Position Paper presented at the Education
Action Summit
A Human Rights Approach to NYC’s Education Crisis
Organized by ICOPE on Saturday, April 16, 2005 at Fordham Law
School
Problems: Public Schooling, Special Ed,
Child Protective
Services as Mechanisms of Social Control
Solutions: Open Classroom, Homeschooling, and Community
Learning Centers as Social Liberation Initiatives
Public Schooling
The Purpose of Public Schools is to School the masses to properly
serve the Ruling Elites. In this regard Public Schools are very
efficient in doing exactly what they were designed to do: Dumb
Down and Domesticate young people and prepare them for menial
jobs, the military, the prison system, etc. No amount of more
funding, better curriculum, smaller classes, more teacher training,
would do. It would only make the system more efficient in what
has been designed for: to prepare people to be dependent, servile,
unquestioning psychic invalids, ready to serve the master puppeteers.
We strongly recommend reading the book Dumbing Us Down by John
Taylor Gatto, who won NYC and NYS Teacher of theYear Awards. Public
Schooling rewards mediocrity and conformity and punishes excellence,
creativity and self-determinism. "The most powerful weapon
in the hands of the oppressor, is the mind of the oppressed"
- Steve Biko
Special Ed
The role of the School Guidance Counselors (SGC) in Public School
is to screen out the potential troublemakers of the Black and
Latino population while they are still young and redirect them
to the black hole of Special Ed for their certain destruction.
Children who really have disabilities have a hard time getting
quality services or any at all, but the Brightest and the Bravest
of the Black and Latino population are forced/coerced into Special
Ed classes that they do not need. The so-called Hyperactive Children
are falsely labeled to have ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive
Disorder) and are usually drugged with psychotropics such as Ritalin
and Concerta, drugs that in the long run shrink their brains.
Those being targeted are the Natural Elite of the Black and Latino
population, who if allowed to develop to their full potential,
will naturally challenge the unjust Status Quo. This is a pre-emptive
strike to destroy the only ones who pose a serious threat to the
present system; and all of this under the ridiculous claim of
"Helping" them.
Bright Children have a very hard time staying put
for so many hours a day in boring classes. Naturally this poses
an inconvenience to the teacher. The teacher will refer the student
to the Guidance Counselor who will cajole the Parents to put their
Child into Special Ed "for his good". If the Parents
resist, then the SGC can offer the reward that if the Child is
classified as "disabled", the Parents will receive an
SSI monthly check of $571.00, but if the Parents refuse, she will
call ACS (our local CPS agency) which will kidnap the Child, put
him into Foster Care and Special Ed. Now the Foster Parents will
receive the $571.00 plus a monthly check of $490.00 from ACS.
Some of them take in several Children and make a living by helping
destroy others' families. School Principals can only be happy
with more Special Ed students since the school will get 3.5 times
more money than a General Ed student.
Child Protective Services (ACS)
The Administration for Children Services (ACS) has 19,000 Children
in Foster Care in NYC: 98% of them Black and Latino, less than
1% White. They kidnap (they use the feel-good euphemism "remove")
Children of poor Black and Latino Parents, without a Court Order
and under any possible excuse, which is illegal and unconstitutional.
They operate above the law, and count with the unconditional backing
of the Family Court, which is an Institutionalized System of Injustice.
There is no Jury or due Process, only the mind of the Judge (most
of them former prosecutors) who lets ACS win 998 cases out of
every 1000 in the 1028 Hearings, which is the most important first
step for Parents. Even with appeals Parents only win against ACS
16 cases out of every 1000 in all cases in Family Court. ACS intervenes
in the Life of Children under the ridiculous pretense of "Protecting"
them, but they are the Greatest Child Abusers in NYC. It is State
Sponsored Child Abuse. Foster Care represents a continuation of
the old system of Slavery, applied in a subtle form to deceive
people, that is almost exclusively applied to Blacks and now also
Latinos, and carefully makes every possible effort to exclude
other ethnic groups.
The main source for ACS kidnappings is Public Schools.
