California schools

[LDB]

by law, must teach the "significance" of the Obama presidency.

The first of what will likely be many idiocies.

Calif. Schools To Teach Students About ?Significance? Of Obama Presidency « CBS Los Angeles

 

[davekc]

I guess they are hoping something good happens in the last two years of his term? If not, they will be teaching what a future president shouldn't do.

 

[cheri1122]

I realize that you simply copied the article's premise, but it, and you, are wrong. The bill requires teaching the significance of Obama's election: the first black man to hold that office in a country of former slave owners. It says nothing about how well he performed the job, it's solely about his being elected. Period. That is a historic first, and would be taught as such in any case, making the bill/law unnecessary - but it harms nothing & no one.
Texas, on the other hand, has revised their school books to be more "conservative and Christian friendly", as of 2010. One of the consultants in this highly partisan effort to brainwash students is David Barton, whose version of history differs from the commonly accepted one,and has been discredited repeatedly. [His book about Thomas Jefferson, for example, was withdrawn by the publishers for "numerous factual errors".] He insists that the Founding Fathers settled the 'creationism vs evolution debate', too. Which is a pretty neat trick, considering Darwin hadn't even been born when the FFs lived.
California insists on teaching the obvious: the election of a black man as POTUS was historic. Yawn.
Texas is deliberately distorting history to teach conservative 'Christian' ideology as fact in textbooks.
I know which seems more blatantly wrong to me.

 

[LDB]

They definitely should teach about the election of the first black president, as soon as Ben Carson or whoever eventually is the first black to be elected wins the presidency in 2016 or beyond. We've just got another in a long line of white men right now in post racial America.

 

[layoutshooter]

Correct, Obama is NOT the nation's first black president. He is not the president. He is a no good for nuthin, bully, tin horn dictator with less brains than a dead, rotted, frog. Other than that, he sucks. Let 'em teach THAT in those left wing CA indoctrination centers.

 

[Moot]

I like the very last line from the linked article: Textbooks could be updated within five years, likely after Mr. Obama leaves office.

Is that California math or a veiled wish for more hope and change?

 

[Turtle]

For all the criticism that's (justifiably) leveled at Texas over its right-wing rewrite of its history textbooks, California is surely the nation's capital of legislative interference with what should be the job of academics.

High-level political interference in the making of curriculum and textbooks is inappropriate, and it has a long and troubled history. This is no less of an interference, though certainly more academically defensible, than if Republican legislators in Texas passed a bill saying that the Obama election should be left*out*of textbooks there.

That's an editorial quote from the ultra-liberal LA Times. So, no, it's not about the "period" as stated above, as it is purely political and cannot be justified academically. The significance is self evident and would have been taught in the appropriate academic context. If history has shown is anything, it's that politicians shouldn't be writing the history books.

 

[Pilgrim]

"Significance" can be positive or negative - and the Obama presidency has so far been significant in its failures both foreign and domestic. The significance of his presidency will likely be viewed by objective future historians in comparison with the miseries of other failures like Jimmy Carter, Warren G. Harding and Andrew Johnson. The damage his economic policies have done to our economy won't be fully realized until several years after he's gone. We have two years left in his 2nd term, and it appears he's very likely to get us embroiled in another major military conflict in the Middle East. If that happens in conjunction with (God forbid) another major terrorist attack on our soil, he will cement his position as the worst POTUS in the country's history - and that's significant.

 

[cheri1122]

AB 1912 asks the State Board of Education and the Instructional Quality Commission advisory panel to include the “significance of the United States electing its first African American President” in the 2008 election in the state’s history and social science standards for grades seven to twelve.

I believe the worst thing about the insistence on making mountains out of molehills in order to denigrate Obama on every single thing related to him, is that it has a very negative effect on the credibility of criticism that is righteous.
Responses 4 & 5 don't appear to have been written by intelligent adults, in any case.
Is it really that hard to accept that the man was elected? Because that's all this bill [which is, if you noticed, simply a request] acknowledges. There is no commentary on the quality of his job performance whatsoever.
That you find this outrageous, but have no problem with Texas inserting conservative Christian ideology in textbooks, and employing a 'consultant' who is known for deception to advise them, is just scary.

