M O N D A Y , J U N E 0 6 , 2 0 0 5First They Came For The Science Books....by Michael in New York on 6/06/2005 12:16:00 PMAnyone who thought the far right's agenda in grade school andhigh school began and ended with evolution simply wasn'tthinking.USA Today has a very good story about the conservativeagenda to infiltrate that liberal bastion the schoolroom andmake sure no one ever says or does anything they don'tapprove of.A high school senior who puts up posters touting a website thatlinks to video footage of beheadings and attacks the religion ofothers (Islam of course)? Just a fine upstanding kid.</p><p> The storyis filled with ideological watchdogs looking to slap down anyteacher that dares to offer up an opinion on any issue thatdoesn't jibe with their beliefs.</p><p> And all teachers are liberalbecause so many of them belong to a union and therefore can'tbe trusted...Now seriously, I had a teacher in high school who expressedhis liberal views and -- being then a good little disciple ofWilliam F.</p><p> Buckley Jr. -- I argued with him. (He said the USsuceeded because of all our natural resources; I said the USSRwas similarly blessed so why didn't they flourish?) Would I seeanything wrong with a teacher expressing, say, their supportfor the invasion of Iraq in a current events discussion? Not ifthey allowed students who disagreed to speak up as well.Besides, he was the teacher.</p><p> I didn't agree with every opinionof my English teacher (she didn't like "Billy Budd" and I did).So what? Since when were teachers expected to say thingsevery student could agree with? As long as they're notadvocating hate against, say, blacks or gays or fundamentalistChristians, what's the problem?These groups claim to be for academic freedom, but what theyreally want is to be free of any knowledge or opinion thatcontradicts what they already believe.</p><p> My favorite quote fromthem sounds like the sort of touchy-feely liberal concern oneused to hear from the left.Students in primary and secondary schools tend tofeel "intimidated," due to the "imbalance of power" inthe classroom, says Gerard Balan, managing editor ofRepublicanvoices.org."Imbalance of power?" Um, there's SUPPOSED to be animbalance of power.</p><p> These are little kids and the teacher issupposed to be in charge, right? You know they're on shakyground when they start offering babbling points like animbalance of power between 12 year olds and the adult teachersent to educate them.</p><p> But their agenda is broad and scary andit's not going to go away.</p><p> And just like the fights over teachingreligion in science class, it's going to have to be fought on locallevels all over the country again and again and again.</p><p> Daily KosOpen Thread and Diary Rescue - *Today, srkp23(pulling a double shift), ybruti, taylormattd,ItsJessMe and vcmvo2 combed through hundredsof diaries to find this powerful list.</p><p> Today's...2 minutes ago EschatonOvernight - Folk On.</p><p> Newish.19 minutes ago HuffPost PoliticsMichael Likosky: Ed Rendell: Hardest Working Manin Infrastructure - At this year's National GovernorsAssociation (NGA) meeting, Governor Ed Rendell'stenure as Chair fittingly came to a close with aplenary session on infras...21 minutes ago Crooks and LiarsOpen Thread - Open Thread below...48 minutes ago FiredoglakeLate Night: Livinā the Dolce Vita with TheLovernator - Who's got time to govern? 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