Shit they are teaching our kids in "Social Studies!!!"

[Bonobo]

I am writing this while my mind is still fresh with my initial shock at seeing the two coloring assignments my 12 year old daughter had been given. The first is a map of the world, and the title is “Major Religions”. The legend at the bottom left of the world map lists the “major religions” as follows:

CHRISTIANITY

ROMAN CATHOLIC
PROTESTANT
EASTERN

ISLAM

SUNNI
SHIITE

BUDDHISM

CONFUCIANIST-TAOIST (WHAT!??)
LAMAIST (HUH?)
SHINTO (WHAAAAAAT!!!??)

HINDUISM

JUDAISM

ANIMISTIC

The students instructions in doing this assignment were to “Use the same color for all branches within a religion.” The net effect is to render nearly all of North, Central and South America, as well as Europe as “Christian” (Red), while leaving probably another 1/5 of the globe as “Animistic” (Nearly all of Australia, Africa and North America/North Asia). The rest was Islam or Buddhist (Would that be “Shinto” Buddhism?)

The next map that I saw was labeled “Major Official Languages”. As usual, my daughter had done a lovely job filling it in. It showed the “Major Official” languages as:
Chinese (Red, of course, all of China)
English (Blue, US, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand)
Russian (Yellow! Huge! All of Russia from Kamchatka to Romania, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, etc.)
Spanish
Hindi
Japanese
German
French

So there it was, the U.S’s offical language was English! I had no idea! In fact I was sure it wasn’t true. In 20 seconds, at yahoo ask, I discovered that no, in fact the US POINTEDLY AND INTENTIONALLY does not have an official language although there have been attempts from racist windbags in the want to push that agenda.

So, the NET EFFECT OF THESE TWO MAPS that my daughter had been infantilizingly induced to “color in” showed the United States 100% RED and BLUE, uniformingly CHRISTIAN and ENGLISH-SPEAKING.

When the hell did that happen and why are you teaching that to my daughter?

So I did some ultra-clever googling and jackpot found the name of the “textbook” she got these bogus wrong-headed maps from. The book is called the “Geography Coloring Book” by Wynn Kapit.
Further clever googling shows that he is linked mostly to people who do “Christian-themed home schooling” Do the googling yourself.


Or how about this delightful recommendation on the "Stormfront White
Nationalist Community's" "Education and Homeschooling" forum,
http://www.stormfront.org/forum/showthread.php/thomas-jefferson-education-96
63.html?s=dff2bee2f39c9fc1b51d2648193ebaa8&t=9663
"A very good book for Geography is Wynn Kapit's "The Geography Coloring
Book". Your kids needn't bother actually coloring it if they don't want to.
The book includes a lot of very interesting and useful information.
-Ruthie"

[Bill McBlueState]

1. nice research.

On the first read through, it sounded like the assignment was written by some moron who just doesn't get out much. But the connections you uncovered to the Christian homeschooling/racist crowd make it clear that they're trying to pull something.

I would've expected better of Northampton schools...

[Bonobo]

3. Exactly!! You know Northampton, I see.

Could be old "hamp" remnants or just a lone nutcase. My daughter's other two teachers are great. But frankly, the Elementary school was fantastic but the Junior High seems problematic while the HS seems to get better again. Is this an unusual pattern I wonder?

[Bill McBlueState]

55. to an extent, yeah

I've been living in the valley for five years, working on my PhD at UMass.

I've noticed that there *is* a sketchy right-wing subculture in the area, made up of people who live away from the town centers for the most part and send semi-coherent letters to the editor. Usually griping about the UN or gay marriage.

They all voted for Billy Szych over John Olver in the congressional election, I presume.

[bicentennial_baby]

74. Although,

many, many of the "bluest" people and most left and progressive people, live far from the town centers...Shelburne, Wendell, Leverett, Heath, Conway, etc.

:)

[Bill McBlueState]

85. of course!

