Last week a children's field trip to a Mosque, now Planned Parenthood - what is going on in our schools?

That a liberal for you. They can teach the Koran in school but not the bible. I went to a two room school the first five years of my schooling. First 5 grades in one room, 6,7, & 8 grades in the other. We had a husband & wife teaching team . MR. & MRS. BURNS. After 55 years I still remember these people. We had 60 children in my room ( 1thru 5 grades 1 teacher) & Mr . Burns had 33 in grades 6 thru 8.The teachers today complain with 15 to a class with 1 teacher per class. We learned more that way. when I was in the second grade I could see what the third grade was doing , so when I got there I already knew half the work.I know of 3Generals. I Lt. Governor who went to that school with me.As for religion. We had a baptist minister come to the school once a month & did bible stories & bible songs & no one complained. We had 3 catholic familys that objected so their chidren did other things. If it wasa good day , a teacher took them outside for a longer play time. We also had a Jewish child who just joined in. no one got upset. Try that today. The ACLU would have the school closed. How I wish for the good old days. Life was hard but evenhanded. Now you know why my sister home schooled her twin daughters. One now is a General Manager for a footwear company& the other is a dentist.

Interesting answers I see here.

There are other cultures in the world and I think it is more than interesting to get to know them a bit.

I was in a Mosque, so I have seen many many Catholic Churches - very old Cathedrals- I was in more than one museum in good old Europe, visited the Zoo AND the Circus. It was all possible and really good to learn there are a lot of different things on earth. ( Zoo and Circus is not a good example of human "culture" especially the Circus )

So yes I heard about field trips to a Catholic church and I had more than one..............

Well yeah, no religion should ever be forced upon students at a public school, thats for private schools to do. Although I don't see any reference as to where you see that kids were taken to a Mosque so you might just be full of it or maybe you are leaving out some details WHY they were taken to the Mosque (ie. something within the mosque or they were part of a group that was studying various religions, etc). It seems quite ridiculous that the teacher would just say "Ok, time for our field trip, lets go to a Mosque!" Perhaps the children themselves were interested???? I don't know, you cited nothing.

With regards to PP trip, I think it should be noted that the children taken there were part of the "STAY" program and not the general assembly students. Perhaps PP was, indeed, part of what this program intends to teach this select group of children. This doesn't sound like the trip to PP is some sort of school standard where ALL kids go there, just the kids in this program. Yeah, its a touchy subject and honestly, it should probably be left up to the parents but at the same time, how is this any different than a teacher in a sex ed. class talking about contraception? At least at PP you will have the students receiving the information from the pros who research and approach contraception in a nuetral and honest fashion! A teacher might mess up and say something like condoms are 100% effective!

The first two make perfect since; they are a historical facet of the western world. Islam, no, that has historically been an aggressor towards the western world, and don't start the crusades nonsense anyone; actually read about it and you'll see they began as a response to Muslim aggression. Visiting churches and cathedrals makes more sense than a mosque, since Islamic teaching played no real role in the development and history of the west whereas Christianity is one of the foundations of it; stay back nutjobs I said Islam, not Arab scholars there is a difference. If you are his legal guardian refuse to let him go to the Mosque. If his parents raise him, than see how they feel about it. --------------------------------------... And for the record, Moslems is the historical name for followers of Islam. So is the term Mohammedans. The more widely accepted term, today, is Muslims.

The school system needs to stand in the corner (near the pencil sharpener--remember those?). The bloated arrogance of these people, barely educated themselves, is calling out to the rest of us that's it's time we dealt out some old-fashioned discipline. Just where do they get off . . . indoctrination is not the same thing as education, just as a teaching credential is not an annointing by the God they defy and defame. We don't need prayer in schools; what we need are real teachers and a curriculum not contrived and written in the dark and gloomy chambers of the "New World Order."

Clearly, when the school system takes matters into their own hands and claims the absolute right to "enlighten," this only reveals the naked conceit that fosters and infects their ways of thinking.

