New Religious Push in Schools

Image via Wikipedia

Now that school boards and legislatures are back in full swing after the holidays I am noticing a push for more religion in schools. From moments of silence and church graduations to creationism science freedom and religious liberties bills. 

I am not going to go into the specifics of each link below as many others have already done so. But, here is a sample of bills and board decisions in the last few weeks.   

Schools may again require moment of silence

Giles schools give God space; will return Ten Commandments display to buildings 

School board: Graduations to stay at church

Oklahoma House Bill 1551 (rtf) and Senate Bill 554 (rtf).

Mississippi Student Religious Liberties Act Of 2011

Another Fine Post from: No 2 Religion - Just Say No!

Related articles

• Student Religious Liberties Act of 2011 (msatheists.org)
• Moment of Silence and Prayer Back in Play in Illinois (friendlyatheist.com)
• Virginia school board votes to put Ten Commandments back in county schools (secularnewsdaily.com)

Schools Pave the Way to Hell

John Dewey Image via Wikipedia

Or at least that's what we are led to believe in this incredible post by Bill Wilson at Standing for God.
Bill starts off with the provocative title, "As Souls Hang In The Balance, Public Schools Pave The Way To Hell." 


He starts off by blasting the Cambridge, Mass public schools for including a Muslim holiday in next years calendar. He quickly devolves from there. Here are some choice quotes:

The public schools are generational brain-washing facilities for the Communist Manifesto which “abolishes eternal truths,” “all religion,” and “all morality.”

The brainwashing by the public schools is deeply rooted in the Hegelian Dialectic as brought into the schools by John Dewey, co-author of the Humanist Manifesto, a socialist and considered the “Father of Education” by the National Education Association. 

This guy is truly a piece of work. There is no critical thinking going on in the post. I have seen more coherent thoughts by conspiracy theorists.

Another Fine Post from: No 2 Religion - Just Say No!

Related articles

• Christians and Public Education (dakotavoice.com)
• Glenn Beck And Bill O'Reilly Debate Muslim Holiday in Cambridge Mass. (mediaite.com)

Several School Districts Violating Civil Rights of English Language Learners

Image by Old Shoe Woman via Flickr

The Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights is looking in to eight school districts nation-wide for possible civil rights violations in their English Language Learner (ELL) programs.
Working with English Language Learners, Second Edition: Answers to Teachers' Top Ten Questions 
The following school districts are being investigated to make sure they are giving equal educational access to ELL students:

Los Angeles Unified School District
Hazelton (Pa.) Area School District
DeQueen (Ark.) Public Schools
New London (Conn.) Public Schools
Tigard-Tualatin (Ore.) Public Schools
Lake Washington (Wash.) School District 

Two other districts Tulsa (Okla.) Public Schools and Dearborn (Mich.) Public Schools are in the midst of compliance reviews.

Another Fine Post from: No 2 Religion - Just Say No!

Related articles

• Number of ed civil rights complaints on the rise (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Boston schools failed non-English speakers (reuters.com)
• Arizona's ELL Programs May Violate Federal Civil Rights (No 2 Religion)

Arizona's ELL Programs May Violate Federal Civil Rights

Image via Wikipedia   

Federal civil rights officials from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights have identified two practices that Arizona uses to identify students that require English Language Learner (ELL) services. The practices in question are the surveys schools and districts give to parents to initially identify students to be tested for ELL services and the process the state uses to reclassify ELL's as fluent in English even if they don’t pass all sections of the state’s English-language-proficiency test.

John A. Stollar Jr., a former deputy associate state superintendent of English language acquisition services for the state spent an entire day on the stand defending Arizona's ELL program in federal court last week.

The outcome of the case may implications outside of Arizona as some states have ELL identification and testing policies similar to Arizona's. 

It seems as though Arizona not only wants to keep Latinos out of Arizona it also doesn't want to educate them.

Related articles by Zemanta

• English language learners at American schools (theworld.org)
• Feds sue controversial Arizona sheriff in civil rights probe (thegrio.com)

I thought Waldorf Was Just A Salad

Apparently, there is a educational methodology called Waldorf education. According to Wikipedia, Waldorf education, "is a humanistic approach to pedagogy based upon the educational philosophy of the Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy". OK, I understand all of that description except for anthroposophy which Wikipedia says, "is a spiritual philosophy founded by Rudolf Steiner, postulates the existence of an objective, intellectually comprehensible spiritual world accessible to direct experience through inner development—more specifically through cultivating conscientiously a form of thinking independent of sensory experience." Oh. So, anthroposophy is BULLSHIT! Why didn't they just say so.

Well it seems that the Waldorf education model has been popular in private schools for a while but is now gaining traction in public schools as well. There are as many as a two dozen Waldorf schools in California. There is also a group that is suing them because they say that the Waldorf education method is based on his anthroposophy and there-by a religion.

What do you think?

Public Waldorf schools booming in Sacramento -- but are they legal?
By Melody Gutierrez
mgutierrez@sacbee.com
Published: Monday, Aug. 2, 2010 - 12:00 am

Sacramento is the epicenter of the debate over whether the Waldorf system – whose educational philosophy goes back 100 years – is appropriate for a public school.

Parent interest in Waldorf schools is exploding, with a wait-listed K-8 school in south Sacramento moving to a larger site this summer.
Sacramento City Unified School District officials say they recognize the growing interest in Waldorf-inspired education, which is primarily offered at private schools.

The district opened a second Waldorf – a small public high school – three years ago.

While enrollment climbs, the district faces a lawsuit this summer from a Northern California group that claims the Waldorf system cannot be separated from founder Rudolf Steiner's religious philosophy, making public Waldorf schools ineligible to receive taxpayer dollars.

The People for Legal and Nonsectarian Schools filed the lawsuit in 1998, and after several appeals, a trial is set for Aug. 31 in Sacramento federal court.

