

The overriding problem with history textbooks used in public schools today is that so many left-wing pressure groups within the education establishment must approve the sensitivity and political correctness of the books that the end result is banal and insipid nonsense that leaves students with no comprehension of what makes the West and our freedoms and way of life unique.

The only concepts students are left after 12 years of public education are that (1) the West is racist, imperialistic, and socially unjust; and (2) anything exotic (outside the Western culture) is wonderful, fresh, and morally superior. They have no understanding for their own Western heritage and savor an uncritical, Pollyannish exuberance for exotic non-Western cultures.

A nation with this kind of collective amnesia with never be able to defend its values and way of life, which is fine with socialists opposed to our Western religious heritage, capitalism, and military power in defense of freedom and liberty, often the very same people writing the texts. Terrorists often know our history much better than we do. Quiz question: What was the significance of September 11, 1683 that noted Catholic historian Hilaire Belloc stated in 1938 in The Great Heresies was a "date that ought to be among the most famous in history?" Well, at least Osama Bin Laden knows his Western history.

For The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn, Diane Ravitch reviewed the most popular history textbooks widely used in public schools. Most textbooks follow what she terms the "cultural equivalence" narrative approach, which teaches gullible students that all cultures are equal:

All the world's civilizations were great and glorious, all produced grand artistic, cultural, and material achievements, and now the world is growing more global and interconnected. Some bad things happened in the past, but that was a long time ago and now the cultures of the world face common problems.

In keeping with the imperative of avoiding ethnocentrism, no culture is "primitive." The idea of progress has disappeared, because no culture is more or less advanced than any other. Even those that had no literacy and only meager technology are described as advanced, sophisticated, complex, and highly developed. These are comparative terms, but cultures are never compared to one another.

A variation on this goofy "all cultures are equal" theme is the more malevolent theme that the U.S. is a horrible country filled with injustice:

In a significant variation on the cultural equivalence theme, Houghtin Mifflin's world history text for middle school students, To See the World, implies that every world culture is wonderful except for the United States. It lauds every world culture as advanced, complex, and rich with artistic achievement, except for the United States. Readers learn that people in the United States confront such problems as discrimination, poverty, and pollution. Those who came to this country looking for freedom, the book says, found hardship and prejudice; the immigrants did all the hard work, but the settled population hated and feared them. Despite these many injustices, people kept trying to immigrate to the United States, but many were excluded because of their race or ethnicity. Compared to the other cultures in the world, the United States sounds like a frightening place. Why people keep trying to immigrate to this unwelcoming, mean-spirited culture is a puzzle.

Two examples of the false history most uneducated students (future liberals) will have been inculcated with by obscurant liberals in the public schools:

1) In school textbooks, Islam is promoted as a wonderful, exotic religion that "spread" (how?) throughout the southern and western Mediterranean Africa and east through Asia that produced a highly sophisticated, peaceful, tolerant civilization with scientific geniuses and wealth and prosperity for all until the wicked Crusades which ransacked with no provocation whatsoever a great civilization.

This history is patently false. The Crusades were the direct result of Islamic terrorist expansion that threatened numerous times our Western civilization. The religion's goals have not changed; however, our textbooks and mainstream media refuse to criticize this religion. Result: Stupid children who grow up to be Hollywood producers.

Father Mark Gruder, PhD, in a talk at Christendom College, has countered this false history. His speaking the truth is anathema in most college campuses today, who like to stay in the "cultural equivalence" and "every culture better than the West" la-la land. The Christendom College news article describes his talk:

"The mainstream media likes to paint a picture that Islam is peaceful and that it is just extremists who hold this point of view,” he continued. “But that simply is not true. While I was working on my Doctoral Dissertation, I spent a year in Egypt and other Muslim countries. During that time I got to see first-hand what the Muslim children were learning. And it was pretty enlightening! Parents would teach their children songs about killing the infidel—songs about death and destruction. Cars, with loud speakers attached, would drive through the streets repeating the message, ‘Let their woman be raped, their men be killed, and their children enslaved.’

“To be able to accurately judge a religion, we have to pay attention most importantly to what it teaches its children, not to what it says to the outside world,” Gruber said. “No progress will be made unless we speak to each other with self-respect and honesty. There is hope for peace, but we must face the facts and use common sense.”

Unfortunately, for far too many schoolchildren, they gain no common sense about history and cultures because they are ignorant of the facts, lack any foreign travel experience, and being uneducated, thanks to the "cultural equivalence" textbooks, have no understanding of the West or other cultures, just the gloomy cynicism of the West and cheerful, credulous, uncritical picture of foreign cultures and societies.

2) The glorious Aztec empire, a highly sophisticated civilization with great education and science (the same people who love Cuba love the Aztec empire, which like Cuba didn't have a particularly high regard for human rights), existed in Central America until the Catholic imperialists Hernan Cortez and his cruel crew demolished it, forcing the conversion of the Indians. Historian Warren Carroll tells it like it is, in a recent talk about the great Holy Roman Emperor Charles V:

This period as a whole is the most dramatic in the history of Christendom; it’s not surprising that Shakespeare lived during it,” Carroll quipped. “It was under Charles that Cortés and Magellan were sent,” Carroll said. “He sent Hernán Cortés to smash the Satanic Empire of Aztec Mexico, built on human sacrifice, making it a place which the Mother of God could visit, as she did in Guadalupe. It was Charles who sent Magellan and his men to make the first voyage around the world.”

This kind of open, honest, and true presentation of what makes the West and our heritage unique and the kind of values that led to democracy and human rights is not at all explored in the vast majority of schools and universities today. In fact, despite being among the foremost scholars in their fields, don't bet on Dr. Carroll or Father Gruder being invited to mainstream campuses any time soon.

Why the U.S. Scores Poorly on International Achievement Tests

2007-05-05T11:02:00.000-04:00

As an addendum to the post below on Singapore:

Here is a copy of the results of the TIMSS exam given in several nations around the world on page 9. The study is worth printing out. Singapore ranks at the top, all of the Confucian Asian countries are at the top of the rankings, and the U.S. ranks at the bottom of the industrialized nations, thanks to "progressive" techniques employed by the left-wing education establishment.

Three recommendations--I found each of them invaluable in my Master of Education--for every person interested in education policy and history of American education:

1) The Learning Gap: Why Our Schools Are Failing and What We Can Learn from Japanese and Chinese Education by Harold W. Stevenson and James W. Stigler. This book explains why the East Asian countries are doing so well in mathematics and science achievement tests. Hint: It is not because they use "progressive" techniques of education, like ruthless "progressive" professors attempt to trick young, gullible future teachers with very little foreign experience into believing.

It also explains why the U.S. is doing so poorly, despite our powerhouse economy and all the money in the world to throw at schools. Hint: It has to do with liberals' "progressive" teaching techniques that have been in public schools for the past 80 years or so.

2) The Schools We Need: And Why We Don't Have Them by E.D. Hirsch Jr. This is a wonderful gem of a book. Thankfully, the excellent Social Foundations head of the UVA academic center in Northern Virginia, Bernadette Black, though a Deweyan liberal herself, was fair and balanced in providing students with all perspectives (just as education schools should be but rarely are; the UVA Social Foundations program at the Northern Virginia academic center because it can draw from all the Washington think tanks is an exception).

In The Schools We Need, a highly influential book that "progressives" detest because it is so accurate, Hirsch argues clearly and persuasively that the U.S. is failing students and parents because "progressives" have a suspicious view of academic matter. They think schools are for everything under the sun except academic achievement. As such, they then actually perpetuate social inequities because their bogus "progressive" techniques that have failed and have been recycled under different names for the past 80 years or so are the dominant forms of teaching in the public schools. Because so many students lack "intellectual capital" from early on in elementary schools, they have nothing to build upon in higher grades. These "progressive" theories of education have harmed American children's desire and ability to learn.

Very valuable glossary of "progressive" terms and jargon that often fools Americans into thinking the terms mean one thing, e.g. "discovery learning" when the terms mean something completely different is in the back of The Schools We Need, and is worth the purchase price itself.

