John Haskins comments on this piece in WorldNetDaily,
"Baptist 'exit strategy' means get kids out of public schools; Groundswell of support building in 16 million member group for homeschooling" (10-20-06) :
It is one of the most tragic and far-reaching failures of the Family Research Council/Alliance Defense Fund/Massachusetts Family Institute - type "conservatism" in America that they have totally failed to acknowledge the desperate need to pressure politicians intensely for a fundamental change in our education system so that "vouchers" or somesuch thing will allow all parents to find the private (or public) school that best suits their own children.
On issue after issue, it takes twenty or thirty years for pro-family leaders to see that we are actually heading where groups like MassResistance are telling them we are heading. There are many who have concluded that the pro-family leaders at the state and national level, in their blind addiction to moderate, non-controversial "solutions," have waited too long and it is simply too late to save America for our children.
I am of the firm opinion that we must roughly push aside those "pro-family leaders" who have lured us down the path of surrender with false assurances and have played on our deep desire to see things as less dangerous than they are. The only alternative will be continued acquiescence to the tightening fist of tyranny. I understand that most pro-family people sitting at home watching the boob tube are not yet ready to open their eyes and see where this is leading. But more and more people seem to be getting angry as they realize what kind of people have been responsible for the total strategic incompetence of the pro-family and conservative leadership.
It is a major, long-term success -- partly due to the work of the the former Parents' Rights Coalition (now MassResistance) -- that the Southern Baptists and many others are finally understanding that schools are intent on destroying the moral character of our children. But they and other "pro-family conservatives" have wasted precious years debating this issue and trusting in George Bush, political "messiah for hire," and his party.
MassResistance comments on the idea of "exiting" the public schools:
We're very frustrated by the call to home school. Been there, done that. It's not the solution for most people. Kids are miserable, mother is not as happy as she pretends, etc. We suspect most of the articles pushing home schooling are written by the fathers who aren't stuck in the home, doing the "schooling"!
And why do people with traditional values have to be punished by this level of sacrifice (and we're speaking just as much of the hardship on the children as the parents!). We pay taxes too, and we deserve schooling benefits. Why throw in the towel and let the leftists totally control government-funded education? Why give them that victory?
We believe that new private schools -- whether religious or secular -- are the answer, and vouchers play an important role in making these happen. Sadly, we're almost all trapped in the public schools for the time being, but need to be working for the next generation's children: the little ones, born or not yet born; neighbors, great-nephews, granddaughters ...
