An Open Letter to Ryan Maddox, Candidate for Ozark, Missouri School Board

Dear Mr. Maddox,

I just watched a video where an educated man from a Christian college claiming he wishes to help Ozark students engage in critical thinking skills call those who have opposed the IB and shared their opposition of the IB on the Internet "cowards." Since when is name calling a critical thinking skill that wins arguments?

My real concern here is, there is a group of Ozark parents and community members who have engaged in critical thinking skills. When you call us cowards, you discount the countless hours of research we have done exposing the IB's endorsement of the UN's Human Rights Doctrine, which opposes many American freedoms and liberties, the Earth Charter and its radical left wing agenda. You discount the questions we ask as we seek the knowledge to determine whether this is good for the children of Ozark and if we want our tax dollars paying for this international globalist curriculum. In doing so, you attack the very foundation of critical thinking.

In calling us cowards, like you did during the PTA meeting, I wonder if you are truly interested in creating an environment where free thought allows students to question authority in the process of learning, because that's all members of this community who oppose IB have done. For that, you call us cowards? Is this the best critical thinking you can do?

It worries me that we have looked at the pros and cons, and for simply stating the cons, which I can back up with factual information, I am a coward. Is this the bullying you endorse in the classroom that will prevent a student from looking at all sides of an argument?

I don't want you or anyone like you on the school board influencing a child's education. What you displayed doesn't encourage learning by free will, it encourages indoctrination through bullying. I am not a coward Mr. Maddox. I am an American who loves my liberty and freedom and the ability to critically think and express my opinion about issues like the IB. I am an American who served my country in the Army and was decorated for heroic acts.

You obviously don't understand the critical thinking process, because the first rule you learn in critical thinking is resorting to name calling is the best way to lose an argument.

I hope for the sake of Ozark school children, you are handed a defeat come April. Your narrow thinking and blind following of the IB agenda without looking at how the IB endorses the redistribution of wealth, devaluing Christian values, and its indoctrination of radical left-wing environmentalism, all clearly factual information through the IB's associations and endorsements, tells me that if you win, there will be one less critical thinker leading Ozark schools. From what I have seen, there is far too many of those leading the district and far too much sweeping issues under the rug.

CB