3) Finally, a fantastic 20th century history of American education by Diane Ravitch, Columbia University PhD, foremost authority on the history of American education and, in particular, the New York City public school system, and scholar at several think tanks: Left Back: A Century of Battles Over School Reform. This is an invaluable tool for anyone interested in the history and philosophy of our education system here in America and why the schools have had so many problems and have not lived up to their promise.

Most libraries should have the three books, but each is definitely worth purchasing as a reference.

Singapore as a Model

2007-05-01T18:52:00.000-04:00

In education departments across the country, comparative education is the hot new field. The top two education schools in the nation--Columbia's Teachers College and the Stanford University School of Education--have entire programs dedicated to it. You can specialize in comparing America's education system with others from around the world and even specialize in a particular region, such as Asia, Africa, or Europe. The trend is spreading throughout the country. For instance, in my Education Policy specialization at UVA, we had to take a least one course in comparative education. Having lived in Asia for several years, I chose Asian Education.

In this spirit of diversity, I nominate Singapore as a model that we can learn from here in the United States. When I lived in Asia, I always flew Singapore Airlines, not only for the great service, but also because I loved to get free stopovers in beautiful, fascinating, orderly Singapore. This prosperous city-state, just two degrees north of the equator at the tip of the Malay peninsula, is a staunch U.S. ally in the War on Terror, has one of the best economies in the world, and is the most orderly and well-run country in the world. The city is stunning, with so many fascinating places to visit: Sentosa Island, a terrific zoo and night safari, beautiful gardens throughout the city such as the Botanical Gardens, great museums, terrific transportation system, and excellent colonial architecture. There are no drugs and very little crime, and the people are friendly and well-cultured.

Our education system could learn many things from Singapore:

1) English as the national language, the medium of instruction from primary school on in order that no one ethnic group has to learn the language of another. There is no "bilingual education." Singapore acknowledges that English is the world language of commerce and having students not learn it puts them at a disadvantage.

Why here in the U.S. should we put signs in Spanish when we are a multiracial and multiethnic society like Singapore? English, like in Singapore, should be the unifying language.

2) A very low tolerance for leftist antics, such as the methods used by "social justice" professors and the teachers they have trained.

3) Pride in one's heritage that transcends ethnic divisions. The relationships and tenets of Confucianism are prized as well as a healthy pride in its Western colonial heritage. This pride is for all ethnic groups and promotes a common cultural Singaporean identity.

All ethnic groups in the U.S. should have pride and an identity with our Western, Christian, and classical heritage, even if the mother countries were not influenced by it. Like Singapore, we have always been and should remain a multiracial society, not a multicultural, balkanized society that the "social justice" advocates want.

4) Excellent, low-cost textbooks that stress academic achievement and facts instead of "discovery learning" and "constuctivist" learning techniques, such as the dumbed down "fuzzy math" curricula popular here in the United States.

Singapore has consistently scored in first place for math and science in the TIMSS (Trends in Mathematics and Science Study) tests, as compared with the United States which consistently scores towards the bottom of industrialized states. The Singapore Math series (and its other subjects), used in the schools, has become so renowned that it is even commonly used in homeschooling in the U.S. Would only our public schools use these kind of texts (and save a heckuva lot of money too). As Harold W. Stevenson and James Stigler state in their classic comparative education study The Learning Gap: Why Our Schools Are Failing and What We Can Learn from Japanese and Chinese Education, "American textbooks tend to excessively long, repetitive, and distracting and underestimate what children can understand."

In fact, much of Singapore's philosophy towards education is guided by its Confucian attitude. We could learn a lot from Singapore and the East Asian nations, and the recommendations in The Learning Gap--high national standards, defined academic goals of education, not labeling or tracking students and teaching towards the majority, not relying on money to solve problems, teaching to the whole class instead of small individual groups, and not underestimating what children are capable of academically--would be ideal for the United States. Catholic schools in the U.S. have been doing these things for years, hence the much higher achievement in Catholic schools, particularly in the inner city.

Thus, comparative education would appear to be a very noble field that could highly enrich the United States and make us continue to be at the top of the playing field economically, scientifically, and culturally. The descriptions of comparative education programs and classes make sense, such as this from Stanford University:

ICE is a multidisciplinary, international, cross-cultural program of training that places educational problems into an international and comparative framework. Core courses explore how education is related to economic, political, and social development in both developed and developing countries. The program provides a strong theoretical and empirical base for studying education in a rapidly changing global context and for understanding the how and why of successful policy-making to improve educational practice in different social settings.

And this Spring 2007 course description from UVA at the Falls Church academic center:

This interdisciplinary course examines education issues in selected countries
and focuses on the relationships between education and society and the role of
education in national development. Education topics, which transcend national
boundaries and have implications for American schools are also addressed.

Sound good so far? Enter "social justice" professors and "progressives" who so dominate all education departments thoughout the nation.

The studies such as The Learning Gap, which demonstrate the truth about why Confucian countries so outperform the United States, will generally not be made available to students in comparative education courses taught by "social justice" professors and "progressives." After all, these studies are a threat to "progressive" techniques.

Instead, these professors often amazingly convince students that "progressive" techniques that have been used in public schools in the U.S. since the 1920s and have consistently failed and been recycled numerous times (which is why we rank so low in comparative academic achievement) are actually the reason that the Asian countries score so high. (The real reasons are highlighted in blue above.) As this narrative (George Orwell calls it doublethink) unfolds, it turns out that we are not successful compared to the Asian countries because (have you heard this before?) the "progressive" teaching techniques have not yet been implemented correctly to the degree "progressives" and "social justice" professors would like, thanks to conservatives. Never mind "progressives" have had 80 years of virtual domination of the education establishment to do whatever they like.

Thus naive, gullible young students with little foreign experience and who have been taught all their lives by "progressives" actually will believe that Singapore has high achievement in math and science because it is a "multicultural" society with several different languages--therefore, we have proven that the U.S. is strong because of diversity and multiculturalism. In other words, gullible and poorly educated students will emerge from these prestigious M.A. and PhD programs with not a clue as to what the truth is.

The worst is when these education departments with sister programs at universities abroad actually convince other countries that their successful education systems need to be reformed, such as Japan's, in order that these countries gain more societal individualism that has made the U.S. so successful. (It is always comical when liberals attempt to take credit for our success which has come despite our mediocre school system not because of it.)

The U.S. could also learn from what happens when successful countries with conservative education systems attempt to adopt U.S. style failed practices such as "discovery learning" and "student centered" learning. American "progressives" actually convinced Japan that their education system needed "progressive" techniques, and in 2002 Japan embarked upon a radical overhaul of its system. The result since then has been plummeting international test scores.

In order that countries do not make mistakes such as these, comparative education is a valuable field of study--if only you can escape the dominance of the "social justice" and "progressive" obfuscation that so dominates today's education departments.

Democratic School Choice versus Autocratic "Social Justice" Professors

2007-04-29T20:15:00.000-04:00

Matt Sanchez has another good post, this one about liberal classmates and professors blaming Hispanic failures in the public schools on--surprise--America's racism, imperialism, and capitalism:

"Not in my Latino Studies course, where everything is someone else’s fault: biased schooling, racial profiling, polarization of the economy, the weakness of labor, the list goes on and we constantly have to regurgitate this gripe before touching on something that barely appears anywhere—the ability of the individual to control his or her own life."

Of course, the real solution to this failure would be to give poorer parents a choice to opt out of the Godless, dumbed-down, moral relativist public schools by offering them vouchers to send their kids to parochial or private schools.

Two great articles. Don't miss these:

Sol Stern, education scholar at the Manhattan Institute has a book about the miracles Catholic schools are doing with students the liberal education establishment cannot handle. Nevertheless, "social justice" professors don't want your kids going here. They might actually be successful and prosperous, have an absolute sense of right and wrong, and gain an appreciation for capitalism, freedom, America, and Western Civilization.

