Educators and parents are upset in Michigan because a Republican politician wants to impose revisions to the state Social Studies curriculum that reflect his own partisan views.
“The new curriculum draft cuts out references to gay rights, Roe v. Wade and climate change. It also slashes the word “democratic” and replaces it with “republic.”
“Behind the draft is Republican State Senator and Gubernatorial candidate Patrick Colbeck. He said his suggestions were motivated by concern that some standards are not politically neutral or factually accurate, and to ensure students are exposed to multiple points of view, reported Bridge Magazine, which first broke the news.
“According to Bridge, crowds of people have gathered to voice their objections to the changes already and the period to comment lasts until June 30.“
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Kind of makes one wonder how Colbeck “developed” his political views without having had them as a core part of his curriculum.
LikeLike
Hello Diane: This needs a decoded. That is, in today’s Republican political-speak, EVERYTHING is read in a bi-party framework. Thus, “politically neutral” means that the term “democracy” means “democratic party.” And so it must be replaced by “republic,” which, by their own standards, is biased against the other party.
Also, in Republican-speak, “factually accurate” is code for leaving out the other party’s fake-news kinds of facts (because there is no such thing as non-partisan facts) and focusing on the “alternative facts” that are either half-truths (because they either divert or leave out the balancing issues),or just plain lies, not to mention that trying to find the truth is equated with democratic propaganda (because leftist propaganda is what higher education is about).
Finally, in Republican code land, being exposed to “multiple points of view” means being exposed to the “right” propaganda, because the so-called truth-telling of the left is all wrong. Forget that students might have their own sets of questions and develop their own points of view when really exposed to history, to political philosophy, to fascism on the one hand, and to the Constitution and our Founding Documents, and to how parties work, on the other, including how to read degenerate movements in any party. CBK
LikeLike
Catherine,
I keep reading and hearing from the MSM that the division in the country today is caused by opposition to Trump. If only his critics would calm down and treat him with respect, we could all unify again. That means normalizing a “president” who acts to divide us daily. That means normalizing racism, xenophobia, and the rest of his divisive tactics.
LikeLike
Diane: Yes to all; and today he is trying to encroach on due process, which, I have no doubt, is about its total erasure at some point.
I wonder if these jokers know how much THEY are dependent on the rule of law and all that is enshrined in our founding documents. We are at an interim stage where Trump et al can USE the law, and everyone else’s adherence to it, to destroy it. CBK
LikeLike
Horrors!
LikeLike
One of the most glaring problems with government-run schools, is that the government runs the schools. As we can see unfolding in Michigan, when a group of people is in power, that group can change/alter/modify the school curriculum.
Take an absurd example: A state elects a legislature and a governor, from a political party that believes that 2+2=5. Then the new legislature passes a law, that the publicly-operated schools in their state, must teach this new concept. Textbooks will be purchased (at taxpayer expense) that teach this new math. Teachers will be required to teach this, else be fired.
This is an extreme example, of what is occurring in Michigan. The politicians are going to run the schoolhouse.
If this is not a reason for people pulling their children out of government-run publicly-operated schools, and demanding vouchers, then what is?
LikeLike
Horace Mann wrote an essay about this very issue. He said that the schools must never change their curriculum or textbooks to reflect the views of the party in power. I recommend that you read Mann’s essays, Charles. You would find them enlightening.
LikeLike
I find myself in general agreement with Mann (on many topics). The problem still remains, that when government runs the schools (or any institution) the government is going to get their way. He who pays the piper, gets to call the tune.
An historical example: Public school in the South, prior to the War between the States, taught that chattel slavery was a beneficial institution. The governments ran the schools, and that was the result.
We can see the exact same phenomenon unfolding in the state of Michigan.
LikeLike
Now there are evangelical schools teaching that slavery was beneficial, Catholics and gays are abhorrent, and women should obey men.
LikeLike
Charles: I goofed and read your last note. But now, having done so, I realize you are showing yourself to be a moral and political relativist. If so, you won’t be able to say FOR YOURSELF which ‘government run schools’ authentically portray and purvey the ideals set out for us in the Constitution and founding documents. For you, ‘government run schools’ are ALL ethically and politically defunct. CBK
LikeLike
I agree with you on this! The operating authority of a school system, sets the curriculum, whether it be a government, or a religious institution.
