Civics Lesson

Proverbs 22:6 tells us to "Train up a child in the way that he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it." This tells me that the ultimate responsibility for educating my children belongs to me and my husband. This is a responsibility that we have taken very seriously. In our home, education means more than the 3 R's. We have educated them in basic life skills like housekeeping and responsible money management. We have taken them hunting and fishing and planted vegetable gardens so they will know how to feed themselves. As a family, the four of us built our home with our own hands. The kids looked at the plans, learned how to use various measurement tools, learned how to hammer and saw and paint. They have been shown the basics of auto maintenance. When they are 14 years of age, we have required that they detassle corn as a summer job. We believe that it is healthy for them to experience what it is to work in the heat and mud and dust and experience the physical aches and exhaustion to earn an honest dollar.

Beyond these basic skills that will enable them to take care of themselves, we have also endeavored to teach them how to take care of others. They help their Dad plow the neighbors drives in the winter, they have helped me prepare and deliver meals to the neighbors when our friends are sick. We want them to know that serving others does not mean writing big checks, it means being aware of the needs of others and giving of yourself when God reveals that need. We also believe that if our kids want to participate in sports or scouts, it means that we are the coaches or leaders. We work the concession stands for the ball teams, we have our garage stacked with Girl Scout cookies and our kids help with all of this. We also hope that, one day, they will love and care for their spouses and children and neighbors the way that their father and I have loved and cared for ours.

We also hope that we have given them sound lessons in citizenship. We have shared with them the stories of three generations of our family's honorable military service. They could recite the Pledge of Allegiance before they started preschool. We have always taken them with us to vote. Our beloved Uncle R ran for a seat in the state house in 2006 and the kids jumped right into the campaign helping to stuff mailers, walk in parades and knock on doors to "get out the vote". They learned more about the election process that summer than they could have ever learned in a classroom. In our home, we are engaged in current events and discuss how the issues relate to our values.

With all the skills and principles that we are able to teach our children ourselves, there are some things that need to be taught outside of the home. For example, I am ignorant in the best ways to teach a child to read or to understand the periodic table of elements. For this essential part of their education, we turn to our local public school. Our school district is very small, so we have the opportunity to really get to know the teachers and administrators. My husband and I also believe that it is important for our children to learn to function under different personalities as they will, no doubt, have to have this skill when they are in the workplace.

I tell you all of this not because I am setting my husband and myself out there as perfect parents or that we have perfect children. The good Lord knows that we have a long way to go. We have screwed up big time along the way and our kids have had their share of growing pains, but our hearts are all in the right place and we start each day with a renewed effort to do better. I do tell you all of this to illustrate that we do not rely on the government to teach our children home economics, vocational skills, community service or citizenship. We rely on the assistance of the public schools to teach them methods of learning so that their ultimate self-reliance will be enhanced with tools they will need to interpret information and solve problems. It truly breaks my heart that we, as taxpayers, need to spend the public money to teach kids basic cooking skills, how to do a load of laundry, how to read a tape measure and how to drive a nail. It speaks volumes about the breakdown of the family and society.

President Obama addressed school children earlier this week. Any person who achieves the office of President is, without a doubt, highly educated, goal-oriented and possesses excellent leadership qualities. What I question is who educated him, what are his goals and where is he intending to lead our great nation. He has surrounded himself with the likes of Van Jones, Mark Lloyd, Cass Sunstein, Carol Browner and John Holdren. All individuals with radical, even frightening, resumes and beliefs. An internet search on any one of them yields pages of information about their backgrounds that an American, never mind a Christian conservative such as myself, should not support. President Obama's speech highlighted the importance of personal responsibility, yet he is seeking an unprecedented expansion of entitlements, the antithesis of personal responsibility, in the form of this massive health care bill. His words, once again, do not mirror his actions. That is not what we teach our children. We have tried to instill in them that you can't separate your beliefs from your actions. If you believe one way and act another, you are a liar. The Department of Education put out a lesson plan that was so blatent in its intent to indoctinate children to the President's agenda that it was impossible for me to allow my son to participate in any way. The fact that they altered the text does not change what I believe was an ill intent. My children do not need to hear about service and personal responsibility from any person who has a world view shaped by radicals, who achieves his goals by talking one way and acting another, and who is leading national policy down a path that will rob my children of their opportunitiy to live the values they have been taught, realize the goals they have set and assume their rightful place as future leaders. The lesson they will be learning in civics this week will come from watching their mother voice her opposition in a free society and stand firm as the gatekeeper against the village that seeks to indoctrinate, not educate, my children.