Posted on 04/18/2008 1:27:51 PM PDT by Sopater
An advanced textbook on American government is drawing criticism from scholars for alleged errors concerning climate change and separation of church and state.
The advanced textbook in question is called American Government (Houghton Mifflin) and was authored by James Q. Wilson and John J. Dilulio, Jr. Associated Press reports that a New Jersey high school student pointed out apparent errors in the textbook to the Center for Inquiry, which then released a "scathing report."
Under criticism are statements that cause students to question whether the debate over "global warming" is really over, and whether the issue of "separation of church and state" is being correctly interpreted. Critics also accuse the textbook of having a conservative bias on a number of other issues.
The executive director of Christian Educators Association International (CEAI) disagrees with the critics. "I don't think it's the job of our public schools to indoctrinate children to tell them what they should believe about global warming," says Finn Laursen, "but let's educate them; let's let them [think] like great minds of the past did, and let's let them openly discuss the issues. And if we don't let them know that there are two sides, that discussion won't happen," he contends.
The CEAI leader fears that the advanced students are no longer being as academically challenged as they have been in the past and are also being taught one-sided arguments.
"I think that most would agree that we [as a nation] are not as competitive as we once were, and I personally believe that one of the reasons is that our advanced students are not being challenged to higher levels of thinking," the Christian educator argues. "They're being given one side of topics, told to memorize that and to believe that -- and that does not create great minds, and great thinkers, and problem solvers," he points out.
In Arizona, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne has said he will not remove the textbook from schools. Horne is quoted by KTAR.com as saying, "the claims made for conservative bias are very mild compared to the liberal bias that I see in most textbooks."
"F"
Voted. F.
“I personally believe that one of the reasons is that our advanced students are not being challenged to higher levels of thinking,” the Christian educator argues.”
He’s too nice. Our kids are being lied to.
Hell forbid that children should actually know that there are more than one view for ceratin issues that are core to the liberal belief system these days.
String those authors up.
Out of 791 votes, 43% (including mine) are “F”.
Would have liked some detail as to what the actual offending passages are.
what is really needed is a “pre-course” for high school students that teaches them how to recognize when a piece of writing sounds conservative or liberal.
I volunteer to debate any of these book critic knobs any time, any place. And please, oh please, let’s get into global warming.
I agree public schools are not what they should be but parents are the biggest problem. Many don’t send their kids to school to learn.
I went to 10 different schools growing up, most of which were not very good. My parents did not allow me to use that excuse.
A very good friend of mine teaches across town in a beautiful middle school. The kids have laptops, new everything. She says the kids don’t give a crap. When the school has Open House, 3 or 4 sets of parents show up at her classroom.
yep
“Under criticism are statements that cause students to question whether the debate over “global warming” is really over.”
Well I sure as hell hope that students ARE questioning whether the debate is really over!
The author sounds like he thinks it’s a bad thing to question something. That’s what science is all about.
I specifically ordered this text for my students in their American Government course; I found it to be exceedingly fair minded.
‘Would have liked some detail as to what the actual offending passages are.”
If you read them yourself, then your mind would be poisoned too. We judge for you so you don’t need to, the passages questioned the established global warming consensus, and suggested a false misleading alternative to the agreed upon ACLU version of the constitutionally required separation of church and state. That’s all you need to know, bad words were found and are being taken out so you’ll be safe now. /s
“Under criticism are statements that cause students to question whether the debate over “global warming” is really over,”
IF people are allowed to debate it, it’s not over. If people are fobidden from debating it, it’s all over.
What “he ws trying to say” is as plain as the words he used. Unenlightened people in small towns only turn to God and guns and bigotry when they feel oppressed. The implication is that is part of their stupidity and foolishness and that religion and race hatred are the same sort of thing.
We have lost the Global Warming fight. Bush is on board. McCain is enthusiastically on board.
We have lost the Global Warming fight. Bush is on board. McCain is enthusiastically on board.
Have a look at the links in post #11.
The text that they claim is “too conservative” simply questions whether or not the science about global warming is settled. The book opines that there are still questions about it. It’s about as unbiased as it could be!
Unbelievable that this is what they are bothered about.
Horne is also trying to get rid of Tucson schools’ “Ethnic Studies” (or, “How to Become a Loser Malcontent”) programs. He’s one of the few bright spots in public education.
The authors wrote that the Supreme Court decision had a "benefit" and a "cost." The benefit, it said, was to strike down a rarely enforced law that could probably not be passed today, while the cost was to "create the possibility that the court, and not Congress or state legislatures, might decide whether same-sex marriages were legal."
Derek Araujo, the report's author, said that's a matter of opinion and that gay-rights activists, for example, see it differently. "The major problem with this is they describe the costs and benefits of the system in a very political way," he said.
So how else do you describe costs and benefits in a political system? I'm wondering what they wanted to hear.
The CEAI leader fears that the advanced students are no longer being as academically challenged as they have been in the past and are also being taught one-sided arguments.
Translation. This isn’t proper indoctrination. We need the PROPER one sided arguments presented, not conservative alternatives.
I used this book in AP US Govt in 1989. It was exceedingly fair. Gotta love the Newspeak -- Fair=Conservative, Truth=Swiftboating...ad nauseum.
Here’s one of the offending passages:
“The earth has become warmer, but is this mostly the result of natural climate changes, or is it heavily influenced by humans putting greenhouse gases into the air?”
The horror, the horror. So I guess you can’t even ask the question any more.
James QWilson has been one of America's leading scholars in the field of government and Political Science for decades. His efforts have been vetted and praised. The idea that his work can be banned from schools while Zinn is lauded is a most egregious example of the failing state of American education. I say this speaking from inside the clasroom as a 30 year History teacher.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Both my kids graduated from a public high school. One has earned a degree in Electrical Engineering from Tufts University, and the other is finishing up a degree in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Illinois. I’d give public education a “C”.
That's just the beginning of a book that is fair - i.e. true. There might also be extra-credit articles on how Teddy got away with murder, how the universities came to support censorship, and leaving the gold standard leads to bankruptcy.
Thanks for the links. So these writers dared to doubt the existence of global warming and this resulted.
Why am I not surprised?
Liberal sponsored censorship........it’s “ok” when they do it.......
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