A Textbook Failure

[fintstone]

The following is a portion of an article titled: A textbook case of failure
Politically driven adoption system yields shallow, misleading materials
By Alex Johnson, MSNBC
School Book Article
It illustrates the problems...not only with liberal educators...but with the books too. Even if one wanted to teach a viewpoint that was not liberal...they would be unable to due to the way books are required to be written"

"161 pages of bias guidelines
In California, by contrast, the controlling forces are “social content standards” that insist that the state’s textbooks — even those in math and the sciences — portray ethnic groups, women, the elderly, the disabled and religious groups in precise proportionality to their representation in the population.
Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley, now part of textbook giant Pearson Prentice Hall, developed a 161-page manual titled “Multicultural Guidelines” in 1996 just to navigate the process in California. As summarized in the Fordham Institute report, the manual says company textbooks:
must include illustrations of tall and short people, heavy and thin individuals, people with disabilities, and families headed by two parents, by one parent, by grandparents, by aunts/uncles, and by other adults. When writing about the development of the U.S. Constitution, authors are directed to cite the dubious claim that it was patterned “partially after the League of Five Nations — a union formed by five Iroquois nations.”

[CamB]

It would have been fairer to paste that AND the comment directly above about Texas:

In Texas, the Board of Education is dominated by political conservatives who are heavily lobbied by conservative activists, among them the evangelical group Focus on the Family and the husband-and-wife team of Mel and Norma Gabler, whose tireless campaigning for religiously centered teaching materials has made them among the most influential forces in the production of American textbooks.

Texas’ textbooks, which are often adopted by other states that have few alternatives, have included board-ordered passages mandating politically conservative definitions of marriage, abortion and same-sex relationships and instructing students that pregnancies are best prevented by “respecting yourself” and getting “plenty of rest.” They have eliminated any mention of condoms, even though Texas leads the nation in teenage pregnancies.

[fintstone]

But Cam....Texas is a good example! Why post that?

[dd74]

Texas is a perfect example of agenda infiltrating education, and for nothing but the wrong reasons. In my view, I see nothing wrong with prayer in school, or bible groups meeting after school, but textbooks are designed to be unbiased truths - which they are.

Maybe the question should be how well educated is the Religious Right? How many textbooks have they read?

As for Fint's example, I believe the phrase is "representative education" where it is hoped that if a black kid as well as Latino, Jewish, gay and disabled kid see others of their kind, they will take a deeper interest in the given lesson.

As a proclaimed educator, are you saying this is doing more harm than good?

[fintstone]

I don't think you could point out too many textbooks in a public school...even in Texas that teach religion...except for maybe Islam.

So social content standards are ok....if they are standards you agree with? I would consider the Texas example as just good common sense. I see no reason that conservative definitions of marriage, etc should not be used. Single sex marriages should be "sold" in school as normal...

Have you proclaimed me an educator? I have not.

[HardDrive]

One of the rare instances that I am 100% on board with fintstone.

The PC bull***** must stop.

"When writing about the development of the U.S. Constitution, authors are directed to cite the dubious claim that it was patterned “partially after the League of Five Nations — a union formed by five Iroquois nations.”

Sickening.

[RoninLB]

What it took to get an 8th grade education in 1895

Remember when grandparents and great-grandparents stated that they only had an 8th grade education?
Well, check this out. Could any of us have passed the 8th grade in 1895?

This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina, Kansas, USA. It was taken from the original
document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and
Library in Salina, KS, and reprinted by the Salina Journal.

8th Grade Final Exam: Salina, KS -1895
Grammar (Time, one hour)

1. Give nine rules for the use of capital letters.
2. Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications.
3. Define verse, stanza and paragraph
4. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of"lie,""play," and "run."
5. Define case; Illustrate each case.
6 What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation.
7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.

Arithmetic (Time, 1.25 hours)

1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1050 lbs. for tare?
4. District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find the cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $20 per metre?
8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance of which is 640 rods?
10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.

U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)

1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided.
2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus.
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States.
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, 1865.


Orthography (Time, one hour) Do we even know what this is??

1. What is meant by the following: Alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3. What are the following, and give examples of each: Trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals
4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u.' (HUH?)
5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e.' Name two exceptions under each rule.
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi, dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup.
8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.
9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.
10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.

