Editor’s Note:
TWO TEENS… TWO CHOICES
Frances Arthur serves as national chairwoman for Eagle Forum’s Student Leaders Program. She has taught high school, middle school, and elementary school in public, homeschool, and homeschool cooperative settings over the past 30 years. With a special interest in government, politics, and American and world history, Frances has worked for 8 years with Tennessee Eagle Forum as its Student Leader Director, teaching students across the state how to effectively participate in their government. She has taken this to a national level by founding and directing My America Tours, a non-profit educational tourism company.
Kaitlin was 18 years old, and her conservative parents happily took her to register to vote. After all, 2008 was a major election year! It appeared that Barack Obama would be elected easily, but this Christian family believed that, with smart new voters like their daughter, the Republicans could keep the White House. They never openly discussed how they would vote in their house, but because they were a right-leaning family, they didn’t think they would need to. They were shocked when they learned that their daughter cast her first vote for president for Barack Hussein Obama.
When Janey graduated from high school, she planned to major in engineering. Her goal was to develop prosthetic devices that could be used by wounded servicemen and women. She planned to minor in agriculture and work on the university’s farm to help pay for expenses. As a graduation gift, her mom allowed her to go on a trip to Washington, D.C. with nonprofit My America Tours. Janey attended classes for several months in preparation for the trip and learned a great deal. During the trip, the students received training in political activism from Leadership Institute each evening. When she returned home, Janey decided to double major in political science and agriculture. This summer she is interning with an agricultural firm as a political liaison in Washington, D.C.
TRAINING IS ESSENTIAL
The teenage years are a pivotal juncture for most, and parents must continue to “train a child in the way they should go” during this time. Kaitlin and Janey are examples of this. Kaitlin’s parents wrongly assumed that their daughter thought the same way as they did and would vote for a Republican. They never taught her why they believed as they did, or how the pro-God, pro-life, pro-2nd Amendment, and pro-family GOP party platform better aligned with their beliefs. Instead, Kaitlin heard her liberally-biased public school teachers and leftist friends singing the praises of Obama, and wanting their acceptance, she voted for their candidate.
Janey, on the other hand, spent her first two election cycles as a registered voter campaigning across her state for conservative legislators, a Senate candidate, and a gubernatorial candidate. She served as a campaign manager for a candidate last year. Janey’s mother made certain that her daughter understood why their family held conservative beliefs and exposed her to fellow conservatives to support that education.
President Ronald Reagan once reminded us that “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.” What are you doing to protect it?
WHAT PARENTS CAN DO
There are many things parents CAN DO to “train a child in the way they should go,” and one of those is to educate and inform children about issues that affect our families, communities, and nation, helping them to become informed and engaged citizens. A perfect way to do this is to bring your teens and collegians to Eagle Council this fall, Eagle Forum’s 48th annual training and leadership conference to be held September 19-21 in Washington, D.C.
Founded by the late Phyllis Schlafly, Eagle Forum has an established history, and its members possess a vast amount of experience to train up new generations of grassroots activists so as to ensure that America continues to be a land of individual liberty, respect for family integrity, public and private virtue, and private enterprise. In addition to the other resources and opportunities Eagle Forum provides throughout the year, EAGLE COUNCIL offers conservatives the opportunity to come together to obtain the added training and encouragement needed to carry on this mission.
AN EXTRA-EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY
This year’s conference week begins September 15 for students (and parents) who would like to participate with a pre-conference visit to Washington, D.C. through My America Tours. Participants will also have the opportunity to engage in political activist training through the Leadership Institute, one of our nation’s best training groups!
Considering the precarious position of our national freedom, the cost for this education is nominal. Online classes this summer will prepare students for their time in our nation’s capital so that they will better understand our history and government, why our freedom is important, and what we must do to defend it. On Thursday the 19th we will join with many members of Eagle Forum on Capitol Hill to talk with members of Congress about the issues we care about. Then we will attend the conference (Eagle Council 48) beginning on Friday morning, where students will hear from nationally recognized speakers regarding every major political issue. This is a wonderful opportunity for high school or college students to learn from the experts.
Armed with these experiences and information, our students will be better equipped to discuss and debate important issues in their schools. They will be the salt and light that is much needed on campuses across the country. This Pre-Eagle Council Educational Experience in tandem with Eagle Council can be the impetus your student needs to boldly stand and speak on important issues.
To learn more about these opportunities and to register, please use these links:
Register for Eagle Council