The Republican War on Public Schools (vouchers, religion, graft, testing, etc.)

[81usaf92]

I don't think teaching the truth about our history and inspiring love and patriotism for country are mutually exclusive. The U.S. has been a force for great good in the world and much prosperity. Our founding documents have been a gift not only to us but to much of the world. We have also at times fallen short of what we aspire to be. Those times don't need to be belabored in the classroom but they can be acknowledged. I think it helps us grow as a citizenry. I do wish our leaders, from either party, would use their pulpit to remind us of those aspirations... of the highest of our ideals. Reagan was good at that. So was Obama. Different philosophies... but both appealed to our "better angels".

What I am getting at is there is an extreme view that sees US history’s mission to “make everything positive and patriotic” and an opposite one that “America is not exceptional”. I think there is a happy in between that neither these views like to admit and is probably more productive in the classroom. Where it is taught in a student’s academic career is very problematic because even with the red,white, and blue colored glasses it’s hard to get students to relate to rich elites of the planter class. 10th grade history is by far the hardest history to teach yet it deals with some of the most important topics in American history and culture.

 

[Tidewater]

10th grade history is by far the hardest history to teach yet it deals with some of the most important topics in American history and culture.

What subject is taught in 10th grade history?

I think that context is key. If high school students learn about the horrors of slavery in the United States, they also need context like this (the width of the arrow indicates quantity of people transported):

The overwhelming majority of the African slaves that came to the Americas went to two places: Brazil and the Caribbean (Cube, St. Dominique & Jamaica). The horrifying reason was that the Brazilians and Caribbeans needed fresh supplies because they kept working their African slaves to death and needed replacements. Once the United States and Britain outlawed and enforced the trans-Atlantic slave trade in 1808, the number of African slaves in the United States grew from 1.2 million in 1810 to 3.9 million in 1860. That was all natural increase.
Also, a significantly greater number of Africans slaves went to muslim Arab countries than to the colonies that became the United States.
None of that excuses African slavery, but it does add needed context.

 

[81usaf92]

What subject is taught in 10th grade history?

10th grade History in Alabama is basically Columbus to the end of the Indian Wars. Which is a natural spot to stop because I would argue that America at that point is clearly a different country entirely from the fledgling former British territory trying to figure out how to figure out sectionalism and expansion to an emerging world power. But I digress

I think that context is key. If high school students learn about the horrors of slavery in the United States, they also need context like this (the width of the arrow indicates quantity of people transported):
View attachment 51680
The overwhelming majority of the African slaves that came to the Americas went to two places: Brazil and the Caribbean (Cube, St. Dominique & Jamaica). The horrifying reason was that the Brazilians and Caribbeans needed fresh supplies because they kept working their African slaves to death and needed replacements. Once the United States and Britain outlawed and enforced the trans-Atlantic slave trade in 1808, the number of African slaves in the United States grew from 1.2 million in 1810 to 3.9 million in 1860. That was all natural increase.
Also, a significantly greater number of Africans slaves went to muslim Arab countries than to the colonies that became the United States.
None of that excuses African slavery, but it does add needed context.

Well here is the thing… that’s more World History. The African kingdoms of Mali and the Arab conquests would take far too long to cover in depth in 2 units of US history.

slavery in the sense of US history is mostly taught through the lens of the political and economic motivations behind it. Yes we can go in depth on the econmeinda and the slave trade in Africa but it would take far too long and it would almost be a whole semester in itself. It’s why there has been a push lately in potentially offering electives to cover African American studies (which is a can of worms that only the brave or foolish would ever sign up to teach in the public school setting).

But for a survey course in such a broad timeline slavery can’t be the central theme, but at the same time it is impossible to not consistently bring up American slavery in a US I course when nearly every major political development in the expansion of the US from the end of the American Revolution to the Firing on Ft Sumter has some consideration about slavery.

But again it’s a controversial question in education. How much do you bring it up?

 

[CrimsonJazz]

This is the way...

 

[Huckleberry]

This is the way...

Let's get a bit of background and fill in some blanks regarding this story from 2021:

Timeline of events in Hudson book controversy following mayor's threat to charge school board

What's happening in Hudson? Here's a timeline of events since Mayor Craig Shubert demanded the school board's resignation over a book.

www.beaconjournal.com

 

[81usaf92]

This is the way...

Prosecutor went after that mayor for starting an incorrect narrative that resulted in several death threats to teachers, administrators, and board members. I would link the prosecutor’s findings after doing an independent investigation but he lists uncensored text messages that isn’t board appropriate.

This mayor is a jack wagon and an embarrassment

 

[CrimsonJazz]

Prosecutor went after that mayor for starting an incorrect narrative that resulted in several death threats to teachers, administrators, and board members. I would link the prosecutor’s findings after doing an independent investigation but he lists uncensored text messages that isn’t board appropriate.

This mayor is a jack wagon and an embarrassment

Send me the link in a PM; I'd like to see it.

 

[jthomas666]

Send me the link in a PM; I'd like to see it.

moi aussi...

 

[jthomas666]

Yeah, mayor kinda went postal. Still...

How could any teacher possibly think that was an appropriate assignment? I just can't wrap my head around it. Hell, if I had given that assignment to college students my ass would be fired (and rightly so).

And what publisher would allow such an assignment to be published under their aegis? If I were a superintendent I wouldn't buy from that publisher again.