Student Led; Student Initiated; Prayer Amendment; Censorship; Family Friendly; Sex Respect; Family Life Education; Values and Choices; Family Planning; Anti-Abortion; Anti-Choice; Intelligent Design; Alternative Theories; Abrupt Appearance; Evolutionism; Local Control; Majority Rule; Equal Time; Balanced Treatment; Community Standards; Pro-Family Curricula; Heritage Curricula;

Values Clarification; Traditional Values; Moral Values; Family Values; Christian Values; Back to Basics; Christian Nation; Christian Heritage; Bible-Based; Bible As Literature; Bible as History; Biblical Principles; Founding Principles; Moral Absolutes; Moral Decay; Moral Relativism; Moral Rebirth; Moral Decency; Corporal Punishment; Bilingual Education; English-Only; Sacred Music; Sacred Rights; Traditional Morality; Traditional Family; Natural Family; Natural Law; Natural Rights; Anti-Homosexual; Anti-Family; Immoral Family; Homosexuality; Special Rights; Anti-God; Anti-Christ; Anti-Christian; Anti-Tax; Fiscal Responsibility; Godless Education; Godless Secular Humanism; New Age; New World Order; Millennium; Globalism; One-World Government; Multiculturalism; Pluralism; Cultural Relativism; Satanism; Paganism; Neo-Paganism; Pantheism; Witchcraft; Occult; Pornography;

Parental Choice; Parental Rights; Parental Control; Local Control; Invasion Of Privacy; Pupil Protection; Parental Involvement; Competition In Education; Affective Education; Alternative Assessment; Alternative Education; Authentic Assessment; Goals-2000; Block Scheduling; Careers; Character Education; Diversity Training; Home Schools; Charter Schools; Classical Education; Core Knowledge; Failing Schools; Dumbing Down; Ethics In Education; Cooperative Learning; Critical Thinking; Higher Order Thinking; Immorality In Education; Excellence In Education; Outcome-Based Education; Site-Based Management; Strategic Planning; Phonics; State Standards; National Standards; Graduation Test;

Affective Education is opposed by the Religious Right because it deals with the feelings, attitudes and beliefs of students and asserts that how students feel about themselves is what's important, thus infringing on parents' role in their children's lives.

Alternative Assessment is opposed by the Religious Right because it employs a method of assessing students using non-traditional measurements which tend to be more subjective than objective.

Anti-Family, or Anti-Parent, is used by the Religious Right to describe school programs and instruction which reach into areas that supposedly are the prerogative of parents, including breakfast programs, sex-ed, guidance counseling, drug abuse prevention, and values clarification exercises.

Authentic Assessment refers to evaluation based on a student's ability to perform "real-world" tasks. It is opposed by the Religious Right because the tasks supposedly have more to do with life beyond school than do traditional objective tests and because evaluations typically involve projects or performance and often stretch the definition of "real-world" usefulness.

Back to Basics proponents push for teaching core academics only, as well as the elimination of any program disliked by the Religious Right.

Bilingual Education is accused by the Religious Right of fostering cultural segregation and depriving students of a proper education in American language and culture.

Block Scheduling means scheduling fewer, longer class periods (usually around 90 minutes each) during the school day. Successful block scheduling requires a change in teaching style to maintain student interest, including more group work, more activity and less lecture. Block scheduling is opposed by the Religious Right because the arrangement favors teachers as "facilitators" and entertainers rather than as authoritative instructors.

Careers is a bill to consolidate federal job training programs into a unified system for youth and adults. Careers is opposed by the Religious Right because they claim it would enlarge the federal labor market database and would lead to a larger government role in youth workforce preparation.

Character Education is education that deals with a students "values" and virtues. Character education is opposed by the Religious Right because it claims it may lead to a disregard for the type of character being molded through the curriculum as a whole, and will fail if sex education courses advocate abortion as a means of birth control and literature classes are filled with morbid, materalistic and amoral themes.

Charter Schools are privately run, tax-funded schools that function in the public school system with the possibility of waivers from some government regulations. Charter schools may be founded around a particular educational philosophy, but may not be religious. A charter school is held accountable for reaching and maintaining the student achievement goals approved in its charter. According to the Center fo Education Reform, as of December 1995 there were 269 charter schools in the nation, with 70 more approved to open in 1996. Twenty-six states have charter school laws.

Classical Education is an educational movement that centers around the classics and classical languages. The Association of Classical and Christian Schools has about 30 member schools. These schools employ a methodology envisioned by writer Dorothy Sayers in her article, "The Lost Tools of Learning." Sayers describes three stages of learning---Grammer, Logic and Rhetoric, known as the Trivium. Each corresponds to a child's charasteristics at specific stages.

