I hate to criticize Texas, because it is my native state. On the other hand, Texas brought us NCLB and promoted testing as the answer to all our ills. And frankly, it has always been nutty when it comes time to adopt textbooks.
This time, the committee left out a lot of really absurd stuff—apparently there were enough people there who didn’t want to look too foolish, but they did leave in the claim that Moses somehow influenced the American Constitution. Maybe there is some logical connection there, but I haven’t figured it out yet.
In 2003, I wrote a book about textbook adoptions called The Language Police, and I know how zany many states have been when a committee gets to decide what will be taught to all the children in the state. You would be amazed at how Shakespeare’s plays were mangled, how classic books were censored, how all sorts of nonsense were inserted and excluded to satisfy the textbook committees. The publishers for the education industry have a long list of words, phrases, and illustrations that may never be included in textbooks or tests. For example, the champions for senior citizens insisted that the term “senior citizens” never be used, and that older people never be portrayed as infirm in any way, like using a walker or a cane. The preferable illustration would be Grandpa on the roof, hammering in nails, heedless to risk.
California rejected a book because it included a story about Mother Goose, which was clearly sexist.
One of the hopeful results of online textbooks might be the lessening of the power of state textbook committees. That would be a good development.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I wonder how Moses felt about the Three-Fifths Compromise.
Update:
Moses descended Mount Sinai with the Ten Commanments in his right hand and the US Constitution clutched tightly in his left. Both documents were dictated by The Supreme Being.
Remember the Alamoses? The first 10 Commandments of the constitution?
Basket cases found in “denile”. Let those students go.
LOL
ditto…you guys are a riot…
This is a thinly veiled strategy aimed at picturing United States exceptionalism, predestined to be the messenger of God’s will. I need to see if these folks quote Nostradamus.
Given half a chance, it doesn’t take a genius to know how the thought leaders of the self-proclaimed “education reform” movement will spin this blog posting.
[start]
That shrill and strident Ravitch woman hates Moses. She wants to deny the Christian roots of our country. She refuses to acknowledge the important, nay critical, role of Christianity in the development of the US of A. If she had her way, only censored versions of the Declaration of Independence would be available to our kids. For example, she would strike out such parts as “by their Creator” in the sentence that begins the second paragraph: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Then where would our children be? Ignorant and immoral and soulless creatures, rendered helpless in the face of America’s enemies by her kookie—no, evil!—schemes.
And that is why we need CCSS.
[end]
If you think this is too fantastical, a parody gone too far, humorless humor because it exaggerates beyond all reason and decency—
Read Arne Duncan’s speech to the April 2013 annual meeting of the American Education Research Association.
Link: http://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/choosing-right-battles-remarks-and-conversation
Now ponder the generous helpings of word salad and cognitive dissonance served up by an “innovative education reform disruptor” of the highest rank.
😎
Thanks for this link Arne on stage at AERA. Word salad in on the mark. Think I will do a wordle picture of the speech.
https://hearknowevil.wordpress.com/2014/11/29/remember-the-alamoses/
The problem is not that a textbook committee exists, but rather, how it is populated. The way to properly compose these committees is for the relevant national professional teacher and academic organizations to recommend a list of candidates – that possess the experience, content knowledge and pedagogical expertise to do so. Compositions could be fixed so a specific number of university academics and teachers were presented. There should be no parents, no politicians, none other than the representatives of the professional organizations with the technical knowledge and pedagogical expertise to make these decisions. The governments role might be to appoint a content specialist advisor (at the state or federal level), that oversees (but plays no decision making role) and funds the expert committee work. This won’t entirely remove the nonsense, but it will at least keep it at a higher academic level. If you have ever read or watched the typical textbook committee discussions, one is utterly shocked that these turkeys are making any educational decision.
You’re correct. Texas will be a more open minded state after the old guard, with narrow minds holding a vice grip on decisions, die off, and more Latinos have the vote.
Will we keep it?
The deliberations of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 were held in strict secrecy. Consequently, anxious citizens gathered outside Independence Hall when the proceedings ended in order to learn what had been produced behind closed doors. The answer was provided immediately. A Mrs. Powel of Philadelphia asked Benjamin Franklin, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” With no hesitation whatsoever, Franklin responded, “A republic, if you can keep it.”
http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/item/7631-a-republic-if-you-can-keep-it
Our southern border should end with Oklahoma
Sent from my iPad
If we inform Texas that Moses was actually an Egyptian wizard, maybe they will reconsider. They may be linking Charlton Heston’s Moses to the 2nd Amendment. Hey, history is written by those in charge. Holy Moses, I have been deceived.
