The Establishment Clause

I always love some people who try to make points that are not there. They sound so good and yet . . . we scratch the surface and facade passes. When I was looking for CAT5e I became distracted with a friend who sent me this flyer:

"Is Public School Legal?

The first amendment reads:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The first amendment has two purposes; first, to prevent the government from controlling information and thereby the people. Second, to insure that no man is punished for his beliefs. Our beliefs, attitudes and opinions are based upon the information we receive.
Our government takes the weakest, most vulnerable members of society, little children, places them in a government controlled environment, public school, and forces feeds them government mandated information. This is a clear violation of the first amendment.
Public funding of education is probably legal. Government control of curriculum is not.
Abraham Lincoln said: "Those principles taught in the classroom in one generation become public policy in the next."
Self determination and government schools are mutually exclusive.

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Where do I start with this one.

The first amendment: the question is the establishment of religion. First (the easy one) the government shall not impede up one's practice of religion. In other words do not make a law forbidding me to go to church (or other house of worship).

Second, the government will not establish or create a state mandated religion. This has been taken to mean a favoritism of one religion over another. I think this is also good.

Now for the non sequitor how is the public education a "clear violation of the first amendment"? To this end I am not to sure.

The point is better made by saying that federal Establishment of control of public education is clearly a violation of the Constitution and the in particular the 10th amendment.

Was there a problem 100 years when Christianity was taught in the school? When the Bible was a textbook? I am not to sure.

The other funny thing is that the federal government does NOT mandate materials. Even the the moronic NCLB there is no specified material other then science and math and reading that need to be taught.