One of the reasons I decided to home school my kids was to save them from the politically correct indoctrination of the monopolized government-run schools. We selected a highly-rated curriculum from the highly regarded Calvert School which I had hoped would keep the PC crud to a bare minimum. Oh, how I was wrong. Get a load of what’s included in what amounts to the curriculum’s 2nd-grade history/civics course, “Explore Your World II.”
The last few daily lessons have been on topics titled, “Good Citizens,” “Determination,” “Citizenship Traits,” “Authority Figures,” “Leadership,” and “Service.” Fine subject material, to be sure.
But each lesson provides examples of each which feature track star Jackie Joyner-Kersey (black, woman), Sen. Daniel Inouye (Asian, Democrat, liberal), Rosa Parks (black, woman), Rep. Barbara Jordon (black, woman, Democrat, liberal), Cesar Chavez (Hispanic), Helen Keller (woman, physically handicapped), President Jimmy Carter (Democrat, liberal, mentally handicapped), President John F. Kennedy (Democrat, liberal), Gen. Colin Powell (black) and Jane Adams (woman).
Notice any particular group missing from this PC version of American history/civics? Why, surprise, surprise, surprise. Not a single white conservative man in the mix! What are the odds?
Seriously, folks. In teaching about citizenship, determination, leadership and service, not a single example featuring a white conservative man?
Under examples of “Good Citizens,” Inouye is featured for being a war hero who lost an arm in World War II.
Fine. But why not include, say, former Sen. Bob Dole - a war hero and who lost use of an arm in World War II? At least Dole rose to the position of Senate Majority Leader and ran for both vice president and president of the United States. Sounds like a good American citizen to me. Inouye, on the other hand, is better known these days for supporting a form of racial apartheid in his home state of Hawaii. Nice pick, Calvert.
Colin Powell, to the best of my knowledge, is the only Republican included in this PC version of history/civics, but not too many people consider him white or conservative. Yet he was singled out as a great leader “because he inspired his men and women in the army and he tried to help guide the American government during a time of war.”
Fine. Nothing against Gen. Powell - a great American to be sure. But aren’t there any white conservative men in our history who have inspired our soldiers and helped guide the American government during a time of war? Someone like, say, Gen. Douglas MacArthur who won the war in the Pacific in World War II and accepted the Japanese surrender on the deck of the USS Missouri? For some reason he just didn’t make the grade for Calvert when it came to examples of “Leadership” for 2nd-graders.
But the most stomach-churning offense was using Jimmy Carter of “Iranian Hostage Crisis” fame as an example of someone possessing the characteristics of good citizenship – those being honesty, persistence and patriotism. Remind me again how patriotic it is to criticize the United States while on foreign soil?
Carter, one of the nation’s worst American presidents in history, was selected by Calvert because, according to them, “he cared deeply about peace and human rights issues” and was “the only president to visit Cuba and meet with Fidel Castro.” Good…grief.
If only that white conservative president Ronald Reagan had cared deeply enough about peace and human rights to do more than just break the Soviet Union, free Eastern Europe and end the Cold War maybe he could have made the list as a good American citizen, too.
Fortunately, as a home school parent I’m able to nip this crud in the bud by skipping over these examples in the ol’ textbook and offer up my own. But if such liberal PC claptrap is in our home-school curriculum, can you imagine how they’re re-writing history in the government’s re-education camps? Be afraid.
Posted on September 11th, 2007 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: National
The crud Chuck Muth spews is an example of why I’ve give up on the Republican party. They have become a bunch of crotchety white geezers who fail to recognize that for every American there are 20 other people on the planet, most of whom are not white conservative men.
Ed Manzeer
Edward fails to realize that Chuck has also given up on the Republican party.
As have many of us!
What did I miss in this article to warrant the comments about “giving up on the Republican Party”? Did somebody missed their medication this morning?
In his recently published book, Bob Novak wrote of President Kennedy supporting tax cuts when cutting taxes was considered a liberal position. How times have changed.
