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Student seeks balance in teaching (kid resists "An Inconvenient Truth" indoctrination)
DailyFreeman (Hudson Valley, NY) ^ | December 25, 2009 | WILLIAM J. KEMBLE

Posted on 12/27/2009 9:30:31 AM PST by Mrs. Don-o

A Rhinebeck (NY)High School sophomore is urging the school district to require alternative views be presented by teachers on controversial topics like climate change.

Michelle Dewkett said the global warming documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” was being shown in science and English classes without equal weight being given to other positions on the topic.

“As of now, the teaching of controversial topics is out of control,” Dewkett told members of the Board of Education on Tuesday. She also said the district is not following its own policy of providing students with a wide range of materials.

Dewkett cited a class on global warming as an example, saying the effects of human activity on the environment are not being balanced with information about the natural course of changes on Earth.

“It says (global warming) will kill us all without offering any alternative views throughout high school,” she said. “This goes against board policy which states ‘Teachers shall approach controversial topics in an impartial and unprejudiced manner.’”

Dewkett also questioned the showing of “An Inconvenient Truth” as part of an English course, saying district policy states that “material will not be introduced for their own sake and must be part of normal instruction.”

School district officials did not immediately respond to Dewkett’s comments but previously have encouraged students and parents to offer their views during annual planning sessions of the Board of Education’s Curriculum Committee.

Dewkett said afterward that there is support for presenting other viewpoints in courses but that calling for change has been difficult.

“My friend and I want to start a club for young conservatives in Rhinebeck,” she said. “Right now, though, when someone wants to talk about these things, there are a lot of students that really don’t want to hear them.”


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; US: New York
KEYWORDS: algore; climate; globalwarming; leftismoncampus; scienceeducation
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Kid skeptic bucks the brainwashing program.

"Hey! Teacher! Leave them kids alone!"

1 posted on 12/27/2009 9:30:32 AM PST by Mrs. Don-o
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To: Mrs. Don-o

Listening to sophomoric deniers? Rubbish. Instead, listen to the climate scientists themselves.

Here’s Keith Briffa, of the UEA Climate Research Unit, commenting (e-mail) on the Medieval Warm Period: “I know there is pressure to present a nice tidy story as regards ‘apparent unprecedented warming’ … but in reality the situation is not quite so simple. ... I believe that the recent warmth was probably matched about 1000 years ago.”

CRU’s Michael Mann called Briffa’s research showing a mid- to late-20th-century temperature decline, a “problem and a potential distraction/ detraction.” So Mann simply deleted the embarrassing post-1960 portion of Briffa’s reconstruction. The CRU’s Arthur Jones crowed over the way they’d managed to “hide the decline” via what he called “Mike’s Nature trick.”

Then there’s Kevin Trenberth, the head of the Climate Analysis Section of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, who wrote: “We are no where close to knowing where energy is going or whether clouds are changing to make the planet brighter. We are not close to balancing the energy budget. The fact that we can not account for what is happening … is a travesty!”

Always good to go to the scientists themselves when you need the facts.


2 posted on 12/27/2009 9:32:04 AM PST by Mrs. Don-o (Last year, it was all about “hope and change.” This year, it is all about “smoke and mirrors.”)
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To: Mrs. Don-o
Not Evil Just Wrong

Problem Solved

3 posted on 12/27/2009 9:33:34 AM PST by paltz
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To: Mrs. Don-o

This was inevitable.


4 posted on 12/27/2009 9:37:16 AM PST by Gene Eric (Your Hope has been redistributed. Here's your Change.)
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To: Mrs. Don-o

Good job!

This kid has some brass ones.

There is hope ... maybe other kids will start seeing through this ridiculous scam that will destroy us if we don’t wise up.


5 posted on 12/27/2009 9:38:04 AM PST by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God).)
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To: paltz
No. It is evil.

If our country goes along with this, WE will become a third world country while third world countries surpass us with OUR MONEY. It is EVIL. It is a money grab to level the worldwide playing field at OUR EXPENSE over NOTHING that is valid.

6 posted on 12/27/2009 9:45:45 AM PST by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God).)
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To: Mrs. Don-o

This is good. Some people just don’t like being lied to. Then there are liberals, but what can you do?


7 posted on 12/27/2009 9:46:08 AM PST by BykrBayb (Somewhere, my flower is there. ~ Þ)
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To: Mrs. Don-o

Marxist fascism is our nation’s **most** serious and urgent threat. Government K-12 schools are the Marxist-fascists’ **most** important and powerful weapon.

Yet...Too many conservatives consistent fail to see that these indoctrination camps must be completely SHUT DOWN! Too many conservatives insist that their child’s socialist-modeled government school is somehow not socialist. Too many conservatives believe that by rearranging the deck chairs on the School Board Titanic that somehow things will change.

Government schools are the very essence of a socialist program. They have ALWAYS been a socialist program and entitlement to the middle classes. Just by attending children learn that it is OK of the government to take money from their neighbor to pay for something their parents want for FREE!

Government schools can NOT be reformed because socialism can NOT be reformed. Government schools must be abolished!