Another new pamphlet also by Sol Stern, appearing in Front Page Magazine, about the new recycled fad in education and the biggest threat to our freedom and prosperity: Public school education not for learning facts and our American and Western heritage but rather for learning "social justice." "Social Justice" professors are indoctrinating young teachers, who in turn feel public schools with their captive audience are perfect grounds for bringing forth a new socialist utopia, in which all the crimes of Western Civilization will be rectified by destroying it and replacing it with a socialist utopia filled with diversity of unassimilated peoples from around the world.

Of course, this brave new world cannot come about if parents are allowed to decide what is best for their own children. They might (horrors) send their kids to Catholic schools, which will undo everything "social justice" professors have worked so hard for. For a typical "social justice" professor, the writings of one of the brightest and most celebrated young "Social Justice" professors, Dan Butin, graduate of UVA and professor of Cambridge College, e.g. "Service-Learning," are instructive. Here is Dan Butin's website.

Oh Wonder!
How much diversity and justice is there here!
How beautious social justice professors are!
Oh Brave New World
That has such people in it!

Nikki Giovanni's Violent "Poetry"

2007-04-27T19:06:00.000-04:00

Thanks to the commenter in the "Bad Poetry" post below who sent me the terrific link to "The Professor of Hate" article by Steve Sailor on Nikki Giovanni that appears in Front Page Magazine.

From that article, here is one of Nikki Giovanni's more famous "poems." Considering how she tutored Cho Seung-hui, I wonder how much her "poetry" influenced the killer. It is a real gem:

The True Import Of Present Dialogue, Black vs. Negro (For Peppe, Who Will Ultimately Judge Our Efforts) by Nikki Giovanni

Ni**er
Can you kill
Can you kill
Can a ni**er kill
Can a ni**er kill a honkie
Can a ni**er kill the Man
Can you kill ni**er
Huh?
Ni**er can you
kill
Do you know how to draw blood
Can you poison
Can you stab-a-Jew
Can you kill huh?
Ni**er
Can you kill
Can you run a protestant down with your
‘68 El Dorado
(that’s all they’re good for anyway)
Can you kill
Can you piss on a blond head
Can you cut it off
Can you kill
A ni**er can die
We ain’t got to prove we can die
We got to prove we can kill

They sent us to kill

Japan and Africa

We policed europe

Can you kill

Can you kill a white man

Can you kill the ni**er

in you

Can you make your ni**er mind

die

Can you kill your ni**er mind

And free your black hands to

strangle

Can you kill

Can a ni**er kill

Can you shoot straight and

Fire for good measure

Can you splatter their brains in the street

Can you kill them

Can you lure them to bed to kill them

We kill in Viet Nam

for them

We kill for UN & NATO & SEATO & US

And everywhere for all alphabet but

BLACK

Can we learn to kill WHITE for BLACK

Learn to kill ni**ers

Learn to be Black men

"Huh?" definitely is the most notable line, one that aptly sums up the literary merit of the "poem." I'm still scratching my head wondering how this woman could be so praised (and also how this is poetry). Cho Seung-hui sure proved he could kill. Way to go, Nikki! If liberals can complain nonstop that guns cause killers to kill, can we not also question whether campus celebrities tutoring unstable students can also influence them to go off the deep end?

Gotta love her anti-semitic propaganda. But of course, most on-campus liberals do seem to be anti-semites these days with their anti-Israeli posing and fascination with radical Islam. I question how Virginia Tech can award a woman who has written this type of hate trash "University Distinguished Professor" status, considering that she only has a B.A. and that much of the critical praise for her came from her lesbian lover Virginia Fowler (fashion note: the loose ties are getting really old), who pushed Virginia Tech to hire her.

Then after one of the worst massacres in modern history (the worst being in a country with strict gun control, South Korea. A deranged policement shot and killed 58 people and no one could stop him because no one had guns), Virginia Tech asks a noted anti-semite and advocate of massacres to pen a poem commerating the dead? Amazing. I analyzed the mediocre result in my post below.

Judging from my friends who graduated from Tech and the comments in the post below, many people are not pleased with Giovanni's political "poem."

Yet when I wrote Carolyn Rude, head of Tech's English Department, complaining about the poem by the "University Distinguished Professor" (despite only having a B.A.) Nikki Giovanni, I was told in a polite email response that I was virtually the only one not to like the poem. Here is her response:

I am responding to you as an alumnus. I am sorry that you do not like Nikki Giovanni's poem. By a margin of about 250:1 according to responses that have come to the English Department, most people are grateful for its words of courage and hope.

Not everyone can like every poem, and I respect that. I hope you are finding other ways to come to terms with this tragedy. In the department, we are mourning deeply. A number of the students killed were in our classes. The tributes to them by faculty and classmates are heartbreaking. That's another side of the department for you to ponder in this time of deep sorrow.

Carolyn Rude
Professor and Chair
Department of English (0112)
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg VA 24061

If the margin of people claiming to like Nikki Giovanni's poem is 250:1, then the professors in Blacksburg are really living a sheltered life. We need to let ourselves be heard. Please email Dr. Rude at Carolyn.Rude@vt.edu.

One point in her response cannot go unanswered. Exactly where are the words of "courage and hope" in Nikki Giovanni's "poem?" One line from the "poem" states: "We are brave enough to bend to cry." That is hardly brave.

In fact the true heroism and bravery in the massacre was shown by the heroic and noble Liviu Lebrescu, the Holocaust survivor that Nikki wanted stabbed in her above "poem" solely for being a Jew. Again, this woman is "University Distinguished Professor?"

Here is another "poem" written shortly after the massacre. It is just as good (so to speak) as Nikki Giovanni's "poem" and it is by none other than the Termagant Rosie O'Donnell. (termagant n 1. a violent, turbulent, or brawling woman. 2. (cap.) a mythical deity, understood in the Middle Ages to be worshiped by the Mohammedans, represented in some morality plays, etc., as a violent overbearing personage.)

Actually, I would consider Rosie's poem to be far superior to Nikki's because while both poems are incredibly narcissistic, Nikki's shows no talent, structure, or originality, whereas Rosie's is deliriously bad in the sense that Plan Nine From Outer Space becomes a very good movie because of its sheer awfulness.

Latina Latinae Gratia

2007-04-25T17:39:00.000-04:00

As you are wrapping up the semester or planning summer vacations and what things you would like to study in the future, how about making the following resolution: I will learn Latin, the language of our Western heritage and the official language of the Catholic Church, the safeguard of that heritage.

If you are an undergraduate before you leave for summer break, march yourself to the registrar's office (or to their webpage) and sign up for a Latin 101 class for fall semester.

If you are a grad student no matter what field, also sign up for a Latin class. Some universities such as Catholic University have Intro to Latin for Graduate Students.

If you are no longer a student, you can always take Latin in a community college such as Northern Virginia Community College.

Though most foreign languages one can easily learn on one's own, you really should have a good teacher to help you with Latin, at least initially.

Spring Semester 2006 and Fall Semester 2006 at Christendom's grad school Notre Dame Graduate School in Alexandria, I took Intro to Ecclesiastical Latin and Intermediate Ecclesiastical Latin grad classes. They were extraordinarily enlightening classes, and they opened up a whole new world to the beauty and dignity of the Latin mass and music, as well as the wisdom and brilliance of Classical Civilization.

My professor was the excellent Catherine Caridi, who has a law degree in Canon Law from Catholic University and who is a very orthodox Catholic. For those of you in the Washington area, she also teaches at NOVA.

Two textbook recommendations: For a Catholic approach with Catholic examples in the exercises, the textbook A Primer to Eccesiastical Latin by John F. Collins and published by Catholic University is the best choice. That is the text we used in my classes. It is well organized and has many exercises. By the time you finish the book (which should take a year of study), you will know all the Latin grammar and will be ready for intermediate and advanced classes.

For a classical approach, Wheelock's Latin is the choice that everyone uses for Latin 101 and 102.

Both books together would be very useful.

