[tiamat]

What they need to be doing is teach HISTORY , period. Getting off of the Social Studies crap would help a lot.

My daughter had Early American History last year for fifth grade and the teacher used a textbook from the early 70s. Big thick thing with lots of dense text. Covered all sorts of stuff that would be considered controversial now, like the "Three Fifths Compromise". Actual HISTORY of what happened around the time of the Revolution and not a lot of PC feel-good crap.

The kids spent a couple of weeks decontructing the Constituion and the Bill of Rights and the teacher made SURE that they knew what it all meant.

There are some good teachers out there who mean it.

Tia

[BushCountry]

Textbooks by definition are outdated the moment they go to press and seldom are worth the paper they are printed on. Too long have teachers relied on textbooks as a means of getting out to work and doing their job correctly, teaching. Read chapter 3 and write a synopsis, blah, blah, blah...

By far, the best teachers are the ones would ignore the textbooks, stands in front of the class and make their lectures fun, informative and demands improvement from their students by challenging them.