Free Republic

The history of the United States is a tale of constant oppression— a story of a checkered past where political leaders and economic moguls continually acted in their own self-interest… or so many left-leaning history authors would prefer modern Americans to believe. American history has been hijacked by the left wing, where the mistakes of America’s past such as slavery, disenfranchisement, and class warfare are overemphasized, while Franklin D. Roosevelt is simultaneously glorified as the savior of the twentieth century with his New Deal policies. While most textbooks of that nature may cast American history in a bad light and...

A seeming epidemic of greed and self-absorbed materialism had spread through the country. Wall Street witnessed a rash of arrests and convictions . . . . And more government officials, including Attorney General Edwin Meese, became entangled in the web of corruption. Commentators talked of a compulsive materialism energizing the . . . professionals dubbed “Yuppies.” Caught up in the race for money, goods, and status, these baby boomers in the fast lane captured the tone and mood of affluent life in the 1980s. Then on October 19, 1987, the bill collector suddenly arrived at the nation’s doorstep.” --snip— “The...

MEXICO CITY - When Mexican seventh-graders crack open their new biology books this week, they're in for a titillating surprise: Chapter four is all about sex. And it's not the sterilized sex education of the past. For the first time, the federally mandated textbooks broach the once-taboo topics of masturbation and homosexuality while instructing students that there is nothing wrong with either. Church officials and conservative groups are outraged. They charge that the texts — which are required teaching — encourage promiscuity and "abnormal" sexual practices. They are pressuring the federal government to remove passages they consider offensive. "These days,"...

When I was in college (1997-2001), I recall new textbooks ringing up at $75, $80, or even $90. That was pretty steep then, but The Washington Post's Nell Henderson sees similar prices now as a symptom of worrisominflation in her August 17 article: After poring over reams of data, the Labor Department reported yesterday that inflation rose last month, eating into people's paychecks and savings at a quickening clip. Emerging from the Georgetown University bookstore in a rush, Linda Dodd didn't need a government report to tell her that. "I just spent $85 and $90 on two books," she said...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he believes full immersion is the best approach to teaching English and will not support a Senate bill that would force the state Board of Education to approve bilingual textbooks in California classrooms. "I learned English by immersion, and believe in my heart that full immersion is the best method of teaching language that exists," he wrote this week to Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland. The letter, obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, is in response to a bill by Sen. Martha Escutia, D-Whittier, which would require the board to approve bilingual textbooks. "I...

Textbook prices are soaring into the hundreds of dollars, but in some courses this fall, students won't pay a dime. The catch: Their textbooks will have ads for companies including FedEx Kinko's and Pura Vida coffee. Selling ad space keeps newspapers, magazines, Web sites and television either cheap or free. But so far, the model hasn't spread to college textbooks -- partly for fear that faculty would consider ads undignified. The upshot is that textbooks now cost students, according to various studies, about $900 per year. Now, a small Minnesota startup is trying to shake up the status quo in...

The state Assembly on Monday gutted a bill that would have required California textbooks to include the historical contributions of homosexuals, amending it to say only that school material should not be discriminatory toward gays. Lawmakers voted 56-2 to delete the provision at the request of the bill's author, Sen. Sheila Kuehl, who had feared a gubernatorial veto. Her bill instead would prohibit any negative portrayal of homosexuals in textbooks and other instructional material, expanding current anti-discrimination laws that apply to minorities. "I'm not really someone who wants to plop something down on his desk for him to veto," said...

Education board may take conservative turn on reading, writing standard AUSTIN - The State Board of Education, an elected body with a history of fierce ideological debates about textbook content, now wants to put its stamp on the curriculum that guides the instruction of 4.4 million Texas schoolchildren. At its meeting Thursday, the 15-member board is expected to scrap a curriculum revision process dominated by teachers and the Texas Education Agency and discuss a new timetable for revising the English reading and writing standards. Many on the board want to replace a student-centered curriculum that calls on students to use...

Spokesman says the governor plans to veto curriculum measure, but Kuehl insists it can still pass. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will veto a bill passed by the Senate and pending in the Assembly to revise California's school curriculum to include the contributions of gays and lesbians to the state and nation, a gubernatorial spokesman said Wednesday. "The governor believes that school curriculum should include all important historical figures, regardless of orientation," said Schwarzenegger's director of communications, Adam Mendelsohn. "However, he does not support the Legislature micromanaging curriculum." Wednesday's announcement signaled a death blow to the efforts of state Sen. Sheila Kuehl,...

At its core, the economic surge in India and China comes down to brains. The industries driving the region’s challenge to American leadership (...) can’t thrive without a steady supply of highly educated, intellectually flexible workers. This is where the U.S. is falling behind. “Most U.S. high school students don’t take advanced science; they opt out, with only one-quarter enrolling in physics, one-half in chemistry,” the National Science Foundation found. The National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching concluded that U.S. students were “devastatingly far” from leading the world in science and math. President Bush’s No Child Left Behind initiative...

Bill Would Allow Textbooks to Include Information on Homosexuality Written for the web by C. Johnson, Internet News Producer The state Senate has approved legislation that would allow California public school textbooks to include information on homosexuality. Senate Bill 1437, sponsored by St. Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, modifies current law to prohibit the state Board of Education or any school governing body from adopting texts that contain information that reflects negatively on race, ethnicity, gender, disability, nationality, sexual orientation or religion. Current law is less inclusive, barring texts or instructional materials that reflect adversely upon persons because of race,...

After a sometimes emotional debate centering on discrimination and sexual orientation, a Senate committee approved a bill Wednesday that would require that the contributions of gays and lesbians be included in textbooks. Supporters argued that all students should be made aware of the role that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people have made, but state curriculum has no such requirement. Opponents countered that discussion of sexual orientation should occur at home and not be mandated in schools. Not requiring that gays be included in instructional materials creates the "enforced invisibility that so many minority groups have gone through in terms...

A bill requiring students to learn about the contributions homosexuals have made to society and that would remove sex-specific terms such as "mom" and "dad" from textbooks has passed another hurdle on the way to becoming the law of the land in California. Having already been approved by the state's Senate Judiciary Committee, SB 1437, which would mandate grades 1-12 buy books "accurately" portraying "the sexual diversity of our society," got the nod yesterday of the Senate Education Committee. The bill also requires students hear history lessons on "the contributions of people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender to...

A Senate committee approved a bill Wednesday that would require California's textbooks to include the contributions of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people to the state and nation's history. The bill outraged some religious and conservative family groups, which said it would indoctrinate students in what they view as an unacceptable lifestyle. The Senate Education Committee passed the bill by state Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, 8-3, along party lines. It now goes to the full Senate. "Our community is invisible in all of the teaching material, so that our students are never, ever given any information about the fact...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - State Sen. Sheila Kuehl says a key aspect of history is missing from school textbooks - the contributions that homosexuals have made to California and the nation. Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, has introduced a bill that would fill that void by requiring textbooks and other social science materials to discuss contributions that gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people have made to the state and nation's economy, politics and society. The bill also would prohibit textbooks from criticizing people because of their sexual orientation. Current law sets that standard for discussions of race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, gender...

The state Board of Education on Monday approved options for textbooks to be used in classrooms through 2014, but rejected pleas from bilingual education advocates who wanted to include textbooks that address the needs of English learners while teaching California's curriculum. Critics of the current options for schools - including Assemblywomen Judy Chu, D-Monterey Park, and Jackie Goldberg, D-Los Angeles - wanted the board to also let schools use textbooks they said would help non-English speakers with vocabulary while learning basic subject matter. Instead, the board voted 6-4 to adopt the recommendations of its curriculum committee, leaving English-as-a-second-language instruction separate...

I have disturbing news to bring to you. Right now, in the California State Legislature, a bill is being considered which would effectively silence any voice that dare oppose homosexuality. This bill will mandate that public school textbooks used by children be revised to include "gay history." But there's more. Not only would this bill revise textbooks to favor homosexuals, it would PROHIBIT teachers from saying anything that confronts or challenges homosexuality.This is nothing less than censorship of an Orwellian sort. We need your action now! Call your state senators and tell them to oppose SB 1437. http://www.crmail.org/public/lib.aspx?lid=3098 ++ FIND...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (BP)--A bill that would require California public school textbooks to include "gay history" is making its way through the state legislature, and experts warn it could have an impact nationwide. The bill, SB 1437, passed a state Senate committee April 4 by a vote of 3-1 and is expected to be debated in the full body in the coming days. It would require textbooks to include "the contributions of people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender to the total development of California and the United States." The bill also changes state law to prohibit teachers from saying...

SAN FRANCISCO — California school textbooks would highlight the role gays have played in the history of the nation’s most populous state if a new proposal that has angered conservatives passes the state legislature.