25% of all complaints to ACS come from Public Schools, while calls
from Private School are almost unknown, since they do not want
to lose a source of income. Almost all calls to ACS from Public
Schools are for Black and Latino students. They are the easier
targets, especially if their Parents are poor, immigrants, or
uneducated. Almost all Children who are taken away from their
Parents, their Natural Protectors, go down in their academic performance
due to the traumatic experience of taking them away from the people
they love and trust the most. If anything the School and ACS should
be charged with Educational Neglect. Special Ed and Foster Care
are the main Social Cancer Producers that feed the prison, homeless,
and mentally ill populations. 75% of Foster Care Children end
in prison later on.
Open Classroom
Schools should be natural extensions of the Community, not artificial
entities isolated from the people. They need to be a Learning
Space where our young can receive the knowledge of past generations,
but at the same time Parents and the Community must learn from
them. On purpose Public School keep Parents and the Community
away under one excuse or other, thus assuring total control to
facilitate and maximize the conditioning process. The present
structure is the same as the Prison Model. Even the physical structure
of the building is designed as a prison, to imprint in the young
mind of the student the message that he/she is not in control.
The presence of Police and Military Recruiters reinforces this
negative message. They certainly have no business with Education,
but rather are part of the design for Total Control.
At present there is a one day a year Open School
Day where a "Show" is put up for the Gullible Parents.
Parents being the Best Protectors of their Children, need to have
unlimited access to the classroom, unannounced, without any appointment.
Those Teachers who are open-minded will realize that Parents can
be their Best Allies. They could be a great resource to help the
Teacher, to monitor school behavior (Teacher, Students, and School
Personnel): a win-win situation. Real Parent Involvement.
Homeschooling
Homeschooling is perfectly legal in NYS and allows Parents to
regain their Children away from the control of the State. All
Parents need to do is send a letter (better certified) informing
the Region Superintendent that they have decided to Homeschool
their Child. Eventually you will have to present a Curriculum,
quarterly reports, a Written Narrative, and some other paperwork,
but you get the State off your back. You are free to take your
Child wherever you want, raise him/her whichever way you want
without Teachers, School Guidance Counselors or Nurses telling
you what to do. This is ideal for people who have particular lifestyles:
vegans, anti-vaccination parents, and naturist parents who avoid
doctors, etc. One of the big obstacles is that with the present
System Design, most Children have Parents who by economic necessity,
both of them must work. So who takes care of the Children? Parents
must become creative, either by getting help from the extended
family, friends, neighbors, switching work hours, or even reducing
their expenses to the minimum in order to keep one Parent home.
But the greatest advantage is that your Child will
not be Domesticated by the Schooling System, that your Child will
keep his/her Free, Inquisitive, and Critical Mind. That way you can
prepare your Child to be a Leader, not a Follower. And at the
same time enjoy your Child every single day, celebrating life
as it was meant to be. Homeschoolers have groups who frequently
meet allowing Children plenty of social interaction. All we need
is one generation of Children who have not been brainwashed by
the system, and we could change the system upside down. If all
Parents would pull out their Children from the present School
as Prison Model, we could make the system collapse and re-build
it as an instrument of Power to the Parents and the Community.
Community Learning Centers
This is the long-term solution we envision. Our Communities have
on purpose been wounded by bringing Drugs, which then brings crime,
violence, gentrification and other Social Cancers. There are no
jobs available, except for menial jobs, the military, or illegal
drugs. Or youth feel trapped where nowhere to go. We must heal
our Communities and make them a source of strength again and learn
to cooperate with each other for the common good. The State has
been successful in applying the divide and conquer strategy to
make us weaker and more dependent.
Parents could create Community Learning Centers
where Children, Parents, and the rest of the Community could mutually
Educate each other in an environment of mutual respect and without
coercion. The economic power of the whole Community together is
tremendous, and pulling our resources, we would empower our Children
and ourselves. We will need a totally Radical approach, but there
is no other way out.
Very poor Communities in the shantytowns of Lima,
Peru have successfully experimented with this idea, out of necessity.
Everybody contributes in one way or another in order to benefit
from the Common Good. Usually the women who stay home divide their
tasks. Some of them prepare in big pails food for the block or
even bigger areas, others take care of the Children for whole
areas. Everyone chips in. Those who go to work in the city contribute
with money. And more important, they have their own Community
Learning Centers where everyone learns. Where everyone in the
Community is always welcome. The Children love it, the Parents,
Grandparents love it, the Community loves it. Young people keep
themselves busy between learning, playing, practicing sports (every
day), and usually don't want to miss even one day.
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful,
committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only
thing that ever has" - Margaret Mead
