[January 25th] - James Garfield is one of my favorite presidents. I know, I know. Garfield didn't do anything of note during his presidency to warrant his being anyone's favorite.

Well, it's not so much anything he did that makes me like the guy; it's something he said.

"I love agitation and investigation and glory in defending unpopular truth against popular error."

Education today no longer defends the unpopular truth. History is often rewritten at the expense of political expediency. My daughter heard the following from her high school history teacher: "You must fight to make sure that a woman's right to choose remains the law of the land. If the supreme court over-turns, abortion will be illegal in America." Every teacher should know that if Roe v Wade were to be overturned, each state would then choose what to allow within their borders.

Less than 24% of Southern families owned slaves In 1860. 75% of those who did have slaves owned less than nine. Yet many history books depict a 'Roots' environment where slaves were regularly beaten and starved by ruthless corporate farmers. Would a farmer today slash the tires and cut the spark plug wires of a tractor that wouldn't start one morning? Of course not. So why would a farmer in 1860 beat his slave -- keeping him out of the fields for days or even weeks, leaving the slave-owner to do the hard work. It most certainly did happen, but not to the extent that are texts would suggest.

Sometimes, the truth hurts. Sometimes, what really happened in our past isn't pleasant. That doesn't mean it didn't happen.

# posted by Farid Rushdi @ 3:54 PM 0 comments

[January 24th] - Sometimes, I just don't understand what people are thinking.

Last year, a student in the College of Education at LeMoyne College, a Jesuit school in New York state, was forced from school not by anything he did, but rather because of what he thought. As part of an teacher-education class, the student was asked to write an essay on what he perceived to be the "perfect" class. He received an "A-" on the paper.

But something he wrote was noticed by an administrator within the college. The student believed in corporal punishment, and thought that it had a place in the "ideal" classroom of the 21st century. This "riled up" the college's thought police.

When he tried to enroll the next semester, he was blocked from doing so. When he inquired, he found out that the administrator dis-enrolled him, telling him that his values "ran counter" to that of the college, and was no longer welcome there.

Finally, the New York Supreme Court voided the actions of the Lemoyne College of Education and ordered that the student be allowed to continue his studies at the school. The school didn't just lose, they got "whacked" by the judge afterwards. Said the judge, "President Beirne should be ashamed that his administration ignored its own rules, spent student's tuition money fighting litigation it invited, and cost one of its students a year of education simply because it did not like what he said in a theoretical paper. The school has no right to censor its students simply because of a differing of opinions."

Many colleges of education are now asking students to fill out a form that indicates their personal beliefs regarding the role of teachers in education today. If they are not in harmony with the school's monolithic mantra, they are refused entry to the college. Of course, it's the students with conservative and religious values that are refused entry.

At least this one time, reason triumphed over stupidity.

# posted by Farid Rushdi @ 1:02 PM 0 comments