Socialism, Social Studies, and Independence

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Recently a friend gave me some public school materials. This friend knows I homeschool and thought I would appreciate some extra curriculum. I cannot reveal who I got this curriculum from or even where from. This could get this person in trouble, because parents aren't supposed to have this stuff, I suppose. One of the books is a Social studies book. This book is used across the country in teaching our children. Our children are indoctrinated with Socialist/communist thought at a very early age. It thought I would go over a lesson from this book to illustrate my point. This Books first Unit is called "Depending on Others". The first lesson is called "The Lunch Box story". Years ago, it would have been rare to infer that every family was dependent on every other family. It today's world it is a concept that has plainly been adopted by our society. In the past people were independent, but shared their work out of friendship and helpfulness. Today instead of the rugged individualism that our country was founded on, we have exchanged that for codependence. It is funny to me how our supposedly educated psychologists can decide that such a state(codependence) is negative personally, but our society has accepted it as a way of life. Here is what these people are teaching our children: The Lunch Box Story "It's time for lunch! What is in my lunch box today? Yum! A peanut butter sandwich, a banana, and... Hey! What are all those people in my lunch box? Who are they?(the pictures shows cartoon people all trotting out of this cute young lady's lunch box.)" Believe it or not, all of these people helped make Amy's lunch. Someone had to grow the peanuts for her peanut butter sandwich. Someone had to pick the bananas. Someone had to get them to the store. Many people do special jobs to bring food to you. You depend on them. If you depend on people, it means that you need them. You depend on people for many things besides food. Look around you. Who made your shoes? Who made your books? What other people do you depend on to make things for you? Contrast this to the story from the past of the Little Red Hen. You can see a really cute version here that is done by small children: http://www.mmk.ort.org/Y1_Little_Red_Hen/Title_Page_Louis.htm . Here is the original: THE LITTLE RED HEN

Once upon a time, in a small, cozy little house, a little red hen lived with her chicks. The little red hen worked very hard taking care of her house and her family. She was a happy little hen, and she sang cheerful songs as she did her chores.

The little red hen had three friends--a cat, a dog, and a pig--who lived very near her. Every day she watched her three friends playing, but the little red hen didn't have time to play. She was too busy with her chicks and her house.

The little red hen started each day early in the morning. First she cooked breakfast for all her chicks. Then she made the beds and tended her garden. She cooked the meals, washed the clothes, and scrubbed the floors. She worked hard from morning till night.

But her three lazy friends--the cat, the dog, and the pig--never seemed to work at all. They went for long walks in the sunshine, lay about in the soft grass, and spent their time reading stories and playing games.

One sunny day the little red hen was outside working hard in her garden. She looked down at the ground where she was pulling some weeds, and she noticed some grains of wheat.

"Who will plant this wheat?" the little red hen asked her three friends.

"Not I," said the cat.

"Not I," said the dog.

"Not I," said the pig.

"Then I will do it myself," said the little red hen.

The little red hen planted the grains of wheat. Soon the wheat grew. The little red hen looked at the growing wheat and asked, "Who will help me tend this wheat?"

"Not I," said the cat.

"Not I," said the dog.

"Not I," said the pig.

"Then I will do it myself," said the little red hen to her three friends.

The days went by, and the little red hen worked very hard farming the wheat. She watered the field and hoed the ground and pulled the weeds. Finally the wheat was ripe and ready to be harvested.

The little red hen asked, "Who will help me cut all of this wheat?"

"Not I," said the cat.

"Not I," said the dog.

"Not I," said the pig.

"Then I will do it myself," said the little red hen.

The little red hen worked from morning to night cutting the golden wheat. When she finished harvesting all of the wheat, she loaded it onto her wagon.

The little red hen looked at the wagon filled with wheat and asked, "Who will help me take the wheat to the mill to be ground into flour?"

"Not I," said the cat.

"Not I," said the dog.

"Not I," said the pig.

"Then I will do it myself," said the little red hen to her three friends.

The little red hen walked a long way into the village. She pulled her wagon of wheat behind her.

When she got to the village, she went to see the miller. "Will you grind this wheat into flour for me?" asked the little red hen.

"Oh yes," said the miller. "This wheat will make enough good flour for bread for all your chicks."

The miller ground the wheat into flour, and the little red hen set out for home. This time, in her wagon, she had a large sack of flour to make bread.

When the little red hen came back to her house, her three lazy friends were waiting for her. She showed them the flour.

"Now I shall bake some bread with the flour," said the little red hen. "Who will help me bake the bread?"

"Not I," said the cat.

"Not I," said the dog.

"Not I," said the pig.

"Then I will do it myself," said the little red hen, and she began to wonder if the three were really friends.

