Trump signs executive order to establish a 'national commission to promote patriotic education'

[Nirex]

Well isn't this timely with a certain campaign coming up...

 

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/516941-trump-announces-commission-to-further-patriotic-education

 

Edited September 17, 2020 by Nirex

[Shawnster]

"National campaign to promote patriotic education' makes me think of arm bands, jack boots, and brown shirts.

[Tortuga]

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-calls-patriotic-eduction-says-anti-racism-teachings-are-child-n1240372

 

More information about the education program.

[Whitley M]

This was weirdest news today... looking more and more forward to homeschooling my daughter 

[McKay]

Except that education curriculums in the US are determined by the states so the federal government has no way to establish a nationwide curriculum. A high school civics lesson would have taught these people that.

Edited September 18, 2020 by McKay

[Katty]

Yeah sounds like more propaganda being fed under the guise of education. I'm never comfortable with biased educational narratives no matter what the bias is. If Trump is a critic of the left leaning bias that's been promoted in schools, he's not promising anything better. It all ends up being blatant historical lies, which swing back and forth between partisan sides like a pendulum.

[Dustparticle]

1 hour ago, Shawnster said:

"National campaign to promote patriotic education' makes me think of arm bands, jack boots, and brown shirts.

Remind me of Nazism.

[Tortuga]

It's interesting to see which demographics his campaign manager thinks this will appeal to. Does this indicate that Trump thinks the majority of voters are tired of people trying to rewrite history to make it politically correct?

[McKay]

17 minutes ago, Mephibosheth said:

It's interesting to see which demographics his campaign manager thinks this will appeal to. Does this indicate that Trump thinks the majority of voters are tired of people trying to rewrite history to make it politically correct?

He thinks this will motivate his base to put stronger faith in him.

[Hope]

21 minutes ago, Mephibosheth said:

It's interesting to see which demographics his campaign manager thinks this will appeal to. Does this indicate that Trump thinks the majority of voters are tired of people trying to rewrite history to make it politically correct?

It would be nice to just have *correct* history, period - rewritten (if need be) or not.  It's said that history is written by the victors (and/or majority/ruling population)... There's NO way in this system that unbiased, accurate "this is what actually happened and the effects" type history will ever be taught. 

 

I'm very glad I have no children in school.

[Nirex]

Er, just to subside confusion. When I said timely with a certain campaign, I meant ours. Not the political one. It's timely with ours.

[EccentricM]

17 minutes ago, Hope said:

It would be nice to just have *correct* history, period - rewritten (if need be) or not.  It's said that history is written by the victors (and/or majority/ruling population)... There's NO way in this system that unbiased, accurate "this is what actually happened and the effects" type history will ever be taught. 

 

I'm very glad I have no children in school.

For sure. For example, the US Revolution and the British Empire's history isn't taught at all in most if not all UK schools. If you want to know where the USA came from, you have to learn it outside of school by yourself, it's not mentioned in our classes. We start with Celtic culture, Roman, it skips Saxon and Middles ages right to Tudor, then a "little" Victorian, and then it skips all the way to WW2. And that's the whole British school history curriculum start to finish from when you first go to school from age 5, to when you finish at 16 (now 18).

 

When I told friends from the US this fact, they acted as if something holy had been profaned, lol. And say things like "the Brits must secretly still be mad about it", but to the UK, the loss of the US was just the loss of some "far away colonies" not to bother over, lol. To Americans, it's the holy grail of all things to learn because it's the foundation of their nation, but to us, it's but a "bullet point" in our history as a nation, of which goes back 'much' further in time than the founding of the US.

 

I wonder though, if we had won that Revolutionary war, if it would be taught in our schools, or if the Empire in some form would still exist, how culture would be different, etc. Crazy really. Most of my favorite things and hobbies, music, etc, come from the US.

 

 

Edited September 18, 2020 by EccentricM

[Hope]

Like how in Vietnam, they fought (and won) the American War.. 😉

[Dustparticle]

12 hours ago, Hope said:

It would be nice to just have *correct* history, period - rewritten (if need be) or not.  It's said that history is written by the victors (and/or majority/ruling population)... There's NO way in this system that unbiased, accurate "this is what actually happened and the effects" type history will ever be taught. 

 

I'm very glad I have no children in school.

Just past week, I told an editor of a paper that most accurate history  history is the the Bible. History is all mess up. It is full of racism, biased, and lies.

[BenJepthah]

13 hours ago, McKay said:

Except that education curriculums in the US are determined by the states so the federal government has no way to establish a nationwide curriculum. A high school civics lesson would have taught these people that.

And that would have been a rather patriotic lesson.

[BenJepthah]

The current education system is woefully lacking in much content that would actually build up national unity in the US.  Including the bio’s of Wentworth Chesswell , Robert Smalls , and James Aristide Lafayette ( I could be misspelling this one badly).  It being the case that The Woodrow Wilson administration had a lot to do with the Department of Education.  
     Yes, a huge amount of US history has been buried which should have been taught all along.  US civics is poorly taught. Most people are oblivious to very important and influential persons in US history or even the importance of the founding principles from which which the entire country is meant to operate.  
    To be fair , the public schools simply could not possibly teach it all. But it should be encouraged for independent study. 
 

