My kid's RW AP government Textbook....

[PCIntern]

co-written by John DiIulio, that paragon of virtue in the Bushitler administration...quitting doesn't make you a hero, Mr. DiIulio...

This 'text' is so full of RW diatribes, youd think that it was a production of FOX News and Oliver North. It is just stupefying how a reasonably progressive school district could pick this text, but I have been made to understand that it is the quintessential book for the AP exam. I say: if that's the case, the exam needs revisiting and revisions galore.

Sneering references to liberals with ADA rating of 100% juxtaposed with mentions of individuals like Haldeman and Ehrlichman as 'powerful individuals within the White House' are just the beginning. Sentences which begin: "Federal employees aren't just paper shufflers..." abound.

Dis-gusting...

[awoke_in_2003]

1. They have been dumbing down...

education for years. It is sad. On the premise that an educated workforce is a well paid workforce, you can see who is behind it.

[southerncrone]

2. This was part of the RW agenda 30 yrs ago. Infiltrate the schools

with their agents of misinformation, focusing specifically on the Social Studies discipline which includes History, Economics, Sociology, Psychology & Government. They are indoctrinating our kids into their dogma on how our political world SHOULD be.

[RoyGBiv]

3. What's the book?

Title, that is ...

[PCIntern]

6. ""American Government: The Essentials

James Q. Wilson and John J. DiIulio, Jr.

It reads like a National Lampoon Issue...

[RoyGBiv]

11. Oh lord ... James Wilson

One might as well argue right-of-way with an 18-wheeler while driving a Pinto. You'd have better odds.

Questioning Wilson is tantamount to heresy within the academy. He's some sort of god, yet offers such gems (in public no less) proclaiming that the ideological divide on the war with Iraq is a historical anomaly. What, he was asleep at Harvard during the Vietnam War? He also has this very annoying habit of burying complex historical subjects in a flood of words that say nothing and in fact obscure the complexity he's supposedly examining.

Look up some of his thoughts on gay marriage, for instance. He's not one of these hard-core wingers on the subject, but he authorizes the position of those wingers with blandly generalized claims that amount to a proclamation that historically, marriage has always been between a man and and a woman for purposes of exclusive sex and child bearing and so that's how it should remain. Forgetting for a moment the logic of this (I can imagine Mr. Wilson in 1860 arguing that we've historically always had slavery and so should keep it), his so-called historical grounding is so far from complete, so lacking in even an awareness of the nuance of what marriage has been throughout history, that it is laughable to think this mental giant could even utter such a commentary. And then he has the gall to talk about moral relativism.

Feh ... no sir, I don't like him.

[targetpractice]

4. Sandra Day O'Conner said on The Daily Show...

That civics (and history) is no longer a requirement in half the states because of "No Child Left Behind", and Jon Steward seemed as flabbergasted as I was.

I haven't verified her assertion, but this does seem like a deliberate way to dumb down potential voters.

[Warpy]

5. Let the kid pass the exam

then give him/her a copy of "Lies My Teacher Told Me," by James Loewen. It's a great antidote for the garbage that gets peddled by even less nakedly right wing textbooks.

http://www.amazon.com/Lies-My-Teacher-Told-Everything/dp/0684818868

You also need to tell the kid that passing the test doesn't mean s/he's educated in the subject, only in one evil man's interpretation of it.

[PCIntern]

8. Believe me, she knows....

she'd had 17 years of me throwing shoes at the TV and cursing...thanks for the lead, however.

[PA Democrat]

7. My son's school used that same disgusting textbook in his AP Government class.

He said the Reagan worship contained within the book was enough to make you vomit, along with the snide insults to Democrats and progressives. I did some research and from what I gathered the book is pretty much the standard text for High School Government AP classes.

In my son's case, the problem was made even worse because the teacher was even more right wing and more disgusting than the text book. She gave writing assignments with topics such as "Republicans think, Democrats feel." (She gave him a D on that particular assignment despite the fact that I thought his paper was excellent.) She encouraged the little right wingers in the class (all but 3 students) to register as Democrats for the presidential primary and vote for Hillary a la Rush's "Operation Chaos". I so badly wanted to tell her off, but my son to his credit wanted to handle her on his own.

