The Advocates for Academic Freedom home page provides a step-by-step process for donating materials to school libraries under the PHASE I button. PHASE II and PHASE III buttons include a sample step-by-step process for addressing the school board.
Advocates for Academic Freedom membership is free because we hope that you will organize parents in your neighborhood and donate two conservative magazines and one conservative newspaper to your local school library. That will cost about $200. After donating the materials, citizens should have a conversation with school administrators and school board members about using district funds to provide those materials in future years.
The fastest, easiest, and least expensive way to return traditional American values to educational settings is to insist that conservative political ideologies become part of the current-events studies that schools typically provide weekly.
Every person and situation will be different. The processes suggested under the PHASE buttons may be modified to address your specific situation.
After donating materials to the school library, please visit that library to make sure the donated items are displayed, to notify social studies and history teachers that the resources are available for their use, and to encourage your children to request access to those materials.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
ONE EASY STEP TO IMPROVING THE SUCCESS RATE OF ANTI-BULLYING CURRICULA
State governments have wasted millions of dollars creating and implementing anti-bullying curriculums which have been destined for failure because of the institutionally accepted bullying practiced by most political and social institutions, including the educational system. If there is any chance of limiting bullying within the educational system, legislation must include anti-bullying standards for the role models and leadership of the very institutions required to implement the anti-bullying curriculums.
Educators recognize that school libraries set the intellectual and social tone of the school. Librarians have been diligent about including literature that recognizes the contributions made to America by every race and nationality. Books which provide positive representations of women and of every religion, culture, and life-style-choice are included in the library. Displays of magazines and current events materials include items that address all cultural and ethnic interests, hobbies, and most of the political spectrum. The current-events materials may include everything from Mother Jones, Monthly Review, Mother Earth News, to Time, and Newsweek; but one typically will not see a copy of a conservative magazine such as The Weekly Standard or National Review. Censorship is one of the most aggressive forms of bullying.
A Wisconsin teacher brought his fourth graders to the state capitol for a field trip and encouraged those children to participate in the anti-Governor Walker protests that are a well-known daily occurrence. When this instructor used his influence to encourage students to ignore the political views of their parents and to protest a Governor whom their parents support, intimidation was being used to bully young children. Fortunately, most teachers use better judgment.
When a student responds to discussion questions presented in health class by stating that he or she intends to practice abstinence and is met with derision, that is bullying. When the instructor does not stop the mocking and/or if he participates, the instructor not only condones these behaviors but he also becomes a bully. Peer pressure is often used to push children into abandoning their goals and values. A common peer-pressure tactic is represented by the false statement that “everybody does it”. Peer pressure is a form of bullying.
When students are required to view Al Gore’s mistake-ridden movie Inconvenient Truth every year of their school career but they are not required to view Cool It, a highly respected alternative scientific stand, not only have the political views of the student been minimized, but the school system has also bullied those students while ignoring its responsibility to teach critical thinking skills and research techniques. How can children analyze the significance of facts when only one side of an issue is presented in schools? Limiting resource materials is a form of bullying.
Many teachers are required to show the video The Story of Stuff which makes five false statements about the American government and capitalism during the first three minutes of the movie. When movies or school textbooks no longer provide the truth that America is a republic and falsely state that America is a Democracy, and when name calling and intimidation are used to prevent the truth from being revealed, that is bullying. When school systems are encouraged to intimidate systematically and bully our children into accepting falsehoods as truth, legislators and parents must take a stand.
If bullying in schools is going to subside, anti-bullying legislation must include well-defined examples of bullying, well-defined consequences for any acts of bullying, and standards which must be applicable to adults as well as to students in the educational setting. Once that has been accomplished, legislators must take a careful look at curriculum core standards for every subject area and assure that those standards are fact-based and scientifically sound, that the data is replicable, and that the content encourages respect for the traditions and customs that have served the American people so well for over 200 years. After all, those traditions include the right to practice any religion or life-style and must include those who value a republic, who choose abstinence, and who wish to evaluate all sides of any given issue.