Geography (Time, one hour)

1 What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4. Describe the mountains of North America
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.
7. Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each.
8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.
10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.

Notice that the exam took FIVE HOURS to complete. Gives the saying "he only had an 8th grade education" a whole new meaning, doesn't it? Also shows you how poor our education system has become... and, NO! I don't have the answers

[dd74]

Originally posted by fintstone
I don't think you could point out too many textbooks in a public school...even in Texas that teach religion...except for maybe Islam.

So social content standards are ok....if they are standards you agree with? I would consider the Texas example as just good common sense. I see no reason that conservative definitions of marriage, etc should not be used. Single sex marriages should be "sold" in school as normal...

Have you proclaimed me an educator? I have not.

Islam? Well, awareness does broaden knowledge.

So you agree with the Texas example? Well, I'll fire back your question to you: "So social content standards are ok....if they are standards you agree with?"

You tutor, don't you, and as I recall, in last week's infamous thread, you said you also teach. That, to me, is an educator.

[nostatic]

ever heard of "white privelege"?

wtf is wrong with having textbooks mirror the actual makeup of society instead of the one all the old white men are comfortable with?

[dd74]

Originally posted by nostatic
ever heard of "white privelege"?

wtf is wrong with having textbooks mirror the actual makeup of society instead of the one all the old white men are comfortable with?

Yup.

In high school, the black kids would challenge the history teacher and the texts as to who or what freed the slaves.

The text wasn't correct, and the teacher capitulated.

[fintstone]

I would certainly prefer that young people have positive examples rather than be taught that traditional values are meaningless.

[fintstone]

Here is a cut from another article where young people are being taught about the "actual makeup of society." This is how your tax dollars are spent:

Buck naked at Bucknell
By Mike S. Adams

May 15, 2006

Recently, feminists at Bucknell University sponsored an event that looked more like a Duke Lacrosse party than a celebration of feminist diversity. On March 8, Bucknell's so-called Feminist Majority - along with groups like the Women’s and Gender Studies Department, the Center for the Study of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity, and the Office of Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Awareness - paid $1,920 for a strip show at Bucknell.

Billed as a "celebration of whore culture" the show was euphemistically titled the "Sex Workers Art Show." It featured a group of hookers, phone sex operators, smut writers, porn stars, and one woman who appeared via her 24-hour porn website.

One of the acts included a woman stripping on a trapeze. Another featured a woman coming out wearing nothing but duct tape on her nipples and panties while running through the audience to “Mission Impossible” music and looking for clothes. While another woman was doing a strip tease, a large man was rapping about "ho ass ni**ers" - like Kirby Puckett and Harriet Tubman – and, just for added shock value, lubing himself.

What made the event even worse
......

[dd74]

Jeez, and I thought it was bad when the CIA came on my campus, sniffing us up for recruits.

Well, whatever, Fint. The Bucknell thing sounds like a private party. Plus, I think Bucknell is a private university, so who knows how few tax dollars financed the event you're complaining about.

Sounds like a helluva kegger, though.

[fintstone]

The school sponsored this event, but would not sponsor conservative speakers...for moral reasons.

[Mulhollanddose]

I spit on liberals, then I piss on them, then I do #2 on their face while they are speaking some leftist crap.

[Moneyguy1]

Said like a true Christian.

[dd74]

Originally posted by fintstone
The school sponsored this event, but would not sponsor conservative speakers...for moral reasons.

From all I read on Bucknell's website, it is a small liberal arts college in Buffalo Valley, in Pennsylvania, and seems to be a private school.

Easily, whatever ire you hold about Bucknell, someone else could hold about Oral Roberts (the university).

[Jim Richards]

another well thought out and balanced thread posted by fint.

[masraum]

Prozac anyone???

[masraum]

Originally posted by RoninLB
What it took to get an 8th grade education in 1895

Remember when grandparents and great-grandparents stated that they only had an 8th grade education?
Well, check this out. Could any of us have passed the 8th grade in 1895?

This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina, Kansas, USA. It was taken from the original
document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and
Library in Salina, KS, and reprinted by the Salina Journal.

TEST SNIPPED FOR BREVITY

interesting, but not true

http://www.snopes.com/language/document/1895exam.htm