:)

I love Shelburne Falls and Leverett in particular. The culture of rural Western MA is great. People are friendly, but not in a way that comes across as intrusive. And everyone's an independent thinker, so we're all over the place politically. Even the libertarians can be fun to talk to, with their elaborate conspiracy theories about the UN.

Not too long ago I heard that the UN secretly runs Turners Falls. Apparently Turners has a special type of lamp-post that the UN installs whenever they're in charge of a town. :crazy:

[bicentennial_baby]

91. Hehe, that would explain why Turners sucks so badly....

maybe :rofl:

[KingFlorez]

2. That is crazy

People like that sure love to twist the truth

[Bonobo]

4. Oh yeah, more research creepy links here...

After discovering that the source material that I found offensive was from
the "Geography Coloring Book" by Wyn Kapit, I did further internet research
("Wynn Kapit + Christian") and discovered the following link.

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/homepage/article_1249055.php
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:0Qg5PSnwUs8J:www.cccsmurrieta.com/secon
dary/pdfs/article_ocregister.pdf+Wynn+Kapit+Christian&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd
=2

[Maraya1969]

32. From your link. These kids are indoctrinated to believe they are inherently bad. That borders on

emotional abuse in my opinion. Either way it is just plain mean to teach your kid that he/she is bad by nature.

These are course rejected by UC from Christian home schools. They also reject other non-religious courses so it is not just biased against Christianity as these people would have you believe.


History/social science course title:Christianity's Influence on America

Textbooks:“United States History for Christian Schools,” BJU Press (2001)

“Pilgrims in Their Own Land: 500 Years of Religion in America” (1985)

UC Reason:Focus too narrow/too specialized. … The content of the course outline submitted for approval is not consistent with the empirical historical knowledge generally accepted in the collegiate community.

Excerpt:“… most progressives had a faulty view of the nature of man. On the whole, they believed that man is basically good and that human nature might be improved. The stress on direct democracy (direct primaries, voter initiatives, etc.) assumed that while some institutions of society might be corrupt, the individual is not. Such a belief, of course, ignored the Biblical teaching that man is sinful by nature (Eph. 2:1-3).”

[otherlander]

5. Confucianism and Taoism aren't the same.

Confucianism focuses on structure as the source of virtue; Taoism emphasizes non-dualistic thinking.

[lvx35]

6. That's what caught my eye...

and isn't neither one of them buddhist?

[otherlander]

7. Yes, but you can be either one of those and be Buddhist, too.

Still... :shrug: Oh, well.

[John Gauger]

13. Very good.

Despite the government's best efforts, you are very well educated. My compliments.

[otherlander]

14. Thanks. I was lucky, though.

I had a karate teacher who talked about the mystical and scientific being inseperably connected, a history teacher who told me that the CIA killed Kennedy and that Bush belonged in Gitmo, and a therapist who gave me a copy of the Tao te Ching. :patriot:

[Bonobo]

8. Ding Ding! to both of you.

That was the first thing that registered with me and then it was after I looked at the map more deeply and thought "what else do I find wrong with it?" did I gradually begin to resent more and more that this "assignment" was slanted in this way,

In fact, this makes me realize that how angry I am that these people claim to be patriotic! They claim to be Americans?! I love this country, you know? What it really can stand for, you know? And here in Northampton, at the elementary school my son is on still, the mix of kids of all races is stunning in its honest, true diversity! It's beautiful (although the rest of Northampton elementary schools are still pretty Lilly White...) But then in JHS it alll seems to fall to shit...

They should color a map that shows how Amrica is so rich in diversity! Not one that colors an entire map one color!

I joked that the assignment was "Ethnic Cleansing by Number"! Har! Har!

[conscious evolution]

36. They are Buddha schools of thought

not actually Buddhist.

[SharonAnn]

9. At 12 years old? Coloring maps? Sheesh, 12 must be the new 6.

[Occulus]

15. Given the research that was done, I'd say it's attempted brainwashing on a subtle level.

After all, he's learning it in school, so it must be true... right?

