Tuesday, December 4, 2007 - Page updated at 02:47 AM
Report: Seattle's gifted program favors whites
By Emily Heffter
Seattle Times education reporter
An outside review of gifted education in Seattle Public Schools said the district should act aggressively to diversify its program.
Almost three-quarters of the students enrolled in the Accelerated Progress Program (APP) are white, compared to about 40 percent districtwide.
Concerns about APP were noted by a group of consultants from the University of Virginia who were hired by the district to review the program. Their report was released today.
About 1,500 students in APP are admitted after testing in the 98th or 99th percentile nationally in cognitive ability and reading and math skills. They can spend almost their entire public-school experience together, starting at Lowell Elementary School, on to Washington Middle and finishing at Garfield High.
But according to the report, APP is perceived to be "elitist, exclusionary and even racist," and that some of its African-American students are bullied and isolated.
Administrators are committed to addressing issues of racial and socio-economic diversity, the report added.
The report also raised concern about student selection, saying admission to the program relies too much on a single test and is unfair to low-income students and students without parental support.
"I think that we are going to work really hard to bring [up] the representation of all the different students in our advanced learning programs," said Bob Vaughan, director of advanced learning for the district. "The process we have now for selection is not sufficient."
The program's curriculum lacks vision, the report said, and rigor in classes is inconsistent. "The philosophy and definition of giftedness in Seattle do not reflect current developments in the field of gifted education," it said.
The review is one of several the district has launched, including evaluations of curriculum, special education and alternative programs.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Thanks . . . America. A reason to give thanks.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Mark Steyn: World should give thanks for America
MARK STEYN
Syndicated columnist
Comments 11 | Recommend 413
Speaking as a misfit unassimilated foreigner, I think of Thanksgiving as the most American of holidays.
Christmas is celebrated elsewhere, even if there are significant local variations: In Continental Europe, naughty children get left rods to be flayed with and lumps of coal; in Britain, Christmas lasts from Dec. 22 to mid-January and celebrates the ancient cultural traditions of massive alcohol intake and watching the telly till you pass out in a pool of your own vomit. All part of the rich diversity of our world.
But Thanksgiving (excepting the premature and somewhat undernourished Canadian version) is unique to America. "What's it about?" an Irish visitor asked me a couple of years back. "Everyone sits around giving thanks all day? Thanks for what? George bloody Bush?"
Well, Americans have a lot to be thankful for.
Europeans think of this country as "the New World" in part because it has an eternal newness, which is noisy and distracting. Who would ever have thought you could have ready-to-eat pizza faxed directly to your iPod?
And just when you think you're on top of the general trend of novelty, it veers off in an entirely different direction: Continentals who grew up on Hollywood movies where the guy tells the waitress "Gimme a cuppa joe" and slides over a nickel return to New York a year or two later and find the coffee now costs $5.75, takes 25 minutes and requires an agonizing choice between the cinnamon-gingerbread-persimmon latte with coxcomb sprinkles and the decaf venti pepperoni-Eurasian-milfoil macchiato.
Who would have foreseen that the nation that inflicted fast food and drive-thru restaurants on the planet would then take the fastest menu item of all and turn it into a Kabuki-paced performance art? What mad genius!
But Americans aren't novelty junkies on the important things. The New World is one of the oldest settled constitutional democracies on Earth, to a degree the Old World can barely comprehend. Where it counts, Americans are traditionalists.
We know Eastern Europe was a totalitarian prison until the Nineties, but we forget that Mediterranean Europe (Greece, Spain, Portugal) has democratic roots going all the way back until, oh, the mid-Seventies; France and Germany's constitutions date back barely half a century, Italy's only to the 1940s, and Belgium's goes back about 20 minutes, and currently it's not clear whether even that latest rewrite remains operative. The U.S. Constitution is not only older than France's, Germany's, Italy's or Spain's constitution, it's older than all of them put together.
Americans think of Europe as Goethe and Mozart and 12th century castles and 6th century churches, but the Continent's governing mechanisms are no more ancient than the Partridge Family. Aside from the Anglophone democracies, most of the nation-states in the West have been conspicuous failures at sustaining peaceful political evolution from one generation to the next, which is why they're so susceptible to the siren song of Big Ideas – communism, fascism, European Union.
If you're going to be novelty-crazed, better the zebra-mussel cappuccino than the Third Reich.
