This is a disgrace at a private school. You should speak to the chairman of the board of governors and let it be known that you will take your fees elsewhere if it continues. You COULD try talking to the Head first but it sounds like he must condone it.

I know of one private school in my local area which is encouraging students to write anti-war letters to newspapers.
It's sad to see this sort of thing is going on in Melbourne, somehow I doubt it's confined to our city.

"Let the boy earn his spurs."

My parents sent me to a variety of Sunday schools to innoculate me against religious ditzes (not the Catholics though - they were serious). I was kicked out of Baptist Sunday school at the age of six for arguing with the instructors, which I thought was terrible because I loved the Baptist comic books for kids (those were what really hooked me on reading the Bible). The one I really hated, though, was the Presbyterian Sunday school, as it was incredibly boring.

There is a major, major difference between teachers who are fair and those who aren't. If they're fair, this is a great opportunity for the boy. If they're not, it's child abuse.

Speaking as another father, I would just give you one small piece of advice.

Be uncompromising about the quality and content of your children's education. It is the single most important thing you can do for them.

Give you son some historical background, reminding him that Aussies died in North Africa fighting Nazism and that GIs died in the South Pacific defending Australia. Then give him permission to confront the teacher in class with the information. The best outcome is a teacher's conference (make sure that the headmaster attends)) and you can address your concerns head on and advising that your child has your full support in future similar situations.

There is plenty you can do to counter this stuff from school. Take up your own point of view at the dinner table and involve you son into researching for himself the truth about whatever is being spun at school.

I dumped my television and involved my kids in horse and dog training. I found some good reading lists of the classics that do help in molding an ethical mind in a child. Explain to your son that there many different points of view when it comes to government issues and show him that yours stand for freedom of independent thinking instead of following one agenda off a cliff. Explain that is he voices his issues in the classroom he might be criticized.

I sent my kids to Christian school and yet my kids learned all about evolution from me! I also taught them to follow the basic rules found in the Ten Commandments but they learned them by instinct not by rote. I helped them develop their brains and to never make any decision based on emotions but on rational fact.

Ayn Rand helped me do with with her many books and essays. Come on Parents, step up to the plate and show your kids how to be winners!

Your best bet is to remind the "powers that control the purse strings" where the money comes from; the odds are good they are not of the age group that has deliberately disremembered history. If they are unresponsive, it may be necessary to locate a school with a different agenda, but at least you will have shown your son that there are decent ways to protest the apparent attempts at "indoctrination".

Dude, great work. The reward? Check out your 5pm hour. I am impressed.

Feel free to forward him my e-mail address. I'm a teacher and would be happy to help his son counter such obvious mis-information.

Orion

A very generous offer, Orion. Yes, Eric, 5-6pm was a good day today. Thanks, and I hope you're here because some of that traffic filtered into the Blogcritics' Critiquees.

"For a moment Peter did not understand. Then, when he saw all the other creatures start forward and heard Aslan say with a wave of his paw, "Back! Let the Prince win his spurs," he did understand..."

Thanks to all who have responded so far - you have all been very helpful. I've let the letter-writer know that he may find some of his answers here in the Comments section (with more to come, I trust).

If the kid doesn't like school, he shouldn't be forced to attend.

Joe, I was quoting either Bullfinch or Shakespeare, probably the former. The phrase is attributed to King Edward III at the battle of Crecy concerning his son, the Black Prince. I'm not suprised that C.S. Lewis cribbed it.

My daughter is also encountering heavy handed anti-Americanism, anti-rationalism, anti-westernism at an American non-sectarian private school for girls in the San Francisco Bay area (there's only one).

I have no fear for her.

What is heart-warming is to hear how the less aware are becoming sensitive to the shrill, automatic and unthinking response of the faculty.

If you have reared your children well, they will see through the nonsense of their teachers. They always have. And if they cannot, we are lost, whatever the teachers say.

But I have never felt more confident in our youth. They shall prevail!

I went to a girl's private school 8-12 grade, after 7 years of mediocre public school, but was a mediocre student there also. However, since early childhood i spent hours in the library. I read widely from classics and contemporary lit for kids and young adults. I think Robert Heinlein influenced my character more than any adult i actually spent time with. I watched educational specials on TV and read news magazines and papers. My family discussed current events, and was quite argumentative, so I learned to argue a point fearlessly.

I attended Hebrew school 3x /wk, had a solid grounding in Jewish family rituals and holidays, however, I left Judaism for many years, but returned with vigor and mature appreciation, and I never adopted the fashionable anti-Israel sentiment of my leftist friends. I always felt I knew who I was.

If a kid enjoys reading and figuring things out, and has a strong family or cultural background, and doesn't mind being unpopular, he can survive stupid teachers just fine.