“There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs”− John Rogers
On Friday, we wrote about the Randian/Republican ideologues who want to keep myth alive in our discourse about economics. Today, we note that the Oklahoma Tea Party wants to change AP History courses in the state because maybe, they teach too much of the bad parts, like that messy land grab from Native Americans and all that civil war violence in the west. The bill would require schools to instruct students in a list of “foundational documents,” including some good things, such as the Federalist Papers, along with some questionable items like the Ten Commandments, two sermons, and three speeches by Ronald Reagan. In addition, they want included:
Founding documents of the United States that contributed to the foundation or maintenance of the representative form of limited government, the free market economic system and American exceptionalism
Limited government, the free market system and American Exceptionalism? Nope, no political agenda there.
The bill designates a total of 58 documents that “shall form the base level of academic content for all United States History courses offered in the schools in the state.” Many of the texts are not controversial and are undoubtedly covered in AP US History courses around America. Things like the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and Gettysburg address. The bill was approved by the Education committee on an 11-4 vote.
It’s all great stuff if you want to raise a state full of conservative think-tank weenies.
But we must go further. TPM reported that Fox host Lisa “Kennedy” Montgomery suggested getting rid of the nation’s public schools altogether on Thursday’s “Outnumbered.” She was talking about that Oklahoma bill:
There really shouldn’t be public schools, should there?…I mean we should really go to a system where parents of every stripe have a choice, have a say in the kind of education their kids get because, when we have centralized, bureaucratic education doctrines and dogmas like this, that’s exactly what happens.
Sure. Bring back the 16th century, because in the 17th century, the first public school in America was founded (1635). So public education must have been holding us back ever since. Oh, and a glance at Ms. Montgomery’s Wikipedia page shows that she is a product of public education, from Lakeridge High School in Oswego, OR and from UCLA, it was public schools all the way. Hard to judge if that is a good thing, though. She seems to have graduated from both.
The news this week included snow, the dog show, the stay of the immigration executive order, Jebbie talking foreign policy, Biden acting frisky with the new Secretary of Defense’s wife, and A-Rod’s apology.
The Northeast has its own bad torture movie:
After the Beagle won at the Westminster Dog show, there were consequences:
Jeb Bush spoke about foreign policy. Mostly, he tried to flick away his bad angel:
Activist judge changes immigration policy, and the GOP is for it:
Biden misunderstood exactly WHO was being too frisky this week:
A-Rod found pie on his menu in NY:
Funny about the real story of the US. It is of government taking part. From the building of plank roads (too expensive to maintain) to canals, to railroads, then the wiring of US cities for electric power then for phones. A truly free market did none of this. Yes we need capitalism (so private property and profits) but the free market is not an answer.
And govt bets on losers, always has. Losers beget winners. in the US, canals were a mixed success, but they opened up trade for the far more successful railroads that followed. Towns bet on the wrong electrical technology (first DC – then AC).
The arguments against the revamped AP history are completely misleading. but… we have an entire political movement dedicated to misleading.