When the bread was baked, the little red hen asked, "Who will help me eat the bread?"

"I will!" said the cat.

"I will!" said the dog.

"I will!" said the pig.

But the little red hen stamped her foot and said angrily to the cat, the dog, and the pig, "Oh no. I found the wheat. I planted the wheat. I tended the wheat. I harvested the wheat. I took the wheat to be ground into flour. And I made the bread."

Then the little red hen said, "All these things I did by myself. Now my chicks and I will eat this bread all by ourselves!" And they did.

The End We have gone from independence to codependence. We teach it to our children. We practice it ourselves. Then we all wonder why we're not happy. Rather than self starting we learn to allow others to do it for us. Look at what the next chapter teaches our children: Finding Places Think of all the people you depend on to help make your lunch. Many of them work in your community. Look at the picture below(the picture is of an urban neighborhood). It shows a real community(It shows many peoples idea of community, not mine.). People living here depend on the supermarket. They also depend on the gas station and on the school.(The book has the child go on to pick out all the things they are dependent on, on a map. Here is the modern version of The Little Red Hen Once upon a time, there was a little red hen who scratched about the barnyard until she uncovered some grains of wheat. She called her neighbors and said, "If we plant this wheat, we shall have bread to eat."

Who will help me plant it?" "Not I," said the cow. "Not I," said the duck. "Not I," said the pig. "Not I," said the goose. "Then I will," sad the little red hen. And she did. The wheat grew tall and ripened into golden grain.

"Who will help me reap my wheat?" asked the little red hen. "Not I," said the duck. "Out of my classification," said the pig. "I'd lose my seniority," said the cow. "I'd lose my unemployment compensation," said the goose. "Then I will," said the little red hen, and she did. At last it came time to bake the bread.

"Who will help me bake the bread?" asked the little red hen. "That would be overtime for me," said the cow. "I'd lose my welfare benefits," said the duck. "I'm a dropout and never learned how," said the pig. "If I'm to be the only helper, that's discrimination," said the goose."Then I will," said the little red hen. She baked five loaves and held them up for her neighbors to see.

They all wanted some and, in fact, demanded a share. But the little red hen said, "No, I can eat the five loaves myself." "EXCESS PROFITS!" cried the cow. "CAPITALIST LEACH!" screamed the duck. "I DEMAND EQUAL RIGHTS!" yelled the goose. And the pig just grunted. And they painted "unfair" picket signs and marched round and round the little red hen, shouting obscenities.

When the government agent came, he said to the little red hen, "You must not be greedy." "But I earned the bread," said the little red hen. "Exactly," said the agent. "That is the wonderful free enterprise system. Anyone in the barnyard can earn as much as he wants. But under our modern government regulations, the productive workers must divide their product with the idle."

And they lived happily ever after, including the little red hen, but her neighbors wondered why she never again baked any more bread.

(Material originally prepared by Pennwalt Corporation) Little Bit farm

-- Little bit farm (littleBit@compworldnet.com), September 19, 2001

Answers

Those of you who do not recieve the forum by e-mail will have to try and fu=igure where the paragraphs start and end. Sorry. I did double space, but this thing is very persnickity.

Little Bit farm

-- Little bit farm (littleBit@compworldnet.com), September 19, 2001.


Although I agree with a little of what you said, I must also say that no man is an island!! No matter how independent you are we do still depend on each other to some extent. Even the Little Red Hen took her wheat to the Miller... I think the lesson the book is trying to portray is that we can all help each other, I personally love bananas but I don't grow them. I'm surely glad though that others do, and I'm happy to pay for them. Teaching children to work together and appreciate the efforts of others is not a bad thing. When people work together eveyone wins.

-- Melissa (cmnorris@1st.net), September 20, 2001.

Melissa, What you said, that people must WORK together, is exactly Little bit's point, to my way of thinking. I don't think she was inferring that no one should work together, help each other out, etc. but that one person should not do all the work and then have the government come in and distribute the fruits of your labors among the nonworkers. Ask the USSR how well that works. VBG

You are right, people would have a difficult or impossible time of trying to manage entirely on their own. My in-laws farmed before, during and after WWII, and they would be the first to tell you how much the neighbors pulled together and helped each other. However, no one was allowed to sit on their rears and then take from those who produced.

-- Lenette (kigervixen@webtv.net), September 20, 2001.


I read back over her posting and it seems to me that her problem was with teaching children that we need others. As in the social studies lesson. Personally the lunch box idea seems like a way to show children that we all need to work and do our part to contribute in some way. We do it at our house everyday, everyone contributes to the work that benefits the household.. None of my children would even think of not doing their job and they often ask me what they need to do without me telling them. Maybe we actually agree but I am missing the point. I don't feel our country in general rewards people who don't at least try to work. Granted a small portion may receive some welfare benefits, but where I live you must either participate in some sort of work program or be enrolled in some sort of schooling that will lead to a job. We would do well to all teach our children to be thrifty, responsible and hard-working.