Educators recognize that school libraries set the intellectual and social tone of the school. Librarians have been diligent about including literature that recognizes the contributions made to America by every race and nationality. Books which provide positive representations of women and of every religion, culture, and life-style-choice are included in the library. Displays of magazines and current events materials include items that address all cultural and ethnic interests, hobbies, and most of the political spectrum. The current-events materials may include everything from Mother Jones, Monthly Review, Mother Earth News, to Time, and Newsweek; but one typically will not see a copy of a conservative magazine such as The Weekly Standard or National Review. Censorship is one of the most aggressive forms of bullying.
A Wisconsin teacher brought his fourth graders to the state capitol for a field trip and encouraged those children to participate in the anti-Governor Walker protests that are a well-known daily occurrence. When this instructor used his influence to encourage students to ignore the political views of their parents and to protest a Governor whom their parents support, intimidation was being used to bully young children. Fortunately, most teachers use better judgment.
When a student responds to discussion questions presented in health class by stating that he or she intends to practice abstinence and is met with derision, that is bullying. When the instructor does not stop the mocking and/or if he participates, the instructor not only condones these behaviors but he also becomes a bully. Peer pressure is often used to push children into abandoning their goals and values. A common peer-pressure tactic is represented by the false statement that “everybody does it”. Peer pressure is a form of bullying.
When students are required to view Al Gore’s mistake-ridden movie Inconvenient Truth every year of their school career but they are not required to view Cool It, a highly respected alternative scientific stand, not only have the political views of the student been minimized, but the school system has also bullied those students while ignoring its responsibility to teach critical thinking skills and research techniques. How can children analyze the significance of facts when only one side of an issue is presented in schools? Limiting resource materials is a form of bullying.
Many teachers are required to show the video The Story of Stuff which makes five false statements about the American government and capitalism during the first three minutes of the movie. When movies or school textbooks no longer provide the truth that America is a republic and falsely state that America is a Democracy, and when name calling and intimidation are used to prevent the truth from being revealed, that is bullying. When school systems are encouraged to intimidate systematically and bully our children into accepting falsehoods as truth, legislators and parents must take a stand.
If bullying in schools is going to subside, anti-bullying legislation must include well-defined examples of bullying, well-defined consequences for any acts of bullying, and standards which must be applicable to adults as well as to students in the educational setting. Once that has been accomplished, legislators must take a careful look at curriculum core standards for every subject area and assure that those standards are fact-based and scientifically sound, that the data is replicable, and that the content encourages respect for the traditions and customs that have served the American people so well for over 200 years. After all, those traditions include the right to practice any religion or life-style and must include those who value a republic, who choose abstinence, and who wish to evaluate all sides of any given issue.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
SUGGESTED SOCIAL STUDIES, HISTORY, AND POLITICAL SCIENCE CURRICULUMS FOR K-12
GRADE-LEVEL-APPROPRIATE CURRICULUM FOR THE STUDY OF SOCIAL STUDIES, HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, AND POLITICAL SCIENCE MUST INCLUDE TEXTBOOKS WHICH FOCUS UPON:
• The founding fathers, the Constitution, Bill of Rights, Federalist Papers, Northwest Ordinance of 1787, Declaration of Independence, Constitutional Convention, Ruler’s Law v People’s Law v no law and the 28 basic principles identified in the Federalist papers that are appropriate for each grade level
• Presentation of America as a Constitutional Republic and a detailed analysis of the differences between a republic and other forms of government
• Studies of the struggles and sacrifices made in the development of the American republic
• Writings of persons who participated in the establishment of our government and its major institutions
• Texts of at least one dozen Federalist Papers and/or documents created by the founders in which our founding fathers warned citizens about the danger of devolving into any form of democracy
• Writings by the founders, the philosophers, and the economists whose ideas influenced the development of the United States government and its documents including Cicero, Sir William Blackstone, and Alex de Tocqueville.