"We are excited to finally make it to court," said Debra Snell, president of PLANS. "These schools are spreading like wildfire. It's a nationwide concern."

Art plays a key role

Tristen Bentley shrugs, his shaggy hair creeping into his eyes as he considered the question: What is Waldorf?

"It's like a big family," said Bentley, 14, who will enter his sophomore year at George Washington Carver School of Arts and Sciences, a Waldorf-inspired public high school in Sacramento.

Waldorf educators say, simply put, Waldorf is a holistic approach that focuses on a child's development and has art infused into the curriculum.

Bentley said he was attracted to the art focus but heard murmurs that Waldorf was religious-based. He says he knows now that it's not.
"That was my mom's prejudice when we came here," he said. "She's over it now."

After attending the academic magnet Sutter Middle School, Bentley chose not to follow his peers to McClatchy, West Campus and other high schools. "I like art, the sciences and the attention you won't get at the other big schools," he said.

George Washington Carver principal Allegra Alessandri said the school provides opportunities to Sacramento City Unified students who can't afford private Waldorf school tuition.

Besides George Washington Carver, the district has a popular K-8 school – John Morse Waldorf Methods School. The two schools are among two dozen public Waldorf schools in California. Several more are in the works, Waldorf educators said.

Public Waldorf high schools are rare, with Alessandri saying she believes George Washington Carver is the only one in the country. The school replaced a failing small school, America's Choice, which had one of the worst dropout rates in the state.

"That gave us a rocky start," Alessandri said. "We were overcoming gang and violence stuff. We inherited a bad reputation that we had to work through. It's attracting kids now."

She said the school will increase enrollment from about 200 students to 250 in the fall. She hopes to have 500 students in the next few years.
George Washington Carver ninth-graders take nine weeks of drama, art, gardening and poetry. Alessandri said the school is project-based and hands-on.

"We put all of our academic subjects in historical context of how they arose," she said.

'Anthroposophy' has critics

Skeptics of Waldorf methods aren't hard to find. One of the most vocal groups is PLANS, which filed the Sacramento suit. PLANS operates a website that posts comments from former Waldorf parents, teachers and students.

The website warns parents that "Waldorf schools are an activity of anthroposophy, a cult-like religious sect following the occult teachings of Rudolf Steiner."

"All of us know that a Catholic-inspired school wouldn't fly, but many people aren't aware of new-age religions, so they sneak in the back door," said Snell, PLANS president.

Snell said she helped found a Waldorf-inspired charter called Yuba River Charter School in Nevada City. She said she liked the focus on art and that teachers stay with the same students from kindergarten through eighth grade.

"We are trying to make a point that it's easy for schools to be duped and people to be duped," Snell said. "We don't blame the schools for doing this. These people are really good and deny that this is religion."
The crux of PLANS' case centers on whether or not anthroposophy is a religion.

According to the Dictionary of World Religions, Steiner created anthroposophy to try to "develop a view of reality based on direct perception of the spirit world."

Alessandri said she looks forward to the case this summer and is confident the district will prevail. "Waldorf education is not religious education," she said. "This is a good solid education."

Morse gets new campus

In a cafeteria in south Sacramento in February, parents and teachers grew impatient. A woman began to sing and then dozens joined, continuing as Sacramento City Unified Superintendent Jonathan Raymond entered smiling. Raymond said John Morse would be relocating to the larger Alice Birney Elementary campus.

Morse, which turned away 51 students last school year, would be able to expand its K-8 program, which had been operating over capacity with 411 students. Alice Birney, which had been closed because of low enrollment, can hold 565 students.

"We still have a wait list in certain grade levels," said Morse principal Mechelle Horning. "We will eventually have two classes at every grade level."

That demand is seen at many Waldorf schools, educators say. According to Debra Lambrecht, an administrator of the Alliance for Public Waldorf Education, there are 43 Waldorf-inspired public schools in the country, including 24 in California.

Those schools could become competition for private Waldorf schools.
Liz Beaven, an administrator at Sacramento Waldorf School in Fair Oaks, said the private pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade school is seeing less than a 5 percent drop in enrollment for this fall, despite the economy.

"The charter and magnet schools have impacted enrollment (at private Waldorf schools)," Beaven said. "But we support healthy education for children. We believe that taking some of our methods and curriculum and making them more available for children is a positive thing."
At the private school level, where religion can be taught, Waldorf educators say their philosophy is not religion-based.

Private and public school teachers receive the same training, said Betty Staley, director of the high school training program at Rudolf Steiner College in Fair Oaks.

"We want (teachers) to knowwhat the philosophy behind Waldorf is, although it's not taught in the school," Staley said. "It's called anthroposophy and it's the philosophy of the human being. In public school, they would not ever mention the spiritual, but it's important for (teachers) to know it, so it's not a secret?

Related articles by Zemanta

• What Is Biodynamic Farming? (food.change.org)
• Israelis back Steiner schools (thejc.com)

Creationism in Schools Is All The Rage

Image via Wikipedia

It seems to be taken seriously as a school board candidate in the South these days you need to be a creationist. Although, some of these candidates get an "A" for their stance on sex ed, some also get an "F" for NOT keeping public education secular. Bold added below by me for emphasis.

School board candidates address issues at forum
By Kimberly C. Moore
Staff writer

Published: Sunday, August 1, 2010 at 10:53 p.m.

Eight of the 12 Alachua County School Board candidates who attended Sunday night's forum at Oak Hammock retirement community, along with stand-ins for two candidates who couldn't be there, agreed on one thing: age-appropriate sex education in schools is a must.

"One in four seniors in high school - girls - has an STD," said April Griffin, who is running for the District 1 seat. "Two hundred girls in Alachua County schools had a baby last year. A lot of parents don't want to teach them or don't know how to teach them."

Beyond that, it was an ideological free-for-all for the candidates running for the three open seats on the school board. About 100 people packed into a conference room, most of them residents in the retirement community, to listen as candidates addressed issues like the budget, creationism, sex education and merit pay for teachers.

