Christian Right and Republicans take a HATCHET to History books.

re-writing history. LOL. i don't know whether to cry or laugh.

 

So, they don't want to mention Thomas Jefferson's contribution to the Enlightenment or let Texas kids know that Tejanos died at the Alamo?

Wow.

Everytime I get an urge to move back to Texas, I remember who runs the school systems. Eventually this will start to affect the economy as well... we can't be the country we were and intentionally raise a bunch of idiots.

One wonders what the current crop of wingnuts would have made of the GI Bill.

 

As a Texan, this is infuriating and a national embarassment.

 

whats sad is that most of the state is so apathetic to what they are doing, that the will have no idea that this is happening.

 

Glad I have already graduated HS. I like Texas, but it deserves to be blasted nationally and made fun of for this.

 

Yes it should be criminal to deny children a real education by doing this. It is incredibly sad, and I can't believe they are getting away with it. What an awful shame and embarrassment.

 

Agreed. Times 10.

 

The worst part is that it doesn't just affect Texas. Because Texas and California have the most kids, textbooks used in other states tend to be the ones that are made for those two states.

 

Actually, there was already some discussion of this here: http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=183565&page=2

 

Who cares about teaching grade schoolers the historical influences of music whether it be country, tejano, rap, rock, blues, etc. etc.? That's a nifty college course.

I went to grade school in the fifties and sixties and my teachers were talking about the early Spanish explorers, the development of Texas by Spain and Mexico, the importance of Juan Seguin, the rationale of Santa Ana's invasion, and many other Hispanic cultural influences on Texas history. I was taught about George Washington Carver and his agricultural achievements, especially regarding the peanut -- findings that have an effect on us to this very day.

The importance of LULAC and similar groups are tangental -- not primary -- to the development of Texas history. I want kids to understand how the nation developed and the roles people played. Just because U.S. political, scientific leaders of the early years were mostly white doesn't mean they weren't important.

Leaving Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Robert Fulton, Eli Whitney, etc. etc. out of history is almost criminal. We could argue their influences compared to Caesar Chavez or Che Guevarra, and I dare say the former had a more profound effect on society than the latter. However, that's what college is all about.

As far as science goes, I have no problem teaching evolution as the most likely theory of the development of life. IMO it does not diminish God in any way. Religion has no business in schools, but if a child wishes to be religious, he or she should not be scorned, teased, vilified or prohibited from expressing his or her religion. Intelligent design and similar religious theories should be relegated to college when young adults can be given free rein to reason for themselves.

Thank goodness math, music, astronomy, biology, chemistry and art are difficult difficult subjects with which to mess.

 

I don't care about the music. I care about the politicization of the education:

The famous clause requiring history students to "Describe the causes and key organizations and individuals of the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s, including Phyllis Schafly, the Contract with America, the Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority, and the National Rifle Association" remains in the standards, even after its author, Don McLeroy, lost his primary this month.


According to TFN: "the board stripped Thomas Jefferson from a world history standard about the influence of Enlightenment thinkers on political revolutions from the 1700s to today. In Jefferson's place, the board's religious conservatives succeeded in inserting Thomas Aquinas and John Calvin. They also removed the reference to 'Enlightenment ideas' in the standard, requiring that students should simply learn about the influence of the 'writings' of various thinkers (including Calvin and Aquinas)."

 

McLeroy is a douchenozzle. I guess he went after history after failing to alter as much as he hoped in science.

 

Completely agree. The above bolded, like my Caesar Chavez/LULAC references, are tangental -- not primary -- aspects of our history. These "tangents" can't compare to the historical impacts of Jefferson, the Reformation, the Renaissance, etc. etc.

 

Oh how very wrong you are about that one. Every year I plan a Winter Concert for my students, and every year I get complaints. I get one or two complaints that there were religious themes in musical selections, but I get far, far, FAR more complaints that there just weren't enough, and I'll use the exact wording here, "Jesus-y songs in the Christmas concert". Even after I explain to them that it's a "Winter Concert" and not a "Christmas Concert", and that as a public school, we try to be respectful and inclusive of all belief systems, they go on and on about how we should sing songs about virgin births, stars in the East, and a little drummer boy (who doesn't even appear in the friggin' Bible!).

