Posted on 11/03/2005 2:04:14 PM PST by Coleus
Meet Joe Enge.
Joe is an award-winning, 15-year veteran history teacher in Carson City who has, among other things, written two history textbooks and served on the 1997 task force which drew up Nevada's history standards. But according to school district administrators, he's a "bad" teacher.
You see, Joe has this crazy idea that American history should include our colonial period, as well as the Revolutionary War period. You know, where the Founding Fathers fought for independence from England and wrote the greatest governing document the world has ever known - the United States Constitution. You know, that period of time which gave us patriot heroes such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Tom Paine, Benjamin Franklin, Patrick Henry, Sam Adams, John Hancock, Paul Revere, John Paul Jones, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Hancock.
And Joe has REALLY ticked off the local school district bureaucrats and the education establishment.
You see, unbeknownst to most parents in Carson City, the school district believes that high school American history should start with the Civil War era, not the days of America's Founding. Indeed, the curriculum forced on history teachers at Carson High School ignores pre-Civil War history completely - other than a little optional "refresher" at the beginning of the school year or if you're in an Advanced Placement class.
Joe Enge has fought the district's History-Lite curriculum for the past three years by teaching ALL of his students ALL of America's history, starting with the colonial period (remember the Pilgrims?).
In addition, Joe believes...get this...that the teacher should teach and the students should learn. He embraces and practices the "traditional" teacher-centered method of education, as opposed to the fashionable student-centered "discovery learning" method currently all the rage in San Francisco and Portland. What a trouble-maker.
So the school district wants to get rid of him.
Joe's supervisors - including Carson High's principal, Fred Perdomo - have given Joe unsatisfactory evaluations in retaliation for his refusal to teach a Founding-free version of American history. And although Joe's a "tenured" teacher, three such bad evaluations would be grounds for running this maverick out of town on a rail (students would have to read Revolutionary War-era history to know just what this phrase means). So Joe challenged the administrative evaluations; however, the Carson City School District Superintendent, Mary Pierszynski, sided with the principal. Big surprise there.
Last month as part of a mediation effort, Ms. Pierszynski offered to buy Joe off by paying him one year's salary if he'd quit. And considering the pure hell this one-man fight has put his family through, Joe actually considered it. But at the last minute, Pierszynski withdrew her offer, and now the dispute is moving to binding arbitration. Which means if Pierszynski's ruling backing Perdomo's evaluations stands, this Fulbright Scholar and Madison Fellowship award-winner will likely be tossed out on his kiester - and his Carson High students will finally be taught that American history began when Lincoln freed the slaves.
Of course, the teacher's union could always ride in and defend this experienced, professional classroom educator. Yeah, right. Fat chance. You see, Joe has chosen not to join the teacher's union, so these "principled" defenders of teaching professionals are more than happy to see the guy thrown to the wolves.
This entire episode is an outrage. Joe Enge is the kind of teacher we should WANT educating our kids. He loves history. He knows history. And he's darned good at teaching history. Indeed, Enge's spirit of resistance to this great injustice would make our Founding Fathers - who the Carson City School District would prefer to pretend never existed - proud. Especially Thomas Jefferson who (not that Carson City high school students would know it) once said, "The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive."
It's time for Superintendent Pierszynski, Principal Perdomo and the entire Carson City education establishment to call off the dogs and let professional American history teacher Joe Enge do what he's been trained to do and has been successfully doing for 15 long years: TEACH AMERICAN HISTORY. The FULL American history, not the district's "Reader's Digest" version.
Please help keep American history IN ITS ENTIRETY alive at Carson High School by signing our online petition urging the Carson City School District to allow Joe Enge to do what he's been trained to do: Teach ALL of American history.
Just go to the "Online Petition" page at www.citizenoutreach.com
Carson High School Principal Fred Perdomo
Carson City School Superintendent Mary Pierczynski
Carson City School Board President James Hukari
Who ARE these people?? Does anyone know anything about their credentials to run a school district?? Are they all recently-graduated campus-radicals? How old are they? Where do these freak school-board member come from?? This stuff is going on all over the U.S. and I can't figure out how this happens.
I always thought US History ended in 1919 since my two classes never got past WWI.
Interesting post. Could you elaborate on why they chose the civil war period and the trade offs involved. For example there are only so many history classes you can take in high school with a great deal of territory to cover. Is the idea to focus on post civil war a way to get some depth as opposed to a broad view with little detail. I'm not seeing this as a conservative v liberal issue at all despite the effort to galvanize support for this teacher from the conservative side. The use of the civil war creates a gut reaction that I don't think is true. If they touch on our earlier history in middle school I'd be more inclined to write this off. Additionally it seems college is where you pick your history classes from a broad offering to suit your tastes.
See: No Child Left Behind
Standardized Testing
thanks, I should have done a title search on fr instead of a google search. Sometimes google lets me down.
Don't give me that. Here in OH we have standardized tests too, and I've taught at every grade level 7th through 12th, then college. Just because you HAVE to teach "x" doesn't mean you can't also teach "y." That's a cop out. And you know who to blame for that.
No problem. Thanks for the ping. Glad to see that they are physically getting the "message".
I had to take tests like that in Ohio in 1996. And I was REQUIRED to pass that test in order to graduate. Blaming Bush makes no sense.
No it's a "refresher" for AP students because the AP test actually TESTS that period of time.
Today there are National Standards that are a result of NCLB passed in 2002. Prior to NCLB some states had Statewide standards while others did not.
I bought this book for my son who now is in college. His American History textbook at college leaves out so much information that my son was amazed. He uses "A Patriot's History of the US" to make sure that he has the whole story.
Look, this is a niggling little point that I don't want to argue over but the piece (which is not very strong on facts but alludes to them obliquely) clearly talks about the "refresher" as separate from the AP classes.
"...other than a little optional "refresher" at the beginning of the school year or if you're in an Advanced Placement class.
"Or" is the operative word in that sentence.
Thanks. Glad it is helping him. If he needs material for papers, make sure to go to our references and notes. They are the most recent scholarship.
I teach American History Honors (10th grade) and college level here in FL, land of the FCAT. We ignore the standardized test and teach the students the facts AND how to think about them.
My students are currently preparing their proposals for our annual Constitutional Convention. Nothing imprints the beauty of the American system more than having them experience it for themselves. Active learning has nothing to do with state-mandated pap for content or a standardized test.
PS My students know Lincoln never freed a single slave.
As a former US history teacher, I don't see how you can just start with the Civil War without giving the constitutional/political background on the slavery issue and states' rights. I assume you do not just start with the election of Lincoln.
Seems to me, the PARENTS of the kids he teaches and the kids themselves need to have a 'come to Jesus' meeting with the Principal and the Superintendent.
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