Saving America Part 17

Today's children are the future leaders of this country. America we have to stop all the craziness happening and get teachers back to teaching.  American education has been politicized, with liberal ideologies affecting both curricula and teachers. This gradual politicization of the classroom will, if left unchecked, lead to infringements on individual freedom and the right to the pursuit of happiness.

Evidence of this phenomenon can be seen in changes in textbooks over the last 15-20 years and in the change in attitude of the National Education Association (NEA). Textbooks contain information that is carefully selected and presented to create attitudes and impressions rather than systematically building toward a foundation of knowledge. The result is a widening gap in cultural literacy paralleled with an increasingly socialist mindset. Perhaps more harmful are politically biased and motivated teachers, who may go beyond educating students and begin to indoctrinate students. Classroom discussions on current events often do not put events into historical perspective or present pros and cons equally and fairly.  

Academic integrity must be returned to the curriculum; teachers must recognize and accept their professional responsibilities; and teachers must respond to parents' concerns about the education of their children. It is suggested that the NEA has become a labor union, rather than a professional organization. To bring the organization back to its origins, teachers should consider state exams for licensing, peer reviews, and taking a keen interest in the education of future teachers.

According to a Fox News report a textbook review process taking place in states across the country has changed or eliminated references to everything from the Founding Fathers (search) to hot dogs, leaving many to charge educators with distorting history in the name of political correctness. That’s because many textbooks will no longer feature pictures of hot dogs, sodas, cakes, butter and other kinds of food that are not considered nutritious. Nor will the books contain any phrases judged to be sexist or politically insensitive.

The Founding Fathers, for instance, are now referred to as "The Framers," in an apparent effort to make them sound less male-dominant. And there will be no more reading about Mount Rushmore, where the faces of four U.S. presidents are carved into stone, because it appears to offend some American-Indian groups.

The changes, which reflect a wide range of political correctness, have been brought about by pressure groups on both sides of the political aisle, as both Democratic and Republican legislators have been lobbied.

Snowman? No more. Melt that image and replace with Snowperson. Want to sail away on a yacht? No, again. It’s too elitist. And if you think grandpa is a senior citizen, guess what? You’re wrong. That’s demeaning, according to the new standards. He is now simply an "older person."

America, please tell me how did the world survive without all this change? Imagine how damaging it must have been to call Grandpa, Grandpa instead of an older person. I hope his trauma is treatable. Come on America! This is not only outrageous it is utterly ridiculous and it is dumbing down out children. With all this politically correct nonsense we are going to turn out kids who are not able to deal with the everyday happenings in life because they were protected from them through out their educational years.

 It's outright censorship," said author Diane Ravitch, who has written extensively on the subject of how the nation's schools have dealt with the issue. "It dumbs down our textbooks, makes them bland, far less interesting than anything children might see in the movies even in G-rated movies or TV.

 "The problems that have happened in education is that the textbook publishers and the test developers have become so sensitive to any controversy that whenever they receive a complaint it is very likely that they will remove the source of the complaint," explained Ravitch.

Ravitch is the author of the 2003 book, "The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict what students learn.

In todays textbooks normal everyday topics that like it or not occur in lives all over this country are avoided and not included, some of these topics are abortion, death or disease, criminal behavior, magic, politics, religion, unemployment, weapons or violence, poverty, divorce, slavery, alcoholism or addiction of any kind. Do the politicians think if they are not mentioned they will simply go away?  Will they wipe from the textbooks the year 2008/2009 when we saw the worst economy since the depression and the government was bailing out banks and companies left and right/? Will they leave this part out, maybe they will leave out Barack Obama's presidency after he destroys our country?

America, enough is enough we need to get back to basics in this country where education is concerned, we need to stop wasting so much time on all this politically correctness and make our teachers get back to teaching.  We need to set higher standards for our students and teachers, we need to make sure they are teaching students and not passing them through the grades. If we do not do something soon, imagine what the future of America will be. Who will run our corporations, our country?

  Join with us America to protect your rights, your country, and your money. We are ready to defend our rights and tell the truth the liberal main stream media won’t tell you.  Comment here and email us at YourVoice@speaknowconservatives.org. Help us and be part of bringing our Great Christian country back.