Moderators pointed out that state funding for Alachua County schools has dropped 28 percent since the 2007-08 school year - including cuts of $17 million last year - and wanted to know what candidates would do to ensure increased funding levels.

"Florida has never, ever been kind to children in funding education," said Carol Oyenarte, who is running for the District 5 seat and helped in the effort to get a one mill increase in school funding from Alachua County taxpayers. "We're 49th in the nation. Part of that is that we just don't value education. Our community believes in education for our children. We have to keep persevering."

Many of the candidates said they would develop relationships with local lawmakers and urge them to fight for funding in the state capital.
Some of the candidates thought creationism has a place in public school education, with others saying it should be taught in a class that discusses theories or philosophies of all world religions. Some, though, said it belongs in church or at home.
"I am absolutely opposed to teaching creationism as science in our schools," said Rick Nesbit, who is running for the District 1 seat. "I would absolutely safeguard the separation of church and state."

You can read the remainder of the article here.

MS Junior HS Needs Some Talking To

From Mississippi Atheists by vjack

 

Sumner Hill Junior High School in Clinton, MS, is a public school. They are part of the Clinton Public School District. The following is from their website:

We believe...

Faith in God is the cornerstone of our community.

Again, this can be found on the web page of a public school in Mississippi.

Contact information for the school is as follows:

Sumner Hill Junior High School
400 W. Northside Drive
Clinton, MS 39056
Phone: (601) 924-5510

The school's principal, Willie McInnis, can be reached via email at wmcinnis@clinton.k12.ms.us. Please remember to keep any correspondence respectful, and please share any responses you receive.

It may also be worth contacting the Freedom From Religion Foundation and/or Americans United for Separation of Church and State, both of whom make it easy to report violations via online forms. It would probably be most effective if the reports were made by someone in Clinton.

h/t vjack @ Mississippi Atheists

Corporal Punishment In Schools - Redux

Image via Wikipedia

It is bad enough that schools consider corporal punishment a viable form of discipline but, where is the outrage by the parents?

Apparently, Memphis thinks if you spare the rod you spoil the child. Let's check-in with Maureen Downey over at AJC.com on. "Why would Memphis or any school system reinstate corporal punishment?"

Related articles by Zemanta

• Tell 'Hot Button': Should MCS restore corporal punishment (commercialappeal.com)
• Educator Pushes for Corporal Punishment (foxnews.com)
• Spanking Still Happens in Public Schools? (No 2 Religion)

Where Are The Strings?

Image by DavidDMuir via Flickr

Monday's online edition of the Wallstreet Journal reported that some schools have resorted to accepting donation from church's to make for severe budget shortfalls. Being a school employee myself I am keenly aware of how bad school budgets are. We have lost more than 15% of our staff in the last 12 months due to budget cuts and supplies are being cut beyond the bare minimum. However, how does anyone think accepting donations from religious organizations is a good thing? You don't generally get something for nothing from religious groups. You have to stand up and just say No 2 Religion!

Below is the article from the WSJ with bold added by me for emphasis.

A School Prays for Help
Towns Tap Businesses, Churches to Shore Up Budgets
By JENNIFER LEVITZ and STEPHANIE SIMON

LAKELAND, Fla.—When his budget for pencils, paper, and other essential supplies was cut by a third this school year, the principal of Combee Elementary School worried children would suffer.

Then, a local church stepped in and "adopted" the school. The First Baptist Church at the Mall stocked a resource room with $5,000 worth of supplies. It now caters spaghetti dinners at evening school events, buys sneakers for poor students, and sends in math and English tutors.

The principal is delighted. So are church pastors. "We have inroads into public schools that we had not had before," says Pastor Dave McClamma. "By befriending the students, we have the opportunity to visit homes to talk to parents about Jesus Christ."

Short on money for everything from math workbooks to microscope slides, public schools across the nation are seeking corporate and charitable sponsors, promising them marketing opportunities and access to students in exchange for desperately needed donations.

The dash for private funding has raised concerns. The Oklahoma Senate last month voted down a bill that would have allowed advertising on school buses, a move supporters said would prevent teacher layoffs. "Do we want our school buses to look like Dale Jr. (NASCAR racer Dale Earnhardt Jr.) is driving them?" says state Sen. Steve Russell, an Oklahoma City Republican who opposed the bill. "What's next? How about Starbucks on the side of our M1 tanks?"

In Florida, meanwhile, alliances between churches and schools are igniting debate about church-state boundaries. "I have great concerns about churches who see public schools as, well, what shall I say, church membership," says Harry Parrott, a retired Baptist minister who runs a local chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Combee Elementary School is one of many schools seeking private help amid the orange groves of central Florida's Polk County, which has an unemployment rate of 12.1% and the fifth-highest rate of suburban poverty in the nation, according to the Brookings Institution, a Washington D.C. think tank.

Nearby Frostproof Elementary asks local businesses to sponsor classrooms, in return for promotion on the school marquee. Among those that stepped in is Rogers & Walker Gun Shop, which earned billing for donations totaling $300 to two classes.

At Sikes Elementary, principal Ann Tankson hands out fliers urging families to flock to "McTeacher's Night" at the local McDonald's, where volunteer teachers flip burgers as "celebrity employees." The franchise gives a portion of proceeds to the school.

"You do what you have to do," she says.

Public agencies across the spectrum, not just schools, are doing what they have to do. Already hit by a fall in sales and income taxes over the past two years, local governments now are wrestling with a drop in property-tax collections as home values are adjusted to reflect the downturn.

The police department in tiny Bayport, Minn., sought donations from a pet-food company to buy and feed its first trained police dog, a black-lab mix named Keylo. The public library system in El Paso, Texas, recently formed a nonprofit foundation to raise corporate funds to buy children's books and Spanish-language literature. Costa Mesa, Calif., is hunting for businesses to sponsor dog-poop bag dispensers.

