Which paths in Robert Frost’s rhetoric choice are Wise or Foolish?
I read three Citizen Tom’s posts to support an organization with a motto: “Standing up for families and family values.”
The first Post questions “the decision of the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference ruled that biological young men who identify as girls may compete as girls in sports, most everyone said nothing.”
The second post is about the subject matter of mandated sex education in California indoctrination where teachers are supposed to “affirmatively recognize different sexual orientations and be inclusive.
The third post asks the question, “Who should teach children what path to travel? “and includes a Robert Frost quotation:
“Two roads diverged in a wood,
And I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
— Robert Frost
The Purpose of This Post
Is to relate three king Solomon wisdom verses about these three issues and to question if King Solomon’s wisdom verse.
“Why were the old days better than these?” For it is not wise to ask such questions. (Ecclesiastes 7:10)
In other words, should Citizen Tom stop believing his religious values because they are foolish compared to the present secular values being taught in government administered public schools?
If interested, read on and you decide which path you prefer your children to be taught to choose?
Rhetoric Definition (Merriam-Webster)
relating to or concerned with the art of rhetoric, expressed in terms intended to persuade or impress, (of a question) asked in order to produce an effect or to make a statement rather than to elicit information.
King Solomon
Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. (Proverb 1:8)
By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; (Proverb 24:3)
Train up a child in the way he should go;
even when he is old, he will not
depart from it. (Proverb 22:6)
What’s My Point?
A child is not capable to discern Frost’s verse if he or she is in a stage of life where they have romantic illusions rather than acquired adult wisdom of which path to choose.
My point is over time the least path” can vary. For example, Christian family values today are slowly becoming the “least path” to follow in the USA.
The reason is public schooling has become so expensive over time and the law mandates that if a parent wants to send their child to a private religious school, they must pay both to fund public school taxes and private school tuitions but the majority of parents cannot afford this choice.
The obvious result is that over time as each generation is not taught religious values, when the child becomes a parent, the religious values path becomes the least path.
In My Opinion
The issue of government mandated teaching subject matter that is objectionable to parents’ religious values as being acceptable, normal behavior, violates the First Amendment Rights of freedom of religion.
Add an economic fact that public schools over time have become the highest cost tax item on real estate bills. In other words, most parents cannot afford to choose to pay to send their children to private religious schools. In other words, government has imposed an economic barrier to prevent most parents from being able to afford to send their children to private religious schools.
The King Solomon verse advice to not looking back to the old days is not relevant or a subject for rhetorical debate that it is a parent’s right and duty to teach their children their religious values. Values which include the laws of the Ten Commandments, namely not to kill, steal, lie, etc., and to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and, love thy neighbor as you love thyself.”
Rhetorical Questions
Ask yourself these three rhetorical questions to discern whether Citizen Toms Posts are wise or foolish.
1.Would the world have been a better and safer place in history if everyone had been taught as a child to abide by the Ten Commandments and precepts of Christian love and Spiritual Wisdom? ( And that has made all the difference.” )
2. Do you discern and agree with the secular values being mandated to indoctrinate your children in public secular schools?
3. When and how did King Solomon’s above wisdom verses become foolish over time in the USA?
If Interested
Read the Source Links below before you discern whether Citizen Tom’s Posts are wise or foolish concerns about standing up for family values…
You Decide
Are you concerned what public schools are teaching your children?
Would you prefer to send your children to privates’ religious schools, same as all the legislators in Washington DC do, if you were given the choice with School Vouchers?
Do you believe the interpretation of the Supreme Court of the First Amendment is being suppresses your choices to teach your children your religious values by mandatory taxation making parents pay both for both private and public schools?
Would you agree Citizen Tom posts are wise instead of foolish values for both the past, present, and future of your children and represent a valid need for parents to begin “Standing up for families and family values.”
If parents were given a school voucher choice, would private schools wind up being a path of more, or least travelled by parent’s choice, especially in poor violent neighborhoods in the USA with more single parents?
Regards and goodwill blogging
Source Links
Citizen Tom’s Posts
Connecticut Transgenderism.To the Extreme
Iron Sharpens Iron
California Republic
Previous Posts on School Vouchers
Rudy u Martinka 
Excellent post. Great question: “If parents were given a school voucher choice, would private schools wind up being a path of more, or least travelled by parent’s choice, especially in poor violent neighborhoods in the USA with more signal parents?”
