April 29, 2003 Big Brother's new classroom

The Washington Times ^ | April 29, 2003 | Arnold Beichman

[jrushing]

"The guidelines ensure conformity of language and thought."

How can we return our schools to our control? There should be a wall of separation between Education & State!

[FourPeas]

Homeschooling BuMp.

[jtill]

Interesting. Do you think the schools were ever in control of the "masses"? There has always been a kowtowing to education ~~ however, there was a time when teachers towed the mark!

Kay - this is probably part of what you heard about today.

[LiteKeeper]

education reform bump

[kritikos]

A little help on formatting...

The Washington Times
www.washingtontimes.com

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Big Brother's new classroom

Arnold Beichman
Hoover Institution Published April 29, 2003

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     THE LANGUAGE POLICE: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn.
     By Diane Ravitch.
     Knopf. 243 pages. $24.
     
     In her introduction titled "Forbidden Topics, Forbidden Words," Diane Ravitch, the nationally renowned educator and historian, describes how she "stumbled upon an elaborate, well-established protocol of beneficent censorship, quietly endorsed and broadly implemented by test publishers, textbook publishers, states and the federal government." What she next writes should send a shiver down the backs of parents with school children:
     "What I did not realize was that educational materials are now governed by an intricate set of rules to screen out language and topics that might be considered controversial or offensive. Some of this censorship is trivial, some is ludicrous, and some is breathtaking in its power to dumb down what children learn in school."
     The villains in this dumbing down process go by an innocent, virtuous title: "bias and sensitivity review" panel. These panels are tainted by a spreading and threatening disease, PCS, or Politically Correct Syndrome. Panel members — the language police — are routinely hired by publishers and state education agencies to screen every test and textbook for potential "bias." These panels, pressured by lobbies of left and right have, writes Ms. Ravitch, "evolved into an elaborate and widely accepted code of censorship . . . hidden from public sight." The author has collected examples of what some of these bias reviewers have recommended for elimination from school tests.
     A short biography of Gutzon Borglum, who designed the Mount Rushmore monument consisting of gigantic heads of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. Why shouldn't school children read about this acclaimed national monument? Because the Lakota Indians, said the panel, consider the Black Hills a sacred place to pray and consider the sculpture "an abomination." Out.
     A passage about owls was eliminated from a proposed test because a panel member said that owls are taboo for the Navajos. Out.
     California has informed publishers not to include references in their textbooks to "unhealthy" foods such as: french fries, coffee, bacon, butter, ketchup and mayonnaise among others. California, along with Texas, have the largest school populations, so when their book-buying panels command, the four major textbook publishing houses stand at attention.
     Such prohibitions are promulgated by these powerful "bias and sensitivity review" panels not on the basis of any kind of research findings but "because the topics upset some adults, who assume that they will upset the children in the same way," writes Ms. Ravitch. "The guidelines ensure conformity of language and thought."
     Four different agencies promulgate the bias guidelines, which have become a preemptive form of censorship: educational publishers, test development companies, scholarly and professional associations and the states themselves.
     Some of these guidelines are simply mad. One commands textbook authors to acknowledge — this will come as news to American historians — that the United States was "patterned partially after the League of Five Nations, a union formed by five Iroquois nations." Literary classics by William Shakespeare, Herman Melville, Mark Twain, John Steinbeck and others are bowdlerized to a degree I never dreamed possible. The ultimate goal of the academic curriculum, says one publisher's set of guidelines, is "to advance multiculturalism."
     The most stunning section of the book includes the 1993 guidelines prepared by McGraw Hill, one of the four conglomerate textbook publishers in the country. The basic thrust of the guidelines, says Ms. Ravitch, is not to depict the world "as it is and as it was, but only as the guideline writers would like it to be." She writes: "The bias guidelines are censorship guidelines. Nothing more, nothing less. This language censorship and thought control should be repugnant to those who care about freedom of expression."
     What the textbook and testing industry have accepted without demur or public discussion is that the object of education is to produce a generation of high school graduates who accept "diversity," which, of course, makes quotas inevitable and racial discrimination admirable. The real world is replaced by a politically correct fairy tale in which it is morally acceptable to "censor" "Romeo and Juliet" or "Macbeth" so as to ensure that the ninth-grade dears don't inhale wicked ideas. What does it matter if the classics are chopped and their authors betrayed?
     Indignation misplaced? Well then, go to the book's 32-page appendix, "A Glossary of Banned Words, Usages, Stereotypes and Topics." There you'll see the meaning of the cultural revolution incited by the "bias and sensitivity panels." Perhaps that appendix ought to be attached to George Orwell's "1984."
     

