What do you think?

[Kieran]

But the quarrel over curriculum is in the end a quarrel over fault. It seeks judgment about who's really to blame for terror, so it treats teaching as an exercise in persuasion—which is why it misses the point. An education shouldn't just prepare kids to be swayed by your talking points or mine. It should prepare them to live as citizens, to know how to act as voters, leaders, neighbors. And the best way to do that, after something like 9/11, is not to rehearse the emoting and posing of the culture wars but to give children practice facing, and making, the world that 9/11 gave us.

MSN, on the issue of what to teach children about 9/11.

[superpug1]

tell them that the bad alquada(or however you spell it) people flew two planes with people in them into the second largst building on earth and killed about 5,000 people. then a couple hours later some more bad men flew another plane into the pentagon nd killed a few hundred. and then a shot time after that another plane was taken over but the passengers didnt go quietly but instead took the plane back and saved the white house onyl to tragically lost control and crashed it killing ll aboard.

-superpug

[hawk220]

actually, it was less that 2500

[Hajo]

Teaching IMHO should teach facts, unbiased facts.  The teaching profession is one of the most noble...if not the most noble of professions.  Teaching should not be a platform to influence political or personal views imho.  Teaching should just teach the facts as we know them.  Gaining knowledge in itself still is not the end all.  Applying that knowledge with patience and common sense is however.  But alas.......................co mmon sense can't be  bought.  Discerning the facts with reasoning  and logic can however create common sense.  The statement posted by Kieran is a personal opinion.  Let's see if we can teach common sense first.......then try teaching the facts next.  IMHO facts can't be applied legitimately without common sense.  As to agreeing with the quote Kieran posted.......let me try and make some common sense of it before I reply.

[Thrawn]

What grades doesn this curriculum cover?

[Kieran]

Here's what I took from the quote... we as teachers don't ram an opinion down anyone's throat. We lay the facts out there, examine them from multiple perspectives, then allow the students to come to their own conclusions (about such events). The concept here is that students will eventually have to be set free to discern for themselves fact from fiction, and being heavily reliant on any authority figure to tell them when to nod or shake their heads is a dangerous thing.

The recent backlash against the NEA was well-deserved, because it tried to do just that- ram a viewpoint down the throats of teachers and students. That's wrong IMO. Sure, talk about 9/11. Sure, talk about why it happened, from multiple perspectives. But that's where it ends, folks. The minute we tell those tykes what to think we've skated onto thin ice.

You don't preach hate to your students, you don't preach bigotry, you preach responsibility. It's their responsibility as adults to educate themselves about what is happening around them and why, because that is how they become responsible and intelligent voters and citizens.

[Lance]

What did the NEA say that prompted that quote?

[Hajo]

Kieran here here!   WTG!  If anyones taken political science in college.......oft times the view of the instructor....most times the prof is slanted one way or the other.  And it shows.  Consequently tests that aren't Dept. Tests and made up by that Prof. in order to score well in some cases you must agree with his or her viewpoint.  That ain't edumecation.......that's indoctrination.

In other crudely put terms.........don't stand beside me and piss on my shoes and tell me it's raining outside.  Give me an education that let's me determine what is wrong and right.  Educate me so well that I will always have the ability to see the logical answer to the problem.......whether I like the answer or not.

[Kieran]

The NEA has suggested teachers avoid talking about 9/11 in a way that places blame on anyone, and instead to focus on past U.S. "mistakes" that might have prompted such an action. That more or less sums up the comments.

[wsnpr]

Originally posted by Kieran
Here's what I took from the quote... we as teachers don't ram an opinion down anyone's throat. We lay the facts out there, examine them from multiple perspectives, then allow the students to come to their own conclusions (about such events). The concept here is that students will eventually have to be set free to discern for themselves fact from fiction, and being heavily reliant on any authority figure to tell them when to nod or shake their heads is a dangerous thing.

The recent backlash against the NEA was well-deserved, because it tried to do just that- ram a viewpoint down the throats of teachers and students. That's wrong IMO. Sure, talk about 9/11. Sure, talk about why it happened, from multiple perspectives. But that's where it ends, folks. The minute we tell those tykes what to think we've skated onto thin ice.

You don't preach hate to your students, you don't preach bigotry, you preach responsibility. It's their responsibility as adults to educate themselves about what is happening around them and why, because that is how they become responsible and intelligent voters and citizens.

Kieran,
I agree with you 100%. Right on, ~S~!
Regards,
wSNPR

[Elfenwolf]

For anybody that suggests our teachers aren't fit to teach I'd suggest they read Kieran's and Shuckins' posts. These guys could teach my child any day....

[Pongo]

Kieren, sounds like the enola gay display all over again.

[Dead Man Flying]

Originally posted by Hajo
Kieran here here!   WTG!  If anyones taken political science in college.......oft times the view of the instructor....most times the prof is slanted one way or the other.  And it shows.  Consequently tests that aren't Dept. Tests and made up by that Prof. in order to score well in some cases you must agree with his or her viewpoint.  That ain't edumecation.......that's indoctrination.

[/B]

LOL  You must've gone to a school with one toejamty Political Science program.

-- Todd/Leviathn

[Sikboy]

Originally posted by Dead Man Flying


LOL  You must've gone to a school with one toejamty Political Science program.

-- Todd/Leviathn [/B]

I DID go to a school with a toejamty poli-sci program. And even then I only had one prof who was like that, and we were her first class. She thought she was still a student demonstrater in Seoul throwing rocks at cops. That class was a train wreck, it was listed as "Conflict Resolution" but we called it "Conflict Instigation" because of how bad the arguments would get between the students and the professor.

-Sikboy

[Creamo]

Prepare them to LIVE as citizens, indeed.

Or teach them liberal roadkill and to die all morally proper, to respect culture and get as happy and real feel good unprepared happy pre-9/11 Americans. Yah right.

Do you teach Middle School?

Drill them all day on History, and they still think teenage popsicle, sports, and the next hamburger joint to talk toejam and trade MP3's is the most important thing ever. Been there. (although it was cassete tapes)

And the best way to do that, after something like 9/11, is not to rehearse the emoting and posing of the culture wars but to give children practice facing, and making, the world that 9/11 gave us.

What crap.

Teach them to not take toejam as terrorists blow New York into heaps of rubble. Teach them culture wars, sure, of course, and how to end them in weeks with tons of American bombs.