Information for Horace Mann League members
The purposes of the Horace Mann League are patriotic and educational. It's chief objective is to foster and strengthen the American public school and increase the esteem in which the public school is held and the appreciation of its importance among all Americans.
This pamphlet, commissioned by the Horace Mann League Board of Directors, is designed to provide public school administrators with background information about the beliefs, goals, and strategies that are supported by some religious groups.
Information was gathered from literature published by religious right organizations and books and journal articles published by organizations interested in understanding the efforts of some religious groups.
The following are general beliefs held in part or in total by various segments of the religious far-right.
We believe there can not be morality (right or wrong) without the Bible - man's only reliable book on right and wrong.
We Christians can more effectively apply Biblical principles to government, because we read the Bible and trust its teaching.
Our nation's founding fathers built laws and standards for society on Biblical principles.
There is only one law - God's - and only one source to get from: the Bible.
We believe books in classrooms and libraries that include "AntiBiblical" language or any reference to the occult should be banned.
We believe public schools teach no absolutes, no God, no wrong or right.
Societal ills that we have today are reflected in our public school classrooms.
The Bible empowers Godly Christians with the right to supervise the teaching of our children.
For America to be saved, the people have to return to patriotic and conservative domestic policies (i.e., ban abortions, constitutionally reinstituting school prayer, maintaining military strength, and outlawing pornography).
"Secular humanism" and other "anti-God" philosophies must be driven from public schools and replaced with God-centered morality.
It is the Lord's plan to bring public education back under the control of the Christian community.
If public schools cannot be brought back to God, then we believe they must be replaced by private schools or home schooling.
We must win elections to gain majority seats on every city council and school board.
One day, if we serve God, we will rule and reign along with our sovereign, Jesus Christ.
The Pentecostal perspective predicts a second harvest unleashing the wrath of God. Drought, famine, earthquakes, epidemics, wars and nuclear terror as well as "widespread demonic activity" will occur in the near future.
We see the world divided between the saved and the unsaved and between good and evil.
There is only one interpretation of the Bible. It is directly inspired by God and literally infallible.
We believe in localism, conventional moral standards, traditionalist family values, and vocal "Americanism".
This year, 1993, is the most critical year of the next four years of a liberal congress and a liberal president. They can pass any liberal bill they choose to pass. You and your children must then live under that yoke of bondage which could destroy not only what you believe in, but could totally alienate your own children from you, through your school's liberal, socialistic indoctrination (Simonds, R. (February 1993). President's Report. National Association of Christian Educators/Citizens for Excellence in Education, Costa Mesa, CA., p. 3).
Some members of the religious right share a conspiracy theory of the world. The devil is made all the more vivid and intangible by associating him with a conspiratorial theory of history- everywhere there are plots and hidden meanings. This theory is used to explain a world gone sour.
A large proportion of the American population is Christian. Only a fraction of the total subscribe to the beliefs of the religious right and actually participate in furthering their agenda. Religious identity and percent of Christians:
Moderates to liberals (42%) "are mainline Protestants for whom progressive social action is the very essence of Christian witness."
Evangelicals (24%) "believe in the authority of the Bible, but some may view it as symbolic, not historical"
Fundamentalists (21%) "strongly oppose liberalism in society; believe the Bible is the perfect word of God and historically true; expect that after several catastrophic events, Jesus will return to set up a literal kingdom."
Charismatic or Pentecostal (12%) "find authority but not always literal truth in the Bible, believe in modern day miracles and emphasize spiritual gifts such as speaking in tongues." From: USA Today, March 25, 1993.
It is fairly easy for educators to find themselves at cross-purposes with the religious right because a number of current innovations and reform programs are believed by them to be inappropriate.
The following is a partial list of educational reform activities opposed by the far right religious groups:
affective education
lengthening school day
values clarification
self-esteem curriculum
year-round school calendar
critical thinking skills
school based health clinics
ungraded classrooms
using visualizations
global education
reality math
cooperative learning
outcome-based education
assessment testing
peer coaching
multiculturalism
vocational education
teacher-as-coach
mastery learning
holistic education
decision-making skills
site based management
sex education
AIDS or HIV education
health services on campus
whole language learning
1. Be well informed about reforms being proposed. Make sure educators and key opinion makers have (a) a clear under-standing of what restructuring is, (b) why it is important, (c) how parents will be involved, and (d) how it will improve learning.
2. Create forms to debate, discuss and build consensus around the changes required to improve student learning.
3. Communicate regularly with the public, Address the why, how and expected results of reform and restructuring. Use clear language, not jargon.
