Posted on 10/27/2013 9:11:08 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Philadelphia city council members have approved a resolution that calls for socialist historian Howard Zinn’s book “A People’s History of the United States” to be taught in public high schools.
The resolution was backed by council members Jim Kenny and Jannie Blackwell, who believe that Zinn’s far-left socialist vision of American history is currently missing from high school textbooks.
“Howard Zinn’s ‘A People’s History of the United States’ emphasizes the role of working people, women, people of color, and organized social movements in shaping history; not simply the version retold by those powerful enough to ensure history remembers their actions in a positive light, regardless of the truth,” the resolution states.
The power to set curriculum is in the hands of the school district superintendent and board, meaning that the resolution is little more than a strong recommendation. Still, Kenny and Blackwell believe a message must be sent that Philadelphia students need formal instruction in recognizing privilege and inequality.
“Council does hereby recognize the need for students to be taught an unvarnished, honest version of U.S. history that empowers students to differentiate between moments that have truly made our country great versus those that established systemic inequality, privilege, and prejudice which continue to reinforce modern society’s most difficult issues,” the resolution states.
Zinn’s book is lauded in far-left circles, but many conservative thinkers believe his self-described “history” is really social activism masquerading as fact. Former Indiana Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels believed strongly that the book had no place in K-12 classrooms–an opinion that landed him in trouble with liberal academics when he started his new job as president of Purdue University.
“We must not falsely teach American history in our schools,” said Daniels in a statement defending his opposition to Zinn’s work. “Howard Zinn, by his own admission a biased writer, purposely falsified American history. His books have no more place in Indiana history classrooms than phrenology or Lysenkoism would in our biology classes or the `Protocols of the Elders of Zion’ in world history courses.”
Daniels made clear that college professors had the right to use the book if they so choose, but K-12 teachers have no business treating Zinn’s work as fact.
Zinn was an apologist for communist dictators like Fidel Castro, who has brutalized and oppressed the people of Cuba for decades.
Like Zinn, Councilwoman Blackwell defended the Castro regime.
“Castro did not do everything wrong, or he would not have lasted so long,” she said in a statement to CBS.
Philadelphia Daily News columnist Will Bunch praised the decision to demand that Zinn be taught in class, happily explaining that his own radicalism was fostered by “A People’s History of the United States.”
“Although readers here assume because of my fondness for the radical ’60s that I emerged from the womb carrying a picture of Chairman Mao, the truth is that I was a bland center-left voters and a pretty “balanced” journalist in the ’90s,” he wrote. “Reading Zinn helped me understand what went wrong, and how everyday people could fight to get things right.”
Mao, the Chinese dictator whom Bunch recalled fondly, ruled communist China from 1949 to 1976. His policies of mass starvation and execution are responsible for an estimated 50 million deaths.
Neither Bunch, Kenny or Blackwell responded to requests for comment.
There has been no word yet on whether district officials plan to turn Philadelphia students into apologists for mass-murdering dictators.
Zinn was an apologist for communist dictators like Fidel Castro, who has brutalized and oppressed the people of Cuba for decades.
Like Zinn, Councilwoman Blackwell defended the Castro regime.
“Castro did not do everything wrong, or he would not have lasted so long,” she said in a statement to CBS.
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Councilwoman Blackwell is a living affirmation of my own personal view that while left-wingers talk as if they were Lenin, they exercise power like Stalin. One can hardly blame them, since Stalinesque rulers(Castro, Kim, etc) tend to long exercise of power - life-long, usually.
commie ping....
When Zinn’s crap turned up in our kids’ school in the Puget Sound area, I quit my job at Microsoft and move the family to north Idaho. That was 1998.
It’s far easier to fill in the blanks than it is to counteract blatant falsehood and deception.
According to former KGB agent Yuri Bezmanov the Soviets were very busy pushing communist ideology on education leaders in the US and worldwide. The idea was to teach children to hate their country and to pave the way for the Marxist revolution.Howard Zinn was either a "useful idiot" or an outright agent of the KGB.
ping
Oh how I hated making copies from that book. Good thing is that the students would never read the material.
I read somewhere that he was directly paid by Moscow.
Probably being brought forth in a district that voted 100% for THE FOREIGNER.
‘Got a sense of that on the field.
Thing that is both sad and funny about this is we are all here thinking the very same thing.
Coached SoCal HS baseball three seasons. ‘Kids were really engaged that I was a Vietnam vet. They asked me a heck of a lot of stuff, and I always gave them the most comprehensive answers, from my conservative thought processes, that I could.
There are still a lot of thoughtful kids out there, despite what many say.
Determine who designed and paid for the curriculum design, their assocates, and their politcal ideologies and you will find your answer.
> if the goal is to teach socialism, why not just teach current events?
Touche...lol
I just watched that movie Mugabe and the white farmer.
What an eye opener. Though I had been aware of this, and stop at the website that tracks the violent deaths of white farmers, this movie gave that up close and personal information of the farmers.
It got me thinking, there is no way in the world that the tribal mentality of African nations is ever going change, is it?
I certainly think it won’t ever change. I’d love to be proven wrong, but I won’t be holding my breath.
And when they teach it in Philly they will have to teach it in Florida because any child should be able to move from Philly to Florida and pick up where they left off. This is the agenda of Common Core.
““Castro did not do everything wrong, or he would not have lasted so long,” she said in a statement to CBS. “
Neither did Hitler - just ask Marge Schott.
Thanks Cincinatus’ Wife.
The Rise & fall of Jim Crow (PBS: “Klan..a terrorist organization in service of...Democratic Party”)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3084238/posts
The Two Types of Child Victimization at Government Schools
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3084183/posts
Like Zinn, Councilwoman Blackwell defended the Castro regime. "Castro did not do everything wrong, or he would not have lasted so long," she said in a statement to CBS.Let me guess -- the dumb b!tch whistles past Castro's monopoly on firepower in Cuban society, while advocating the forced disarming of US citizens in order to establish the same kind of single party police state.
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