Schools Say No To Tea Party's Constitution Lessons
Earlier this year, tea party groups sparked a bit of an uproar when they announced plans to pressure public schools into teaching their version of constitutional history during the federally mandated Constitution week that began September 17. Led by a large umbrella group, Tea Party Patriots, activists planned to pressure local school officials into using controversial curriculum developed by theNational Center for Constitutional Studies (NCCS).
The NCCS was founded by Glen Beck's favorite pseudo-historian, W. Cleon Skousen, who argued in his book The 5,000 Year Leap that the creation of the US was a divine miracle. When the news got out, liberal legal groups expressed outrage and urged schools to reject the plan.
Just teach. The facts. I don't care if the lesson includes the fact that Jefferson was a slave holder. But that fact should NOT be the CENTERPIECE of the day's lesson on the Declaration of Independence, in spite of the desire of some to paint our founding fathers in the worst light possible, for their own ends or personal satisfaction. The FACTS are that the Declaration and the Constitution are two of the greatest political documents EVER written and helped make this nation exceptional and free. The facts are that a bunch of rich men risked all of their property and their lives (and the lives of their family, too) to create a free nation. Quit trying to tell people they were gay, or philanderers, or prolific gamblers, or whatever the current fixation is to make these brilliant individuals weak, imperfect, even demonic. They were human, with human imperfections. Teach that, if you MUST. But those imperfections don't need to be, and shouldn't be, the FOCUS of any historical perspective, left or right.
Just teach. The facts. I don't care if the lesson includes the fact that Jefferson was a slave holder. But that fact should NOT be the CENTERPIECE of the day's lesson on the Declaration of Independence, in spite of the desire of some to paint our founding fathers in the worst light possible, for their own ends or personal satisfaction. The FACTS are that the Declaration and the Constitution are two of the greatest political documents EVER written and helped make this nation exceptional and free. The facts are that a bunch of rich men risked all of their property and their lives (and the lives of their family, too) to create a free nation. Quit trying to tell people they were gay, or philanderers, or prolific gamblers, or whatever the current fixation is to make these brilliant individuals weak, imperfect, even demonic. They were human, with human imperfections. Teach that, if you MUST. But those imperfections don't need to be, and shouldn't be, the FOCUS of any historical perspective, left or right.
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