Even in a supposedly 50/50 nation, you're struck by the assumed stability underpinning even fundamental disputes. If you go into a bookstore, the display shelves offer a smorgasbord of leftist anti-Bush tracts claiming that he and Cheney have trashed, mangled, gutted, raped and tortured, sliced 'n' diced the Constitution, put it in a cement overcoat and lowered it into the East River. Yet even this argument presupposes a shared veneration for tradition unknown to most Western political cultures: When Tony Blair wanted to abolish, in effect, the upper house of the national legislature, he just got on and did it.
I don't believe the U.S. Constitution includes a right to abortion or gay marriage or a zillion other things the Left claims to detect emanating from the penumbra, but I find it sweetly touching that in America even political radicalism has to be framed as an appeal to constitutional tradition from the powdered-wig era.
In Europe, by contrast, one reason why there's no politically significant pro-life movement is because, in a world where constitutions have the life expectancy of an Oldsmobile, great questions are just seen as part of the general tide, the way things are going, no sense trying to fight it. And, by the time you realize you have to, the tide's usually up to your neck.
So Americans should be thankful they have one of the last functioning nation-states. Europeans, because they've been so inept at exercising it, no longer believe in national sovereignty, whereas it would never occur to Americans not to. This profoundly different attitude to the nation-state underpins, in turn, Euro-American attitudes to transnational institutions such as the United Nations.
But on this Thanksgiving the rest of the world ought to give thanks to American national sovereignty, too. When something terrible and destructive happens – a tsunami hits Indonesia, an earthquake devastates Pakistan – the United States can project itself anywhere on the planet within hours and start saving lives, setting up hospitals and restoring the water supply.
Aside from Britain and France, the Europeans cannot project power in any meaningful way anywhere. When they sign on to an enterprise they claim to believe in – shoring up Afghanistan's fledgling post-Taliban democracy – most of them send token forces under constrained rules of engagement that prevent them doing anything more than manning the photocopier back at the base.
If America were to follow the Europeans and maintain only shriveled attenuated residual military capacity, the world would very quickly be nastier and bloodier, and far more unstable. It's not just Americans and Iraqis and Afghans who owe a debt of thanks to the U.S. soldier but all the Europeans grown plump and prosperous in a globalized economy guaranteed by the most benign hegemon in history.
That said, Thanksgiving isn't about the big geopolitical picture, but about the blessings closer to home. Last week, the state of Oklahoma celebrated its centennial, accompanied by rousing performances of Rodgers and Hammerstein's eponymous anthem:
"We know we belong to the land
And the land we belong to is grand!"
Which isn't a bad theme song for the first Thanksgiving, either.
Three hundred and 86 years ago, the Pilgrims thanked God because there was a place for them in this land, and it was indeed grand. The land is grander today, and that, too, is remarkable: France has lurched from Second Empires to Fifth Republics struggling to devise a lasting constitutional settlement for the same smallish chunk of real estate, but the principles that united a baker's dozen of East Coast colonies were resilient enough to expand across a continent and halfway around the globe to Hawaii.
Americans should, as always, be thankful this Thanksgiving, but they should also understand just how rare in human history their blessings are.
Mark Steyn: World should give thanks for America
MARK STEYN
Syndicated columnist
Comments 11 | Recommend 413
Speaking as a misfit unassimilated foreigner, I think of Thanksgiving as the most American of holidays.
Christmas is celebrated elsewhere, even if there are significant local variations: In Continental Europe, naughty children get left rods to be flayed with and lumps of coal; in Britain, Christmas lasts from Dec. 22 to mid-January and celebrates the ancient cultural traditions of massive alcohol intake and watching the telly till you pass out in a pool of your own vomit. All part of the rich diversity of our world.
But Thanksgiving (excepting the premature and somewhat undernourished Canadian version) is unique to America. "What's it about?" an Irish visitor asked me a couple of years back. "Everyone sits around giving thanks all day? Thanks for what? George bloody Bush?"
Well, Americans have a lot to be thankful for.
Europeans think of this country as "the New World" in part because it has an eternal newness, which is noisy and distracting. Who would ever have thought you could have ready-to-eat pizza faxed directly to your iPod?
