14 Wacky "Facts" Kids Will Learn in Louisiana's Voucher Schools | Mother Jones
1. Dinosaurs and humans probably hung out
2. Dragons were totally real
3. "God used the Trail of Tears to bring many Indians to Christ."
4. Africa needs religion
5. Slave masters were nice guys
6. The KKK was A-OK
7. The Great Depression wasn't as bad as the liberals made it sound
8. SCOTUS enslaved fetuses
9. The Red Scare isn't over yet
10. Mark Twain and Emily Dicksinson were a couple of hacks
11. Abstract algebra is too dang complicated
12. Gay people "have no more claims to special rights than child molesters or rapists."
13. "Global environmentalists have said and written enough to leave no doubt that their goal is to destroy the prosperous economies of the world's richest nations."
14. Globalization is a precursor to rapture
Fuller story here: http://laborspains.blogspot.com/2012/08/14-wacky-facts-kids-will-learn-in.html
Original Story: http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2012/07/photos-evangelical-curricula-louisiana-tax-dollars
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are clearly the work of crazed loons.
That said, I will take issue with some of the criticism leveled at a few of the Bob Jone U texts. Technically, the bits about "slave masters" and the KKK are not wrong - the quotes are taken out of context, so it is really impossible to know where they are going with it.
I strongly suspect they're going no where good, but, bottom line, you would find the same information in any decent history textbook.
It's not the information; it's what you do with it. If slave owners treated slaves "well", it generally wouldn't have been because they cared about them as people - they did care about their property. The KKK did do the things that excerpt says they did and many communities did embrace them for the reason stipulated. That doesn't mean they were "A-OK" - just that they knew what to do to ingratiate themselves in a community.
What happened is pretty static (Vesuvius did erupt) but how it is presented and how the discussion is directed are not ("Vesuvius erupted because the gods were angry with the licentiousness of the people . . ." versus "Vesuvius was an active volcano that violently erupted after a period of relative calm that had lulled the population into believing nothing would happen" .
The Bob Jones U texts probably take the basic information places it should never go - and teach teachers who are willing to take it there. I am not offering support for their 'take' on history - only pointing out that those excerpts are not, technically, wrong.
...treated one of his slaves pretty well.
