Compare and Contrast this!

I find it, well.......disturbing - that we have elected to our State Board of Education folks that are so hell bent on elevating the perception to our children that America is great and it got that way simply because it is great.

Here is one of many changes the good folks at McLeroy's Neocon SBE have recommended for 8th Grade Social Studies. 

Now compare and contrast is good, I like to do it now, but as a kid I sucked at it.  It teaches critical thinking which is a good thing, a good type of pedagogy.  But you can only compare and contrast things that are related. Jean Pierre Godet"s "I love America" words cannot be compared or contrasted with anything Susan B Anthony's said.
 
Why the brilliant scholars at the Texas SBE think students will come away with something of relevance shows just how clueless these people are.  Susan B Anthony was a leader in the woman's suffrage movement, you know, when loving America for keeping the vote from woman was what made us great!

The same goes for Upton Sinclair who wrote about the U.S. meat packing industry leading to the passage a few months later of the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act.  And Ida B. Wells who wrote about lynchings and civil rights for blacks, and WEB DuBois who dealt with racism in America.

 To conclude that their work was the result of pessimism is to miss the big picture here.  They were moved to act because America during their time was flawed. Yes the same America that Godet loved for allowing him to dream a new dream was the same one holding others down.  Without their optimism to see that change was possible, without their personal sacrifice, without their toil for a cause that would benefit others not just themselves, where would we be?

Now the neocon way of thinking is let's forget all that bad stuff, focus on just the good.  Why?  I think I know, it's because they want the America of the past.  They don't see these people as moving us forward, they see it as a change that destroyed our American Values.  Why celebrate muckrakers - it only encourages others (students) to challenge the status quo. We will give you change that we want and you should be grateful for what you have.

Contrary to McLeroy's neocon way of thinking, historians are not obsessed by oppression when they discuss these individuals and the warts that were part of the day to day encounters.  Oppression leads to change, change is what is recorded and what should be learned.  Being told that Godet "loved America" is beneficial in what way other than "golly-jeepers that sure feels swell!"

Lets look at this from another angle:

I love King George for giving so many of us the right to dream a new dream in America.  Such words were lost on muckrakers such as Franklin, Jefferson, Washington, and Adams.  

Compare and contrast that optimism!


Note: Yea - I changed "put an end to woman's suffrage" As my kid pointed out with that look of "you idiot!"

US History with a dash of Newt

In today’s paper “Plans for texts has many riled up – Texas public school students should learn about Newt Gingrich and other conservative politicians but not liberals according to the first draft of proposed standards” all brought to you by the Texas State Board of Education.

First thought through my head was “to the victors go the spoils” which, as I was told as a kid, means that history is written by those in control. Now I don’t expect much from the same group that had a religious neocon at its lead and just recently hired another one in his place. These folks have an agenda, they are biased, and really don’t care about truth or fairness if it runs counter to what they want and believe.

But to be fair, I cannot just take what the “liberal” press feeds me, because you know they have an agenda too – just ask Sarah Palin. No, but really, the press is prone to misunderstanding just like the rest of us, and since everyone quotes and presents the same story, if it is wrong to start with it gets passed on as wrong. So being the good lil’ scientist I am, I find the document and the passage.

Now I have no idea if the group that put this together had an agenda to snub liberals or indoctrinate our youth to think and become conservative. It is possible that what they were trying to do is show the shift in mindset as we moved into the 21st century. That shift, like it or not, was towards conservative views and policy ushered in by Newt Gingrich and the moral majority it it changes the lay of the land significantly. So it is possible that there was no mention of liberal movers and shakers because they played very little in this shift.

On the other hand, the requirement to study Phyllis Schlafly does not hold well for this argument, in my opinion, since she was no more a player in this process as anyone on the left or right. Understanding how Conservative advocacy is how one “understands the circumstances of the US as it emerges into the 21st century." Students should know how it came about, who the players were, and how it took place.

So before we tar and feather these guys for promoting their conservative agenda. Let’s back off a bit and hear what they have to say. If my take is correct, then it is important for kids to know, because I was also told way back when that those who do not study history are doomed to repeat the same mistakes again.