And just when you think you're on top of the general trend of novelty, it veers off in an entirely different direction: Continentals who grew up on Hollywood movies where the guy tells the waitress "Gimme a cuppa joe" and slides over a nickel return to New York a year or two later and find the coffee now costs $5.75, takes 25 minutes and requires an agonizing choice between the cinnamon-gingerbread-persimmon latte with coxcomb sprinkles and the decaf venti pepperoni-Eurasian-milfoil macchiato.
Who would have foreseen that the nation that inflicted fast food and drive-thru restaurants on the planet would then take the fastest menu item of all and turn it into a Kabuki-paced performance art? What mad genius!
But Americans aren't novelty junkies on the important things. The New World is one of the oldest settled constitutional democracies on Earth, to a degree the Old World can barely comprehend. Where it counts, Americans are traditionalists.
We know Eastern Europe was a totalitarian prison until the Nineties, but we forget that Mediterranean Europe (Greece, Spain, Portugal) has democratic roots going all the way back until, oh, the mid-Seventies; France and Germany's constitutions date back barely half a century, Italy's only to the 1940s, and Belgium's goes back about 20 minutes, and currently it's not clear whether even that latest rewrite remains operative. The U.S. Constitution is not only older than France's, Germany's, Italy's or Spain's constitution, it's older than all of them put together.
Americans think of Europe as Goethe and Mozart and 12th century castles and 6th century churches, but the Continent's governing mechanisms are no more ancient than the Partridge Family. Aside from the Anglophone democracies, most of the nation-states in the West have been conspicuous failures at sustaining peaceful political evolution from one generation to the next, which is why they're so susceptible to the siren song of Big Ideas – communism, fascism, European Union.
If you're going to be novelty-crazed, better the zebra-mussel cappuccino than the Third Reich.
Even in a supposedly 50/50 nation, you're struck by the assumed stability underpinning even fundamental disputes. If you go into a bookstore, the display shelves offer a smorgasbord of leftist anti-Bush tracts claiming that he and Cheney have trashed, mangled, gutted, raped and tortured, sliced 'n' diced the Constitution, put it in a cement overcoat and lowered it into the East River. Yet even this argument presupposes a shared veneration for tradition unknown to most Western political cultures: When Tony Blair wanted to abolish, in effect, the upper house of the national legislature, he just got on and did it.
I don't believe the U.S. Constitution includes a right to abortion or gay marriage or a zillion other things the Left claims to detect emanating from the penumbra, but I find it sweetly touching that in America even political radicalism has to be framed as an appeal to constitutional tradition from the powdered-wig era.
In Europe, by contrast, one reason why there's no politically significant pro-life movement is because, in a world where constitutions have the life expectancy of an Oldsmobile, great questions are just seen as part of the general tide, the way things are going, no sense trying to fight it. And, by the time you realize you have to, the tide's usually up to your neck.
So Americans should be thankful they have one of the last functioning nation-states. Europeans, because they've been so inept at exercising it, no longer believe in national sovereignty, whereas it would never occur to Americans not to. This profoundly different attitude to the nation-state underpins, in turn, Euro-American attitudes to transnational institutions such as the United Nations.
But on this Thanksgiving the rest of the world ought to give thanks to American national sovereignty, too. When something terrible and destructive happens – a tsunami hits Indonesia, an earthquake devastates Pakistan – the United States can project itself anywhere on the planet within hours and start saving lives, setting up hospitals and restoring the water supply.
Aside from Britain and France, the Europeans cannot project power in any meaningful way anywhere. When they sign on to an enterprise they claim to believe in – shoring up Afghanistan's fledgling post-Taliban democracy – most of them send token forces under constrained rules of engagement that prevent them doing anything more than manning the photocopier back at the base.
If America were to follow the Europeans and maintain only shriveled attenuated residual military capacity, the world would very quickly be nastier and bloodier, and far more unstable. It's not just Americans and Iraqis and Afghans who owe a debt of thanks to the U.S. soldier but all the Europeans grown plump and prosperous in a globalized economy guaranteed by the most benign hegemon in history.
That said, Thanksgiving isn't about the big geopolitical picture, but about the blessings closer to home. Last week, the state of Oklahoma celebrated its centennial, accompanied by rousing performances of Rodgers and Hammerstein's eponymous anthem:
"We know we belong to the land
And the land we belong to is grand!"
Which isn't a bad theme song for the first Thanksgiving, either.
