5/29/11 - Indoctrination Indeed --- Ya gotta love how the Left always accuse the Right of what they, themselves are guilty of; political "deflection" at its best!
From the BC Enquirer; http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/article/20110529/NEWS01/105290306/Watchdog-Constitution-clash
Watchdog: Constitution clash
Tea Party group seeks education change critics call 'indoctrination'
10:47 PM, May. 28, 2011 |
John Miiller AP
MALTA, Idaho -- America's kids will be learning about the U.S. Constitution this coming school year with help from a decidedly conservative Idaho publishing house, if a tea party group gets its way.
The Tea Party Patriots, Georgia-based but claiming 1,000 chapters nationally, are instructing members to remind teachers that a 2004 federal law requires public schools to teach Constitution lessons the week of Sept. 17, commemorating the day the document was signed. And they'd like the teachers to use material from the Malta, Idaho-based National Center for Constitutional Studies, which promotes the Constitution as a divinely-inspired document.
The center's founder, W. Cleon Skousen, once called Jamestown's original settlers communists, wrote end-of-days prophecy and suggested Russians stole Sputnik from the United States. In 1987, one of his books was criticized for suggesting American slave children were freer than white non-slaves.
Interest in Skousen, a former FBI employee and Salt Lake City police chief who died in 2006 in Utah, soared in tea party circles after praise from talk show host Glenn Beck. Not surprisingly, groups battling the tea party -- and Beck -- warn that Skousen's center shouldn't be teaching kids about American history.
"It's indoctrination, not education," said Doug Kendall, director of the Constitutional Accountability Center in Washington, D.C. "They're so far from the mainstream of constitutional thought that they are completely indefensible."
Though the National Center for Constitutional Studies is best known for its promotion of Skousen's work, including "The 5,000 Year Leap," a 1981 book that suggests Biblical inspiration for the Constitution, those materials aren't included in the packet being touted by the Tea Party Patriots.
Instead, a $19.95 order buys "A More Perfect Union," a movie DVD created by Mormon-run BYU in 1989 depicting the 1787 Constitutional Convention, as well as an accompanying teacher's guide, a poster and a pocket-size Constitution.
Bill Norton, the Tea Party Patriots leader in charge of the group's "Adopt a School" push, gives seminars for the National Center for Constitutional Studies. He says the BYU movie was endorsed 20 years ago by the federal Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution, proving its educational merit.
"It has the stamp of approval of this federal entity," Norton said, adding he's not demanding schools use it. "It's just a suggestion."
But not everyone is convinced the film and study guide are the best resources.
David Gray Adler, who directs the University of Idaho's McClure Center for Public Policy Research, said some of its assertions -- that "Americans' confidence in republicanism stemmed largely from their shared commitment to Christianity," for example -- exaggerates religion's impact on the framers while neglecting European enlightenment figures who shaped early American views on government.
"Give them (the Tea Party Patriots) credit for urging adherence to the federal law," Adler said. "But there are many other, better, more scholarly documents on the Constitution."
Another constitutional education group, the federally funded Center for Civic Education in Woodland Hills, Calif., suggested those unhappy with the Tea Party Patriot's choice of educational materials should promote alternatives.
"The Tea Party Patriots are doing what Americans are supposed to do," said Robert Leming, who directs his group's "We The People" program. "What that should do is encourage others of a different point of view to do the same thing."
The current leader of the National Center for Constitutional Studies, Zeldon Nelson, met Skousen in the mid-1980s, when the author was raising money for his latest book, "The Making of America." Nelson said he took over amid financial difficulties after sales-damaging criticism of the book, including from then-California Republican Gov. George Deukmejian, for its characterization of slavery.
Asked if the Tea Party Patriots' push is helping sales, Nelson responded, "I would have to say, probably no." But he anticipates business could pick up closer to the school year.
Today, there's a question over whether Nelson has a right to distribute the BYU-produced materials. And further complicating matters is an acrimonious lawsuit between Skousen's adult children and Nelson over rights to Skousen's work.
Three years ago, BYU canceled a longstanding licensing agreement with Nelson because he wasn't paying royalties.
"They didn't send in reports for some years," said Giovanni Tata, director of BYU's copyright department in Provo, Utah.