:)

[Rosemary2205]

33. That's the first thing that hit me too

12 yr olds with coloring books?

[proud2BlibKansan]

59. I don't have a huge problem with it

and I rarely let my upper elementary kids color anything. But this is really not a bad way to teach this particular objective.

[ninkasi]

10. As for language

In China, they speak Mandarin and Cantonese. Are these the same?

[Dorian Gray]

44. Chinese languages...

Written, they are the same. Spoken, they're different enough to cause confusion, though Mandarin and Cantonese are hardly the only two dialects of the Chinese language found in China. Toison, Fukanese, Shanghainese, Taiwanese, and Mongolian dialects are some of the larger ones. There are many many many smaller regional dialects, as well.

[mcg]

46. and Cantonese itself has different dialects...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantonese_language

[Bluebear]

11. Everything aside, a coloring book for 12 year olds?

Is this some special curriculum?

[immoderate]

17. Think about it.

How do you reinforce ideas in geography? I'm not saying that coloring should be the main aim for a 12 year old, but coloring areas of a map may help to assimilate geographic ideas. How many people can recognize countries of states by their shape? Could coloring, or shading them help?

Other geographical features such as rainfall, elevation, vegetation, population, etc., could be applied to maps by coloring and would be educationally appropriate. There are adults who get paid for coloring maps; they are cartographers. There is a branch of mathematics that deals with the number of colors needed to differentiate areas of a map without having adjacent countries of the same color.

Yes, coloring maps could be an age appropriate, educational activity for a twelve year old. I'm not so sure about the assignment in the OP.

--IMM

[Bluebear]

21. It's entirely too juvenile an experience for a 12 year old.

If you can computerize the activity to "color" in the areas, fine. This would approximate the cartographer's cradt. But sticking a Crayola in a pre-teen's hand is only going to make them titter at the activity, not teach them.

[greenbriar]

22. bullshit

I have my students create their own map of each continent we study. They draw it to proportion, label everything including bodies of water and color the maps using the topography information.

the kids love it and want theirs displayed


Computers are great, but access is sometimes scarce in availability

[Bluebear]

23. "bullshit" - I love a high level discussion of pedagogy. nt

[greenbriar]

24. that bullshit had nothing to do with pedagogy or curriculum

but a gut reaction to all the "conspiricy" brainwashing mindsets

[Clark2008]

50. I'm 36 and still color.

I didn't understand the vitriol toward that displayed here, either.

It's not like that's ALL they're doing with their day, I'm sure.

[Bluebear]

53. "Bitterly abusive feeling or expression"

Vitriol, really?

You may be 36 and color but I am betting that coloring is not a cool activity for those aged, say, 11 through 17?

Maybe one picks it up again in adulthood.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

87. Try it with a high school class.

I used to do it every know and then in biology class. The students generally had a fun diversion, and learned the anatomy of a frog or the structures of a cell in the process.

Sheesh.

[proud2BlibKansan]

61. Yes I was LOL at that suggestion

As if classrooms had computers that can do that. And enough for each kid to get the assignment done. Yeah right.

I have 2 computers in my room. When they are working, an assignment like this would take the better part of a week. I vote for crayons - actually I prefer colored pencils. :)

[Bluebear]

66. Well it's not that funny

Any simple program like "Paint" which is on any Windows OS can "fill in" boundaries thusly:



In any case, carry on. If I asked my 12 year old students to color they would eyeroll me out of the room.

[proud2BlibKansan]

67. 2 computers, 30 kids

I am sure you realize how long that would take.

[Bluebear]

69. Certainly

I would probably do it as a group activity.

[Kerrytravelers]

71. While I'm not big on busy work or dumbing down work for kids,

coloring maps isn't that big of a deal. It is a mixture of the visual and kinesthetic learning styles. It is a perfectly legit assignment as far as that is concerned. The issue isn't the coloring, but the actual material that is being taught to the kids.

