Posted on 12/01/2009 9:00:48 PM PST by celticchik
I am having an email argument/discussion with my son's social studies teacher. He distributed a study guide about how unfair it was that the founding fathers at the Constitutional Convention did not include African Americans, Native Americans, women and poor people. I discussed with my son who is 12, that the only people who received an education at the time were white wealthy land owning men. I disagree with the use of the word unfair and let the teacher know my feelings politely. It was indicative of the era. Why would we send uneducated people to a meeting to start a government? I simplified it by saying that I wouldn't attempt brain surgery because I do not have medical knowledge. Do you know of any history books written for middle school aged children that are written without a socialist agenda?
We homeschool parents here on FR put together a list of educational resources, including books and resources for history. Click here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2346553/posts?page=5#5
For the record: I have a 12yo son, too, and another son who was the same age not too long ago. I would’ve handled the issue the same way by simply pointing out to my son that most people weren’t invited to the Constitutional Convention. Only delegates were invited to represent their states, and back then the delegates were men whose ancestry traced to a certain part of Europe, specifically England, Wales, etc. (Someone here with a better grasp of historical facts can provide more information, I’m sure.)
IMHO, it’s appropriate to talk about the ancestry of the men who molded and shaped this nation at the beginning. But, rather than just calling them “white men”, why not be more specific? Why doesn’t the teacher talk about their specific heritage and how it influenced them? Honestly, I would tell my 12 year-old son that his teacher gave him a dumbed-down lesson to bring home.
Reading your post with the teacher’s response now... Aside from the errors, the teacher’s explanation doesn’t sound so bad, if she handled the lesson as she described it. (I see you’re in my state, by the way.)
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Tell the teacher how unfair you think it is that your son is not teaching the class.
Point well made.
Fairness is from the realm of liberalism
Justice is from the hand of God
“Do you know of any history books written for middle school aged children that are written without a socialist agenda?”
Yes. Most of the ones written before political correctness corrupted thinking.
This guy is an historical ignoramus. Our current form of government evolved over time, very painfully, by steps. At the time the Constitution was written, aside from Switzerland, Iceland, San Marino and a handfull of other quaint places, 99% of humanity was composed of “subjects” not “citizens” and most governments were monarchies based on the support of a small class of wealthy plutcrats or aristocrats.
I wonder what school was invilved here? Since it is New Jersey, there is a HOST of suspects.
Get Sonlight curriculum or do The Well Trained Mind. Both involve reading books, real books and not textbooks.
Of course, this means you are pulling your child out of the social education system and doing REAL education instead.
Go here to learn how: www.hslda.org
I’ve posted these sentiments many times before, so forgive me for being curt.
Homeschool. It costs almost nothing and is worth more than a college education.
Public school is a form of welfare. Get off welfare.
If you’re a conservative, you shouldn’t be putting your kids in a leftist indoctrination camp.
Your school is no exception.
Please note: the Constitutional Convention was held in 1787, not 1791; Washington was inaugurated on April 30, 1789 as the first POTUS.
There were 55 signers, 53 Protestants and 2 Catholics (Carroll from MD and Fitzsimons from PA). More than half were Episcopalians (the old COE) with the next highest Presbyterians (there were no Jews, Muslims, Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Buddhists, Shinto, Hindu, Sikhs, Jains, etc.) As an example, at the time of the Revolution, there were approximately 3,300 Jews in the colonies out of a total of about 3.2 million free persons (about 500,000 African American slaves at the time). So, this was an overwhelmingly Christian country that these individuals--remarkably enough--did not set this country up as a Christian nation (and please note--I am not looking for a fight here...I am a Jew).
One point you might make to this guy is that--at this time--there was no equality anywhere in the world, and it was this group of white Protestants who set this country up (as had NEVER been done before) so that we would be in a position to lead the world in Freedom and Liberty and evolve as an equal opportunity Republic. And, about 70 years post-Convention, over 600,000 American would die in order to free Africans from slavery.
Remind the teacher that the Russian Revolution was accomplished by over-educated white, male, elitists with little or no actual work experience. Look how well that turned-out.
“During the early eighties, the committee approach to fashioning a PC text became vogue.”
Yes, that is when the Marxists cleansed civics and American history and replaced it with race-based multiculturalism. Diversity is another word for multiculturalism.
