The board’s recommendations have already been written about at some length. But at risk of leaving anything out, here’s a few of the greatest hits. Via The NYTimes:
…one guideline requires publishers to include a section on “the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s, including Phyllis Schlafly, the Contract with America, the Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority and the National Rifle Association.”
Okay…not so bad. One might even agree that high schoolers aren’t given enough information about modern political movements — right or left. But the NRA? Anyway, let’s keep this ball rolling.
There have also been efforts among conservatives on the board to tweak the history of the civil rights movement. One amendment states that the movement created “unrealistic expectations of equal outcomes” among minorities. Another proposed change removes any reference to race, sex or religion in talking about how different groups have contributed to the national identity.
This one’s a little more problematic, especially given the fact that you can actually quantify the ways in which various strains of minority activism have shaped America’s legal and political landscape. It’s not even hard to do – just open a law book. Yet under this recommendation, a passage about, say, Brown v. Board of Education would read something like, “Some people were mad, then stuff changed.” Verrryyy informative.
Some on the board have suggested that the Tea Party movement be included in the textbooks. Fine. Others have insisted that names like Ralph Nader and Ross Perot be stricken. Not so fine. But perhaps the most egregious feature is this one relating to foreign policy:
Throughout the standards, the conservatives have pushed to drop references to American “imperialism,” preferring to call it expansionism.