Posted on 03/12/2010 9:11:56 PM PST by bamahead
AUSTIN, Texas – A far-right faction of the Texas State Board of Education succeeded Friday in injecting conservative ideals into social studies, history and economics lessons that will be taught to millions of students for the next decade.
Teachers in Texas will be required to cover the Judeo-Christian influences of the nation's Founding Fathers, but not highlight the philosophical rationale for the separation of church and state. Curriculum standards also will describe the U.S. government as a "constitutional republic," rather than "democratic," and students will be required to study the decline in value of the U.S. dollar, including the abandonment of the gold standard.
"We have been about conservatism versus liberalism," said Democrat Mavis Knight of Dallas, explaining her vote against the standards. "We have manipulated strands to insert what we want it to be in the document, regardless as to whether or not it's appropriate."
Following three days of impassioned and acrimonious debate, the board gave preliminary approval to the new standards with a 10-5 party line vote. A final vote is expected in May, after a public comment period that could produce additional amendments and arguments.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Yep, what a concept. I thank the conservatives who have fought this battle for years in Texas and will continue to do so.
Have you ever wondered why we never see replays of those hilarious Mr. Bill skits?
BINGO!
It’s about frickin’ time!
I just wonder if this sea change in the textbook committee political make-up is a result of something like Beck’s 9/12 Project, Tea Partiers or if Rick Perry caused it to happen. To womever did it, kudos....hell, GIANT KUDOS!!
When conservatives assert themselves, they (we) win!
Fort Worth Republican Pat Hardy, a longtime teacher, voted for the new standards, but said she wished the board could work with a more cooperative spirit. "What we've done is we've taken a document that by nature is too long to begin with and then we've lengthened it some more," Hardy said, shortly after the vote. "Those long lists of names that we've put in there ... it's just too long.
"I just think we failed to keep that in mind, it's hard for teachers to get through it all.". . . and if you think it's too long for the teachers . . .Basically you're faced with the "If 'everything is important' then nothing is important" problem.
Teachers in Texas will be required to cover the Judeo-Christian influences of the nation's Founding Fathers, but not highlight the philosophical rationale for the separation of church and state. Curriculum standards also will describe the U.S. government as a "constitutional republic," rather than "democratic," and students will be required to study the decline in value of the U.S. dollar, including the abandonment of the gold standard.
"We have been about conservatism versus liberalism," said Democrat Mavis Knight of Dallas, explaining her vote against the standards. "We have manipulated strands to insert what we want it to be in the document, regardless as to whether or not it's appropriate."In the nature of things, nobody is going to think that things they don't agree with should be taught in school. Your problem is that everyone else doesn't agree with you, so things you don't think are "appropriate" are being considered.
Democrats did score a victory by deleting a portion of an amendment by Republican Don McLeroy suggesting that the civil rights movement led to "unrealistic expectations for equal outcomes."Just save time and decide to teach the writings of Thomas Sowell!
Here’s that keeper quote from McCormick.
“...TO FURNISH THAT CHECK UPON GOVERNMENT WHICH NO CONSTITUTION HAS EVER BEEN ABLE TO PROVIDE.”
Weren't the Founding Fathers influenced by Judeo-Christian philosophy? So, what AP is saying is that in Texas, teacher will be required to teach history truthfully. The horror.
Where was the outcry in the press when radical leftists decided to inject Marxist, anti-American revisionism into the vast majority of textbooks across the entire nation? Typical school textbooks today express views that are to the left of at least 90% of Americans. Are we supposed to see that as fair?
How about we make a deal: Texas will remove any conservative ideas from Texan textbooks, if the other 49 states will remove all the radical leftist ideas from their textbooks?
Thank-you conservatives for pressing on!!....I believe the tide is turning!
“I pledge alliegance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands......”
April Castro considers the truth “far right” so I presume she is a communist..............has the right name to pull it off too ;-)
Possible, but not many true conservatives are members of the NEA. I’m not, nor ever will be.
“Representative Republic” is actually redundant.
OK it is fixed!
Yes, you have. And now, WE'VE fixed it. Refreshingly honest for a liberal! Seriously, how does she think the stuff that's being removed got in there?
This isn't just 'a' school. This is a Texas state board setting curriculum standards for every school in the state! (Private schools included I assume)
Possible, but difficult. How many conservatives are going to be willing to sit through years of Marxist indoctrination in ed school? And how many of them will be flunked out along the way because they can't or won't parrot lies well enough?
Ahh.....Bob Wills.
Either term is correct. They're just highlighting different truths.
FYI ping
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.