Another historical example: When the waves of Roman Catholic immigrants were arriving from Italy/Ireland, etc. the public schools undertook to “protestantize” them. Again, the operating authority called the tune.
LikeLike
Q If so, you won’t be able to say FOR YOURSELF which ‘government run schools’ authentically portray and purvey the ideals set out for us in the Constitution and founding documents. For you, ‘government run schools’ are ALL ethically and politically defunct END Q
@CBK: There are thousands of excellent public schools, all over this land. I am certain that many of them are adequately propagating the “ideals” contained in the documents you cite.
There is a general consensus, that many public schools, are not providing an adequate grounding in what used to be called “civics”. The state of Texas (and other states) has required that all high school students pass the (naturalized) citizenship test, and obtain a passing score, in order to graduate. The actor , Richard Dreyfus, has established the Dreyfus Initiative, to re-introduce the teaching of civics and constitution in US public schools. I am delighted at this kind of private/public cooperation.
I have never claimed that all publicly-run schools are defunct in any way.
LikeLike
. . . Sigh . . . CBK
LikeLike
Charles, please note that in religious schools the curriculum reflects the views of the religion, even those that are flatly contradictory to modern science and history. I have far more trust in government-run schools to teach modern science than in evangelicals and yeshivas and madrassas.
LikeLike
I am with you here, too! We agree on many things. Religiously-operated schools teach religious topics. They often promote such things as Creationism, and “intelligent design” which is a code for creationism. No argument here at all.
LikeLike
Charles, I am glad we agree. I wish you would agree that government should not fund religious schools with taxpayer dollars since religious schools teach their doctrine and it is not the role of government to pay for religious teachings.
LikeLike
Charles: “Government run schools” is Republican code. It’s Orwellian doublespeak that puts a bad light on education of the polity that is rooted in democratic/republican ideals that, among other things, support the transition of power from kings and oligarchs to “the people” who are educated to make REAL choices; and where those choices are based on a diverse and informing curriculum, open to discourse and new ideas, rather than, for instance, the kind of propaganda that has informed your idea of “government run schools.” BTW, I’m not reading anything else you write. It’s a waste of time. CBK
LikeLike
If you find the term “government-run schools” so abhorrent, then I suggest that you come up with a better term, for schools that are run by the government. The government taxes the citizens, and then pays for the schools, and sets the curriculum. If the government does not run the public schools, then who, pray tell, does?
LikeLike
A better term is “public schools.” Funded by the government, democratically controlled by elected school boards, or boards appointed by an elected official. Only rightwing zealots refer to public schools as “government schools.” Do you call the police “government police”? Do you drive on a “government highway”?
LikeLike
Charles: Again, you entirely missed my meaning. Sigh . . . .
LikeLike
“Public schools” is fine. I call the Fairfax county police, when I need the police. Else I call the Virginia state police. I drive on US highway 1 (a government highway) every day, else I drive on interstate highway 95. I also use county roads, and state highways.
LikeLike
I like government run schools. I live in a democracy. I vote. I run the government. So, I run the schools. Government run schools are democratically run schools. This Republican in Michigan, Senator Colbeck, is risking his career, upsetting voters. Good for him, may he run himself out of office for good.
I do not like Fetullah Gülen run schools. I do not like Eli Broad run schools. I do not like Pearson run schools. I do not like Facebook or Google run schools. I do not like Bank of America run schools. I do not like Andre Agassi run schools. I have no control over any of them. To repeat for emphasis, government run schools are democratically run schools.
LikeLike
I enthusiastically support and “like” the public schools in Fairfax County VA, where I live. (And many other fine public schools, as well).
Sadly, all of the public schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia, do not match up to the high standards of Fairfax county. I wish they did. I would support additional financial resources going to all of the public schools, in Virginia, to ensure that all children obtained a quality education.
LikeLike
“Sadly,” Charles says, “all of the public schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia, do not match up to the high standards of Fairfax county.”
How many children in those sad schools live in poverty? Poverty is “the” key factor in schools that “do not match up to the high standards” that were set in place with NCLB based on test scores that were used to rank and punish schools, children and teachers.
Test scores have been used as the basis for those high standards while ignoring the ravages of poverty in children.
Please explain why most children that live in poverty around the world do poorly in school.
That’s all those test scores do — provide more proof that poverty is the problem, not schools and teachers.
Even a study out of Stanford says the same thing.
