You know, when I hear schools complain that, thanks to all the basic skills testing, curricula have been narrowed and elective classes abolished, I'm always a bit skeptical. Even more so when I hear about elective classes that do get kept on the roster, such as this course about why people hate America, that will feature readings from such reliable sources as Indymedia.org and Progressive.org. Explain to me again why this should be taught for credit in an American high school?
The course is offered to juniors and seniors in the Farmington School District and focuses on America's role in the Middle East (search). But it's not the topic that's angered some students' parents. It's the class readings, many of which come from left-wing Web sites like Alternet.org, Indymedia.org, Progressive.org and War-times.org, that vigorously attack the Bush administration...
"This belief that we have to show that every concept out of that society can be understood and excused is really a problem across the country," said Farmington father Don Cohen...
Farmington superintendent of schools, Robert Maxfield, defended the course, saying high school juniors and seniors should be critical thinkers and should be exposed to many points of view.
"You can never teach kids the facts about everything," Maxfield said. [Emphasis mine] "What you can teach kids is how to recognize points of view, how to understand sources of conflict, how to understand that there are forces that have driven world affairs for hundreds of years"...
"They need to understand that people hate Americans," Maxfield said. "They need to understand that sometimes there are reasons for that."
Oh. Yeah. Right. Can't be bothered to teach facts in a high school classroom; it's much easier for the teacher to dig up websites that offer points of view, often with no facts to support them. Does this mean that if a paper is required in this course, any web site is a legitimate source for quotes, and that students needn't worry about supporting any claims with facts? After all, that's the method of "research" they're learning from a teacher who uses this approach.
Little Green Footballs, who has more on the story here, has been relentless in exposing the insanity (and censorship) of Indymedia; his most recent posting on the topic, which notes that Indymedia allows The Protocols of the Elders of Zion to be displayed, yet deletes all critical posts, is revealing. Oh, and here's how the Indymedia denizens celebrated the Fourth of July.
Google also decided a while back that Indymedia was too biased a site to be used as a source for their news engine. Might have something to do with the site's celebration of a videogame that allows the players to kill Jews.
Most of the parents quoted in this article would be dismayed to learn that their high-school-aged kids were reading this crap at home. I can just imagine how they feel to know their kids have to read it for class. And the superintendent's claim that kids can't be taught all the facts will be very applicable here, because if all they're viewing is these kinds of sites, they won't be exposed to any.
Posted by kswygert at August 26, 2003 07:13 AM