http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/socialstudies/ en-us Sun, 27 Sep 2009 19:38:43 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2349603/posts Claims made by the anti-marriage side of the Proposition 8 battle that unfolded last year in California asserted that unless marriage parity was stripped away from gay and lesbian families, children in kindergarten would be "indoctrinated" through school lessons teaching them about alternative families. Though education officials denied this, the message resounded with voters, who rescinded existing family rights for gays and lesbians at the ballot box last November. But even though gay and lesbian families lost access to marriage in that state, California parents are still asserting that kindergartners are being exposed to lessons about gays and lesbians in... http://www.edgeboston.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2349603/posts#comment Sun, 27 Sep 2009 19:38:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2348293/posts Here is video of some parents of kids at the New Jersey school where children were coaxed into singing praises to President Obama, giving their reaction. Some parents are outraged by it, but others seem to think it was fine. . . . (VIDEO) Freedom's Lighthouse http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2348293/posts#comment Fri, 25 Sep 2009 18:49:42 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2238126/posts Social Studies curriculum group had tossed out traditional American history to make room for left-leaning agenda The Texas State Board of Education on Wednesday came down with a reprimand on its social studies curriculum working group after a draft proposal of the group’s new curriculum came to light showing a series of far-left changes that education bureaucrats wanted to install in place of the traditional Texas social studies curriculum. Texas Republic News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2238126/posts#comment Sun, 26 Apr 2009 15:30:37 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2165700/posts NEW ORLEANS -- The American Civil Liberties Union is urging Louisiana school officials to respect students' right to express their views on the day when Barack Obama is sworn in as president. In an open letter sent to school superintendents this week, ACLU of Louisiana executive director Marjorie Esman expressed concern that students in some Louisiana communities were punished for voicing support for Obama's victory in the November election. Esman says some students were told not to mention Obama's name or discuss the election at all. She is encouraging schools to treat Inauguration Day next Tuesday as a teaching tool. katc.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2165700/posts#comment Fri, 16 Jan 2009 13:49:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2163291/posts Teachers bringing inaugural to classrooms Richard C. Gross Monday, January 12, 2009 Teachers nationwide will have a chance to bring to their students President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration and the history lessons it can teach. The American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association jointly developed five suggested lesson plans about the inauguration plus a recommended reading list, most of which are geared to grades six through 12, according to the Presidential Inaugural Committee. The Washington Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2163291/posts#comment Mon, 12 Jan 2009 19:35:26 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2024221/posts FRIENDSWOOD — Parents of some junior high students are upset they weren't notified about a school presentation on Islamic culture, an omission that violated school district policy. The parents' letter-writing campaign stems from a May 22 presentation at Friendswood Junior High, where two Muslim women gave a 30-minute presentation about Islamic life as part of a yearlong study of respect, tolerance and culture, The Galveston County Daily News reported Saturday. The guest speakers discussed Muslim culture, including topics such as food, religion, dress, beliefs and famous Muslims. School district spokeswoman Karolyn Gephart said principal Robin Lowe had "best intentions," but... Associated Press http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2024221/posts#comment Sun, 1 Jun 2008 01:32:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2020819/posts TIPP CITY, Ohio — When 83-year-old Edmund Jackson uses a hand trimmer to clip the grass, one of the 22 pieces of shrapnel in his right arm dances under the skin of his wrist. ---- snip ---- The schoolbook program is designed to spark greater interest in history by giving students an emotional connection to it and showing them it’s made by real people like themselves. Sierra Vista Herald/Bisbee Review http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2020819/posts#comment Sat, 24 May 2008 20:11:13 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1986274/posts "I don't want to read anymore of this!" My son angrily threw his history book on the ground. When he cooled down a little, I asked him what was wrong, and he told me in tears about The Trail Of Tears. He couldn't take it. He didn't want to face the fact that our blessed Nation could do something so wrong. He couldn't believe that a lot of our Founding Fathers had been slave owners that had written about freedom while benefitting from the fruits of slave ownership. He was shutting down before my very eyes as to the love... Red State http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1986274/posts#comment Sat, 15 Mar 2008 20:24:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1983426/posts I was sorting out some papers over the weekend ... and came upon one of my favorites. It's a page out of an "Activity Book" published by Harcourt Brace, now called Harcourt Education. This page is entitled "Rights & Wrongs" and comes from the Harcourt social studies textbook "United States in Modern Times." The heading for this page says: "In the late eighteenth century many people complained that the Constitution did not list rights of the people. So the authors of the Constitution decided to write a Bill of Rights. These first ten amendments