America is exceptional. It is the greatest country on the face of the earth… but to borrow from Franklin, only “if we can keep it.”

Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison were removed from World History. . .Again, that’s part of why the liberals attack. They don’t like the concept of American exceptionalism

the attempt to remove the statement about the religious basis of the founding of the country has failed.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion

dogma wrote:I'm curious as to how those people who rely on the notion that America is the best will react when China surpasses it in terms of economic might.

dogma wrote:No state can survive a total economic failure. Why would the people of China continue to work without any conceivable benefit?

WarOne wrote:Really?

REALLY, FOXnews?

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/03/11/kelly-shackelford-texas-textbook-social-studies-standards-american-history

Summary: Dangerous extremist liberals declare war on education using large retangular devices capable of brainwashing a child.

Outrageous!

WarOne wrote:Technically, the European Union has already surpassed the United States in relative GDP, and Japan is practically tied with China.

Potentially, China could achieve economic might greater than the United States and the European Union.

Gwar! wrote:China already has greater Economic Might. All they have to do is cut off supplies of all the cheap crap they make for 2 weeks. They will be able to make it though while the rest of the world crashes and burns.

sebster wrote:...there are creationists on the Texas Board fighting to get evolution taught as a theory alongside intelligent design.

rubiksnoob wrote:

Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison were removed from World History. . .Again, that’s part of why the liberals attack. They don’t like the concept of American exceptionalism

Einstein was a German immigrant.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

the attempt to remove the statement about the religious basis of the founding of the country has failed.

So sayeth the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion

have these people never heard of separation of church and state?

sebster wrote:The supply of economic goods is not a faucet you turn on and off at will.

Politics, sex, religion are all fair game at education board meeting
One board member storms out; others crow about victory on curriculum standardsLatest local news »

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Updated: 9:34 p.m. Thursday, March 11, 2010

Published: 8:46 p.m. Thursday, March 11, 2010

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Sex, money, religion and race.

State Board of Education members discussed it all Thursday, delivering a riveting drama as they trudged through another day of debate about social studies curriculum standards.

The ideological divide on the 15-member broke into a wide chasm by early evening, prompting board member Mary Helen Berlanga, D-Corpus Christi, to storm out of the meeting.

"I've had it. This is it. I'm leaving for the evening," Berlanga said. The board, she said, is pretending this is "white America, Hispanics don't exist."

Berlanga has focused almost exclusively on adding the names of minority historical figures to the standards. Not all of her suggestions have been embraced, and she said the board was preparing to undo many of her efforts.

"I've never seen a rewrite like this," said Berlanga, a board member since 1982. "This is a step backwards."

Board member David Bradley, R-Beaumont, characterized Berlanga's outburst as "poor boardmanship."

"Losing is hell," Bradley said.

The standards under consideration will serve as the framework for history, government and economics textbooks and lessons for the 4.7 million Texas public school students. And there are controversies on seemingly every page.

Board member Barbara Cargill, R-The Woodlands, objected to a standard for a high school sociology course that addressed the difference between sex and gender. It was eliminated in a 9-to-6 vote.

She worried that a discussion of that issue would lead students into the world of "transvestites, transsexuals and who knows what else."

"This is very, very inappropriate for high school students," Cargill said.

But board member Mavis Knight, D-Dallas, countered that it was naïve to think high school students would not know that some of their classmates were gay, bisexual or transgender.

"It is no secret to them, so you might as well bring it out into the open and discuss it," Knight said.

In a wide-ranging debate, the board members grappled with the right to bear arms, the gold standard, hip-hop and genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan.

They also polished up references to the American "free enterprise" economic system and removed most mentions of "capitalism," a word that board member Ken Mercer, R-San Antonio, said has a negative connotation.

The ideological tensions on the board came into sharp focus when Knight introduced a proposal that would emphasize the U.S. founders' yearning for a separation between church and state.

"We know that religion was one of the major influences but not the only influence as to the founding of our country," Knight said, defending her proposal to change the standards for a high school U.S. government course.

Board member Cynthia Dunbar, R-Richmond, shot back, saying that she and other conservatives on the board have been unfairly criticized for trying to inject their religious views into the standards.

"No we're not, but nor do we want our religious history to be tainted and to be drawn from a viewpoint that is not historically accurate," said Dunbar, a constitutional law professor at Regent University, which was founded by the Rev. Pat Robertson.

Knight's proposal failed.

Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, said the board's 10 Republicans had voted to "reject the most fundamental constitutional protection for religious freedom in America today: the principle that government may not disfavor or promote any religion over all others."

The Texas Freedom Network bills itself as a watchdog of the religious right.

The vote also drew a heated objection from the Anti-Defamation League, an organization that fights against anti-Semitism.

"The leaders who created our system of government were all too familiar with religious oppression and its consequences, and that influenced the principles on which they founded this nation," said Karen Gross, the Austin community director for the organization. "We believe that's a critical part of American history which Texas school children should learn and understand."

Jonathan Saenz, director of legislative affairs for the conservative Liberty Institute, heralded the victories of the board's conservative bloc.

"Thus far, the liberal efforts to infiltrate, indoctrinate and saturate our social studies with narrow ideology have failed," Saenz said.