Nelson, who estimates he has shipped out 500,000 copies of the movie since 1991, contacted BYU last week in a bid to resolve the matter following The Associated Press inquiry, Tata confirmed.
Meanwhile, Skousen's sons are fighting Nelson in federal court in Utah after enlisting Glenn Beck to write a new preface for the "The 5,000 Year Leap." After that, tea party adherents pushed the book to No. 1 on Amazon.com's sales charts in 2009.
Now, Paul, Brent and Harold Skousen contend Nelson is selling a version without Beck's preface without proper permission, interfering with their efforts to strike lucrative new deals.
Nelson, who farms 700 acres of wheat in this windy Mormon farming community near the Idaho-Utah border, says in a countersuit that Skousen granted publication rights to the center. He also maintains he contacted Beck first, but that Skousen's sons went behind Nelson's back to cash in.
"Empires fall from within," Nelson said, standing amid the boxes of Skousen literature he ships from his basement. "That's where the jealousies originate."
Nelson maintains Beck had been promoting "The 5,000 Year Leap" even before lending his name to the family's version. That elevated profile, Nelson said, has helped him fulfill his life's work -- teaching that God inspired the Constitution -- to an audience broader than just Skousen devotees.
"It's helped us preach beyond the choir," Nelson said.
The Tea Party Patriots' Norton would also like to wrest the Constitution from the hands of secular scholars.
"They're eliminating God out of the whole political discussion 100 percent, which is going to the other extreme," he said.
From the BC Enquirer; http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/article/20110529/NEWS01/105290306/Watchdog-Constitution-clash
Watchdog: Constitution clash
Tea Party group seeks education change critics call 'indoctrination'
10:47 PM, May. 28, 2011 |
John Miiller AP
MALTA, Idaho -- America's kids will be learning about the U.S. Constitution this coming school year with help from a decidedly conservative Idaho publishing house, if a tea party group gets its way.
The Tea Party Patriots, Georgia-based but claiming 1,000 chapters nationally, are instructing members to remind teachers that a 2004 federal law requires public schools to teach Constitution lessons the week of Sept. 17, commemorating the day the document was signed. And they'd like the teachers to use material from the Malta, Idaho-based National Center for Constitutional Studies, which promotes the Constitution as a divinely-inspired document.
The center's founder, W. Cleon Skousen, once called Jamestown's original settlers communists, wrote end-of-days prophecy and suggested Russians stole Sputnik from the United States. In 1987, one of his books was criticized for suggesting American slave children were freer than white non-slaves.
Interest in Skousen, a former FBI employee and Salt Lake City police chief who died in 2006 in Utah, soared in tea party circles after praise from talk show host Glenn Beck. Not surprisingly, groups battling the tea party -- and Beck -- warn that Skousen's center shouldn't be teaching kids about American history.
"It's indoctrination, not education," said Doug Kendall, director of the Constitutional Accountability Center in Washington, D.C. "They're so far from the mainstream of constitutional thought that they are completely indefensible."
Though the National Center for Constitutional Studies is best known for its promotion of Skousen's work, including "The 5,000 Year Leap," a 1981 book that suggests Biblical inspiration for the Constitution, those materials aren't included in the packet being touted by the Tea Party Patriots.
Instead, a $19.95 order buys "A More Perfect Union," a movie DVD created by Mormon-run BYU in 1989 depicting the 1787 Constitutional Convention, as well as an accompanying teacher's guide, a poster and a pocket-size Constitution.
Bill Norton, the Tea Party Patriots leader in charge of the group's "Adopt a School" push, gives seminars for the National Center for Constitutional Studies. He says the BYU movie was endorsed 20 years ago by the federal Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution, proving its educational merit.
"It has the stamp of approval of this federal entity," Norton said, adding he's not demanding schools use it. "It's just a suggestion."
But not everyone is convinced the film and study guide are the best resources.
David Gray Adler, who directs the University of Idaho's McClure Center for Public Policy Research, said some of its assertions -- that "Americans' confidence in republicanism stemmed largely from their shared commitment to Christianity," for example -- exaggerates religion's impact on the framers while neglecting European enlightenment figures who shaped early American views on government.
"Give them (the Tea Party Patriots) credit for urging adherence to the federal law," Adler said. "But there are many other, better, more scholarly documents on the Constitution."
