Thread: List of shame

The following List of Shame is a summary of some of the worst examples from what is truly a debacle for public education:

* Religious conservatives on the board killed a proposed standard that would have required high school government students to “examine the reasons the Founding Fathers protected religious freedom in America by barring government from promoting or disfavoring any particular religion over all others.” That means the board rejected teaching students about the most fundamental constitutional protection for religious freedom in America. (3/11/10)
* Even as board members continued to demand that students learn about “American exceptionalism,” they stripped Thomas Jefferson from a world history standard about the influence of Enlightenment thinkers on political revolutions from the 1700s to today. In Jefferson’s place, the board’s religious conservatives inserted Thomas Aquinas and John Calvin. They also removed the reference to “Enlightenment ideas” from the standard, requiring that students simply learn about the “writings” of various thinkers (including Calvin and Aquinas). (3/11/10)
* Board conservatives succeeded in censoring the word “capitalism” in the standards, requiring that the term for that economic system be called “free enterprise” throughout all social studies courses. Board members such as Terri Leo and Ken Mercer charged that “capitalism” is a negative term used by “liberal professors in academia.” (3/11/10)
* The board removed the concepts of “justice” and “responsibility for the common good” from a list of characteristics of good citizenship for Grades 1-3. (The proposal to remove “equality” failed.) (1/14/10)

* Social conservatives on the board removed Santa Barraza from a Grade 7 Texas history standard on Texans who have made contributions to the arts because they objected to one of her (many) paintings — one including a depiction of a woman’s exposed breasts. Yet some of Barraza’s works had been displayed in the Texas Governor’s Mansion during the gubernatorial administration of George W. Bush in the 1990s. (3/11/10)
* The board stripped Dolores Huerta, cofounder of United Farm Workers of America, from a Grade 3 list of “historical and contemporary figures who have exemplified good citizenship.” Conservative board members said Huerta is not a good role model for third-graders because she’s a socialist. But they did not remove Hellen Keller from the same standard even though Keller was a staunch socialist. Don McLeroy, a conservative board member who voted to remove Huerta, had earlier added W.E.B. DuBois so the Grade 2 standards. McLeroy apparently didn’t know that DuBois had joined the Communist Party in the year before he died. (1/14/10)
* In an absurd attempt to excuse Joseph McCarthy’s outrageous witchhunts in the 1950s, far-right board members succeeded in adding a requirement that students learn about “communist infiltration in U.S. government” during the Cold War. (Board member Don McLeroy has even claimed outright that Joseph McCarthy has been “vindicated,” a contention not supported by mainstream scholarship.) (1/15/10)
* The board voted in January to remove children’s book author Bill Martin Jr. from a Grade 3 standard about significant writers and artists because members confused the author of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? with another Bill Martin who had written a book about Marxism. An embarrassed board reinserted Martin into the Grade 3 standards in March. (3/11/10)
* Board members added Friedrich von Hayek to a standard in the high school economics course even though some board members acknowledged that they had no idea who the Austrian-born economist even was. (3/11/10)
* The board added a requirement that American history students learn about conservative heroes and icons such as Phyllis Schlafly, the Heritage Foundation and the Moral Majority. The board included no similar standard requiring students to learn about individuals and organizations simply because they are liberal. (1/15/10)
* Board conservatives passed a standard for the eighth-grade U.S. history class requiring students to learn about the ideas in Jefferson Davis’ inaugural address as president of the Confederacy during the Civil War. (1/14/10)
* In a high school government standard about “the importance of the expression of different points of view in a democratic republic,” the board added a requirement that students learn about the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms. (3/11/10)
* The board’s bloc of social conservatives tried to water down instruction on the history of the civil rights movement. One board amendment, for example, would have required students to learn that the civil rights movement created “unreasonable expectations for equal outcomes.” That failed to pass. Other amendments passed in January minimized the decades of struggle by women and ethnic minorities to gain equal and civil rights. (Board member Don McLeroy even claimed that women and minorities owed thanks to men and “the majority” for their rights. Earlier in the revision process, a conservative appointed by McLeroy to a curriculum team had complained about an “over-representation of minorities” in the standards.) Under pressure from civil rights groups, the board partially reversed those earlier amendments. (3/11/10)
* The board’s right-wing faction removed references to “democratic” (or “representative democracy”) when discussing the U.S. form of government. The board’s majority Republicans changed those references to “constitutional republic.” Board member Cynthia Dunbar also won approval for changing references to “democratic societies” to “societies with representative government.” (3/11/10)
* Religious conservatives stripped from the high school sociology course a standard having students “differentiate between sex and gender as social constructs and determine how gender and socialization interact.” Board member Barbara Cargill argued that the standard would lead students to learn about “transexuals, transvestites and who knows what else.” She told board members she had conducted a “Google search” to support her argument. Board member Ken Mercer complained that the amendment was about “sex.” The board consulted no sociologists during the debate. (3/11/10)
* Board member Barbara Cargill proposed a standard to the high school economics course requiring students to “analyze the decline in the value of the U.S. dollar since the inception of the Federal Reserve System since 1913.” After debate, the board passed a revised standard that requires students to “analyze the decline in the value of the U.S. dollar, including the abandonment of the gold standard.” References to 1913 and the Federal Reserve System were dropped. The board consulted no economists during the debate. (3/11/10)
* The board approved a standard requiring students to learn about “any unintended consequences” of the Great Society, affirmative action and Title IX. (3/11/10)
* In a high school U.S. history standard on musical genres that have been popular over time, the board’s bloc of social conservatives removed “hip hop,” equating this broad genre with “gangsta rap.” (3/11/10)
* The board voted to use “BC” and “AD” rather than “BCE” and “CE” in references to dates in the history classes. That means students going off to college won’t be familiar with what has become an increasingly common standard for dates. (3/10/10)
* The board removed Oscar Romero, a prominent Roman Catholic archbishop who was assassinated in 1980 (as he was celebrating Mass) by rightists in El Salvador, from a world history standard about leaders who led resistance to political oppression. Romero, they argued, wasn’t of the same stature as others listed in the standards: Nelson Mandela and Mohandas Gandhi. One board member argued that “he didn’t have his own movie like the others.” He quickly reversed himself — the film Romero, based on the archbishop’s life, was released in 1989 and starred actor Raul Julia in the title role. (3/10/10)
* The board’s right-wing faction removed a reference to propaganda as a factor in U.S. entry into World War I. (The role of propaganda on behalf of both the Allies and Central Powers in swaying public opinion in the United States is well-documented. Republican Pat Hardy noted that her fellow board members were “rewriting history” with that and similar changes.) (1/15/10)
* The board changed a “imperialism” to “expansionism” in a U.S. history course standard about American acquisition of overseas territories in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Board conservatives argued that what the United States did at the time was not the same as European imperialism. (1/15/10)

