http://www.firesociety.com FireSociety Forums - Domestic Fires - Education Sat, 21 Jun 2008 02:56:41 GMT admin@firesociety.com FireSociety 60 http://www.firesociety.com/images/home/mainlogo.gif http://www.firesociety.com http://www.firesociety.com/forum/thread/26844/Islamic-school-has-notorious-alumni/?src=103 Jim Brown - OneNewsNow - 6/20/2008 7:00:00 AM var addthis_pub = 'onenewsnow';   A conservative group says it's attempting to "lift the veil off the deception" at an Islamic school in Virginia funded by the Saudi government.     The  Traditional Values Coalition  (TVC) recently held a demonstration outside the Islamic Saudi Academy, which is renting a school facility from Fairfax County, Virginia.  Conservative activists, as well as the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, have called on the State Department to shut down the private school because of its use of textbooks that promote violence against Jews, Christians, and other non-Muslims.   Andrea Lafferty, executive director of TVC, says both the State and Justice Departments need to investigate the Academy because it is "a virtual one-stop shopping center for law enforcement."   "The former valedictorian from this school is in jail right now because he plotted to kill President Bush," she points out. In addition, that individual -- Ahmed Omar Abu Ali -- was convicted of joining al-Qaida after graduating from the school. He is serving a 30-year sentence.   Lafferty also relates a widely reported news story involving a man and woman who were taking pictures of the ... Sat, 21 Jun 2008 02:56:39 GMT kmcheng http://www.firesociety.com/forum/thread/26844/Islamic-school-has-notorious-alumni/?src=103 http://www.firesociety.com/forum/thread/26843/D.C.-debates-educational-choice/?src=103 Jeff Johnson - OneNewsNow - 6/20/2008 9:00:00 AM var addthis_pub = 'onenewsnow';   School vouchers will be the focus of a heated debate in Washington, DC, as a five-year pilot program comes up for reauthorization in Congress. It has been reported that the Democrat who pioneered the program is at odds with members of his party over its exclusive support of public schools.     The House Financial Services Subcommittee voted Tuesday to continue funding for one year for the District of Columbia's Opportunity Scholarship program, which allows parents to remove their children – and the tax dollars dedicated to their education – from poorly performing public schools into private or parochial schools.   District of Columbia Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton led the charge to strip funding for the program. But that does not surprise Kevin Chavous, a former member of the DC City Council and chairman of  Democrats for Education Reform .   "[Norton] believes it takes money away from the public school system," says Chavous. "... [T]he sad irony is that we have to question whose money is it, and who's being served, [and] whether we're trying to preserve a system or we're trying to educate children."   ... Sat, 21 Jun 2008 02:55:18 GMT kmcheng http://www.firesociety.com/forum/thread/26843/D.C.-debates-educational-choice/?src=103 http://www.firesociety.com/forum/thread/26186/Home-schooling-labeled--anarchy-/?src=103 Jeff Johnson - OneNewsNow - 6/5/2008 8:00:00 AM var addthis_pub = 'onenewsnow';   The response of California's teachers' union to pro-family attempts to protect home schooling in that state has outraged one attorney who is working on the case.     Numerous organizations on both sides of the issue have filed friend-of-the-court briefs in the appeal of a California court's ruling that parents have no right to home school their children. But one reaction in particular caught the attention of pro-family attorney Brad Dacus, president of the  Pacific Justice Institute .   "The California Teachers Association ... decided to file an amicus brief arguing before the court that parents should have no right over the education of their children, should not have a right to home school, and that these children should be literally forced to be put back into the public schools -- even though parents object," the attorney explains.   Dacus did a double-take when he read one specific charge made by the teachers' union. "In their brief, the teachers' union said that to allow parents to be able to home school without being credentialed teachers could result in 'educational anarchy,'" he shares.   That argument, he says, ... Fri, 06 Jun 2008 03:46:18 GMT kmcheng http://www.firesociety.com/forum/thread/26186/Home-schooling-labeled--anarchy-/?src=103 http://www.firesociety.com/forum/thread/26789/When-listed-as-one-option--public-schools-lose/?src=103 Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 6/19/2008 4:00:00 AM var addthis_pub = 'onenewsnow';   U.S. states are being surveyed one at a time by the  Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice  in order to determine the feelings of residents on school choice.     