So quit procrastinating: Let's throw off the collective amnesia and continue learning the language of our Western Civilization. If we don't know Latin, we don't know the language of our heritage. Make it your resolution to learn Latin..

Bad Poetry

2007-04-22T07:58:00.000-04:00

Saint Kansas has called the following poem by Nikki Giovanni, Virginia Tech "University Distinguished Professor" (despite only having a B.A.), as having great potential "in case any of you have ingested something poisonous and need to induce vomiting." What an apt description, especially when she bizarrely starts comparing Virginia Tech student and faculty members' lives lost to those affected by the crimes of Western Civilization, including a baby elephant:

(my analysis of the "poem" in brackets)

We are Virginia Tech

We are sad today
We will be sad for quite a while
We are not moving on

We are embracing our mourning

We are Virginia Tech [count the number of narcissistic "we's"]

We are strong enough to stand tall tearlessly [how is that strong?]
We are brave enough to bend to cry [how is that brave?]
And we are sad enough to know that we must laugh again [what?]

We are Virginia Tech

We do not understand this tragedy [a massacre, not a tragedy]
We know we did nothing to deserve it

But neither does a child in Africa
Dying of AIDS [what does this and the rest of this "poem" have to do with the massacre?]

Neither do the Invisible Children [why is Invisible Children capitalized? Where do these Invisible Children live?]
Walking the night away to avoid being captured by a rogue army [where, other than in Giovanni's imagination, is a rogue army capturing Invisible Children?]

Neither does the baby elephant watching his community
Be devastated for ivory [with this weird analogy, Giovanni has announced she believes baby elephants, like man, are capable of reason and logic.]
Neither does the Mexican child looking [Why break the line here?]
For fresh water [Okay. "For fresh water" is Profound and needs its own line]

Neither does the Iraqi teenager dodging bombs [tell that to Muslims and Al Qaeda]

Neither does the Appalachian infant killed
By a boulder [When has this ever occurred?]
Dislodged [She appears to give Dislodged its own line because it is Profound]
Because the land was destabilized [With all the national forests in the Appalachians, how can man "destabilize an entire mountain causing a boulder to strike an infant?].

No one deserves a tragedy [Yes, a boulder careening down a mountain aiming for a poor Appalachian child is a tragedy; a student gunning down 32 others is a massacre. Liberals don't understand the difference.]

We are Virginia Tech
The Hokie Nation embraces
Our own
And reaches out
With open heart and mind [as opposed to closed heart and mind?]
To those who offer their hearts and hands

We are strong
And brave
And innocent [what she is really saying here: As opposed to evil George Bush, considering the litany of abuses above he has committed such as allowing a boulder to kill an infant and making Invisible Children dodge bombs]
And unafraid

We are better than we think [narcissism alert]
And not yet quite what we want to be
We are alive to imagination [what?]

And open to possibility [as opposed to closed to possibility?]
We will continue
To invent the future [more narcissism. We have 32 dead victims and it is all about us]

Through our blood and tears [the victims' blood or our blood?]
Through all this sadness
We are the Hokies

We will prevail
We will prevail
We will prevail [Is this a Black Power convention of the 1970s?]

We are
Virginia Tech
Nikki Giovanni, delivered at the Convocation, April 17, 2007

Beside the self-centered number of "we's" that are immediately apparent reminding one of Father Paul Scalia's (son of Antonin Scalia) article about narcissism among liberal Catholics, the prose/poem demonstrates the way liberals deal with tragedy. They do not look outward at Truth, God, tradition, or absolute values to answer the question about why such a heinous act could occur; they narcissistically turn to themselves and immediately condemn Western Civilization.

Nikki, how do you think the parents of the victims feel about you comparing the deaths of their sons and daughters and the proportion of the atrocity to a "baby elephant watching his community be devastated for ivory?"

This poem is so awful in terms of structure (there is no logic to how she forms lines or stanzas except for the Spirit moving her), description, and meaning, it is difficult to judge where to start. First off, this act was an atrocity; it was not a "tragedy" as Giovanni asserts. Second, it is not "brave" to "bend to cry." It is a typical liberal narcissistic statement; true bravery and heroism is how Liviu Lebrescu acted: sacrificing his life for his students. Our "crying" is not brave.

I graduated from the Virginia Tech English department, and I do know that Nikki Giovanni is an open lesbian, whose lover Virginia Fowler (who does have a PhD.) wrote many flattering papers about Nikki Giovanni. She pushed Tech to hire Giovanni, which they did, despite Giovanni only having a B.A. Giovanni is paid several times more than the average PhD. She is considered the superstar of the campus. One of her first acts at Virginia Tech was to immediately diss the PhD professors in the English Department.

I mention the above because Matt Sanchez, Columbia undergraduate and marine corporal in the Reserves, has discussed the narcissism that is immediately apparent in Giovanni's poem as being endemic to gays who flaunt their sexuality. In an interview with Randy Thomas of Exodus, he compares their narcissism to the traditional ideals of the Marines and Christian Western Civilization:

There are no "Latino Marines, or Black Marines or Chinese Marines, there are just Marines. In that way, they're not different from Christians who have a non-segregation "We are all God's children" approach to their fellow Christians.

Conservatives feel there are intrinsic values, universal truths and that
humans--who are inherently flawed--can move toward those values. There's a fundamental divide between the two. Conservatives believe the truths are external and we as humans, people, souls can move closer and farther to these truths and that proximity, if you will, is what defines us. The liberal/gay fundamentalist side says that the individual is "that truth" and that he/she needs to just accept who one is. In other words, they as individuals are the sum of all things. They are the society, nation and religion of one … that one being the individual. They are subordinate to no one.

The prose message by the English department is far more profound and less narcissistic than Nikki Giovanni's "poem":

In the English Department at Virginia Tech, we deeply mourn our students and colleagues who have lost their lives, and we grieve with the families and friends who have experienced such devastating loss. We extend our arms in love to these people and to our students who survive.

Reminiscing about Virginia Tech

2007-04-18T20:10:00.000-04:00

All of the coverage of the atrocities at Virginia Tech reminded me of my time there. I majored in English. I started out in biology, didn't particularly care for science, took a Shakespeare class, and then decided to major in English, not pleasing my parents especially, but they soon accepted it. I simply wanted a good education in the humanities, which in retrospect you cannot get at any public school anymore, but I didn't know that at the time. To get a solid education, you really need to attend a conservative Catholic college, such as Christendom or Franciscan. But the experience at Tech was fun.

Virginia Tech is an absolutely stunning campus with the old Hokie stone buildings and the huge open Drill Field that has tons of students playing frisbee, soccer, flying kites, etc. in the beautiful spring and summer weather. In the winter, Blacksburg becomes Bleaksburg, with the brutal nonstop wind and harsh weather. A thought on every student's mind on a cold winter morning in bed is the dread of having to cross the drill field with the frigid wind.

My final year at Tech I had a Milton class where a fellow student had taught English in Korea. I thought that would be a great way to see the world and travel in Asia (I had already had extensive experience in Europe) and I ended up with a job with the EPIK program. I ended up staying in Korea for five years in Daegu. While there I received a second degree in Asian Studies from classes I took in University of Maryland Asian Division.

Since then I have generally only listed my Asian Studies major on my resume and I only mentioned it in my profile of this blog: (1) I felt a little embarrassed in retrospect that I had majored in English; I felt like I had wasted my parents' money and (2) I had a pathetic GPA there (Did I mention how fun Blacksburg is?).

When I actually had to pay for my classes as I did in Korea with University of Maryland and was working at the same time, I worked much harder. Also the real world experience--living and working in Asia, as well as the military and spouses who were my classmates--made for a much more enriching and productive experience academically. I took a combination of classes at Camp Walker in Daegu and Distance Education classes from various professors based around Asia. In short, I had a 3.8 and felt much more proud of my accomplishment at University of Maryland. After leaving Korea for in 2002, I lived in Bangkok, Thailand and received a great education both on Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia.

