Trump trashes Howard Zinn, calls for white-washed school curriculum

[pecosbob]

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: The left-wing rioting and mayhem are the direct result of decades of left-wing indoctrination in our schools. It’s gone on far too long. Our children are instructed from propaganda tracts, like those of Howard Zinn, that try to make students ashamed of their own history.

This week President Trump described the work of the legendary historian Howard Zinn, who died in 2010, as “propaganda” meant to “make students ashamed of their own history.” But Zinn believed the opposite, that teaching the unvarnished truth about history was the best way to combat propaganda and unexamined received wisdom. We air excerpts from a 2009 interview with Zinn in which he explained his approach to education. “We should be honest with young people; we should not deceive them. We should be honest about the history of our country,” Zinn said.

for full story read more at https://www.democracynow.org/2020/9/18/howard_zinn_us_history

[oasis]

1. "Trump read Howard Zinn" is as believable as "Trump is a Zen master".

[pecosbob]

2. or patriotic citizen, or loving father, or accomplished businessman...

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

3. Or human...

[paleotn]

14. Stephen Miller read Zinn....

Donnie read a Weekly Reader once back in school.

[oasis]

27. I figured Miller was his source. Trump's intellect

is around the same level as his disgusting Deplorables.

[dameatball]

16. Yup. Unless the guy that designed menus at Epstein's place was named Howard, that's as close as

he ever got.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. The Goal: Multi-cultural "American" History goes down the Memory Hole.

Does that mean I'll get fired from teaching when it's Thanksgiving and I do my traditional presentation of the "Other Thanksgiving" wherein I discuss the history of Native Americans and their betrayal by the Pilgrims and the next generation?

[pecosbob]

5. Well, I believe you already have to sign an anti-BDS clause to get a teaching job in Texas

so it's probably not far off if they get their way.

[Nexus2]

6. BDS?

[pecosbob]

7. You have to sign a clause saying you will not boycott Israeli made products or businesses

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boycott,_Divestment,_and_Sanctions

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) is a Palestinian-led[5][6][7] movement promoting boycotts, divestments and sanctions against Israel. Its objective is to pressure Israel to meet what it describes as Israel's obligations under international law,[8] defined as withdrawal from the occupied territories, removal of the separation barrier in the West Bank, full equality for Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel, and "respecting, protecting, and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties".[8] The movement is organized and coordinated by the Palestinian BDS National Committee.[9]

BDS is modeled after the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa.[10] Its proponents compare the Palestinians' plight to that of apartheid-era black South Africans.[11][12] Protests and conferences in support of the movement have been held in several countries. Its mascot, which features on its logotype, is Handala, a symbol of Palestinian identity and defiance.

The Israeli government funds lobbying groups like the Israel Allies Foundation, which has been successful in passing laws banning state agencies from contracting with BDS supporters in 25 American states. The laws all draw on a draft originally written by an Israeli legal scholar.[13] Critics say BDS is antisemitic, questions the legitimacy of Israel,[14] and resembles the Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses.[15][16][17]

Whether one supports such efforts is immaterial...the fact that your job depends on this in twenty-five states is wrong and anti-American.

[Nexus2]

24. Thanks!

[no_hypocrisy]

8. When I first got my teaching license, Reagan was in office.

I had to sign a statement in front of Notary that I would not subvert the Constitution or overthrow the U.S. Government.

Happy Days are here again!

[BlancheSplanchnik]

10. jeezus

[paleotn]

18. Probably depends on where you teach.

[bucolic_frolic]

9. Trump is scattering

Evangelical culture war wet dreams to the wind, sowing seeds, because he knows he is going to lose.

[Frustratedlady]

11. In the archives of my brain, I seem to recall that during or shortly after George W's reign,

there was a sincere effort to soften the history of his administration, 911, the Iraq War and other issues with publishers. I seem to recall that Texas has a majority of school text publishing houses, so the Republicans tried to influence what went into the texts. They were also trying to influence science texts to downplay climate change.

Am I right or on my way to dementia?

[pecosbob]

12. I recall that as well

Something about state governments having the right to editorial power because of their purchasing power. But I forget in which Republican reign of terror it occurred.

[Lonestarblue]

19. Your are right that Texas has had huge influence on what is taught in most subjects everywhere.

To understand the Texas influence, you need to know some background. The US has a K-12 education system of open territory states and state adoption states (22 states mostly in the South and Southwest). In open adoption states, schools choose their curriculum materials. In state adoption states, like Texas, schools choose from a state-approved list of textbooks.

