Home › Forums › Open Discussion › Texas Board of Education is messed up!
- This topic is empty.
-
AuthorPosts
-
May 24, 2010 at 4:20 pm #594929
JiggersMemberThey are rewriting how America was born. Here are some of their examples of what they are going to teach or not.By the way, the vote was all republicans.
Article:
-They are going to get rid of the term Evolution and teach Creationism instead(really, the Earth is only ten thousand years old now?)…lol
-They are going to disregard Barack Obama as president.
-They are disregarding Thomas Jefferson, a strong liberal, who wrote the Declaration of Independence from its teachings.
-They are putting Jefferson Davis on the same level as Lincoln in the civil war..NO OFFENSE DAVIS WAS A TRAITOR THAT BROKE AWAY FROM THE UNION….saying he’s on the same level is a joke.
–Seperation of Church and State is in ? lol
–Joe McCarthy get’s some simpathy in HIS WITCHHUNTS of americans that were accused of being communist which they werent.
–Instead of imperalism they change the word to expansionalsim lol
THE MOST STUPID CHANGE IS CHANGING THE SLAVE TRADE TO THE ATLANTIC TRIANGULAR TRADE..IT’s still the same thing as purchasing slaves in England and transporting them to the U.S…lordy
That’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Poor Texas kids are going to be very ignorant.
May 24, 2010 at 5:01 pm #695115
momon35thMemberI have a friend who is a grade school teacher in Texas. She says that even though they are making these changes to the books most school districts in Texas are so underfunded that they won’t be getting the new books. Her school is getting one set of books to share between three grades. So they are not just going to be ignorant because of right leaning politicos messing with history but also because of a lack of valuing education state wide.
May 24, 2010 at 5:26 pm #695116
miwsParticipantI also heard somewhere, probably within the last couple of months or so, that this could extend beyond Texas.
I believe the reason being, is that Texas being such a huge state, they sort of set the tone for textbook content throughout the U.S.
Mike
May 24, 2010 at 5:52 pm #695117
JiggersMemberYou want to know why they are so underfunded if that’s the truth, here..
Sports before education it says..
This is a high school stadium..
The money they are building it with is totally seperate from its general (education) fund. So its GF to support education must be broker than a….
May 25, 2010 at 1:28 am #695118
dawsonctParticipantYeah, pretty amazing priorities.
—
They are also excising Dolores Huerta (the co-founder, along with Cesar Chavez, of the UFW), saying she isn’t an historical figure because she isn’t DEAD yet. (Of course, Texas doesn’t have much of an Hispanic population, or history, or much agriculture, so I understand why they would consider it irrelevant.)
But they include Karl Rove, Newt Gingrich, Phyllis Schlafly.
No agenda there. Sounds “Fair & Balanced.”
May 25, 2010 at 5:50 am #695119
JanSParticipantfrightening :(
May 25, 2010 at 6:34 pm #695120
JoBParticipantdon’t be fooled into thinking this is just Texas’s problem. These are the same wingnuts who would like to sell America on putting them in charge again.
That is some bill of goods they are selling..their idea of equal opportunity is to reduce us all to the lowest common denominator.
Anybody still buying?
May 25, 2010 at 10:40 pm #695121
moxilotMemberThat news clip is disturbing. “Islam is coming and Islam equals death. Repent, America.”
What the….. ??
May 25, 2010 at 10:53 pm #695122
EmmyJaneParticipantHey Jiggers… funny to see you start this thread, I was just writing a blog about it. Curious…Where did you find that they are going to disregard Obama as pres? I’m hoping its not somewhere obvious and I’m totally missing it!
May 26, 2010 at 8:16 am #695123
JanSParticipantthe latest editorial from the NYT:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/26/opinion/26wed4.html?th&emc=th
May 27, 2010 at 6:24 pm #695124
bird87MemberMIWS you are right. Texas is home to the largest textbook companies such as McGraw Hill and Houghton Mifflin. Walk into any public school and these are the textbooks being used. As a recent grad from UW (Master’s in Teaching- Social Studies and ELL endorsement) it scares the hell out of me to think these will be my resources in the next decade. Of course I would never use them, but the funding will still go there. Contracts are nearly impossible to get out of as well. For example McGraw Hill says Seattle School District you need all new books. We will give them to you for free assuming you re-order with us forever. Okay were broke and willing to make a deal with the devil. Sad day for children across America.
As for re-writing of history I couldn’t be more angry. I have dedicated my life to studying and teaching real history. One in which people like me and you started real change and demanded social justice. Not top-down, hero-making, romanticization of hisotry. I find it morally and ethically disgusting to lie to my students. They deserve to know the facts in order to become participatory democratic citizens, not mindless consumers that never vote :(
May 27, 2010 at 7:22 pm #695125
miwsParticipantThanks, bird. I thought the info I had heard specifically mentioned that some of the big textbook corps were headquartered in Texas, but after a very quick Google on the day I made that post, nothing jumped out at me stating such, so I left that part out of my comment.
I don’t envy you for being in the postition of where books that skew true history may be the only ones available, but I admire you greatly for having such strong ethics, in wanting to teach your students actual true American history.
Mike
May 28, 2010 at 12:20 am #695126
uglybrowncrowMemberIsn’t history and its teachings supposed to be based on actual facts?
May 30, 2010 at 9:34 am #695127
dawsonctParticipantMay 30, 2010 at 1:55 pm #695128
KenParticipantToo many textbooks and discussions leave students free to make up their minds about things.
–Mel Gabler, censor, Texas
Allowing a student to come to his own conclusions about abstract concepts creates frustration. Ideas, situation ethics, anti-God humanism — that’s what the schools are teaching. And concepts. Well, a concept never will do anyone as much good as a fact.
–Mel Gabler, censor, Texas
May 31, 2010 at 7:41 pm #695129
bird87MemberUgly Brown Cow- History is a social science therefore it is inherently abstract. Concepts such as Colonialism, Imperialism, Revolution, and Genocide (Just to name a few) are all socially constructed ideas aka made by humans. If I teach a concept as if it were a fact I would be pushing my beliefs and my agenda on my students which is unethical. Concepts have critical attributes, but those change over time based on the development of humans. For example, Pluto was a planet when I was in school. Today Pluto is not considered a planet because humans have changed the critical attributes of the concept “planet”.
In reference to Ken’s quotes, there are different schools of thought relative to history. Tradionalists believe in telling the “factual” truths of the victors. Contemporary theory is more focused on big picture themes and concepts over time and space. Unfortunately, Traditionalists are the majority in Texas, which is where our nations textbooks are being created. Yes this is problematic but, I don’t want people to lose hope. There are plently of hardworking teachers that bring in supplemental information, so students can receive a more rounded education. With that being said the problem in Texas still needs to be addressed, but in the meantime parents ask your children’s teacher about their curriculum. If it happens to be more tradional supplement information to your child at home. PBS and Choices offer great recources.
May 31, 2010 at 7:44 pm #695130
Garden_nymphMemberHere is what the Seattle Times printed. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2011997722_apustexastextbooks.html
Alaska and Texas are the only two states to have balked about a national education standard.
-
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.