posted
The Texas Board of Education is doing their 10 year reevaluation of the curriculum. Texas being the biggest text book buyer in the country - what they set as their curriculum will likely affect what goes into the textbooks. So to one degree or another, they are not just setting the curriculum for Texas for the next ten years, but the rest of the country.
Many Conservative advocacy groups are well aware of this. And they have been targeting the board for years with the goal of having de-facto control of it when this time came around. Well, they nearly achieved that goal. Seven of the 14 members are hard core, religious right conservatives. And they are hard at work trying to put a more conservative spin on the history we teach in Elementary, Middle and High School.
quote:one guideline requires publishers to include a section on “the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s, including Phyllis Schlafly, the Contract with America, the Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority and the National Rifle Association.”
That doesn't sound so bad. That's just teaching modern history. Knowing about these organizations and the effect they have on our politics is important for everyone. And they don't declare how they are to be portrayed, which means teachers can portray them in a neutral and honest way - hopefully.
quote:here have also been efforts among conservatives on the board to tweak the history of the civil rights movement. One amendment states that the movement created “unrealistic expectations of equal outcomes” among minorities. Another proposed change removes any reference to race, sex or religion in talking about how different groups have contributed to the national identity.
Wait, what now? The civil rights movement created "unrealistic expectations of equal outcomes"? What on Earth is that supposed to mean? That White Christian Conservatives are superior to minorities, never mind all that civil rights gibber-jabber?
quote:The amendments are also intended to emphasize the unalloyed superiority of the “free-enterprise system” over others and the desirability of limited government.
See now, that's what we call blatantly biasing history. That's a sort of propaganda as bad or worse as Soviet school room propaganda. Only tilting the other direction. Just because it supports free enterprise instead of communism doesn't make it any better. History teachers shouldn't be declaring one system superior to any other. They should simply display the facts and attempt to allow students decide for themselves.
quote:One says publishers should “describe the effects of increasing government regulation and taxation on economic development and business planning.”
Okay, that really belongs more in Economics class rooms. But I'll buy that. As long as what they specify those effects to be is reasonable and matches the current Economic theory, then I don't really have a problem with it.
quote:Throughout the standards, the conservatives have pushed to drop references to American “imperialism,” preferring to call it expansionism. “Country and western music” has been added to the list of cultural movements to be studied.
References to Ralph Nader and Ross Perot are proposed to be removed, while Stonewall Jackson, the Confederate general, is to be listed as a role model for effective leadership, and the ideas in Jefferson Davis’s inaugural address are to be laid side by side with Abraham Lincoln’s speeches.
posted
On the bright side, this bit eliminates all references to how Christianity has contributed to America's identity. So its a bit of a mixed bag.
quote:Originally posted by Alcon: ... Another proposed change removes any reference to race, sex or religion in talking about how different groups have contributed to the national identity.
quote:“There is a bias,” said Don McLeroy, a dentist from College Station who heads up the board’s conservative faction. “I think the left has a real problem seeing their own bias.”
Sounds like a genuine difference in opinion to me. I can completely buy that there is often a bias.
I would be interested in an equally representative list of biased statements in the currently used textbooks. ----
I have a question - why does your title say "the Conservatives"? It isn't like everyone who considers themselves conservatives is part of a monolithic body and the whole can be described any member of the one. What about "some Conservatives"? That would be an accurate representation, and it would remove the impression you've created of high school football teams competing for a touchdown. It would be more of a civil discussion instead of what feels like a cheap shot.
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Also from the article:
quote:In other testimony Wednesday, Hispanic activists asked that more Latino figures be written into the social studies curriculum, particularly early residents of Texas who fought the central government in Mexico when Texas still was part of Mexico. American Indians complained that their history had been given short shrift.
The first half of this I agree with. Having gone to school in Texas and remember huge swaths of time being dedicated to the American Indians, I am not so sure I agree with the second.
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posted
Sorry Kat, title changed. In my head "the conservatives" refers to the Conservative Coalition, Heritage Foundation, Republican Party, etc... It doesn't refer to your every day American that calls themselves a Conservative. But I see your point and have changed the title accordingly.
Back on topic, look at some of the things I've quoted though. Some of the things they want given more time I understand. I agree there probably is a certain Liberal bias. History teaching should be about presenting the facts and getting students to critically examine those facts. Some of the things they want though are just so blatantly biased to hard right Conservative - not even moderate Conservative - that it makes me scream.
