You MUST read what the right is doing to education in Minnesota...

[MinnFats]

Ed Commish Peterson Yecki, friend of Jeb Bush, has declared she won't follow the "hate America agenda." She packed a commission reviewing social studies standards with right-wingers who essentially want to gut the public schools or turn them into freeper factories.

From City Pages:

http://www.citypages.com/databank/24/1197/article11649.asp

snippets:

"... what is striking is how much the composition and preliminary work of the committee reflected a hard tilt to the right, sometimes at the expense of fact.

"It was hard to pick the most egregiously right-wing standard set by the committee. Was it that all seventh-grade students are to know the significance of the four references to God in the Declaration of Independence? Or maybe that first-graders must understand the definition of "opportunity cost"? Entrepreneurship is cited in the standards more than three times as often as anything regarding the nation's labor movement.
"The Declaration of Independence is erroneously referred to as "the founding document that sets forth the principles for our nation" (that would be the Constitution), and the committee claims that the framers of the Constitution "secured the equal rights of all citizens" (which would have been news to women and slaves, among others).

How were these and countless other claims outside the political mainstream approved? According to committee member Mark Doepner-Hove, the group was "forced and encouraged" by Yecke's department to use standards already enacted in five other states. The standards in these states all received either an "A" or "B" grade from the conservative Fordham Foundation....
"The composition of the committee reflected the political bias of Yecke--who has ties to the Bush administration--and the foundation. Just one resident of Minneapolis, home of the state's largest school district, made the committee, while Plymouth, an affluent western suburb in the heart of Republican country, boasted five representatives.

"The backgrounds of some committee members are also notable. There's Bruce Sanborn, listed on the education department's website simply as a parent and, long ago, a schoolteacher for two years. But Sanborn is also chairman of the board of the Claremont Institute, whose mission is to "restore the principles of the American Founding to their rightful, preeminent authority in our national life." The institute will present Rush Limbaugh with its Statesmanship Award at a dinner in Los Angeles on November 21 and has recently named Reagan-era education commisioner William Bennett its Washington fellow. ....
"Matthew Abe is similarly listed on the website as an involved parent. There is no mention that Abe runs the Minnesota Education Reform News website, with a mission to "inform Minnesota citizens about the shortcomings of performance-based, anti-knowledge, behavior-, and attitude-based education." The site links to EdWatch, the new name for the conservative, Christian-oriented Maple River Education Coalition"

[dflprincess]

1. My cousin's husband is a Social Studies teacher

and just can't believe this crap.

Among the things that will be left out of the study of American history:

The interment camps Japanese Americans were sent to during WWII

Any hint that the treatment of American Indians was genocide (it actually says that the spreading of small pox was "accidental").

JFK - yes that's right, not one mention of the man, but Reagan's "winning the Cold War" is mentioned.

Another part of the scheme is to teach below or above grade level. Younger kids will be taught concepts generally considered above the age group and older kids will be mainly be taught by rote. That's it, turn them off the idea of studying History or Civics when they're young and they'll never give any thought to what's going on in the world.

It's also been decided that the "sentiment" of a statement like "Give me liberty or give me death" is important, but who said it and the context in which it was said, is not important.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

17. this is why i agument my childrens education in the home with Zinn History

[Mattforclark]

2. Those who forget the lessons of history

are... you know the rest

[Deja Q]

3. Vile (hey you repuke lurkers, read this...)

Fascism at its "finest". x( :puke: :argh:

Osama bin Laden, Adolf Hitler, and Saddam Hussein are clearly much more honorable, democratic, and balanced than any republican in office today.

Don't get me wrong, I despise those historical figures too. I'm just using a reference point that I hope you understand. You repukes are worse. At least the victims of those historical figures got to die. What you pukes want everybody to do is live under your fascist rule. And under worse conditions. Hey, Hitler allowed the Germans to live because they were the 'superior' race. In repuke America, the 'superior' being is the one who can best market a product, even if the product is as reliable as a kettle of cack. If you lot think the best society is about marketing and personal profit and NOT product quality and the benefit of future generations, then fuck off and die in long, cold, callous PAIN. You people are scum and deserve the so-called "society" you are creating. You will fail in the long run.

