Students for Academic Freedom Launches K-12 Initiative
Second Grader Abused in Class for Wanting to be a Soldier like Grandpa
Students for Academic Freedom, leader of a national movement to promote intellectual diversity on America's college campuses, announced today that it was launching Parents and Students for Academic Freedom, a new program to promote intellectual diversity and fight political indoctrination in the nation's primary and secondary schools.
"Partisan ideologies have no place in education at any level," said Sara Dogan, the National Campus Director of Students for Academic Freedom. "Since starting up SAF, we have been continually besieged by parents to expand our efforts to include the primary and secondary schools, where partisan indoctrination is just as rampant. Parents and Students for Academic Freedom will address this need."
Among the abuses Students for Academic Freedom has encountered so far is the case of a second grader at a Delaware public school who was severely reprimanded by his teacher for stating in a composition that he wanted to be a soldier like his grandfather. "If you ever write anything like that again, you are going straight to the principal's office," the teacher threatened. When his parents complained, the teacher scolded the child, accusing him of lying about the incident. The mother confirmed the story with two of the child's classmates but the child himself was so upset that he didn't want to return to class.
"America's schools have traditionally been the cornerstones of our political democracy, and the American idea of education has always been informed by the values of fairness and inclusion," said David Horowitz, the chairman of Students for Academic Freedom. "By using their position to indoctrinate students, teachers are violating the sacred trust that we place in them to educate the next generation."
Students for Academic Freedom has seen tremendous growth in its first year of operations. The organization has inspired legislators in at least ten states and the U.S. Congress to take up the Academic Bill of Rights, and students on 135 campuses across the nation are now working to persuade their school administrations to adopt the Academic Bill of Rights and enact reforms promoting intellectual diversity on campus.
Parents and Students for Academic Freedom will also promote legislation at the state and federal level to ensure that students are protected by a Bill of Rights designed to guarantee them an education that is fair, inclusive and non-partisan. A sample resolution is available on the organization's new website at www.psaf.org.
For more information, please contact Sara Dogan at 202-969-2467.