[proud2BlibKansan]

72. Coloring maps is the only coloring we do in my class

I agree with you. It's a quick and easy way to teach geography.

[proud2BlibKansan]

73. That takes away the kinesthetic element

I am no expert on middle school. My area is mainly upper elementary. And this is definitely an appropriate activity for that age group.

[Maddy McCall]

76. Your school does not have a computer lab?

Most do.

[Kerrytravelers]

80. I can't speak for everyone, but usually computer labs are run by a teacher

who is working on computer skills and knowledge. While the kids can reserve time to use the computers for class assignments, when I would take classes to the lab, the teacher there would have assignments for them to be working on. The one hour (or less) computer time per week was my only prep time in regards to district business.

My district had a policy that during our prep time, we had to conduct district business. We couldn't make copies, grade papers, call parents, or anything classroom related. District related meant working on presentations for professional development, submitting required paperwork, etc. It was time for working on group issues that effects everyone, not just classroom issues that effects just you.

[proud2BlibKansan]

83. Yes but it is used for computer classes

I can't march my kids in there anytime I want to use the computers.

[IndyOp]

43. Anatomy coloring books were a fascination of mine in high school...

Using color pencils I filled in hundreds of pages that helped me distinguish cell types, tissue types, structures...

Learners come in more than one type - auditory, visual, and kinesthetic.

Coloring is an activity that kinesthetic learners particularly benefit from -- we learn the language and visual elements of material while moving. I still can't think without moving. I have to take notes while I read to really process material. (If you think that kinesthetic learners aren't very good in language or math that would be wrong - I was in the high 90-percentiles for verbal and math on my SATs.)

12-year-olds should certainly not JUST be coloring books - they should do that and be responsible for understanding and communicating the concepts represented.

Good pedagogy demand excellent performance from all students and should engage all learning styles.

:)

[John Gauger]

12. They identified Shintoism as a type of Buddhism?

Aren't teachers supposed to know things about their subjects? I remember tenth grade, and no, Shintoism is NOT part of Buddhism. That's our education system. They are trying to kill the public schools so that they have only their private schools.

[Kelly Rupert]

16. Lamaism's fine,

it's Buddhist-derived. Shinto is irritating but almost understandable, but the confusion of Confucianism and Daoism is atrocious. (If you want to overgeneralize, just write "Dharmic" and cover everything from Hinduism to Daoism) I can sort of see claiming Russian is spoken in Poland, since Russian and Polish are both Slavic languages with a common root...but Romanian is derived from Latin, and AFAIK has no common ancestors with Russian since Proto-Indo-European.

The United States has English as its de facto official language. I can understand not teaching kids the difference between de facto and de jure official languages. And the United States is predominantly Christian; certainly more uniformly so than Europe is. Those are okay, I think, and aren't too much cause for concern so long as it's made clear that these are generalizations and not blanket statements.

However, the blatant falsehoods regarding the Eastern religions is extremely problematic, and the simplistic view of the non-Anglo world equally so.

[mcg]

47. Ukranian is the official language of Ukraine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_language

Twelve year olds can handle more detail than what this exercise 'teaches'.
This is dumbing things down to the point of distortion.

[greenbriar]

18. as a 7th grade social studies teacher... that teacher probably thought it was

a easy to understand graphic to standards that that teacher probably didn't understand her/himself

to fullfill a crappy standard set by the friking NCLB testing materials


this teacher probably didn't look all too closely at the materials and thought it would be a good representation on the surface of something they will delve into deeper as 9th or 11th graders.


until you have talked with the teacher DO NOT assume...



because of the NCLB ss at that level is like the wicked step child in curriculum and all of the things tested at the next grade level are thrown in. In my district, I am supposed to teach America and Mexico in ONE week according to my pacing guides and DCA's.



And YES at 12 the students LOVE to color graphics and maps. They are very creative and artistic if you do not take it away from them.

