Proposed Texas textbooks are inaccurate, biased and politicized, new report finds

[Thebobo]

Reddit has banned the huffpoo post for plagiarism and flat out making stories up but I guess it's still good enough for this forum.

Ok Wall Street Journal good enough for you then?

Irony - you are just making stuff up in your accusation post.

A Guardian story notes that a subreddit — one of 7,800 sections of Reddit — has banned Huffington Post articles after some allegedly unpleasant experience with the site’s good-news editors.

 

[Babbles]

I graduated from a high school in Texas in 1996 and I can't fathom how I would have turned out if I were in school there today.

I'm a big fan of Prof. James Loewen's work such as "Lies My Teacher Told Me."

It's mind-boggling how politics can really shape the thinking and understanding of very complicated topics. I find this very disturbing.

 

[Oldgamer]

Reddit has banned the huffpoo post for plagiarism and flat out making stories up but I guess it's still good enough for this forum.

Really? Because I got this article from reddit today...its on the front page.

http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/2gd2tj/proposed_texas_textbooks_are_inaccurate_biased/

I have never seen Huffington Post banned ever on reddit. Link me your source please.

 

[Dannar26]

Let the truth be true. Kids will decide the rest as they come of age.

And seriously, enough with the intelligent design crap.

 

[Jaskalas]

No discussion on how to correct this problem. What measures to take?

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Reddit has banned the huffpoo post for plagiarism and flat out making stories up but I guess it's still good enough for this forum.

Are you fuckin' serious?

Reddit is a leftist website, and THEY aren't even allowing huffpost articles? That's telling you something....

 

[Victorian Gray]

Are you fuckin' serious?

Reddit is a leftist website, and THEY aren't even allowing huffpost articles? That's telling you something....

It's telling you this:

"PSA – HuffingtonPost articles are no longer welcome in r/UpliftingNews and will be immediately removed moving forward(self)
While this rule is effective immediately, the decision has been looming for some time now. Simply put, a few of the HuffingtonPost Good News Editors have been sourcing stories from this subreddit for quite a while without any attribution to r/UpliftingNews, to reddit.com and in some cases, even to the original journalists or bloggers whose stories were shared here (and in other subreddits)."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2014/09/12/huffington-post-disputes-reddit-ban/

1 out of 7,800 subreddits has a disagreement with HuffPo's Good News editors. Useful information that is, for sure.

 

[Bowfinger]

Are you fuckin' serious?

Reddit is a leftist website, and THEY aren't even allowing huffpost articles? That's telling you something....

Yes, it tells you he's lying, or perhaps more accurately, he's a parrot who is mindlessly repeating a lie he's been fed. It says a lot about the hard right that the majority of what they believe is based on innuendo, distortion, and outright lies. That wouldn't be necessary if their extremist views were grounded in reality.

 

[Bowfinger]

No discussion on how to correct this problem. What measures to take?

Sue to take them out of Texas schools, and raise both awareness and unease in other states that might be adopting them. If a state knows it may also be sued for for buying faulty text books, it will tend to look elsewhere. Make states and publishers alike suffer financial consequences for intentionally providing misinformation to promote a religious agenda.

 

[boomerang]

The article the OP based this post on is a blog article by a leftist known for her extreme left views when it comes to education. It is not surprising in the least that she would write an article opposing the proposed content of textbooks that contain anything other than her views. Textbooks that contain anything other than leftist ideology, and in Texas? Need anything more be said?

The progz learned a long, long time ago that education is a key component of their agenda. They have been very successful in their quest to control the education of the children of this country. Their biggest success to date is the guy residing in the White House. He, is of course a failure but getting him there is the success, just to be clear.

Progz have been tinkering with our schools for 100 years. Tinkering with what has been taught and how it has been taught. What is the state of our educational system compared to other nations? When will it be the right time to reform our educational system to prepare our citizens to compete in the world? No better time than now. How do we get the progressives out of education and what do we do with them? That's the problem.

 

[thraashman]

Yes, it tells you he's lying, or perhaps more accurately, he's a parrot who is mindlessly repeating a lie he's been fed. It says a lot about the hard right that the majority of what they believe is based on innuendo, distortion, and outright lies. That wouldn't be necessary if their extremist views were grounded in reality.

