Posted on Apr 11, 2019
Michigan Conservatives Don’t Want to Teach Kids America Is a Democracy
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On Tuesday, the Michigan State Board of Education will vote on a plan to reform the state’s standards for social studies, the rubric that determines how teachers cover history, civics, economics, and geography in their classrooms. The new standards, first developed by former Republican State Senator Patrick Colbeck and a group of like-minded conservatives, propose a few right-turns in the lesson plans of Michigan teachers from kindergarten through 12th grade.
According to the local nonprofit Bridge magazine, Colbeck and company’s plan would remove from the standards all LGBT references in the section dealing with civil rights, all references to Roe v. Wade, and would severely limit teachers’ ability to discuss climate change. Colbeck told Bridge that he personally added a zero-sum proposal about “how the expansion of rights for some groups [including immigrants, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ Americans] can be viewed as an infringement of rights and freedoms of others.”
This is more or less standard fare for conservative education advocates: altering lesson plans or textbooks to make them more friendly to small-government ideas, or less critical of the country’s most egregious human rights violations. In Texas in 2010, the state board of education approved a new set of textbooks that corrected a perceived left-leaning bias within the school system. “Academia is skewed too far to the left,” said Dr. Don McLeroy, the leading conservative advocate on Texas’ education board. Among other attempts to provide what McLeroy called “balance” was a rewrite of history book chapters on slavery, which glossed over the atrocities of centuries of bondage and included feel-good passages like “Some slaves reported that their masters treated them kindly,” and “many enslaved Africans found comfort in their community and culture. They made time for social activity, even after exhausting workdays, in order to relieve the hardship of their lives.” In Oklahoma in 2015, state Republicans drew up a bill that would ban public schools from using state money to teach the AP U.S. history course, because it emphasizes “what is bad about America” and doesn’t teach “American exceptionalism,” according to State Representative Dan Fisher.
According to the local nonprofit Bridge magazine, Colbeck and company’s plan would remove from the standards all LGBT references in the section dealing with civil rights, all references to Roe v. Wade, and would severely limit teachers’ ability to discuss climate change. Colbeck told Bridge that he personally added a zero-sum proposal about “how the expansion of rights for some groups [including immigrants, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ Americans] can be viewed as an infringement of rights and freedoms of others.”
This is more or less standard fare for conservative education advocates: altering lesson plans or textbooks to make them more friendly to small-government ideas, or less critical of the country’s most egregious human rights violations. In Texas in 2010, the state board of education approved a new set of textbooks that corrected a perceived left-leaning bias within the school system. “Academia is skewed too far to the left,” said Dr. Don McLeroy, the leading conservative advocate on Texas’ education board. Among other attempts to provide what McLeroy called “balance” was a rewrite of history book chapters on slavery, which glossed over the atrocities of centuries of bondage and included feel-good passages like “Some slaves reported that their masters treated them kindly,” and “many enslaved Africans found comfort in their community and culture. They made time for social activity, even after exhausting workdays, in order to relieve the hardship of their lives.” In Oklahoma in 2015, state Republicans drew up a bill that would ban public schools from using state money to teach the AP U.S. history course, because it emphasizes “what is bad about America” and doesn’t teach “American exceptionalism,” according to State Representative Dan Fisher.
Michigan Conservatives Don’t Want to Teach Kids America Is a Democracy
Posted from nymag.com
Posted 5 y ago
Responses: 7
Posted 5 y ago
This is a representative republic my friend PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
Inclusion or exclusion of LGTB or LGTBQ in history or social studies is not an issue with democracy.
Those terms are relatively new -especially transgender which was not a significant issue until the late 20th century.
Legal immigrants are the foundation of this nation.
Disability, induced abortion and LGTBQ are not civil rights. They are linked to rights at various levels in various states and at the Federal level. Induced abortion and LGTBQ have powerful supporters and advocates and don't require much help to stay in people's minds.
The struggles of black Americans, Native Americans, women [voting and other legal rights] as well as children [working age and conditions] are civil rights that should logically be included IMHO.
Inclusion or exclusion of LGTB or LGTBQ in history or social studies is not an issue with democracy.
Those terms are relatively new -especially transgender which was not a significant issue until the late 20th century.
Legal immigrants are the foundation of this nation.
Disability, induced abortion and LGTBQ are not civil rights. They are linked to rights at various levels in various states and at the Federal level. Induced abortion and LGTBQ have powerful supporters and advocates and don't require much help to stay in people's minds.
The struggles of black Americans, Native Americans, women [voting and other legal rights] as well as children [working age and conditions] are civil rights that should logically be included IMHO.
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Edited 5 y ago
Posted 5 y ago
Its Not … Its A Constitutional Republic... There Used To Be A Difference...
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PO1 John Johnson
5 y
There still is a difference but it's just not being taught anymore ever since the Left took over the education system. Teaching it would entirely upend the ideological agenda that the Left has put in place.
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Posted 5 y ago
Umm... America isn't a democracy... It's a republic... So, there's that lol
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