The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next. —Abraham Lincoln
Bedford students say issue is local control, reads todays’ Union Leader Headline. Over one-hundred Bedford High School students showed up at yesterday’s hearing to oppose HB 1403. Amidst cries of outrage over interference with, “local control”, leading the crowd was a young fellow named Michael Courtney, a Junior at Bedford High School. The young master Courtney has undertaken the yolk of political activism and created a YouTube Video advocating the opposition of this bill.
“If you would want to strip and usurp the authority of a local school board … then we need to come up with a new motto for our license plates than ‘Live Free or Die,’”
Courtney, tells the UL’s Ted Seifer. So here we have these young skulls full of mush up in Concord making the rallying cry against HB 1403. Two School Districts currently implement IB: Bedford and Merrimack Valley.
So what about this argument for “local control? I think history requires us to look at the very nature of local control and what that means. Local Control, “ain’t” local control in New Hampshire. Local Control would, in fact be, “local control” if the Granite State were absent Claremont I and II and Augenblick.
When the legislature undertakes austere budgetary measures, the eudcrats turn out in numbers, pontificating and predicting doom and gloom of how the children to suffer. Hat in hand, educrats come looking for education dollars for their districts. Fail that, cries of “downshifting” follow. People need to stop whining about local control…it does not exist regarding schools. That is what was sought through Claremont I and II. If people in Rindge or Auburn are going to pay for schools in Allenstown or Newport, there ought to be some accountability.
Merrimack Valley School Board Member Lorrie Carey tells the UL,
“The international focus was secondary to an educational approach that emphasizes dialogue and understanding…”
Carey, whose daughter attends a Merrimack Valley School, added,
“I see a different language coming out of my child. She is thoughtful and caring. This is about problem-solving. It’s a different way of teaching students.”
A clear example of IB’s focus on process rather than results. One statement in the UL sotry that is rahter instructive is a comment from Bedford resident David Murray in speaking to the UL. Murray spoke of parents who had voiced concerns about the IB program greeted with sneers and snickers from proponents.
“Any time you mention that this is a UN-supported organization, it tends to elicit sneers and snickers. I know that intimidates a lot of people from speaking out,”
Sneers and Snickers…How Alinsky-esque is that? Be not surprised. This is what liberals do as part of the template to mute the opposition. I would also point out that young Master Courtney, in posting his Youtube diatribe, turned off all comments and ratings. Not a hallmark of public debate.
As I pointed out yesterday, if one makes a Google search asking, “What is the International Baccalaureate Program?” The best result is always a facile description or definition that tells the inquisitor absolutely nothing about its’ workings.
The fundamental question before the Senate that needs to be answered is, “Why are only two school districts in the entire Granite State IB Schools?” The vote will be watched and the Granite Grok will be naming names. In my own humble opinion, this State Senate is blogger toast if this passes on a mere voice vote.
And I will say it again. The International Baccaluareat is a recalibration of worldviews open and responsive to the tenets of socialism, Marxism, and denigration of American sovereignty. Apathy for the American value system is the pathway IB follows to achieve its world communitarian goals. To say that IB is apolitical is not only dishonest, but corrupt. When I think of IB, Aldous Huxley’s, A Brave New World, comes to mind.