 

[aristotle]

I realize that you simply copied the article's premise, but it, and you, are wrong. The bill requires teaching the significance of Obama's election: the first black man to hold that office in a country of former slave owners. It says nothing about how well he performed the job, it's solely about his being elected. Period. That is a historic first, and would be taught as such in any case, making the bill/law unnecessary - but it harms nothing & no one.
Texas, on the other hand, has revised their school books to be more "conservative and Christian friendly", as of 2010. One of the consultants in this highly partisan effort to brainwash students is David Barton, whose version of history differs from the commonly accepted one,and has been discredited repeatedly. [His book about Thomas Jefferson, for example, was withdrawn by the publishers for "numerous factual errors".] He insists that the Founding Fathers settled the 'creationism vs evolution debate', too. Which is a pretty neat trick, considering Darwin hadn't even been born when the FFs lived.
California insists on teaching the obvious: the election of a black man as POTUS was historic. Yawn.
Texas is deliberately distorting history to teach conservative 'Christian' ideology as fact in textbooks.
I know which seems more blatantly wrong to me.

Cheri, we are not a nation of former slave owners. Slavery was outlawed 150 years ago.

 

[LDB]

Or maybe by someone who listened when the failure in chief droned over and over and over and over about post racial America, total transparency, no race, not black or white etc. etc. etc. etc. as well as owning being just as white as black. Technically he's not the first black president. That event has not yet taken place. Someday it will and this dud will be a footnote to the event.

 

[Moot]

I believe the worst thing about the insistence on making mountains out of molehills in order to denigrate Obama on every single thing related to him, is that it has a very negative effect on the credibility of criticism that is righteous.

I agree, especially since President Obama has nothing to do with this bill, its a California thing. If you don't like Obama, pick apart his actions and policies not a bill that some screwball racist in California pushed through.

I personally believe there is no need for this ridiculous bill. Apparently Mr. Holden does though and I'm sure many other states will follow California's lead and pass similar legislation. I believe Mr. Holden foresees a future where history won't be very kind to President Obama if it relies solely on his presidential track record. The passage of this bill will help keep Holden's main man from being lumped in with Carter and the other white failures.

 

[cheri1122]

Cheri, we are not a nation of former slave owners. Slavery was outlawed 150 years ago.

Wow - it's so great to read an intelligent response that I don't mind at all that you're right and I was wrong: there isn't anyone alive today who formerly owned slaves, lol.

 

[cheri1122]

Gov Rick Perry addressed the Koch Bros 'Americans for Prosperity' [cause that's what you want when you've got the well paying job covered, and no worries about paying bills, college for the kids, unforeseen medical expenses, retirement, etc] and he complained about Obama "intruding on education". Really?! That's a double irony, Common Core having been created by a bipartisan Governors group....
And he sniped at Obama for "getting between Americans and their doctors". From the Governor who approved of new restrictions on abortion clinics that would force them to close [for no good reason except he's opposed to abortion], that was unbelievably two faced. It doesn't get any more hypocritical than Perry's criticism on those two issues.
He's wrong about a lot of things, IMO, but I do admire Perry's stance on the border: if we don't control it, we may as well not have it.

 

[RLENT]

... And he sniped at Obama for "getting between Americans and their doctors". From the Governor who approved of new restrictions on abortion clinics that would force them to close [for no good reason except he's opposed to abortion], that was unbelievably two faced. It doesn't get any more hypocritical than Perry's criticism on those two issues.

Don't forget the Gardasil fiasco ...

Rick Perry and HPV vaccine-maker have deep financial ties - The Washington Post

The hypocrisy don't hardly get any better than when you're dealin' with Texas 'Tard ...

... unless mebbe ya throw some Jeebus Crust into the mix as well ...

 

[cheri1122]

Don't forget the Gardasil fiasco ...

Rick Perry and HPV vaccine-maker have deep financial ties - The Washington Post

The hypocrisy don't hardly get any better than when you're dealin' with Texas 'Tard ...

... unless mebbe ya throw some Jeebus Crust into the mix as well ...

Or Michelle Bachmann, lol. When she suggested the major campaign donations from Merck influenced Gov Perry's order to vaccinate every girl in Texas, he replied "It was a $5000 donation. You're suggesting I can be bought for $5000 - I'm offended by that."
Unintentional hilarity, when a pol speaks the truth, lol.