[wtmusic]

4. 'performance-based, anti-knowledge, behavior-,

and attitude-based education'? WTF is that (sounds kinda fun)?

:silly:

[kodi]

5. you guys are missing the point of this lesson by a mile here

bitching about how bad this is provides an obvious elixar for us sensitive souls to beat our breasts in anguish over the corruption of civil society by these yahoos.

what is important is that this techinque, this modus operendi is a standard tactic of the right wing to capture and subdue representative democracy at its roots, by local political activism.

unless we are willing to sit thru boring school board meetings, zoning commission meetings and participate in other local activities as interested and vocal citizens these Denizens of the Darkside will always win.

this is exactly what the shock troops on the right have done for a generation, from phyllis shafly to pat robertson and the rest of these hate-mongers, the fringe right has fought with a cunning plan to advance their causes and we in the center and left have left it to others to participate at the lowest levels in organized society and battle these clowns.

if you dont like what these people are doing, go to the next school board or county commissionors meeting, see what you can do in your neighborhood to confront this sort of distortions.

the only way we are going to win back our liberal and progressive traditons is to fight for them at the local level and express our faith in our beliefs by actions that affect us directly.

a look at howard dean's campaign is a good place to start to see what can be affected by concerted communitarianism, and we had better start soon getting more active as progressives in our communitieites or the other side will hold all the choke points in society, manipulate the facts, and throw up road blocks to anything progressive.

its the "new fascism" coming to your home town, and we had better start confronting it as it marches in our own town hall meetings.

sign up for at least one local communitarian event a week, get noticed, get your ideas out there and across to others who might side with us, but dont just sit there sucking your teeth and bitching about the other side's tactics, they are using the system better than we are and instead of dispising them, learn the lesson they are teaching us. use the system to get your way.

if we dont, we dont deserve our democracy.

[MinnFats]

6. of course! Many of us...

....are hammering legislators and the governor with protests over this...no one is taking this lying down.
it did, however, start as a stealth campaign by the gov's office and his lacky Yecki to steer public education on a hard right course. the backlash is becoming increasingly effective.

[kodi]

7. yes, but what you described is re-active, not active

there is a quantum difference between protesting what someone else has already accomplished at our expense versus beating them at their own game. and we are not beating them locally, in our own communities, we are losing there, everywhere.

yoi mentioned that many are "hammering legislators and the governor with protests over this...no one is taking this lying down."

but that is not the same as being at the cross roads ahead of them and not letting them get even as far as they have gotten. and it is because of the lack of community involvement of large numbers of liberals and progressives in a sustained effort to protect and project our positions locally.

its not until as what was described in the initial post that we get all charged up, and by then, in many instances, its already too late to win.

this is not a war which will be won in a day, or over a single issue like school books. it will have to be fought in every town and hamlet over a long period of time and to ensure that liberal and progressive viewpoints are given full and accurate airing we have to do the dirty work of being involved all the time, not just when we get outraged by the other side's successes.

one of the great features in the make up of liberals and progressives is that we are people who are not encumbered by the need to go along with the herd. this independence of thought is our strength, but a feature of this independence is that for many of us, we are unwilling to participate in organizations which by their nature appear to stifle creativity and exist to deal with the boring little details of making our lives better. for many liberals, a attending a protest march now and then is more fulfilling

and if we dont man those boards, commissions, and community sevice organizations in ensuring our side has a voice, a voice everywhere we can present it, before decisions are made, we are not going to survive.

[Yupster]

8. Good point Kodi

the rightwingers took over the Republican Party by showing up at precinct meetings with a kit from Pat Robertson on how to take over a precinct convention. They moved from the bottom up, kicking the moderates out of their leadership positions by simple numbers from precinct to county to state to national levels. It took a lot of time and a lot of persistance.