Another constitutional education group, the federally funded Center for Civic Education in Woodland Hills, Calif., suggested those unhappy with the Tea Party Patriot's choice of educational materials should promote alternatives.
"The Tea Party Patriots are doing what Americans are supposed to do," said Robert Leming, who directs his group's "We The People" program. "What that should do is encourage others of a different point of view to do the same thing."
The current leader of the National Center for Constitutional Studies, Zeldon Nelson, met Skousen in the mid-1980s, when the author was raising money for his latest book, "The Making of America." Nelson said he took over amid financial difficulties after sales-damaging criticism of the book, including from then-California Republican Gov. George Deukmejian, for its characterization of slavery.
Asked if the Tea Party Patriots' push is helping sales, Nelson responded, "I would have to say, probably no." But he anticipates business could pick up closer to the school year.
Today, there's a question over whether Nelson has a right to distribute the BYU-produced materials. And further complicating matters is an acrimonious lawsuit between Skousen's adult children and Nelson over rights to Skousen's work.
Three years ago, BYU canceled a longstanding licensing agreement with Nelson because he wasn't paying royalties.
"They didn't send in reports for some years," said Giovanni Tata, director of BYU's copyright department in Provo, Utah.
Nelson, who estimates he has shipped out 500,000 copies of the movie since 1991, contacted BYU last week in a bid to resolve the matter following The Associated Press inquiry, Tata confirmed.
Meanwhile, Skousen's sons are fighting Nelson in federal court in Utah after enlisting Glenn Beck to write a new preface for the "The 5,000 Year Leap." After that, tea party adherents pushed the book to No. 1 on Amazon.com's sales charts in 2009.
Now, Paul, Brent and Harold Skousen contend Nelson is selling a version without Beck's preface without proper permission, interfering with their efforts to strike lucrative new deals.
Nelson, who farms 700 acres of wheat in this windy Mormon farming community near the Idaho-Utah border, says in a countersuit that Skousen granted publication rights to the center. He also maintains he contacted Beck first, but that Skousen's sons went behind Nelson's back to cash in.
"Empires fall from within," Nelson said, standing amid the boxes of Skousen literature he ships from his basement. "That's where the jealousies originate."
Nelson maintains Beck had been promoting "The 5,000 Year Leap" even before lending his name to the family's version. That elevated profile, Nelson said, has helped him fulfill his life's work -- teaching that God inspired the Constitution -- to an audience broader than just Skousen devotees.
"It's helped us preach beyond the choir," Nelson said.
The Tea Party Patriots' Norton would also like to wrest the Constitution from the hands of secular scholars.
"They're eliminating God out of the whole political discussion 100 percent, which is going to the other extreme," he said.
5/29/11 -
The article below includes comments from Mike Reno. I attended a presentation by mike in Lansing a few weeks ago. I was impressed. Mike will be coming to a future Tea Party general meeting. Be sure to watch for more information.
From; http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com...
'A "Crisis" That Never Ends'
Will schools ever have enough money? By Jarrett Skorup
May 28, 2011 The Michigan Association of School Boards (MASB) and the Michigan Association of School Administrators (MASA) have sent out several “action alerts” to their members in order to warn about possible cuts to the state’s school aid fund in order to balance the state budget.
Below are some select excerpts, sent out as emails to members of the groups:
Mike Reno is a former school board member from Rochester Community Schools. He says this shows how these types of groups operate.
“These organizations bombard school administrators and school boards with these sorts of emails,” said Reno. “Boards and administrators hear time and time again from their professional organizations that schools are not responsible for any of the financial problem, that it’s all Lansing’s fault.”
But Don Wotruba, deputy director of the MASB, said that the big difference between now and the past is the proposed overall cut. “Districts have less flexibility with money because of the cuts they’ve made over the years.”
“There is less changes [they] can make.”
The alerts also repeatedly mention support for tax increases, or“revenue votes.” One email says, “The positive move of last night was to send the income tax increase bill to conference committee for further discussion.”
Another email has an attachment from the MASB listing their“legislative issues paper.” In the paper, the group urges its members to contact their legislators over House Bill 4359 of 2007. The group said more lobbying was needed because“Legislators still need to know that people support increased revenue. … Without your lobbying for revenue increases quickly [schools] can expect a proration near $100 for the current year and no increases in the foundation or categoricals for next year.” The bill eventually passed.
