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Below, my ltte this morning. I refrained from sending it to the university concerned, but did send it to the Tribune.
But I still want/need to get it off to the Univ, if only to let Leming know he's been A: outed as a liar, or B: misparaphrased.
Help me out, fellow travellers! ==== Dear Chicago Tribune, Ms. Cholo,
There is a serious and glaring factual mistake in your article of 16 November, 2003, on page 4 of the Metro/Near Northwest edition.
The article, with the byline of Ana Beatriz Cholo, is titled "Even teachers debate course of social studies". It gives us a look at a group of conservative social studies teachers blaming their professional colleagues for breeding "cynical, anti-American attitudes" by presenting the mistakes of American domestic and foreign policy in their classes.
The article quotes James Leming of Saginaw Valley State University, a leader of the "Contrarians", a group advocating that social studies teachers push only "a clear, attractive image of our country".
The obvious error attributed to Professor Leming is when Ms. Cholo says he wants students to be taught "how the United States was the first nation to abolish slavery". In fact, according to the Concise Columbia Encyclopedia, Britain abolished slavery in 1833 and, wonder of wonders, they didn't even have to have a civil war to do it.
Tribune readers and the Saginaw Valley State University community deserve a clarification as to how this blatant propaganda appeared in your publication.
Was this a case where Ms. Cholo could not be bothered to check the assertions of a source she knew to be pushing a certain agenda?
Was Professor Leming accurately paraphrased here? If so, is he merely ignorant of history, or did he knowingly lie to the Tribune, in a case where any amateur with a library card could find him to be mistaken? Sadly for Saginaw Valley State University, neither of these alternatives is comforting.
The Tribune corporation should restrict its distortions to its editorial page, where readers know to expect them. In news articles, we readers who give you our hard-earned money deserve objective facts, verified against the historical record.
As importantly, Saginaw Valley State University deserves professors who are not only knowledgeable, not only talk a good game loudly, but are also honest.
Respectfully yours,
Andy the Tolstoyan
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