Three hundred and 86 years ago, the Pilgrims thanked God because there was a place for them in this land, and it was indeed grand. The land is grander today, and that, too, is remarkable: France has lurched from Second Empires to Fifth Republics struggling to devise a lasting constitutional settlement for the same smallish chunk of real estate, but the principles that united a baker's dozen of East Coast colonies were resilient enough to expand across a continent and halfway around the globe to Hawaii.
Americans should, as always, be thankful this Thanksgiving, but they should also understand just how rare in human history their blessings are.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Point to Clinton
I can give credit when it is due. Thank you President Clinton for saying what we wish more people would say. Here is a quote form an AP story:
Clinton's 50-minute speech, which started about an hour behind schedule, was derailed briefly by several hecklers in the audience who shouted that the 2001 terrorist attacks were a fraud. Rather than ignoring them, Clinton seemed to relish a direct confrontation.
"A fraud? No, it wasn't a fraud," Clinton said, as the crowd cheered him on. "I'll be glad to talk to you if you shut up and let me talk."
When another heckler shouted that the attacks were an "inside job," Clinton took even greater umbrage.
"An inside job? How dare you. How dare you. It was not an inside job," Clinton said.
Clinton's 50-minute speech, which started about an hour behind schedule, was derailed briefly by several hecklers in the audience who shouted that the 2001 terrorist attacks were a fraud. Rather than ignoring them, Clinton seemed to relish a direct confrontation.
"A fraud? No, it wasn't a fraud," Clinton said, as the crowd cheered him on. "I'll be glad to talk to you if you shut up and let me talk."
When another heckler shouted that the attacks were an "inside job," Clinton took even greater umbrage.
"An inside job? How dare you. How dare you. It was not an inside job," Clinton said.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Teach Tolerance or Loose Your Kids
Coming soon to America . . .
from The Daily Mail
23/10/07 - News section
Foster child to be taken away because Christian couple refuse to teach him about homosexuality
By JAMES MILLS
They are devoted foster parents with an unblemished record of caring for almost 30 vulnerable children.
But Vincent and Pauline Matherick will this week have their latest foster son taken away because they have refused to sign new sexual equality regulations.
To do so, they claim, would force them to promote homosexuality and go against their Christian faith.
The 11-year-old boy, who has been in their care for two years, will be placed in a council hostel this week and the Mathericks will no longer be given children to look after.
The devastated couple, who have three grown up children of their own, became foster parents in 2001 and have since cared for 28 children at their home in Chard, Somerset.
Earlier this year, Somerset County Council's social services department asked them to sign a contract to implement Labour's new Sexual Orientation Regulations, part of the Equality Act 2006, which make discrimination on the grounds of sexuality illegal.
Officials told the couple that under the regulations they would be required to discuss same-sex relationships with children as young as 11 and tell them that gay partnerships were just as acceptable as heterosexual marriages.
They could also be required to take teenagers to gay association meetings.
When the Mathericks objected, they were told they would be taken off the register of foster parents.
The Mathericks have decided to resign rather than face the humiliation of being expelled.
Mr Matherick, a 65-year-old retired travel agent and a primary school governor, said: "I simply could not agree to do it because it is against my central beliefs.
"We have never discriminated against anybody but I cannot preach the benefits of homosexuality when I believe it is against the word of God."
Mrs Matherick, 61, said they had asked if they could continue looking after their foster son until he is found a permanent home, but officials refused and he will be placed in a council hostel on Friday.
She said: "He was very upset to begin with. We are all very close, but he's a mature young man and he's dealing with it."
The couple, who have six grandchildren and one greatgrandchild, are both ministers at the nonconformist South Chard Christian Church.
When they first started fostering they took in young single mothers and their babies.
More recently they have been caring for children of primary school age.
Mr Matherick added: "It's terrible that we've been forced into this corner. It just should not happen.
"There are not enough foster carers around anyway without these rules.
"They were saying that we had to be prepared to talk about sexuality with 11-year-olds, which I don't think is appropriate anyway, but not only that, to be prepared to explain how gay people date.
"They said we would even have to take a teenager to gay association meetings.
"How can I do that when it's totally against what I believe?"
Religious campaigners say the couple are the latest victims of an equality drive which puts gay rights above religious beliefs.
Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders have complained that the rules force them to overturn long-held beliefs.
The Mathericks are planning to fight their case in the courts with the backing of the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship.
The same organisation is backing Christian magistrate Andrew McClintock who resigned from the family courts in a row over gay adoption.