to the Constitution state simply and... NEALZ NUZE http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1983426/posts#comment Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:23:17 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1938788/posts CARY – After closely examining the immunization records and marriage and birth certificates of the eighth-grade “immigrant” with a magnifying glass, Brent Lueck asked him the important question. “You’re from Ireland,” he said. “Are you a Catholic?” Lueck said he was worried that the “immigrant” might try to subvert America in the name of the pope. “I’ve got some issues with you, some loyalty issues.” It was just one example of the mock prejudice faced by about 120 eighth-grade students Friday at Cary Junior High taking part in a simulation of immigrant arrivals and experiences at Ellis Island. Millions of... The Northwest Herald http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1938788/posts#comment Thu, 13 Dec 2007 10:15:14 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-gop/1935921/posts If history matters to you, then voters should pick Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton and Republican Fred Thompson as their parties' presidential nominees. That's because they are the choice of America's social studies teachers. In a miniconvention sponsored by Pearson, the education and media giant, Clinton, the former first lady viewed as the most experienced in the field, was first with 41.9 percent, followed by Sen. Barack Obama with 34 percent and John Edwards at 12.3 percent. On the GOP side, Thompson, the actor and former Watergate prober, won 23.2 percent, followed by Rudy Giuliani at 20.5 percent and surging Mike... U.S. News & World Report http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-gop/1935921/posts#comment Fri, 7 Dec 2007 02:12:01 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1934248/posts U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and former U.S. Senator Fred Thompson of Tennessee are the top choices for the 2008 Democratic and Republican nominations for President of the United States, according to the nation's first Presidential "Primary" of voters at the National Council for the Social Studies annual conference in San Diego. Sponsored by Pearson, more than 700 of the nation's social studies teachers flexed their voting muscles and put the principles they teach about every day into action by casting their votes. Senator Clinton won her party's nod with 41.9% of the vote. Senator Thompson was... PR Newswire http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1934248/posts#comment Tue, 4 Dec 2007 01:47:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1929394/posts Thanksgiving's coming and you're concerned that your third-grader doesn't know much about the Pilgrims. Join the club. Educators in North Jersey and across the nation say social studies have been given short shrift in today's classrooms -- neglected in the drive to spend more time preparing for math and reading tests mandated by the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. Just 27 percent of high school seniors were deemed "proficient" in civics and 53 percent had "below basic" knowledge of U.S. history, according to a federal report last year. Anecdotal evidence of a lack of civic knowledge seems to... northjersey.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1929394/posts#comment Thu, 22 Nov 2007 21:46:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1926779/posts SEATTLE – A letter from the Seattle School District is raising some eyebrows about Thanksgiving and how it should be handled in the classroom. The letter tells school district staff that the holiday is seen by many Native Americans as a "time of mourning." It all started three years ago when some Native American parents voiced concerns about how Thanksgiving was being observed in Seattle Schools. "In terms of what they were seeing in some of the use of the feathers and those things because those are of spiritual and ceremonial significance to us," said Willard Bill, Seattle Public Schools.... King 5 News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1926779/posts#comment Fri, 16 Nov 2007 17:43:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1606129/posts School's 'Holocaust' Experiment Upsets Parents Dad: Son Cried Over Becoming Jew For Day POSTED: 5:53 pm EST March 29, 2006 UPDATED: 9:02 am EST March 30, 2006 Several parents in Apopka, Fla., are upset over a surprise school "Holocaust" project that some say tormented children, according to a Local 6 News report. Local 6 News reported that eighth-graders with last names beginning with L through Z at Apopka Memorial Middle School were given yellow five-pointed stars for Holocaust Remembrance Day. Other students were privileged, the report said. Father John Tinnelly said his son was forced to stand in the back... local 6 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1606129/posts#comment Thu, 30 Mar 2006 15:44:42 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1605201/posts Few things make liberals more uncomfortable than being confronted with the racism of politically correct minorities. Two weeks ago, I wrote about Autum Ashante, the precocious 7-year-old black nationalist poet, who said white people are "devils and they should be gone." If this daughter of a Nation of Islam activist father had instead been an Aryan supremacist child of a Klan activist, she'd still be all over the network news and pages of pop culture magazines (as a pair of white nationalist teen pop singers, Lamb and Lynx Gaede, have been since last fall). But with rare exceptions, nobody wanted... The National Ledger http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1605201/posts#comment Wed, 29 Mar 2006 07:03:07 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1597869/posts Remember how much media attention those racist white nationalist teen singers received last fall? (Indeed, they're still getting press. Here they are in the most recent issue of GQ.) Well, here's a little experiment with race, double standards, labeling, and MSM bias. My column today is about Autum Ashante, a 7-year-old racist black nationalist poetry "prodigy." michelle malkin. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1597869/posts#comment Fri, 17 Mar 2006 02:53:01 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1596934/posts Autum Ashante, the 7-year-old poetry prodigy whose work sparked an uproar in a Westchester County school district, made no apologies yesterday, saying she did the right thing. "I feel good about the response," Autum said of the firestorm engulfing the Peekskill City School District, where her recitation of a poem at a high school and a middle school offended students. "I know it was the right thing." The schools sent recorded phone messages to 3,000 parents last week apologizing for Autum's poem, "White Nationalism Put U In Bondage," which accuses Christopher Columbus and Charles Darwin of robbing blacks of their... The New York Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1596934/posts#comment Wed, 15 Mar 2006 20:18:51 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1597279/posts Poet, 7, Sets Off Racial Controversy Performance Upsets Adults and Students -- for Different Reasons By ADRIENNE MAND LEWIN March 14, 2006 — - A 7-year-old New York poet has fired up adults following a racially charged performance at a middle school. Autum Ashante, who is home-schooled and lives with her father in Mount Vernon, was invited by a music teacher to present her poetry during a Black History Month program at Peekskill Middle School on Feb. 28. She has written her own poetry and performed in front of audiences since she was 4. Before reciting a poem, Ashante asked... ABC News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1597279/posts#comment Thu, 16 Mar 2006 08:31:23 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1597275/posts NEW YORK -- Autum Ashante, a 7-year-old black girl who caused a stir at two Westchester schools by reciting a poem she wrote about white nationalism, received support from some New York City leaders on Tuesday. First, she stood on the City Hall steps with Councilman Charles Barron, who denounced what he described as attacks and harassment since Autum spoke last month at a middle and high school. Barron said he planned to ask Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's office to look into whether the girl's free speech rights were violated. Later, she had an appearance scheduled with the Rev. Al... Newdsay http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1597275/posts#comment Thu, 16 Mar 2006 08:10:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1548073/posts The Associated Press's Ben Feller has written an article entitled "School Textbooks Tackle the Clinton Impeachment." For people who think of tackling as the kind of head-on tackling seen at football games, tackling is the wrong word. Mr. Feller's article indicates that the school textbooks are obfuscating (making obscure or confusing) instead of "tackling." The kind of contribution to the Hillary in 2008 campaign that will not be officially reported, because it is not money or property, but will be appreciated by the Clintons, each of whom indisputably misled the American people. One more scandal involving the Clintons. (If Hillary... The Post Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1548073/posts#comment Wed, 28 Dec 2005 14:43:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1519728/posts My daughter attends public school in Berkley, Michigan. Today, she came home today with a U.S. Marines T-shirt. She won it in her Social Studies class. 'How did that happen?' I asked. She expalined that they had a special guest in their class today. It was her teacher's brother who is a Marine Sgt. with 9 years in the Core. I think he was there to commerate the 230 birthday today of the Marines. His main topic was about 'What's REALLY going on in Iraq.' He started off by saying something like, 'I don't want to tell you that the... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1519728/posts#comment Thu, 10 Nov 2005 21:59:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1510289/posts NEW YORK, Oct. 23 (JTA) — The state of California is on the brink of a major election that involves neither Arnold Schwarzenegger nor Clint Eastwood. The candidates are textbooks and other teaching materials that will influence what schoolchildren across the state — and across the United States — will learn for more than a decade. With a debate under way over evolution and intelligent design in science textbooks, a less-publicized battle is being waged over the content of social studies and history materials — some of which are pro-Islamic, anti-American, anti-Israel and even anti-Semitic. California is in the final... JTA http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1510289/posts#comment Thu, 27 Oct 2005 15:50:26 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1482501/posts Government teacher Nareg Keshishian never expected a parent to complain when he advised his Advanced Placement class he planned to show a documentary on media bias in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But a parent did, telling the principal of Glendale's Hoover High School that the documentary "Outfoxed," which alleges right-wing bias at Fox News, was one-sided and that Keshishian wasn't presenting the "facts" about the attacks in a fair and balanced way. "When they come up with a documentary showing the bias in CNN, I will happily air it. I want to bring to the students'... Los Angeles Daily News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1482501/posts#comment Sun, 11 Sep 2005 22:35:44 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1418555/posts Mark Felt was the topic du jour in an honors philosophy class at Catonsville High School last week, reported the Baltimore Sun, which noted that "most of the 12 juniors in the class said it was unethical for Felt to talk to Woodward." Felt's job, said one student, was "to go to his superiors." Another student said, "if it was truly to benefit society, he wouldn't have kept his name secret." A student named YinYin Yu, 16, opined daringly that Felt's info was beside the point since all politicians behave badly at some point: "They don't have ethics. They have... The American Prowler http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1418555/posts#comment Wed, 8 Jun 2005 04:16:06 GMT