Chuck Norris Defends State Board of Education
The State Board of Education circus continues, as Chuck Norris weighs in on the side of the board. Early reports of liberals perishing en masse from roundhouse kicks can't yet be confirmed.
Not surprising is the full range of progressive issues that liberals want the SBOE to include, from emphasizing equity and tolerance for all minorities to erasing key conservative figures and events from history and whitewashing the Judeo-Christian convictions of our Founders.
Liberals and progressives complain that conservatives are hijacking the curriculum process and modifying textbooks to fit their ideological whims. But the history of textbook alterations clearly ...
Comments (1)
RWilliams2010
There's much more to Chuck's column than that.
Despite not being a fan, I think Chuck Norris’s double-length exclusive column at World Net Daily ("Don't mess with Texas...textbooks") on the issue actually has some very valid points, especially in pointing out America’s Founders’ intent for religion in education.
Here's a sample from his column at
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=127935
“…conservatives argue that most American history in textbooks basically avoids religion – and thus changes and misrepresents history – and prominent religious scholars are apt to agree with them on that point. Martin Marty, emeritus professor at the University of Chicago, former president of the American Academy of Religion and the American Society of Church History and recognized as one of the country's foremost American religious historians, explained, ‘In American history, religion is all over the place, and wherever it appears, you should tell the story and do it appropriately.’
“The founders' educational philosophy even included teaching the Bible. As
Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, wrote, "To the citizens of Philadelphia: A Plan for Free Schools," on March 28, 1787: ‘Let the children who are sent to those schools be taught to read and write and above all, let both sexes be carefully instructed in the principles and obligations of the Christian religion. This is the most essential part of education.’
“Noah Webster, the ‘Father of American Scholarship and Education,’ stated, ‘In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government, ought to be instructed. … No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.’
"In 1789, during the same time when the First Amendment was written, then-President George Washington signed into law the Northwest Ordinance, which states, ‘Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.’ Does anyone not know what the term ‘forever’ means? Can any member of the SBOE or any other state board of education be penalized for agreeing with the founders of America?
“Even Thomas Jefferson, while protecting the University of Virginia (chartered in 1819) from the single sectarianism typically connected to other higher academic institutions of his day, wrote about his vision for the university on Dec. 27, 1820: ‘This institution will be based on the illimitable freedom of the human mind. For here we are not afraid to follow the truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error as long as reason is left free to combat it.’"
Seems to me Jefferson would have tolerated both extreme points of view and that our polarizing over issues like religion wouldn' t have been a threat to him IN EDUCATIONAL CIRCLES.