K-12 Academic Bill of Rights Proposed

Proposal seeks to ensure that your children are getting a good education without being indoctrinated with beliefs you don’t agree with.

Political ravings once confined to colleges and universities are now finding their way into elementary and secondary schools. David Horowitz, author of The Professors, says education is used in totalitarian societies to indoctrinate citizens with the agenda of the state but democracies are supposed to be different.

“We teach them what the evidence is, how to assemble the evidence, how to construct an argument and then we let them make up their minds for themselves.”

As part of their national conference on “Taking Politics Out of the Classroom,” Students for Academic Freedom is putting forth a K-12 Academic Bill of Rights. Sean Allen, who recently brought the political ranting of his geography teacher to light, supports the idea.

“It’s a great stride in getting politics out of classrooms and teachers’ personal politics out of classrooms and starting to get back to what should be focused on and that’s education.”

State Representative Sam Rohrer of Pennsylvania is planning hearings to determine if legislative action is needed to curb political bias in K-12 schools.

“My sense would be, if in fact we are finding extensive violations of this type, then it would be within the legislative prerogative to deal with it.”

He says states need to take the responsibility of ensuring taxpayer dollars are spent wisely. The Bill of Rights aims to return classrooms to a solid foundation centered on the basics of education. It says students with differing points of view must be graded solely on their work, not their opinions. And it allows for all points of view to be presented by an instructor, without that teacher injecting their personal beliefs.