"School for peace"

Yesterday, Philadelphia opened its Parkway Northwest High School for Peace and Social Justice as a new "magnet" school, and as an "alternative" to the two new military academies which have opened recently.

Educators there say the school's mission is not to teach students to lobby against the war in Iraq but to preach antiviolence and educate students on peaceful ways to resolve local and global conflicts - a critical message in a city plagued by gun violence.

Starting this school year, Parkway Northwest will add the peace theme to its rigorous academic curriculum at the request of community activists, who sought an alternative to the district's two military academies.

Community "activists," yet they won't "teach students to lobby against the war in Iraq"? Yeah, right. The Pope's Jewish, too. And how is this exactly an alternative to the military academies? Do those schools teach that war is the only way to resolve "local and global conflicts"? Please!

"We have a city in which there's bloodshed every day. We have a world in which there are lots of conflicts and wars. The need, it seems to us, is to strengthen our peacekeeping and peace-thinking skills," said Shelly Yanoff, executive director of Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth, which sought a peace school.

The implication is that the military academies are somehow contributing to a culture of violence [in Philly]. Ridiculous.

Representatives of several antiwar groups are serving on the school's advisory board, and posters in the school halls make clear that war is not the favored course of action on this campus.

"War is not the answer," read a blue sign with a white dove. "Peace is Patriotic. No War on Iraq," said another.

Whoops! You've already lied, then, 'cause above, we were told "Educators there say the school's mission is not to teach students to lobby against the war in Iraq..." And again, the implication is that military academies believe that war is the answer!

Ninth and 10th graders will take "HIPHOP" (Help Increase Peace, Healing Our Planet) during their first morning period; the class will teach conflict resolution, self-awareness and multicultural sensitivities.

Leave it to nutty educators to come up with a new acronym. And anyone acquainted even a little bit with public ed. knows exactly what "conflict resolution, self-awareness and multicultural sensitivities" means!

"It is something that is going to help me as a teacher," said Shannon Jones, a chemistry and physics teacher. "I can learn peaceful tactics and strategies, and I can implement some of my Christian principles and values in a peaceful way."

"Peaceful tactics and strategies" .... for teaching chemistry and physics? What kind of stuff was she teaching before -- how to make a homemade nuclear device? Oh, and watch that profession of "Christian principles" stuff! You're still in a public school and the ACLU will come after you faster than Cindy Sheehan looking for a news camera!

Posted by Felix at September 7, 2005 05:40 PM | TrackBack