Comradefornia does it again

[Seadog]

Let the games begin
LOS ANGELES — A textbook review process in California has changed or eliminated references to everything from the Founding Fathers to hot dogs, leaving many to charge the state with distorting history in the name of political correctness.
That’s because many California textbooks will no longer feature pictures of hot dogs, sodas, cakes, butter and other kinds of food that are not considered nutritious. Nor will the books contain any phrases judged to be sexist or politically insensitive.
The Founding Fathers, for instance, are now referred to as "The Framers," in an apparent effort to make them sound less male-dominant. And there will be no more reading about Mount Rushmore, where the faces of four U.S. presidents are carved into stone, because it appears to offend some Native-American groups.
"It's outright censorship," said author Diane Ravitch, who has written extensively on the subject of how the nation's schools have dealt with the issue. "It dumbs down our textbooks, makes them bland, far less interesting than anything children might see in the movies -- even in G-rated movies or TV.
"The problems that have happened in education is that the textbook publishers and the test developers have become so sensitive to any controversy that whenever they receive a complaint it is very likely that they will remove the source of the complaint," explained Ravitch.
Textbook publishers admit they are in a bind. They say if they don't adopt the changes made by large states like California and Texas, they would suffer severe economic consequences.
Still, there are those who defend the changes made.
"I think our textbooks should to our greatest capacity be free of any type of stereotyping," said Sue Stickel, deputy superintendent for curriculum and instruction for the California Department of Non Education. "We need to make sure that all ethnicities are represented. We need to make sure that both males and females are represented. We need to make sure that our materials cover the full gamut."
[ April 30, 2003, 08:57 AM: Message edited by: Seadog ]

[Blown 472]

Phucking dipshits, glad I moved from that left wing hole. :D

[Coach]

Try teaching here. Thank God I teach Earth Science. What will they tell me I don't teach enough about dark colored rocks. Most text books are becoming obsolete. I am luck enough to have a full computer lab where I can use the Internet as a source of information. I just got new text book this year. My old books where from 1988. One of the nice things about teaching in OC is that most teachers are conservative not like the majority of the state who are all NEA and CTA supporters (both are extremely liberal groups that typically fund many of the democratic nominees)

[eliminatedsprinter]

Our state is a nightmare. Our only hope is that there will be a backlash against the left and some of the damage they have done here can be reversed.
It is a very slim hope, because the left is ramming through policies that encourage enough voter fraud to keep them in office even if the citizens try to turn out en-mass and vote them out.
[ May 01, 2003, 04:53 PM: Message edited by: eliminatedsprinter ]

[CA Stu]

Two words: Private school.
I would sell my boat in a hot second (for that matter, all my toys) if I had to do it to keep my children enrolled in the great school they currently attend.
I know there are a lot of dedicated, sensible teachers in the public school system, but unfortunately there are a lot of administrators that have their heads up their butts.
The best teachers will give a child a decent education in spite of the tools they're given, but the dumbing down of textbooks will just make their jobs more difficult. History is full of violence, murder, cheating, stealing, sex, persecution, and it's interesting! What is the saying? Those that don't remember the past are doomed to repeat it?
Also, let's face it, the ultimate responsibility lies with the parent. If you want your kids to get a quality education, do something about it yourself.
Don't be a victim, be a dynamic part of your child's upbringing. In the long run, they're all that you're really going to leave behind when you die.
Sorry for the rant,
CA Stu

[MJ19]

FYI ~ Most preschools are private and the teachers at that level have to have a certain amount of "child development" units before they can teach. My degree is in Child Development and I can promise you EVERY SINGLE class is based on "multi-cultural" teachings...so the children are started off at a very young age to believe in this type of thing.
If your child goes to a public school and is able to celebrate holidays it's amazing...they are trying to make it obsolete either that celebrate EVERY SINGLE holiday that exists. :rolleyes:
My mom used to come into my classroom with cupcakes on the various holidays...you know green on St. Patty's day, Orange on Halloween, etc...that sort of thing is discouraged...kind of sad, because I know having my mom come to class made me feel special and helped to build confidence. :D (I might have too much confidence now...watch out eek! :p )
I agree with Coach...it's tough to find a righty tighty teacher...majority are lefties. congrats on finding an area that is slightly different from the norm! :D I live in a very conservative area, but the teachers are not. :rolleyes:

[MJ19]

CA Stu:
The best teachers will give a child a decent education in spite of the tools they're givenI have always thought this too...There are children in third world countries using "hand-me-down" supplies from the USA...those students love to learn & the teachers love to teach. They work with what they have. Those students end up coming to America to finish college and they by far surpass our local graduates. :rolleyes:
Our local Rotary club recently collected a huge collection of old text books and were giving them to some other country to use...these books were from the later 90's...please do not tell me that the lessons have changed that much in the past 5 or so years. :rolleyes:
When I was working in the classroom the kids were doing the same thing in third grade as I did in third grade...and that is...not to date myself too badly...it was a long time ago. :D

[JustMVG]

In freaking credible, lets dumb down everything so noone can be offended by anything, lets change history so it's more user friendly, my god, sorry did i offend anyone, J/K , the future of america is in school right now and this is what they get taught. Worse than that are the school districts
that will be affected by the recent defecit and have to lose team sports, yearbooks, afterschool programs, and more what the hell is the lottery for, yeah i know the no new construction bs, but hell we need the afterschool stuff, but hey after all the kids get into "other" activities, legal or not we can just build more jails , then they will learn far more than how to read and write.
I love this state. MVG

[JustMVG]

My daughter had state "testing last week, she comes home the first and tells us that the test was on math they learned in 5th grade, she's in 8th, next day different class they test on things from the 6th grade, at the end of all of this she tells us that she thought the whole week of testing was a complete waste of time and money, something the Fontana USD does not have enough of, see my other post for the reasons. Why oh why do we haveto take the 4.0 kids and retest them on stuff the teachers themselves i am sure couldn't remember, all of this testing i know is for future funding and the like but lets give these kids credit where credit is due and let them excel at what they do and not try to hold them up because some of the kids in these schools are just THERE, thanks for letting me rant for a little bit. MVG

[NorCal Gameshow]

in the fifth grade my kids score came in at a tenth grade level i felt real proud, then i thought is she smart or are the tenth graders scores coming in at the fifth grade level???

[NorCal Gameshow]

MJ19:
CA Stu:
The best teachers will give a child a decent education in spite of the tools they're givenI have always thought this too...There are children in third world countries using "hand-me-down" supplies from the USA...those students love to learn & the teachers love to teach. They work with what they have. Those students end up coming to America to finish college and they by far surpass our local graduates. :rolleyes:
Our local Rotary club recently collected a huge collection of old text books and were giving them to some other country to use...these books were from the later 90's...please do not tell me that the lessons have changed that much in the past 5 or so years. :rolleyes:
When I was working in the classroom the kids were doing the same thing in third grade as I did in third grade...and that is...not to date myself too badly...it was a long time ago. :D what's with the new books?if 2+2=4 in 1988 it still equals 4 in 2003.... i've over simplified it, but do you get my point?

[JustMVG]

how about having your 8yr old daughter after watching you do the problem for her ,having her tell you that you did it wrong, becuase i did it the "old" way and her teacher has shown her the "new" way, i mean how many ways can you do long division???
Amazing shit this new math.
MVG

[NorCal Gameshow]

MandMVG:
how about having your 8yr old daughter after watching you do the problem for her ,having her tell you that you did it wrong, becuase i did it the "old" way and her teacher has shown her the "new" way, i mean how many ways can you do long division???
Amazing shit this new math.
MVG :D :D :D i stopped helping my daughter after she learned the alphabet, they haven't come up with a "new" alphabet yet have they? :D :D :D

[Kurtis500]

I just hope that crap stays in California. Sorry to those of you there that have to tolerate it.

[JustMVG]

No New alphabet, but look at some of the new additions to the websters dictionary, one i remember from recently is DOH, yup homers quote, i mean come on, this is something a human will need to know not only the Spelling of but the darn meaning too. I tell you this LIFE 101 thing is getting tougher all the time.
Perplexed and somtimes confused MVG

[Seadog]

What bothers me is that concentration on the method and not the correct answer is a very bad attitude. Remember the story of Einstein, when the teacher tried to keep him occupied, was tasked to add from 1-100 and he solved it in 5 minutes.

