Oppressive Government more desirable than no government?  Debate set for 6th & 7th graders

Posted 6/21/02

To All Concerned with American School Children:

Today a 6th grader informed me that she is participating in a "Speech
and Debate Summer Workshop" at Eastside Catholic High School in
Bellevue, Washington.  When she told me the question her 6th and 7th
grade group was being asked to research and debate, I almost fell out of
my chair.

The question is: "Resolved: An Oppressive Government Is More Desirable
Than No Government."

Yes, the students are expected to prepare to "argue both sides" of the
question.  Does anyone really believe that 6th and 7th graders in post
9/11 America are going to see two sides to this question?  What a
ludicrous choice to offer young minds -- or ANY minds!  Why not pose the
question: "Resolved: Rape is more desirable than abstinence"?  Or how
about "Resolved: Slavery is more desirable than free enterprise"?

It is appalling to think that this is the best question a high school
could create to employ the mental energies of the young people entrusted
to its summer program.  I have no doubt that this very question may have
been a staff favorite at Hitler's Youth Camps in Germany in the late
1930's.  If America has been reduced to a choice between oppressive
government and no government, then the Constitution is indeed a dead
letter, and millions of American military veterans have served and died
for nothing.

The Eastside Catholic "workshop" is scheduled to begin July 15.  The
students have already been directed to begin their "research". There are
almost four weeks until this "Speech and Debate Summer Workshop" begins.
Please forward this to everyone you know.  Something as outrageous as
this should travel at the speed of light across this country.  It is my
hope that hundreds of thousands of outraged people across this nation
will contact the folks at Eastside Catholic High School and ask them to
explain the value of posing such a decidedly un-American question to 6th
and 7th grade children.

Here is a question we might suggest as a replacement for this Eastside
Catholic High School workshop, and it is:

"Resolved: Freedom Is More Essential to the Purpose of Life Than
Security".

Is the purpose of life too lofty or sensitive a topic to be discussed in
a church-sponsored school in America? Or is the inevitability of
submitting to oppressive government a higher priority at Eastside
Catholic High School.

Surely we can aim the minds of our young people higher than this!

Contact information is as follows:

Eastside Catholic High School Web site is
http://www.echs.bellevue.wa.us/cnt_frm.htm

E-mail address of the director of this "Speech and Debate Summer
Workshop, Mike Burton, is mburton@echs.bellevue.wa.us

11650 SE 60th, Bellevue, WA 98006
Phone: (425) 644-7737
FAX: (425) 644-8127
President: Jim Kubacki
Principal: Glen Lutz

Please give these folks a wake-up call!