I saw this news last week…:
After three days of turbulent meetings, the Texas Board of Education on Friday approved a social studies curriculum that will put a conservative stamp on history and economics textbooks, stressing the superiority of American capitalism, questioning the Founding Fathers’ commitment to a purely secular government and presenting Republican political philosophies in a more positive light.
…and thought “oh, great”.
Not that I don’t think some balance is in order. After having kids and stepkids in one school or another for the past twenty years, there’s no question that the public education system is biased to the left, especially in whatever pass for “humanities” in the public schools. History education in particular is a joke; I’ve spoken, exasperated, about this in the past; my kids have gone years where all they studies were slavery and civil rights. Important, sure. Episodes with big impact on many of the kids’ lives? Absolutely. The only things, practically, worth studying? Hardly.
And on the occasions where other parts of history and current events were studied? Yeah, pretty much “America last”; the few kids who are even exposed to the ideas of “liberalism” and “conservatism” seem, for some reason completely unknown to me – to come out of school with the idea that “conservatism is about the right to own slaves and the freedom to let old people freeze”. Nothing new there.
So the idea of “balance” seems, on the surface, to be an improvement.
The problem is, I don’t want either side – any side, really – writing the history books “favorably” to themselves. I’m not one of those people who ever thought teaching kids the dates and places and events was such a bad thing; tell kids what happened, and show them what other commentators – not textbook writers – have written about the events, and let them make up their own minds.
“But Mitch! Kids are stupid! They don’t have what it takes to process all that information!” So do you think they’re processing the pre-digested stuff that’s slanted one way or the other? Hell, most history teachers haven’t processed most of what history actually means.
The big question with this Texas fracas is “how good an idea is it for committees of politicians, most of them pretty ignorant themselves, to be determining what goes into textbooks and curricula?”
Howabout letting the people that pay the piper call the tune?
Works for private schools.
The idea that every child should receive a state-supported education through high school didn’t really catch on until after the Civil War, when the State decided it needed soldiers and workers who could read and do simple math.
I think it’s time to question the reasoning behind universal public education. What is it for? Who is it supposed to benefit?
If a textbook writer were a Leftist and got his book promoted by some National Association, innocent local school boards might buy it before learning of its slant.
Switching to a centrist text would then be called “putting a conservative stamp” on the subject matter.
I’ve been to other countries; they are NOT in our class. If all history is lies because there is no objective Truth – I’d rather my kids learned lies that make them proud of America rather than ashamed of it.
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If a textbook writer were a Leftist and got his book promoted by some National Association, innocent local school boards might buy it before learning of its slant.
You mean that kids could be taught that Marie Curie and George Washington Carver were scientists equal in stature to Niels Bohr?
We should only allow university professors to write textbooks. That way we get complete objectivity.
(hee hee hee)
Teaching that history is whatever you want it to be is one thing; the last generation has also been taught that math is whatever you want it to be as well. The current administration is not the cause of this, but it is the beneficiary.
“We are now trusting to those who are against us in position and principle, to fashion to their own form the minds and affections of our youth… This canker is eating on the vitals of our existence, and if not arrested at once, will be beyond remedy.” –Thomas Jefferson to James Breckinridge, 1821.
You mean that kids could be taught that Marie Curie and George Washington Carver were scientists equal in stature to Niels Bohr?
The guy who carved up George Washington was a scientist?
The discovery of radiation was pretty important, don’t you think? Also, Curie discovered one more element than Bohr. Of course, Bohr had one named after him as well, so maybe it’s a wash.
Did you attend a public school, DiscoStooj?
Of course.
Night Writer, why would you quote someone as unimportant as Thomas Jefferson?
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2010/03/12/the-enlightenment-goes-dark/
“The big question with this Texas fracas is “how good an idea is it for committees of politicians, most of them pretty ignorant themselves, to be determining what goes into textbooks and curricula?””
To me the big question is this: does it even matter? Have you read a history text from a public school? Jehoshaphat, what crap! The material covered may be less important if you choose to present it in the most boring/slanted/useless manner possible. This may be an argument over the color of a sleeping pill. 😉
The last thing we need are the dinosaur doubters writing the history texts as well.
Well said, Mitch. Bravo!
A good teacher can make the subject live; a bad one can ruin a subject even with a good text book. Who relies just on text books anyway?
I’m not sure what you mean by ‘dinosaur doubters’, Dog Gone.
Can anyone else see these dinosaurs besides you?
How dare you “deny” the dinosaurs, Terry! They are *points in a wide arc to the white space over on the left side of the page* right over here somewhere, right Dog Gone?
I didn’t see any dinosaurs, where did Dog Gone claim to have seen these dinosaurs?
I’m referring to people who would like to rewrite science books to claim the earth is 6000 years old and that people lived in the same era as dinosaurs, Terry. It’s a casual catch-all term for those who don’t believe in the theory of evolution, geology, archeology, and a variety of other sciences.
But I’m sure you knew that.
I’m referring to people who would like to rewrite science books to claim the earth is 6000 years old…
…and have virtually nothing to do with this story.
This is mostly about bringing some conservative balance to textbooks on historical issues, rather than scientific or religious ones.
Hardcore creationists are a boogeyman the left uses to obfuscate the very real issue of bias in the educational academy and the public schools.
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So where did Dog Gone claim to have seen these dinosaurs?