[MJ19]

norcal spectra:
what's with the new books?if 2+2=4 in 1988 it still equals 4 in 2003.... i've over simplified it, but do you get my point? That is exactly what I was saying...(maybe I didn't get my point across? But that's what I think is SO lame!...they give up these books because they are 5 years old...how in the world could the information change that quickly? It can't change! Teachers ought to work with what they have an learn how to be more creative with what they've got!!!
I think the states have contracts with the text book authors (because the books wouldn't sell otherwise)
As for the testing...that too is mandated by the state to see what level the various children are at (some private schools have to do it for the state as well) Count yourself LUCKY if you child thinks it's easy...not all kids are at that level...they might be in 8th grade, but they are at a 5th grade level scholastically and they need to know who's where...so those tests cover a very broad range of skills. I will stand up for those with learning difficulties...like dyslexia...the sooner the teachers can identify these kinds of problems the sooner the kids can get help! (It can take up to 2 years to go through the proper channels to get those kids help and in 2 years their desire and confidence can plummet into the drain frown

[MJ19]

MandMVG:
No New alphabetI actually was given the old alphabet cards from the local school a few months ago because they no longer have the right "sounds" on them. The school had to get new cards. :rolleyes:
The alphabet is the same, but the "way" they are teaching the sounds has changed...don't ask me how, when, why, or what...makes ZERO sense to me. :confused:

[Dave C]

Please send help to hyper-politically correct Bay Area in Northern California because the America-hating lunatics have taken over and already re-written history.
Forget those dead presidents. The most important school holidays are now Cesar Chavez Day and Martin Luther King Day. The dead presidents were a bunch of slave owner homophobic white males so our new heros are Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Karl Marx & Lenin.
Plus the diversity lessons, "be nice to billy, because it's OK to have two mommies." The cities can't even hang American flags or yellow ribbons because they are afraid someone might get "offended."
This is all done at the expense of important subjects such as reading, writing and math.
I am not about to move just to avoid these idiots but rather combat this nonsense at any chance I get.
burningm

[Coach]

Just a bit about the text books. In Science as well as history things do change. Not old history, but new events do add on to the history students learn. The revamping of old history is ridiculous. As for needing new texts, it is not the information that changes. The condition of the text is what makes a difference. As some of you know kids have a tendency to beat things up. Most texts can last about 8-10 years before pages start missing or some crude things end up in the books. The change of history or other items in text books to make it more PC is a major issue. Just recently my grandfather passed some old books down to me. He was a teacher, principal and superintendent of the Montebello school district. He had a government book from 1944 and a World History book for slow readers from 1945. Both books blow away the texts of today, especially in terms of the reading level. No pictures at all. As for all the state mandated testing, I want it gone. We are in a budget crisis across the state and education has a major chunk to cut. I am sure this test is sucking a ton of funds for education.

[MJ19]

Coach:
We are in a budget crisis across the state and education has a major chunk to cut. I am sure this test is sucking a ton of funds for education. I basically just wasted a year of education because my program through Fresno State was dropped due to budget cuts :( Now I have to change my major and change to a new plan with a new university. :(
The budget cuts hit me personally...but I still think they aren't spending the money they have wisely...I don't know about your schools, but our local high school just got it's 3rd 'new' gym (the other two are just fine) and the landscaping was re-vamped along with adding a clock tower, new decorative paint job with mascots etc on the buildings...fancy huh? but they are complaining becuase they don't have enough money for new books and they are working with old computers. Should of thought about that before they built another gym. :rolleyes:

[Coach]

MJ19-
That sucks about your program being cut. As for the money that goes to the schools. There is modernization money that schools get that can only be used for that purpose. Most of the modernization money comes from bonds from the local community. The state allocates the funds for different purposes. We are in the process of modernizing our school. As for a third gym that seems excessive, we are luck to get a second gym. As the modernization starts to happen money seems to thin out from the original estimate. Lets face it we would not be in such a budget crisis if the people of CA didn't vote for that moron Davis.

[MJ19]

Coach:
Lets face it we would not be in such a budget crisis if the people of CA didn't vote for that moron Davis. Here here... Recall Gray Davis (http://216.198.215.190/) :D

[Coach]

I have all ready signed!!!! :D :D