Tennessee Tea Party Demands School Curriculum Not Focus Too Much On The "Minority Experience"

[elkabong82]

Great post...that makes perfect sense.

As an aside, I envy you. I wanted to pursue history since I was a kid, but I caved and went business. Good for you...do you plan to teach?

yes, definitely.

---------- Post added January-13th-2011 at 04:23 PM ----------

It's also a practical problem. They try to cover ancient Egypt in two weeks. Hard to get into a lot of nuances about 100's of years in two weeks. You get the barest sketch of an outline. Same thing with American History. If you two or three weeks to go over the colonization of America and the American Revolution, it's hard to tackle every issue. So, you stick to the broadest strokes. Is it more important to talk about General Washington and his military strategy or the fact that he was a citizen farmer who owned slaves?

Exactly. In the case of American history though, the same basic level is taught in elementary, junior high, and high school. A lot of my friends couldn't understand why I liked history so much when all we did was "learn about the Revolution and Civil War over and over again." HS has the ability to have more comprehensive classes, but unless you take AP History you'll never get it, because, in part, they'd have to expand curriculum, buy new books instead of the same one lasting you for several years, or possibly create new classes/electives which offer comprehensive teachings of various historical eras. Really what they can do is by HS, esp. the later grades, move on from the basic stuff and get into more detail. But they don't, they just stay at the same basic level and repeat each year.

[Baculus]

It's also a practical problem. They try to cover ancient Egypt in two weeks. Hard to get into a lot of nuances about 100's of years in two weeks. You get the barest sketch of an outline. Same thing with American History. If you two or three weeks to go over the colonization of America and the American Revolution, it's hard to tackle every issue. So, you stick to the broadest strokes. Is it more important to talk about General Washington and his military strategy or the fact that he was a citizen farmer who owned slaves?

I think one of the best ways to learn history, in particular, American history, is through its literature -- especially primary sources. I'm taking an American literature course right now, and we're reading letters and speeches from William Bradford and John Winthrop alongside the text from Tecumseh, Red Jacket, Frederick Douglas, and Rebbecca Harding Davis. It's all fascinating stuff.

The problem is that some people, and to be charitable, this happens on both sides of the political aisle, want us to ignore the primary literature. This is especially true of the orations and writings of ethnic minorities, the working-class and women, all of whom experienced struggles to attain equality and acceptance in America.

Our history, for good and bad, secular and non-secular, can't be white washed. We need to know our roots. You can't instill such knowledge if you leave out whole segments of the population from it.

[Burgold]

I agree... and that's why I found the PCization of Huck Finn alarming. That's why the Texas decision to white wash their text books (remembering a thread from last year about a scholastic publisher that wanted to re-write American history and remove anything that could be viewed as critical or was that they wanted to re-write history strictly and completely from a Conservative POV which included not covering certain events like the Civil War) worries me deeply. There is a pattern of escaping from history because it can be unpleasant. Truth matters, warts matter. We need to see them and learn from them.

[elkabong82]

I agree... and that's why I found the PCization of Huck Finn alarming. That's why the Texas decision to white wash their text books (remembering a thread from last year about a scholastic publisher that wanted to re-write American history and remove anything that could be viewed as critical or was that they wanted to re-write history strictly and completely from a Conservative POV which included not covering certain events like the Civil War) worries me deeply. There is a pattern of escaping from history because it can be unpleasant. Truth matters, warts matter. We need to see them and learn from them.

That's why I was disappointed that congress omitted parts of the Constitution in their recitation in order to avoid warts.

[jnhay]

Hillbillies unite!

[Tweedr01]

What happened to my white history month?

[Predicto]

What happened to my white history month?

It's March through January.

[Tweedr01]

It's March through January.

uh i'm not that kind of white, lol, I didn't realize George Washington was norwegian! My white ancestors didn't come here until the 1900's, where's my month? those other months celebrate white folks from other countries, not mine.

EDIT: all we get credit for is that stupid Pathfinder movie w/ Karl Urban!

2nd EDIT: are you being....racist Predicto, lol, just because I'm white doesn't mean I share a history with other countries that are white!

[Predicto]

uh i'm not that kind of white, lol, I didn't realize George Washington was norwegian! My white ancestors didn't come here until the 1900's, where's my month? those other months celebrate white folks from other countries, not mine.

EDIT: all we get credit for is that stupid Pathfinder movie w/ Karl Urban!

You get lutefisk too. That is more than enough.

[Tweedr01]

You get lutefisk too. That is more than enough.

hahaha, it is freakin awesome, but the smell.... no bueno

BTW do you know of any accomplishments or important norwegians in American history? And don't wiki, I already found a couple in their list that are wrong, haha

[DjTj]

uh i'm not that kind of white, lol, I didn't realize George Washington was norwegian! My white ancestors didn't come here until the 1900's, where's my month? those other months celebrate white folks from other countries, not mine.

EDIT: all we get credit for is that stupid Pathfinder movie w/ Karl Urban!

2nd EDIT: are you being....racist Predicto, lol, just because I'm white doesn't mean I share a history with other countries that are white!

Well, you're not really looking for a white history month then, are you?

You want Scandinavian History Month.

There is Scandinavian Fest in September: http://www.scanfest.org/

Also, the Scandinavian American Heritage Society's Midsummer Celebration in June: http://www.sahsnj.org/midsummer.htm

If you all get a little more organized, I'm pretty sure you could get a whole month, like other groups:

Italian Americans: http://www.italianheritagemonth.com/

Irish Americans: http://www.irishamericanheritage.com/webpageirish1.htm

German Americans: http://www.gmbookchest.com/pages/heritage.html

Jewish Americans: http://www.jewishheritagemonth.gov/

Native Americans: http://nativeamericanheritagemonth.gov/

Asian Americans: http://www.asianpacificheritage.gov/

...there are many good months still available!

It looks like Norwegian Heritage Month has a Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=155663066305

[Tweedr01]

Well, you're not really looking for a white history month then, are you?

You want Scandinavian History Month.

There is Scandinavian Fest in September: http://www.scanfest.org/

Also, the Scandinavian American Heritage Society's Midsummer Celebration in June: http://www.sahsnj.org/midsummer.htm

If you all get a little more organized, I'm pretty sure you could get a whole month, like other groups:

Italian Americans: http://www.italianheritagemonth.com/

Irish Americans: http://www.irishamericanheritage.com/webpageirish1.htm

German Americans: http://www.gmbookchest.com/pages/heritage.html

Jewish Americans: http://www.jewishheritagemonth.gov/

Native Americans: http://nativeamericanheritagemonth.gov/

Asian Americans: http://www.asianpacificheritage.gov/

...there are many good months still available!

It looks like Norwegian Heritage Month has a Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=155663066305

lol, i don't think my wife would be too happy if I spent my free time lobbying for norwegian history month. BTW the facebook page, lol, I don't think it's recognized by the US Government.

and scandinavian would include all nordics, like those swedes, haha, but i guess beggars can't be choosers huh?

[DjTj]

lol, i don't think my wife would be too happy if I spent my free time lobbying for norwegian history month.

Black people didn't get themselves a month by doing what their wives told them to do. You have to fight for your right to an official month celebrating the achievements of your ancestors.

:soapbox:

[Tweedr01]

Black people didn't get themselves a month by doing what their wives told them to do. You have to fight for your right to an official month celebrating the achievements of your ancestors.

:soapbox:

very true, good point...i'm too lazy, i guess the facebook page and lutefisk will have to do

[GibbsFactor]

These people are making it much much harder to come up with a case to get rid of the Dept. of Ed.