The progressive teaching philosophy used in America's education system has damaged our national level of knowledge and thwarted our identity for too long.

A well-publicized textbook battle has been brewing in Austin, Texas and conservatives have finally won. In May 2010, Texas Education Agency (TEA)-composed of 10 Republicans and five Democrats-ratified a more conservative set of guidelines that will be used to educate 4.8 million Texan students. The vote was 10 to 5 along party lines, with all the Republicans on the board voting in favor of the amended guidelines.

For the past few years, board members of TEA have been caught in an ideological debate about what should be taught to American students: conservatives question Darwin's theory of evolution and believe students should learn that the Founding Fathers were guided by Christian principles; a handful of Democrats and moderate Republicans have fought to preserve the teaching of Darwinism and want to uphold stricter barriers regarding the discussion of Christian topics in the curriculum.

Traditionalists laud the ruling and the guidelines after what they say had been an overtly liberal bias in the curriculum during the previous decade. These amended guidelines include for 8th grade U.S. History students, the analysis of Abraham Lincoln's ideas about liberty, equality, union and government as contained in his first and second inaugural addresses and the Gettysburg Address, contrasted with the ideas contained in Jefferson Davis's inaugural address. In middle school, in Government class, students will now examine the reasons the Founding Fathers protected religious freedom in America and guaranteed its free exercise by saying that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; in addition, this will  be  contrasted to the oft-quoted phrase "separation of church and state." In high school, Sociology  pupils will explain instances of institutional racism in American society.  American History classes will include discussions about the solvency of long-term entitlements such as Social Security and Medicare.

TEA's decision will have far-reaching consequences. Due to the large size of the Texas  textbook market, the teaching standards in the Lone Star State are often used by textbook publishers to produce instructional materials for other school jurisdictions throughout the United States. Since California-the other massive market for publishers-will be unable to purchase new textbooks until at least 2014 due to state budget woes, publishers are likely to incorporate TEA's decisions in producing textbooks for the broader American market.

This is a welcome development for conservative-leaning parents and teachers who have seen a progressive socio-political agenda creep into the schooling of America's youngsters since the 1960s. This progressive education is eroding the precious learning time of students which was previously dedicated to essential skills such as reading, writing, mathematics, science and history.

Progressive education has become rampant. In June 2010, the Provincetown, Massachusetts school committee ruled to provide condoms to students as young as six years of age. In that same month, parents in Shenandoah, Iowa were outraged after a mixed-gender room of pupils was instructed on graphic sexual acts during a Planned Parenthood sexual education class.  And in Texan textbooks, gender neutral preferences had preempted words like 'man' and 'mankind,' or substituted 'Founding Fathers' for 'Founding Framers.'

Tangential priorities similar to these have left U.S. students ranking 14th in science,15th in reading and 19th in mathematical literacy, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Program for International Student Assessment 2000. For more than 40 years, OECD has been one of the world's largest sources of comparable statistics and economic and social data.  Additionally, "only 31 percent of college graduates can read a complex book and extrapolate from it," said Michael Gorman, president of the American Library Association, the oldest and largest library association in the world.

Recently, the National Association of Scholars (NAS) found that 70 percent of summer reading books for incoming U.S. college freshmen showed a liberal bias and are not academically challenging based on the level of complexity of the prose or the density of argument.  NAS recommended that colleges choose books that challenge students intellectually and books that are important from earlier eras that have endured for many generations.

John Dewey (1859-1952), considered the father of progressive education, became famous in the 1920s and 1930s for pointing out that "the authoritarian, strict, pre-ordained knowledge approach" of modern traditional education was too concerned with delivering knowledge and not enough with understanding students' actual experiences.  It was teacher-centered and not sufficiently concerned with the needs of the individual student. Dewey was not a proponent of amorphous education because students often do not know how to structure their own learning experiences. Nonetheless, his classic book "Experience & Education" (1938) did pave the way for generalized vocation training rather than a theory-oriented interpretation of his ideas.

In 1945, one such formal movement, Life Adjustment, began as a result of a resolution offered at a conference of vocational educators.  They envisioned a curriculum full of practical pointers on how to get along with others instead of urging college attendance or acquisition of specialized skills.  While the 'Adjusters' disappeared by the mid-1950s, they and others with similar ideas left effects that echoed throughout other progressive academic movements of the 1960s. This led to a student-centered approach to education and away from the traditional teacher-centered format.

In addition, as a result of feminist ideas, many women in the 1960s and thereafter delayed marriage and became career-oriented; thus women were "freed" from the bonds of the household and were led away from focusing on their children. As a result of the assault on the traditional nuclear family, children spend less time in the arms of their primary educators, their parents, and more time learning about the world at the hands of others.  America's children have thus fallen into the net of the most expansive federal education bill ever passed, titled the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA). The bill was enacted on April 9, 1965 as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson's War on Poverty and was designed to address the problem of inequality in education exposed by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. ESEA funded a progressive education machine that has allowed student-centered instruction to gain momentum.  More children are now formed by people other than their parents and often in non-traditional methods.

This has led to an erosion of standards. As a result, America is faltering while China and India advance. Schools in China and India produce four times the number of high school graduates as the United States, and educate these students to a much higher level according to Robert Compton, creator of the 2007 documentary "2 Million Minutes - A Global Examination."  Compared to the United States, China now produces eight times more scientists and engineers, while India produces up to three times as many as the United States. In addition, given the affordability of their wages, China and India are now preferred destinations for increasing numbers of multinational high-tech corporations.

The response to this decline in our educational standards is taking many forms. The United States has seen a veritable explosion in homeschooling, voucher programs and charter schools. According to the National Home Education Research Institute, in 2007-2008 2.0 to 2.5 million students K-12 were home educated, with an increase of five to 12 percent per year. In 2006, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, the three most important reasons for homeschooling were the environment of other schools (31 percent), moral/religious (30 percent) and dissatisfaction with academic instruction at other schools (16 percent). Charter schools have grown in number from 1,297 in 1999 to 5,043 in 2009, according to The Center for Education Reform. Also, a virtual scavenger hunt for conservative colleges has ensued. In march, Young America's Foundation, whose mission it is to introduce traditional American ideas to high schoolers, released its sixth annual "Top Conservative College" list to assist students seeking a conventional higher education experience.

Sadly, for our children and our country, the results of progressive schooling have been disastrous. The staple of education for centuries, known as the 3R's-reading, writing, and arithmetic-have been replaced by the 3 SE's of self esteem, sexual enlightenment and social engineering.  It is time to reduce the emphasis on student-led discovery and social development and focus more hours on direct instruction, written assignments and lectures.  We must allow students to succeed or fail based on individual performance instead of engaging in social promotion.  We must encourage competition in academics rooted in the 3R's to develop self-esteem naturally.  And we must use class time to cultivate scholarly pursuits and vocations, not condom lessons.

Progressive education has failed. In order for America to retain its remarkable heritage and to remain competitive internationally, we must return immediately to traditional teaching methods. Our nation's future is at stake.