Short of funds to provide homeless services, the Florida Department of Children and Families recently gave nearly $260,000 to the First Baptist Church Leesburg, an hour from Orlando, to buy and renovate the old Big Bass Motel in Leesburg. The church will open it this month as a shelter for homeless families. Residents will be required to attend church, though it doesn't have to be First Baptist, says Chester Wood, director of the inn.

Such alliances "are forcing a kind of essential re-examining of the public-private compact," says Mark Muro, a public policy analyst at the Brookings Institution. "We're going to be seeing more and more of this in the next year or two—and we're going to be seeing some experiments."

Public schools are making some of the boldest moves. Traditionally, private donations—including foundation grants and money raised at bake sales—have amounted to just 1% of K-12 funding nationally, according to the Education Commission of the States, a nonprofit think tank. The money generally has been spent on extras like new computers or playground upgrades.

Now, it's for essentials. "They're asking for simple things: books for the classroom, art supplies, paper," says Sean McGraw, executive director of a nonprofit foundation that supports public schools in wealthy Douglas County, Colo.

Bake sales no longer cut it. Manatee County, Fla., just received a $20,000 check from a local cucumber grower, Falkner Farms, which wants to sponsor and name an elementary-school engineering program. District officials are reviewing the deal as they continue to solicit sponsors for other courses.

The San Diego Unified School District is seriously considering opening its middle- and high-school cafeterias and gyms to corporate advertising, a move that could bring in $30,000 to $50,000 a year per school, says Bernie Rhinerson, chief district relations officer.

"We wouldn't put tobacco or anything objectionable to young minds," Mr. Rhinerson says.

But he can see Nike advertising in the gym. "That $30,000 could buy a part-time music teacher, a resource teacher, or books for the library," Mr. Rhinerson says.

North of San Diego, administrators in the Vista Unified School District are already reaching out to private-sector sponsors. Dentist John Coleman runs periodic promotions offering free teeth-whitening for patients who write a $150 check to a magnet school across the street from his office. The school sends home fliers advertising the deal; teachers talk it up among friends. The dentist says he's raised $5,000 for school science programs while bringing in more than enough new patients to make it worth his while.

This summer, the Houston Independent School District plans to launch a commercial online radio station in partnership with a private firm, RFC Media. The station, accessible from the district website, will play rock and rhythm-and-blues, air school news and sports highlights, and include five minutes of commercials each hour from a local supermarket chain, a furniture store and other sponsors. RFC Media, which has long experience in Houston radio, expects the district's share of the profit to top $300,000 the first year.

Some parents say they're grateful when the private sector steps up. "If a minor-league baseball park can have commercial sponsors, why shouldn't a high school, if it alleviates the tax burden and helps balance the budget?" says Dick Lee, a mortgage broker whose three children attend public schools in Newton, Mass. That district is considering selling naming rights to the theater, gym, swimming pool and athletic fields at its newest high school.

Other parents feel the alliances go too far. In Nashville, parent Mortimer Davenport is irked at a deal approved this spring by Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools. In return for $150,000 in cash and in-kind donations, the Tennessee Credit Union will open a bank branch in Antioch High School's cafeteria that will be run by students and staff and serve the school. The high school's business program has also been renamed, "The Tennessee Credit Union Academy of Business and Finance."

Mr. Davenport isn't crazy about having teens handle other peoples' money. And the deal with the credit union disturbs him.

"If a business is willing to pump money into a public-school system, they should just give it to the school to buy things it needs," says Mr. Davenport, whose daughter is a senior at Antioch High.

The school district says the bank branch will allow young people to get hands-on business experience.

Some educators and parents worry that schools in affluent areas have an advantage in finding private donors, exacerbating inequities in the classroom. They also fret that if schools are too successful at raising donations, lawmakers will cut their public funding even more deeply. "Legislators will begin to factor in outside donations when setting school budgets," says Arnold Fege of the Public Education Network, which represents school-advocacy groups.

In Polk County, situated between Tampa and Orlando, educators say they must run after every available dollar. Declining property-tax revenue has forced the school district to strip $76 million, or nearly 10%, from its budget over the past two years, even though the student population has grown, says Superintendent Gail McKinzie.

At Combee Elementary, funding for basic school supplies is down 33%, says principal Steve Comparato. In recent months, he's received donations from a local fertilizer company and a grocery chain. But Combee's most active sponsor is First Baptist Church at the Mall, a 9,000-member congregation that uses golf carts to shuttle worshippers from its palm-tree-filled parking lot to its main chapel, which used to be a Sam's Club.

Last fall, a school staffer who worships at the church told pastors about the school's plight. In a visit to Combee shortly thereafter, Mr. McClamma, the church's senior associate pastor of evangelism and missions, offered to start by opening a "resource room" stocked with supplies.

"I said, 'Amen,'" recalls Mr. Comparato. "This was like a prayer answered."

While Combee gained resources, the church gained access to families. At Christmas, the school connected the church with parents who said they wouldn't mind being visited at home by First Baptist. The church brought gifts, food and the gospel. Of about 30 families visited over two weekends in December, 13 "came to the Lord," says Mr. McClamma, a 58-year-old motorcycle buff who drives a black sports-utility vehicle with the bumper sticker "Christ First."

Mr. McClamma says adopting Combee goes far beyond providing resources like school supplies. "The purpose is to show them the church cares, and that there is hope, and hope is found in Jesus Christ."

"If they want to come in and help, who am I to say no?" says Mr. Comparato, the principal.

He says he would welcome congregations of any faith as sponsors, but adds of his students, "My personal conviction is that I hope through this they'll know Jesus and they'll get saved."

Asked if the principal's comments indicated he was promoting one particular religion, Ms. McKinzie, the Polk County superintendent, says, "He personally can hope anything he wants, as long as he offers programs at the school for parents who don't believe in the Baptist faith or anything at all."