Exactly. You spend enough time in P&N and you start to notice how easily the righties will accept any lie told to them that fits in with their preconceived notions. And then no matter how thoroughly you prove their beliefs wrong, they hang on to them. It seems that critical thinking in this nation has become a distinctly left-leaning ability

 

[Oldgamer]

Exactly. You spend enough time in P&N and you start to notice how easily the righties will accept any lie told to them that fits in with their preconceived notions. And then no matter how thoroughly you prove their beliefs wrong, they hang on to them. It seems that critical thinking in this nation has become a distinctly left-leaning ability

Add to that they when they are caught on this they won't readily admit it either. Talk about stubborn..lol

 

[HomerJS]

The article the OP based this post on is a blog article by a leftist known for her extreme left views when it comes to education. It is not surprising in the least that she would write an article opposing the proposed content of textbooks that contain anything other than her views. Textbooks that contain anything other than leftist ideology, and in Texas? Need anything more be said?

The progz learned a long, long time ago that education is a key component of their agenda. They have been very successful in their quest to control the education of the children of this country. Their biggest success to date is the guy residing in the White House. He, is of course a failure but getting him there is the success, just to be clear.

Progz have been tinkering with our schools for 100 years. Tinkering with what has been taught and how it has been taught. What is the state of our educational system compared to other nations? When will it be the right time to reform our educational system to prepare our citizens to compete in the world? No better time than now. How do we get the progressives out of education and what do we do with them? That's the problem.

How old is the earth?

 

[OrByte]

Text mentions Moses and claims that the “biblical idea of a covenant, an ancient Jewish term meaning a special kind of agreement between the people and God, influenced the formation of colonial governments and contributed to our constitutional structure.”

 

[nehalem256]

How old is the earth?

Was Benjamin Franklin an atheist?

 

[Meghan54]

Was Benjamin Franklin an atheist?

No, but he certainly wasn't a Christian as we define it today.

More a deist, which Franklin identified himself as being in his 1771 autobiography. Franklin also rejected Christian dogma in a 1725 pamphlet A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain.

Most these days would put Franklin's beliefs not as a deist but more a rational theist, accepting only limited parts of the Bible and rejecting most of it. Franklin, much like Jefferson, Adams, Washington, among most of the founding "fathers", were not Christians as we define, but were very much in the deist vein of belief systems, in that God's truths can be found entirely through nature and reason.

 

[HumblePie]

I could have sworn the majority of the Founding Fathers were deists. Which are not atheists, but certainly were not Christian at all either.

In fact, none of the Founding Fathers or major political leaders in that past time frame were atheist at all. Doesn't mean they were all Christian either at all. Most were not Christian. Still, to have a history book which states the United States was founded on religious ideals is completely false. It was founded on the ideas of equality (as best as could be done although slaves were still allowed at the time), freedom, self governance, and limiting government rule over the people.

Out of all the political leaders since that time, almost none of them were close to atheists with the exception of Abe Lincoln. But again, they were not all Christian, especially in the earlier part of our history. Although most since that early period have been Christian in nature.

 

[cubby1223]

Add to that they when they are caught on this they won't readily admit it either. Talk about stubborn..lol

And exactly how many times have you been caught post-happy about anything on the subject of police brutality that has turned out to be, well, not quite what you claimed it to be? And then disappear on that subject to go find your next anger-inducing article?

 

[senseamp]

Everything is dumber in Texas, why should the kids be an exception?

 

[OutHouse]

no mention of founding fathers that were atheist like Benjamin Franklin, etc.

sorry pal but Franklin was not an atheist. he was a freemason and they don't allow atheist.

Serious question, what liberal bullshit propaganda did you read to make you to believe Franklin was an atheist?

 

[Newell Steamer]

I am not surprised about the findings. But, I would like to read the actual content of some of these findings. Especially on this one;

Several world history and world geography textbooks include biased statements that inappropriately portray Islam and Muslims negatively.

,.. well, what was said? If it is overtly negative and inappropriately, this can be stopped. But, anything less will be feigned as; ,.. wha, wha ah do?

It is also pretty unnerving that not only are non-Christian religion portrayed negatively, but, that Christianity is the only religion that walks away unscathed,.. according to these findings. Or, that there seems to be the impression that the Christian view/take on these subjects is that of intolerance and refusal to accept others,.. which is counter to the very idea of what it means to be a Christian; this is based on the name itself of Christianity and the message of Jesus. As a Christian, I believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior and follow in his teachings, direction and message - which is that of love and acceptance.