He says he was forced to resign because he was not allowed to opt out of cases where he might have to send a child to live with gay parents.
{R}
The Mathericks' case comes at a time when there is a chronic shortage of foster parents, who work on a voluntary basis.
An extra 8,000 are needed to plug the gaps in the service.
Researchers have found that continually moving children from home to home can have a devastating impact on their education and general welfare.
But a report last year revealed that the shortage of carers meant that some children in care are being forced to move up to three times a year.
David Taylor, Somerset County Council's corporate director for children and young people, said: "No decision has been made about the deregistration of Mr and Mrs Matherick.
"The council is committed to promoting the interests of children and young people and welcomes foster carers from all backgrounds and faiths."
from The Daily Mail
23/10/07 - News section
Foster child to be taken away because Christian couple refuse to teach him about homosexuality
By JAMES MILLS
They are devoted foster parents with an unblemished record of caring for almost 30 vulnerable children.
But Vincent and Pauline Matherick will this week have their latest foster son taken away because they have refused to sign new sexual equality regulations.
To do so, they claim, would force them to promote homosexuality and go against their Christian faith.
The 11-year-old boy, who has been in their care for two years, will be placed in a council hostel this week and the Mathericks will no longer be given children to look after.
The devastated couple, who have three grown up children of their own, became foster parents in 2001 and have since cared for 28 children at their home in Chard, Somerset.
Earlier this year, Somerset County Council's social services department asked them to sign a contract to implement Labour's new Sexual Orientation Regulations, part of the Equality Act 2006, which make discrimination on the grounds of sexuality illegal.
Officials told the couple that under the regulations they would be required to discuss same-sex relationships with children as young as 11 and tell them that gay partnerships were just as acceptable as heterosexual marriages.
They could also be required to take teenagers to gay association meetings.
When the Mathericks objected, they were told they would be taken off the register of foster parents.
The Mathericks have decided to resign rather than face the humiliation of being expelled.
Mr Matherick, a 65-year-old retired travel agent and a primary school governor, said: "I simply could not agree to do it because it is against my central beliefs.
"We have never discriminated against anybody but I cannot preach the benefits of homosexuality when I believe it is against the word of God."
Mrs Matherick, 61, said they had asked if they could continue looking after their foster son until he is found a permanent home, but officials refused and he will be placed in a council hostel on Friday.
She said: "He was very upset to begin with. We are all very close, but he's a mature young man and he's dealing with it."
The couple, who have six grandchildren and one greatgrandchild, are both ministers at the nonconformist South Chard Christian Church.
When they first started fostering they took in young single mothers and their babies.
More recently they have been caring for children of primary school age.
Mr Matherick added: "It's terrible that we've been forced into this corner. It just should not happen.
"There are not enough foster carers around anyway without these rules.
"They were saying that we had to be prepared to talk about sexuality with 11-year-olds, which I don't think is appropriate anyway, but not only that, to be prepared to explain how gay people date.
"They said we would even have to take a teenager to gay association meetings.
"How can I do that when it's totally against what I believe?"
Religious campaigners say the couple are the latest victims of an equality drive which puts gay rights above religious beliefs.
Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders have complained that the rules force them to overturn long-held beliefs.
The Mathericks are planning to fight their case in the courts with the backing of the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship.
The same organisation is backing Christian magistrate Andrew McClintock who resigned from the family courts in a row over gay adoption.
He says he was forced to resign because he was not allowed to opt out of cases where he might have to send a child to live with gay parents.
{R}
The Mathericks' case comes at a time when there is a chronic shortage of foster parents, who work on a voluntary basis.
An extra 8,000 are needed to plug the gaps in the service.
Researchers have found that continually moving children from home to home can have a devastating impact on their education and general welfare.
But a report last year revealed that the shortage of carers meant that some children in care are being forced to move up to three times a year.
David Taylor, Somerset County Council's corporate director for children and young people, said: "No decision has been made about the deregistration of Mr and Mrs Matherick.
"The council is committed to promoting the interests of children and young people and welcomes foster carers from all backgrounds and faiths."
Friday, October 12, 2007
Gore - Peace Prize?
I think he has said exactly what I am thinking. Just a lot nicer.
EUX.TV
Friday, October 12, 2007 at 14:13
Czech president Vaclav Klaus: "surprised" at Nobel prize for Gore
Prague (dpa) - Czech President Vaclav Klaus, a rare vocal global- warming sceptic among heads of state, is "somewhat surprised" that former US vice president Al Gore received the Nobel Peace Prize, the president's spokesman Petr Hajek said in a statement.