http://tfninsider.org/2010/03/13/the...hame-in-texas/
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well they are just protecting students from the liberal web of lies and teaching the truth! whats wrong with that?

so what's next? looking up the nut job things that leftists also want in school?

Biased a bit much? Or is this how intelligent people argue?

I'm sure they feel shamed....especially when the found out some nameless, faceless, gamer agrees with their detractors, lol.

Is the board of education in Texas voted into office? If so then what does it matter to those outside Texas?

Seriously, if your states parents vote in folks that feel and think like the parents do then it shouldn't matter what folks outside that system think.

Free speech allows us to criticize their positions but it does not grant us the authority to force change upon them, so long as what they are doing are within the bounds of law, both state and federal.


The blaring truth that many folks in the world do not see is that not everything involves you and just because you do not like something doesn't mean that others share your opinion.



I vote for my school board members as soon as I had kids, because then I had a reason to help dictate what is taught in my local school system. I have talked to many parents that didn't even know there were elections and quite honestly they are fucked if they don't vote since they are letting the rest of the parents choose who makes decisions.

People have a lot more power than they think, but when they do not act on it they can suck it if they don't like it later.

Originally Posted by ...bigdog...

so what's next? looking up the nut job things that leftists also want in school?

Biased a bit much? Or is this how intelligent people argue?

Bigdogg the reason why this is such a controversial decision is because apparently from some reason schools nationwide take their decision makeing ques from the State of Texas School Board.

Also honestly as parent with 2 kids in the school in the state. Things are kind of fucked as is and this has potiential make things that much worse.

I remember as kid growing up California what was emphasis was good grades and general understanding of the material. That got you promoted to the next grade.

Versus he in Texas my son has probably taken at least 24+ tests from Kindergarten through 5th grade to advance each year. Primarily because of no child left behind bill and the sad thing is alot of children honestly get unfairly left behind because they couldn't do good on 1 test.