-- Melissa (cmnorris@1st.net), September 22, 2001.

This is my point: Today our children are being taught, not that the are responsible for their own destiny, not that they can achieve anything through hard work and ingenuity, but that they are dependent on everyone else for their survival. This country was built on the principal that I can acheive anything on my own, but I choose to seek other's help when it suits my needs and give help in return out of charity and for income. Here is another quote from the text book:

*****"Imagine a town or city without these workers. What if there were no place to get gas for cars? How would firefighters get to a fire?(This line just blows me away! Like no one ever got anywhere without gasoline? There is no indication whatsoever that people ever did without these things. There is the suggestion that we cannot live without them. Never mind the firefighters that drove horses and buggies to get to fires before the advent of cars. Never mind the neighbors who got together in bucket brigades to save a neighbor's farm. Nevermind that there is solar power, and steam power and any other number of ways to provide locomotion. Instead we tell a child that they cannot live without gas and oil companies? How convenient for foreign oil interests!) Where would everyone get food if there were no grocers? (Uhhh, I don't know farmers perhaps or how about growing some. My goodness how did we get along for thousands of years? I suppose all our ancestors starved to death and that is how we got here!!!) Who would teach the children if there were no teachers? (That is right! Remember people were so stupid before public education. We are definitely so much better off now, withour children shooting one another, teenagers who can't muster a civil word for an adult, and how about those gangland wars. Children who are taught their parents morals and values, and are focussed on family life and citizenry are definitely worse off. The following is a little gem I recieved in the e-mail today:

Local teens shrug off terror attacks >Many say they feel little loyalty as they can't rely on government >By Paul T. Rosynsky and Jane Rochmes >STAFF WRITER >OAKLAND -- While much of America is uniting to fight the evils of >terrorism, >many East Bay high school students said Friday a war is not theirs to wage. >As hundreds gathered on the steps of City Hall Friday to remember those >lost >Tuesday during the dev astating terrorist attacks in New York City and the >Pentagon, high school students came together in stead to talk of weekend >plans and the latest gossip. >The wave of patriotism across the country hasn't reached many area >teen-agers who questioned Friday the need to retaliate and vowed not to >fight if called upon for duty. >With the terrorist attacks occur ring more than 3,000 miles away, >teen-agers >had trouble making a connection to the tragedies and a harder time finding >a >reason to care. >"It didn't happen in Oakland, it could have but it didn't, so I don't feel >scared or nothing," said Hieu Le, 15, a student at Castlemont High School. >"Why should I go fight in a war and die for nothing." >Similar feelings were echoed throughout the blacktop courtyard of >McClymonds >High School and corridors of Berkeley High. >Although many said they felt sym pathy for the victims and those who had >lost loved ones, when it came to risking their own lives to fight for >America, most said they would try to find a way out. >"I'm not risking my life for that, I love myself too much," said Amir >Kellogg, 17, as he sat with friends during lunch. "If they came after me I >would have to run." >Their lack of desire to defend freedom comes, they explained, from a lack >of >confidence in the government to help their own communities. Many blamed the >U.S. relationship with the world as reasons for the attacks and said they >don't want to help because they have not received help in the past. >"How are you going to defend a nation if that nation can't defend against >things like homelessness," asked Jamaal Germaine, 15, a sophomore at >McClymonds High School. "I'm not in a rush to help our country because our >country is already messed up." >Students instead said any war waged by the country against ter rorist >states >of the world would only worsen the situation, setting off an infinite >series >of retalia tions. >"I think the United States deserves it," said Berkeley High senior Pat rick >Rizzo. "It's pretty sad for the poor people, but the United States does the >same thing. We're prob ably going to do the same thing after this. We're >not >going to send anybody into the country, we're just going to bomb them like >they did us." >Added senior Phillip Chan: "I don't think that going and attacking a >specific country is going to solve anything." >And with the only exposure to war coming through television high lights of >the Persian Gulf War, teen-agers said they see no need to risk human life >when the country can instead depend on technology to fight evil. >"If there is a war, it won't be a war like we're used to in the past," said >Antwonn Smith, 17. "We got too many missiles to use. We're not even going >to have to send people out there."

Jane Senemen is news editor of the Berkeley High School Yellow Jacket

Oh, what would we do without Public education??? Geez!)

Little bit farm

-- Little bit farm (littleBit@compworldnet.com), September 24, 2001.



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