October 03, 2007
Failing Public Schools
Parents cannot always rely on public schools to do their job. Textbooks are tailored to please the largest customer, the liberal California textbook committee. Teachers, for the greater part, drop the ball further.
One of my son's history books had only three paragraphs on World War II but had enough room for two full-page color pictures showing Bill Clinton and Maya Angelou. Fortunately, my son had a teacher who put together his own curiculum with articles and research papers that he collected over the years and on the topics where the textbooks failed.
Many students are not as fortunate, as evidenced by this sample of ninety students tested in San Francisco high schools.
If high school juniors' answers to a World War II questionnaire were strung together, here's how history would look:World War II took place in 19-something, when Theodore Roosevelt was president and the Germans claimed to be the best race.
Hoping to aid Third World countries, the United States joined the war to stop racism and end the dispute over Jews.
The head of the Nazis was a killer named Hitler whose evil partner, Mussolini, was president of the USSR. Ultimately, the war ended with the bombing of Iwo Jima and Hitler's suicide. Then a treaty was signed.
To make it worse, San Francisco city leaders never want to honor our military or teach that it has made people free throughout the world.
Parents need to be more involved and demand that their children get the education necessary to make livings and to learn history so as to avoid making mistakes of earlier generations. Education departments and teacher's unions need to start caring less about their power and more about "the children."
When will they start?
Posted by Woody M. at October 3, 2007 09:50 AMGood grief! It's an outrage!!! How do we win back control of our schools from the left? I'm Digging this article.
Posted by Faultline USA at October 3, 2007 04:15 PM
My sons were fed the urban legend of Chief Seattle's speech in their high school curriculum, even after I pointed out that it was a fraud and provided evidence.
It was particularly poignant, as both were born in Ceausescu's Romania, which erased much of the previous 100 years of history, finding it inconvenient.
Posted by Assistant Village Idiot at October 3, 2007 08:50 PM
Parents cannot always rely on public schools to do their job. Textbooks are tailored to please the largest customer, the liberal California textbook committee. Teachers, for the greater part, drop the ball further.
OR...
Teachers cannot always rely on parents to do their job. Textbooks are tailored to give bang for bucks. Teachers, for the most part, do the best they can with what they've got.
Woody...are you EVER planning on saying ANYTHING nice about teachers? Why not just take your son out of public school and home school him if it's that bad? You make these blanket statements about teachers being worthless and not giving a hoot. Unless you've been on a textbook committee, be quiet. You have no freaking idea what you are talking about. I've been on one, and it's hard. You have to look at the extras that each company is offering and decide which will be the most beneficial with the best results. It's not an easy decision.
Now...having said that, I personally agree that featuring only 3 paragraphs on WWII is terrible. But which bothers you more? That they only featured 3 paragraphs about WWII or that they put up a large picture of a president you despise and an author for whom I am sure you don't care? Which is it?
But I am sick to death of you always blaming the teachers. Everything that is wrong with the public school system is not always the teachers fault.
Are you on your son's PTA committee? What about the Campus Advisory Committee at your school? Do you volunteer at your son's campus? Do you tutor or offer to be mentor to someone? How are you involved? Have you ever even asked to be on a textbook committee for your district?
Posted by Jennifer at October 4, 2007 08:11 PM
I'm sorry Jennifer but since you are a conservative you are not allowed to deviate from the script, even if you are a teacher. Please amend your comments to blame the Godless Communists for ruining our public schools in an effort to weaken and destroy America from within. It's what any true patriotic American would have to say about the subject. Unless you happen to be a phony like those guys Rush Limbaugh was talking about, perhaps?
Posted by e. nonee moose at October 5, 2007 06:14 AM