Don’t forget that Moses was not a Christian or a Jew in the traditional sense that didn’t exist until after the 10 Commandments gave birth to the Jewish religion through written rules and laws. There was no written or published Old Testament Bible or Torah until Moses and then his brother wrote it. Before Moses and his brother wrote it down there were several thousand years of traditional camp fire tales reciting the history of the Hebrew tribe.
It was only after God freed the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt that God, through Moses, told the Hebrews in writing that there would be no other gods put before God. Several hundred years before that God told—-not in writing—“Abraham obeyed me and kept my requirements, my commands, my decrees and my laws” (NIV).
Those commands, decrees and laws in the Old Testament are rather extensive because the 10 Commandments were the easy part to remember. There were more.
Why put in in writing when there had been the oral tradition for so long? It’s easy to forget.
I recall the Old Testament including many reminders that it’s wrong to sacrifice humans. Animals ok, humans not ok. One might deduce that was a rule that people kept forgetting.
And then, in the NT, God himself sacrifices his own son.
Ah, but don’t forget that God tested Abraham’s loyalty by asking him to sacrifice his son Isaac—-God changed his mind at the last second right before Abraham was going to cut Isaac’s throat.
Genesis 22:1-24 ESV / 31 helpful votes
After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.”
And of course, God had no problem killing all the first born sons of the Egyptians to force the Pharaoh to let the Hebrews go. The God of the Old Testament was the Hebrew God and only for the Hebrews. Everyone else was fair game.
I read the story of Isaac and Abraham partly as an example of the Old Testament reminders not to sacrifice people. It certainly resonates as a parallel to the Crucifixion.
I read the kilings of the Egyptian first-borns as part of the general murder and mayhem performed by God in the OT. They were killings, not sacrifices to [the] God[s].
That’s true. All those Egyptian first borne weren’t a sacrifice to God They were cold blooded killings to get the Pharaoh to release the Hebrews. I wonder how many of those children were too young to be corrupted and evil.
The God of the Old Testament is a brutal and angry God.
FLERP,
If you attend a fundamentalist church, one of their basic teachings, and in fact, much of their belief system is based upon what they call the Trail of the Blood and also the “Types of Christ” in the Old Testament. If you ever get a tract that they leave in motels or hand out in various places, sometimes door to door, you will see their focus. The belief has to do with the way Christians came to realize that Jesus was the real savior, because the Old Testament has these examples of sacrificial lambs and that in the fruition of Jesus’ birth, life, and crucifixion, the Lamb was slain, fulfilling prophecy.
As far as what I was taught, the difference between the Jewish religion and Christianity was the acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah by the Christians while the Jews continue to look for a King as the Messiah. Forgive me if I have misinterpreted or simplified the Jewish difference in belief. Again, I am just reiterating what I was told as a child at Sunday School. We were also told that prior to Jesus’ birth we were under the Dispensation of the Law, but after Jesus arrived we were under the Dispensation of Grace (forgiveness).
I am rather attached to the beatitudes, myself. “The Law” is what caused so many deaths for not having followed the laws to the letter.
“The Bill of Goods”
The Bill of Rights
Was brought from heights
By Moses in his hand
“Twas God’s solution
A Constitution
For chosen, Promised Land
LOL
I can see it now.
The US Constitution and Bill of Rights will be revised to include the 10 Commandments and all of God’s other laws, restrictions and commandments in the Old Testament, and women will lose the vote and become chattel for men who may have more than one wife and or concubine if they can afford them.
How many did King Solomon have? I think both Moses and Abraham had more than one wife/concubine too.
Then the day will come with there will be the Bill Gates harem; the Koch brothers harems; the Walton family harems; the Murdock harem, Ford, Rockefeller, Kennedy, etc.
I wonder if the oligarchs’ children will inherit the harems from their fathers or will those wives and concubines be retired to live lives of chastity like the thousands of wives and concubines of Chinese Emperors when they died. At one time, those wives and concubines were often buried alive with their their male master when he died so he could take them with him into the afterlife.
Hahahaha!