The coverage of Virginia Tech has made me, though, look back at what a wonderful, peaceful, and idyllic place Blacksburg is. It is located 2200 feet above sea level on a plateau between the Blue Ridge and Allegheny Mountains. The Eastern continental divide goes right through Blacksburg, with the northern part of the town draining in the Roanoke River basin and the southern part into the New River Basin that flows into the Ohio. I remember hiking in the gorgeous mountains, roaming around the quaint downtown area, meeting friends and professors, playing tennis, etc. Blacksburg and Virginia Tech are places you never want to leave. For the last three years I lived in an old house just behind the Newman House on Wall Street, the one way street connecting the campus to the 7-11. My day usually consisted a simple routine of going to class, daily mass at the Drill Field War Memorial Chapel at 4:30, eating dinner with friends, studying, meeting friends in the evenings and weekend. I would spend my summers in Blacksburg with the beautiful mountain climate and the many outdoor activities.

I don't recall having classes in Norris Hall, but I did have several French classes in the Hall adjoining Norris. I cannot imagine at all what it must have felt like for the victims to be peacefully studying French, German, engineering, and then have a gunman enter and begin shooting your professor and fellow classmates. It is too cruel a thought to think of the suffering. It is devastating looking at the list of promising lives that were cut short by the killer.

My thoughts on the English program at Tech: If you chose your professors wisely, it was actually a good program. I had conservative Catholic friends majoring in English, so I could always rely on a good recommendation or a knowing "stay away from so-and-so radical feminist/postmodernist."

My specialty really was Medieval and Renaissance Literature. I took Shakespeare, Milton, Chaucer, Medieval Literature, and Renaissance Literature. I had a particularly wonderful older professor in his 70's (the kind of English professor you no longer have in English departments) who taught Southern Literature and Modern American Literature (first half of the twentieth century). His name was Dr. Edward Tucker. He died a couple of years ago and is the kind of professor far too many departments are losing: Someone who genuinely believes in the value of the literature and of Western Civilization. He was a Christian who went to church every week and was an inspiration in class.

Unfortunately, during the 90's, Virginia Tech began trying to model its English department on Duke University and hired many "multicultural" and feminazis. Nikki Giovanni was a new hire and proceeded to immediately diss the department. I remember my friends and I discussing how she could be so bold only having a B.A. and basically being known mainly for her early 70's militant black-power pieces. Lucinda Roy, who has been all over the news, was also another new hire, but I never took any classes from her.

Other favorite professors at the English department were Esther Richey, who taught a great Milton class. I believe she is now a professor at University of South Carolina. Linda Anderson was an excellent Renaissance specialist and I took a Shakespeare class from her and a Renaissance Literature class. My favorite professor (and my friends' favorite) was Tony Colianne, who was head of the department at the time and who taught humanities and Renaissance literature. I took an excellent class on Medieval and Renaissance Courtly literature and one on medieval humanities. I took several French classes but the French professor who was gunned down was not there when I was attending Tech.

Another terrific professor (and very conservative) was the Texan Joanne Harvill. She was also a staunchly conservative Catholic whom I would see in mass. My friends and I particularly liked her. I recall asking her what she thought of a visiting Duke professor and scholar of Milton that the Tech department was wooing. She said, "That is the last thing this department needs: Yet another feminist!" She was a good influence on me.

Unfortunately, since the late 90's the English department is far more multicultural and feminist. It has moved out of crowded Williams Hall on the Drill Field (the building on the left in the picture) to another location since I graduated.

My best influence was a retired Hungarian professor that my friends and I first met at daily mass on the Drill Field: The world famous Harvard botanist Dr. Leslie Garay and foremost authority on orchids in the world. (I just noticed he even has a Wikipedia article about him in Spanish.) He was formative influence, a very conservative Catholic. I would go over often to his place either by myself or with friends and discuss religion, politics, whatever. He really helped me get my life on track. I think everyone needs conservative role models.

Leslie after searching for places to retire from Harvard chose Blacksburg. But that is the kind of place Blacksburg is: peaceful, bucolic, and a fun place where students and faculty can interact in a small-town environment in a beautiful setting.

Into Great Silence

2007-04-14T17:08:00.000-04:00

I saw a most amazing movie this morning in downtown Washington: Into Great Silence. It is a stunning and incredible film, and if you live in a major metro area, you cannot miss this film. It has received terrific reviews by critics, and I would rank it as one of the best and most powerful movies ever made. It knocked me out emotionally and spiritually.

The power in this magnificent movie is all the more amazing in that there is virtually no dialogue in the entire almost three hours. I initially thought it would be an interesting, off-beat movie, but it was far, far better than I imagined it would be. It simply is one of the most powerful movies spiritually ever made.

Into Great Silence is never boring and trite; you initially get a calm, tranquil feeling and an awe at the ordinary that builds as the movie (one year in the life of the monks) into an insight of just what is God and what is Truth.

The movie takes place in a French Carthusian monastery high in the Alps, and it details the everyday ordinary activities of the monks and two novices in the monastery. The insight one gets is that the everyday spiritual activies are actually extraordinary in the spiritual realm, and that the monks, while outside of society, are truly the heart and soul of Western Civilization.

There is a meditative, almost Oriental aspect to the film that I used to feel while living and studying in Asia while in the mountains or traditional gardens, such as those in Japan. Many Westerners search out this feeling mistakingly embracing Oriental religions, when in fact this simplicity, traquility, and truth is at the heart and soul of our Western, Catholic traditions. You do not have to leave Europe and the West to seek it. Of course, many Westerners are in ignorance of the greatness of Western civilization because liberals have so often replaced our simple, dignified, and beautiful traditions in the liturgy and music with crass, vulgar, and lame modern aspects. Liberalism destroys.

To sum up: Go see this movie! It is a great film.

Not to degrade this post with liberal culture which seeks to destroy the best of Western society, but I could not help comparing Into Great Silence to some of the other films that were also playing at this cineplex in downtown Washington that caters to independent and foreign films . If Into Great Silence represents the best of tradition and the soul of Western society, compare it to the trailer and description of a movie--playing at the same cineplex--that represents the "best" of liberal and gay culture. The difference between traditionalists and preservers of our heritage and shallow liberals, destroyers of the same heritage who replace it with shallow pop nothingness, is stunning.

Can liberals now understand why so many people are against postmodern aspects that destroy our heritage, such as gay "marriage," that replace our wonderful heritage with demeaning pop culture and a false multiculturalism?

Why Liberals Dislike No Child Left Behind

2007-04-12T18:56:00.000-04:00

The landmark No Child Left Behind Act, which liberals in the education establishment through the MSM have tried to discredit, is actually an excellent law. Don't let the liberal media influence you without researching the law yourself. No Child Left Behind is based on four key principles:

1. Accountability for results
2. More choice for disadvantaged children
3. Greater flexibility for federal funds
4. Teaching methods that work

Notice the dreaded words for liberals: accountability and choice. NCLB requires states to test in two subjects in grades 3 through 8, and the test data given to the federal government must be broken down into five categories:

1. Race.
2. L.E.P. (Limited English Proficiency)
3. Poverty level
4. Disabilities
5. Ethnicity

The report cards given by the schools to the government have to demonstrate how well the students are doing on meeting the standards, but most importantly (and this is why NCLB is such a good law and the real reason so many in the educational establishment abhor the law) on how these disaggregate groups are making in closing the achievement gap.

By the year 2014, 100% of students are to be proficient in language arts and math, including the subgroups. Schools must set targets and meet AYP or Adequate Yearly Progress, for all groups and subgroups of students. The techniques to measure AYP are not unreasonable. Up to 1% of students can be exempted (or more as long as the no more than 1% of all students in a school district are exempted) for strong disabilities. If schools do not meet AYP, then schools are subject to the following consequences incrementally:

1. Tutoring assistance
2. Restructuring
3. Corrective action

Can anyone guess why the education establishment, including wealthy school districts receptive to "progressive" techniques in teaching and methods "social justice" professors promote, would find NCLB to be hostile to their interests?