I think, but am not sure, that this is the current curriculum. Reading through it now to see if the language as it now stands is particularly biased.
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Well...to play opposing advocate about the Civil War, the issue of states rights and the encroaching power of the Federal government is a very real issue. A state was concieved to be different from a province, and an enormous amount of power has shifted from state governments to Federal government. The "interstate commerce" clause has been so expanded that it can justify just about anything, from seat belt laws to (ironically for this topic) a national curriculum (currently in the works).
A lot of those power is, in my opinion, very good - it's good to have national seat belt laws, and because of modern technology, state lines are not the hard lines between separate peoples that they used to be. However, the balance has shifted in a really big way, and you can say that it is going in inexorably in one direction because of the Civil War - once you're in the Union, you can't get out - the Federal government will burn your state to the ground if you try.
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Oh, I am not going to look for examples of bias - not for a message board. I do research when I get paid or get credit.
It's good to remember in general that the NYT times article was a report of a specific moment in a larger conversation and not a good summary of the conversation. I would like to see a good summary of the entire conversation.
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quote:A liberal (also leftist) is someone who rejects logical and biblical standards, often for self-centered reasons. There are no coherent liberal standards; often a liberal is merely someone who craves attention, and who uses many words to say nothing.[1] Liberalism began as a movement for individual liberties, but today is increasingly statist, and in Europe even socialistic.
posted
The topic itself is interesting (more interesting than the pissing contest) - how do you write a curriculum? Texas itself is a pretty conservative state - if the curriculum tilts conservative, is that wrong? Wouldn't it be more of an injustice to impose a curriculum that DOESN'T stem from/agree with its people? That could smack of the English discouraging learning Gaelic in Ireland, as an example.
I am interested in this for two reasons: 1) I went to school in Texas, and got, in my opinion, an excellent education. My final two years in Utah were basically repeats of my first two years of high school in Texas.
And, 2) I have a friend here in DC who works in education policy, and she's new to it, so she's really passionate and posts about it all the time on Facebook. She said a week or so ago that Texas has across the board among the best public schools in America, and it is only getting better. I didn't have a chance then to ask her for details, but this reminds me that I want to.
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posted
I'm not sure how to remove bias from history textbooks. The best you can do is present multiple viewpoints, but teachers are notoriously bad at being able to do this or to encourage reasonable discussion.
If it helps, I think most kids are more influenced by parents than by history classes, especially at the elementary and middle school level, when it's more about memorization than critical thinking.
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posted
It was true of the history classes I had at those levels. I didn't have a history class that encouraged critical thinking until high school.
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quote:I'm not sure how to remove bias from history textbooks. The best you can do is present multiple viewpoints, but teachers are notoriously bad at being able to do this or to encourage reasonable discussion.
Are they? I never found this to be true. It was true with certain few teachers, but not with most - at least those in history and english where those sorts of discussions were most important to the curriculum.
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posted
It shouldn't - that's what the curriculum guidelines are for. It isn't just what to learn but how to learn it and what the students should be able to do with that knowledge.
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quote:Originally posted by dkw: I suspect it varies by the teacher or the school, not by the state.
BEST STATEMENT YET
Yes, it really comes down to the teacher. It doesn't matter what is in the textbook. A good teacher doesn't teach from the textbook anyways.
When I taught history, I would go out of my way to find other sources. Articles, web sites, videos. Textbooks, especially pre-high school textbooks, are drivel.
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posted
I thought Texas was famous for gaming results of NCLB and other federal standards. Is there any good method of comparing schools across states, like one that isn't tied to incentives and doesn't rely on the people in the system to do the measurements?
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posted
By the way, do any of the Canadians on board have access to a Canadian history textbook? The 8th graders are about to start a unit on the War of 1812, and I told one of the teachers I would track down the Canadian perspective.
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posted
The Canadians regard 1812 as a victory over American aggression. Kate Beaton actually has some great webcomics about this. Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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posted
Can we just agree that there are radicals on both sides of the isle? Conservapedia, DailyKoS, and other web sites do not represent a majority of conservatives or liberals.