There goes Texas again…mistaking commandments for amendments!
btw the 1st amendment has been incorporated and applied to the states through the 14th amendment. I think you’re in violation of the Establishment Clause. Nice work!
Well they both end in “ment”, and you know that all off us ignorant teachers here have not taught critical thinking.
Blame me. It is all my fault:).
Looking forward to moving at the end of the year back east to PA. Then I will change my moniker to “the artist formerly known as Titleonetexasteacher”.
You gave up on Vermont?
And Moses said “let my teachers go”…to another state besides TX:(
I used to laugh at Texas, but now NYS is also in de”Nile”. Albany is distributing the kool ade and many are happily drinking it up.
A modern day zombie story, with the few non drugged parents and teachers trying to hold off the onslaught.
With Diane Ravitch and her peeps trying to find a cure.
Ellen T Klock
I am less optimistic than Diane about the prospect of on-line teaching materials being “better.” The whole notion of “a text” is vanishing in favor of modules of online courseware, and for the K-12 market all of these will be markertable only to the extent that they are in compliance with the CCSS, including some promise to boost test scores in math, ELA, and “literacy” across the curriculum.
Recall that the writers of the CCSS set up publishing criteria for curriculum and instructional materials shortly after the launch of the CCSS and have been tweaking them. These criteria have morphed into a 2014 rating system for judging materials put out by Student Achievement Partners (SFP) with the National Governor’s Association Achieve, Inc and Council of Chief State School Officers. This ready-to-use 392-page document is filled with iron-first rules and rating criteria for texts and related teaching materials. Any claim that the CCSS are disconnected from how to teach and what teach is officially down the tubes.
This new rating system for CCSS-compliant materials begins with two “non-negotiables.”
“Non-Negotiable 1. Freedom from Obstacles to Focus. Materials must reflect the content architecture of the Standards by not assessing the topics named before the grade level where they first appear in the Standards.” Scoring is “Meets or Does Not Meet/Insufficient Evidence.” (No review of content from prior grades is acceptable.Get with the program, no review from any prior grade).
“Non-Negotiable 2. Focus and Coherence. To rate Non-Negotiable 2, (do this) first rate metrics 2A–2H. Each of these eight metrics must be rated as “Meets” in order for Non-Negotiable 2 to be rated as “Meets” …. “ Materials must “be clearly aimed at helping students meet the Standards as written rather than effectively rewriting the progressions in the Standards.” (p.127). (This is simply a restatement of the original verbatim rule in the CCSS that not many people recognized as an iron-fist. Bottom line is my way or the high way).
These and all of the other rating criteria for instructional materials— comprehensive textbook or textbook series; lessons, units and modules; grade or course-level tests; and individual test passages, items and tasks—are as hard-nosed as in the first round of rating criteria for CCSS-compliant teaching materials. If you want to see this 397-page rating kit for CCSS-compliant teaching materials, go to http://achievethecore.org/page/285/materials-alignment-toolkit). This document is absolute proof that the CCSS were and are intended to tell you how to teach, not just what to teach.
Although many teachers are already working on the CCSS, there is a challenger to this 397-page rating system.
A press release (Politico, Aug, 19, 2014) announced the creation of a ‘CONSUMER REPORTS FOR THE COMMON CORE,” a nonprofit outfit with start-up funding of $3 million from the Gates Foundation and the Helmsley Charitable Trust.
The launch is being managed by the PR firm, Education First, founded by a person who worked as a marketing expert for the Gates Foundation in promoting the CCSS. The website for the ratings, EdReports.org is under construction. Additional start-up funding comes from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
These “Consumer Reports for the Common Core” ratings will put publishers on the defensive (much like the Gates-funded ratings of teacher education). Ratings will be online and invite responses from the publishers.
The initial ratings are for widely used K-8 math curricula, including Pearson’s enVision Math, McGraw-Hill’s Everyday Math, and Houghton Mifflin’s Go Math.
In other words, control the metrics; control the materials; control the minds. Gates is a megalomaniacal puppet master.
My god. What a horror.
Think of the greatest textbook that you ever used. Then imagine applying this crap to an evaluation of it.
A necessary step in the process of securing for Pearson and Gates a monopoly on the online textbook biz.
Want to see a recipe for paint-by-number education? Click on the link that Laura provided above. But don’t do so on a full stomach.