Loretta Deal, a Combee parent, says she's not a churchgoer, but she appreciates the help from First Baptist, particularly after the church brought her gift certificates at Christmas. Ms. Deal, who is disabled from a stroke, says the church encouraged her to come to their church but she felt comfortable refusing. "Yes, they did, but I have never been a churchgoing person," she says.

On a recent muggy afternoon at the school, the lanky, 57-year-old principal strode down outdoor walkways painted with cougar paws (for the Combee mascot) with two pastors from First Baptist.

"Can I have a word of prayer with you?" asked Pastor McClamma. The principal, his assistant and the two pastors from First Baptist stood in a circle outdoors, outside the main office. Pastor McClamma asked for "Combee Elementary, Lord, just to excel."
As he walked through classrooms, Pastor McClamma jotted down notes of what the school was short on.

"How are y'all on the colored pencils? Need some of these?" he asked the principal, holding up pencils. "If you're getting low on supplies, let me know."

Lifelong Learning

Image via Wikipedia

One of the things I have enjoyed about my position as Political Action Coordinator (PAC) for my union is the training. I consider myself a lifelong learner. I enjoy learning new things and I enjoy learning more about what I already learned.

The first learning opportunity I received was from the California Democratic Party. In November 2009 I attended, Learn to Win 2010 Campaign Training in San Luis Obispo. The training focused on grass-roots organizing with emphasis on tools for success in Field Skills, Online Strategy, Finance Law, Using New Technology and Campaign Messaging.

Although, I do not think I am ready to run a campaign, the training left me with more than basic knowledge about how to run one. I certainly learned enough to be a strong campaign volunteer or staffer. However, what I really gained was insight into how to get involved and get others involved.

If you are in California, I urge you to attend this training if you are at all interested in becoming part of or learning more about political campaigns. If you are not in California, I suggest you contact your state or local democratic party to see if they are offering training like this.

One of the things I hope to do with this training is not only provide better working conditions and healthcare in my union but also use it to bring about progressive change in California and keep religion out of schools and government.

It is time to end the apathy and get involved.

A Closer Look at Textbooks Needs A Closer Look

Image via Wikipedia

In a New American article, Raven Clabough says,

"In light of the recent controversy surrounding the Texas Board of Education, and what may be an improvement on the information taught to America’s youth, I suddenly became curious about the “facts” found in the textbooks in my own state of residence: Florida."  

And he doesn't like what he found. While I think some points maybe valid most are simply Discovery Institute talking points.

One of my favorite comments was from Soulf2:

Discovery Institute reference fail
Wow, referencing the Discovery Institute without even looking into why they are not taken seriously is a major fail point for Raven Clabough. Anytime you want to know why the alt to evolution is not presented, just look it up on the talkorigins web site. talkorigins.org/indexcc/list.html
Every creationist claim is quoted, sourced, and cited.

As for the general history books... WTF? Are you serious? No single book is going to go into extensive details unless that is it's focus topic. If it did, student text books would be MUCH longer and impossible to cover over such a short time span. Also, opinion pieces should not be inserted into history books, save that for philosophy. However, we are lucky that most students are then able later to take topic oriented classes later (after the base history has been established).

And now for the actual article. Bold added by me for emphasis.

A Closer Look at Textbooks
Written by Raven Clabough  - Friday, 28 May 2010

In the debate over textbook content, the two major points of contention always seem to be the teaching of evolution, and American history overall. Students are schooled to believe that evolution is a fact, not a theory, and that America is a democracy, when it is in fact a Constitutional Republic, and that the Constitution is a living document that evolves over time.

Perhaps most disturbing is the absolute rewriting of history and blatant falsities that are being presented to the influential young minds in some textbooks, including concepts like “FDR saved America from depression” and “Woodrow Wilson was a progressive hero.” 

In light of the recent controversy surrounding the Texas Board of Education, and what may be an improvement on the information taught to America’s youth, I suddenly became curious about the “facts” found in the textbooks in my own state of residence: Florida.  

On evolution, Florida’s Holt Science and Technology textbook for eighth graders indicates: “Scientists observe that species have changed over time. They also observe that the inherited characteristics in populations change over time. Scientists think that as populations change over time, new species form. Thus, newer species descend from older species. The process in which populations gradually change over time is called evolution.” When discussing the evidence for evolution, the textbook refers to fossils and fossil records, case studies of whales, and DNA. Of course, there is an entire section dedicated to the greatness that was Charles Darwin, and much of the speculative language disappears. However, the textbook does refer to Darwin’s hypothesis on natural selection as a theory. 

The problem with the Holt Science textbook, however, is that even though it was copyrighted as recently as 2006, there is no mention of the alternative discoveries that dispute the theory of evolution. In 2001, the Discovery Institute launched a list of hundreds of scientists who dissent from Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. According to the Institute, “During recent decades, new scientific evidence from many scientific disciplines such as cosmology, physics, biology, “artificial intelligence” research, and others have caused scientists to begin questioning Darwinism’s central tenet of natural selection and studying the evidence supporting it in greater detail.” The letter of dissent states, “We are skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life. Careful examination of the evidence for Darwinian theory should be encouraged.” 

Of the reasons for the dissent, the Center for Science and Culture indicated that Darwin’s theory of “microevolution,” changes within existing species, is uncontroversial and supported by a plethora of evidence, but that his theory of “macroevolution,” large-scale changes over geological time, was “controversial right from the start.” The Center states, “In the first few decades of the twentieth century, skepticism over this aspect of evolution was so strong that Darwin’s theory went into eclipse.” Dissenting scientists argue that the genetic mutations necessary to account for the theory of “macroevolution” would produce mostly harmful effects, not positive effects like the development of the human eye. 

