My grandchildren will never know the America I knew as a boy in a small West Virginia town and they are poorer because of that.

Realizing that America was and is a multicultural nation and there have always been good guys and bad guys in our midst, there were some things generally true. Innocence is one of the first things that comes to mind. We had confidence in our leaders and were shocked when a crook was revealed now and then. We trusted and respected anyone in uniform, even the mailman.

I remember an America where our teachers were obeyed, respected, and maybe feared. We knew that if we received a paddling at school, we would get one at home. That was before the graduates of Columbia took control of the educational system. My three most respected and loved teachers were the ones who were the most demanding.

I remember when the Bible was read and prayers said each morning in the public schools. Today, the schools are nut factories often filled with uneducated, unprincipled, and uncaring teachers and rebellious, resentful, and raucous students. Some kids go on to college but only 55% receive a degree within six years. One reason 45% drop out is that most college freshmen read on a seventh grade level.

I remember an America when every high school graduate had basic knowledge about America, the world, and their obligations to work hard to make a good life. I remember when every student in elementary school learned basic math, facts about government, memorized the Preamble to the Constitution, the Gettysburg Address, the Bill of Rights, the Wreck of the Hesperus, Inchcape Rock, and was familiar with Poe, Hawthorne, Coolidge, Irving, etc. And a weekly book report, written and read, was the norm.

I remember an America when men stood when a woman entered the room; when you tipped your hat to a lady; when you removed your hat when entering a building and would not even think of eating while wearing a hat; and when a gentleman always asked a lady, “Do you mind if I smoke?” Moreover, if a crude man carelessly cursed in a woman’s presence, he would blush and ask to be forgiven. How quaint. And smoking and cursing women were as scarce as white dinosaurs in Manhattan.

I remember an America when we walked quietly and respectfully by a home with a gold star hanging in the window. We knew that some father, brother, or son had been slaughtered on faraway battlefields with strange names such as Iwo Jima, Corregidor, Coral Sea, Battle of the Bulge, Anzio, Heartbreak Ridge, Inchon, Pusan, and many others.

I remember an America when we never locked our doors day or night. When the iceman had access to our icebox for ice deliveries.

I remember an America when neighbors bossed anyone’s kid around if needed. Even a swat on the rear. This was before the fanatics at Child Protection Agency, trying to do good, took control and destroyed a vast number of families.

I remember an America when families could watch any television show together and never be embarrassed. The most risqué show was when Milton Berle, dressed as a woman, hit other stars with his purse.

I remember an America when men would shake hands on a $50,000 business deal and both kept their word.

I remember when no man suggested he had a woman in his body. It never happened. And if anyone had suggested the possibility of same-sex “marriage,” he would have been certified insane.

I remember an America when a girl got pregnant (a very seldom occurrence) she was a shame (but not rejected) to her family and visited grandma for a few months. The child was often reared as a sibling or cousin or was adopted by a deserving family.

I remember an America when every life was sacred and it was a major shame, scandal, and sin if a woman had her own child butchered within her womb.

I remember an America when a politician who disgraced himself, his family, and his party, quickly apologized, resigned and took the next plane or train to his back water town to live in obscurity until his death.

I remember an America when you could discuss serious issues with people who believed the opposite yet both would remain friends.

I remember an America when we loved our dogs, always stray mongrels, but when they got old or sick, we shot them and lamented it for a few days but realized that they were just animals.

I remember an America when parents were loved, respected, if not feared and the thought of talking back was never a possibility.

I remember when your family name was almost sacred and the thought of bringing disgrace to it was anathema.

No, my America was not perfect but it was pleasant, peaceful, and proper and my grandchildren will only see some glimpse of it from their own principled family but not the nation as a whole.

http://bit.ly/1iMLVfY Watch these 8 minute videos of my lecture at the University of North Dakota: “A Christian Challenges New Atheists to Put Up or Shut Up!”

Full disclosure: I am a lifetime critic of public education. Most of my education was in Christian colleges and universities. All of my children were educated in Christian schools through the university level. Same with most of my grandchildren. I would not be saddened if public education fell to the ground like a piece of rotten fruit leaving each town to provide secondary education for all children. I believe in separation of school and state since there is not a word in the U. S. Constitution about education! Moreover, the Federal Government should have nothing to do with education–nothing.