Spokesman Paul Diperna says Idaho is the latest of four states that have been checked thus far. "The broad takeaway is that Idaho parents ... want more [alternative school] choices...," he says. "... [W]e've seen overwhelming support for private schools, charter schools, home schooling, and even virtual schools to some extent," Diperna reports.   According to  a press release , 39 percent of Idahoans would prefer sending their child to a private school; 25 percent, a charter school; and 21 percent, home schooling. If full choices were available, Diperna claims that only 12 percent of Idaho parents would choose the public school system. In other states, he says, that number fluctuates.   "... [I]t's been around 19 percent for example in Illinois, 15 percent in Tennessee, and 11 percent in Nevada ...," Diperna details.   Those percentages, notes Diperna, come from parents who mostly send their children to public schools either due to a lack of schooling alternatives ... Fri, 20 Jun 2008 02:48:19 GMT kmcheng http://www.firesociety.com/forum/thread/26789/When-listed-as-one-option--public-schools-lose/?src=103 http://www.firesociety.com/forum/thread/26284/Council--Montgomery-schools-cave-to-pressure-with-Islam-book/?src=103 Council: Montgomery schools cave to pressure with Islam book Washington , D.C. A new report issued by the American Textbook Council says books approved for use in local school districts for teaching middle and high school students about Islam caved in to political correctness and dumbed down the topic at a critical moment in its history. "Textbook editors try to avoid any subject that could turn into a political grenade," wrote Gilbert Sewall , director of the council, who railed against five popular history texts for "adjust[ing] the definition of jihad or sharia or remov[ing] these words from lessons to avoid inconvenient truths." Sewall complains the word jihad has gone through an "amazing cultural reorchestration" in textbooks, losing any connotation of violence. He cites Houghton Mifflin 's popular middle school text, "Across the Centuries," which has been approved for use in Montgomery County Schools. It defines "jihad" as a struggle "to do one's best to resist temptation and overcome evil." "But that is, literally, the translation of jihad," said Reza Aslan , a religion scholar and acclaimed author of "No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam." Aslan explained that the definition does not preclude a militant ... Sun, 08 Jun 2008 22:29:04 GMT devaldeluxe http://www.firesociety.com/forum/thread/26284/Council--Montgomery-schools-cave-to-pressure-with-Islam-book/?src=103 http://www.firesociety.com/forum/thread/26332/Pro-Islam-principal-removed/?src=103 Jeff Johnson - OneNewsNow - 6/9/2008 10:45:00 AM var addthis_pub = 'onenewsnow';   Pastors in the Houston area who objected to a pro-Islam assembly at an area junior high school are applauding the removal of the principal who arranged the presentation.      As OneNewsNow previously reported , nearly 900 seventh- and eighth-grade students at Friendswood Junior High were required to attend a pro-Islam presentation by two representatives of the Council on American-Islamic relations. The program stated Islamic opinion on religious issues as fact, and contained instruction on how to practice Muslim religious rituals.   Pastor Dave Welch, executive director of the Houston Area Pastor Council , was one of those who complained about the assembly. He is responding now to news that the principal who planned the assembly has been removed from her position.   "We're very pleased that the district has responded to the community's concerns and issues at hand here," Welch responds. "Obviously, our primary concern was that she be removed from the position of trust as principal in that; and show clear consequences, appropriately, to the students and the community that the violation of school policy, state law, and the trust of parents matters in the ... Tue, 10 Jun 2008 02:39:16 GMT kmcheng http://www.firesociety.com/forum/thread/26332/Pro-Islam-principal-removed/?src=103 http://www.firesociety.com/forum/thread/26095/Islamic-infiltration-in-Texas-school/?src=103 Jeff Johnson - OneNewsNow - 6/3/2008 10:05:00 AM var addthis_pub = 'onenewsnow';   Parents and Christian pastors in the Houston area are angry after a local junior high school forced students to attend what they describe as an indoctrination to Islam.      Pastor Dave Welch, executive director of the Houston Area Pastor Council , is just one of those angry over a presentation by two female representatives of the Council on American-Islamic Relations that students at the Friendswood Junior High School were forced to attend two weeks ago.   "The specific details, as we were given by the students, included teachings that Adam, Noah, and Jesus were all prophets like Mohammed; the basic tenets of Islam; the process of how to pray five times a day; again, the pillars of Islam. These were specific, religious instructions," Welch explains.   