By perfect coincidence I am writing this while watching a PBS show about Stalin's propaganda machine. Watch for this coming to your kid's school:
Excerpts are from http://www.pledge.org/ " The Student Pledge Against Gun Violence will be observed in schools throughout the country on October 21st 1999, a Day of National Concern about Young People and Gun Violence. ..."
The Pledge which students will be urged to sign in a group setting:
"
I will never bring a gun to school;
I will never use a gun to settle a dispute;
I will use my influence with my friends to keep them from using guns
to settle disputes.
My individual choices and actions, when multiplied by those of young
people throughout the country, will make a difference. Together, by
honoring this pledge, we can reverse the violence and grow up in
safety.
Student Name:
Grade Level:
School Name:
School Address
Signature
Date:
Please use this form to report your school's tally. Be sure to fill out all of the fields for national reporting purposes.
Total number of students at your school who signed the pledge:
Name of School:
City/State:
School's phone number:
Email address:
Name of contact person:
Contact person's phone:
What happens after students have signed the Pledge?
Here are some suggestions:
1.Give each student two copies of the Pledge. Ask the student to keep one copy for himself/herself and to give the other to the most trusted adult in his/her life: a parent, a teacher, a minister or rabbi, an older sibling, a grandparent, a counselor. Ask the students to remember that they have signed a contract and made a promise; the older adult can remind them of the importance of that promise.
2.Designate several students in each classroom to collect the Pledges and tally the numbers, without recording the names of the students. Have several students per school tally the totals for that school.
You can report in one of three ways:
Enter te totals on our web site under "Tallies."
E-Mail totals to mlgrow@microassist.com
Fax totals to (507) 663-1207.
3.Arrange ahead of time for older students who have signed the Pledge to visit a local elementary school to discuss the important decision they have just made and to read to the younger children either Sherri Chessen's Gorp's Gift or Marybeth Lorbiecki's Just One Flick of a Finger, whichever is age-appropriate. Chessen's book is appropriate for very young children; Lorbiecki's is appropriate for older elementary and early middle-school students. A chapter book for older elementary and middle school students, Walter Dean Myers' Newbery Honor Award, Scorpions, would provide excellent classroom discussions both before and after the Day of Concern.
4.Observe the day with a special all-school assembly. Invite special guests: an emergency room physician, a person who has lost a loved one to gunshot or become a survivor him/herself, a respected athlete who is a positive role mode, an elected official who has shown special concern for young people, or another community leader. (Some schools may choose to have students sign the pledge during the assembly.)
5.Post a banner with the sign of the pledge in the school's hallway. Ask students to write notes on the banner. Or, put up a bulletin board on which students' poems or essays, written ahead of time, could be posted.
6.Plant a tree in the schoolyard as a reminder of the Pledge that students have made. Give students the responsibility of caring for it. "
The web site goes on and on with more techniques straight out of a dictatorship's indoctrination manual. The goal of reducing violence is fine, but having kids swear not to defend themselves in life threatening situations is immoral. This is a program to indoctrinate pure gun-phobia and gun-hate.
Al Germain