Thursday, June 16, 2016

WHY CURRICULUM MATTERS, Take 3: Do you know what your children are being taught?

A Review of the StudySync ELA (English Language Arts) Curriculum Resource

U-46 Board Policy 6.210 states that “The Board of Education is legally responsible for the selection of instructional materials and delegates to…the District the authority for the selection. Instructional materials [should]…4) present opposing sides of controversial issues to encourage critical analysis of all media.”

Last July I expressed my objections to the “StudySync” resource for English Language Arts (ELA), as there was a pervasive one-sided view presented. This year the proposal is to expand StudySync as the resource for all students in grades 11-12 (there will be a vote on Monday June 20 at the 7 pm BOE meeting – 355 East Chicago Street, Elgin).  I have reviewed this resource again, and again come to the same conclusion. In short, there are pervasive leftist views and factual inaccuracies presented regarding the meaning of liberty and our country’s founding documents, government entitlements, gender differences, socialism,  leftist social causes, evolution, and global warming.

Here are a just a few of my objections:

Re: Understanding Liberty/2nd Amendment/Founding Documents:
·         An article entitled, “Liberty and Justice for All” presents the far left SPLC (Southern Poverty Law Center) and ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) as organizations that “fight for people who lack the power to fight for themselves” and “make sure that the United States adequately protects the civil liberties of all its citizens” (Apparently that doesn’t include Christians).
·         An article entitled, “Inalienable Rights” focuses on The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, or UDHR (with a passing mention of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence), with no mention that “Inalienable Rights” come from God, and no discussion of from whose hand the laundry list of rights in the UDHR (which include free health care and the right to leisure time) are supposed to come.
·         An article entitled “Reading Between the Lines”, asks, “How literally should we interpret and follow the foundational documents of the United States?”, subtly leading students to the conclusion that times have changed and so should the interpretation of the Constitution.
·         An article entitle, “Three-Dimensional World” quotes Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer  and questions the value of 3-D printing because guns can be 3-D printed.
·         Articles entitled “Apple vs. the FBI” and “Keeping Tabs” ask how much privacy we are willing to sacrifice for security. There is no discussion of whether giving up privacy can keep us safe; the issue is framed so as to present either security or privacy but not both.
Re: Gender Differences
·         An article entitled “On Edge” praises California public schools which “allow students to play on the sports teams of the gender they identify with”(no discussion of the “fairness” of allowing someone who is biologically male to compete in sports with someone who is biologically female). The article also presents the bogus statistic that “between 2 and 5% of the population is transgender”, when in fact it is 0.3%. Another article entitled “Gender Power” states that “a Colorado school district was found to have discriminated against a first grader who wanted to use the girl’s bathroom because she was born a biological boy”. Let me say that again for emphasis: “SHE was born a biological BOY.” That sentence is an implicit denial of reality. Furthermore, to encourage a first grade boy to believe he is a girl and to treat him as such is child abuse.
·         An article entitled “Girls, Boys, and Toys? How do toys influence behavior” laments the fact that boys and girls play with different toys (as if there are no appropriate differences between boys and girls).
·         An article entitled “Making Change” states that : “among all the currency circulated in America, women have only been featured on three coins—and only on rarely used ones, like the silver dollar. Both women and African-Americans have been treated as lesser citizens in American history.” It’s factually inaccurate that women have only been on coins in America. In the 1800’s, Martha Washington was on the $1 bill.  

Re: Glorifying Socialism and Leftist Social Causes:
·         An article entitled, “Labor Leader” praises Dolores Huerta, a known socialist (see link provided for the counterpoint). The questions asked of students in the article are one-sided and leading, without considering an opposing view: “What do you think? Had you heard of Dolores Huerta before? Do you think she deserves more attention for her work? Have any of her contributions affected your own life? How has Dolores Huerta fought for people’s rights?” Notice there are no questions engaging students to think critically about unionization.
·         Articles entitled “Wage Woes” and “Wage War” debate higher or lower minimum wages but leave out the possibility that government should not be in the business of setting wages. What could be presented (but isn’t) is the comparison between the free market and government regulated wages: In North Dakota’s oil boom, McDonalds workers were receiving over $20 an hour absent any government mandates on wages.

Re: Factual inaccuracies about the theory of evolution:
·         An article entitled “Fascinating Fossils” claims that Archaeopteryx is the link in the fossil record between birds and reptiles. There is much debate about this even among evolutionists (see here and here for opposing views). The article further claims that birds are reptiles. This is factually inaccurate. Birds are NOT reptiles (they are not cold blooded) and neither are they mammals (no mammary glands) but instead belong to a group all their own. (The five groups of vertebrates include fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals). 

Re: Lack of understanding concerning the role of government/global warming propaganda:
·         An article entitled, “Stay Cool” presents the assumption that it is the role of government to help people pay their cooling bills (oh, and by the way, “scientists have shown temperatures are going to continue to rise”. The weather can scarcely be predicted from day to day and yet scientists somehow know that temperatures are going to continue to rise). 

In summary, as last year, I cannot support the StudySync resource and will be voting no because of the pervasive leftist bias regarding the meaning of liberty and our country’s founding documents, government entitlements, gender differences, socialism,  leftist social causes, evolution, and global warming. 

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