“No matter how large or small the cut — or increase, for that matter — the public school establishment responds the same way,” said Michael Van Beek, the education policy director for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. “If history is any guide, it appears that no amount of money will ever be enough according to the special interest groups that represent schools. They’ll always just call for more.”
Wotruba said his group does support some of the reforms being discussed in Lansing.“[The] 80/20 [health care bill], the step increase bill, tenure reform … we all support. But I still think there are going to be districts who will really have trouble … The problem is the uncertainty.”
“The school boards and school administrators simply parrot the rhetoric back to local papers, who then reprint it without any scrutiny, analysis or fact checking,” Reno said. “Repeat these messages often enough, without any rebuttal, and they seem to go from myth to fact.”
Reno believes that the public school system will never be satisfied, no matter how much funding it receives.
“It is a ‘crisis’ that never ends.”
The article below includes comments from Mike Reno. I attended a presentation by mike in Lansing a few weeks ago. I was impressed. Mike will be coming to a future Tea Party general meeting. Be sure to watch for more information.
From; http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com...
'A "Crisis" That Never Ends'
Will schools ever have enough money? By Jarrett Skorup
May 28, 2011 The Michigan Association of School Boards (MASB) and the Michigan Association of School Administrators (MASA) have sent out several “action alerts” to their members in order to warn about possible cuts to the state’s school aid fund in order to balance the state budget.
Below are some select excerpts, sent out as emails to members of the groups:
- “In the coming week the Senate will take action on the Community College Budget. MASA oposes (sic) this budget as it raids $43.9 million from the School Aid Fund to subsidize Community Colleges …Please send a letter to your senator and ask them to oppose this bill!”
- One email alert refers to the discussed funding cut as “unconscionable” and says the group “will not stand for this lack of support for public education."
- “The K-16 Coalition for Michigan’s Future wants a reasonable legislative solution to fully fund Michigan’s K-16 public schools, but we are ready to put our proposal for adequate K-16 school funding on the November ballot if for whatever reason the legislature fails to resolve the issue.”
- “It would be great to pack the Lansing Center with school board members and superintendents that are interested in holding their legislators accountable for this revenue crisis.”
- “[The MASB] cannot just sit idly by while public education is being dismantled across the State."
Mike Reno is a former school board member from Rochester Community Schools. He says this shows how these types of groups operate.
“These organizations bombard school administrators and school boards with these sorts of emails,” said Reno. “Boards and administrators hear time and time again from their professional organizations that schools are not responsible for any of the financial problem, that it’s all Lansing’s fault.”
But Don Wotruba, deputy director of the MASB, said that the big difference between now and the past is the proposed overall cut. “Districts have less flexibility with money because of the cuts they’ve made over the years.”
“There is less changes [they] can make.”
The alerts also repeatedly mention support for tax increases, or“revenue votes.” One email says, “The positive move of last night was to send the income tax increase bill to conference committee for further discussion.”
Another email has an attachment from the MASB listing their“legislative issues paper.” In the paper, the group urges its members to contact their legislators over House Bill 4359 of 2007. The group said more lobbying was needed because“Legislators still need to know that people support increased revenue. … Without your lobbying for revenue increases quickly [schools] can expect a proration near $100 for the current year and no increases in the foundation or categoricals for next year.” The bill eventually passed.
“No matter how large or small the cut — or increase, for that matter — the public school establishment responds the same way,” said Michael Van Beek, the education policy director for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. “If history is any guide, it appears that no amount of money will ever be enough according to the special interest groups that represent schools. They’ll always just call for more.”
Wotruba said his group does support some of the reforms being discussed in Lansing.“[The] 80/20 [health care bill], the step increase bill, tenure reform … we all support. But I still think there are going to be districts who will really have trouble … The problem is the uncertainty.”
“The school boards and school administrators simply parrot the rhetoric back to local papers, who then reprint it without any scrutiny, analysis or fact checking,” Reno said. “Repeat these messages often enough, without any rebuttal, and they seem to go from myth to fact.”
Reno believes that the public school system will never be satisfied, no matter how much funding it receives.
“It is a ‘crisis’ that never ends.”