I say to the nation's schools, teach how to think, and never what to think, for when you fail to do so, you fail--period. Now, go to the corner and think about what you've done. No talking . . . . or you'll be sent to the principal's office in Guantanemo.

The "Old School" culture taught there are two things you never discuss in mixed company: politics and religion. That was the original "Political Correctness."---you shut your mouth so as not to offend the beliefs and rights of others. If the public school system cannot be ideologically neutral, it's time to close it down and use the money to build a private education system subject to the intrinsic benefits of a free-market system.

In the USA the taxpayers are the boss--the same taxpayers whose core beliefs are an effront to people who think that they know better. Not with my tax money, you don't!

Given the amount of hostility and ignorance about Muslims -- that there isn't toward Catholics -- this makes sense.

Do you think that if a little Koran is read to someone, that that person dies or is harmed in any way?

You may think it's better for children to be ignorant, rather than educated, but the whole purpose of schooling is supposed to be education.

I don't see how a circus forwards that goal.

It's simply not true that no students are ever taken to museums or zoos, just because they are also taken to other places.

So what, exactly, is your problem?

Not everyone in charge of schooling children is a brain-dead hate-mongerer.

Is that what bothers you so much?

Its all about the doctrination plan. The liberal left has all of the laws and rules set up to protect their operation and crush any opposition. Want to do a field trip to a Catholic church, cannot happen. they have their immaginary Seperation Clause in place. Want to to a trip to a Mosque, perfectly fine because currently Islam goes against every good American principle. Same thing with the planned parenthood. Support their pro-abortion agenda and show the kids its OK to act irresponsibly regarding sex and justify it with labeling it as a right. Its going to take years to undo the left wing damage done to this country and get back to running things correctly.

I think it's important for Children to be introduced to Islamic culture from someone else other than a hate-filled, closed-minded, Fox News informed Neo-Con who will just grossly inform the children that all Muslims are terrorists rather than give them... oh, I don't know... an educated answer.

As far as the Planned Parenthood... these were at-risk middle school students. I don't know if you're aware of this or not, but there are many middle school students actively engaging in sexual activity. I don't think sheltering them from the mere existence of sex will stop this from happening. So why not let them know of what sort of places they may end up should they decide not to take precautions. It might actually scare them into abstaining or... failing that... at least using protection.

You're the type of person who actually thinks preaching abstinence to teenagers should pre-empt any attempt to give them birth control devices. Yes... because a stern lecture usually does the trick in curbing adolescent hormones. "Give a condom to a teenage boy and his mind turns to thoughts of lust." Right?

Give a lug-wrench to a teenage boy and his mind turns to thoughts of lust. It's called raging hormones. It's where all the acne comes from. God forbid we try to face this truth and work around teenagers getting pregnant and/or contracting disease. Let's live in a church picnic fantasy world where our teenagers all court accordingly at the malt shoppe. Then afterwards, maybe Wally and The Beaver can come out to play.

What ever happen to separation of church and state, taking children to a mosque is in violation to it. What the heck is wrong with the parents who signed the permission slip, because we all know the parents have to okay it.

As for planned parenthood that's not a bad idea. See planned parenthood is also about prevention. Polls have showed that some children in middle school have already start sex. IT would be a great if kids would wait. However it's not the world we live in . So if taking them to planned parenthood prevent one unwanted pregnancy or an abortion then it would be worth it. After all it would be saving a "life".

For the record:

My wife is a teacher in the "public indoctrination". It sickens me that most of the public sees everyone associated in the public education system thinks this is okay! My wife is an open conservative Republican in her school and is, of course, a minority in that aspect. However, most all of her colleagues are against this type of situation. They actually try to organize trips to the museum and things like that but get shot down in their attempts. Luckily once a year they get to go to see Montezuma's Castle and Montezuma's Well (Arizona history lesson). My wife and her colleagues also call it Christmas Break and not Winter Recess. They call it Easter instead of Spring Recess (yes, they do also get a spring break). Please stop with the total hatred of the public indoctrination, some good is being done in some of them!