Now, I do not pretend to thoroughly comprehend evolutionary theory, but one thing seems certain. Evidence uncovered after Darwin’s death has created a divide between scientists who do and do not subscribe to the theory of macroevolution, and that it is certainly worth mentioning in the Science textbooks. According to the Center for Science and Culture, “Since the controversy over microevolution and macroevolution is at the heart of Darwin’s theory, and since evolutionary theory is so influential in modern biology, it is a disservice to students for biology curricula to ignore the controversy entirely … it is inaccurate to give students the impression that the controversy has been resolved and that all scientists have reached a consensus on the issue”. 

It seems fair to say, unfortunately, that political correctness plays too much of a role in the content of school textbooks. In fact, according to a Rasmussen poll, 55 percent of parents believe that to be the case. If a science textbook even suggests that Darwin’s theory of evolution may be false, the writers are charged with supporting creationism. To avoid that clash, they simply leave out contradictory data. 

In the same Rasmussen poll, a mere 31 percent of parents believed history textbooks portray American History accurately.  On Glenn Beck’s May 25 episode, he furiously discussed how history is being rewritten to be politically correct.  He pointed to a Virginia State McDonald Publishing History textbook that discussed the Declaration of Independence and said, “The declaration expanded these ideas that all men are created equal and they are endowed … with certain unalienable rights.” The words “by their Creator” were removed and replaced by ellipses. 

Fortunately, Florida’s McDougal Littell Creating America eight grade textbook does not attempt to remove God’s role from the founding of American independence from British rule.   

Where the textbook falls short, unfortunately, is in the discussion of FDR’s presidency. The book accurately asserts that “the New Deal did not end the Depression” and even states that the New Deal did forever change the U.S. government. However, in the half-page mention of the Japanese internment camps, little focus is given to the overall and blatant injustice of the internment program. The program is summed up as follows:

In the days and weeks after Pearl Harbor, several newspapers declared Japanese Americans to be a security threat.  President Roosevelt eventually responded to the growing anti-Japanese hysteria.  In February 1942, he signed an order that allowed for the removal of Japanese and Japanese Americans from the Pacific Coast.  This action came to be known as the Japanese-American internment.  More than 110,000 men, women, and children were rounded up.  They had to sell their homes and possessions and leave their jobs.  These citizens were placed in internment camps, areas where they were kept under guard.  In these camps, families lived in single rooms with little privacy.  About two-thirds of the people interned were Nisei, Japanese Americans born in the United States.

And that’s it. There is no mention of what happened to the Japanese after the war, no real focus of what life was like in these internment camps, and no discussion of how most of these citizens did not have their properties restored to them upon their release. 

Likewise, the textbook does not mention the other prejudiced practices under FDR, including the imposition of restrictions on Italian and Germans living in the United States. According to the German American Internee Coalition, FDR “interned at least 11,000 persons of German ancestry” even though the law stated only “enemy aliens” could be interned. Under FDR, the Department of Justice (DOJ) “instituted very limited due process protections for those arrested.” Also under FDR, “pursuant to the Alien Enemies Act, DOJ created a network of prohibited zones and restricted areas.  Enemy aliens were forbidden to enter or remain in certain areas and their movements severely restricted in others.... Pursuant to Presidential Executive Order 9066, the military could restrict the liberties of citizens and aliens, as it deemed necessary.” 

Yet none of that information appears in the McDougal Littell textbook. Nor does the textbook discuss FDR’s creation of the Office of War Information, which virtually regulated all information in print, inhibiting freedom of press and speech. 

The issue with leaving out such pertinent information is that it lulls American students into a false sense of security about their government. To know history is to avoid repeating it. People who accuse governments’ critics of being “conspiracy theorists” are unaware that much of what people say could “never happen in America” already has. 

For these reasons, and many more, it is certainly no wonder the Texas Board of Education felt compelled to investigate the content of the textbooks. It should even prompt other states to take similar actions of scrutinizing textbooks to examine what is being left out or glossed over.  

Note: There are many more articles like this at the New American. While the site does not claim to be a mouthpiece for the religious right, it is quite obvious they are.

• Beck's Founders' Fridays Attempts to Undo Revisionists' Damage
• Texas Board of Education Gets the Facts Right 
• Inside the Texas Textbook Controversy  

At Least Some States Get It Right

Image via Wikipedia

Unless you have been under a rock or lost in a jungle you have most likely heard about the Texas Textbook fiasco.  Well at least some state are getting right. According to Omaha World-Herald staff wrtter, Joe Dejk Nebraska and several other states are not introducing Intelligent Design into state science standards.

Although advocates of intelligent design enjoyed fleeting success the past decade in Kansas, they have not found Nebraska science classrooms so welcoming.

Three members of the Nebraska Board of Education say they're not aware of any effort by board members or the public to include intelligent design in Nebraska's new science standards.

Nebraska's 253 school districts would have to adopt the state standards, or more rigorous ones, or risk losing accreditation.
The standards take on added importance this year because education officials will use them to design for the first time a statewide science test. That test will be piloted at some schools next spring and implemented at all public schools in 2012.

Nebraska's proposed standards would continue to refer to evolution as theory. California's standards, among the nation's most detailed, do not qualify evolution as a theory. Oklahoma's standards, on the other hand, make no mention of either intelligent design or evolution, but children are taught “biological change over time.”

In Iowa, evolution also is included in state standards.
The Iowa Core, adopted by Iowa lawmakers in 2008, requires high school students to “understand and apply knowledge of biological evolution.”

Iowa high schools must adopt the Iowa Core by 2012; elementary schools by 2014.

... a 2005 federal court ruling that found a Dover, Pa., school board violated the U.S. Constitution when it approved teaching intelligent design alongside evolution.
Although Kansas' standards no longer refer to intelligent design, an introduction to the standards includes a reminder to teachers not to “ridicule, belittle or embarrass a student for expressing an alternative view or belief.”

The National Science Teachers Association opposes mandating the teaching of intelligent design. The association endorses teaching evolution, viewing it “as a major unifying concept.”