Welch says Principal Robin Lowe explained to parents, who initially complained, that the assembly was held to deal with comments some students had made that were insensitive to Arab students. "This was not just cultural issues of the manners and ways of Arab culture. This was Islamic teaching," says the Houston pastor. "That was the issue that, obviously, raised great ... Wed, 04 Jun 2008 02:50:54 GMT kmcheng http://www.firesociety.com/forum/thread/26095/Islamic-infiltration-in-Texas-school/?src=103 http://www.firesociety.com/forum/thread/26091/Campus-tirade-against-pro-lifers/?src=103 Pete Chagnon - OneNewsNow - 6/3/2008 6:00:00 AM var addthis_pub = 'onenewsnow';   The free-speech rights of a University of Wisconsin pro-life club were violated recently, and the incident has been posted on the popular video-sharing website YouTube.     Pointers for Life, a University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point pro-life club, recently obtained permission from the school to place 4,000 white crosses on campus grounds. The display was meant to symbolize the 4,000 unborn babies who are aborted every day in the United States.   However, the display was vandalized on May 1 by Roderick King, a university sophomore and student senator. While King was knocking over the white crosses, he stated that the pro-life group had no right to challenge abortion because it was made legal in 1973 following the Roe v. Wade decision by the U.S. Supreme Court -- and the display, he said, was unfair to students who had obtained abortions.  The incident was captured on video  and posted to YouTube.   Story continues below ... Should the student who vandalized the pro-life display  be disciplined by campus authorities? Vote in our poll   Ian Ivey is with  The Leadership Institute , a conservative organization which trains and ... Wed, 04 Jun 2008 02:32:35 GMT kmcheng http://www.firesociety.com/forum/thread/26091/Campus-tirade-against-pro-lifers/?src=103 http://www.firesociety.com/forum/thread/26054/Coach-fired-for-assistant-s-evangelism/?src=103 Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 6/2/2008 11:00:00 AM var addthis_pub = 'onenewsnow';   A Michigan wrestling coach has lost his job because a former assistant coach tried to convert Muslim students to Christianity.                              According to the Detroit News , Jerry Marszalek had served as the wrestling coach at Fordson High School in Dearborn for 35 years. But recently the school's principal, Imad Fadlallah, decided not to renew the coach's contract because parents in the heavily Islamic community complained that Trey Hancock, Marszalek's former assistant and an Assemblies of God pastor, tried to convert Islamic students to Christianity. Hancock admits he has attempted conversions, but never while coaching at the school.   Marszalek says Fadlallah had never attended practices or a wrestling event, but based his judgment on the complaints of an Arabic student's parent. Jan Markell, founder of Minnesota-based  Olive Tree Ministries , says this termination is outrageous.   "... [T]he teacher ... had a 35-year track record there in Dearborn, Michigan, and it was not the teacher who was doing any kind of ... evangelism; it was his assistant," she argues.   Markell says she knows what would happen if this had been a Christian principal who ... Tue, 03 Jun 2008 02:31:42 GMT kmcheng http://www.firesociety.com/forum/thread/26054/Coach-fired-for-assistant-s-evangelism/?src=103 http://www.firesociety.com/forum/thread/26053/Creation-school-fights-political-correctness/?src=103 Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 6/2/2008 10:30:00 AM var addthis_pub = 'onenewsnow';   A Dallas-based graduate school has run into a David-vs-Goliath situation ... and a bit of political correctness.      The  Institute for Creation Research Graduate School  (ICRGS) is seeking certification from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to grant Master's degrees. Spokesman Lawrence Ford says last fall the school had a visit from the state, and in December 2007 they were granted authority to grant degrees.   But he says the board then developed a severe bout of political correctness complicated by another symptom -- viewpoint discrimination.   "Most of the pressure [came] from evolutionists, scientists or other politically interested parties who were just aghast that anybody could have a different interpretation of science than them," Ford remarks. "We feel like we have been treated unfairly because our viewpoint in interpreting scientific data is different from their viewpoint in interpreting scientific data."   The board then rejected permission for the degrees, although the school's faculty is highly rated and very qualified. The Institute has filed an appeal and indicates it is willing to go to court if the appeal is rejected.   ICRGS offers a Master's of ... Tue, 03 Jun 2008 02:29:18 GMT kmcheng http://www.firesociety.com/forum/thread/26053/Creation-school-fights-political-correctness/?src=103