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High School Student Raises Questions About Textbook Bias
FOXNews.com ^ | April 8, 2008 | Associated Press

Posted on 04/09/2008 9:37:25 AM PDT by 14erClimb

WASHINGTON — Talk about a civics lesson: A high-school senior has raised questions about political bias in a popular textbook on U.S. government, and legal scholars and top scientists say the teen's criticism is well-founded.

They say "American Government" by conservatives James Wilson and John Dilulio presents a skewed view of topics from global warming to separation of church and state. The publisher now says it will review the book, as will the College Board, which oversees college-level Advanced Placement courses used in high schools.

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: americangovernment; brainwashedkid; globalwarming; globalwarmingscare; homosexualagenda; jameswilson; johndilulio; lawrencevtexas; politicalcorrectness; polticalcorrectness; textbook
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To: Gabz
Had this been a student pointing out a liberal bias in a textbook, I venture to guess most posters here would be supportive. I think the point being missed here is that the student is actually taking this much of an interest.......but that’s just me.

I tend to agree. I like the fact that the student is actually thinking about what is in his textbook, rather than mindlessly accepting it all.

I don't want students mindlessly accepting everything at school, whether it comes from a conservative or liberal perspective -- that's just brainwashing, not teaching.

41 posted on 04/09/2008 10:41:05 AM PDT by Amelia
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To: 14erClimb
From the article that criticizes portions of the book as "inaccurate":

Last year an international collection of hundreds of scientists and government officials unanimously approved wording that said the scientific community had "very high confidence," meaning more than 90 percent likelihood, that global warming is caused by humans.
Of course if the citation of the international conference on climate change were accurate it would have said:
Last year an international collection of hundreds of government officials and a few scientists unanimously approved wording that said the scientific community ...

42 posted on 04/09/2008 10:44:42 AM PDT by VRWCmember (McCain 2008 -- If it's inevitible, you might as well lay back and try to enjoy it.)
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To: Amelia

If he and his supporters (at AgitProp Media) are blindly parroting the “overwhelming scientific communist community 99.9% assures us that man is responsbile for global warming and can change the atmosphere for good and well as bad...” then he isn’t “thinking” on his own at all.


43 posted on 04/09/2008 11:00:58 AM PDT by weegee (March 18th, 2008 Obama~"I did NOT listen to the sermons of that man, Jeremiah Wright...")
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To: 14erClimb

Somebody need to give this turd a smack in the back of his head


44 posted on 04/09/2008 11:02:02 AM PDT by verga (I am not an apologist, I just play one on Television)
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To: 14erClimb

Good god. This punk kid can find CONSERVATIVE bias, but can’t find any LIBERAL bias?!

Unbelievable.


45 posted on 04/09/2008 11:13:46 AM PDT by Recovering_Democrat ((I am SO glad to no longer be associated with the party of Dependence on Government!))
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To: 14erClimb

This is blatant evidence that conservativism didn’t die a natural death as some have said; it’s being beaten to death right in front of us.

Censorship for presenting an alternative view?

How Mugabe.


46 posted on 04/09/2008 11:13:52 AM PDT by Old Professer (The critic writes with rapier pen, dips it twice, and writes again.)
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To: goodwithagun
Regarding the Crucible. It was written BEFORE McCarthy came to the forefront. The House Committee on UnAmerican Activities (HCUAA, not HUAC) was established in the 1930s.

In the Crucible there were genuine witches. Whether their spells had any effect was a moot point, they stripped naked and danced in the woods.

In the 1920s-up in America there have been Communists. Communists who preferred to give loyalty to Mother Russia, the USSR, and Uncle Joe Stalin over the United States.

This is not a “Red Scare”. If it is then George Orwell's Animal Farm and 1984 are also both “Red Scare” anti-Communist propaganda.

Orwell was a Socialist until he closely observed how the Socialists were quite critical of the US and UK (even during WWII) but would never say a critical word of Stalin or the USSR. All animals are equal. Some are more equal than others.

Let's skip over McCarthy for now.

So in the Crucible there are witches made to go on the stand and “out” other witches. We are told that this is dangerous to our society, to compel someone under investigation to snitch on the others. Especially when the hearsay evidence they present is not concrete enough to secure a criminal conviction.

So flash forward to this year. And Congressional hearings into steroid use in professional baseball. Do you now or did you ever take human growth hormone? The questioning of Roger Clemens was brought on by the testimony of another player. And the line of questioning was of the sort “he claims to have spoken to you in 2000 or 2001... in THAT conversation from 2000 OR 2001 did you ever mention...”

Which conversation? THE one in 2000? Or THE one in 2001? Or maybe they had more than 2 conversations in two years time?