If I were the Education Czar, I would make major changes that would restore sanity, safety, and scholarship to schools, and then I would turn everything over to each state:

*My first actions would be to immediately remove and burn in front of every school all Common Core Curriculum. I would add to the flames such “classics” from each school’s library as Johnny Has Two Daddies, Heather Has Two Mommies, Run, Alice Run, and similar garbage. And I would laugh when fools remind me that Hitler and other tyrants burned books. Hitler also constructed great highways and build good automobiles. Christians in Acts 19 burned a vast amount of damaging books with great success following the bonfire.

*All principals and administrators would be required to have at least five year’s classroom experience. I would cut the number of administrators by 35%. They really aren’t that necessary to a quality school. I would not be concerned about their college training but their knowledge, experience, and common sense.

*Each student would be tested to ascertain his grade level in math, English, history, and reading then an educational prescription would be written followed by a personalized curriculum designed for his specific needs. It is educational folly to assume that all ten-year-olds are working at the same level in all subjects! To place all students in the same grade determined by their age is an administrative convenience. It is one of the biggest mistakes made in all schools–public, private, and Christian. If funding is available then a few “frill” courses would be added.

*I would seek to repeal all compulsory attendance laws. If a kid wants to be a bum, let him be a bum with parents’ approval. After all, the attendance laws are seldom enforced anyway.

*All security guards would be fired and each school would boast of having at least two armed teachers. It would be commonly known that at least two anonymous teachers with proper gun training would be in each school. Those teachers would be paid an extra $1000 per year. Students would be told that the armed teachers would be expected to shoot any student who seeks his “fifteen minutes of fame” by killing others.

*I would hire teachers regardless of their degree. In fact, I would prefer teachers not educated in teachers’ colleges–hotbeds of incompetence. It is an acknowledged fact that the Ed.D (one of my two doctorates) is the easiest to earn and most useless doctoral degree.

*I would hire teachers who have character and would fire any teacher who boozed, used illegal drugs, or slept around. Those teachers would stay fired. I would recommend that any teacher having sex with a student would spend 25 years in prison.

*There would be no smoking of anything on school grounds by anyone at any time.

*All teachers and staff would dress up, not down. All men would wear dress shirts and ties and women would wear dresses or skirts and blouses. It is a fact that classroom discipline is linked to student and teacher dress.

*Teachers would receive merit pay depending on the progress of their students. I would also pay teachers an extra $1000 if they agreed not to join the NEA!

*Schools would be for education, not to make kids feel better about themselves. Those elementary students who disobey would be paddled on the rear, a place provided by a designing God for that purpose. Any disobedient, disruptive, or disorderly high school student would be led to the front door and told to never return.

*Each student would be expected to read by the end of the first grade. If not, he would not be passed to the second grade. Any normal child can be taught to read if the teacher knows how to teach. It is commonly known that children in Christian kindergartens learn to read before the end of the school year.

*All students would be assigned a seat and no one would be permitted to move around the room or to speak without permission. The teacher would rule the room like a tin-horn dictator of a Banana Republic!

*All students would be taught the Ten Commandments each year and when caught in a lie would be required to write on the board 100 times, “Thou shalt not lie.” When caught stealing, they would write, “Thou shalt not steal.” Any state could choose to have Bible reading and prayer in their schools.

*Any student who brings weapons to school, is involved in violence, uses booze or illegal drugs would be expelled permanently. “Shooting” other students on the playground with toy guns, fingers, or sticks would be permitted even if it caused whinny, leftist teachers to hyperventilate and females to experience premature hot flashes.

*Any student, teacher, administrator, or school board member suggesting that sex education, death education, etc., be added to the curriculum would be tarred and feathered!

My last act in office would be to close down the Department of Education putting thousands of federal workers back into productive work and off the backs of taxpayers.

Then I might consider becoming Obama’s Energy Czar! Obama, has my number. And I assure everyone that I have had his number since before his election! I called him an “empty suit” and a novice before he was elected and crowned and my opinion has only been enhanced during his disastrous tenure.

However, I look forward to the invitation to become his Education Czar.

http://bit.ly/1iMLVfY Watch these 8 minute videos of my lecture at the University of North Dakota: “A Christian Challenges New Atheists to Put Up or Shut Up!”