Read the entire article here: Standards keep focus on evolution

Related articles by Zemanta

• Evolution's New Foe: Timid School Administrators (wired.com)
• Texas SBoE and the Flinstones (no2religion)

Texas Governor wants Textbooks Online

Image via Wikipedia

This is a fairly progressive statement for then Texas governor. I am wondering why with all the controversy going on Gov. Perry wants textbooks online. Is it so they can more easily add creationist content to their textbooks?

Governor: Texas should move to online textbooks

By KELLEY SHANNON
AUSTIN, Texas

Gov. Rick Perry proposed Wednesday that Texas abandon using traditional textbooks in public schools and replace them with computer technology.

"I don't see any reason in the world why we need to have textbooks in Texas in the next four years. Do you agree?" Perry asked participants at a computer gaming education conference in Austin.

During his wide-ranging speech, the governor offered some new ideas for boosting student performance and defended his education record. Perry, a Republican seeking re-election this year, also addressed a dispute with Democratic challenger Bill White over Texas' dropout rate.
Paper textbooks get out of date quickly, Perry said, sometimes even before they reach the classroom. He noted that since he took office in 2000, some schools have used textbooks saying Ann Richards was governor. She served from 1991-95.

Perry said using computer software to teach students allows the curriculum to be updated almost instantly and said children learn through technology, including math computer games.

"There's obviously opposition (to switching to totally computerized material), but there's always opposition to change," Perry said. He said the switch would have to be done cost effectively and that he didn't yet know whether such a move would save money. The governor said he wants to explore the proposal when the Legislature meets in 2011.

Rep. Mark Strama, an Austin Democrat who also attended the gaming conference held at Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s campus, said he's interested in pursuing that goal as well. He said lawmakers took a step in that direction last year by allowing schools to spend textbook money on electronic instructional materials.

This is the right time for schools to invest in technology, with Apple Inc.'s recent launch of the iPad and similar products that are likely to follow, Strama said.

Perry said students who have no computer at home may obtain access as technology keeps developing and costs come down. Strama said that's part of the answer, but that he sees a move away from textbooks as an opportunity to ensure that children have computers available.
"This is the way to solve the digital divide problem for children who don't have access to technology at home, because if every child is getting something like an iPad or a tablet (computer) that has all their instructional content on it, it also is something they can use for other purposes when they're at home," Strama said.

White's campaign said the Legislature already has given the State Board of Education authority to review some online materials and add them to the approved list for schools to use, but the state board hasn't done so. Spokeswoman Katy Bacon asked why Perry hasn't urged the education board chairman to speed up the process.

In his speech, Perry touched on Texas' high school dropout rate, acknowledging that there are improvements to be made. He repeated his suggestion that high school-age teens be required to be enrolled in a traditional school or a "virtual" school online before they can get driver's licenses.

There are different ways of calculating the dropout rate, and Perry and White dispute the numbers.

Perry's campaign says the dropout rate is 10 percent. White's campaign cites studies showing the rate may be higher, possibly above 20 percent. Bacon said Perry and state officials don't know what has become of about 30 percent of students who do not graduate or get a GED credential within 10 years.

"There's a whole category of kids that is simply lost in the last five years," Bacon said.

The Texas Education Agency says the high school dropout rate is 10.5 percent, according to a definition that all state governors have agreed upon. The four-year graduation rate is 79.1 percent, the agency says. That doesn't include dropouts, student who continue in high school for a fifth year and those who receive a GED.

Perry said White's method of calculating dropouts includes students who die before graduating.

"If a child dies they count that as a dropout. I think that's a little harsh," Perry said.

But the White campaign said statistics show the number of students who die doesn't account for the gap.

Educating the Uneducated Texas SBoE

Texas State Senator Rodney Ellis (D) District 13 attempts to educate the Texas SBoE in an editorial on the Houston Chronicle website.

Now's the time to educate State Board of Education

By STATE SEN. RODNEY ELLIS
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
April 8, 2010, 8:19PM

We already know that the Texas Legislature will face a huge fiscal deficit when it meets in January. But it's clear now that legislators must also address a deficit of trust in the State Board of Education.

Parents have become increasingly concerned about state board members who seem more interested in promoting personal and political agendas in public schools than ensuring that our schoolchildren get a sound education. The last three months have once again highlighted why they are worried.

For nearly a year, teachers and scholars worked hard to craft new curriculum standards for social studies classrooms. Then in just two meetings in January and March, the state board shredded their work, making hundreds of ill-considered changes.

Things got so bad in January that even a Republican board member charged that her colleagues were simply “rewriting history.”

For example, political extremists who control the board changed the standards to suggest that Joseph McCarthy's political witch hunts in the 1950s were justified. They removed the concepts of “justice” and “responsibility for the common good” from a standard on good citizenship. They even claimed that women and minorities who struggled for equal and civil rights over decades owe thanks to the “majority” for finally gaining them.

Board members also exposed their own faulty and superficial research by removing Bill Martin — author of the popular children's book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? — from the third-grade standards. Some members mistakenly thought he was a different Bill Martin who wrote a book about Marxism.

The board's March meeting was not any better. Among scores of changes, the board deleted Thomas Jefferson from a world history standard on Enlightenment thinkers who have influenced political revolutions around the world. Board members said Jefferson, who was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence and argued that “a wall of separation between church and state” is essential for freedom, didn't belong in the standard.

The board also rejected a proposed requirement that students learn why our nation's Founders barred government from promoting one religion over all others. Opponents claimed that the Constitution doesn't really protect religious freedom by keeping religion and government separate.

The board made all these changes without asking for the guidance of even one teacher or scholar at the meetings. Their contempt for real expertise could hardly have been clearer.

This kind of nonsense is not new. For years now, extremists on the board have turned issue after issue before them into a divisive, unnecessary “culture war” battle. Those battles reached a high pitch last year. Despite the pleading of world-class scientists in Texas — including Nobel laureates — and businesspeople worried about the education of their future employees, the board inserted creationist arguments against evolution in new science standards.