Jesus' message was not of intolerance, lies, character assassination, alarmism, false martyrs and other defective thinking the "modern" conservative is notorious for.

I would also like to see what was actually said here as well,..

One world history textbook includes outdated – and possibly offensive – anthropological categories and racial terminology in describing African civilization.

,.. again, if it is anything less than overtly negative and inappropriate; ,.. wha, wha ah do?

I have no problem with this,...

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.

,.. as long as it is followed by; to enslave other human beings.

It seems that the authors of these books are conservatives doing their damnedest to paint anything that is not like them as bad.

Provided these are indeed the findings (again, I am curious about the actual content,.. reading it for myself will allow me to agree 100% that what was said is indeed biased and politicized,..), I didn't expect anything better from a group of people in this country who fear everything and anything different from them. Sensationalize, lie and bend the truth, to vilify their 'enemies',.. not very Christian, is it?

 

[Oldgamer]

And exactly how many times have you been caught post-happy about anything on the subject of police brutality that has turned out to be, well, not quite what you claimed it to be? And then disappear on that subject to go find your next anger-inducing article?

First off.. I don't live on this internet board unlike you. I have work and a family and can't be typing away 24/7 to reply or make comments non stop.

Secondly, Benjamin Franklin and others (as some have pointed out was a Deist) and I posted that might have been true to those replies because I had read this somewhere. Does it make it fact? Who knows. In fact I imagine with those kinds of beliefs in his time people would have declared him an atheist with such "negative comments" and views he was said to have had on the issue of religion.

Many times I have admitted to being wrong on some of these posts when someone brings it to my attention, unlike many Republicans who live in a bubble and no facts get in no matter what is put before them. They are stuck on the "stubborn mode of we are right regardless of facts".

 

[PokerGuy]

Lots of accusation of bias and inaccuracy, but they come from the usual leftist suspects that think telling a kid about a mother and father is somehow biased against "alternative lifestyles" and other such garbage. Lots of politically correct left wing whining. Lets see some actual examples of the supposed problems, rather than the interpretations of leftist loonies.

undertaken by the Education Fund of the Texas Freedom Network, a watchdog and activist group that monitors far-right issues and organizations

Color me surprised, a left wing group whining about inaccuracy in school books in Texas. I'm sure they would prefer some good ol' chanting hyms for obama instead

 

[cubby1223]

First off.. I don't live on this internet board unlike you. I have work and a family and can't be typing away 24/7 to reply or make comments non stop.

Secondly, Benjamin Franklin and others (as some have pointed out was a Deist) and I posted that might have been true to those replies because I had read this somewhere. Does it make it fact? Who knows. In fact I imagine with those kinds of beliefs in his time people would have declared him an atheist with such "negative comments" and views he was said to have had on the issue of religion.

Many times I have admitted to being wrong on some of these posts when someone brings it to my attention, unlike many Republicans who live in a bubble and no facts get in no matter what is put before them. They are stuck on the "stubborn mode of we are right regardless of facts".

Some of the times.

What you are doing is not informing people of a few cases of police brutality, you are creating a narrative and it is repeated by more and more around here that there is no such thing as a good cop. You perpetuate anger. It doesn't always matter if you acknowledge a mistake or not, the anger was felt, shared, and spread. And the overall message is always the same - all cops are bad cops. And even when a mistake is made, users more and more shrug it off as, he may not be a bad cop in that incident, but he is a bad cop for enabling other bad cops - and the anger perpetuates.

 

[Oldgamer]

Some of the times.

What you are doing is not informing people of a few cases of police brutality, you are creating a narrative and it is repeated by more and more around here that there is no such thing as a good cop. You perpetuate anger. It doesn't always matter if you acknowledge a mistake or not, the anger was felt, shared, and spread. And the overall message is always the same - all cops are bad cops. And even when a mistake is made, users more and more shrug it off as, he may not be a bad cop in that incident, but he is a bad cop for enabling other bad cops - and the anger perpetuates.

Good grief you sure like to project. Btw, you are now really veering off topic here. This isn't about your issues with me or others posting the news on bad cop behavior or your perceptions of me. This is about Texas putting out some really bad text books.