Polygamists Receive NCLB Blue Ribbon

We don’t care if you practice polygamy, indenture women or force your young girls into marriages with old men, you raised your test scores!

In what has to be the strangest story of the myopic vision that is No Child Left Behind, a charter school located in the polygamous community of Centennial Park, Arizona has been named a “blue ribbon school” for their efforts to raise test scores.

I have been amazed (in a bad sense) by the story of the raid by the State of Texas on the Fundamentalist Mormon compound in El Dorado and the removal of 460 children. It is indeed incredible that such practices are allowed to persist in the 21st century United States.

When it comes to religious fundamentalist movements and other reactionary and fascist groups, there is no better source on the Internet than the blog Orcinus (David Neiwert's blog, with co-author Sara Robinson). In this cas, Sara Robinson got the thankless task of reporting on this and in this post (which is well worth a read), she recommended Daphne Bramham's book, The Secret Life of Saints - Child Brides and Lost Boys in Canada's Polygamous Mormon Sect. I fully trust Sara's judgment, so, I got the book and, boy, it was quite a read.