As the battle over evolution raged, legislators meeting in Austin considered more than a dozen bipartisan bills aimed at reining in the board's power. Many of those bills would have given authority to set curriculum standards and adopt textbooks to teachers and academic experts with the training and knowledge to make informed decisions.

I wrote two such bills and co-sponsored another along with three Republican senators. We warned that the state board's political warfare was recklessly undermining the education Texas students need to succeed in our modern economy. Indeed, putting ideological agendas ahead of education will make it harder for Texas to attract and keep the industries and jobs that our state needs to compete.

None of those bills passed the Legislature last session, but they should have served as a clear warning to the board about the limits of our patience with their irresponsible actions. We will certainly consider similar legislation this spring because Thomas Jefferson was right about the importance of public education. “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization,” he wrote, “it expects what never was and never will be.”

Board members appear to have forgotten those words. It's time they were reminded.

Related Posts
Texas Textbook Controversy - Much Ado About Nothing?
Interfaith Alliance Protests Texas Textbooks To Publishers
It's Time to Mess with Texas
Texas Textbooks May Be as Bad as Home School Textbooks

Texas SBoE and the Flinstones

 And there it is there.

Texas Text Book Controversy - Much Ado About Nothing?

                      Image via Wikipedia

On the Newsweek.com blog section The Gaggle - Press, Politics and Absurdity David A Graham seems to think that the Texas textbook controversy is much ado about nothing. I will agree that the HuffPo has been a shrill alarm but then that is what they do. Graham thinks that while it is petty to replace Thomas Jefferson it is no big deal because his replacements also influenced American revolutions. However, is the object of the Texas SBoE to just introduce other historical figures for examination or to deprecate Thomas Jefferson. I think it is the latter.

I also take issue that this is Texas' business and that other states are not affected by there textbook decisions. While any state can have their own textbooks written not all can afford to write their own, particularly in this economy. Additionally,I have yet to see any mention of other states choosing or even exploring this option. In my last post I wrote about how the Interfaith Alliance has protested Texas' textbook changes to top publishers. Even if their wasn't an issue with other states and Texas' textbooks there is still the matter of their own students and what they will learn. Remember, these kids will become a part of American society and the lessons the are taught will carry with them where ever they go.

Lastly, I will concede his last point whole heartedly.

Why You Shouldn't Worry About Texas's Textbook Changes

David A. Graham - Posted Friday, March 26, 2010 2:14 PM

We're now two weeks into the row over changing Texas history-textbook standards, and the story seems likely to persist at least until a final vote in May on the changes. That means several more weeks of hysteria.

Liberals are outraged. The Huffington Post exemplified the shrill alarm that's being raised: "Ultraconservatives wielded their power over hundreds of subjects this week, introducing and rejecting amendments on everything from the civil rights movement to global politics." You'd think Texas had decided to wipe slavery from the textbooks, paint George Washington as an evangelical Christian, and depict Franklin Roosevelt as a radical Trotskyite. Here are five reasons not to get too exercised about the Lone Star state's shenanigans.

It's not that bad. OK, some of them are pretty offensive: Jefferson Davis's inaugural speech will be studied alongside Abraham Lincoln's, and new textbooks will try to rehabilitate Joe McCarthy. Plus Jon Stewart rightfully skewered a board member's paradoxical assertion that Oscar Romero shouldn't be taught because no one knows about him. But most of them aren't that bad. For example, you may heard that Thomas Jefferson was being eliminated from history books!(!!!) Not quite. The third president—whose deism, authorship of the Virginia Statue of Religious Freedom, and coinage of the term "separation of church and state" enrage some conservative Christians—was replaced in a list of thinkers who influenced 18th- and 19th-century revolutions. That's petty, but it's no less true that his replacements—Thomas Aquinas and John Calvin, for example—did, too. Or what about the inclusion of the "conservative resurgence" of the 1980s and 1990s? Well, love ‘em or hate ‘em, Phyllis Schlafly, the Moral Majority, and the Contract with America were significant figures that affected recent American history. Exhibit A: These textbook changes.

It's nothing new. Texas's school board is particularly unhinged now—as excellent pieces in Washington Monthly and The New York Times Magazine have demonstrated—but it's always been a bit of an embarrassment. The Washington Post's Valerie Strauss points out that Texas had a prior textbook fiasco, to the tune of $20 million, in the 1990s, because no one thought to check for the thousands of errors in books. Which brings us to our next point:

It's Texas's business. A major source of handwringing is the worry that the rest of the nation's children will be affected by a few wingnuts in Texas. There was a time when a large state like Texas would sway the nationwide curriculum, because publishers would tailor their books to fit major constituents, then sell them to smaller states. But as the Texas Tribune reports, publishers say that's no longer the case—they're now able to sell different books in different markets. That means parents in Berkeley, Portland, and Madison won't have to worry. Of course, parents in Texas may grow concerned about supbar standards, which is why:

It's likely to cause a strong backlash. Divisive changes tend to earn voters disdain and lose popular support. For example, when the Kansas Board of Education came close to adopting a creationist science curriculum, it caused similar nationwide hysteria. But Kansans didn't think the changes made any more sense than anyone else, and they responded by voting out the intelligent-design bloc and installing a conservative but evolution-friendly board, saving the evolution-only curriculum. The process may already be beginning in Texas. The worst-case scenario is that the changes make it all the way to the end of the 10-year curriculum-review cycle—at which point one can hope they'll be revised back to reason.

Besides, it's not like high-schoolers pay any attention to their textbooks anyway.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Interfaith Alliance Protests Texas Textbooks to Publishers (No 2 Religion)
• SBOE's Controversial Curriculum Changes [Remember the Alamo?] (austinist.com)
• Historians critical of textbook revisions (bendbulletin.com)