[soup]

9. Please don't send me back to first grade.

my "first-graders must understand the definition of "opportunity cost" confession:

I had to look it up.

Opportunity Cost – The value of the best alternative to a given choice, or the value of resources in their next best use. In regard to time, the opportunity cost of time spent on one activity is the value of the best alternative activity that the person might engage in at that time.
http://www.ecosystemvaluation.org/glossary.htm

Then, unable to make sense of that, I searched for an applicable explanation of the definition.

Opportunity cost is a very important concept; its importance lies in the fact that we can assess the consequences of decision-making when faced with choices.

Sometimes these choices are forced upon us - for example, if I am in A&E with one of my children who has some injury or illness, I may have to wait longer for my child to get treatment if somebody is admitted who has been involved in a fight through some drink related incident and needs more urgent treatment.

The opportunity cost to the economy as a whole of the decision by someone to not go into work because of a hangover is the lost output that that person could have produced. If the NHS are spending £1.7 billion on treating patients because of some alcohol related problem that is £1.7 billion that is not available for treating those who need cancer treatment, fertility treatment, treatment for heart disease or whatever.
http://www.bized.ac.uk/current/mind/2003_4/290903.htm

With that accomplished - I was able to move on and tackle the following:

According to committee member Mark Doepner-Hove, the group was "forced and encouraged" by Yecke's department to use standards already enacted in five other states. The standards in these states all received either an "A" or "B" grade from the conservative Fordham Foundation.

and found

Back to Basics: Reclaiming Social Studies
http://www.edexcellence.net/foundation/global/page.cfm?id=56

Terrorists, Despots, and Democracy: What Our Children Need to Know
http://www.edexcellence.net/foundation/publication/publication.cfm?id=316

which I'm currently wading through - among other gems at
http://www.edexcellence.net/institute/global/index.cfm

The question isn't 'is our children learning?' so much as it is 'what is our children learning?'. This Fordham Foundation plan for education is very frightening to me.

[jlucu]

10. MN against the Standards- organization

There is an organization - Minnesotans Against Proposed Social Studies Standards, with a website - their statement, the statement of 32 Uof MN History professors, an online petition etc.....
Hopefully this will make a difference:
http://mapsss.no-ip.org/

[trotsky]

11. Thanks for the petition link!

I just signed up.

What is most disgraceful to me is that the proposed standards don't make mention of ANY Democratic president since FDR! That's right! Truman's integration of the armed forces & dropping the bomb, JFK's peace corps, LBJ's great society, Carter's progress towards peace in the M.E., and of course Clinton's varied accomplishments - none of that happened. All you kids need to know about the 20th century is that Nixon went to China, and Ronald Reagan used his super heat vision to destory communism.

[Beaker]

12. do you have a link to that?

I find it difficult to believe

[Lindacooks]

13. Here you go:

http://mapsss.no-ip.org/MinorityReportFinalCopy.pdf

This is the minority dissenting report.

Some snips from it:

There are no Democratic post WWII Presidents found in the Grade 8 or 9-12 standards. While no Democratics are listed, all Republicans are listed except Gerald Ford. In both cases students are specifically required to know the 'role' of Ronald Reagan in leading to the collapse of communism. Ronald Reagan is given full credit for the fall of communism but Presidents Kennedy and Johnson are not listed in the civil rights benchmark directly above it.

Nowhere do the standards acknowledge or discuss the complicated, contentious, and enduring legacy of slavery or American race relations past or present.

The older students get, the less important women become.

Should we believe that a discussion of Japanese internment camps was an accidental omission?

[ComerPerro]

14. That is just messed up

Opportunity cost, my ass. Opportunity cost is a joke. It doesn't exist.

If these right wing assholes who are currently in charge were real capitalists, they would have been successful in business. They wouldn't be like W, who failed repeatedly. And they wouldn't see it necessary to change the rules, lie, cheat and steal in order to garuntee a profit.