For far too long, wealthy school districts, like the county I live in--Fairfax County--have hidden behind averages when reporting test scores from their district. Fairfax County is a great example of the problems NCLB needed to address. Here you have a suburban Washington D.C. county that has a population of about one million people and is one of the wealthiest counties in the nation. Naturally, with all the wealth from property taxes and money wealthy parents have to afford tutors allowed for very high average test scores.

Of course, there are pockets of poverty and low income students, mostly African-American and Hispanic in certain parts of the County, especially around the Route 1 corridor of Alexandria near Mount Vernon. These students were being failed by the "progressive" methods being used in Fairfax County and were considered expendible because their numbers did not affect the average test scores. Not any more with No Child Left Behind.

Wealthy parents can afford phonics books, grammar computer programs, and tutors for their children who cannot learn from the "progressive" techniques. Less wealthy parents cannot. With AYP measuring not only the school as a whole, but rather all groups within the school, wealthy school districts like Fairfax County can no longer claim to be successful if they are not meeting the needs of all the children, rich and poor alike.

Wealthier, more "progressive" districts are often hostile to No Child Left Behind because the law will expose the inadequacies of their constructivist, "child-centered" learning techniques that have never been scientifically proven in studies to be effective, especially on minority children. It is commendable that proponents of No Child Left Behind, such as the Education Trust, are not backing down amid calls of increasing the numbers of students exempted from AYP, such as ESL students or students with "learning disabilities."

As many educators throughout the nation such as Marva Collins have shown (terrific book recommendation: Marva Collins' Way), who are often ignored by the MSM, traditional, academic-centered education benefits students from lower socioeconomic levels (and all students in general) far more than "progressive" education does. Many students labeled "learning disabled" are simply students who cannot learn with these "progressive" teaching methods and have no other recourse. With the AYP provisions, schools most likely will have to change ineffective construtivist techniques in order to meet AYP. This accountability threatens the interests of the liberal education establishment.

Liberal Narcissism

2007-04-09T20:25:00.001-04:00

Father Paul Scalia of the Diocese of Arlington has a devastating critique of liberal narcissism in the Adoramus Bulletin. He demonstrates how the liberal tendency to throw out the past--in this case the beautiful and traditional Latin music, Gregorian chant, and Catholic hymns--and replace them with more "relevant" expressions has dumbed down the liturgy. In its place, insipid, boring, lame music that liberals love has led to a narcissitic tendency to worship ourselves instead of God:

The Cult of Conceit: Why Are We Singing to Each Other?

A conversation demands that we include the other in the discussion. If someone speaks to you about himself, about you, about himself and you, but never really with you, you would call that person conceited. So have we become in our conversation with God: He humbles Himself to dwell among us under the form of bread and wine, while we ignore Him and sing about ourselves and to ourselves.
Of course, many traditional hymns also address the other believers rather than God. But a close look at such hymns (for example, "Now thank we all our God", "Praise, my soul, the King of heaven", or "Ye watchers and ye holy ones") reveals a crucial difference: the traditional hymns address others only to invite them to worship God, while most contemporary songs invite us to glorify ourselves.

The narcissistic tendencies of liberalism can be seen not only damaging religion but also education, with the same effect of turning our perspective from our heritage, tradition, and common culture crudely straight back onto ourselves. Diane Ravitch, in her wonderful book The Language Police, describes in the chapter "Literature: Forgetting the Tradition" how meaningful classics have been replaced by mediocre teen literature and god-awful multicultural pap that bores instead of stimulates:

There are so many superb novels, short stories, poems, plays, and essays to choose from that it is impossible for any student to read them all. But this fact makes it all the more important that teachers amke the effort to identify the writers and works that will broaden their students' horizons beyond their own immediate circumstances and reveal to them a world of meanings far beyond their own experiences. Great literature is "relevant" not because it echoes the students' race, gender, or social circumstances, but because it speaks directly to the reader across time and across cultures. A child who is suffering because of the death in the family is likely to gain more comfort from reading a poem by John Donne or Ben Jonson or Gerard Manley Hopkins that from reading banal teen fiction about a death in the family.

"Banal" is a great description for the multicultural and feminist trash taught in schools and the lame folk music sung in parishes led by liberal priests. Not surprisingly, as Father Scalia describes, it has led to a generation that is cruder, less educated, and more narcissistic, and recent studies have confirmed this. It has also led to balkanization instead of unity under the common languages of Latin (in the Catholic Church) and English (in America).

Fortunately, conservatism and a return to tradition seems to ascendant in the Church today. Young Catholics are turning back towards the beauty and dignity of Latin and the timeless Latin hymns. Is it any wonder? Compare the following Latin hymn (in translation):

Ave Verum Corpus
Hail, True Body, born of the Virgin Mary,
Who has truly suffered, was sacrificed on the Cross for mortals.
Whose side was pierced, whence flowed Water and Blood:
Be for us a foretaste (of heaven) during our final examining.
O Jesus sweet, O Jesus pure, O Jesus, Son of Mary,
Have mercy upon me. Amen.

To a narcissitic "hymn" popular with liberals:

Anthem
We are called, we are chosen. We are Christ for one another. We are promise to tomorrow, while we are for him today. We are sign, we are wonder, we are sower, we are seed. We are harvest, we are hunger. We are question, we are creed.

Liberals: "Me, me, me, we, we, we." Thank God I live in the conservative Diocese of Arlington. But I have heard this self-centered liberal song in more liberal dioceses, such as the Diocese of Richmond and the Archdiocese of Mobile.

Is it no wonder that Generation Y is more narcissitic than other generations? They have had hymns like the above in church. They have had multicultural literature celebrating their ethnicity and race instead of their common national traits. They have been told that literature is more relevant if it relates directly to them, and they have given teen literature instead of classics. They get Judy Blume instead of Charles Dickens. They have had self-esteem classes nonstop since kindergarten.

Father Scalia says:

The myth of Narcissus provides a good lesson for modern liturgy. The handsome young man, so enchanted with his own looks, sat gazing at his reflection in the water. He could not bring himself to leave his image and so grew rooted to the spot, admiring himself. Too many current songs encourage us to do the same. We talk to ourselves and sing love songs to ourselves. Just as Narcissus's self-adulation rendered himself incapable of a relationship and therefore of love, so also these hymns of conceit cripple our ability to speak with God. If God sees that we are so smitten with our own presence, He may judge us unfit to enter His.

The solution, of course, is to get back to a time-tested tradition and heritage both in the Church and in society. In the Church, we need to return to Latin and traditional hymns (already many parishes are doing this especially in conservative dioceses). Latin is a great unifier in liturgy, especially with the diverse immigration. In schools, we need to return to our e pluribus unum values that have made our country prosperous and free and eschew divisive, banal multiculturalism. Let's return to classics, tradition, and renewed emphasis on our heritage both in schools and in the Church.

Easter Triduum

2007-04-07T14:06:00.000-04:00

Hope everyone has a blessed Easter. Perhaps we should focus more on what really matters in life: eternity.

Attende Domine

Attende Domine, et miserere, quia peccavimus tibi.
Ad te Rex summe, omnium redemptor, oculos nostros sublevamus flentes: exaudi, Christe, supplicantum preces.
Dextera Patris, lapis angularis, via salutis, ianua caelestis, ablue nostri maculas delicti.

Draw near, O Lord, our God,
graciously hear us, guilty of sinning before you.

O King exalted, Savior of all nations,
See how our grieving lifts our eyes to heaven;
Hear us, Redeemer, as we beg forgiveness.

Might of the Father, Keystone of God's temple,
Way of salvation, Gate to heaven's glory.
Sin has enslaved us; free us from all bondage.

Bilingual Education: Bad Idea

2007-04-06T10:19:00.000-04:00

There is a corollary that never fails in education: If "social justice" professors want something to be done in American schools, then it is bad for American values and prosperity.

It is no different with bilingual education. Matt Sanchez has a great post up right now detailing his observations and negative experiences with bilingual education.

