Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Constitution Day to circumvent state curriculum law

Have you ever heard of Constitution Day?

If you haven't, there's a reason you're hearing about it now.

“We have a hard time getting the Constitution in the schools,” said Judy Brady, Central Texas Tea Party Chairman.

Why?

About half the two dozen people attending a monthly meeting at Belton's Bodgega Bean coffee house on the square agreed. There seems to be a state law that prohibits teaching about the U.S. Constitution in the public schools.

Does that mean the teachers are prohibited from making it part of their curriculum, or that outsiders can't come into the classroom and share their knowledge about the basic law of the nation?

No one seems to be all that sure about that. They just know when they approached the local school districts about the issue, they were rebuffed in the name of the law.

“We can leave a copy of the Constitution on the table...We're not allowed to teach it,” Mrs. Brady insisted. “We are not allowed to advise the teachers. I suspect that the parents are as illiterate about the Constitution as their children.”

Any education of the nation's youth is left to be done in the home, she and her colleagues explained.

That's why the Tea Party is planning a Constitution Day picnic in a local park for the weekend of September 17, commemorating that day in 1787 when 39 very brave men signed the document at Framer's Hall, Philadelphia, and sent it to the state legislatures for ratification.

The three articles that outline the powers and duties of the Congressional, Executive and Judicial branches of the government, its amendments and the procedures of choosing electors, all are the subject of an essay contest.

For more information, punch in http://www.centraltexasteaparty.com/ in your web search engine, call any of the phone numbers displayed there, and learn all you can about this mission, that of teaching the children why and how their federal government operates.

No comments:

Post a Comment