He survived the class with a B+ and never wavered on his views despite the fact that I am positive that she was very unfair in how she graded anything subjective such as writing assignments.

[Warpy]

10. She is a typical little fascist, isn't she?

I'd have written a letter of complaint to the school board the day the report card came out.

The school board probably wouldn't do much beyond mentioning it to her, but that mention might have had a chilling effect on her evangelical ardor.

[PA Democrat]

12. I've complained about other particularly odious right wing teachers

and NOTHING was done except my kids were targeted even further. A Spanish teacher who routinely made xenophobic comments falsely accused my son and several other students of refusing to say the Pledge of Allegiance. She then assigned an essay to those students on the "importance of patriotism" and told them if they didn't complete it, that they would get an F in Spanish that grading period. My husband called the school principal, and while he very reluctantly agreed that the teacher legally could not do what she did even if those students actually HAD refused to say the pledge, my husband said the guy was obviously reluctant to give in.

The school board is a who's who of local right wingers, and I've gotten little satisfaction from them on problems in the past. One guy used to work for Rick Santorum!

[Tesha]

18. School boards often can't do anything because they don't have anyone willing...

...to "put it in writing". Writing a letter of complaint may not have any
immediate effect, but over time, a number of letters from a number of
parents can work wonders.

Tesha

[FormerDittoHead]

9. Throwback to the fifties. Who will be the future Howard Zinn to debunk THESE history books?

In a way, it's a good thing, because I WANT my children to question (without being disruptive) what they learn in school (while getting good grades!). I will help them.

I think it's sad, however, that after we've learned all those lessons, after what we've had to PAY to learn all of those lessons, and yet THOSE lessons are not being taught.

[MindPilot]

14. As someone whose public school education started in the fifties...

I think my generation studied a far more progressive curricula particularly as it related to the subject of civics and government.

[sakura]

13. Who told you this is the quintessential book for the AP exam?

If you go the AP website, there are several books listed that are more highly reviewed than that piece of trash. Typically, there is no single approved text for an AP course. Schools wanting to teach AP courses are required to put together a curriculum that is then approved by the college board. Usually it is the teacher who puts together the curriculum, and in most districts it is the teacher who has the most experience who gets the "plum" of teaching the department's AP course (much easier than teaching freshman history because students self-select for this class). My guess is that it is your son's teacher who picked this text, and probably not the district. Have you talked to the district curriculum leader about the failings of this text and the fact that it is ridiculously biased?

[PCIntern]

15. the teacher who got the kickback for the text....

that's how it works here....

[sakura]

24. That's sad.

:hug:

I'm guessing there's only one AP teacher for the subject-- that's pretty typical. And it's often not the most qualified teacher, either. When I taught, I had a PhD in biology, but I wasn't the one teaching AP biology. That honor went to a teacher with a bachelor's who had "earned" the right to teach it (and all the other advanced courses) due to years in the classroom. It wasn't even up for discussion-- it was "her" course.

[NoodleyAppendage]

16. Sounds like you kid need to bring a copy of Howard Zinn's history book to class.

A little balance to make the Repuke teacher's head spin.

J

[stevedeshazer]

17. Pardon my ignorance, but what is the AP Exam?

What is it and what happens if you pass or don't pass?

[Tesha]

19. "Advanced Placement" -- College programs while still in High School.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Placement

[stevedeshazer]

21. Thanks. n/t

[Massacure]

20. AP means Advanced Placement

In early May, students take a test and if they get at least three out of five on it, many colleges offer credits for the class. How those credits can be used vary from college to college. Some will waive certain classes that are supposed to be used as part of the general education requirements. For example a person who passes the AP Physics exam may not have to take an introductory physics class if an introductory physics class is a requirement for them to graduate.

[stevedeshazer]

22. Thank you.

I've been out of college for too long, I guess.

[deaniac21]

23. The nations schools, especially the colleges and universities,

have become right wing bastions.