The general consensus is were talking reverse that dumb bill, doing away with the SAT tst and other crap that in all honestly doesnt measure the true knowledge of a student.

So before you go all political, just keep in mind because 5 people in a room in north texas says it should be don doesnt mean it should be so.

Originally Posted by Alundil

Originally Posted by Blakeman

Is the board of education in Texas voted into office? If so then what does it matter to those outside Texas?

Seriously, if your states parents vote in folks that feel and think like the parents do then it shouldn't matter what folks outside that system think.

Free speech allows us to criticize their positions but it does not grant us the authority to force change upon them, so long as what they are doing are within the bounds of law, both state and federal.


The blaring truth that many folks in the world do not see is that not everything involves you and just because you do not like something doesn't mean that others share your opinion.



I vote for my school board members as soon as I had kids, because then I had a reason to help dictate what is taught in my local school system. I have talked to many parents that didn't even know there were elections and quite honestly they are fucked if they don't vote since they are letting the rest of the parents choose who makes decisions.

People have a lot more power than they think, but when they do not act on it they can suck it if they don't like it later.

Blake - at issue is not necessarily whether the BOE in Texas is voted in or not. It has more to do with the simply fact that the two largest State education systems are California and Texas. This means that those two states purchase the largest amount of textbooks. This means that publishers of textbooks will likely (not guaranteed, but likely) use the standards and recommendations from those two states for the basis of textbooks sold to all school districts, across the country. End Game.

That is why the Texas BOE discussion/debate garnered the attention that it has.

And....BD is right as well. I am sure that if someone wanted to go and find all of the equally crazy things desired by the "leftists" they find ample fodder too.

That is all fine and good, but I have yet to find a school that teaches exclusively from the textbooks and yet to find a school system that enforces teachers to exclusively teach from them. Honestly I think it is a lot of media frenzy about something that parents themselves have more power to with their own kids school system and standards rather than what the textbooks say.

I had an ethics class in high school where the teacher handed us our textbooks, told us to page through them and then we handed them back. He told us that it is more important to be taught ethics from someone who knows them and understands them and can be asked questions than reading it in a book and having glazed eyes like most high school students do. I remember him because he was right and because that class was one of my favorites because of it.

Again it is the parents responsibility to know what and by whom their kids are being taught. If the school system doesn't want to do something the way they like they can always 'fill the void' in that section of learning themselves.... but I bet most parents feel that is too much work.

My 7 year old daughter asked me about the American Revolution last month and we both went online and then went over what I had been taught and learned about it. I didn't need a textbook for that, but I did use references outside of my noggin.

Responsibility is what a parent should excel at when it comes to their children but we have a society that is systematically eroding self responsibility, so I guess parents are just following suit....


Sorry for the rant, I have just run into too many folks lately that do not know anything about our countries history and are college grads.....

Originally Posted by digital

Bigdogg the reason why this is such a controversial decision is because apparently from some reason schools nationwide take their decision makeing ques from the State of Texas School Board.

And do you honestly believe that creationism is going to be allowed to be put into text books for public schools?

Read any supreme court decisions about this issue recently? I'm sure EVERYONE in this thread is aware of the supreme courts stance on this EXACT issue.....right?

So, if a bunch of local politicians, small potatoe concilmen, and people begging for votes start making promises they know, or should know they can't keep, in order to maintain their popularity and keep their jobs/get their jobs....what's the big deal?

Obama's in the whitehouse. Seems to have worked in his favor, right? Those terrorists still in Guantanamo? Gays still can't get married or serve openly in the military? Had a sit down with Castro or Ahmaidiidnanajead or K-J Il yet?

Promises, and hype, for local votes and nonsense. The second religion, or creationism, or anything of the sort is printed in text books purchased with taxpayer monies or distributed to public school children, nationwide, is the second they get oblitered by supreme court precedent.

Hell....go look up the recent Newdow decision about the pledge of allegiance. Of course, he lost on the pledge...but they specifically reference the text book/bible reading/religion in the classroom aspect.

Wagging the dog, people. This is just as ridiculous as getting upset about Obama saying he should take the guns away from people clinging on them and religion. Politicians can say whatever the hell they want to get elected. And he did. But the law says people get to have their guns and religion, and the president, whoever he may be, can suck on it all day if he has a problem with that.