Tea Party summer camp

The St. Petersburg Times is reporting today that a Tampa area Tea Party group calling itself the Tampa 912 Project is offering a summer camp for kids in July. Here’s a clip from the article:

…The organization, which falls under the tea party umbrella, hopes to introduce kids ages 8 to 12 to principles that include “America is good,” “I believe in God,” and “I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.”

Organized by conservative writer Jeff Lukens and staffed by volunteers from the 912 Project, Tampa Liberty School will meet every morning July 11-15 in borrowed space at the Paideia Christian school in Temple Terrace…

Lukens, by the way, according to his biography, grew up in a suburb of Detroit.

And here, for those of you who are interested in maybe sending your kids, are some of the activities that Jeff and his volunteer staff will be doing with the kids.

…One example at Liberty: Children will win hard, wrapped candies to use as currency for a store, symbolizing the gold standard. On the second day, the “banker” will issue paper money instead. Over time, students will realize their paper money buys less and less, while the candies retain their value.

“Some of the kids will fall for it,” Lukens said. “Others kids will wise up.”

Another example: Starting in an austere room where they are made to sit quietly, symbolizing Europe, the children will pass through an obstacle course to arrive at a brightly decorated party room (the New World).

Red-white-and-blue confetti will be thrown. But afterward the kids will have to clean up the confetti, learning that with freedom comes responsibility.

Still another example: Children will blow bubbles from a single container of soapy solution, and then pop each other’s bubbles with squirt guns in an arrangement that mimics socialism. They are to count how many bubbles they pop. Then they will work with individual bottles of solution and pop their own bubbles.

“What they will find out is that you can do a lot more with individual freedom,” Lukens said…

I think the summer school is a great idea, but, if I were Lukens, I wouldn’t stop there. I’d jump right into the charter school business. That’s where the real money is. All he’d need would be a couple more modules, a handful of inexpensive temps to do the “teaching”, and maybe a few taped messages from Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh that could be pumped into the classrooms each morning, and he be in business. And the education modules pretty much write themselves… In the past five minutes, I’ve already come up with about a dozen ideas. One of my favorites involves having the ghost of Thomas Jefferson come back from the dead to tell students, between swigs of his Rock Star Energy Drink (product placement), that he was just lying to the Danbury Baptists when he wrote to assure them that there would be a “wall of separation” between church and state. I think that would be a huge hit with the kids.

Speaking of summer camp, I’ve been thinking about the movie Meatballs a lot lately. If people are up for it, I think it would be a great movie to project in the park this summer… either with bike power, or without.

This entry was posted in Education and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

10 Comments

  1. Bob
    Posted June 14, 2011 at 11:18 pm | Permalink

    Did you ever notice how Meatballs bucks the drive-in movie tradition of parading hot girls? None of the campers, or the camp counselor/love interest of Bill Murray’s character is even a little bit cute. It’s weird.

  2. nancy
    Posted June 14, 2011 at 11:56 pm | Permalink

    I like the idea of sitting quietly in an austere room symbolizing Europe. Makes me want to move there.

  3. LaidOffTeacherPatti
    Posted June 15, 2011 at 1:57 am | Permalink

    Totally, Meatballs in the Park!! I think we should cook and serve meatballs, too! Fun!

    I have to tell you that, despite being vehemently anti-charter school, I would sign up to teach the TJ Ghost Class. I can’t think of a more worthwhile endeavor. And what would my man make of me, all voting and wearing pants and shit?? It would be a hoot.

  4. Edward
    Posted June 15, 2011 at 6:42 am | Permalink

    You’re right, Bob, we’d have to add some T & A. We could either edit hot young women into the film, or we could have them there live, during the screening. Maybe we could even have an intermission during which two of them wrestle in a baby pool full of jello.

    As for the Tea Party charter school, I think it’s a great idea. You could have some exciting elective courses, like Entitlements, And Why They’re Destroying America, Except When They’re For My Family and The Wit And Wisdom of Dick Cheney. And you could also save tons of money by outsourcing everything non-essential to for-profit companies. Haliburton could provide the lunches. Blackwater could handle playground security. (Teachers, as you mention, could just be your run of the mill temps.)

  5. Kristin
    Posted June 15, 2011 at 7:54 am | Permalink

    Unidentified “suburban Detroit” means Downriver.

  6. Mr. X
    Posted June 15, 2011 at 2:46 pm | Permalink

    For all of their talk about loving America unconditionally, they sure criticize government a lot.

  7. Edward
    Posted June 15, 2011 at 9:00 pm | Permalink

    Speaking of summer camp movies, it’s 10 years since the release of Hot Wet American Summer.

    http://www.metafilter.com/104590/Wet-Hot-American-Gothic

  8. Prophets Spoke!
    Posted June 15, 2011 at 11:03 pm | Permalink

    Fiddling while Rome burned! Connect the dots! Wake up sleepers!

  9. TaterSalad
    Posted June 16, 2011 at 10:01 am | Permalink

    The Tea Party is the best thing that is happening to America!

    Please let your voice & opinions be heard and join the following Tea Party websites to become part of the movement in taking our country back from liberal/progressive left wing loons who are destroying capitalism and the Free Market System that has built this great country:

    http://www.Meetup.com

    http://www.americasteapartynews.com/

    http://www.PatriotsActionNetwork.com

    http://www.TeaParty.org

    http://www.TheTeaPartyExpress.com

    http://www.TeaPartyNation.com

    http://www.TeaPartyPatriots.com

    http://www.The912Project.com

    http://www.teapartyrevolution.com

    http://teapartybell.com

    http://www.TeaPartyActivists.com

    http://patriotsforamerica.ning.com/

    http://www.grassfire.com

    http://www.ConservativeByte.com

  10. Edward
    Posted June 16, 2011 at 11:35 am | Permalink

    You were joking, but according to Think Progress, they do have plans to move into the public schools.

    “If their summer camp is successful, the tea party group will try to teach the same curriculum to public schools during Constitution Week.”

    http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/06/15/246341/tea-party-summer-camp/

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Connect

BUY LOCAL... or shop at Amazon through this link Banner Initiative Josh Tear Header