The term "bilingual education" is referred to by the education establishment as making Hispanic students learn certain subjects in their native language, instead of placing them in ESL classes or mainstream classrooms. It is not learning a foreign language in schools. The former is a cruel and horrendous experiment promoted by "social justice" professors that has never been shown in any scientifically-based studies to increase student achievement. The latter makes sense. Everyone should know foreign languages.

For the low down on bilingual education, it is best to start with the website of Linda Chavez, an expert and activist against bilingual education. If you have had a bad experience with bilingual education, e.g. arrogant, liberal educationists telling you that your child should be in bilingual education because he or she has a Latin surname, she would like to document your experience.

Linda Chavez states:

Bilingual programs are also wasted on children who do need help learning English. Studies often confirm what common sense would tell you: the less time you spend speaking a new language, the more slowly you'll learn it. Last year, bilingual and ESL programs in New York City were compared. Results: 92 percent of Korean, 87 percent of Russian, and 83 percent of Chinese children who started intensive ESL classes in kindergarten had made it into mainstream classes in three years or less. Of the Hispanic students in bilingual classes, only half made it to mainstream classes within three years. "How can anyone learn English in school when they speak Spanish 4 1/2 hours a day?" asks Gail Fiber, an elementary school teacher in Southern California. "In more than seven years' experience with bilingual education, I've never seen it done successfully."

"Social Justice" professors are very clever and authoritarian at the same time. They push for bilingual education that will force Hispanic children to be segregated from Americans of other races and ethnic groups in the hopes that they will not be assimilated, as every other ethnic group has been in America's history. At the same time, they fight Hispanics every step of the way by insisting that they should not have the right to be able to choose where their children can go to school. They hope that America will change from its e pluribus unum values, from a multiracial society to a multicultural society. The latter has never worked and there are no examples in history of successful multicultural societies lasting. America is and has been a multiracial society, not a multicultural one.

In any case, Hispanics should not be used as experimental subjects to bring about a bogus socialist utopia for "social justice" professors. Capitalism, freedom, integration have been proven to work; socialism never.

The vast majority of Hispanics, like everyone else, want their children to go to school and learn English.

Excellent article from Education Next on the disaster of the bilingual education experiment in California: "The Near End of Bilingual Education."

At CEOUSA: "The Case Against Bilingual Education."

What is No Child Left Behind?

2007-04-03T19:01:00.000-04:00

Surprisingly, there is a lot of ignorance--even by those, such as bloggers, who keep up with most domestic and foreign policy issues--about education policy, a subject that is so important to our nation.

No Child Left Behind will be considered one of President George Bush's most important legacies. In fact, I would consider the three most important legacies of his presidency thus far to be (1) The robust response towards terrorism with the War on Terror that moved the front from our country abroad; (2) Two solidly conservative Catholic Supreme Court justices; and (3) the landmark education reform, No Child Left Behind.

This day and age there is no excuse to rely on information from the MSM without researching it yourself.

To research the No Child Left Behind act, I would suggest printing out and studying the following in order:

"Facts and Terms Every Parent Should Know About NCLB;" "Four Pillars of NCLB;" and "Executive Summary" from the Department of Education.

"The ABCs of 'AYP': Raising Achievement for All Students."

"Do We Repair the Monument? Debating the Future of No Child Left Behind."

Finally, as a reference purchase Dr. Frederick Hess' No Child Left Behind Primer. I usually check books out of the library, but this one is definitely worth having as a reference.

So is No Child Left Behind a good law?

Well, take a look at how much liberals and socialists (including most Social Foundations of Education professors) "love" No Child Left Behind:

The math conference is backed by another "social justice" teachers' group, the New York Collective of Radical Educators (NYCoRE). I attended an NYCoRE public meeting last October. About 80 public-school teachers gathered on the NYU campus to discuss approaches to social-justice teaching.
The meeting was chaired by Edwin Mayorga, a fourth-grade teacher at PS 87 on Manhattan's Upper West Side, and NYU education professor Bree Pickower. Mayorga urged his fellow teachers to "be political inside the classroom, just as we are outside the classroom. The issues we are up against as we teach for social justice are the mandates of [Mayor] Bloomberg, Klein and No Child Left Behind." (from "Math and Marxism: NYC's Wack-Job Teachers" by Sol Stern in the New York Post, March 20, 2007).

If that is not an endorsement of No Child Left Behind for those who care about American values and success, I don't know what is.

In short, No Child Left Behind is a good law with some flaws, but one that should definitely be renewed. Very few Americans actually know what is contained in No Child Left Behind, and relying on the MSM for accurate information these days is unwise. I'll have more commentary on No Child Left Behind in the future, so study up in the meantime!

Today's Catholic Education

2007-04-01T21:18:00.000-04:00

Terrific and highly recommended article about the history and state of Catholic education in the current issue of the Hoover Institution's magazine Education Next:

Such Catholic rigor was part missionary zeal—to spread “the word”—and part defense against the encroachments of an increasingly secular world. And secular, for Catholics, meant a certain slackness in moral and academic discipline. In the United States, the so-called “wall of separation” between church and state, between order and freedom, eventually forced Catholics to build their own school system, the only country in the world where they have one (see sidebar). The battles to safeguard order, and academic excellence, were fought early and often. At the turn of the 20th century, for example, Catholic school leaders refused to follow their public school counterparts into a vocational and utilitarian tracking system. “Catholic youth should not be the ‘hewers of wood and drawers of water,’ but should be prepared for the professions or mercantile pursuits,” went one early protestation by the Association of Catholic Colleges.

It goes on to explain why Catholic schools have been so successful. To answer the last question in the article: There are many great things happening now in Catholic education, which the MSM doesn't cover too much.

For example, a great new order of holy, conservative, orthodox nuns with a teaching apostolate is the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It has been a real success story and definitely worth giving a donation to.

Father Duesterhaus in Iraq

2007-03-30T20:31:00.000-04:00

Here is a great story about Father Duesterhaus, a Catholic marine chaplain, and his extraordinary experiences in Iraq. He describes life in Iraq with our heroic soldiers and how life is getting much better for the Iraqis.

A good education means seeking out the truth and understanding what goes on in the world. A good knowledge of history, geography, and government are three subjects needed to analyze and discern what makes nations prosperous, free, and good like the United States of America.

Unfortunately, too many "social justice" professors want to train an entire cadre of teachers that will impart on a captive audience of schoolchildren that our nation is not a force for good but rather of oppression and tyranny. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Here are some great quotes from from the article about Father Duesterhaus:

He’s found that his definition of stress has changed as well as what he classifies as a “real emergency.” He noted that many people get worked up about things that aren’t incredibly important.

“I don’t understand why Americans drink bottled water,” he said. “Most Americans don’t know how good they have it.” American tap water is perfectly safe. As he left Iraq, 60 percent of the nation had clean water for the first time.

On a whole, the Iraqis are seeing several lifestyle improvements. When Father Duesterhaus traveled by air, he saw the villages lit with electricity.

“They never had electricity before,” he said. “Saddam destroyed a lot.” This included the culture. The society was broken down, and now they are just beginning to rebuild, which will take time.

Despite it all, Father Duesterhaus is hopeful for a better future in Iraq. He has seen ex-patriots returning to Iraq to take leadership roles in the new government. The education system is greatly improved.

The marine Father Dusterhaus married my sister and my brother-in-law at UVA in 2001. He has never had one single divorce with any couples he has married--perhaps because his threat to come after them his gun if he should ever find out the commitment was not to "death do us part." He's great guy: conservative, orthodox priest, great shot--he's was reverently called Father "Dust His Ass" by seminarians in the Diocese of Arlington after he shot a night burgler at the parish that led to an article in the Washington Post--and patriotic American whose has done terrific things for our troops in Iraq. A real hero.

Education Myths the MSM Promotes

2007-03-26T22:21:00.000-04:00

Manhattan Institute education scholars Jay Greene and Marcus Winters shatter some common education myths.

Teachers are underpaid? Myth.
Smaller class sizes are better for academic achievement? Myth.
High tuition costs keep Hispanics and blacks from college? Myth.
Schools need more money? Myth.

