This Needs To Be Done
I am not the kind to say I told you so, but I warned about this. Actually Thomas did, but I have been saying this for a very long time. The kids coming through school nowadays are as Constitutionally-illiterate as the fourteen fools that reared their ugly heads on Monday. For far too long have schools and teachers turned a blind eye to the Constitution, and we—as a nation—are paying for it. So, this has been handed down by the government. You will learn about it for 1 day, at the least in a school year.
WASHINGTON - The Constitution long has ensured that Congress can't tell schools what to teach. But that's no longer the case for at least one topic — the Constitution itself.
The Education Department outlined Tuesday how it plans to enforce a little-known provision that Congress passed in 2004: Every school and college that receives federal money must teach about the Constitution on Sept. 17, the day the document was adopted in 1787.
Schools can determine what kind of educational program they want, but they must hold one every year on the now-named "Constitution Day and Citizenship Day." And if Sept. 17 falls on a weekend or holiday, schools must schedule a program immediately before or after that date.
Historically, the federal government has avoided dictating what or when anything must be taught because those powers rest with the states under the 10th Amendment. The Education Department's Web site even underlines that point, saying matters such as the development of curricula and the setting of course requirements fall outside federal authority.
But Congress stepped in when it came to the nation's foundational document, thanks to Sen. Robert Byrd, the West Virginia Democrat who keeps a copy of the Constitution in his pocket. Byrd inserted the Constitution lesson mandate into a massive spending bill in 2004, frustrated by what he called a huge ignorance on the part of many Americans about history.
Can I be sick now? It takes this former grand kleagle of the KKK to get us to stand up and recognize our founding document? This is something that should be taught to each and every school attendee regardless of their race, their national origin, their gender, etc. It is an integral part of being a "American". I am not saying that these kids should be instructed in Constitutional Law, however a basic understanding I do demand. In the times of the Founding Fathers, every man, woman, and child able to read knew the Constitution, and studied it intently. But the Left does not want that today, which is evident as this article goes on.
It so happened that the Education Department's new guidelines emerged just as Byrd and the Senate, engaged in a fight over judicial filibusters, debated the Constitution's checks and balances.
Correction: The debate was not over checks and balances, but over the powers of the Constitution itself. As we have maintained—and many side with us—the very argument that a nominee must have a two-thirds majority vote to be confirmed is preposterous. The Constitution specifically and clearly enumerates the four instances in which a two-thirds majority is needed to pass certain things. Nominees are not one of them. Had they been deemed so, the Constitution would have read:
"He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, with two-thirds of the Senators concurring, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments. "
Instead of what it really reads, minus the bold-faced addition to what was posted. That, of course being the "with two-thirds of the Senators concurring" part. There is no such majority dictated, demanded, nor enumerated within the Constitution. A simple, straight-up majority is all that requires to pass a nominee; any nominee.
Neither the department nor Congress has required a specific curriculum or a particular interpretation of the Constitution, Byrd said in an interview Monday.
"I hope that schools will develop many different, creative ways to enable students to learn about one of our country's most important historic documents," he said. "The Constitution protects their freedoms and will impact all facets of their lives."
National surveys and test scores in recent years have shown many students don't know much about history. A study of high school attitudes this year revealed most students take for granted the First Amendment to the Constitution. More than one in three students said the First Amendment goes too far in the rights it guarantees, such as freedom of religion, speech and the press.
Yet some education groups say Congress has no business dictating what schools and universities must do on a certain day.
In middle school or high school, for example, schools may have to interrupt lesson plans, said Dan Fuller, director of federal programs for the National School Boards Association.
"You may have to leap from the Civil War or Vietnam to the Constitution," Fuller said. "Local schools cover the Constitution, and they've been doing it for a long time. We don't need the federal micromanagement. Congress has been acting more like a school board."
This isn’t "micromanagement, Mr. Fuller. The schools and teachers should have been doing this for years. Had they been doing so, then forcing this, which is a part of federal law, would not have been necessary. But it is more than evident that kids leaving school have little or no idea about this most precious of documents. Burn my Bible, and flush a Koran, but leave your hands off of my Constitution.
Without it, I have no Bible or Koran because the government can outlaw them with a flick of the quill. And where else are we able to defend such rights, but under the Second Amendment? Without it to defend ourselves, we have none of the other nine, or twenty-six for that matter.
It is integral to this nation for those following behind us to know what this country grants and what it does not in terms of rights for it’s citizens. Yes, I said citizens. The Constitution does not apply to illegal aliens, to visa holders, or any one else that is not a United States citizen. I understand this point, so why do our courts ignore it?
In higher education, "It's the sort of thing that raises the question, 'If this, what's next?'" said Becky Timmons, senior director for government relations at the American Council on Education, the leading lobbying group for colleges and universities.