When running for president, JFK also invoked the “missile gap” as an issue against the Eisenhower administration and claimed that he would conduct a tougher foreign policy than Ike did. During his administration, the defense budget and the size of our armed forces increased significantly. In addition, JFK increased the advisory contingent in Vietnam from the 1,000 he inherited from Ike to the 16,000 who were in Vietnam when he was assassinated.
In his book “Kennedy and Nixon,” Christopher Matthews wrote that during the 1960 Democratic primaries, Kennedy told some close associates that if he didn’t get the Democratic presidential nomination, he planned to vote for Nixon (who was definitely not a conservative but he was a Republican) in the general election.
How many liberals today would make the statement, “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we will pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to ensure the survival and success of liberty”?
Kennedy may have been considered a liberal in his time, and he’s certainly considered a liberal icon by the Democrats today, but I’m not so sure he would be comfortable as a liberal Democrat today.
Yup, JFK is the conservative in that list above. Hope he wasn’t the example for “Fidelity.”
The Publik Skulz’ version of this book couldn’t really be compared because those character traits aren’t taught there.
I hear the complaints. Does anyone have praise or recommendations of GOOD history books, apropos for the various grade levels? I want to be sure to get the good stuff into my kids. Thanks!
Edward, I believe that you missed the point entirely; apparently this course is an American history/civics course. Therefore, the list was composed of Americans!
On another note, the publik skoolz will remain hopeless unless or until the power of the AFT and the NEA in determining curriculum is broken. Both unions emphasize that everything about America is bad.
I haven’t completely given up on the Republicans yet.
Excellent remarks by mr. Muth. I haven’t give up on the Republicans. I’m disappointed in GWB II but no one is perfect. If we had elected Al Gore in 2000 we’d still be at the UN begging for the al-queda cowards to leave us alone.
JFK was an enigma about taxes. Cutting taxes when they should have been cut was hard for the Dems to swallow in the early 60’s. This country lost its soul under presidents Carter and Clinton. We should have wiped Castro off the island of Cuba long ago, and if given enough time, we could have done it under Reagan. We also showed the world under LBJ that we can cut and run from a fight better then the French. But when we stand up to liberating strife and oppression when no one else will, we are hated. Thanks liberals. Thanks for the UN, high taxes, the war on poverty, abortion, segregation, racism, anti-semitism, and immorality from Hollywood. They make me sick. Obama, Hillary, and Joe Biden..only Larry Moe and Curly of the Three Stooges age..were less lacking in brains.God help this nation.
Bob Jones University Press and A Beka both have history materials which are accurate and not written to satisfy those who want political correctness.
Kudos to you, Chuck, for a cogent evaluation and for planning to teach your lucky brood about the missing exemplary Americans. What I noted was that the only person on the list who was not alive at some point during my 70+ years is Jane Adams. The perspective of 40+ years since I was deprived my vote between Nixon and Kennedy has vastly changed my view of JFK–I’m not sorry now that he was elected, only that he was cut down in his prime.
Under “Determination” how about G. Washington’s canniness and bravery in attacking the Hessians on Christmas Day? (Did you ever see a movie starring Jeff Daniels called “The Crossing”? It came out in the last 10-12 years, and it’s suitable for all your kids to see.)
For “Leadership” how about Thomas Jefferson? Ben Franklin could surely serve for both “Authority Figure” and “Service.” Instead of some of the moderns, how about Harriet Tubman and G.W. Carver?
But let me caution you also, you may need to teach a new subject here, that I learned about in college—Babuism! That’s the rote parroting back of what “they” want. You don’t want to hamper your brood by telling them about those admirable old-timers only to have the powers that be decide you haven’t met your educational burden by refusing to talk about these come-latelys. Other than preparing them for this hypocrisy, keep up the good work.
Mrs. Wright (or anyone else) — Do you have recommendations for historically accurate materials that aren’t religious?
I would recommend 2 history books for parents to use:
http://www.teaching-point.net/worldhistearlyman.html
http://www.teaching-point.net/worldhistpres.html
I am lean towards them as the author.