I’m big fan of vouchers and school choice.
Blessings!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Not only a big fan, you are a wise fan in my opinion.
Regards and goodwill blogging.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Signal or Single parents?
Spelling error on my part, or spiritual message to signal a better choice path need for single parents to teach their children?
You decide.
Thank fo the comment. I edited my post.
Regards and goodwill blogging.
LikeLiked by 1 person
There’s a whole “mess of stuff” in this post….
1. Not sure I understand your subject “if Citizen Tom religious posts are pertinent”… does it matter? It’s his blog to say whatever he wants as is any of our blogs reflective of our own personas.
2. Public education is in place for the “public good” therefore every pays through the tax base.. typically property taxes. Why the public good? At it’s inception public education was an attempt to educate the country in the lower grades… elementary and high school… in a uniform manner by using a composite of mandating certain universal subject matter as a primary curriculum.. and allowing local districts made up of the local public introducing local preferences to assure regional and cultural influences in the process. For the public good means everyone pays.. even people with no kids. For a time I worked at the San Bernardino County permit office and if you came in to get a permit to build a new home one of the fees was $3,000 off the top that went right to education… the highest fee for a new home building permit. I think the presumption is… new home construction is mostly about growing families who have a greater interest in public education. Doesn’t mean I agree with all that.. just telling a first hand experience.
3. I am aware of all of Tom’s objections and impositions he feels about public education and that’s his opinion and valid to him. I have told him often enough that if he objects to public education (with the old argument that how can a politician in Washington even think of knowing what kind of education best suits his kid) then just home school your kid(s) in the way you want… problem solved. But government should still have some say in what subjects you are teaching, which then requires home school kids to test out at certain levels.
4. I am not aware of private schools being located in economically poor neighborhoods given such poor income folks can’t afford private school… even using government vouchers.
5. Personally, and I have been involved in the school district during my kids going through the system, the greatest problem in public education is apathetic parents. The vast majority of parents are happy public education is there as the babysitter while the single parent, or both parents, go to work. I personally took an interest on all my three.. but most do not… especially immigrant parents. They arrive here, themselves poorly educated, and want the best education for their kids and have no choice but to accept the system because they barely know the language and have no idea what is being taught. Although, their kids are usually more exemplary students over white kids.
I’m not sure what your point to this post is, Rudy.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Doug
Thanks for your reply and time to express your quandary over understanding of the reasons why I believe in school vouchers and parents given a choice of what is being taught their children with their tax money.
While I don’t have time now to explain in detail, my main objection to a school policy that is inclusive, meaning their way or the highway of what to teach by mandating, indoctrinating.
Inclusive means there is no way for a teacher to discuss subjects from a spiritual aspect,
Think about that until I respond with greater detail.
For example, it has never been 100 percent scientific proof that gay is not a result of nature vs. nature.
A child mind is impressionable and if a school teacher teaches any subject in an inclusive manner, they may believe if government says it is lawful, it must be okay even if their parents don’t like it..
Did you read Citizen Toms posts how he explains this point?
Regards and goodwill blogging.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Again.. I have very little comprehension as to how you and Tom just don’t allow the choice of home schooling for those parents wishing to promote their religion. That IS the alternative to public ed. What’s the problem?
Interesting you should mention the gay inclination. Just this last week a large research project apparently upheld my own idea that being gay is yet again.. a measure of nature vs. nurture, as there apparently is some evidence to suggest certain genes DO NOT CAUSE but tend to contribute into the combining aspects of nature vs. nurture.
Just my opinion.. I find many “devout” Christians spend way too much time judging the sexuality of others . There’s far more to life and living. But that’s just me.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Doug,
The main reason religious believers are concerned about sex education is because the public schools do not by law relate sex to family values and the religious philosophy.
Kids today have access to media that portrays sex relationships some very unhealthy as verified by the 60 million USA affected with a various health conditions, as normal which are contrary to religious values.
While I agree children should be taught about the mechanics of sex and risks, it should be taught to relate to religious values.
As you said about the latest scientific findings that some people are more susceptible to be influenced or nurtured, the same scientific findings have found some people are more susceptible to use marijuana and became hard drug addicts.
Hard porno addict, hard drug addicts etc. eats.
Nature vs nurture. All choices that affect children who are more impressionable than adults need parent’s guidance as taught in the proverbs in the Bible.