Having lived in Asia, I can attest to these myths. Students in South Korean middle schools and high schools do far better academically with far less money. What American schools need these days is accountability and a focus on academics.

2 + 2 = 5

2007-03-25T05:49:00.000-04:00

In a disturbing article in the New York Post, Manhattan Institute's scholar Sol Stern describes how math teachers in New York are being taught to use math classes to indoctrinate students on the evils of capitalism and the United States:

March 20, 2007 -- THERE'S a fifth column in New
York City's public schools - radical teachers who openly undermine Schools Chancellor Joel Klein's curriculum mandates and use their classrooms to indoctrinate students in left-wing, anti-American ideology.

One center for this movement is El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice
in Brooklyn, the city's first "social justice" high school. The school's lead
math teacher, Jonathan Osler, is using El Puente as a base from which to
organize a three-day conference in April on "Math Education and Social Justice."

Who are the experts that will give the lessons? Surprise: "Social Justice" education professors. Just what our country needs post-September 11:

Another of the math conference's "experts" is Cathy Wilkerson, an adjunct professor at the Bank Street College of Education. Her only other credential mentioned in the program is that she was a "member of the Weather Underground of the 60s."

Some credential, indeed. On March 6, 1970, she was in a Manhattan townhouse helping to construct a powerful bomb to be planted at a dance attended by civilians on the Fort Dix, N.J., army base. The bomb went off prematurely, destroying the townhouse and instantly killing three of the bomb makers.

The article goes on to describe who is funding this conference and the neat lessons elementary school teachers are learning in "social justice" seminars to teach a captive audience:

The meeting was chaired by Edwin Mayorga, a fourth-grade teacher at PS 87 on Manhattan's Upper West Side, and NYU education professor Bree Pickower. Mayorga urged his fellow teachers to "be political inside the classroom, just as we are outside the classroom. The issues we are up against as we teach for social justice are the mandates of [Mayor] Bloomberg, Klein and No Child Left Behind."

Pickower reminded the teachers of the group's Katrina curriculum, which teachers could use to convince elementary-school students that the hurricane was not really a natural disaster, but an example of endemic American racism. Mayorga described how he had piloted the Katrina curriculum with his fourth graders at PS 87 and pronounced it a big success.

Leaving nothing to chance, the Katrina curriculum provides teachers with classroom prompts designed to illustrate the evils of American capitalism and imperialism. For example, one section of the curriculum is titled, "Two Gulf Wars," and suggests
posing the following question to students: "Was the government unable to respond
quickly to the crisis on the Gulf Coast because the money and personnel were all
being used in Iraq?"

Many of the same "experts" pushing this "social justice" or "anti-anti-social justice" (see post below on "Skewed Perspective") are teaching our future teachers how to teach and indoctrinate the future generation of Americans in teacher's colleges. Many states have a "Social Foundations" requirement for all teachers to be certified, hence another captive audience for Marxists to convince that America is the source of all evil in the world.

Given that David Steiner has proven the overwhelming bias in Social Foundations university classes, perhaps it is time for states to start abolishing this licensure requirement.

"Skewed Perspective"

2007-03-23T19:36:00.000-04:00

Chilling news for "social justice" education professors:

LONGMONT — Humans don’t cause global warming, a jury of sixth graders at Trail Ridge Middle School concluded Thursday after hearing opposing arguments from their peers.

“They’re pretty young for this kind of thinking. They did great,” paleontology teacher Ken Poppe said after the 40-minute “trial” in his classroom.

This kind of open democratic open exchange of ideas is taboo to education professors like "anti-anti social justice" (and educational jargon expert) Dan Butin. His education philosophy, like most other "social justice" professors', is that students should only learn from one perspective, one that fosters a socialist utopia in which the past sins of Western Civilization are erased and atoned for by brave young teachers fresh from Social Foundations programs.

The father of this educational philosophy was Paulo Friere who stated:

"What I want to know is whether it's possible to teach biology without discussing social conditions, you see. Is it possible to discuss, to study the phenomenon of life without discussing exploitation, domination, freedom, democracy, and so on. I think that it's impossible. . ."

In other words, subject matter is only taught if it is to further "social justice." Scientific facts are suppressed if students will not think in "socially correct" terms. True history is not taught or misrepresented to support a failed socialist ideology. The canon of great Western literature is replaced by insipid PC feminist and multicultural pap.

Finally, teachers in Social Foundations programs are given only the Left-wing perspective on the value of teaching. The education scholar David Steiner has examined the syllabi at Social Foundations classes at the most prestigious Colleges of Education and proves that "diversity" of perspective is nowhere to be found. In the same article, he undermines and exposes the agenda of Dan Butin and other "social justice" professors.

Book Recommendation

2007-03-22T03:17:00.000-04:00

In the Church History II class I'm taking this semester at Christendom College, we are studying the Fall of England in the Protestant Revolution that swept through Europe beginning in 1519 and throughout the 16th century.

The subject of England's fall to Protestantism reminded me of an incredible book: The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey. Even though it is fiction, it is extremely enlightening, and I can never think of Richard III or King Henry VIII without thinking back to The Daughter of Time. Once you start this book, it will only take a couple of days to finish because it is so engrossing. It will change your whole perspective of history and in particular the kings above.

Diane Ravitch in the "Atkinson-Ravitch Sampler of Classic Literature," an appendix at the back of her The Language Police describes the literary value of The Daughter of Time:

While Alan Grant of Scotland Yard is hospitalized with a minor injury, his friend brings him a packet of portraits to amuse him. One is the infamous villain Richard III. Grant sees something in the man's face that intrigues him. With a detective's eye for detail, the bedridden Grant sets out to solve one of history's most notorious crimes. It is a dazzling novel that is a model of the creative power of skeptical thinking.

It is certainly the best mystery ever written and a book every student these days should be familiar with. Unfortunately, for too many students today, schools promote mediocre books pleasing to multiculturalists and feminists as well as teen literature that schools mistakingly feel students can relate to better than classic literature. Any canon of great literature is eschewed.

"Loco or in Loco Parentis?"

2007-03-21T19:41:00.000-04:00

Prominent education scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, Frederick Hess, analyzes and judges the hypocritical behavior of the Duke University faculty towards the lacrosse players falsely accused of rape and asks: "Loco or In Loco Parentis?"

His verdict: Loco.

The Ivory Tower Looks in the Mirror

2007-03-21T17:45:00.000-04:00

Question: Is there any difference between this behavior and the behavior of today's illiberal, PC campuses, such as UVA, Harvard, Princeton, William and Mary, or any other public or private university?

On PC campuses in America, if you don't conform to Left-wing ideas of the elite, you are purged. In China, if you don't conform to the Left-wing ideas of the elite, you are purged. It seems the same to me.

Courageous versus Cowardly

2007-03-21T17:07:00.000-04:00

Father Nnorum, PhD, an expert in political science, in a talk at Christendom College shows true courage by taking on the intolerance of the prized religion on mainstream campuses since terrorists attacked America on September 11, 2001: Islam. Unlike the mislead youth on today's mainstream campuses who love exotica like this student (in America, believe it or not) on the right at University of Toledo, Father Nnorum speaks from experience about the value and worth of Western Civilization.

Some highlights from his talk :

On double standards of Islam: "If you want to build mosques in our countries, let us build churches in yours."

He rallies Catholic students, calling them today's countercultural generation:

"This is a unique institution, you have a duty. You don't need millions. Get conscious. Get active. Catholics are fighters for the good. We are always counter-cultural…America mobilized for good can change the world."

Can you imagine for one second Father Nnorum, PhD, being invited to give his perspective on mainstream campuses such as UVA, Columbia, William and Mary, Harvard, etc.? Forget it: For all the Left-wing platitudes on today's PC campuses about welcoming "people of color," if they don't conform to political correctness, they are ignored. If that does not work they are persecuted and disparaged by the Left. Just ask Corporal Matt Sanchez. Welcome to today's mainstream educational establishments.