To get approved in a state, publishers must exactly follow the curriculum the state has established. The state board of education sets standards and approves text materials. Because of the cost of developing nationwide curriculum materials, Texas thus has an outsized influence on national textbooks. Part of this influence formerly related to money, as Texas used to purchase 110% of all textbooks anticipated to be needed for the full five years of an adoption period. In Texas, that’s a huge chunk of money. They no longer do this, and the rules for approval of books have also changed somewhat for the better, but Texas still wields enormous influence simply because of its market size. So does California, which does state approvals for K-8 only.

In the 1980s through the early 2000s, the Texas Board of Education was filled with rabid anti-science, anti-history nuts who believed more in a religious curriculum than in educating kids with the truth. We have less rabid people elected to the Board today because it was getting so much public ridicule for being flat-out crazy. The legacy of the past still lingers in textbooks, however, because publishers revise only a small portion of their content with each new edition because of cost. They mostly update for changes and to meet any new curriculum standards.

The upshot is that Republicans in the state-adoption states have controlled the writing of curriculum stands for each subject. Their conservative, religious, white views are what is represented in today’s textbooks.

[PatrickforO]

21. Thank you. I did not know some of this. I'm glad to hear the current group isn't as bat shit crazy

as the people in the early part of the century.

I get so TIRED of propaganda being foisted off on my grandchildren as 'truth.' - we have to fight it with the real truth wherever it crops up.

[Frustratedlady]

28. Thank you for taking the time to educate me on publishing textbooks in Texas.

For many years, my husband reviewed all the science textbooks before the school put out boatloads of money. Now, my daughter does a lot of that screening, but in other areas of the curriculum. It can be an onerous task, but has become more so in recent years.

It is sad that so much has to be monitored. Teaching is tough enough with adding that burden.

[Lonestarblue]

30. You're most welcome. It's a topic dear to my heart since I spent my career in education.

Publishing companies rely on teachers like your husband and daughter to make the content factually correct and help improve it for student understanding. That’s especially tough in science, but their work is invaluable in creating text materials. Many publishers used to hire teachers to write K-12 curriculum materials, but fewer do so now because of time constraints mostly. Some still do, and I thing those text materials benefit from the hands-on experience that teachers have. They are truly unsung heroes, especially these days.

[llmart]

13. Truth isn't something the right wingers are familiar with.

And Donnie two scoops wouldn't know truth if it bit him in his large, orange ass.

[paleotn]

15. Truth lives, Donnie.

And the myth of American exceptionalism is mortally wounded by truth, facts and evidence. Lets hope it skulks off and dies somewhere before it causes any more damage.

[zanana1]

17. Trump doesn't want history books to tell the truth about him.

[PatrickforO]

20. Howard Zinn was a giant. I just wish the schools taught MORE of the unvarnished truth,

as opposed to less, and whitewashing the curriculum is out of the question.

Yet that's what these hard-right evangelicals and the kluxers want.

Well..........yet another fine reason to win this election.

[barbtries]

22. trump is the worst propagandist in the land.

i really wish this would be addressed more thoroughly by media. we're approaching Rwanda level here. Nazi level. it's so fucking dangerous.

What Zinn did for me is teach me the power of the people. that's not propaganda, that's facts.

[AngryOldDem]

23. That Trump even knows who Zinn is, is complete bullshit.

He’s just regurgitating what his handlers are telling him.

Of course the power establishment doesn’t want Zinn in the curriculum. He’s a threat.

Proud to say I gave that book to my son for his birthday when he was a teen.

[Azathoth]

25. I'm not a huge fan of Zinn, but Trump has no idea who he is

This is pure white nationalist agitprop written for him by Stephen Miller and Tucker Carlson's staff. This is a full-on Pepe the Frog Kekistan campaign.

[moondust]

26. How about some "re-education camps"?

Last edited Sun Sep 20, 2020, 01:51 PM - Edit history (1)

You know, like China uses for Uighurs and others the Communist Party wants to indoctrinate/control/eliminate?
Trump told China's president that building concentration camps for millions of Uighur Muslims was 'exactly the right thing to do,' former adviser (Bolton) says

My first guess was that his new education Executive Order was a way to funnel more taxpayer dollars into Betsy's private "alternative facts" "schools." Which it probably is. But it may be even worse than that.

[smirkymonkey]

29. Trump does not even know who Howard Zinn is. I am certain of it.

One of his handlers whispered this into his ear and he is just repeating it. The man is so ignorant and poorly educated, you can be sure he does not know the slightest thing about Mr. Zinn. What a joke!