As for your concern that there are not enough private schools in many areas, in Chicago most religious schools close down because of lack of funds. School vouchers will solve funding constrictions and build something of quality and they will come, in my opinion.
Regards and good will blogging.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Doug
Here are some answers to your questions.s.
1. You asked Does it matter?
For millions of parents who support school vouchers. Yes.
Why because it is their tax money to begin. If you recall the motto of the USA Revolution from England was “taxation without representation.”
Parents, not government are responsible for their children’s education according to their religious beliefs.
In comparison of quality of education between private and public schools. Both teach the same basics of reading, writing and math.
The difference is religious parents object to what reading matter is taught to their second grade child. One example is a mandated book about a prince marring a prince.
Writing and math can be tautht and measured to qualify both pubic and private schools.
Most comparisons state the results be equal or better for private vs public education.
2. Public good
I agree with teaching children promotes public good.
Apparently private vs public schools in high crime areas appear to be teaching good better according to studies.
The difference in my opinion is most people who never attended private religious schools have been indoctrinated to believe government promotes good better than religious teachings.
3. Home School
The reason home school is becoming more prevalent for families who can afford to do so is because they object to public schools. cireculem is absent ther religius values.
Yet they still have to pay with their money to fund public schools is another form of taxation without representation
3.Parent involvement vs apathy
Is more prevelant in public schools than private schools. A combination of parents having to work too jobs and in my opinion, a continuation of the present result of less religious beliefs resulting in the USA because of the reasons of both affordability result is less religious believers and closings of more private schools.
Hope my answers helped you understand some reasons for school vouchers..
Regards and goodwill blogging.
LikeLike
You present a dilemma on top of a dilemma. On one hand the voucher program is to give less wealthy kids a chance to attend schools with better records for teaching than the local public schools. You are introducing into this that you support school vouchers so you can make sure your child gets teaching in the family religion… hence going to a religious school.
I’m not a fan of vouchers (but that does not mean I am firmly opposed) for a couple of reasons. If there’s a problem with public education.. specifically with your local school district, then vouchers just takes care of the social symptoms and not the over all problem.. something in your local public school system needs changing/fixing, so deal with it. You want religion mixed in with your child’s education then you should pay for them going to a religious school. The tax base required to fund public education as a whole is just that. It’s not a restaurant menu of “I’m sending MY tax money for public education to the school of my choice for my child.” The taxes you pay for public education are not paying just for your child.
As I’ve told Tom in the past, if you don’t like how your school district does things then go run for any of the district offices or the district board as a representative of the community. Obviously, you can’t do that to affect greater religion in your child’s curriculum.. so you have to pay for their religious school. Makes perfect sense.
I think this is the greater issue we are talking about here. Public schools simply by their nature of being “public” bring to the classroom a broader range of diverse ethnic, social, and economic influences that play out in the behavioral diversity of the students themselves. Some kids come from “good” homes and other kids come from “challenged” homes. Some kids come from well-to-do families and other kids come from welfare-based families. In the meantime, and you should well know this because we’ve all gone through it, school life for students IS a totally insulated and independent social status system than the outside world when they go home at the end of the day. There’s an informal social pecking order based on popularity and appearance, and a status brought about by peer pressure and the universal desire to be included “in the group”, whatever group that is. This kind of thing is far less pronounced in the smaller class sizes of non-public education venues. Likely the “better” education ascribed to private schools is the smaller, less socially pressured, environment.
Besides that… your kid at a public school goes out at recess time and hears the more grittier tales of aspects of sex than they might likely hear at recess time in a religious school, where things might be more.. cleansed.
Anyway.. just my perceptions.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Doug,
It is no dilemma to me. Government run anything seems to result anything being more expensive as private run anything.
The only dilemma is how the Supreme Court interpreted the First Amendment that teaching a child is for the general welfare under the Fourth Amendment when private school results are better both scholastically and better to promote general welfare to teach “Thou shalt not kill, treat others same as you treat yourself and love thy neighbor as you love yourself.
My main argument is public school is inclusive to prevent spiritual aspect of life which is the basis of religious family values.
Regards and goodwill blogging.
.
LikeLiked by 1 person
@Doug
Every choice is a religious choice. We spend our time doing whatever we think most needs to be done at that moment. What we think most important depends upon what we think is the purpose of life.