[BenJepthah]

13 hours ago, Mephibosheth said:

It's interesting to see which demographics his campaign manager thinks this will appeal to. Does this indicate that Trump thinks the majority of voters are tired of people trying to rewrite history to make it politically correct?

I’m gonna agree with Hope.  The problem is that US history has been taught poorly , neglecting the contributions of non Caucasians. Currently this is being used to promote a curriculum which overcompensates .  And while it would be difficult In The time allotted in the school year to actively highlight all the very many contributions made by so many people it would be nice to see “ Correct “ history taught and independent  study of historical research promoted.  I honestly think that most High School history teachers could not even answer the question : “ Name the first Black Speaker of the House  and the years of his service ?”  Fewer yet could tell answer “ Why is the preamble to the Declaration of Independence important?” Or “ How did the orators of the Iroquois and their method of tribal governance influence the formation of the IS government?”.  Or better yet: “ What influence did the Bible have on the formation of the US government?” 

[Tortuga]

13 hours ago, Hope said:

It would be nice to just have *correct* history,

I'm more interested in why a political candidate would think his voters are interested in this executive order. What does that tell us about what he thinks is the prevailing attitude?

[Bob]

Well, the alternative is having our children brainwashed into thinking they are hopeless victims of some invisible "The White Man" boogey man, somewhere in the universe, willing and waiting to put their foot on the necks of black and brown people. 

 

 

[BenJepthah]

15 minutes ago, Mephibosheth said:

I'm more interested in why a political candidate would think his voters are interested in this executive order. What does that tell us about what he thinks is the prevailing attitude?

This is a reaction. To a reaction.  The 1619 project and the recent additional push directly by BLM to introduce curriculum into the public schools has been noticed.  These are quite recent changes to the curriculum and viewed with suspicion.   Thus the reaction. 
     That’s the political reason for the executive order.   There is , however, a rational reason to review what and how US history is being taught. 
    The other problem is local governments skewing the teaching to favor local political agendas.  Most large school districts have been under the same party influence for about a generation. During that time the Civil rights movement happened but it is doubtful that students are being taught ( for example) about the now famous filibuster of the Civil Rights act by any particular party leader. 

[Bob]

19 minutes ago, BenJepthah said:

This is a reaction. To a reaction.  The 1619 project and the recent additional push directly by BLM to introduce curriculum into the public schools has been noticed.  These are quite recent changes to the curriculum and viewed with suspicion.   Thus the reaction. 
     That’s the political reason for the executive order.   There is , however, a rational reason to review what and how US history is being taught. 
    The other problem is local governments skewing the teaching to favor local political agendas.  Most large school districts have been under the same party influence for about a generation. During that time the Civil rights movement happened but it is doubtful that students are being taught ( for example) about the now famous filibuster of the Civil Rights act by any particular party leader. 

That encourages victimhood and teaches children that they are victims of some invisible boogeyman. As long as one believes he's a victim, he's never going to have any success in life period and won't overcome hardship. People who don't think of themselves as victims usually overcome hardship. 

[BenJepthah]

https://history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1800-1850/Representative-Joseph-Rainey-of-South-Carolina,-the-first-African-American-to-serve-in-the-House/
     They never taught me about this guy. I had to research it on my own. For example. I doubt either the 1619 project or the BLM curriculum is teaching about him or the period of Congressional history in which he served.  

[Shawnster]

40 minutes ago, Bob said:

That encourages victimhood and teaches children that they are victims of some invisible boogeyman. As long as one believes he's a victim, he's never going to have any success in life period and won't overcome hardship. People who don't think of themselves as victims usually overcome hardship. 

I find this a very interesting comment and it might be worthy of it's own topic.  Not that I'm saying this is off topic (it isn't), but that there is a lot of meat in this comment.  

 

I think I've seen this or heard this before, but never as succinctly stated. Or it's just finally struck a chord.  Intriguing. 

[Bob]

7 minutes ago, Shawnster said:

I find this a very interesting comment and it might be worthy of it's own topic.  Not that I'm saying this is off topic (it isn't), but that there is a lot of meat in this comment.  

 

I think I've seen this or heard this before, but never as succinctly stated. Or it's just finally struck a chord.  Intriguing. 

Thanks. It can be a good standalone subject. Something to think about...

Edited September 18, 2020 by Bob

[Bob]

1 hour ago, BenJepthah said:

The other problem is local governments skewing the teaching to favor local political agendas.  Most large school districts have been under the same party influence for about a generation. During that time the Civil rights movement happened but it is doubtful that students are being taught ( for example) about the now famous filibuster of the Civil Rights act by any particular party leader. 

Wow, I did not see this point. You're dead on here. Without trying to get political, the agenda you speak of is (1) America is and has always been systemically racist, and (2) if you vote for party X, we will cure all those ills by funding social programs, etc. We will cure all your ills. Don't do anything. Sit back and relax and let the government take care of it. 

 

That party has basically owned the black vote for decades, as you say, by living off that "victim mentality". Its quite damaging to the black community. I don't have children, but if I did, I would pull them out of a school that taught the "1619 project" as part of the curriculum.