"If the justification is that the Constitution is so central to our democracy, couldn't somebody else come along and say, 'Well, I think the history of American architecture is quite important,'" she said. "I don't think most folks on campus perceive this to be an enormous slippery slope, but it's never good when the government tells them what to teach."
Timmons added, however, she was pleased that the Education Department seemed to favor an honor system of compliance rather than a "nightmarish" plan of site visits or required documentation. She said colleges would likely come up with many ways to satisfy the law, from holding a campus assembly on the Constitution to distributing information in every class.
I am sorry, but did Becky not understand the memo? It is to be taught in class, by a teacher. This is a problem with the Left in this nation. Their blatant disregard for what is right and what is wrong. I do not care if the teachers and the unions are ticked that they must do this, but the law is the law. (If they have a problem with teaching it because they are illiterate, I am sure Thomas would be willing to volunteer his services.)
Kids, teens, young adults, whatever must know what this document is and what it means. If they are not taught about it, they will be amongst the next group coming up trying to destroy it further. Yes, I know that is what the Left is counting on, but for every one of those fools, there are people like Thomas—like myself—that know enough to thwart them. We stand ready, while the wolves growl at the door, and we hold them back. You may not have my Constitution, or my rights. When you pry them from my cold, dead fingers, you can have them. However, when you remove me, ten will step up to take my place.
Department spokeswoman Susan Aspey said "there are enforcement options" that may apply but said it is too early to speculate on what happens if schools don't follow the law.
Here is a suggestion: They lose every dime of funding. I would rather see the schools back under the control of the States rather than the federal government. Since the feds got involved in education, it has been a disaster.
"We expect institutions to comply," Aspey said. The department's guidelines direct schools to Web sites for information, including the one run by the National Archives.
The federal law championed by Byrd also affects all federal agencies. They will have to train new employees about the Constitution during orientation and train all employees about the document every Sept. 17. The Office of Personnel Management is expected to post guidelines in those areas soon.
I, for one, am quite happy that this has happened. It has been a long time in coming, and it is needed more than most imagine. I have learned the Constitution through two very good tutors, and I am most appreciative. They both made it fun and interesting to learn about. But most of all, they both challenged me to think and to reason. To understand what it meant with each amendment, and what the consequences were to lose such a right. Kids need to learn that. Otherwise, they will never know what they lost if the Left wins the culture war.
The Bunny ;)
I am not the kind to say I told you so, but I warned about this. Actually Thomas did, but I have been saying this for a very long time. The kids coming through school nowadays are as Constitutionally-illiterate as the fourteen fools that reared their ugly heads on Monday. For far too long have schools and teachers turned a blind eye to the Constitution, and we—as a nation—are paying for it. So, this has been handed down by the government. You will learn about it for 1 day, at the least in a school year.
WASHINGTON - The Constitution long has ensured that Congress can't tell schools what to teach. But that's no longer the case for at least one topic — the Constitution itself.
The Education Department outlined Tuesday how it plans to enforce a little-known provision that Congress passed in 2004: Every school and college that receives federal money must teach about the Constitution on Sept. 17, the day the document was adopted in 1787.
Schools can determine what kind of educational program they want, but they must hold one every year on the now-named "Constitution Day and Citizenship Day." And if Sept. 17 falls on a weekend or holiday, schools must schedule a program immediately before or after that date.
Historically, the federal government has avoided dictating what or when anything must be taught because those powers rest with the states under the 10th Amendment. The Education Department's Web site even underlines that point, saying matters such as the development of curricula and the setting of course requirements fall outside federal authority.
But Congress stepped in when it came to the nation's foundational document, thanks to Sen. Robert Byrd, the West Virginia Democrat who keeps a copy of the Constitution in his pocket. Byrd inserted the Constitution lesson mandate into a massive spending bill in 2004, frustrated by what he called a huge ignorance on the part of many Americans about history.
Can I be sick now? It takes this former grand kleagle of the KKK to get us to stand up and recognize our founding document? This is something that should be taught to each and every school attendee regardless of their race, their national origin, their gender, etc. It is an integral part of being a "American". I am not saying that these kids should be instructed in Constitutional Law, however a basic understanding I do demand. In the times of the Founding Fathers, every man, woman, and child able to read knew the Constitution, and studied it intently. But the Left does not want that today, which is evident as this article goes on.
It so happened that the Education Department's new guidelines emerged just as Byrd and the Senate, engaged in a fight over judicial filibusters, debated the Constitution's checks and balances.