"The relationship between his activities and world peace is unclear and indistinct," the statement said. "It rather seems that Gore's doubting of basic cornerstones of the current civilization does not contribute to peace."
Klaus said in a recent speech that environmentalists' efforts to halt global warming "fatally endanger our freedom and prosperity."
The Czech president publicly expresses doubt on what scientists, including those participating in the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, also this year's Nobel Peace Prize laureate, deem very likely - that global warming is caused by humans.
He also said that rising temperatures may not matter enough for governments to throw funds at halting the process.
In a newspaper interview earlier this year, Klaus said that only Al Gore, and not a sane person, would say that mankind is ruining the planet.
The Czech president has also recently participated in Gore-bashing newspaper advertisements ran by The Heartland Institute, a conservative US think tank.
EUX.TV
Friday, October 12, 2007 at 14:13
Czech president Vaclav Klaus: "surprised" at Nobel prize for Gore
Prague (dpa) - Czech President Vaclav Klaus, a rare vocal global- warming sceptic among heads of state, is "somewhat surprised" that former US vice president Al Gore received the Nobel Peace Prize, the president's spokesman Petr Hajek said in a statement.
"The relationship between his activities and world peace is unclear and indistinct," the statement said. "It rather seems that Gore's doubting of basic cornerstones of the current civilization does not contribute to peace."
Klaus said in a recent speech that environmentalists' efforts to halt global warming "fatally endanger our freedom and prosperity."
The Czech president publicly expresses doubt on what scientists, including those participating in the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, also this year's Nobel Peace Prize laureate, deem very likely - that global warming is caused by humans.
He also said that rising temperatures may not matter enough for governments to throw funds at halting the process.
In a newspaper interview earlier this year, Klaus said that only Al Gore, and not a sane person, would say that mankind is ruining the planet.
The Czech president has also recently participated in Gore-bashing newspaper advertisements ran by The Heartland Institute, a conservative US think tank.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Home School Reason #142
his is a WorldNetDaily printer-friendly version of the article which follows.
To view this item online, visit http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57738
Thursday, September 20, 2007
BRAVE NEW SCHOOLS
Muslim religion taught under guise of history
'Students perform skits about the tenets of Islam belief'
Posted: September 20, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Bob Unruh
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
The "Five Pillars" of Islam – charity, fasting, prayer, belief and pilgrimage – are being taught to public school students in Nyssa, Ore., under the guise of world history, the school has confirmed to WND, even though a parent raised a complaint about the same teachings a year ago.
In a letter to parents following the concerns that were raised at that point, Supt. Don Grotting and other school officials told parents that the text called "Journey Across Time" features a chapter on "Islamic Civilizations."
As part of that, "class activities have included guest speakers (including an American soldier serving in Iraq and a practicing Muslim woman who is an American citizen living in Mountain Home) who talked about geography, dress, climate, religion, economy and culture and student skits, in which students prepare and perform three- to five-minute skits about the tenets of Islam belief: charity, fasting, prayer, belief, and pilgrimage."
Janine Weeks, the curriculum director at the school, this week told WND that the curriculum, and class activities, are continuing.
"We've not made any changes," she said. "The content standards require that we present information about the rise of Islam in the context of world history."
(Story continues below)
She said there are "choices" about the way students can respond to the chapter's requirements. "Perhaps one of the items might be the fact that there is a religious journey that is part of the belief system; the kids can present that in a report," she said.
However, she said she was unaware of what requirements there were for presenting the basic beliefs of any other religion, including Christianity, to students.
The McGraw-Hill book itself, according to its online outline, heavily emphasizes the positive aspects of Islam.
"Muslims were successful merchants, in part because they had a common language and a common currency. Baghdad, Cairo, and Damascus grew wealthy from trade and became important centers of learning, government, and the arts. The cities featured mosques that served as Muslim houses of worship and centers of learning. The bazaar was a very important part of the Muslim city. Although Muslims enjoyed great success and cities grew, most Muslims lived in villages and farmed," the book says.
"Muslims made valuable contributions in math, science, and the arts. Muslim scholars saved and translated the works of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Muslims are well known for their beautiful buildings. The Taj Mahal, which is made of marble and precious stone, is one of the world's most beautiful buildings," it says.