• Historical analysis of slavery as it has existed around the world, which countries eliminated the practice from their social structure and why, and which countries continue to practice slavery and why
• Recognition of the influence that America’s First Ladies had upon the social and political issues of their day
• Recognition of the basic principles found in the Bible, Koran, Torah, and the Sutras by the masters of Buddhism and the historical role each religion played in the social and political aspects of American society
• History of Black-American founding fathers, political leaders, entrepreneurs, inventors, scientists, etc. from the 1600s to the present
• History of influential minority women in American History. Some examples: Pocahontas who is the Powhatan princess who saved the life of Captain John Smith; Sojourner Truth who is a lecturer, an escaped slave, and abolitionist; and Bell Hooks a black author, educator and activist
• Writings of Alex de Tocqueville, a French jurist and historian in the 1800s whose historical analysis of America’s educational and political system should be compared with the approach used by current American historians
• Analysis of Amendments to the Constitution and the impact they have had on the American economic, political, and social systems
• Opportunities to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of a republic, a democracy, socialism, communism, fascism, Marxism, or any other form of government
• Analysis of the history of taxation in America and its relationship to fiscal accountability and fiscal responsibility
• Analysis of the economic standards of Adam Smith, F.A. Hayek, Milton Friedman, and John M. Keynes while analyzing the impact each economic philosophy has had on the American economic system and on the global economic system
• Analysis of the contributions made by American women such as: Elizabeth Blackwell who was the first woman to receive a medical degree; Mary Katherine Goddard who was the first woman publisher , first woman postmaster, publisher of the Providence Gazette, and the individual who provided the first copies of the Declaration of Independence; Marian Wright Edelman who was a lawyer, educator and founder of the Children’s Defense Fund; and Regina Anderson, a black librarian and playwright
• Historical factors involved in the formation of the Ku Klux Klan in America
• History of the 13, 14,and 15th Amendments to the Constitution
• History of the development of the 1965 Civil Rights Act
• Dred Scott Decision and its history
• The Jim Crow Laws and their history
• The founding fathers, the Constitution, Bill of Rights, Federalist Papers, Northwest Ordinance of 1787, Declaration of Independence, Constitutional Convention, Ruler’s Law v People’s Law v no law and the 28 basic principles identified in the Federalist papers that are appropriate for each grade level
• Presentation of America as a Constitutional Republic and a detailed analysis of the differences between a republic and other forms of government
• Studies of the struggles and sacrifices made in the development of the American republic
• Writings of persons who participated in the establishment of our government and its major institutions
• Texts of at least one dozen Federalist Papers and/or documents created by the founders in which our founding fathers warned citizens about the danger of devolving into any form of democracy
• Writings by the founders, the philosophers, and the economists whose ideas influenced the development of the United States government and its documents including Cicero, Sir William Blackstone, and Alex de Tocqueville.
• Historical analysis of slavery as it has existed around the world, which countries eliminated the practice from their social structure and why, and which countries continue to practice slavery and why
• Recognition of the influence that America’s First Ladies had upon the social and political issues of their day
• Recognition of the basic principles found in the Bible, Koran, Torah, and the Sutras by the masters of Buddhism and the historical role each religion played in the social and political aspects of American society
• History of Black-American founding fathers, political leaders, entrepreneurs, inventors, scientists, etc. from the 1600s to the present
• History of influential minority women in American History. Some examples: Pocahontas who is the Powhatan princess who saved the life of Captain John Smith; Sojourner Truth who is a lecturer, an escaped slave, and abolitionist; and Bell Hooks a black author, educator and activist
• Writings of Alex de Tocqueville, a French jurist and historian in the 1800s whose historical analysis of America’s educational and political system should be compared with the approach used by current American historians
• Analysis of Amendments to the Constitution and the impact they have had on the American economic, political, and social systems
• Opportunities to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of a republic, a democracy, socialism, communism, fascism, Marxism, or any other form of government
• Analysis of the history of taxation in America and its relationship to fiscal accountability and fiscal responsibility
• Analysis of the economic standards of Adam Smith, F.A. Hayek, Milton Friedman, and John M. Keynes while analyzing the impact each economic philosophy has had on the American economic system and on the global economic system
• Analysis of the contributions made by American women such as: Elizabeth Blackwell who was the first woman to receive a medical degree; Mary Katherine Goddard who was the first woman publisher , first woman postmaster, publisher of the Providence Gazette, and the individual who provided the first copies of the Declaration of Independence; Marian Wright Edelman who was a lawyer, educator and founder of the Children’s Defense Fund; and Regina Anderson, a black librarian and playwright
• Historical factors involved in the formation of the Ku Klux Klan in America
• History of the 13, 14,and 15th Amendments to the Constitution
• History of the development of the 1965 Civil Rights Act
• Dred Scott Decision and its history
• The Jim Crow Laws and their history
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