“The report also found:
“There is an achievement gap between more and less disadvantaged students in every country; surprisingly, that gap is smaller in the United States than in similar post-industrial countries, and not much larger than in the very highest scoring countries.
“Achievement of U.S. disadvantaged students has been rising rapidly over time, while achievement of disadvantaged students in countries to which the United States is frequently unfavorably compared – Canada, Finland and Korea, for example – has been falling rapidly.”
https://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/january/test-scores-ranking-011513.html
To be blunt, Lloyd says, “It’s the poverty, Stupid, not the schools and the teachers.”
LikeLike
Quote of the day: “For commonwealths and good governments do nourish virtue” Francis Bacon
LikeLike
@Lloyd: ref your post of 9:37 25 June. Check this out:
Q But after years of asserting that schools perform poorly because “the kids are poor,” these same folks were presented with a mountain of evidence, from charter schools and other options, as well as a few unicorn-y school districts, showing that minority kids can and do learn at high levels regardless of the economic circumstances of their parents. This on top of the long track record of urban parochial schools educating low-income students before and during the charter era. END Q
see
https://edexcellence.net/articles/integration-is-charter-opponents-newest-excuse-to-unwind-decades-of-progress?utm_source=National+Education+Gadfly+Weekly&utm_campaign=eb53d07375-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_06_20_04_21&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_ef00e8f50e-eb53d07375-71675749&mc_cid=eb53d07375&mc_eid=33d2b26b04
It is easy to blame the low achievements of children in schools in economically-depressed areas. But, I feel the criticism is misplaced.
It has been shown that when children are given proper instruction (couple with other factors, like adequate nutrition), that lower-income children can and do perform at the same rate, as children from higher-income families.
LikeLike
More BS, Charles. Inform yourself before embarrassing yourself with stupid comments like this.
LikeLike
Charles, I call BS on your thinking. Charter schools cherry pick the students they take and then run them through a fine mesh filter to get rid of the weeds.
I taught in a district and schools with high ratios of child poverty and there were always a few children living in poverty that had supportive parents and did well in school, but the majority of children living in poverty do not and the evidence is overwhelming that Corporate Charter schools focus on keeping the children that come from supportive homes and getting rid of the rest of them.
The high school where I taught for sixteen of the thirty years I was a public school teacher had a child poverty rate of 70%. Today it is closer to 80%. And yet, when I was teaching, on average, about 10 percent of my students, many of the 10 % also lived in poverty, earned As and Bs but 35 – 50% failed because they did little or nothing to cooperate and learn and they had no parental support, none.
When we had parent conference nights, who showed up? The parents of the students earning A and Bs. Few of the parents of failing students ever came to parent conferences and their children kept doing nothing to keep their failing grade.
LikeLike
Charles, in every country the government runs the public schools, but there is a difference in the U.S. The public schools here are not run by the federal government — or at least they are not supposed to be. They are run by the local and state governments with participation by voters, parents, teachers and children — or at least that was the way it was done before NCLB and all the other crap.
50 states
about 15,000 local school districts.
that means there are more than 15,000 separate school districts run and operated at the state and local level.
LikeLike
What is your point here? I agree that the individual states have their own educational programs, and that the public schools are operated by the states/municipalities. So what?
We have a federal Dept of Education, that provides about 10% of the funding, and a whole slew of regulations and other nonsense (like mandated testing), to the educational process.
Many people on the right and the left, abhor any federal involvement in education, and would like to see the Dept of Education abolished.
LikeLike
The DoE did not mandate testing. They linked billions in grants to testing. The states could have refused and can back out at any time.
In fact, there are several states that never adopted the standards and others that did but then later repealed them and stopped taking the DoE bribes.
There are only a few but they prove that the DoE cannot force the states to comply.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Core_implementation_by_state#/media/File:Status_of_Common_Core_Standards_vector.svg
LikeLike
This type of curricula insertion representing a one sided perspective is nothing new. The Koch brothers have put together their own version of history and government. Would you want a public school to adopt their curriculum? When billionaires or politicians start pushing their own curricula, we can assume the results will be less than neutral. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-bigelow/the-koch-brothers-sneak-i_b_6163946.html
LikeLike
I share your trepidations, about having corporations pushing their curriculum into publicly-operated schools. The public runs the schools, and pays the costs. The public, through their elected representatives and school boards, should therefore control the curriculum.