Meanwhile, in its chapter on Christianity, it notes that Christianity "attracted many followers because it gave meaning to people's lives, appealed to their emotions, and promised happiness after death."
It goes on to talk about the schism between the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church that still exists.
For a student exercise, it suggests students study the American Red Cross.
In its chapter on Judaism, the book notes "the 12 tribes of Israel often quarreled, so they asked a prophet to choose a king to unite them against their enemies." Then, after World War II, "Palestine was divided into a Jewish nation called Israel."
The parent who raised the concerns a year ago, Kendalee Garner, was contacted and told WND that essentially Christianity and Judaism are not being taught. "They teach the history of Hinduism but not the tenets of its faith," she said.
"When I asked the teacher today if they were changing the curriculum she replied there is nothing we need to change," she said.
Idalia Stam, the chair of the school board, confirmed the same teaching curriculum was being used, but declined further comment on the issue.
A lawyer who has argued over such teachings in a case that went to the U.S. Supreme Court said the procedures wouldn't last 10 seconds in a public school if Christianity were being addressed.
"Would it have been 'just cultural education' if students were in simulated baptisms, wearing a crucifix, having taken the name of St. John and with praise banners saying 'Praise be to Jesus Christ' on classroom walls?" Edward White III, of the Thomas More Law Center, told WND earlier.
As WND has reported the case White handled was almost a duplicate. Teachers were having students memorize Islamic prayers, wear Islamic dress and learn to behave as a Muslim under the guise of studying history.
Some parents objected and their resulting lawsuit was turned back by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals where the opinion called it "cultural education."
The presence of such Islamic teachings is because "organized Islamists have gained control of textbook content," according to an organization that analyzes textbooks.
The American Textbook Council has concluded that the situation is the consequence of "the interplay of determined Islamic political activists, textbook editors, and multiculturally minded social studies curriculum planners."
It has gone so far that correcting the situation now becomes a problem, because "educational publishers and educational organizations have bought into claims propounded by Islamists – and have themselves become agents of misinformation."
That comes from Gilbert T. Sewall, who not only wrote the organization's report on Islam and textbooks, but also generated a response to the flood of criticism he encountered.
To view this item online, visit http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57738
Thursday, September 20, 2007
BRAVE NEW SCHOOLS
Muslim religion taught under guise of history
'Students perform skits about the tenets of Islam belief'
Posted: September 20, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Bob Unruh
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
The "Five Pillars" of Islam – charity, fasting, prayer, belief and pilgrimage – are being taught to public school students in Nyssa, Ore., under the guise of world history, the school has confirmed to WND, even though a parent raised a complaint about the same teachings a year ago.
In a letter to parents following the concerns that were raised at that point, Supt. Don Grotting and other school officials told parents that the text called "Journey Across Time" features a chapter on "Islamic Civilizations."
As part of that, "class activities have included guest speakers (including an American soldier serving in Iraq and a practicing Muslim woman who is an American citizen living in Mountain Home) who talked about geography, dress, climate, religion, economy and culture and student skits, in which students prepare and perform three- to five-minute skits about the tenets of Islam belief: charity, fasting, prayer, belief, and pilgrimage."
Janine Weeks, the curriculum director at the school, this week told WND that the curriculum, and class activities, are continuing.
"We've not made any changes," she said. "The content standards require that we present information about the rise of Islam in the context of world history."
(Story continues below)
She said there are "choices" about the way students can respond to the chapter's requirements. "Perhaps one of the items might be the fact that there is a religious journey that is part of the belief system; the kids can present that in a report," she said.
However, she said she was unaware of what requirements there were for presenting the basic beliefs of any other religion, including Christianity, to students.
The McGraw-Hill book itself, according to its online outline, heavily emphasizes the positive aspects of Islam.
"Muslims were successful merchants, in part because they had a common language and a common currency. Baghdad, Cairo, and Damascus grew wealthy from trade and became important centers of learning, government, and the arts. The cities featured mosques that served as Muslim houses of worship and centers of learning. The bazaar was a very important part of the Muslim city. Although Muslims enjoyed great success and cities grew, most Muslims lived in villages and farmed," the book says.
"Muslims made valuable contributions in math, science, and the arts. Muslim scholars saved and translated the works of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Muslims are well known for their beautiful buildings. The Taj Mahal, which is made of marble and precious stone, is one of the world's most beautiful buildings," it says.