Believe me, if this trend continues, they'll get to the other content areas soon enough.

 

Why do you have Winter Concert at all? Is it an outgrowth of the long tradition in this country of having Christmas Pageants? Or something random you just invented last year?

If it's tradition, and it's traditional to have the little drummer boy in the Winter or Christmas concert, isn't it reasonable for parents to ask about it if it's omitted? After all as you say Drummer Boy is not even in the Bible, it's a secular expression of the traditions of the "Winter Season."

I mean we're not segregating and we're trying "to be respectful and inclusive of all belief systems" right? It doesn't seem right to arbitrarily excise aspects of that tradition based on your own personal repugnance or discretion does it? As you say Drummer Boy isn't even christian, why would you remove it from the pageant? And if you have a valid argument, how in any way is Drummer Boy disrespectful of any other traditions?

If I invite you to Thanksgiving, and feed you pizza instead of turkey, it's it an obvious and reasonable question why you decided to take remove turkey and serve pizza isn't it? It doesn't me a bad or primitive judgmental person because that obvious question comes to mind is it? What reasonable person would actually have problem with that question or be offended by it?

So... history should be slanted towards whichever race or ethnicity is dominant in society?? Regardless of how many hispanic, asian or black students a school has, history is history right? Or do we overplay a certain group's impact based on how many of that ethnicity are in a school system as some sort of feel-good social engineering>

 

Off topic, I feel that the arts, both music and painting play a significant role in a child's development. Many schools are dropping art programs, and that is unamerican and very unpatriotic. My boy ben franklin' played the violin and he would not approve.


On history, kids are entitled to the truth, like it was a good thing that robin hood took from the rich and gave back to the poor. Just like it was a good thing that mandela and che stood up for the people. I know that winners write history, but a little truth in there won't hurt. Robin hood was not a commie.
I see the right working though;they want a legion of Alberto gonzaleses.

 

I have just landed a new contract writing the next history text for TX public schools! So awesome and I needed the money.

Let me know what y'all think:

scene: Alamo
Crocket enters from left, wearing raccoon-patterned camouflage and sporting a large automatic weapon (just as our forefathers not named Jefferson intended!)

Crocket strolls to the wall, never removing sunglasses, and in slow motion, he mows down the entire Mexican Army and several liberal reporters who were covering the fight for papers in what was then California.

Crocket turns to camera and hisses: "I guess you guys were too old to believe in Santa... Ana."

Fade to black.

 

It was put in place by the teacher before me, so I've kept it going because the kids are ready for some stage experience by that time of the year, and the parents enjoy it (for the most part).

Wow, where to begin with this. First of all, to say that a Winter Concert is traditional AND that the tradition should include Christian music is presumptuous, at best. There are plenty of musical traditions at wintertime that DON'T include Jesus, and they are just as worthy of attention as Christian beliefs. And you're reading words that I didn't even write: I didn't say 'Little Drummer Boy' was secular, just that it wasn't scriptural. And I don't "omit" Christmas. We sing a song or two about it. But we sing other material as well. But the ones I mentioned that complain want EVERY SINGLE song to be about Jesus, and that's just not right.

Again, you're reading words I didn't even write. I didn't say that I find Christian traditions "repugnant", or that I don't include Christmas in our concert. What I find "repugnant" is people who believe that their religion is the only thing that is worthy of attention, and should be front-and-center drowning out every other voice or opinion in the room.

Perhaps, but the meal is "advertised" as Thanksgiving dinner, and therefore has a certain menu expectation. But if you invited me to just "dinner", and served me pizza, I wouldn't give you crap for not serving me turkey. The concert is not called a Christmas concert. It's not advertised as a Christmas concert. It's not taught as a Christmas concert. It's a Winter Concert. Winter, not Christmas. Not too hard to understand. If they wanted a Christmas concert, they aren't that hard to find: just about every Christian church has one in one form or another. School is the place where everyone should feel welcomed and respected (I know, I know: it doesn't always work out that way), and that includes those who don't practice Christianity. Programming a concert comprised entirely of Christmas songs would not be conducive to creating a welcoming environment to all students.

 

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