Update on the Textbooks and School children

Diana - posted on 09/10/2009

Quoting Esther:

Quoting Jenifer:

The book in California "And Tango Makes Three" about the 'gay' penguins is based on a two actual animals at the Central Park Zoo.

Aahhhh - so the penguins were from New York! No wonder .....

Hahahahahahahahahahah!

Esther - posted on 09/10/2009

Quoting Jenifer:

The book in California "And Tango Makes Three" about the 'gay' penguins is based on a two actual animals at the Central Park Zoo.

Aahhhh - so the penguins were from New York! No wonder ..... ;)

Esther - posted on 09/10/2009

Quoting Jeannette:

There are homosexual animals? Really? I've never seen two male dogs have intercourse, nor have I seen a female dog try to "fist" another....weird...I'll be looking for that though, I'm always curious

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuali...

Diana - posted on 09/09/2009

Quoting Jeannette:

There are homosexual animals? Really? I've never seen two male dogs have intercourse, nor have I seen a female dog try to "fist" another....weird...I'll be looking for that though, I'm always curious

Actually, there are. Just because you haven't seen doesn't mean it doesn't exist...

See:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/...

http://www.livescience.com/animals/06111...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuali...

And for good measure, this is a blurb about And Tango makes Three

http://www.livhttp://www.babble.com/CS/b...

Jeannette - posted on 09/09/2009

lmao!

Jenifer - posted on 09/09/2009

Quoting Jeannette:

There are homosexual animals? Really? I've never seen two male dogs have intercourse, nor have I seen a female dog try to "fist" another....weird...I'll be looking for that though, I'm always curious

Yes, there are. In lots of species. Here's a discussion of it if you're interested:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/...

The book in California "And Tango Makes Three" about the 'gay' penguins is based on a two actual animals at the Central Park Zoo.

Jeannette - posted on 09/09/2009

There are homosexual animals? Really? I've never seen two male dogs have intercourse, nor have I seen a female dog try to "fist" another....weird...I'll be looking for that though, I'm always curious

Diana - posted on 09/09/2009

I'm not sure that I see a problem with any of this.



I'm relatively sure you're referring to the higly challenged book "And Tango Makes Three," a picture book about the true story of two male penguins who chose to live their live together instead of finding female mates, and who were given an egg that hatched. It's bizarre to challenge such a thing. What is so wrong with children knowing the truth about same sex relationships-that they happen between humans as well as animals? Are we so focused on the idea that it's a "choice" that we cannot entertain the (very, very true) idea that there are homosexual animals out there?



And as far as the Muslim schools go-everything stated was a fact. Fact is, some people do believe that Jesus is the son of God, and some do not. There's nothing wrong with that statement. And anyway, as long as children are being taught basic skills that meet state requirements, no one has a right to tell private, religious schools what they can teach regarding religion. The language in the Old Testament of the Bible is no different or better than the language of the Koran, and I don't see you complaining about that being taught in Christian schools.



I can't believe that a teacher would say such a thing about the Holocaust, but maybe you and your family should have reported the teacher in addition to re-teaching your niece. Letting her go on to teach those things perpetuates ignorance.

Jenifer - posted on 09/09/2009

You're referring to that Islamic school in Virginia, right? First, they've revised their textbooks since the uproar began after Sept 11th:



http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009...



Second, I didn't see anything about schools in the US teaching kids how to torture infidels. The passage in the article I linked above that warranted the most criticism is no different than some of the Proverbs taught in Christian schools.



I guess I can't see anything in the Koran any worse than I can find in the Bible, so I don't know why anyone would criticize the one type of religious school, and not the other. I mean, regarding the thing you mentioned about Jesus. How do you think Islam is addressed in textbooks at Christian schools? They probably say something like "Muhammad is believed to be God's prophet" - and I don't see what the problem with that is. That's the way it is addressed in secular schools, too. You can teach about a religion without preaching a religion.

Konda - posted on 09/09/2009

I had a teacher, or shall I say a coach that also taught classes, that had the entire class believing that the government still had JFK's brain alive in a lab somewhere, and of course the entire conspiracy that went along with keeping his brain alive. So you don't just need to look at the text books, but talk to your children about what is said and NOT said in class.

I am getting tired of giving into the 'few' and forsaking the many...they move Halloween around here if it is on a Wednesday or Sunday, because 'some' go to church on those days, well, then miss Trick or Treating, or most of these churches have non-evil programs. People don't even know te meaning behind holidays and they want them stopped. Just like taking Christ out of Christmas, duh, that is so stupid.

Dawn - posted on 09/09/2009

The Islamic schools were busted back in the Bush days for teaching how to torture and delimb a person, that anyone other than muslim is an infidel and should be killed. The news didn't make a big deal out of it. But I remember Rice talking about it. They (SA) was told to redo the books without this info in it. But they have not errase the death to all infidels. Also, as to the whole Moses and Jesus they are teaching to not believe it that its questionable but to believe about Mohama. I agree with that its their belief and they can teach what they want but the hatred that is still there within their teaching is not good for anyone.

Jenny - posted on 09/09/2009

I teach my children to question everything and come to their own conclusions. Items like the ones you list are a chance to have a duscussion on why they say that. Jesus is beleived to be the son of god is accurate. It is not a fact but a belief many people share. I think to be equal the same should be said about Mohammed, I'm assuming you meant to say the book said the god or something and not "believed to be" as they said with Jesus? Please correct me if I'm mistaken.



As far as LBGT goes it's teaching different types of families so great. It is highly likely at least one child in the class has same sex parents or other family members. It is different but normal.



I do read all my kid's books but I'm not worried about it as I teach critical thinking right from the get-go.

Jenifer - posted on 09/09/2009

I completely agree that parents should be looking at the textbooks that their kids bring home from school. And while I think some of the examples that Fox focused on (like the LGBT stuff) were over hyped, there may be subtle biases in textbooks. I think inaccurate information in books is a problem, too. For a view of this from left, I'd suggest James Leowen's "Lies My Teacher Told Me" - excellent book. You can check his website for info about myths that are being taught as history:

http://sundown.afro.illinois.edu/

http://sundown.afro.illinois.edu/quiz.ph...



Now, as for the stuff you mentioned about Islamic schools, I don't actually see what the problem is. What is untrue about "Jesus is believed to be the son of God" ? And Muslims believe that Moses received the ten commandments, too, so I don't know why that would be considered biased at all. I know that religious hatred taught in schools is a problem in other countries, but I doubt that it is significant in the US - especially if these are the best examples the producers could find. I don't finding surprising that Muslim textbooks would include tenets of their faith. Christian textbooks certainly do. That's why I'll almost certainly send my son to a public school.



And as for the college textbook thing and new editions constantly being published - yeah, that is a huge problem with introductory college texts. Of course, each edition they correct probably hundreds of math and spelling errors. It's amazing how they push these books out with little review, but its a huge money maker if your book is the one that catches on.



And that is definitely scary about what your nieces were taught about the Holocaust. I know that view exists out there in the fringes, but I never thought kids would be exposed to it in school.