This is why each generation of children are less and less informed and educated. It’s so intentional. We have to give a lot of “credit” to the Koch Brothers, Pearson,Publishing, the NCLB Bush family, education profiteers, powerful fundamentalists, nut jobs in Congress and on school boards, the Gates, Broad, Rogers Foundations, Joel Kleins of the world, and a huge array of people with different agendas–but basically, what it means is that our children may know more and better math calculations and read faster than ever before, but they will not comprehend what they’re reading, won’t know history, civic, global cultures, and will essentially question very little. And in all honestly, two things are happening: 1: the Hitler strategy of indoctrinating kids from the time they first enter school by rewriting or omitting history with teacher-directed classes and no questioning; and 2: building an elite plutocracy where only a few can enjoy the riches of society and afford an excellent education, and the rest remain uneducated, poor, and then recruited at 18 to fight their dirty wars.
“Moses was a Founding Father”
Moses was a Founding Father
Perry is his son
Richards was his wayward daughter
And Bush the chosen one
None of it will be repudiated or refutable when we’re dead and the future grown ups aren’t able to read script anymore. They stopped teaching script with the advent of the common core too…. coincidence?
meh. Did the Ten Commandments and other Mosaic laws not find their way into the Doom Book? Was the Doom Book not the foundation of English Common Law? Did the writings of Coke and Blackstone, proponents of common law, not figure largely in the minds of our Founding Fathers?
To me it seems equally silly to say that Moses had no influence on the United States Constitution as it is to say that Moses was the sole influence or even major influence in the writing of it.
It would have been helpful to see the actual text in question; it would have better informed the conversation.
At the end of the day, pro or con, I see this as yet another argument against Common Core (or any other national standards).
Seven degrees of separation? Is Moses an ancient version of Kevin Bacon?
lol, I wouldn’t bet against Kevin Bacon being connected to Moses by seven degrees of separation, but, no, this comparison will not do. Moses is not connected to the U.S. Constitution by arcane connections of various acquaintances; there is a direct, substantive flow of ideas from Moses to the Doom Book and from the Doom Book to English Common Law and, via Coke and Blackstone to the writers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. If we’re going to use a Hollywood comparison, albeit a flawed one, it might be to D.W. Griffith. The thing about being at the foundation of something is that everything that comes after is influenced, either directly or indirectly, to what you did or said, even if only in reaction or opposition.
My concern about online learning is all the dis information and outright lies found on the internet. With fewer and fewer school librarians in our schools, who will teach the students about bogus websites? Who will teach them to look at the originator of a site to determine their point of view or slant on a topic? Who will warn them about the dangers of Wikipedia – whose entries may or may not be valid?
And online textbooks have the same dangers. Students studying unsigned articles on various topics without the wherewithal to verify content. And, as Robert has so ably pointed out, not all teachers are knowledgable enough with their subject content to tell a truth from a half truth from an outright lie.
As a profession, we need to remain vigilant to call out discrepancies when misinformation is presented. We don’t want to allow our future generations to be brainwashed.
Ellen T Klock
Our Christian roots – about half of the founding fathers were slave owners, some of them major slave owners, with Washington owning over 200 slaves. Look it up.
In other news, Moses was a murderer, Jacob was a liar and a thief, David was the worst kind of adulterer, and Peter was the kind of guy who disappeared right when you needed him the most. They all fell short of the glory of God. Go figure…
Texas takes dumbing down to a new low! There are actually people leading the state government who believe dinosaurs lived 6000 years ago, including the governor. These people look normal, but they are delusional as hell and really scary when you think they get some twisted pleasure from executing people. Perry has bragged that he has excuted more people than any governor in history. Don’t these dumbos know about karma?
These kinds of shenanigans make the Common Core look appealing…
Well, since Moses brought the 10 Commandments down from Mt. Sinai, putting this in history books would be a way to tie the U.S. Constitution to the Bible and thereby put for the idea that the U.S. is a Christian nation and all other religious thought would need to be suppressed. That is my guess, anyway.
http://www.dltk-bible.com/exodus/moses_and_the_10_commands-cv.htm
How would that work exactly? Since the 10 Commandments are from a Jewish text and are also found in the Quran?
Well this might explain … http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abrahamic_religions
I didn’t say I believe they should do that or that it is accurate to use it in that way, just that it might be their reasoning … not mine.