4. Realize choice is a useful option to allow children of parents who oppose reform to select a different school.
5. Inform the community about the agenda and strategies of the groups described above (i.e., controlling public schools by electing members to school boards and hiring teachers and superintendents who advocate teaching creationism.
6. Prepare written rebuttals to common attacks, (i.e., reports to the community and newsletter articles).
7. Listen to all viewpoints and perspectives, but don't provide for unlimited arguments that tie up school and district resources with extensive responses to questions.
8. Provide individuals with space to review documents and access to a copier (at their expense) when asked for significant amounts of information.
9. Organize a "letter to the editor" campaign when attacked in the media.
10. Ask people who support school reform to attend school board meetings and voice their support when a vocal group announces that they know what the community wants.
11. Be proactive:
Set up community meetings and invite all interested to attend.
Invite people opposed to reform effort to meet with you.
12. Keep focused on what your community wants for its schools and question anything that you believe doesn't reflect your community.
13. Open you schools. Invite people to see the changes taking place and how those changes are helping students.
14. Don't apologize for what you are doing in your schools.
15. Subscribe to the same magazines and newsletters that promote the religious right view-point.
16. Have sound and legally-based policies that allow due process and options (i.e., NSBA & AASA).
17. Use an outside mediator in times of crisis.
18. Have data to support your decisions. Have ready access to statistics on why decisions are made (i.e., PDK/Gallop Poll).
19. Stand your ground, but don't label and don't name call. Avoid personal confrontation and above all, don't patronize.
20. Find church leaders, politicians, and business leaders who are willing to help before attacks against reform efforts take place.
21. Maintain an open door policy toward all community groups.
22. Provide media training for administrators, mainstream parents and other who will oppose the religious right.
23. Emphasize coalition building.
24. Establish procedures for dealing with controversy within your school district.
25. Know the law and follow district and site level policy.
26. Establish effective proactive parental and community involvement in support of the public schools before controversies arise.
27. Have a plan for handling school board election campaigns.
28. Continue to use clear, consistent, friendly language when conversing with parents.
29. Organize a cadre of key communicators within the community.
30. Foster an organizational culture that no only tolerates but accommodates and expects diverse points-of-view.
31. Create a process to evaluate the legitimacy of the criticism raised and act promptly when the information is known.
32. Present clear and coherent written responses to the most frequently expressed positions of the religious right.
33. Gather broad based information from coalition components and use the coalition to disseminate the information.
34. Keep open lines of communication with the press.
35. Speak with others who are hearing similar concerns and share information with each other.
36. Develop materials to provide clear and effective explanations of school reform efforts (i.e., fact sheets, video tapes, displays, etc.).
37. Provide regular information to citizens and school employees about what is going on in the schools whether it is positive or negative.
38. Learn and understand the groups who have concerns and the nature of their beliefs.
39. Discuss your concerns with your school attorney.
40. Encourage visibility in the community - especially of administrators.
Accept any and all speaking opportunities before local groups about the district's school reform efforts.
41. Use national organizations as a resource (i.e., AASA, ASCD, ECS, American Library Assoc., NSBA, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, People for the American Way).
42. Respect the public's right to know what you are doing and why you're doing it before you ask for their support.
43. Implement staff development programs for school administrators and staff at the building and district level.
44. Keep school board members "in the loop."
45. Develop questionnaires that can be used for school board candidates (let democracy work!).
46. Discuss the First amendment not religious beliefs.
Clabaugh, G.K., (1974). Thunder on the Right: The Protestant fundamentalists, Chicago. Nelson- Hall Company.
D'Antonio, M. (1989). Fall from grace: The failed crusade of the Christian right. New York. Farrar, Straus, Girous
Hulsizer, D. (1989). Protecting the Freedom to Learn, published by the People for the American Way, 2000 M St., No. 400, Washington, DC 20036
Media Spotlight. A Biblical analysis of Religious and Secular Media. P.O. Box 290, Redmond, WA 98073 Special Report. "America 2000: Education Reform for the New World Order."
Special Report Series: published by Citizens for Excellence in Education. Dr. Robert Simonds, Editor. Box 3200, Costa Mesa, CA 92628
Church and State. Published by the Amercians United for Separation of Church and State. 8120 Fenton Street, Silver Spring, MD 20910
Authors:
Dr. Jane Hammond, Supt., Everett, WA Public Schools
Dr. Paul Houston, Executive Director, AASA Arlington, VA.
Dr. Jack McKay, Chair, Dept. of Educational Administration, University of Nebraska at Omaha