Joe
Bystander,
When addressing this country’s founding and early history, materials that would leave out the religious factors…..wouldn’t be accurate.
Mr. Manzeer, are you familiar with the term “troll”?
Figures such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson are not acceptable as role models by todays educrats. As white slave-owners they are among the bad-guys of modern US History, which ignores the fact that most of the world was involved in the slave trade at the time and that 95% of the slaves transported to the “New World” went to the Caribbean Islands and/or South America, all under “Spanish” control in those days. The British Colonies which became the United States were never the prime American market for African slaves.
Along that same line, todays public schools only teach in-depth history beginning with reconstruction, after the Civil War. Prior to that time they simply hit a few high spots. I haven’t seen a history book which examines our constitution in any detail since I was in school in the 40’s and 50’s. My oldest child started school in 1969…
Raygun was great for treason; 1) he sent his VP candidate to France to negotiate with Iranian arms dealers, agents for the Ayyatola, to tell them to not complete the deal with President Carter, but to wait and he would give them weapons 2) When Iran killed our Marines in their sleep in the barracks in Beirut, Raygun could do nothing because he was using Iranion money to support the overthrown Somza in a coup de et against the elected Sandistas and if he bombed Iran back, well, they would squeal. The USSR collapsed under it own weight and Peter Pan could have been President when it happened. Gorbachav was the real person to end Russia and openthe East.
Cuba. Eisinhower wanted to attack Cuba, hence his Bay of Pigs Plan, and had he one more year in office he would have; but why?, some guy with a beard scared him?. Oh, and he got us into Vietnam because his friend the French with DeGaul got their ass kicked out of the country, and Michilin tire company needed Vietnams’ rubber plants.
How many of you know that in 1961 the top tax rate was 93%? That corporate America paid 60% of the US tax load?
Back on June 21, Southy wrote, “amercia; innocent until proven guilty. our values.” I supposed we all make exceptions to our rules, and Southy is willing to invoke the Oliver Stone exception to this rule for Ronald Reagan.
By the way, the “the elected Sandistas” came to power in Nicaragua in 1979. I don’t seem to recall the election that brought them to power. Can you refresh my memory on when and where this election took place?
President Reagan doesn’t deserve all the credit for ending the Cold War. Pope John Paul II deserves a lot of credit too. Gorbachev himself said that “communism’s collapse would not have been possible without the presence of this pope,” and that Reagan was a “great president … instrumental in bringing about the end of the Cold War.” Yeah, I suppose that if Jimmy “Peter Pan” Carter had been re-elected in 1980, and if Fritz “Peter Pan Jr.” Mondale had been elected in 1984, we would’ve achieved the same results. Yeah, sure.
In 1954, the French army garrison at Dien Bien Phu was captured by the Viet Minh. Later that year, the Geneva accords ended French colonial rule and divided the country north and south. This was the transition point where the US took over the military effort from the French. However, DeGaulle was out of power from the end of WWII til the Algerian crisis boiled over in 1958. So what did the Eisenhower DeGaulle relationship have to do with our increased involvement in the region in the 1950s? If anything, Eisenhower showed restraint in 1954 by disregarding the recommendation of his Chairman of the Joint Chiefs to use mass B29 bombardments or possibly even nukes to relieve the siege at Dien Bien Phu. That would have been the optimal solution for the French. In fact, they were the ones who requested it.
And I suppose Ike really did have nothing to fear from Castro. JFK probably felt the same way when he received a briefing in October 1962 that the Soviets were installing nuclear missiles in Cuba that could hit major cities along the Atlantic seaboard within 15 minutes of launch.
[…] Political correctness once again runs rampant. […]
“If only that white conservative president Ronald Reagan had cared deeply enough about peace and human rights to do more than just break the Soviet Union, free Eastern Europe and end the Cold War maybe he could have made the list as a good American citizen, too.”
Cared enough about peace and human rights? How about not ever once uttering the word “AIDS” while millions of non-Americans (the ones he cared most about) and Americans alike were dying from this modern-day scourge?