LAST week's board approval of a "Confucius Classroom" program for a middle school in Hacienda Heights is wrong on so many fronts that it's hard to succinctly list all the objections.
First and foremost, it's absurd to allow a program run by the People's Republic of China into our schools. Bringing teachers from a one-party Communist dictatorship to teach 12- and 13-year-olds Chinese culture and Eastern philosophy as well as foreign language is alarming. If it's Chinese culture we want to teach, what's wrong with instructors from relatively free Taiwan? But this program is tantamount to asking Hugo Chavez to send his cadres to teach little American kids economics.
Former Superintendent John Kramer and many parents questioned "the program's motives and feared that it would become a vessel of political and philosophical propaganda." We echo their concerns.
replica breitlingWe cannot endorse bringing in a packaged program from the People's Republic's Ministry of Education, an arm of the Communist regime.
These so-called instructors would then train existing, local teachers on how to properly teach American children.
Cederlane Middle School already offers Chinese language courses. We are not opposed to offering Chinese language courses in our public schools where there is a demand. But these classes ought to be taught by instructors living here - the heart of the latest Chinese diaspora - already. We're sure any number of immigrant American Chinese would be qualified.
Clip on hair extensions,Hacienda La Puente Unified teachers have yet to examine the imported curricula to see if it is appropriate. Why then, did the board vote 4-1 to approve the program before its own teachers had a chance to examine the materials?
This whole mess harkens back to poor decisions made by school districts in the 1980s and 1990s when they brought in corporate- sponsored curriculum to assuage bad-acting businesses. In some districts, students were taught "ecology" or "science" through materials paid for and written by chemical and oil companies. That kind of corporate coloring of education was denounced by parents and nonprofit groups and eventually was rooted out of our schools.
We're saddened
embroidered patches to see the same mentality creeping into such a fine district as Hacienda La Puente. Is it that the Chinese Language Council International, known as Hanban, was providing the instructors, as well as 1,000 books, plus audio-visual and multimedia materials, all for free? If so, no budgetary crisis, no amount of money shaved off the district's bottom line is worth handing the teaching mantle to a foreign government.
The Hacienda La Puente USD school board has relinquished control over what is being taught to its own students. That is a breach of the district's responsibility. Parents should demand the offer to host this ill-conceived program be rescinded.
Other articles:
http://www.goo.org.cn/Man-arrested-over-attacks.html