Cooperative Learning is opposed by the Religious Right because it feels this eliminates the teacher as an authority figure, and stifles the competition needed for success in a capitalistic society.

Critical Thinking Curriculum (Also: Decision-Making Skills, Values Clarification, Self-Esteem, or Situation Ethics.) is opposed by the Religious Right because the curriculum encourages students to defy parental authority. They say that critical thinking should not be taught because right and wrong are absolutes.

Diversity Training is teacher training that emphasizes tolerance for diverse lifestyles. It is opposed by the Religious Right because, they claim, "diversity" is a euphamistic term employed to advance the homosexual agenda.

Dumbing Down is alleged by the Religious Right in reference to programs other than core academics. Some extremists believe that educators are purposely lowering academic standards so that young people can be easily manipulated by liberal forces.

Excellence in Education sometimes refers to education as the Religious Right would like to see it, that is, "back to basics" without any social programs.

Family Life Education is a sex education program that often begins as early as kindergarten. FLE os opposed by the Religious Right because, they claim, it frequently contradicts the beliefs and behaviors taught in the home by assuming sexual activity, endorsing homosexuality and redefining the traditional family headed by one man and one woman in a marriage relationship.

Fiscal Responsibility often means cutting funds for public education.

Globalism (Also: Global Education, Internationalism, New World Order, or One-World Government) is a phylosophy of education that teaches students to be "world citizens," while downplaying national sovereignty and American citizenship. It is opposed by the Religious Right because discussing global interdependence and cooperation undermines our nation. It worries that U.S. history, government and economics may be discarde in favor of pacifism, environmentalism and activities like letter writing campaigns to government officials, offering solutions to world crises.

Higher Order Thinking includes developing skills like inquiry, analysis, critical thinking, etc. It is opposed by the Religious Right because, it claims, thses skills are sometimes emphasized to the point of nearly excluding "rote" skills like memorization, spelling and basic computation. As a part of critical thinking, some students have been urged to question the beliefs inculcated by their parents.

Homosexuality is a term used by the Religious Right when describing books, education policies, counseling, and sex education programs that pertain to sexuality, that it believes "promotes homosexuality" and "recruits students."

Local Control (Also: Majority Rule) is promoted by the Religious Right to counter what it claims are federal and state mandates that give too much power to special interests such as racial, ethnic and religious minorities, women, disabled, and homosexuals.

Multiculturalism (Also: Pluralism, Cultural Diversity or Cultural Relativism) is a philosophy that urges tolerance for diversity. It is opposed because the Religious Right because it is not limited to appreciation for other ethnic cultures, but includes acceptance of all differences, including, for example, homosexuality and cohabitation, and because it believes teaching students to accept diversity encourages them to reject their own heritage and values.

New Age is accused by the Religious Right as being "religion" taught through classroom activities that involve breathing exercises, yoga, meditation and guided imagery.

Outcome-Based Education (Also: Site-Based Management and Strategic Planning) describes a broad array of education reforms and techniques that require students to reach certain standards. Religious Right extremists charge that outcome-based education manipulates and brainwashes students, and they characterize nearly every program they disagree with as OBE.

Paganism (Also: Neo-Paganism or Pantheism) is accused by the Religious Right of denoting educational materials dealing with environmental protection.

Parental Choice (Also: School Choice, Vouchers, Freedom of Choice in Education, or Competition in Education) is supported by the Religious Right; however some oppose it because they fear it will lead to more government control over religious schools.

Parental Rights (Also: Invasion of Privacy, Pupil Protection, Parental Involvement) The Religious Right wants to prohibit psychological testing of students without parental consent; this is often used to criticize self-esteem programs (such as PUMSY and DUSO), journal writing, sex education, or drug education.

Phonics is an approach to reading instruction promoted by the Religious Right, which believes whole language teaching methods are "experimental and unproved."

Pornography is perceived by the Religious Right as being any literature containing explicit language or sexual scenes.

Satanism (Also: Witchcraft or Occult) is perceived by the Religious Right as taught through fiction containing witches, fairies, or vampires, such as the Impressions reading series.

Secular Humanism is accused by the Religious Right as being "religion" taught in public schools which advocates faith in man instead of God.

Values Clarification is opposed by the Religious Right because, it claims, it is a method of teaching "morality" which treats moral judgments as subjective and denies the existance of moral absolutes.

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