The Christian Foundation of America?

[Ahso!]

Saint_;1290747 wrote: Yes. Districts can use any company, worldwide, that they want to. If a textbook is too inflammatory, lopsided, biased, or has an agenda, (and I've seen a few of those as we decided which to adopt) we don't buy them.

Honestly, I think that people are giving Texans more credit than they deserve. They can't rewrite history if we don't let them.Well then I hope you're correct. That at least is a bit of comfort.

[chonsigirl]

Saint_;1290747 wrote: They can't rewrite history if we don't let them.


Yes, you leave that to historians and revisionism.

[Ahso!]

Something I found on Wikipedia.

K-12 textbooks

In most K-12 public schools, a local school board votes on which textbooks to purchase from a selection of books that have been approved by the state Department of Education. Teachers receive the books to give to the students for each subject. Teachers are usually not required to use textbooks, however, and many prefer to use other materials instead. Textbook publishing in the U.S. is a business primarily aimed at large states. This is due to state purchasing controls over the books. The Texas State Board of Education spends in excess of $600 million annually on its central purchasing of textbooks.[citation needed]

[edit] High school

In recent years, high school textbooks of United States history have come under increasing criticism. Authors such as Howard Zinn (A People's History of the United States), Gilbert T. Sewall (Textbooks: Where the Curriculum Meets the Child) and James W. Loewen (Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong), make the claim that U.S. history textbooks contain mythical untruths and omissions, which paint a whitewashed picture that bears little resemblance to what most students learn in universities. Inaccurately retelling history, through textbooks or other literature, has been practiced in many societies, from ancient Rome to the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China. The content of history textbooks is often determined by the political forces of state adoption boards and ideological pressure groups.

Science textbooks have been the source of ongoing debates and have come under scrutiny from several organizations. The presentation or inclusion of controversial scientific material has been debated in several court cases. Poorly designed textbooks have been cited as contributing to declining grades in mathematics and science in the United States and organizations such as the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS) have criticized the layout, presentation, and amount of material given in textbooks.

Discussions of textbooks have been included on creation and evolution in the public education debate. The Smith v. Board of School Commissioners of Mobile County case brought forward a debate about secular humanist values being presented in textbooks.

In his book, Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, the late physics Nobel Prize laureate Richard P. Feynman described his experiences as he once sat in a commission that evaluated science textbooks.[33] At some instances, there were nonsensical examples to illustrate physical phenomena; then a company sent — for reasons of timing — a textbook that contained blank pages, which even got good critiques. Feynman himself experienced attempts at bribery.




Chonsi, I don't understand what you mean. Are you implying that historians are Marxist, or revisionists are permitted to dictate school studies? Perhaps something different than both?

[chonsigirl]

Ahso!;1290780 wrote:

Chonsi, I don't understand what you mean. Are you implying that historians are Marxist, or revisionists are permitted to dictate school studies? Perhaps something different than both?


It is a term used by scholars, Ahso, in many fields. Current scholarly studies written with a different direction from what is normaly expected.

Without it, in historical fields today, you would not have ethnic studies, gender studies, cultural studies, etc.

It has nothing to do with the political/social concept of Marxism. I would be termed a revisionist, since I will write/layout/talk on a subject from a differing viewpoint than has been presented before, to widen the concept of understanding.

[Ahso!]

chonsigirl;1290800 wrote: It is a term used by scholars, Ahso, in many fields. Current scholarly studies written with a different direction from what is normaly expected.

Without it, in historical fields today, you would not have ethnic studies, gender studies, cultural studies, etc.

It has nothing to do with the political/social concept of Marxism. I would be termed a revisionist, since I will write/layout/talk on a subject from a differing viewpoint than has been presented before, to widen the concept of understanding.Ah! Thanks for that. You were using it generically then.

From my dictionary.

revisionism

revisionism

n 1: any dangerous departure from the teachings of Marx

2: a moderate evolutionary form of Marxism



-- From WordNet (r) 2.0

[chonsigirl]

Yes, in a technical way.

It is relevant to some of the books you quoted that are used as textbooks. I am quite happy to not teach any social studies in school, because the curriculum is so off centered a true historian just cannot take it. Attempts to include other ethnic groups/cultures is not done in a concise and meaningful way. I am only a stand-in on years when a class is needed, because they know I will not teach the curriculum.

Ghee, if I was banned from showing Astronomy Photo of the Day in science class, and National Geographic Photo of the Day for World Cultures, it gives you a small hint at what they do to someone who bucks the system.

[Ahso!]

I remember you mentioning that previously somewhere. Unlike LarsMac, I think intro to philosophy and other humanities is necessary especially in the secondary years preparing for college. Though religion is too wide and variable a subject to attempt to teach, mainly because how does a fair system incorporate all the religions of the world? Philosophy covers the subject of God enough generically, IMO.

There was a time, even recently, when I was a believer in the three R's only teaching.

Astronomy is absolutely fascinating as is almost any scientific study I would imagine.

Thanks for the conversation. We don't hear enough from you.

[Saint_]

You know what else? Textbooks vary widely from country to country. You should see Russia's version of World War II.

[chonsigirl]

Best science textbook I ever had in the 90s was from Puerto Rico, in Spanish.

[Ahso!]

I don't know whether its been a blessing or a curse, but I've never become familiar enough with a textbook to know whether not any of them were any good.

Though i consider myself a free thinker anyway (stop laughing - its thinking to me, okay!):)

[gmc]

Saint_;1290832 wrote: You know what else? Textbooks vary widely from country to country. You should see Russia's version of World War II.


What one where it wasn't just the Americans who won the war?:yh_rotfl (sorry couldn't resist)