Religious freedom is not about being inclusive; it is about the right to make our own exclusive choices. We each have the right to choose our own path in this life. We don’t have the right to force others to choose our path.
Do the public schools have some justification? It does make sense for the government to make certain parents do not abuse their children by failing to educate them. All children should learn the 3R’s. Nonetheless, making certain that children learn the 3R’s does not require government-run schools. Private schools funded by school vouchers could easily accomplish the same purpose.
Instead of a school system that supports religious freedom, letting parents decide who teaches their children and what beliefs their children learn, we have politicians in charge. In fact, many parents pay for a school system they don’t like and don’t want to use, and we impose a penalty on those parents who seek to escape the public schools. Out of their own pockets these parents still have to pay for an alternative to the public schools plus the more expensive public schools.
Why then do we have a public school system? Human pride. Our egos drive us to elevate our own choices over other people’s choices. Therefore, we are happy to indoctrinate other people’s children with our own beliefs.
Christians tend to be “unreasonable” about public supported indoctrination. Most of us understand that if we want the right to make our own choices we have to let others make their own choices. Therefore, if we want the responsibility for educating our children, we have to trust other parents to do a good job educating their children.
The alternative is what we have now. Consider this question. If Christians are so unreasonable and parents cannot be trusted to educate their children, how can we elect decent people to run the public schools? Well, I suppose the results of our elections speak for themselves. You are a big fan of Donald Trump, right?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah.. your last sentence.. I take your point there for sure. You have made lots of accusations about public education “being run by politicians” who are only sensitive to their own moral agendas and insensitive to the desires of all-wise parents who know best for their kids.
First off… not all parents know best for their kids.. and I KNOW that to be first hand fact. Some, in fact, might.
Second.. what politicians are running YOUR school district’s educational process? Your local superintendent is generally an education professional, your board should be made up of teachers and parents. Washington and the state has certain mandates to try and maintain a level of uniformity. Other than the age-old debate on the level of permitted mixing of government and religion.. where’s all the politicians you are referring to that are influencing public education?
LikeLiked by 1 person
@Doug
Be serious. When we give our money to politicians, we don’t have much control over how they spend it. You write innumerable complaints about Trump. If politicians do nothing of consequence, why?
Our schools are run by four committees: the School Board, local government, state government, and Federal Government. That’s absurd.
Uniformity accomplishes what? The child of a Christian or Buddhist becomes secularized? When different skills are required, we all learn the same things? Good or bad, we all receive the same education?
What is an education professional, a political appointee? If the system is a government-run, secularized, unionized mess, why I want a political appointee to be in charge of my child’s education? It is not someone I chose.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Doug see my comment to Tom on his Brilliant closing remark about comparing Trump and trust in government.
Regards and goodwill blogging.
LikeLike
Tom,
In my opinion your closing comment to make a point to Doug, about trusting government over parents was “brilliant.”
I don’t mean it in any derogatory way toward Doug or his mindset and opinions against Trump.
Doug may trust a school board member a doctorate degree in education. However, if the member was taught or indoctrinated to trust any human decision has greater weight than a parent, who is themselves a child of God, King Solomon would consider him or her to be a fool.
The irony is the founders of our country trusted in God and had fully understand of a government comprised of human beings cannot be trusted as evidenced by requiring three separate government bodies.
Every choice is a religious choice only applies to those who choose to sever God.
As for why there are not a lot of parents attending school board meetings, it could be for a number of reasons.
They may be working two jobs.
They may not of ever attended a private religious school and understand the differences of religious family values vs secular family value.
They may not be regular church attendees which serve to remind them of their human frailties.
Another main factor is they have been indoctrinated to believe to trust government decisions are better than their own because public schooling has been in existence for 100 years. As time goes on and less and less parents believe this fallacy, the secular influence will continue to grow and result in time in socialism of mind and the same results of previous socialism governments.
Sad,
Regards and goodwill blogging.
If interested
https://rudymartinka.com/2014/03/05/king-solomon-on-intellectual-fools/
LikeLike
Tom,
Thanks for your link.
Sad state in our Nation indeed.
You commented in a post that we need to ask ourselves why we belie what we believe which is in my opinion is the crux of the problems we have in our Nation,
For example, one question might be why would we believe Socialism is the answer for the USA when it has failed so badly in history.
Regards and good will blogging.
LikeLike