EDUCATION

There is a deliberate and effective element, and policy within the administrative end of the American school system not meant to plunge deep into the depth of our history and its contradictions. It seems the educational system revolves around the most viable industries that make the most money in and for our economy. The in-depth studies you and millions of other citizens hope for the children has fallen by the wayside subservient to the bigger need to pass tests, and comply with idiotic policies, like the NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND fiasco.

You want to understand why your 15-year-old daughter cannot be taught about the truth, and the contradictions of the US government’s Indian policy in her school? The answer lies in what is denied, and the fear of what will resurrect itself in the telling of the whole story. If your child can see the correlation between the American Indian policies and the invasion of the Iraq people all hell will break lose and the premise upon which we have justified this war and others falls to the ground.

You and other parents want a 'full' education for your children hoping they will have more depth and have more understanding of how and why things are the way they are. You hope, I believe, this generation will be a significant improvement over the previous ones? You would think anyone living, and educated in the United States would have an educational system that envisioned this as an end result for every child with at least a high school diploma? But that has not been the historical truth in the US. The reasons why lie in several places.

We, as parents, are responsible for educating our children, and requiring depth to their learning, and the stimulation of their intellectual curiosity lies in our hands. We have to face the realities of the education system as it is not as we wish it were. Any change to the education of our children comes from us because we love them. It is hard for many reasons I won’t enumerate, but it is something I had to do as a parent to the best of my abilities. Our powers as a parent are more than we realize. How we exercise them is our creative process. But it sure is frustrating to realize the schools shutter before bureaucracy, and cower before President Bush’s educational legacy. – Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories