Too Much Weight for Secretariat

Senecio Kilimanjari - photo by JoAnn Sturman

Scott Sturman
fliesinyoureyes.com

Anyone involved in the horse racing business knows horses are handicapped by adding weight to their saddles. Add enough weight and even Sea Biscuit or Secretariat will not win, more weight means a dead last finish, and finally the burden becomes so great a once great horse will be injured permanently. The California public school system was once the thoroughbred of the country’s public schools, but now is so encumbered that it performs like a horse ready for the glue factory.

Last week the California Senate approved legislation which would require all public schools to teach gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender history. The proposed law further stipulates that by the 2013-2014 school year the California Board of Education and local school districts provide text books which speak to the contributions of sexual minorities. The legislation must pass the State Assembly and be approved by Governor Brown to become law.

It is prudent to examine this issue from its impact on the public education system and discard the emotional distractions which do little to clarify the argument. With America’s abysmal performance in math and sciences and with far too few native born students entering the engineering disciplines, our international competitors, who fully understand the importance of the hard sciences, must once again be thrusting their arms upward in triumph. Already in California the academic curriculum is watered down with meaningless course work, and teachers are mandated to teach to the lowest denominator. Now cash strapped local districts will scrap what remains of worthwhile programs to purchase new history books which pass muster with the San Francisco political elite.

Most of us do not care if Leonardo da Vinci was gay. We understand his contributions to mankind transcended sexuality, and it is far more important to study the works of his genius than speculate where he liked to place his private parts. Ironically, historians wonder whether or not Adolph Hitler was homosexual, and again the answer is it does not make any difference. Will the advocates of compulsory gay history but as forthcoming with their devils as with their angels? The message is clear - gays, lesbians, and all other sexual minorities have the same moral proclivities as heterosexuals, and it is a waste of time and money to further gut the quality of the public school curriculum to deal with these peripheral academic curiosities.

If parents had financial control over where their children attended kindergarten through 12th grade, the machinations of the California Legislature would make little difference. Few would elect to spend vouchers on an inferior education which does not prepare their loved ones for a very competitive world. As it is, the public school system faces a continued downward spiral as politicians foist social activism on a educational process that is currently doing a poor job. Where does it end?