So the dirty little secret is that the Communists of the 1950s saw no harm in BEING a Communist, even with some of the fellow travelers giving secrets to the atomic bomb to Mother Russia and plunging us into a costly and nearly deadly 45 year Cold War.

The witches in The Crucible should’ve been permitted to be witches and the Communists should have been permitted to be Communists.

Now a Democrat in California wants to lift the legal prohibition on known Communists from serving in California's public schools. So the Naked Communists will have nothing to fear. Still don't think that they want to advance an extremist agenda?

Another witchhunt show trial to discuss in class. The persecution of Tom DeLay. 2 years later his case still has not come to trial and I think Ronnie Earle has stepped down. But the goal of getting DeLay out of office has been achieved and Democrat takeover of the Congress accomplished.

47 posted on 04/09/2008 11:14:01 AM PDT by weegee (March 18th, 2008 Obama~"I did NOT listen to the sermons of that man, Jeremiah Wright...")
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To: Recovering_Democrat

He can find conservative dissent from the “eternal truth”.


48 posted on 04/09/2008 11:16:18 AM PDT by weegee (March 18th, 2008 Obama~"I did NOT listen to the sermons of that man, Jeremiah Wright...")
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To: verga

This kid should read http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/arts/601516/an-emerging-truth.thtml before he tries to assert the claim that climate science is “certain”


49 posted on 04/09/2008 11:19:40 AM PDT by Wil H
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To: SuziQ

50 posted on 04/09/2008 11:20:40 AM PDT by Old Professer (The critic writes with rapier pen, dips it twice, and writes again.)
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To: Amelia
I don't want students mindlessly accepting everything at school, whether it comes from a conservative or liberal perspective -- that's just brainwashing, not teaching.

Exactly.......that was the point I was trying to make, but you said it far better than I did!!!!

(P.S. please read my shameless bragging in post 37)

51 posted on 04/09/2008 11:23:15 AM PDT by Gabz (Don't tell my mom I'm a lobbyist, she thinks I'm a piano player in a whorehouse)
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To: verga

The kid isn’t dumb, he another little Agitprop clinton in the making http://www.aclu.org/students/34399res20080314.html


52 posted on 04/09/2008 11:24:52 AM PDT by Wil H
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To: adorno

Good post and good points.


53 posted on 04/09/2008 11:25:39 AM PDT by 14erClimb (I'm not a member of the vast RINO conspiracy)
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To: Wil H
Unbelievable
54 posted on 04/09/2008 11:31:55 AM PDT by 14erClimb (I'm not a member of the vast RINO conspiracy)
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To: Old Professer

Wow! That’s pretty darn bare!

I’m sure the Global Warming alarmists will soon declare that Global Warming has prevented sunspots.


55 posted on 04/09/2008 11:52:57 AM PDT by VeniVidiVici (Benedict Arnold, the Rosenbergs and Joe Kennedy were all against the Terrorist Surveillance Program)
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To: Wil H

Wow! He’s wears protest buttons to school! Is he out of diapers yet?


56 posted on 04/09/2008 11:56:59 AM PDT by VeniVidiVici (Benedict Arnold, the Rosenbergs and Joe Kennedy were all against the Terrorist Surveillance Program)
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To: Gabz

Later the article reveals:

“It’s not the first time LaClair has raised alarm bells over teaching at his school. A few years ago, he tape recorded a teacher making religious remarks to his students. Many people at the school were upset with LaClair for raising the issue.”

This jerk is just training to be another obnoxious communist activist, he should not be encouraged.


57 posted on 04/09/2008 12:06:33 PM PDT by Gothmog (I fight for Xev)
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To: Gothmog
he tape recorded a teacher making religious remarks to his students.

I have no problem with that, just as we don't like teachers that indoctrinate pupils, we should not tolerate religious views in class.

58 posted on 04/09/2008 12:25:05 PM PDT by Wil H
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To: Old Professer

Wow!!


59 posted on 04/09/2008 12:32:05 PM PDT by coloradan (The US is becoming a banana republic, except without the bananas - or the republic.)
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To: Gothmog
This jerk is just training to be another obnoxious communist activist, he should not be encouraged.

I read the entire article and while I disagree with the some of what he has done/is doing in regard to positions, I still stand by my position that had he been doing the same in the opposite direction he would be being hailed as a hero here.

My entire point is he is actually showing an interest and doing something --- whether I agree or not with him is immaterial.

60 posted on 04/09/2008 12:55:54 PM PDT by Gabz (Don't tell my mom I'm a lobbyist, she thinks I'm a piano player in a whorehouse)
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