[kritikos]

Whoops! Which is what I NEED...

[thegreatbeast]

And these textbooks go into the hands of teachers and instructors who increasingly come from cookie-cutter schools and campuses and join and pay dues to unions that form integral parts of one of the major political parties of this country. A political party that places great store in marching goose step to a drum beat of political correctness.

[kritikos]

.Whoops! Which is what I NEED... Once again...

[an amused spectator]

Well then, go to the book's 32-page appendix, "A Glossary of Banned Words, Usages, Stereotypes and Topics."

We'll take time here to note that posting the appendix on the Net would, of course, be a "copyright violation". Ain't American "law" grand? ;-)

[upchuck]

This is simply outrageous!

Thank God homeschooling offers an alternate view.

Oh, and the <P> is our friend. IMHO, the simplest way to post from the Wash Times is to scroll all the way to the bottom of the article, click "Print This" and then cut and paste the printer friendly version.

The Wash Times indents to indicate paragraphs. The HTML parser in your browser converts multiple spaces (indentation) to one space, which is why your article looks so run together. Just paste <p> in the indentation spaces and the article will be much more readable.

[kayak]

Yes, jtill, this does sound like it is the basis for the report I heard on FOX News today. Thanks for the ping.

[nicollo]

Forewarned *bump*!

Kay, I've been working on a project to ressurect lost words. The idea is to scan old, copyright-free material and make it available in bound paperback on-demand. The internet purists have tried to make this real via e-text, but it is my feeling that digital ain't paper, and paper is best.

If we can make it happen, we will revive old text books and manuals and make them available to any and all who reject modern censorship. It might just work.

[stainlessbanner]

"The ultimate goal of the academic curriculum, says one publisher's set of guidelines, is "to advance multiculturalism."

[kayak]

Sounds like a wonderful idea ...... but what about all the school children who are being indoctrinated? As long as school systems are using these new textbooks there is a problem .... until parents decide to take back the schools. That day is still quite a way off, I fear.

[nicollo]

There are moments in history when ideas collide, and thoughts trend from one side to the other. The most dangerous moment for any ideology is when it is at its height. At that moment it is most tested, most vulnerable. It may win out, or it may be beaten for a time. But if it is true and real, it will win. If it is wrong, it will dies.

A few examples in our brief history are (and not limited to):

- The American Rev0lution. It was spawned by the arrogance of the English Crown.

- Andrew Jackson's common man. Previous to him, land owners ruled. Jackson represented the sovereignty of the common man. Alexis de Tocqueville documented the Jacksonian revolution.

- Abraham Lincoln's Second American Revolution. Slavery was never stronger than when Lincoln took office.

- Wm. McKinley's suppression of populism. The great Ohioan re-affirmed Washington, Hamilton, Jackson, and Lincoln. Taking down Wm. Jennings Bryan, McKinley defeated populism at its height.

- Wm. Howard Taft and his defeat of the progressive wing of the Republican party. Taft ended once and for all notions of "direct democracy," by which the "people" would decide all affairs, including judicial and constitutional arguments. Taft's victory came over Theodore Roosevelt whose Bull Moose, the greatest third party electoral assault ever, marked the height of the progressive movement.

- Dwight Eisenhower, who killed off FDR leftism. The Left died to WWII, but it took Ike to make sure it was gone.

- Ronald Reagan who came into office just when the elite had decided that the Soviet model was supreme.

- George W. Bush, who salvaged America from Clintonian relativism. Dubya has taught the world that we are right. God bless him!

[CJ Wolf]

Yep people collide, like when the indians sided with the brits in the american revolution forfiting thier land by an act of congress...

[nicollo]

Not all indians were bad though, but some were real mean.

Hannah Dustin *bump*

(She stopped a movement at the height of its powers)

[Mr. Morals]

Let's all do our school prayer...

B-B. B-B. B-B. B-B. B-B. B-B. B-B. B-B. B-B. B-B.

Ahhhhh, that's better! (/sarcasm)

[David Isaac]

The really sad thing is at least 99% of graduating teachers of History, do not realize that a change in the textbooks has even taken place. The experienced teachers should be pitching a fit, but they are so beleaguered by all of the crap coming down from the state and federal governments that they either do not notice or do not have the time or energy to do anythng. Not to mention, that this sort of thing has been going on for at least 30 years, leaving precious few teachers that have even been exposed to the true history.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

The new face of home schooling - More and more, African-American families redefine 'homeroom'