Posted on 03/11/2010 11:17:09 AM PST by a fool in paradise
Here's the press release:
...Here are the facts. The direct quotes come from the March 10 broadcast of Fox & Friends.
Fox: "Texas board of education begins hearings today on proposed changes to textbooks..."
The truth: The State Board of Education today is expected to take a preliminary vote on updated social studies curriculum standards... New social studies textbooks are not scheduled to be selected until 2011.
Fox: "So one of the proposed changes is to start history class in the year 1877."
The truth: Texas has and always will teach U.S. History from the beginning until present day....
Fox: Abraham Lincoln and George Washington have been removed from the textbooks.
The truth: The standards, not textbook, are before the board this week. Lincoln is required to be included in the first and eighth grade history classes, as well as in the U.S. government class. Washington is required to be taught in kindergarten, first grade, fifth grade and eighth grade... Additional modifications are still possible to both lists as the board debates the standards during its March and May meeting.
Fox: Independence Day and Veteran's Day are being deleted from the textbooks.
The truth: Again, the new history textbooks have not been written yet but they will be based on the curriculum standards adopted by the board...
Fox: References to Christmas have been deleted.
The truth: A TEKS review committee briefly recommended removing Christmas from a list that mentioned one major holiday for each of the world's religions...
Fox: Textbooks adopted in Texas will be used classrooms across the country.
The truth: Each state has its own textbook selection process. Publishers may offer other states the Texas edition of a book but they are not required to select it...
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.chron.com ...
Since we’re following the Texas textbook debacle.....
PING
Thanks.
“...the “beginning” refers to the beginning of US history.”
I thought that in “the beginning” there was the word...
There's way too much overhead and centralized control over curriculum and a one size fits all mentality. TAKS is a perfect example. It's a boondoggle, and time consuming for teachers who end up merely teaching to the test and as acting test administrators for bonus pay and does little to actually enhance education of kids in the classroom. Kids aren't any more educated when they leave high school, but they do know how to take a TAKS test.
No Child Left Behind, my A$$.
Since we’re following the Texas textbook debacle.....
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Typical, typical, typical! Few here understand the fundamental problem:
In **EVERY** government school district, the most powerful voting mob gets to impose it religious, cultural, and political worldview on their neighbors...and...makes them pay for at by threat of armed police action.
It is **impossible** to have a religiously, culturally, or politically neutral education. It is axiomatic!
Therefore...EVERY government school in this nation is a First Amendment and freedom of conscience abomination!
Solution: We must begin the process of privatizing all education in the United States.
Well they should at least be able to get jobs as teachers teaching the test...
I’ve said all along that this is being blown out of proportion - some of the things the subjects/people claimed to have been removed have only been removed from one grade level because they are included in others - but it sounds good. I’m sure the liberals do have their panties in a wad over a conservative majority on this board, but they still have the majority of liberal instructors who can teach whatever they want in the classrooms.
I can’t see a compelling reason to include Oprah Winfrey in a high school text book on American history (post-1877). Might as well include Milton Berle. He had a popular tv show too. Same with Ed Sullivan.
“Might as well include Milton Berle. He had a popular tv show too. Same with Ed Sullivan.”
Johnny Carson...some people forget how popular Johnny was and how many conversations started with “Did you hear what Carson said?”.
From the bits and pieces I have read on this, the liberals are trying to get as many minorities included as possible - Famous Amos cookie inventor included....but like I said, some of the rhetoric is just that, half truths and misinformation. And part of this is stupidity too - admittedly, I prefer the more conservative text, but when a conservative on the board wants to delete mention of someone because of a socialist party affiliation, then includes and praises another with the same party affiliation, it does sound ignorant. And liberals are, as usual, taking every opportunity to blast Texas as backward right wing zealots
LOL! Yes, and they do!
I wanted to become a teacher from the time I was in 6th grade. Imagine my hurt and disgust when I graduated and found out the POLITICS in public education.
So, I changed course, taught adults, Red Cross courses, and tutored.
Not all of us are bad or untrustworthy.
The “truth” responses appear to be in response to straw men, rather than the quotes from Fox, IOW, the TEA is engaged in propaganda.
“They are using the technique perfected by Snopes.”
Which is?
Texas splits US History into two sections as a lot of high schools do in the Country. The first section is Discovery of America to 1876 and the 2nd is 1877 to the current time.
Textbooks in Texas also go out to local school districts/communities for their comments prior to adoption.
Fox has confused Texas with North Carolina.
A simple mistake: after all, aren't all those Southern states the same?
</extreme sarc>
Do try to familiarize yourself with the facts:
The Texas State Board of Education is an elected body of overwhelmingly Conservative makeup and it takes its job seriously.
The only reason for all the hooraw in the media is that a "Commission" composed of Liberals with a definite agenda tried to sneak some major curriculum changes through and were caught at it, and have now tried to make a cause celebre of their defeat.
Thus the media attention.
Fear not: Texas will adopt the curricula and textbooks we need, and the liberals in the media can go take a flying you-know-what at a rolling doughnut.
Other states are free to do as they please.
There are plenty of instances where a bruhaha springs up, the backlash results in a change of plan, and then the “factchecker” says “they didn’t do it (in the end)”.
To call Fox a “liar” is stretching things.
Snopes also likes to use careful parsing of the synopsis claim so that they can push a statement into the true/false/bit of both depending on whether they want to support or denounce a “rumor”/email.
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