One point you might make to this guy is that--at this time--there was no equality anywhere in the world, and it was this group of white Protestants who set this country up (as had NEVER been done before) so that we would be in a position to lead the world in Freedom and Liberty and evolve as an equal opportunity Republic. And, about 70 years post-Convention, over 600,000 American would die in order to free Africans from slavery.Thomas Sowell makes the point that slavery was an accepted institution worldwide and throughout history - until Christians rejected the legitimacy of the institution during the Enlightenment period. That means that there is no other culture - not Hindus, not Confuscians, not pagans, not atheists, not Shintoists, not Jews, certainly not Muslims, nobody - other than Christians who have ever put their bodies on the line for the freedom of people unrelated to themselves. And that there is not only no literature other than Christian literature promoting the abolition of slavery, there is no literature other than (southern American) Christian literature defending the retention of slavery - because the institution was not controversial anywhere else but among Christians.And among Christians, Protestants were more hostile to slavery earlier than Catholics, and English speaking Protestants were more hostile to slavery earlier than other Protestants. Britain established a naval squadron to interdict the slave trade between Africa and the Western Hemisphere (at significant expense and for no monetary benefit to Britain) - and was unable to give its sailors shore leave in Africa because their sailors were so hostile to the slavery which was so common in Africa that they would inevitably get into riots.
The Christians of the American South were uniquely situated to be the last Christians to reject the legitimacy of the institution of slavery - they had a tiger by the tail, and knew it. In fact, although Abolition went mainstream during/after the Civil War, outright Abolitionists were on the fringe of American political opinion before then because everyone knew that southern whites had a tiger by the tail.
I would tell your History teacher friend that history is a story of events that people didn't know would happen before they happened. Which only means that current knowledge of those past events doesn't make anyone morally superior to those who, having lived earlier, could not know those facts.
William WilberforceBlack Rednecks and White Liberals - Thomas Sowell
Thanks for posting...and links.
mark for later
For United States History, I recommend United States History by Bob Jones University Press. Patriotic, very well written, very interesting.
Available at christianbook.com, or try Ebay, or bjup.com.
Even if you don’t homeschool, you can read a certain amount a day together and have your student do the quizzes here and there. You don’t need a postdoctorate degree to explore history, and the perspectives of Bob Jones curricula are very good.
For the record, they are not pollyanna, and do mention controversies and more negative parts of our history without sugarcoating. However, they are pro-America and emphasize our many positive attributes. American heroes and innovations are given good coverage.
I recommend World History for Christian Schools by Bob Jones University Press for world history. I home school, and that’s what I use, interspersed with historical fiction.
With this guys understanding young children should be educating the adults!!
An old series of “A History for Peter”
On ebay you can find the series, book-by-book.
Well then ask him since he thinks it’s so unfair would he like to trash the Bill of Rights?
Something so remarkably unfair sure produced a great outcome, an outcome that allowed many of these mentioned groups to reach equality.
For US History, you can get a full curriculum K-12 from the Heritage Foundation for free!!!!!!!!
How illiterate for a teacher. Not only can the teacher not construct a reasonable sentence, she(?) doesn’t even have a decent grasp of history.
While the Founding Fathers may not have invited everyone to participate in the Constitutional Convention itself, the documents they drew up DID include everyone.
It’s simply not possible to have everyone participate in everything. They had enough debate and dispute about them anyway. Adding more people and opinions to the mix would not have helped. This is what the concepts of leaders and a representative republic are all about.
This teacher might want to consider that government isn’trun much differently today. Do our representatives ask and consider the opinion of ALL their representatives for direction in voting on laws? I don’t think so. People are leaving NYS and other liberal states because of the failed policies that are being passed over their constituents objections.
There’s nothing new under the sun.
Please see post 58 further back up in this thread for free curriculum from the Heritage Foundation.
By the way, discussion usually means responses from more than one party. There have been problems in the past with people who sign up on FR who post articles and NEVER respond to them. That is not considered good form, likely on any internet forum, and that is part of what trolling is.
If you post something and don’t respond to people’s replies to you, that’s not a good way to get a good start. Just for your information.
Welcome to FR.
Thanks for the info. I will check the Heritage website since I am a member. The school books that the children use only come home once a year for the parents to cover. They claim that they want to keep them in better condition. In retrospect, I think they do not want the parents reading them. I am very aware of the leftist slant of these books. I spend many evening with my son not only going over homework but giving him a more pro-American point of view. I can’t believe having a pro-American point of view is now the minority view. I grew up as a child of a Korean War veteran and learned all of the words to American songs including having to listen to John Philips Sousa battle hymns played early in the morning on his stereo on national holidays. I try to keep these pro-American feelings alive with my son. I sometimes wish I was more unaware, as many of our citizens are, of how we are slipping into a Communist Society, remaining blissfully ignorant.
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