Meanwhile, in its chapter on Christianity, it notes that Christianity "attracted many followers because it gave meaning to people's lives, appealed to their emotions, and promised happiness after death."
It goes on to talk about the schism between the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church that still exists.
For a student exercise, it suggests students study the American Red Cross.
In its chapter on Judaism, the book notes "the 12 tribes of Israel often quarreled, so they asked a prophet to choose a king to unite them against their enemies." Then, after World War II, "Palestine was divided into a Jewish nation called Israel."
The parent who raised the concerns a year ago, Kendalee Garner, was contacted and told WND that essentially Christianity and Judaism are not being taught. "They teach the history of Hinduism but not the tenets of its faith," she said.
"When I asked the teacher today if they were changing the curriculum she replied there is nothing we need to change," she said.
Idalia Stam, the chair of the school board, confirmed the same teaching curriculum was being used, but declined further comment on the issue.
A lawyer who has argued over such teachings in a case that went to the U.S. Supreme Court said the procedures wouldn't last 10 seconds in a public school if Christianity were being addressed.
"Would it have been 'just cultural education' if students were in simulated baptisms, wearing a crucifix, having taken the name of St. John and with praise banners saying 'Praise be to Jesus Christ' on classroom walls?" Edward White III, of the Thomas More Law Center, told WND earlier.
As WND has reported the case White handled was almost a duplicate. Teachers were having students memorize Islamic prayers, wear Islamic dress and learn to behave as a Muslim under the guise of studying history.
Some parents objected and their resulting lawsuit was turned back by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals where the opinion called it "cultural education."
The presence of such Islamic teachings is because "organized Islamists have gained control of textbook content," according to an organization that analyzes textbooks.
The American Textbook Council has concluded that the situation is the consequence of "the interplay of determined Islamic political activists, textbook editors, and multiculturally minded social studies curriculum planners."
It has gone so far that correcting the situation now becomes a problem, because "educational publishers and educational organizations have bought into claims propounded by Islamists – and have themselves become agents of misinformation."
That comes from Gilbert T. Sewall, who not only wrote the organization's report on Islam and textbooks, but also generated a response to the flood of criticism he encountered.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
HS Reason #141
It certainly is a difficult situation for any public school administrator to have to choose an alliance with one country or the other. Living completely free in the United States of America does allow for her ignorant ambiguity. It is a shame that she is allowed to "teach" that to our children.
NC only allows 100 charter schools to exsist in its state. They have to follow very strict guidelines as well. Too bad for most of the children of NC.
High School Bans American Flag
Tuesday, Sep 11, 2007 - 11:56 PM Updated: 07:03 AM
By NBC17
SAMPSON COUNTY, N.C. – On the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, students at one high school were not allowed to wear clothes with an American Flag.
Under a new school rule, students at Hobbton High School are not allowed to wear items with flags, from any country, including the United States.
The new rule stems from a controversy over students wearing shirts bearing flags of other countries.
Gayle Langston said her daughter, Jessica, was told to remove her stars and stripes t-shirt.
“Today she wanted to wear her shirt, and I had to tell her no,” said Langston. “She didn't like it at all because I knew it would get her in trouble. Of all days, 9/11, she could not wear her American Flag shirt.”
The superintendent of schools in Sampson County calls the situation unfortunate, but says educators didn’t want to be forced to pick and choose which flags should be permissible.
Go Back
NC only allows 100 charter schools to exsist in its state. They have to follow very strict guidelines as well. Too bad for most of the children of NC.
High School Bans American Flag
Tuesday, Sep 11, 2007 - 11:56 PM Updated: 07:03 AM
By NBC17
SAMPSON COUNTY, N.C. – On the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, students at one high school were not allowed to wear clothes with an American Flag.
Under a new school rule, students at Hobbton High School are not allowed to wear items with flags, from any country, including the United States.
The new rule stems from a controversy over students wearing shirts bearing flags of other countries.
Gayle Langston said her daughter, Jessica, was told to remove her stars and stripes t-shirt.
“Today she wanted to wear her shirt, and I had to tell her no,” said Langston. “She didn't like it at all because I knew it would get her in trouble. Of all days, 9/11, she could not wear her American Flag shirt.”
The superintendent of schools in Sampson County calls the situation unfortunate, but says educators didn’t want to be forced to pick and choose which flags should be permissible.
Go Back
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