More proof Arne is clueless

[proud2BlibKansan]

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told CNN he doesn't believe the new U.S. history textbook standards being proposed by the Texas Board of Education will impact classrooms across the country.

"Whatever Texas decides, I do not think there will be large ripple effects around the country," Duncan said. "Textbook companies today have a real ability to customize textbooks."

But what about schoolchildren in Texas, itself?

"Ideally, history will be lead by the historians, not by politicians," Duncan answered.

Last year, Diane Ravitch, professor of education at NYU, told TPMMuckraker something different.

"The publishers vie to get their books adopted for them, and the changes that are inserted to please Texas and California are then part of the textbooks made available to every other state," Ravitch said at the time.

Watch Duncan: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/05/duncan_texas_textbook_standards_wont_affect_rest_o.php

[Starry Messenger]

1. Oh FFS.

:banghead:

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. Check out the comments at the link

Perhaps someone needs to explain to our Secretary of Education that one should be informed about the sublject he is pontificating about . . . If only there was a word that encapsulates that concept . . . Like "education".

Propoganda is not education.

eezbus effin Krike on a crutch! This guy shouldn't even be a rinky dink dog catcher. Texas and California have dictated the way texts are printed and approved and have done so for over 50 years with Tex Ass taking the religious fundie booger eatin moron lead.....

This from a Yellow Dog Democrat who taught in public schools for 30 years: If you don't think what textbooks Texas and California buys will affect what the rest of the country will buy (and I'm not comfortable insulting you here) you either need to resign or start cramming for a minimum of 10 hours daily on the history of textbooks in America covering the last 60 years and surrounding yourself with experts on the subject. Google, if necessary. This is a huge part of your job.

[Starry Messenger]

4. Those are good comments.

Much more detailed then my first reaction, which was "Gah, the stupid, it burns!" with a side of facepalm. I haven't had any coffee yet though. The fact that he apparently doesn't even know anything about how political textbooks have been historically just makes me want to cry.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1973276,00.html

This is not Texas' first such skirmish. Since the 1970s, the state has tried to drop books that were seen as too liberal or anti-Christian, to omit passages on the gay-rights movement and to tone down global-warming arguments. But the nation's battle over textbooks stretches back almost half a century earlier. In 1925, Tennessee's Butler Act (which was repealed in 1967) made it illegal to teach "any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible." The Scopes "monkey trial" famously followed. In 1974, a clash erupted in Kanawha County, West Virginia, over the controversial writings of such authors as George Orwell, Arthur Miller and Allen Ginsberg. Opposition was so heated that some schools were firebombed with dynamite and Molotov cocktails.

As one of America's largest textbook buyers, the Longhorn State has a good deal of sway over what is peddled to schools nationwide. And while Napoléon may have maintained that "history is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon," getting Texans to come together on the past may prove to be their Waterloo.

This is just basic stuff that anyone with a passing knowledge of education knows about. Gah!!

[Catshrink]

7. "anyone with a passing knowledge of education knows about"

That would leave Arne out.

[Starry Messenger]

11. Can't he even Google??

This man is so out of touch it is scary. We are truly frakked.

[HelenWheels]

3. Arne is a disaster.

Obama screwed up big time with his appointment.

[madrchsod]

5. but he`s obama`s basketball buddy...

[madrchsod]

6. anyone who followed his leadership in chicago...

knew he was going to do this at the national level. the man is,as you say,clueless and so is his boss.

[msongs]

8. he is doing what his boss wants him to do - nt

[Smarmie Doofus]

9. This is both true and tragic. It's also somewhat baffling.

Obama has no experience with... and does not understand... US public school education. He should have recognized his limitations in this area and picked someone with expertise, experience in the field and ... well... *gravitas*.

But he picked someone as clueless as he himself is. The baffling part is *why*? He seems to "know what he doesn't know" in other spheres, and seeks guidance from those who are in a position to intelligently guide.

The Duncan pick is just dumbfounding. ( And I mean that literally.)

[tonysam]

10. Obama is following the script laid out by Democrats for Education Reform

Enough said about this outfit.

[Hannah Bell]

12. not baffling. crystal clear. his backers want the changes.

[mzteris]

13. sorry to tell you this, but he does have a point...

customizing textbooks is easier than ever. The "big market controls the content of all" argument just isn't that viable anymore.

[mopinko]

14. textbooks in chicago are not like that.

i live here. my kids go to school here. there is none of that fundy nonsense allowed. none. if we can do it here, you can do it anywhere. there are plenty of good texts out there. and plenty of ways to teach history without a textbook at all.
it is a local issue. if your local school board buys this crap, vote them out. it is not the sec. of education's problem.