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Post by Cambist on Jan 14, 2011 8:14:59 GMT -5
The Huffington Post January 14, 2011
Tennessee Tea Party Groups Issue Demand On How Textbooks Portray 'Minority Experience In History'
A coalition of Tennessee Tea Party groups has formulated a list of "demands" focused on the state's educational curriculum and political agenda that they want the state's legislature to heed this session.
As far as their educational concerns, the panel writes that they want to "compel the teaching of students in Tennessee the truth regarding the history of our nation and the nature of its government," a failure that they claimed had been brought about by "neglect and outright ill will," The Memphis Commercial Appeal reports.
Hal Rounds, spokesman for the group, recently claimed at news conference that there was "an awful lot of made-up criticism about, for instance, the Founders intruding on the Indians or having slaves or being hypocrites in one way or another."
As a result, the Tea Party organizations argue, there should be "no portrayal of minority experience in the history which actually occurred shall obscure the experience or contributions of the Founding Fathers, or the majority of citizens, including those who reached positions of leadership."
"The thing we need to focus on about the Founders is that, given the social structure of their time, they were revolutionaries who brought liberty into a world where it hadn't existed, to everybody -- not all equally instantly -- and it was their progress that we need to look at," Rounds explained of his interpretation of the legacy of the Founding Fathers.
The issue of revising curriculums to teach history in a manner that encourages the glossing over of the uglier factors of the past has popped up in other states over the past year.
In Texas, an ultra-conservative faction of the Texas State Board of Education succeeded in pushing through a drastic overhaul of the state's textbooks and educational agenda. Among those proposals was an effort to replace instances of the "slave trade" with "Atlantic triangular trade."
In Tennessee, Tea Party groups have also waded into the ongoing debate over health care reform, attempting to make efforts to repeal the measure a matter of state policy. The Commercial Appeal reports that members of conservative movement call the measure "an insult to Constitutional principles."
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Post by Bunny Hop on Jan 14, 2011 14:18:11 GMT -5
I've spent so much time in TN that this is just hilarious and not even a surprise.
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Post by peppermint on Jan 14, 2011 16:53:03 GMT -5
Wow Bun. I just said to myself "this is hilarious."
How can you do a realistic, historical teaching of the U.S. founding to present without mentioning slavery? How exactly do they plan on explaining how the Civil War?
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Post by Noble Work on Jan 15, 2011 10:13:58 GMT -5
Right Yall. Laughable at best.
But on a serious note I'm kinda scared that they'll (and more school systems) will pull this off. If not now then maybe later. It is very important that we teach our children the real truth about US. I can see this group and the like taking books (lack there of) that tells a brief history about "minorities" out of our schools and burning them. They are trying to erase history. Things like this makes me want to collect books, encyclopedias and materials that tell our part in history.
American History IS Black History.
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Post by All Pledging Is Legal on Jan 15, 2011 14:36:25 GMT -5
I think that minimizing and glossing over slavery is important in helping America move on. There has been enough talk about slavery and such. I don't plan on telling my kids about the bad times. I want them to know that they are equal to everyone else in this country. Letting them see and hear about slavery and segregation actually builds the idea that blacks are inferior to whites. That just is not healthy or empowering anymore.
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Post by Cambist on Jan 15, 2011 14:48:29 GMT -5
APIL shall henceforth be known as Ranger Rick.
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Post by Noble Work on Jan 15, 2011 16:12:09 GMT -5
WOOOOOWWWWW!!!!
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Post by All Pledging Is Legal on Jan 15, 2011 18:23:21 GMT -5
It's true. Do you feel good and proud after seeing Roots or Glory or Rosewood? Those are events that I do not want to think about. Those are things that I do not want my kids exposed to.
I do not live next door to a crackhouse. So why would I want for my kids to re-live the horrors of slavery? It does not make sense. Blacks need to stop trying to 'overcome'. The hard times are over for intelligent black people.
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Post by peppermint on Jan 16, 2011 11:06:12 GMT -5
APIL, where are you from that slavery was taught in-depth in the public school system? I'm about 30 and although slavery was mentioned it wasn't an in-depth thing when I was growing up. It's just personal opinion that you cannot understand the current state of affairs without understanding the history. Slavery was so engrained into the American culture that over 400 years later it's impact is still evident.