[Bonobo]

37. Greenbriar, I will try not to assume this teacher has an agenda. Thanks.

I will speak to her first. COuld you tell me what NCLB is and why it affects this issue as you say?

[ChazII]

38. NCLB

is No Child Left Behind.

[Stuckinthebush]

42. Pronounced "nicklebee"

and said with a scrunched up nose as in "boy that stinks"!

All the teachers I teach hate nicklebee. It has really screwed up education and should be the first thing to go when Bush is gone. I hope....

[proud2BlibKansan]

63. No Child Left Behind

is a federal law that mandates testing every kid in reading and math every year. It has resulted in an overemphasis on testing and meeting "standards". So we get to teach to a test now instead of meeting the needs of the kids.

[alittlelark]

19. My 12 year old did a website on religion and geography this year.

She didn't use colored pencils.


WOW.


We are all expected to donate $2000 per student in the district. I guess the $$$ is for the laptops.


Just - WOW - teach your daughter yourself, your school district is F'ed up.

[alittlelark]

20. dupe - delete

[Cocoa]

25. seems appropriate for a 12-year-old level

yes it's crude, but hopefully the lessons will get more refined as she progresses further through school.

[greenbriar]

26. yup

a easy to understand graphic to standards that that teacher probably didn't understand her/himself

to fullfill a crappy standard set by the friking NCLB testing materials


this teacher probably didn't look all too closely at the materials and thought it would be a good representation on the surface of something they will delve into deeper as 9th or 11th graders.

[Maddy McCall]

28. What good is an "easy to understand graphic" if the info on it is WRONG?

Should the greatest merit be that it's "easy to understand," or that it's FACTUAL?

I'd opt for the latter.

Factual information can, too, be presented in an "easy to understand" manner.

English is the official language in the U.S.? That one fact should have been a warning flag for this teacher that she should have looked closer at the graphic to see if indeed the rest of the information in it was correct.

And I think you underestimate 12 year old children, whether or not you are a teacher. My 12 year old is perfectly capable of learning the intricacies of world religions and languages. And he'd feel insulted if someone were to teach him lies.

[Maddy McCall]

27. As a college history instructor, what I find is that students arrive with misconceptions....

and outright incorrect information taught to them in elementary and secondary school. Why teach them crap only so they'll have to unlearn it and learn the correct information?

That exercise is junk. Pure junk. That teacher needs to sit down and read James Loewen's "Lies My Teacher Told Me."

[Cocoa]

29. I agree with that part

calling English the U.S.'s official language is an important factual error.

But that seemed to be a minor part of the criticism. I thought the overall criticism was of the lack of sophistication of the exercise more than the accuracy of it.

[proud2BlibKansan]

68. How would you teach this particular objective?

I agree that the misinformation needs to go, but do you have a better idea for teaching kids to identify world religions and languages and match them up to the correct countries on a map?

[Maddy McCall]

75. You could begin by giving them FACTUAL information about religions and languages...

which this teacher did not do.

[proud2BlibKansan]

77. That's what I said

"I agree that the misinformation needs to go"

But I want to know how you would teach the objective, which probably is:

The learner will identify world religions and languages and match them to their appropriate countries.

[Maddy McCall]

78. To college level students?

Hopefully, they arrive with that knowledge. Sadly, 90% don't, and that means that whoever is writing the assignments to fulfill those objectives on lower levels is failing to do so successfully.

[proud2BlibKansan]

79. No, to 7th graders

So many people in this thread have criticized having 7th graders color. I know you are a teacher and I was wondering if you had a different idea for how to teach this.

[Maddy McCall]

96. You know, it's not my job to do your job. What I've told you several times...

is that whatever is being done, it is not working.

Most come to college completely unaware and misinformed--culturally illiterate. Coloring or not, someone is failing them.

[snot]

30. 3 Critical Control Areas:

elections

media

education.

We've let conservatives get control of all three. We must reverse that control in all three areas in order to make real progress in any other area.

[Swamp Rat]

31. Coloring books at 12?!? Hell! I got past primary colors by age 2!

I knew about those religious systems by age 9 or 10, and could say phrases in German, French, and Spanish... and I mostly attended PUBLIC schools in NEW ORLEANS, one of the WORST in North America. :eyes:

What they fuck is happening to our children??? :wow:

[Solon]

34. How freakin' inaccurate is this shit, let's see...

Christianity is somewhat accurate, the list anyways, though they don't seem to make the distinction between Greek Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox.

In Islam, its Shi'a not Shiite, that's an adjective there, idiot teacher.

The Buddhist listing is just wrong, here are the three SCHOOLS of Buddhism: Theravāda · Mahāyāna
Vajrayāna.

Taoism and Confucianism are separate religions AND philosophies, its confusing, but in Taoism, for example, some folks WORSHIP a multitude of deities according to geographical location, but also include Lao Tzu as a deity as well. Or you can follow the Dao, without it leading to worship, similar to how people follow other philosophers. Confucianism is more of an ethical philosophy than a religion, though its LISTED as a religion by the United Nations.

Under Hinduism there are four major Denominations:

Vaishnavism
Śaivism
Shaktism
Smartism

There's a fifth one, on Java, in Indonesia called Agama Hindu Dharma.

Under Judaism, they forgot the obvious two schools of thought, Reform and Orthodox.

Under Animism, actually I'm surprised they mentioned it, but Shinto could technically be listed under this, in addition to Santeria. Though I would give credit just for Animism being listed at all.

Also, Lamaist is a mispelling of the word Lamaism, a derogatory word for Tibetan Buddhism, Lama is the TITLE for Tibetan Buddhist Monks and Nuns who have the authority to teach NOT the name of the Religion.

The simplistic nature of the drawings is stupid as well, there are as many people following Shinto as Buddhism in Japan, in fact they same person may do both! But seriously, its too simplistic for a 12 year old, a 7 or 8 year old, I can understand, but not 12.

As far as Languages, well, its obvious that the United States has no major official language, so it should remain blank, Canada has two official languages, other nations have two or more as well, so the coloring there will be confusing. Chinese isn't a language, its a nationality, the teacher should have listed Mandarin or nothing at all.

This is just a classic example of stupidity put in teaching form, I would complain myself.

[SemperEadem]

45. I heard this just this week

"In Islam, its Shi'a not Shiite, that's an adjective there, idiot teacher."

and in fact, there is no such thing as "Shiite"... it's Shi'a, as in Shi'a militia, etc. The US media has invented an incorrect word to dismiss this religion they don't understand. It'd be like calling christians "christites".

[knitter4democracy]

65. Greek Orthodox is Eastern Orthodox.

We're all the same in theology and hierarchy and only have minor differences in liturgy (concerning language/translations and musical tones). My husband and I were chrismated in a Greek Orthodox church, and now we're in a Russian Orthodox church, and we didn't have to do anything other than make sure all the priests knew and filed the paperwork for change of membership.

Small point, but it's a thing with me. I'm suprised we were on the list at all, even though the name was incorrect. We're not Eastern Christians, but all Eastern Orthodox Christians.

[annabanana]

35. Yikes!. .And that's in Massachusetts?

The public school book industry needs a good shaking out, I see.

[MOB]

39. Islamic Students Bullied in US Public Schools

Hear about the story when it comes out on podcast next week

very good, very shocking

http://www.thislife.org/

[Lasthorseman]

40. I call it

Weapons of Mass Division. Our Illuminati friends have discovered it's much cheaper to control people through the manipulation of reality when it's too expensive to do so with guns. In this country altered reality is a multi trillion dollar business.

[lostnfound]

62. K&R. It's also "dumbing them down"

How horrible.

[Lasthorseman]

82. Hmm

Iserbyte, if I remember correctly but more than that other people are looking up stuff I got kicked off of boards for two years ago!

[LostinVA]

41. Shinto is NOT a part of Buddhism

It's a native Pagan religion of Japan.

I won't even touch the other craziness on that list.

[Bigmack]

48. Bonobo.. you could turn this teacher's...

career around.

Lots of times, teachers get tired... or lazy. Young ones don't have much experience, or don't have a big "bag of tricks" accumulated over the years. Old ones get tired and just want to assign the kids some quiet project that will give them a chance to rest for a minute without 15 kids pulling at them.

Talk to this teacher quetly, and share your concerns. Suggest an activity that would interest the kids and get them working.

I've never taught the younger grades, but even my jaded high school seniors were led into all kinds of discussions and projects by things like this map.

[Bonobo]

52. An inspiring idea! Thank you.

[Bonobo]

54. Where did you get that great map? Any of World Religions?

What was the url/source of that?

[treestar]

49. The language thing doesn't take into account how many people

speak English - "official" is kind of ceremonial. People speak English all over the world now. I don't think it matters what is official so much as how many people speak a language. A person who speaks two languages counts twice - it's not as if your mind is allowed only one language.

[Lurking Dem]

51. My kid was a freshman in high school at 12.

He placed 3rd in the state geography bee at 11.

He may have been driven near to murder by an assignment like that and I can tell you he would have ended up in the principal's office for "attempting to educate a teacher" and not for the first time. (He had a science teacher in 8th grade refer to "phrases of the moon".)

[LWolf]

56. "They???" "You?????"

<snip>

Shit they are teaching our kids in "Social Studies!!!"

When the hell did that happen and why are you teaching that to my daughter?

:wtf:

I'm going to go out on a limb here....:sarcasm:

and suggest that the “Geography Coloring Book” is not state or districted adopted social studies curriculum. I'll further predict that it is a "supplementary" book found in a local teacher store, or online somewhere. While teachers are allowed to use such supplements, they are supposed to make professional decisions based on the state curriculum, the needs of their students, etc..

Just who is "they?" As an educator, I can guarantee you that "I" am not teaching any such thing to your daughter, or to anyone else. I teach 12 year-olds.

I cannot express strongly enough how completely, totally, sick I am of the insidious war on public education that begins with teacher bashing, or how totally betrayed I feel when that bashing comes from Democrats. Between Ted "Crusader for NCLB" Kennedy and all those Democratic voters who happily join in the "let's gang up and blame the teachers" mantras coming from the right wing, I'm surprised there are teachers left that will vote for Democrats.

If you care, here's a little advice:

Call school and request a brief meeting with the teacher. At that meeting, point out that you feel the assignment misrepresents language distribution, and say why. Tell the teacher you would like to see this corrected. It could be done quite simply by explaining that there is no official US language, and taking the word "official" out of the map's title. Official or not, english is currently the majority language.

If you don't like the teacher's response, go to the principal. If you don't like that response, go to the school board. In other words, instead of starting a war on "they" and "I," use the process available to you to correct the situation.

While you are doing that, be aware that your attitude counts. If you go into a meeting with the attitude you display here, I can guarantee that the people involved will not be helpful. If you go in as a partner offering concern and help, your concerns will be addressed.

As an educator, I don't see any problem with teaching students about the distribution of religions and languages throughout the world, as long as the information is accurate. For example, noting that the majority religion in the U.S. is christianity is fine, as long as the constitutional protections are taught. A more interesting activity might be some sort of graph including all religions, or all languages in the U.S. You might suggest that as a follow up activity, if the teacher didn't intend to do so already.

[Bonobo]

60. I appreciate your response, and after venting for a bit and reading others' input...

I fell much more relaxed about the issues, but still disappointed in the quality of the education.

[LWolf]

64. Education is a much bigger issue

than voters or political parties have been willing to address. What you see is just the tip of the iceberg. I could rant for a month about problems, and I could outline solutions. Nobody, in or out of the system, really wants to address the core of the issue, though.

What you are disappointed in is a symptom, not a cause. When America decides to truly ensure that every citizen has access to a superb education, I'll be there to help.

[proud2BlibKansan]

57. The good news is that she is getting some instruction in Social Studies

In our district, we have been told to not worry about teaching Social Studies since it is not tested.

[ComerPerro]

58. overreacting much?

like it or not, a very large majority of people in the US speak english and call themselves Christian.

If the assignment is done right, I think it would suprise a lot of 12 year olds to learn how much of the world speaks French.

[Kerrytravelers]

70. As a teacher, I advise you go straight to the teacher and get their reaction.

If unsatisfied, go straight to the Principal and get their reaction. Next,the School Board. If the matter isn't rectified immediately, turn them into the state. Let them know your intentions. The state can affect their funding over this. That teacher needs to be held accountable. We are fully responsible for all materials we bring into the classroom. Ignorance is no excuse, from any of the above mention, but especially from the teacher. It is the teacher's responsibility to ensure that all materials are state-compliant, and materials that come from a Christan perspective are not compliant.

Let us know the outcome.



EDITED because of an omission.

[Norquist Nemesis]

88. Thank you!!! If I could recommend an individual post it would be this one

:thumbsup:

[Kerrytravelers]

93. Thank you.

Listen, I am the first to defend teachers, believe me. But I'm also the first to provide suggestions in how to deal with teachers who may have erred due to ignorance or teachers who are just plain wrong. There is a way to do things that won't cause hard feelings, and a way to be sure that the wrongs are corrected.

And, quite frankly, if other teachers just use her worksheets without knowing the source (I've done that,) then the district can lose some funding due to being plain old uninformed.

[Nikki Stone1]

81. Why is she doing a "coloring" assignment at 12 anyway?

Sounds like everything is being as dumbed down as possible

[Kerrytravelers]

84. Just plain old coloring pictures would be silly, but coloring maps in order to

reach those with the visual and kinesthetic strengths isn't a bad thing, in itself. As most leaning in traditional schools are audio and literary, incorporating visual, artistic and kinesthetic intelligences is acceptable.

The incorrect information is far more concerning than that particular method. What also concerns me is whether or not the teacher is using other intelligences and methods to enforce this incorrect information. That is what I am curious about.

[Maddy McCall]

97. Exactly.

[NoSheep]

86. Where do you live? (in general is ok)

[Bonobo]

89. Very progressive town in western Mass.

[rpgamerd00d]

90. I see absolutely nothing wrong with this.

I think you need to remove your tinfoil hat, here, and cope with the fact that a 12 yr old child doesn't see the same nuances as an adult, and that a simple color-coding exercise is a great way to open up their eyes (metaphorically) to the differences in the world.

In other words... Lighten up, Francis.

[NoSheep]

92. Forget the coloring! What about the simplistic, misinformation

the teacher expected the child to regurgitate?

[rpgamerd00d]

98. Perfectly acceptable.

There is nothing "wrong" about the information.

It just isn't nuanced to the adult level.

Fancy that, its for a 12 yr old.

Color me surprised.
Not.

[NoSheep]

99. "It just isn't nuanced to the adult level." I see your point here. n/t

[IA_Seth]

101. Color you surprised....

I am 28 years old, I shouldn't be coloring anything!!111!

I agree with ya, I kept waiting for the big 'oh my gosh' moment reading the OP and it didn't come. I recall similar tasks in 6th grade or so and I am pretty confident that I wasn't brainwashed! It's not like they said the ONLY language or the ONLY religion.

[ray of light]

94. Don't like it? Teach democracy then!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2938274

Send the book and dvd to your local history teacher.

[sarcasmo]

95. Do background research on your kids teacher.

[AspenRose]

100. WOW

Just, wow. :wow:

I learn so much coming here. Talk about eye-opening. The average person wouldn't have picked up on any of that stuff you caught. Before today, I doubt I would have either.