New academic rules should satisfy critics, Yecke says | MSP Star-Trib

New academic rules should satisfy critics, Yecke says
Norman Draper, Star Tribune

Published December 20, 2003

A leaner set of more culturally diverse requirements for what Minnesota's kids should know about science and social studies were unveiled today by Education Commission Cheri Pierson Yecke.

This is the draft of the requirements that will go to the Legislature for action next year. If approved, they will begin phasing into schools this fall.

An upbeat Yecke said she was convinced that changes in the past month will silence much of the criticism that the requirements were too numerous, weren't appropriate for the age group listed, and placed too heavy an emphasis on a white male view of the way the world works.

More at the Minneapolis Star Tribune

She tried to sneak creationist BS into the first draft, but pulled them under pressure. I'll have to check what they are now.

Good overview of the first attempt to ram through a sanitised version of American history here:

http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/4265909.html

(Free registration with the Strib possibly required.)

eom

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

I'm referring to the old, formerly liberal Minnesota. It produced figures who are giants in Democratic history: Humphrey, Mondale, Wellstone.

Yecke represents the new, right wing politics that have taken over the state, personified by the holy roller governor Pawlenty and the chimpanzee senator Coleman.

Yecke's plan to foist on schools a right wing cultural agenda was inevitable, but few imagined the odor of a curriculum so biased as to omit mention of JFK and Lyndon Johnson or seek to portray the American past as one long triumphant Republican ascent to grandeur. It was a whitewash, with history going down the memory hole in a manner that would make Stalinists proud.

So: Wellstone, dead one year ago, must be rolling in his grave over what's being done to his once-fair state.

There is no such thing as social justice, it was made up by the liberal academics to justify their existence
Social Darwinism is God's punishment for laziness, and reward for hard work
Blacks have had every equal opportunity, so their current social position is because of their inherent deviance
Equal opporunity is reverse discrimination
Women should not vote in opposition to their husband's wishes

I could make the list longer, but the thought is making me ill.

people should keep an "open mind" about these new standards. You first Cheri. :puke: