Texas State Board of Education Strikes Back!

[test_article]

The SBoE has voted to remove from the social studies cirriculum standards any mention of Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers. Guess why her and not Cesar Chavez?...because she is a card carrying socialist. They don't seem to know that Helen Keller, who remains in the standard, was a staunch socialist, and that W.E.B. DuBois, who was founder of NAACP and placed on the standard the day before, joined the Communist Party in his last year on Earth. One Board member succeeded in deleting concepts of justice and responsibility for the common good from a standard on citizenship. Some wanted to add to the standard that the civil-rights movement brought about "unrealistic expectations of equal outcomes" (whatever that means).

The Board apparently added many new names to the standard in an almost haphazard way. I don't have details yet, but apparently many are not grade appropriate or overload the standards with unnecessary detail.

In just two days, the Board made wholesale changes to the drafts that had been thoughtfully assembled by many teachers, scholars and community members over the previous year. While doing so, a number of the Board members clearly appeared misinformed, pressing forward with their personal beliefs and faulty knowledge.

They abruptly ended the public hearing, before veterans of the G.I. Forum and others could speak.

[claymassey]

The SBoE has voted to remove from the social studies cirriculum standards any mention of Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers. Guess why her and not Cesar Chavez?...because she is a card carrying socialist. They don't seem to know that Helen Keller, who remains in the standard, was a staunch socialist, and that W.E.B. DuBois, who was founder of NAACP and placed on the standard the day before, joined the Communist Party in his last year on Earth. One Board member succeeded in deleting concepts of justice and responsibility for the common good from a standard on citizenship. Some wanted to add to the standard that the civil-rights movement brought about "unrealistic expectations of equal outcomes".

The Board apparently added many new names to the standard in an almost haphazard way. I don't have details yet, but apparently many are not grade appropriate or overload the standards with unnecessary detail.

In just two days, the Board made wholesale changes to the drafts that had been thoughtfully assembled by many teachers, scholars and community members over the previous year. While doing so, a number of the Board members clearly appeared misinformed, pressing forward with their personal beliefs and faulty knowledge.

They abruptly ended the public hearing, before veterans of the G.I. Forum and others could speak.

I don't know the details but from just what I read of your post, removing her for being a socialist and keeping well known socialist in the curriculum leads me to believe they removed her for more than just her socialist standings. If you have anti whatever agenda it would behoove you to remove everyone with that agenda.

I'm not saying she should or shouldn't have been removed, like I said I don't know the facts but logically they would have removed Keller and not put on DuBoise if they were doing it on the grounds of being anti socialist.

[test_article]

I don't know the details but from just what I read of your post, removing her for being a socialist and keeping well known socialist in the curriculum leads me to believe they removed her for more than just her socialist standings. If you have anti whatever agenda it would behoove you to remove everyone with that agenda.

I'm not saying she should or shouldn't have been removed, like I said I don't know the facts but logically they would have removed Keller and not put on DuBoise if they were doing it on the grounds of being anti socialist.

Social justice was Cesar Chavez' concern. He was not aligned with any socialist group, unless you want the kids to believe that a worker association in a position to bargain with management is socialist.

I just want to shed some light on the nature of the folks setting our kids' curricula. For example, there's Board member Barbara Cargill of The Woodlands, who thought she wanted to see Thomas Paine added to the Grade 5 standard.

Ms. Cargill and other members of the Board’s Christian-right faction want the new social studies standards to emphasize patriotism and Christianity. So she thought adding Thomas Paine would aid the cause. Another Board member, Pat Hardy of Fort Worth, an award-winning social studies teacher, warned her that she might not want to do that, really. Ms. Cargill appeared confused and noted that Paine was a patriot who had written “Common Sense,” published in 1776, in which he had argued for American independence from Great Britain. Ms. Hardy tried again, asking if she knew anything else about Paine, suggesting that Paine might not be so ideal a historical figure as her colleague might think. Ms. Cargill had no answer and finally dropped her suggestion.

Thomas Paine, a Deist, in his book The Age of Reason, launched into a harsh attack against organized religion. He wasn’t particularly fond of Christianity, something that might have given Ms. Cargill pause.

Many of the Board members don't have a clue. They should be taking the draft standard under advisement, asking questions when they don't understand something. They do not appear to be intellectually equipped to make the wholesale changes they are attempting.

BTW, Paine is included in other grade standards.

[jhooton]

They do not appear to be intellectually equipped to make the wholesale changes they are attempting.

no shit. what they want is to make "history" conform to their definition of it, and like most Americans their definition focuses on "Great White Men" (lately some other-skinned men and women too) and pretty much ignores context.

this is not surprising in a public school system that has for decades left the teaching of History to teachers whose primary jobs are to coach sports. most of the board members are products of that system.

for example their recent decision to delete any mention of LULAC and the Am GI Forum removes the history from the Mx American civil rights story. without LULAC and the AGIF, the actions of Cesar Chavez and La Raza Unida and the Chicano Movement and all those MALDEF lawsuits, hell even the reason the U.S. govt. made up the word "Hispanic," don't make any sense.

but if it's not 1 of the "standards" then the bad teachers will just ignore it, making a good story meaningless, or the good teachers will try to get it in anyway, earning the suspicion of their principals b/c they are straying from the approved curriculum.

you can't include everything in a history course, but the things that are chosen should be presented contextually and as completely as possible.

[eec]

They do not appear to be intellectually equipped to make the wholesale changes they are attempting.

this is not surprising in a public school system that has for decades left the teaching of History to teachers whose primary jobs are to coach sports.

Amen.


but if it's not 1 of the "standards" then the bad teachers will just ignore it, making a good story meaningless, or the good teachers will try to get it in anyway, earning the suspicion of their principals

...and parents

you can't include everything in a history course, but the things that are chosen should be presented contextually and as completely as possible.

[test_article]

Then there is Board member Terri Leo of Spring, who did a quick internet search that resulted in the removal from Grade 3 standards of the author of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? whose name, Bill Martin, is also the name of an author of several books on Marxism--not the same Bill Martin. Rather than check with the curriculum writers, the Board took Ms. Leo's research as fact.

The irony: many third graders could've done a better job.

[jhooton]

eec? is that you eem?

[test_article]

In one session, when the Board was debating whether or not to include Margaret Sanger in the high school standard, Ms. Leo worried out loud that students might perceive her as having a positive impact on American society.

The Board voted to exclude Sanger.

[SeaBass]

As long as the context in which LULAC and The Race United are mentioned includes their blatant racism towards whites, right next to the KKK's racism against them and others...i'm fine with it Thats context. LULAC has and does make some of the most outlandish, unfounded, and to be honest....ignorant...remarks I have ever heard.

Btw, my favorite history teacher was indeed a coach, a black man, and he is one of the main reasons I, to this day, read so much history (trudging through The Missing Peace at the moment...its a knuckle dragger about the mid east peace process, more of a chore than a joy, but all history isnt a blockbuster ). He instilled that fire and thirst for knowledge of our common past and that of other cultures in me, I still thank him for it when i run into him back in my home town. So all those coach/teachers arent knuckleheads, at least some of em.....

"you can't include everything in a history course, but the things that are chosen should be presented contextually and as completely as possible." that i do agree with, J. Thats pretty much the tact my Coach/Teacher presented things and highly encouraged us to seek texts outside that which was provided by the school in order to gain a greater context in which to view this crazy ass world we live in. The problem is when kids read only what is presented and stop there, many for a lifetime...thats a shame.

Of course, if they were like me in one respect, they KNEW they were being sold a false...or at least watered down...pretense and it pissed them off. Some get frustrated and never seek more...others never stop seeking.

Question, Testy....do you also rail against the obvious leftists that by and large spew their very one sided views to college students around the country? Would you similarly speak out against a public high school teacher he taught in a particualrly left leaning way and discounted or disregarded the likes of, say, Ronald Reagan? Or is it only when leftists are shunned that your dander gets fluffed? Just trying to get a good footing as to where you stand and where the ire comes from....and the Thomas Paine part of your commentary would be hillarious...if it wasnt so sad That lady Cargill is a schmuck.

[test_article]

...but if it's not 1 of the "standards" then the bad teachers will just ignore it, making a good story meaningless, or the good teachers will try to get it in anyway, earning the suspicion of their principals b/c they are straying from the approved curriculum.

you can't include everything in a history course, but the things that are chosen should be presented contextually and as completely as possible.

If the standards are the source for textbook content, then we can add good textbook writers to good teachers in the process, even though the Board approves textbooks too. Unless it's one of those renegade historians, he/she would not want to overpower context or scramble the significant factors.

[jhooton]

As long as the context in which LULAC and The Race United are mentioned includes their blatant racism towards whites, right next to the KKK's racism against them and others...i'm fine with it Thats context. LULAC has and does make some of the most outlandish, unfounded, and to be honest....ignorant...remarks I have ever heard.

Btw, my favorite history teacher was indeed a coach...

thx for making my point better than I could

[surfnica]

Question, Testy....do you also rail against the obvious leftists that by and large spew their very one sided views to college students around the country? Would you similarly speak out against a public high school teacher he taught in a particualrly left leaning way and discounted or disregarded the likes of, say, Ronald Reagan? Or is it only when leftists are shunned that your dander gets fluffed? Just trying to get a good footing as to where you stand and where the ire comes from....and the Thomas Paine part of your commentary would be hillarious...if it wasnt so sad That lady Cargill is a schmuck.

I am pretty sure Testy was M.I.A. when the Texas Freedom Network raised hell about Texas history books even mentioning that any president, and especially the Founding Fathers, were Christians. Nor did he utter a peep when the Texas Freedom Network raised hell about Texas history books expressing the concept of American Exceptionalism.

[SeaBass]

As long as the context in which LULAC and The Race United are mentioned includes their blatant racism towards whites, right next to the KKK's racism against them and others...i'm fine with it Thats context. LULAC has and does make some of the most outlandish, unfounded, and to be honest....ignorant...remarks I have ever heard.

Btw, my favorite history teacher was indeed a coach...

thx for making my point better than I could

J, you forget i aint exactly a stranger to hispanic culture.....by a long shot . LULAC reps are about as reputable as Quannell X.....and that aint very ......i'd really like to see Reconquista introduced into our curriculum.....not.

[test_article]

Why are folks trying to lump Dolores Huerta and the United Farm Workers in with ethnically-derived political organizations?

[eec]

jhooton: yes, it's me.

had problems logging in w/ eem, so wth just changed it to eec. besides, i'm not eem anymore, anyway.

[Faceplant]

jhooton: yes, it's me.

had problems logging in w/ eem, so wth just changed it to eec. besides, i'm not eem anymore, anyway.

Great to see you back EE. Hope all is swell.

[jhooton]

jhooton: yes, it's me.

had problems logging in w/ eem, so wth just changed it to eec. besides, i'm not eem anymore, anyway.

Great to see you back EE. Hope all is swell.

good to hear from you eec. maybe see you at a beach someday. THE beach, our beach, it's gone.

[RJ's]

Question, Testy....do you also rail against the obvious leftists that by and large spew their very one sided views to college students around the country? Would you similarly speak out against a public high school teacher he taught in a particualrly left leaning way and discounted or disregarded the likes of, say, Ronald Reagan? Or is it only when leftists are shunned that your dander gets fluffed? Just trying to get a good footing as to where you stand and where the ire comes from....and the Thomas Paine part of your commentary would be hillarious...if it wasnt so sad That lady Cargill is a schmuck.

I am pretty sure Testy was M.I.A. when the Texas Freedom Network raised hell about Texas history books even mentioning that any president, and especially the Founding Fathers, were Christians. Nor did he utter a peep when the Texas Freedom Network raised hell about Texas history books expressing the concept of American Exceptionalism.

Yeah gotta love the separation of Church and State. By the way Nica did you ever check out the Jefferson Bible? It's doubtful that either Thomas Jefferson or Ben Franklin were full fledged born again evangelical christians that believed in supernatural beings.

[test_article]

Yeah gotta love the separation of Church and State.

No, don't gotta. The Board majority has been trying to blur that separation in a way that is dividing communities in Texas. Just as surfnica states below...

...Texas Freedom Network raised hell about Texas history books even mentioning that any president, and especially the Founding Fathers, were Christians...Texas Freedom Network raised hell about Texas history books expressing the concept of American Exceptionalism.

...that has become the Board's modus operandi of late--jumping into one divisive cultural war after another--such as diminishing the contributions of minorities and different cultures, teaching intelligent design/creationism as if it were science even though there is no evidentiary validation.

Unless divisiveness is now considered good, I doubt there will be any good accomplished by a scholarly pursuit of the concept of American Exceptionalism. It's probably better to let events speak for themselves. Like the financial types are always saying, past performance is no guarantee of future results, especially when wisdom appears to be absent in the driver's seat.

[surfnica]

I am pretty sure Testy was M.I.A. when the Texas Freedom Network raised hell about Texas history books even mentioning that any president, and especially the Founding Fathers, were Christians. Nor did he utter a peep when the Texas Freedom Network raised hell about Texas history books expressing the concept of American Exceptionalism.

Yeah gotta love the separation of Church and State. By the way Nica did you ever check out the Jefferson Bible? It's doubtful that either Thomas Jefferson or Ben Franklin were full fledged born again evangelical christians that believed in supernatural beings.

Separation of Church and State? Where is that is the US Constitution? And you think revising history is a good idea? I suppose will soon learn that the Pilgrims were 'collectivists' who set out to form communes in America to escape the horrors of capitalism?

You might want to get busy reworking this:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

[RJ's]

I am pretty sure Testy was M.I.A. when the Texas Freedom Network raised hell about Texas history books even mentioning that any president, and especially the Founding Fathers, were Christians. Nor did he utter a peep when the Texas Freedom Network raised hell about Texas history books expressing the concept of American Exceptionalism.

Yeah gotta love the separation of Church and State. By the way Nica did you ever check out the Jefferson Bible? It's doubtful that either Thomas Jefferson or Ben Franklin were full fledged born again evangelical christians that believed in supernatural beings.

Separation of Church and State? Where is that is the US Constitution? And you think revising history is a good idea? I suppose will soon learn that the Pilgrims were 'collectivists' who set out to form communes in America to escape the horrors of capitalism?

You might want to get busy reworking this:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Do you ever wonder why there are so many "amendments" to the constitution? Of course you don't.

[surfnica]

Yeah gotta love the separation of Church and State. By the way Nica did you ever check out the Jefferson Bible? It's doubtful that either Thomas Jefferson or Ben Franklin were full fledged born again evangelical christians that believed in supernatural beings.

Separation of Church and State? Where is that is the US Constitution? And you think revising history is a good idea? I suppose will soon learn that the Pilgrims were 'collectivists' who set out to form communes in America to escape the horrors of capitalism?

You might want to get busy reworking this:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Do you ever wonder why there are so many "amendments" to the constitution? Of course you don't.

Good. Show me where it says 'separation of church and state'? And show me the amendment that says the religious background of the founding fathers cannot be mentioned in history books.

Can't do it can ya...

[SeaBass]

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."


hey why dont you yahoos read it in its entirety, banning a prayer over a loud speaker at a high school football game and similar cases is unconstitutional, period. Every day the rights of religious in this country is belitled and watered down by the likes of the ACLU. Has the government said all folks must be Catholic? Mehodist? Baptist? No, indeed they have not, yet the mere MENTION of the word God, or the displaying of the Ten Commandments is portrayed as some sort of religious Stalinism. pffffffffffffffffffffffft.

[test_article]

Mahatma Ghandi was a pilgrim.

[SeaBass]

Mahatma Ghandi was a pilgrim.

another vague Testy post...and he wasnt a pilgrim here so who gives a shit...and his country is a cesspool with grinding poverty, third world conditions, a horrible and unfair caste system that makes "class warfare" in this country look lke Sesame freakin Street...and one of the biggest slaughters of christians in the 20th century....and you were saying?