Independent American Party
National Platform

5.  EDUCATION

Values

We favor the advancement of patriotism, vigilance, allegiance, and an awareness of the duties, rights and privileges of citizenship, along with the rights and limitations of government. We favor promoting awareness and understanding of current political threats to our Constitution, national sovereignty and independence, and to our personal rights and freedoms.

We believe that our educational institutions must be founded upon faith in God and upon moral law, and a respect for all religions without advancing or suppressing any. We urge the elimination from our schools of Secular Humanism, which undermines faith in God, religious loyalties and family values, and attempts to eradicate all concepts of right and wrong by claiming there is no God to account to. We favor teaching abstinence from all sexual activity outside the bonds of marriage.

Stewardship

We assert that parents have the fundamental right to choose the type and location of school they deem best for their children. We maintain that parents have the right to inspect or challenge school policy, textbooks, subject matter, and privacy-invading surveys, etc. We encourage parents to take a more active part in their children's education.

We maintain that education is a parental and local responsibility. We support local determination of education standards, curriculum, textbooks, library books, and election of education leaders.

We assert that there are no provisions for federal or international involvement in schooling or education found in the Constitution. We favor abolishment of all federal and U.N. education programs that have a mandatory effect in the United States, and any organizations which usurp parental or local control, and favor the repeal of all legislation for such. We therefore call for the abolishment of the U.S. Department of Education.

Nongovernment Schools

We maintain that returning the control and financing of education to localities and families, and opening the system to choice and competition, are the only viable options to guarantee the freedom and upward mobility of our students. We encourage participation in home schools, private or religious schools, charter schools, and public-private partnership schools.

We support English as the official national language, and favor nonfederal funding of bilingual tutors to assist as needed. We favor eliminating from the school curricula all grants, controls, mandates or agendas sponsored or promoted by national or global organizations.

Commentary:

By Educational Means     (National Chairman's Letter - October 2002)
Platform - Education     (National Chairman's Letter - August 2003)

Outcome Based Education    (by Dr. Phil Stringer)

The Importance of Christian Education    (by Dr. Phil Stringer)