hree years ago my husband and I were consumed for two days over a situation at our son's middle school.

He was in an elective class where, at the teacher's discretion (the board of education has no control over curriculum used in elective classes), he was reading what I called “graphic mythology.” The stories being read were about murder, incest, cannibalism, deceit and more murder.

To make a long story short, we approached the school (principal, teacher, counselor) and spoke our grievances. We also wrote a letter with a copy to the board of education.

Since we had recently come from California, we knew the violence capable in the schools, so we asked why they would be allowing the children to read, study and absorb such unhealthy material. Of course they had no answers but to put our son in another elective class. They did so at once, and we never received a word from the BOE.

Why they continued to allow the teacher to pursue this disgusting material with seventh graders was beyond us. And, at the time, I could not believe that parents would allow their children to stay in that classroom.

After reading a lot of your letters, I see why parents have no clue what is going on in the government schools today. They are blindly following the teacher's/administrator's “intellectual opinions” of what they feel our children must learn, or the parents just don't care what happens in the minds of their children.

I had to laugh at the flood of letters you received from the teachers/administrators as they praised the new superintendent. Of course they praised him. After all, he's one of them, and he's their new boss!

If any of the parents genuinely care about the quality of their children's education, may I suggest they read a book by Berit Kjos called “Brave New Schools.” Besides being a concerned parent herself, Berit is a widely respected researcher, columnist, and conference speaker.

Her book equips parents to recognize dangerous teaching methods and content of curriculum, helps them understand the national computer monitoring system, teaches how to communicate valid concerns to teachers and administrators, and they will discover the inner workings of the new educational system.

Of course our board of education would never have her speak at any of their functions — she would shed the “light” on their agenda.

As the old saying goes, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. I challenge the parents in this community to research the government curriculum being programmed into their children's minds.

When will we wake up to see that our children cannot live in a world with no absolutes and no higher authority than themselves?

Lynn Taggart

Peachtree City

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