How about a compromise? Give parents, who are unhappy with the public school curriculum (or any other aspect of the public school), the opportunity to withdraw their children, and transfer them to an alternate school, that is more to their liking?
LikeLike
They absolutely have the right to go to a private school. They don’t have the right to take public funds with them.
LikeLike
Why not? If a child is autistic (or has some other learning disability), and the public school system cannot properly provide adequate educational services, the family has the right to withdraw the child from the public system, and enroll the child in a private school, and the school system must pay the cost.
See Endrew F. V. Douglas County school system (2018).
Are handicapped children more deserving of a proper education, than “normal” children?
LikeLike
Very few private schools provide services to handicapped children.
Public schools are required by law to do so.
Charles! Please inform yourself before writing. The cost in the Douglas County case was about $50,000 per year, and it would not be supplied by a voucher.
LikeLike
I have followed the Endrew case for some months, and I am well-familiar with it. see
https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/cert/15-827
True, very few privately-operated schools are equipped to provide proper educational services to handicapped children. There are however, specialty schools, which do exactly that. The parents of this child located a private school, which was able to provide the necessary educational services, when the public school in Douglas county, Colorado could not.
The court ruled that the public school could not provide properly under the IDEA program, and that the child had to attend the specialty school.
Under the IDEA program, public schools are of course, required to provide adequate instructional services to special-needs children. When the public schools cannot do so, the court ruled that the family could obtain the proper educational services at the private school, with public money.
Of course, it costs more to educate a handicapped child. No dispute. A voucher, equivalent to the standard per-pupil expenditure in Douglas county, would not meet the costs. So the court decreed that additional expenditures would be required.
This is a good thing! Most people believe that special-needs children need additional resources and programs, to enable them to meet their fullest potential.
Hurrah, for the Supreme Court!
LikeLike
I have seen Colbeck et al’s issue-by-issue grid (they didn’t get everything they wanted–far from it) and it’s genuinely horrifying. The public has seen only bits and pieces, and focused on the Democrat vs. democratic language. Colbeck wants to rewrite history–one of his suggestions was removing The New Deal from the state history standards, focusing instead on Calvin Coolidge’s contribution to improving the economy.
Here’s my take, from a teacher’s perspective: http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teacher_in_a_strange_land/2018/06/do_core_democratic_values_belong_in_schools.html
LikeLike
Remove the New Deal and praise the laissez faire government that forgave the Teapot Dome Scandal and with wild speculation and buying on margin led up to the stock market crash? That is something. I don’t have an adjective strong enough. My goodness.
LikeLike
Just because you represent or hold dear a philosophy that you think is mandated by an invisible sky man or some close minded fools that want to impose “law” on immigrants and poor people (but never themselves), it doesn’t give you sway to undermine the constitution, history, the law of the land, or the obligation to teach to those realities.
LikeLike
Consider that this Republican might be an ALEC minion and that China calls itself the People’s Republic of China.
After getting rid of the word “democracy”, the next step would be to call the United States, the “People’s Republic of America” and change the Constitution so Trump can be its leader for life.
To achieve that would mean doing what Judge Moore wants to do and only keep the 1st 10 Amendments to the US Constitution, then the “People’s Republic of America” would take away the vote from women, make slavery legal again, and turn children into the property of their parents.
Only the 80-million members of the Chinese Communist Party are allowed to vote and most decisions are made behind closed doors to determine what they should vote for.
In the “People’s Republic of America,” I’m sure they think only men with businesses and money would be allowed to vote. The rest of us would be removed from the democratic process that exists today.
LikeLike
Florida is opening up the state constitution to a public vote on a dozen or so amendments. Apparently, charters have some level of accountability to local school districts. This is one way the Newpoint scandal came to the attention of authorities Amendment 8 tries to eliminate this and also tried to give school board members term limits. Voters in Florida should vote “No” on Amendment 8.
School Board Term Limits and Duties; Public Schools
Ballot Summary
Creates a term limit of eight consecutive years for school board members and requires the legislature to provide for the promotion of civic literacy in public schools. Currently, district school boards have a constitutional duty to operate, control, and supervise all public schools. The amendment maintains a school board’s duties to public schools it establishes, but permits the state to operate, control, and supervise public schools not established by the school board.
Explanation
Amendment 8 would establish term limits of two consecutive four-year terms for school board members. The measure would prohibit an individual’s name from appearing on the ballot if the person had already served on the school board for eight years. Currently, there is no state law limiting how long a person could serve on a school board.
