Massive protest near Columbine High to decry proposed written history and civil disobedience
backseatLover12
Posts: 2,312
High-schoolers around Columbine, CO are leading the way! Massive walk-outs are being held in protest of a proposed curriculum change that would erase or condone all instances of civil disobedience and instead emphasize "positive aspects" of American history.
"Hundreds of high schoolers across the county have hit the streets protesting a proposed curriculum committee that would call for promoting "positive aspects" of U.S. history and avoiding or condoning "civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law." They're also upset about an evaluation-based system for awarding raises to educators."
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_26603498/jeffco-students-plan-walk-out-classes-fourth-day
http://www.kansascity.com/news/nation-world/article2227007.html
"Hundreds of high schoolers across the county have hit the streets protesting a proposed curriculum committee that would call for promoting "positive aspects" of U.S. history and avoiding or condoning "civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law." They're also upset about an evaluation-based system for awarding raises to educators."
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_26603498/jeffco-students-plan-walk-out-classes-fourth-day
http://www.kansascity.com/news/nation-world/article2227007.html
Post edited by backseatLover12 on
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I just finished reading Derrick Jensen's book, Walking on Water and I can picture him being very enthusiastic about these kids taking up the call to protest what amounts to censorship in education and to promote an honest curriculum and critical thinking. Jensen's book is first rate. I learned as much or more about how education could work well in his book than from all the classes combined that I took in the 80's in order to secure my teaching credential. Highly recommended!
A passionate coalition of teachers and students in Jefferson County, Colorado are continuing their fight against censorship this week, employing some of the very tactics the conservative school board wants to eliminate from history textbooks.
Seventy-two of 102 teachers at Golden and Jefferson high schools called in absent on Monday, forcing both schools to close for the day; teacher "sick-outs" also closed two high schools on September 19.
Meanwhile, several dozen students from Carmody Middle School walked out of classes on Tuesday morning, marking the first time younger students have joined an ongoing protest by teachers and high schoolers against proposed changes to the district's history curriculum. Hundreds of students from the majority of the county's 17 high schools have staged walk-outs and protests over the last two weeks.
The actions are in response to a proposal from the conservative, five-member school board to establish a committee that would review the district's Advanced Placement history course in order to ensure its materials "promote citizenship, patriotism, essentials and benefits of the free-market system, respect for authority and respect for individual rights" and don't "encourage or condone civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law." Conservatives nationwide have claimed that the AP history course is "revisionist" and overly focused on the "negative" aspects of American history.
Students across Jefferson County have taken to the streets with cardboard signs and slogans like, "Don't make history a mystery" and "Keep your politics out of my education."
The College Board, which oversees the Advanced Placement U.S. History course at the center of the dispute, has said it stands behind the students and that if a school or district censors essential concepts from an AP course, that course can no longer bear the 'AP' designation.
"These students recognize that the social order can—and sometimes must—be disrupted in the pursuit of liberty and justice," the College Board said in a statement. "Civil disorder and social strife are at the patriotic heart of American history—from the Boston Tea Party to the American Revolution to the Civil Rights Movement."
The teachers, and to a lesser extent some students, are also opposed to a school board proposal to link teacher pay to evaluations.
According to the Denver Post, Jefferson County school superintendent Dan McMinimee threatened to bring disciplinary action against dozens of teachers who called in sick or used a personal day as part of the protest on Monday, unless they could show "proof of illness."
In response to the protests, the school board has added the curriculum review proposal to the agenda of Thursday's meeting.
School board president Ken Witt said last week that the history curriculum changes are not final, and he blamed the teachers' union for urging young people to walk out of class, which he called "the manipulation of our students," Reuters reports. The union, which is also against a new merit pay compensation package and has been in conflict with the right-wing-dominated school board for months, claims it has had nothing to do with organizing either the walk-outs or sick-outs.
-Henry David Thoreau
“Protest beyond the law is not a departure from democracy; it is absolutely essential to it.”
-Howard Zinn
“No matter that patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty of patriots.”
-Barbara Ehrenreich
“One has not only a legal, but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”
Martin Luther King
http://www.alternet.org/education/why-right-so-freaked-out-about-inconvenient-truths-actual-us-history?page=0,0
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