Most cowards work that way.
Ms. Karen R. Todorov
Social Studies Consultant
Office of School Improvement
Michigan Department of Education
P.O. Box 30008
Lansing, MI 48909
(517) 373-2893
todorok@michigan.gov
Posted on 05/31/2006 2:06:43 PM PDT by fgoodwin
Flap over using 'America' in Michigan schools gets widespread attention
http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060529/News01/60529005
http://tinyurl.com/lpvo9
May 29. 2006 3:01PM
By KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN Associated Press Writer
LANSING — A judge and former state school board member is convinced the state was on track to erase the words "America" and "American" from Michigan social studies classes in favor of "United States" until he raised the alarm.
"I feel vindicated in the department's reaction in making a complete about face and abandoning this direction. Hopefully it will put all this to bed," Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Michael Warren said Friday.
But state Superintendent Michael Flanagan says the language change was only a suggestion by a Department of Education staffer and never would have happened on his watch.
"I would never approve the removal of 'America' or 'American' from our classrooms," he said. "It's not happening."
The controversy heated up after Warren wrote an opinion piece for Wednesday's Detroit News. In it, he said that the Michigan Department of Education was attempting to ban the two words from public schools and that it had ordered teachers "not to utter the words."
Flanagan immediately took issue with the article, stating in a news release that no such edict had gone out to school teachers.
"I consider myself an American. We live in the United States of America. We are citizens of the United States of America. But the vernacular is that we're Americans," he wrote.
Karen Todorov, a Department of Education employee who works on social studies curriculum and testing, is the one pushing to change references to the country and its documents from America to the United States.
She declined to be interviewed by The Associated Press.
But during an appearance Wednesday on Frank Beckmann's show on Detroit radio station WJR, she said it's important in an increasingly global world to recognize that America also refers to other countries in South America and elsewhere in North America.
"It is not the intent for us to get rid of the word 'Americans,’æ” she said. "I don't have any problem with people calling us Americans.
"Our intention is as we're moving forward in our global world that we recognize that other people share this hemisphere with us," she added. "We don't own the whole hemisphere, only a very beautiful portion of it."
She said the changes are not the wide-sweeping changes Warren decries. The American Revolution would still be the American Revolution. The words "America" and "American" wouldn't be banned from classrooms, she said.
But Warren still thinks there was a danger that policy was drifting that way until he wrote his opinion piece. He points out that Todorov just last week told those attending the Michigan Social Studies Supervisors Association that teachers should avoid using the words "America" and "American."
"It was a very troubling direction until the superintendent quashed the efforts at the department," Warren said Friday in a phone interview. "It was not just a trial balloon or a thought."
Department of Education spokeswoman Jan Ellis said Todorov made the remarks to the supervisors to let them know what the committee was considering in the course content expectations, not as an edict to teachers.
She added that Todorov never intended to set off such a firestorm.
"She is humbled," Ellis said.
Flanagan said Friday he talked with Todorov to get the facts and does not intend to discipline her. But he added there's no danger the words "America" and "American" will disappear from Michigan classrooms.
Flanagan and Warren, a Republican who served on the state Board of Education from 1999-2002, have discussed their dispute on WJR's Paul W. Smith show and on John Gibson's national radio show on Fox News. Gibson also commented on the dispute Thursday on his television show.
The flap caused hundreds of angry phone calls and e-mails to flood the department, leaving at least one employee in tears because of the comments flung at workers, Flanagan said.
"To even think somehow that a group of public servants would somehow orchestrate these anti-American things, it's preposterous — but apparently believed by some," he added.
Warren isn't changing his tune.
"I firmly believe that the word 'America' and 'American' has in it a certain vibrancy of the spirit of our nation and our character," he said. "I think it is mischievous to strip that out and have us referred to in other ways."
Why don't they FIRE HER DUMB ASS???????????
Gee, the Canadians call us "America" and if anyone had a right to get picky about it, it would be them.
Have at it.
Karen Todorov, todorok@micigan.gov
Mountains out of molehills.
We aren't United Statesians. Everyone knows what Americans means.
Most cowards work that way.
Ms. Karen R. Todorov
Social Studies Consultant
Office of School Improvement
Michigan Department of Education
P.O. Box 30008
Lansing, MI 48909
(517) 373-2893
todorok@michigan.gov
When I first saw this, I thought USA Today was behind it all! They never write "America" in their article copy or headlines.
Just saying those words won't be banned is quite telling.
"I AM A CONTROL FREAK!!!!"
Want to bet she's a Union Thug?
Translation: I got caught.
She has ties to the USFL-CIO, no doubt.
Some of these Dept of Ed. types are so far removed from the classroom that they have no clue.
I have no doubt what these people were up to, because I've seen this sentiment expressed before by the usual crowd. They (mostly the latin-America types who have been populating the pro-illegal immigrant rallies) complain that "America" is a continent, so all residents of North and South America should be entitled to be called "Americans". What these fools fail to realize (or admit) is that the official title of our country is the United States of America, not just the United States, and therefore we use the term "Americans" as an abbreviated form. No other country in this hemisphere uses the word "America" in its title. This fool Todorov and her cohorts are simply pandering to the perpetual whiners who, in my opinion, are simply trying to dilute our national identity so that they can more freely invade and milk our country dry.
Most 'union thugs' I've come across were far mor pro-America than my dealing with 'non-union thugs'...
I don't know her motivation but it may be legitimate...If George Bush has his way, when you say you are an American, that could mean someone from the North Pole to the Panama Canal...For many, America don't mean America, anymore...
Important to whom? I have traveled all over the continents and have never heard any Peruvians, Mexicans, Costa Ricans or Canadians refer to themselves as "Americans"; nor have they ever suggested an inclination to do so. So where's the conflict?
Typically, marxist Ms. Todorov is pushing for a solution to a problem that exists only in her own mind.
There are two very simple reasons why The United States of America morphed into simply "America" from the beginning.
First of all, it was, from the beginning, the preeminent country in the new hemisphere, and no other country ever came close to matching it in importance, achievement and influence. Perhaps Marxist Ms Todorov resents that to this day.
On a more practical level, People from El Salvador refer to themselves as "Salvadorans", Costa Ricans as "Ticos" and Canadians as "Canadians" It is simply a matter of convenience. All other countries in the Americas have a one or two word name. We happen to have a 4-word name which, for simple reference, right or wrong, evolved into "America". If Haiti still resents that, they are free to start calling themselves "Americans" too. I don't see anyone protesting over it.
Of course, for that to make sense they would need to officially change their name to "Haiti of America". We're talking the sort of silliness here that only a tiny mind can conjure up.
Ms Todorov, obviously should be teaching something harmless; perhaps gym?
Sounds like a good Soviet name to me.
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