8 posted on 12/27/2009 9:48:38 AM PST by wintertime
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To: wintertime
Government schools can NOT be reformed because socialism can NOT be reformed. Government schools must be abolished!

Right on, wintertime! My sentiments exactly!

9 posted on 12/27/2009 9:55:11 AM PST by Old_Grouch (62 and AARP-free)
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To: Mrs. Don-o

Good for her- let’s pray she follows this through to it’s conclusion, and that she not be intimidated by the left, or that IF she is, that she goes public with the intimidation and further exposes the FACT that the left is intolorant of ANY opposing views. I’d certainly donate to her cause if she is tryign to start an organization that wil lstand up agaisnt the left like this, and demand equal opportunity and viewpoints in our public schools, and I think a good many others would donate as well-


10 posted on 12/27/2009 9:56:08 AM PST by CottShop (Scientific belief does not constitute scientific evidence, nor does it convey scientific knowledge)
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To: nmh

Agree, it is evil.


11 posted on 12/27/2009 10:03:36 AM PST by Balding_Eagle (If America falls, darkness will cover the face of the earth for a thousand years.)
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To: Mrs. Don-o

Go ahead and debate it in a science class.

But, an ENGLISH class?

WTF, over?


12 posted on 12/27/2009 10:06:00 AM PST by SJSAMPLE
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To: BykrBayb

What one can do is listed below:
1. Go to the school board with a list of all the errors the Goron’s “De Minimus opus” contains.
2. Present to the school board the following videos, available online:
A. The Greenhouse Conspiracy.
B. The Greening of Planet Earth.
3. Google Dr. Sherwood Idso, and Dr. Partick Michaels. Point out to the Board members that real scientists knew about the “Anthropogenic Global Warming” faulty premises decades ago.

Whoever Michelle Dewkett is, she deserves an “AttaGirl” Award. She not only questioned the “science” presented in class, she also raised substantial procedural issues with her complaint regarding the English class.


13 posted on 12/27/2009 10:07:25 AM PST by GladesGuru (In a society predicated upon freedom, it is essential to examine principles,)
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To: GladesGuru

I certainly support opposing Marxist fascism wherever it rears its ugly head,...but...We must remember that doing what you suggest is rearranging the deck chairs on the HMS School Board Titanic.

Government schools are a socialist program. Government schools always were a socialist program. Just by attending child do ( and always have) learned to be comfortable with accepting socialism. And...Socialism can NOT be reformed. It must be abolished!


14 posted on 12/27/2009 10:26:01 AM PST by wintertime
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To: GladesGuru
What one can do is listed below:
1. Go to the school board with a list of all the errors the Goron’s “De Minimus opus” contains.
....

And, to deny them them stating “That's a Right wing source” and discounting it - use the English court ruling on the showing of the movie in English schools.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23416151-judge-attacks-nine-errors-in-al-gores-alarmist-climate-change-film.do

This is from a country more PC than the US...:^)

15 posted on 12/27/2009 10:31:05 AM PST by az_gila (AZ - need less democrats - one Governor down... more to go.)
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To: GladesGuru

Very good list.

My ‘what can you do” comment was a rhetorical question. I wasn’t asking how we could get the truth out there, though I’m glad you answered that question so well. Even with your list, liberals will still want to be lied to. Nothing we can do about that. It’s their desire to be lied to that I was referring to. You can lead a liberal to water, but you can’t make him drink it.

So we put the truth out there, and just accept that the lessons won’t be learned by 100% of the people. What can you do?


16 posted on 12/27/2009 10:49:36 AM PST by BykrBayb (Somewhere, my flower is there. ~ Þ)
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To: paltz

Thank you.


17 posted on 12/27/2009 11:35:29 AM PST by Mrs. Don-o (Point of clarification.)
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To: az_gila

Good. I was looking for a general UK news source.


18 posted on 12/27/2009 11:36:40 AM PST by Mrs. Don-o (Point of clarification.)
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To: Mrs. Don-o; carolinablonde; bamahead; Delacon; SteamShovel; SolitaryMan; grey_whiskers; ...
 


Beam me to Planet Gore !

19 posted on 12/27/2009 1:42:15 PM PST by steelyourfaith (Don't start the revolution without me.)
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To: BykrBayb

If a parent group were to appear at the next meeting of the school board and make a presentation, that would be step one.
Opening Move.
1. Give each member of the school board a written statement of the facts you want them to have put in the curriculum, the videos, etc.
2. Have full documentation of the facts you want included.
3. Ask that each board member reply in writing.
Second Move.
If you do not get the results you asked for, then:
1. Ask, in writing for an accounting of what was done to meet the parental requests regarding the curriculum.
2. Ask who has been assigned to deal with your requests.
3. Ask that meetings be scheduled with responsible parties.
Third Move.

Contact FIRE at www.thefire.org.

Check local lawyers who might be willing to represent the student. Lots of publicity for any lawyer fortunate enough to be retained (good issue, facts on your side, sympathetic plaintiff.


20 posted on 12/27/2009 1:52:54 PM PST by GladesGuru (In a society predicated upon freedom, it is essential to examine principles,)
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