tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6856081254475395941.post8781609328076530012..comments2012-12-24T11:46:15.490-08:00Comments on News From Snipesville: History In The News: Facts, Facts, FactsAnnette Lainghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00621859944708955098noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6856081254475395941.post-37066584734586472722008-04-25T08:46:00.000-07:002008-04-25T08:46:00.000-07:00I couldn't agree more. Worse, one must ask what p...I couldn't agree more. <BR/><BR/>Worse, one must ask what political purpose lies behind these surveys. It is revealing that the most recent spate of Jeremiads began in 1983 during the Regan years, where, in the overwrought language of the time it was asserted that the poor state of public education was equivalent to an attack upon our Nation. The current Jeremiads and surveys continue this theme. <BR/><BR/>I'll have to look this up, but I suspect that following each of these revelations of how poorly educated our kids are, there have followed at the State and now the Federal Level (No Child Left Behind) ever more punitive laws regarding public education teachers and funding. <BR/><BR/>Trying to consider this from a distance, one can't help but wonder if the purpose of these studies is to legitimate the destruction of public education? <BR/><BR/>Remember, many educational critics believe this is a Christian Nation that must have religiously based education. Public school will never be the sort of Christian Madrasahs they hope for, so they must be destroyed. <BR/><BR/>Others still can't get over the teachers' strikes and unionization that occurred in the 1960s and 1970s. So, Teachers are expensive radicals, and they must be punished.<BR/><BR/>Finally, some believe that if only kids knew the "right" history they would then correctly understand current politics. This comes from both sides of the aisle.<BR/><BR/>The truth is, of course, that one can not know all the "facts" of history, and the very "facts" you choose to teach over other "facts" always have political implications. But, I am sure Dr. Laing will address this in the future. <BR/><BR/>Yes, my students are often appallingly ignorant when they enter my college classroom, but isn't the point of college to teach them? I assure you they leave my class knowing what history is, even if they can't remember when Benjamin Harrison was president. (Whit a minute, which Harrison? Oh Goodness, I'm confused)<BR/><BR/>JonJonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08234317410989778694noreply@blogger.com