When you change (and break) to rules to make sure that you avoid risk, you do not deserve profits, for you have taken no risk.

[bleedingheart]

15. Run for School Board and those offices which influence

public education.

My sister did when a right wing homeschooling whacko on our school board was trying to drag our academic standards into the toilet....and she WON!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

16. Or if you don't have time to do that

attend your school board meetings and BITCH to high heaven, or find some like-minded candidate to support.

We Americans often forget that unlike most countries, we don't actually have a national educational system. We could create a world-class school system district by district if people only had the will.

[kodi]

19. that's what i do, and i attend the county board meetings as a gladfly

i sub teach about once a month at the local county high school and when i do i ask a lot of questions of the full time teachers about what's going on. they dont run for school board nor are they generally vocal at these meetings due to fear of retributions from the county, so what i do is voice their concerns. i have had teachers come up to me when i teach and ask me if i'm the guy who raised hell at the last school board meeting and thank me for expressing their concerns.

when the county repeatedly voted down money for a county humane society shelter, i DOGGED each commissioner for months at the meetings, calling them, writing letters to them and the newspaper about it, and about how they spent money on foo foo items instead of allocating funds for a shelter.

now there is going to be an animal shelter and the commissioners would not have done it without a number of us being pests at the meetings.

this is where the efforts for democracy impacts us directly and if we are not willing to get our asses out one night a month to go to these meetings, we dont deserve to bitch.

i started doing this as a 17 year old kid when the town i lived in shut down the school gym on saturdays when it used to be opened all morning and afternoon so kids could play basketball, lift weights and swim. i went to the local commissioners meeting and stood up and told them that if they wanted the local teenagers to get into trouble and do drugs, they were doing it right, because with the gym closed there were now going to be a 100 local teenaged and early 20's young men and women with nothing to do in the town on saturdays except get into trouble now that the gym was closed. they had closed the gym to save money on the custodian who had to be there on saturdays, it was only about $150 for the guy to be there.

up to that point in my life it was the scariest thing i had ever done, standing there and speaking in a crowded room full of adults, because i was really just a kid to them, but what a great feeling it was when the town commissioners voted to reopen the gym....

i know we can make a differnce at this level if we try.

[Some Moran]

21. I wish I could go to the meetings here...

But the board office is 45 minutes away from here.

I will be attending city council meetings once the new council is sword in though. :)

[kodi]

23. good for you. we need to do more than just vote to influence our society

if we dont participate in the society and life of the community than our philosophical adversaries do alone and by default they shape the world the way they want, not the way we want.

i know its sounds strange, there is something moving when one thinks about the process of our democratic government. it is that we get to decide. i know that there is a lot of manipulation of media, memes, and myths, but cutting thru this is the awarenss that if the individual wants to invest the time, he or she can make a difference in the results of the process.

i think this is at the core of a lot of the power of howard dean's campaign. i think this is a very hopeful sign.

[LWolf]

18. Another step down the road

we've been on for the last decade. Just one step at a time, until it just seems so "normal" that people don't question it. And a generation of voters/workers coming into play.

I've said it so many times in the last 10 years. WHY ISN'T THE ASSAULT ON PUBLIC ED A BIGGER ISSUE TO DEMOCRATS, THOSE ELECTED AND THOSE REPRESENTED?

[leesa]

20. Christian right are people who are not coping well with reality

Trying to re-enact 'Leave it to Beaver' but totally ignoring the fact the Ward was an alcoholic and June was a struggling single parent.

[preciousdove]

22. Denial in Minnesota

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=716271

[maggrwaggr]

24. this is a good lesson for those who bash the South

The evangelicals are alive in well in all 50 states.

In fact, in my travels around the country I'd find that the midwest is WAY more conservative than the South.

[mot78]

25. The Freeper Youth Legue!

Mein Shrubbie!