Amendment 8 would add language to the Florida Constitution stating that “education is essential to the preservation of the rights and liberties of the people.” The measure would require the Florida State Legislature to pass laws to, according to the text, “ensure that students enrolled in public education understand and are prepared to exercise their rights and responsibilities as citizens of a constitutional republic.” Currently, there is no provision within the Florida Constitution that addresses civic literacy or civic education and the subject of civic literacy would be the only K-12 education subject specified in the state constitution.
Amendment 8 would change the way the state governs charter schools. Under current law, school boards approve and monitor all public schools within their counties, including privately-run charter schools that operate as public schools. Under Amendment 8, the legislature could create a state-created entity to also control and approve charter schools, allowing charter schools to bypass potential local opposition. Currently, the state constitution authorizes school boards to approve, operate, control, and supervise all free public schools within their jurisdictions.
Reference: Article IX, Section 4, New Section; Article XII, New Section
Related Links
Full Text: http://dos.elections.myflorida.com/initiatives/fulltext/pdf/11-22.pdf
CRC Reference: https://www.flcrc.gov/Refere
LikeLike
I think that the ALEC-inspired pirates will never give up. They lie, The buy elected officials. The lie again. They buy media outlets or use their wealth to control them. They lie some more.
Since they will never stop, then it is probably time to look to the Founding Fathers and learn from them what you do with tyrants and frauds that won’t listen and keep lying, misleading and manipulating.
Is Trump, King George or is it Charles Koch?
LikeLike
It’s all about removing the decisions about local tax dollars from the community to Tallahassee so the cronies can create as many charters as they want. The community will lose control over its tax dollars.
LikeLike
We had a conversation with a lovely young teacher who works at a national park during summer doing programs. Like most national parks, her rural location allows this. She was astounded to hear how we used to have a lot of voice in what we taught in the classroom. Before testing, a teacher could buffer whatever bias the textbook carried with professional discretion.
Charles suggests above that government is the problem. In a way I agree. School boards do not know history. Neither do state legislatures. For years, good government recognized this and kept their focus on respect for teachers and trust in their judgement. The problem is not government, it is bad government. We need to vote out political leaders who try to divide us with social issues. We do not need to fund two separate systems, we just need to get off teacher’s backs and give them the intellectual independence that will attract a good mix of liberal, conservative, and even radical thinkers to train our children in the way of rational discussion of political issues.
LikeLike
State governments/school boards provide the costs (with taxpayer money) to operate the public schools. How can anyone justify governments providing for the costs of school operation, and then not controlling the schools? The governments provide the funds, they should control curriculum, personnel policies, testing content and schedules,etc.
Most people on this blog, including myself, assert that public schools are a public enterprise, and paid for by the public.
How can anyone justify, having the schools operate, without the public controlling the enterprise, through their elected representatives?
LikeLike
How did it work so well for so long?
LikeLike
Roy Turrentine: Yes–as you say: the problem is not government, but bad government.
Where the Orwellian moment relates in is when the opposition’s method (whose sole motivation is to destroy all-things-public and to increase their wealth) is to isolate a very-few bad situations (like welfare moms or fake injuries sucking money from social programs, or in education, poorly performing schools, or a few “bad” teachers) and, instead of authentically working on those low-percentage problems, they paint the entire government-to-school relationship with that same “how horrible!” brush–as if ALL such relationships are the same: bad.
And the people have bought it for a very long time. CBK
LikeLike
Diane, You won’t believe this.
https://www.metrotimes.com/news-hits/archives/2018/07/02/us-court-detroit-students-have-no-right-to-access-to-literacy
U.S. Court: Detroit students have no right to access to literacy
Posted By Michael Jackman on Mon, Jul 2, 2018 at 11:03 AM
https://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/how-detroit-students-made-a-federal-case-out-of-the-citys-broken-schools/Content?oid=5391880
How Detroit students made a federal case out of the city’s broken schools
Educating Snyder
By Michael Jackman @michaeljackman
LikeLike
Incredible. Needs to be an individual post. Heck, needs to be in the national media.
LikeLike
I agree. I was looking to see what Diane had to say about it but nothing yet.
I wonder if U.S. District Judge Stephen Murphy III has a lifetime appointment. He certainly doesn’t deserve another day on the court after this shameful ruling.
LikeLike