Christian Education

Reasons why Christian parents should choose a Christian education for their children, so they'll develop spiritually and academically.


Legally STUPiD: Why Johnny doesn't have to read

by RC Murray

Legally STUPiD responds to the 50-year old question, "Why can't Johnny read?"

The answer is simple. He doesn't have to read. Johnny has "legal" permission not to read on his own; he must be read to by the teacher. Writing assignments are done in "group learning" activities where Johnny is encouraged to leach off motivated learners who'll do all the work and share their grade. Johnny will be passed from course to course, grade level to grade level and eventually "given" a high school diploma.

However, Johnny will be "functionally illiterate." But that's okay. He has permission from the public school system, politicians, big business and in many cases his parents to be "dumb on purpose," which is "stupid."

Legally STUPiD documents current teaching strategies in use today that ensure the next generation of public school graduates will be dependent on government support financed by the tax payer because they will be unable to get a viable, good paying job or go on to college.

This book strongly supports Christian education -- a classical Christian school or home school.

The dummification of Americans is nothing new -- the idea to change educational strategies that worked has been invading our nation since the 1920's (maybe even longer) -- someone figured out that it is much easier to lead (mislead) the ignorant and uneducated. As a home-schooling mother of 3, I was once accused of homeschooling my children so that I could brainwash them to my way of thinking. I was using homeschooling as a platform to project my beliefs. My accuser was a [public school] teacher who [herself] had been brainwashed into thinking that homeschooling was a bad thing. I reasoned that it made her job easier because the smaller the classroom, the better she could teach. And furthermore, what's wrong with projecting my beliefs onto my children? Is it alright for [public] schools to be used to project their platforms onto my children? There seems to be a double standard here. Public schools are failing our children. So what's the answer? Vouchers sound like a good idea -- anything that gives parents another choice. For me, I chose homeschooling. Parents need to really think about how much power we are willing to relinquish to public school systems. Fight back. Get yourselves educated on what's really happening in those school systems. Legally STUPiD is a good start. --R. Cash, homeschooling parent

It has been said that knowledge is power. Those who control the supply of knowledge have absolute power over the rest of us. We know why the public school system is a failure--at least we think we do. But unless you have been on the inside, you cannot understand how destructive the system is. Legally STUPiD gives you that rare inside glimpse--all through the eyes of a former public school teacher. In Legally STUPiD R. C. Murray discusses the mind-damaging practices which have made America a nation of willingly ignorant proles. Mr. Murray delivers the horrific details that whole language reading, No Child Left Behind, inflated grades, group learning, different but equal approaches, multicultural strategies, holistic grading, and other dangerous "educational" philosophies and practices are having upon our nation. Mr. Murray does his homework in Legally STUPiD, as it is well researched and uncovers how elitists have hijacked the nation's educational system in order to create an ignorant population who will do and believe whatever their betters tell them. However, Legally STUPiD doesn't stop with pointing out the problems and exposing those who have created and maintained the current situation. R. C. Murray offers legitimate solutions and alternatives to the mass ignorance brought upon us by the public school system. Every parent, pastor and teacher--whether public, Christian or private--in America should read this book. Unless we begin to make changes now, then we will truly become a nation of slaves to an ungodly system. And we must work fast, as many of the dangerous philosophies mentioned in Legally STUPiD are beginning to creep into the private and Christians schools that were established to be alternatives to the public school system. --Ray Perdue, Swamp Fox Files (www.swampfoxfiles.blogspot.com)