Correction: The debate was not over checks and balances, but over the powers of the Constitution itself. As we have maintained—and many side with us—the very argument that a nominee must have a two-thirds majority vote to be confirmed is preposterous. The Constitution specifically and clearly enumerates the four instances in which a two-thirds majority is needed to pass certain things. Nominees are not one of them. Had they been deemed so, the Constitution would have read:
"He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, with two-thirds of the Senators concurring, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments. "
Instead of what it really reads, minus the bold-faced addition to what was posted. That, of course being the "with two-thirds of the Senators concurring" part. There is no such majority dictated, demanded, nor enumerated within the Constitution. A simple, straight-up majority is all that requires to pass a nominee; any nominee.
Neither the department nor Congress has required a specific curriculum or a particular interpretation of the Constitution, Byrd said in an interview Monday.
"I hope that schools will develop many different, creative ways to enable students to learn about one of our country's most important historic documents," he said. "The Constitution protects their freedoms and will impact all facets of their lives."
National surveys and test scores in recent years have shown many students don't know much about history. A study of high school attitudes this year revealed most students take for granted the First Amendment to the Constitution. More than one in three students said the First Amendment goes too far in the rights it guarantees, such as freedom of religion, speech and the press.
Yet some education groups say Congress has no business dictating what schools and universities must do on a certain day.
In middle school or high school, for example, schools may have to interrupt lesson plans, said Dan Fuller, director of federal programs for the National School Boards Association.
"You may have to leap from the Civil War or Vietnam to the Constitution," Fuller said. "Local schools cover the Constitution, and they've been doing it for a long time. We don't need the federal micromanagement. Congress has been acting more like a school board."
This isn’t "micromanagement, Mr. Fuller. The schools and teachers should have been doing this for years. Had they been doing so, then forcing this, which is a part of federal law, would not have been necessary. But it is more than evident that kids leaving school have little or no idea about this most precious of documents. Burn my Bible, and flush a Koran, but leave your hands off of my Constitution.
Without it, I have no Bible or Koran because the government can outlaw them with a flick of the quill. And where else are we able to defend such rights, but under the Second Amendment? Without it to defend ourselves, we have none of the other nine, or twenty-six for that matter.
It is integral to this nation for those following behind us to know what this country grants and what it does not in terms of rights for it’s citizens. Yes, I said citizens. The Constitution does not apply to illegal aliens, to visa holders, or any one else that is not a United States citizen. I understand this point, so why do our courts ignore it?
In higher education, "It's the sort of thing that raises the question, 'If this, what's next?'" said Becky Timmons, senior director for government relations at the American Council on Education, the leading lobbying group for colleges and universities.
"If the justification is that the Constitution is so central to our democracy, couldn't somebody else come along and say, 'Well, I think the history of American architecture is quite important,'" she said. "I don't think most folks on campus perceive this to be an enormous slippery slope, but it's never good when the government tells them what to teach."
Timmons added, however, she was pleased that the Education Department seemed to favor an honor system of compliance rather than a "nightmarish" plan of site visits or required documentation. She said colleges would likely come up with many ways to satisfy the law, from holding a campus assembly on the Constitution to distributing information in every class.
I am sorry, but did Becky not understand the memo? It is to be taught in class, by a teacher. This is a problem with the Left in this nation. Their blatant disregard for what is right and what is wrong. I do not care if the teachers and the unions are ticked that they must do this, but the law is the law. (If they have a problem with teaching it because they are illiterate, I am sure Thomas would be willing to volunteer his services.)
Kids, teens, young adults, whatever must know what this document is and what it means. If they are not taught about it, they will be amongst the next group coming up trying to destroy it further. Yes, I know that is what the Left is counting on, but for every one of those fools, there are people like Thomas—like myself—that know enough to thwart them. We stand ready, while the wolves growl at the door, and we hold them back. You may not have my Constitution, or my rights. When you pry them from my cold, dead fingers, you can have them. However, when you remove me, ten will step up to take my place.
Department spokeswoman Susan Aspey said "there are enforcement options" that may apply but said it is too early to speculate on what happens if schools don't follow the law.
Here is a suggestion: They lose every dime of funding. I would rather see the schools back under the control of the States rather than the federal government. Since the feds got involved in education, it has been a disaster.
"We expect institutions to comply," Aspey said. The department's guidelines direct schools to Web sites for information, including the one run by the National Archives.
The federal law championed by Byrd also affects all federal agencies. They will have to train new employees about the Constitution during orientation and train all employees about the document every Sept. 17. The Office of Personnel Management is expected to post guidelines in those areas soon.
I, for one, am quite happy that this has happened. It has been a long time in coming, and it is needed more than most imagine. I have learned the Constitution through two very good tutors, and I am most appreciative. They both made it fun and interesting to learn about. But most of all, they both challenged me to think and to reason. To understand what it meant with each amendment, and what the consequences were to lose such a right. Kids need to learn that. Otherwise, they will never know what they lost if the Left wins the culture war.
The Bunny ;)
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 9:55 PM
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