A preliminary vote on the standards is scheduled for today, with a final decision in May.

kalexander@statesman.com; 445-3618

Texas education board rejects in-depth study of First Amendment

07:22 AM CST on Friday, March 12, 2010
By Terrence Stutz/The Dallas Morning News
tstutz@dallasnews.com

AUSTIN – Republicans on the State Board of Education soundly rejected a Democratic-backed proposal Thursday that would have required Texas students to be taught the reasons behind the prohibition of a state religion in the Bill of Rights.

The contentious decision in curriculum standards for U.S. government classes appeared to signal the unhappiness of several board members with court rulings that have affirmed the separation of church and state – including a longtime ban on school-sponsored prayer.

Also Online
Texas education board member walks out amid race debates

Debate continues over social studies standards

Fox News clarifies reports on curriculum, but doesn't apologize

Link: Texas Education Agency
Board members defeated an amendment by member Mavis Knight, D-Dallas, that would have required students to examine the reasons the Founding Fathers "protected religious freedom in America by barring government from promoting or disfavoring any particular religion over all others."

The seven social conservatives on the panel – several of whom openly question the legal precedents affirming the separation of church and state – were joined by the three moderate Republicans in voting no.

All five Democrats – three Hispanics and two blacks – voted for the amendment.

Board members are scheduled to tentatively approve their first draft of the social studies standards today. A final vote will occur in May.

Knight said all she was trying to do in her proposal was to let students study the First Amendment language that states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

A succession of court rulings have relied on that language to uphold the separation of church and state in a section of the Bill of Rights referred to as the "Establishment Clause."

But many religious conservatives – including a board-appointed curriculum expert – contend that separation of church and state was established in the law only by activist judges and not the Constitution or Bill of Rights.

Republicans said Knight's proposed requirement was based on an inaccurate interpretation of what the Founding Fathers wanted. One called her proposal a "half-truth" that would play down the importance of religion to the nation's founders.

Board members also disagreed on dozens of other amendments as they continued to write the curriculum standards that will be the basis for future textbooks and classroom instruction in U.S. history, government and other social studies subjects.


Lasting impact

Curriculum standards adopted by the board will remain in place for the next decade, dictating what is taught in all public elementary and secondary schools.

Texas standards often wind up being taught in other states because national publishers tailor their materials to those standards – a result of Texas' status as one of the nation's biggest textbook purchasers.

Among the amendments proposed by social conservatives and adopted Thursday were requirements that students understand how taxes and regulations restrict private enterprise, and that students analyze the importance of the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. Gun rights were given the same importance as free speech rights.

The board agreed to strengthen nods to Christianity by adding references to "laws of nature and nature's God" to a section in U.S. history that requires students to explain major political ideas.

Knight's proposal on religious freedom triggered swift criticism from some Republicans after she said it was "important for students to know the Founding Fathers supported a strong wall of separation between church and state."

She said her addition to the curriculum standards "has nothing to do with the left or the right but what is best for the children to know."

Board member Cynthia Dunbar, R-Richmond, said Knight's proposal was "not an accurate perception and not what the Founding Fathers intended."

Dunbar denied the criticism by some that social conservatives on the board want to put religion into the curriculum. "We are not trying to inject religion," she said.

Board member Don McLeroy, R-College Station, also said Knight's proposal was based on a "half-truth" and did not accurately depict what the Founding Fathers wanted. McLeroy, a conservative Christian, is among the board members who question the doctrine of separation of church and state.

Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, said the board action "represents an irresponsible rewriting of American history and a stunning triumph of politics over education."

On the other side, Jonathan Saenz of the conservative Liberty Institute applauded the board's decision. "Thus far, the liberal efforts to infiltrate, indoctrinate and saturate our social studies with narrow ideology have failed," he said.


Parting shot

Minority board members were frustrated by their inability to get more minority figures included in the social studies standards and what they said was an effort by social conservatives to "whitewash" the harsh treatment of minority groups in U.S. history.

"To say America has treated minorities well is a gross distortion. They don't want to talk about the bad things in the past, just the good things," said Mary Helen Berlanga, D-Corpus Christi.

Before she walked out of the meeting while the board was still considering amendments, Berlanga offered a parting shot to Republicans, saying, "We can just continue to pretend that America is white and Hispanics don't exist."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Frazzled wrote:Jamestown wasn't the first colony here.

Frazzled wrote:Ok in truth the board did take enjoyment in needling one of the more liberal members. I'm ok with that.

To the topic, I'll take the conservatives, vs. exploration of the latest hippy feel good antiAmerican screed any day.

Ahtman wrote:

Frazzled wrote:Jamestown wasn't the first colony here.

I didn't type that it was the first colony, I said it was the first successful colony. I suppose if I wanted to be even more accurate I would have said English colony, but I perhaps wrongly, assumed that that would be a given since we aren't talking about Brazil and the vikings aren't our progenitors, nationally speaking.

sebster wrote:

Frazzled wrote:Ok in truth the board did take enjoyment in needling one of the more liberal members. I'm ok with that.

Why are you accepting any level of politics in the education of children?