Busting Heads for Character Ed?

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I wrote this letter to the editor. I'd sent it to the papers at 8 a.m. on the same day I later received word that all the events were cancelled, so I retracted it.

- John

Five districts in our area - Jefferson, Fort Atkinson, Palmyra, Milton and Whitewater – plan to hold school assemblies on March 23 and 24. The students will watch “The Power Team,” a group of body-building athletes who present a message of positive character traits, giving advice on morality, drug abuse, teen pregnancy and violence.

Sounds boring? It’s actually quite a show. It might also include ramming their heads through blocks of ice, smashing stacks of flaming cement blocks, swinging large broad-swords, exploding soda cans in their bare hands, ripping telephone books, breaking baseball bats, and bending steel bars in their teeth.

Yes, I’m sure the kids will love it. If we asked, they’d also love Twinkies and Coke for lunch and ideally the assembly should keep them out of class all day.

But like the junk food, what else will they get with the message? The show will have an amplified sound track playing only Christian rock and rap music. Why? The Power Team is also a team of ordained ministers! They are here by the efforts of Faith Community Church.

On the same days as the school assemblies, as well as the weekend, the Church rented the facilities at Fort High School at night. There, the Power Team will lead a five-day series of evening revival meetings, featuring the same circus stunts mixed with tent-show evangelizing. The Power Team’s primary goal and business, as stated on their web site and in their literature, is to boost attendance at churches. They are a marketing firm for their brand of religion.

All Character Education messages are not the same. I think the Power Team debases what we were told Character Education would be in Jefferson. Why shout “Don’t do drugs!” while simultaneously demonstrating other risky behaviors? Aren’t teens smart enough to know when they’re being bribed to listen? It demeans the actions of all those education professionals who have quietly promoted the same messages. Let’s not erode what we’ve done.

I gathered a great deal of reference material about the Power Team and put it on my web site at goJefferson.com, including news stories and video clips. In other communities, controversy has erupted after Power Team assemblies. Many people didn’t like linking positive values with cartoon testosterone as if “might makes right”. Some didn’t like the blatant promotion of religion in public schools. They use a “scared straight” approach with tales of incest, abortion, suicide and murder. (Read the news stories.) Others didn’t like the way they promoted the evening religious events, either with verbal invitations or paper literature. When I asked Jefferson High School principal Dick Lovett about this sort of invitation, he said he knew that the Power Team would spend “about two minutes” describing the evening church events.

Yes, the Power Team says they will not promote religion if a school asks. But where does the line get drawn? Personal testimony? Inviting kids? Handing out flyers? Not adhering to district policy? Do the schools really want to be apologizing afterwards for how the Power Team stepped over the line? Will they be able to cover all the bases with an explicit list of what the Power Team shouldn’t say or do? Did they really check to see if the Power Team message squares with established district policies on sexual education, character education and religious expression?

I think the record shows that the Power Team will stretch this opportunity to promote their revival meetings – after all, that is their stated primary goal. According to Fort High School Principal Jeff Zaspel, their school assembly was paid for by Faith Community Church. According to Pastor Dan Pierce, the Church will heavily advertise the evening events. When I asked if he thought that if students liked the school assemblies that they’d want to attend the evening events, his answer was “I suppose.”

I ask all five districts to cancel these shows.

Sincerely,

John J. Foust