Legally STUPiD could have been written by my alter ego. I found myself, on every page, thinking "That is exactly right." I could have written this book except, as a former math teacher, I would not have come close to the way R. C. Murray (former English teacher) put together an encyclopedia of information in 312 pages. He made an alarming subject, filled with necessary educational jargon, into an interesting, understandable, humorous, and handy book. The introduction was enough to convince me that Murray, who left teaching after four years, has a solid grasp on what is reality in public school classrooms. The introduction consists of an account of a personal incident that Murray experienced as a fairly new teacher. Every teacher has had a similar experience of being pressured to lower academic standards. Teachers, overall, are treated kindly in this book. They are faced with an insurmountable task due to "lawyers and legislators." American "public" education has been strangled by political correctness. Of course, since the 1970's teachers have been churned out of Colleges of Education which have made it certain they are not like those who taught Beaver Cleaver. Murray doesn't like the teacher unions because the NEA and AFT are driven by politics and more interested in many things other than the education of children. My own opinion is that teacher unions are evil. After reading the Introduction, I jumped to the Addendum, which is a hilarious glossary of educational terms such as "block scheduling." I chuckled as I read the entries--consisting of accurate definitions mixed with Murray's wry wit. He omitted ADHD although he does discuss that in the book. Educators call the condition "Attention Deficit-Hyperactive Disorder." I define it as "Absence of Dad in the Home Deficiency." The thread throughout the book is the need to learn to read well (using phonics) in order to read to learn. Murray explains why the teaching of reading has been sabotaged. Like a good teacher, Murray repeats important concepts. The center-piece theme of what is wrong with public schools is a group of failed (but still used) education strategies for which Murray coined the term "Seven Deadly Sins of Public Education." I knew about all of these and saw them develop over the 35 plus years of my career, but I never connected them like Murray. Besides the stupid (a word Murray uses accurately and frequently) academic abominations of those "Seven Deadly Sins of Public Education," Murray describes other ominous facts about public schools. Parents are unaware of most of what really goes on in their children's schools. Murray provides several personal accounts that are common nationwide. Also, religion is rampant in public schools. The book mentions one of the conduits of public school religion known as "Multiple Intelligence's." For more on that subject, see my article "The Common Thread." Murray provides clear answers about how the many problems with public education can be fixed by professional educators. However, he accurately--with lots of humor--describes why the public schools are doomed to failure. The powers-that-be are so stupid that they can read Murray's ideas for salvaging a semblance of success, but they cannot comprehend what to do even though it is provided for them on a high school comprehension level. I should say, "A pre-1970 high school comprehension level." The solution would involve an implementation of Classical Education and Core Knowledge which Murray explains quite clearly. His ideas (based upon common sense and time proven procedures) will never be implemented. Therefore, Murray calls for (and I concur) Christian parents to immediately place their precious children in home or Christian schools. Chapter 11 is a book within a book. It provides comprehensive information about how to successfully take education out of the government's hands. Also, there is bonus material that ties in a dumbing down of scripture to the dumbing down of all core areas of academics. After reading Legally STUPiD, any thinking person will have ample proof that public schools are in serious trouble. Christians and conservatives will be moved to do something. If they think public schools can be redeemed, they are sorely mistaken. My own book (Protester Voices: The 1974 Textbook Tea Party) displays what happens when parents get really serious about taking control of "public" schools. Protester Voices, demonstrates the history of when public schools began to turn from any semblance of Judeo-Christian conservative standards. Legally STUPiD documents what happened after the 1970's. As Murray says, "Pastors with the moral courage to do so should preach about the evils of government schools." (218) "Christian education--Christian schools and home schools--is not simply the best option for educating your children. It should be your only option. You wouldn't throw your precious babies into a lion's den, snake pit or cesspool. So why put your children in a public school?" (216) Murray's motivation for writing (as was mine) is to rescue thousands, or hundreds of thousands, of children. Legally STUPiD is an excellent resource and reference book. It is a scholarly book for the non-scholar. If I had to use one word to describe R. C. Murray's book the word would be, BRILLIANT. However, this book will remain a hidden gem and its brilliance will be for naught if the book is not read. Every homeschool leader, Christian school administrator, Bible believing pastor, and Christian activist should own this book. It should be read and marked with a high-lighter. Then it should be frequently referred to as Christians work to reclaim America from the public school products that are Legally STUPiD. --Karl Priest, retired teacher and author of Protestor Voices (www.insectman.us)


About the author:

RC Murray is a former Army paratrooper, now disabled vet and former public school teacher. He is the author of three books: Golden Knights: History of the U.S. Army Parachute Team; Legally STUPiD: Why Johnny doesn't have to read; and Prole Nation.





Christian education.