Indoctrination in the "Publick Sckool" system

After having homeschooled our children for many years, my wife and I decided to try "ECOT", the Electronic Classroom Of Tomorrow.  It's public school without the school building so you still get the obligatory (but still mostly useless and pointless) high school diploma.

Whilst being moderately irritated by the aggravatingly inconvenient ECOT supplied computer, the greatest bane has been the "English" curriculum.

This weeks assignment involved a story called "Most Dangerous Game".

A well known hunter by the name of Rainsford falls off a ship and swims to a nearby island where he encounters General Zaroff.

General Zaroff initially treats Rainsford like royalty as we learn that Zaroff is also an avid hunter. Over the course of dinner Zaroff indicates that he has grown bored of hunting animals, and has for some time has been hunting humans.  Zaroff informs Rainsford that starting the next day, Rainsford will be his next quarry, offering to let Rainsford view Zaroff's collection of human heads.

During the hunt, Rainsford uses his skill as a expert hunter to elude Zaroff another expert hunter.

This might make for an interesting (non family friendly) thriller except for the following politically loaded quiz question which thrusts the stories usage into a different (and much darker) realm.

17. “Rainsford knew now how an animal at bay feels.” Because Rainsford is now the hunted and not the hunter, what realization might he come to about hunting animals?

A. It is an intense sport.

B. Humans should only hunt other humans; animals only other animals.

C. It is unfair and cruel to put animals through such an experience.

D. Animals can’t feel fear.

Of course animals feel fear (every hunter knows that). Of course murder thy fellow man is illegal and immoral (which any sane person knows).  Are we feeling funneled toward a certain politically correct conclusion yet?

As a test, I instructed my son to select answer "A" (an intense sport) just to see if they made room for differences in viewpoints. When the test was electronically graded, question 17 was marked as "wrong". The only remaining, answer is "C" (It is unfair and cruel to put animals through such an experience).

I've asked the English teacher to confirm if the curriculum was created by Bill Ayers the terrorist-turned-academic (a rabid gun control advocate if ever there was one).

I sent the teacher an email, followed with a phone message hoping to speak with her and suggesting that hunting can be a really good thing and indoctrination can be a really bad thing.

I wrote in part...
 ------------

Question 17 is obviously meant to attack and undermine 2nd amendment gun rights. The US Constitution guarantees the right to keep and bear arms (hated by rabid, anti-gun hack-tivists like Bill Ayers). The clear and obvious intent of this indoctrination is to demonize hunting (hunters) and therefore gun rights.

Rather than back room, subversive indoctrination of impressionable children, if you wanted to broach the subject of hunting in an open, honest forum, you would need balance (more than one side being represented)... such as....

The BILLIONS of dollars in damage to US farm crops and the environment caused each and every year by wildlife over population and by invasive species.

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service "The Cost of Invasive Species"

"The most widely referenced paper (Pimental et al. 2005) on this issue reports that invasive species cost the United States more than $120 billion in damages every year."

http://www.fws.gov/verobeach/PythonPDF/CostofInvasivesFactSheet.pdf

Which could be remedied by "unfair and cruel" hunting.

Tell me, since there are not sufficient predators available to keep their numbers in check, is it better to have a small herd of well fed, healthy deer or a large herd of deer who are slowly starving to death over the long, cold, cruel, winter (because the land can not support a large herd)? We need to discuss the suffering that would be avoided if their numbers had been reduced to numbers that matched the available food supply by predators (like wolves) or by hunting.

Starving Deer Found At Overpopulated Park

BLUFF POINT STATE PARK in Groton has been an ideal deer preserve for years, with dense hardwood forests and no hunting permitted. Now, conservation officials say, it seems the deer have thrived there too well.

Over the winter they stripped most of the undergrowth and many of the lower buds on the trees, evidence that the deer have grown too numerous for the park. But because it is surrounded by residential, commercial and industrial development, Who allowed this bigoted question into your curriculum?the deer have no place else to go.

''You see a lot of indications that the habitat is under dramatic pressure.'' Mark Ellingwood, wildlife biologist.

Dr. Stephen E. Morrone, a veterinarian in nearby North Stonington who has been caring for a deer found starving two weeks ago on a beach in the park, said the yearling was about half the size it should be. ''It's obvious this animal hasn't had enough to eat for most of its life,'' Dr. Morrone said. ''It couldn't have weighed more than 35 pounds when they brought it in, and it should be nearer 90 pounds.''

State officials say the situation at the park is difficult to resolve. If they feed the starving deer, it will encourage more breeding and worsen the overpopulation problem. Trapping the animals and relocating them is expensive and would be effective only until the next breeding season, when the numbers would rise again. And changing the regulations to allow hunting in the park, they said, would be met by public resistance.

http://www.nytimes.com/1988/04/03/nyregion/starving-deer-found-at-overpopulated-park.html

Apparently, it's more "humane" to let a large herd slowly starve to death than reducing their numbers to match the ecosystem (leaving a smaller, healthier, and more well nourished herd).

No mention has been made of death and damage caused to drivers (and animals) by collisions with deer: My own family has had 3 costly collisions involving deer.

"Back in 1995, conservative estimates place deer-car collisions in the us at over 500,000 annually. Vehicle damage is in the hundreds of millions of dollars."

https://www.deerdamage.org/page/deer-facts#

No mention has been made that wildlife over population is a leading cause of disease in humans.

"In 1995, Lyme disease was considered to be the fastest growing infectious disease next to AIDS. Some scientists see a strong link between high deer densities and Lyme disease."

https://www.deerdamage.org/page/deer-facts#

No mention has been made of harvesting animals to feed needy people:

Highland deer management program yielded 33K meals for homeless: http://www.ksl.com/?sid=30988098

City officials began researching ways to manage a growing urban mule deer population about four years ago in order to mitigate damage to residential property and from vehicle-wildlife collisions. An archery harvesting program was approved by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and the Highland City Council last summer, and a select group of specialists began harvesting deer from four designated areas during the fall months. In its first year, the program harvested 74 deer, which yielded more than 5,500 pounds of ground venison. Most of the meat was donated to local homeless shelters, providing enough for more than 33,000 meals, according to program coordinator Brian Cook. "It was a resounding success — absolutely unbelievable," Cook said.

----------------

That's what I wrote (at least in part). Now that you know, will you join me in prying our children minds (and futures) out of the clutches of the Marxists who authored this curriculum? It's may not be the English teacher but someone approved of this propaganda.

When was the last time you called you representatives?

http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

When was the last time you called your school board?