I get what you are saying about we have "overcome." Our young adults and teens today don't understand exactly what was overcame. That is a problem.
I can guarantee they won't try to minimize the Holocaust. I bet they won't minimize the mistreatment the Irish and Italian immigrants received.
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Post by All Pledging Is Legal on Jan 16, 2011 13:26:35 GMT -5
I can guarantee they won't try to minimize the Holocaust. I bet they won't minimize the mistreatment the Irish and Italian immigrants received. I understand your point. Atrocities happened and they are still happening. But people cannot progress if they keep talking about what happened in the past. It just does not work that way. Blacks that talk about injustices of the past use history as a means to place blame and lay guilt. But no one who is successful cares anymore. The successful people are too busy taking advantage of today's opportunities. I rarely hear of my grandma or other older relatives complain about the white man. Those people went through hardships a hundred times worse than anything that is happening to blacks in America today. My older relatives always told us to go to school and make something of ourselves. Those old-timers never made excuses. Why does today's generation always cry and complain? |
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Post by Noble Work on Jan 18, 2011 11:53:47 GMT -5
APIL I feel ya but You not wanting your kids exposed to "that", in a way isn't that "overcoming"? No one wants to re-live it true enough, removing your children from those types of exposures then interjecting forward thinking and progression via education is in a sense Overcoming.
A lot of times we can still do all of this, but yet and still there will be someone who will remind our children about slavery. Try to take them back 100 years. If our children are ill-equipped or half managed when somebody does remind them or call them the n-word, jiggaboo or put a noose in their school locker; Do we continue to "gloss over slavery" or Do we as parents teach our children the full version of slavery?
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Post by All Pledging Is Legal on Jan 18, 2011 23:59:38 GMT -5
A lot of times we can still do all of this, but yet and still there will be someone who will remind our children about slavery. Try to take them back 100 years. If our children are ill-equipped or half managed when somebody does remind them or call them the n-word, jiggaboo or put a noose in their school locker; Do we continue to "gloss over slavery" or Do we as parents teach our children the full version of slavery? What kind of schools do those things? I would never send my kids to a school in a bad community, because bad communities are breeding grounds for ignorance. My children deserve better. I will do anything to make sure they do not hang around ignorant and moronic people. |
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Post by Noble Work on Jan 19, 2011 12:42:48 GMT -5
A lot of times we can still do all of this, but yet and still there will be someone who will remind our children about slavery. Try to take them back 100 years. If our children are ill-equipped or half managed when somebody does remind them or call them the n-word, jiggaboo or put a noose in their school locker; Do we continue to "gloss over slavery" or Do we as parents teach our children the full version of slavery? What kind of schools do those things? I would never send my kids to a school in a bad community, because bad communities are breeding grounds for ignorance. My children deserve better. I will do anything to make sure they do not hang around ignorant and moronic people. I see your point I guess. But what happens when the other people teach their children to hate black people, white power and that their great grandfather was a klansman etc.. then send them to school and to the very school YOU THOUGHT, you would never send your children to? I will teach my children about slavery, what our people been through and all that we've endured as a race. I will let them know that we were once (sometimes still is) heavily judged by the color of our skin. I will also teach them NOT to hate another just because they look different or their skin is not the same color as theirs. Yes I want them to know. I will not let them go into a gun fight with a knife on their person. IMO we must teach them so that they'll know how to handle themselves in certain situations. And there ARE a lot of "situations" in life.....keep living. |
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Post by Rare_Commodity on Jan 19, 2011 13:49:59 GMT -5
To think I wanted to go to college in TN.
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Post by Southie on Jan 19, 2011 14:05:46 GMT -5
The "Founder" and their history, should include the GOOD, BAD and UGLY! No sugar coating the information.
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Post by Rare_Commodity on Jan 20, 2011 12:01:04 GMT -5
Thats crazy how are you going to take certain parts of history and make it so they never exist? Strange the things people will do.
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Post by Bunny Hop on Jan 20, 2011 13:47:17 GMT -5
To think I wanted to go to college in TN. I went to a public and a private university in TN. I think these people are referring to K-12 education and not what's taught in the colleges and universities. Besides in college you have choices...you can only take the required American History or you can choose to also take other history (and literature) classes. |
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Post by Rare_Commodity on Jan 20, 2011 15:34:17 GMT -5
^^ That makes sense
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