Friday 8th of November 2024

rewriting history...

 

history wars

We will never reach an agreement on what world view we should expose to our children, which is why we should get rid of the national curriculum altogether, writes Chris Berg.

Christopher Pyne has done irreparable damage to the national curriculum project.

This is fantastic.

The damage hasn't occurred because there's anything wrong with appointing Kevin Donnelly and Professor of Public Administration Ken Wiltshire to review it.

No, it's because the supporters of the national curriculum can no longer pretend that imposing a uniform curriculum on every single student in the country isn't an ideological undertaking.

Donnelly is a conservative and in his work as a political commentator, he has made no attempt to obscure his conservative views. Not least on the Drum.

Conservatives are such strange and alien creatures that the appointment has turned outrage up to 11. The teachers' union described it as the "politicisation" of education. Bill Shorten implored Tony Abbott to "please keep your hands off the school books of Australian children".

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Chris Berg is off the planets... and I mean PLANETS. There is a point at which understanding history is always muddled by politics... But as we all know the right wing of this silly beast tries hard to bring in glory to the un-glorious, sanity to the debauched and respectability to the unacceptable via whitewashing and through grandstanding morality... The left is more warts and all thingy... We have thus an unnecessary debate about the origin, the progress and result of many useless wars. Many wars were fought under religious banners — Christians versus Christians, Muslim versus Christians, Jews versus Egyptians, Christians versus Muslims, and more Christians versus Christians — not discounting the pope sending in his armies to destroy opponent and "dissidents" such as the Cathars...

Henry the Eighth wanted a divorce which the catholic would not let him have so he create his own branch of the faith, which makes as much sense as the original... None.

Rules and regulations of morality are annoyingly linked to the idea of a superior being that does not exist, but we push the barrow to scare the shit out of us with images of HELL forever after. Silly.

The single side-view of the planet is the prerogative of the right. A more cosmopolitan view is that of the left.

Nothing being perfect while not having enough time to learn about all the deceits and the lies contained with humanity's fiddles, the right-wing historians polish history with a mindless blancmange to make us accept the glory of successful gore with "facts" (fiction) and figures (dates)... Please reject this with tonight's garbage.


 

Indigenous figures are furious...

 

Indigenous figures including the chair of the Prime Minister's Indigenous Advisory Council are furious that Tony Abbott has highlighted white settlement as the defining moment in Australian history.

The Prime Minister made the comment while he was launching a project on the 100 Defining Moments in Australian History at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra on Friday.

"The arrival of the First Fleet was the defining moment in the history of this continent. Let me repeat that, it was the defining moment in the history of this continent," he said.

"It was the moment this continent became part of the modern world."

His remarks about drew swift condemnation from Warren Mundine, the chair of the Prime Minister's own advisory panel.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-30/pm-comment-on-defining-moment-angers-indigenous-groups/5707926

 

I disagree with Champ Tony the Turd... because we need to include in his "modern world" concept, things like massive idiotic wars, stupidity of greed and consumerism, burning the planet down with anthropogenic CO2, deforestation and a wad of imbecilic beliefs that are detrimental to all of us, including all religions and economic values designed to enrich the rich and keep the poor in their place... Materialistic progress indeed... but a big zero, philosophically speaking... Aboriginal people had a better understanding of values than we do.

Anthony the Turd's view is that of a whitey — a self-appointed whitewasher of history... See toon at top...

 

soon to come in a slanted pyne curriculum near you

 

 

When it comes to controversies about curriculum, textbook content and academic standards, Texas is the state that keeps on giving.

Back in 2010, we had an uproar over proposed changes to social studies standards by religious conservatives on the State Board of Education, which included a bid to calling the United States’ hideous slave trade history as the “Atlantic triangular trade.” There were other doozies, too, such as one proposal to remove Thomas Jefferson from the Enlightenment curriculum and replace him with John Calvin. Some were changed but the board’s approved standards were roundly criticized as distorted history.

There’s a new fuss about proposed social studies textbooks for Texas public schools that are based on what are called the Texas Essential  Knowledge  and  Skills.  Scholarly reviews of 43 proposed history, geography and government textbooks for Grades 6-12 — undertaken by the Education Fund of the Texas Freedom Network, a watchdog and activist group that monitors far-right issues and organizations — found extensive problems in American Government textbooks, U.S. and World History textbooks, Religion in World History textbooks, and Religion in World Geography textbooks.  The state board will vote on which books to approve in November.

Ideas promoted in various proposed textbooks include the notion that Moses and Solomon inspired American democracy, that in the era of segregation only “sometimes” were schools for black children “lower in quality” and that Jews view Jesus Christ as an important prophet.

Here are the broad findings of 10 scholars, who wrote four separate reports, taken from an executive summary, followed by the names of the scholars and a list of publishers who submitted textbooks.

The findings:

  • A number of government and world history textbooks exaggerate Judeo-Christian influence on the nation’s founding and Western political tradition.
  • Two government textbooks include misleading information that undermines the Constitutional concept of the separation of church and state.
  • Several world history and world geography textbooks include biased statements that inappropriately portray Islam and Muslims negatively.
  • All of the world geography textbooks inaccurately downplay the role that conquest played in the spread of Christianity.
  • Several world geography and history textbooks suffer from an incomplete – and often inaccurate – account of religions other than Christianity.
  • Coverage of key Christian concepts and historical events are lacking in a few textbooks, often due to the assumption that all students are Christians and already familiar with Christian events and doctrine.
  • A few government and U.S. history textbooks suffer from an uncritical celebration of the free enterprise system, both by ignoring legitimate problems that exist in capitalism and failing to include coverage of government’s role in the U.S. economic system.
  • One government textbook flirts with contemporary Tea Party ideology, particularly regarding the inclusion of anti-taxation and anti-regulation arguments.
  • One world history textbook includes outdated – and possibly offensive – anthropological categories and racial terminology in describing African civilization.
  • A number of U.S. history textbooks evidence a general lack of attention to Native American peoples and culture and occasionally include biased or misleading information.
  • One government textbook … includes a biased – verging on offensive – treatment of affirmative action.
  • Most U.S. history textbooks do a poor job of covering the history of LGBT citizens in discussions of efforts to achieve civil rights in this country.
  • Elements of the Texas curriculum standards give undue legitimacy to neo-Confederate arguments about “states’ rights” and the legacy of slavery in the South. While most publishers avoid problems with these issues, passages in a few U.S. history and government textbooks give a nod to these misleading arguments.

 

In July, the Texas Freedom Network released a review of the various panels of people who had been selected by the Texas Board of Education to review the proposed textbooks. It said in part:

 

 

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/09/12/proposed-texas-textbooks-are-inaccurate-biased-and-politicized-new-report-finds/?hpid=z4

 

Now watch for the Pyne review of curriculum in Aussieland. See article at top.