Now to the issue:
I heard about this about 2 months ago on the radio. Every 10 years there is a meeting in Texas to talk about what is being taught in the schools. The unique thing about Texas is that the PARENTS play a huge part in these meetings. They have direct control in what they want their children taught. The school board essentially just mediates the whole thing. The article leaves that little bit of information out.
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quote:Originally posted by Geraine: ... Conservapedia, DailyKoS, and other web sites do not represent a majority of conservatives or liberals.
Interesting note about Conservapedia though, it is founded and controlled by Andrew Schlafly who is the son of Phyllis Schlafly from that amendment above:
quote:one guideline requires publishers to include a section on “the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s, including Phyllis Schlafly, the Contract with America, the Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority and the National Rifle Association.”
Additionally:
quote:The "Eagle Forum University" online education program, which is associated with Phyllis Schlafly's organization Eagle Forum, uses material for various online courses, including U.S. history, stored on Conservapedia.[3][16][17] Editing of Conservapedia articles related to a particular course topic is also a certain assignment for Eagle Forum University students.[17]
quote:I'm not sure how to remove bias from history textbooks. The best you can do is present multiple viewpoints, but teachers are notoriously bad at being able to do this or to encourage reasonable discussion.
Are they? I never found this to be true. It was true with certain few teachers, but not with most - at least those in history and english where those sorts of discussions were most important to the curriculum.
I actually had some excellent high school history teachers who were able to encourage discussion and critical thinking. Elementary and middle school were entirely about memorization.
I do think a lot of teachers aren't good at this, however; as evidenced by the myriad teachers who assign "opinion" papers and then flunk the kids who offer the wrong opinion. I didn't personally run into this, but my brother did, my husband did, and so did a lot of others I've spoken to. I hope it's not the norm, but it is the sort of thing that is difficult to correct for at the state level and not the easiest thing to correct for at the school administrative level, if it's subtle.
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I don't agree with bias in any classroom, but if the parents are the ones choosing the cirriculum then so be it.
We have all had teachers that lean one way or the other and let it show. I hated my radically conservative professors just as much as my liberal professors. The best professors just presented the facts and let us make up our own minds, or would present both sides of the argument.
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posted
Some of the texas lawmakers who are directly trying to put what essentially equates to 'right wing propaganda' into these textbook curriculum requirements are pretty scary ideologues, but they are at least open and forthright about their intent.
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quote:Originally posted by katharina: And, 2) I have a friend here in DC who works in education policy, and she's new to it, so she's really passionate and posts about it all the time on Facebook. She said a week or so ago that Texas has across the board among the best public schools in America, and it is only getting better. I didn't have a chance then to ask her for details, but this reminds me that I want to.
I hope you will ask for details, and share them. Every ranking I've seen puts Texas somewhere in the middle.
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posted
I'm a little baffled, myself. Texas is right in the middle, IIRC: in the low 20s on almost all rankings. The only reason I know this, in fact, is that the school where I work -- which is known for its Education programs -- actually trades on the quality of secondary education in Wisconsin, and so I've run into a couple workstudies who've actually come to Wisconsin from Texas to learn how to teach.
(Edited to add: I just did some searching on this, and it's possible that she's working from these numbers, shown in pretty graphic form here: http://www.uschamber.com/reportcard/default Personally, I'm going to take those with a major grain of salt, since the bias there is actually pretty open. But that's a likely source.)
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Why? Texas has middle of the pack schools. If that were the best that we could do, I'd despair for the nation as well.
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posted
Really, if you think about it, anytime reality breaks to the point where middle of the pack = best (1 <> 1), we're all in a lot of trouble.
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quote:If it helps, I think most kids are more influenced by parents than by history classes, especially at the elementary and middle school level, when it's more about memorization than critical thinking.
Whoa, whoa, whoa - I AM a middle school teacher and I take exception here. If you read any current literature out there about middle school curriculum design the emphasis is almost ENTIRELY on critical thinking and getting away from memorization. In fact, it's gotten to the point where if I do want kids to memorize something I almost feel like I have to apologize for it...or justify it in some way.
I know the social studies teachers feel the same pressure...we talk about it.
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quote:If it helps, I think most kids are more influenced by parents than by history classes, especially at the elementary and middle school level, when it's more about memorization than critical thinking.
Whoa, whoa, whoa - I AM a middle school teacher and I take exception here. If you read any current literature out there about middle school curriculum design the emphasis is almost ENTIRELY on critical thinking and getting away from memorization. In fact, it's gotten to the point where if I do want kids to memorize something I almost feel like I have to apologize for it...or justify it in some way.
I know the social studies teachers feel the same pressure...we talk about it.
Same here in Maryland. They want it taught more like a Reading/Language Arts class. Dig through the informational text, and form conclusions. I could get away having them memorize the preamble, especially if they were doing something like making a song out of it. But if I made them memorize terms and dates week after week, I would have got terrible evaluations.
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quote:Originally posted by MrSquicky: Why? Texas has middle of the pack schools. If that were the best that we could do, I'd despair for the nation as well.
I think it's more she found such a direct insult to the state of Texas frustrating.
I'm inclined to agree, I wouldn't want any state put into that statement.
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posted
Does it make it better that I am a Texan and my daughter will go to those schools? We game the system to look good, but then ignore the majority of students. I work part time with teachers and while they are awesome, the system is not. Though, to be fair, the kids I work with are almost exclusively the ones the system has failed for (which includes kids with genius IQ, mild autism, low self esteem or no real problems that I can see). So, I might be jaded.
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posted
The current thing for social studies seems to be the "document based question" in which the students are required to answer questions based on their reading of a historical document. I imagine that you can cherry pick your document and ask a leading question, but even then the student has to use critical thinking skills. Might even backfire, since the student is likely to notice that the question is worded in an oddly specific manner.
One thing is for sure, conservatives have a well known conservative bias. This may seem redundant, but I've never heard of a liberal arguing for change simply so that things can be "more liberal." Rather, they argue for change because they believe that something could be better.
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quote:Originally posted by scifibum: Really, if you think about it, anytime reality breaks to the point where middle of the pack = best (1 <> 1), we're all in a lot of trouble.
I guess it takes a Texas education to figure that one out. Everything is bigger in Texas, so average = #1!
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quote:Originally posted by katharina: Wouldn't it be more of an injustice to impose a curriculum that DOESN'T stem from/agree with its people? That could smack of the English discouraging learning Gaelic in Ireland, as an example.
In defense of the English, Irish is a pretty sucky language. Plus, no one here calls it Gaelic, as that sounds too much like a sexual act.
Posts: 3564 | Registered: Sep 2001
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quote:Originally posted by katharina: Wouldn't it be more of an injustice to impose a curriculum that DOESN'T stem from/agree with its people? That could smack of the English discouraging learning Gaelic in Ireland, as an example.
In defense of the English, Irish is a pretty sucky language. Plus, no one here calls it Gaelic, as that sounds too much like a sexual act.
It does have way too many vowells that don't do what they should.
I'd just want history to be accurate. None of this America is perfect, Columbus discovered America sort of stuff I learned, but REAL history. Both sides, first hand sources. Urg! You have to look stuff up yourself in order to learn anything around here.
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quote:one guideline requires publishers to include a section on “the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s, including Phyllis Schlafly, the Contract with America, the Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority and the National Rifle Association.”
Phyllis Schlafly? The Heritage Foundation? Way to completely shoot your students in the foot with irrelevant crap, Texas. These student's future university profs are going to have to do a lot of sighing and picking up of slack.
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posted
I'm reminded of that standardized test I had to do back in high school with the question about "Which is the best system of government?"
I've never read a history textbook that didn't have its flaws, but if they're genuinely trying to skew towards a conservative viewpoint, that seems... Tacky, at best. And likely to backfire on them. I don't know a lot of people who are living with the lessons they learned in high school textbooks close to their heart.
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Blayne Bradley
unregistered
posted
quote:Originally posted by Sterling: I'm reminded of that standardized test I had to do back in high school with the question about "Which is the best system of government?"
Was this an essay or short answer question? An essay-ish question could be reasonably asked depending on the course where the answer in of itself isn't graded but your ability to write ana argument to justify you choice.
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quote:Originally posted by Sterling: I'm reminded of that standardized test I had to do back in high school with the question about "Which is the best system of government?"
Was this an essay or short answer question? An essay-ish question could be reasonably asked depending on the course where the answer in of itself isn't graded but your ability to write ana argument to justify you choice.
In this case, when I say "standardized test" what I mean is a test dictated by the government, not by any particular class in the school itself. And as far as creative answers, you're limited to how thoroughly you fill in your dot with a number 2 pencil.
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