In 2010, Texas became the laughingstock of the country as Americans witnessed the battle over rewriting the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) that provide the blueprint for Texas textbooks—and standardized tests, teacher training standards, indeed, the entire curriculum. TEKS is a gigantic “laundry list” approach to history, reflecting a methodology that focuses on “content mastery” as a measure of knowledge, as if simply being able to remember who (insert famous historical figure’s name here) was is necessary to go to college, get a job, or simply live a happy, productive life.
As the Dallas Morning News reported in September 2014, the ongoing debate over what are called “social studies skills” reflects a culture war, with conservatives on the State Board of Education maintaining that “social studies education has been too heavily influenced by left-leaning relativistic ‘empowerment’ rhetoric that reduces American history to a roll call of oppressed minorities and a sneering parade of robber barons.”
On the other side of the argument are those who charge that the texts “exaggerate the role of religion in the nation’s founding; deliberately downplay the separation of church and state; and, shamefully, minimize the disparities imposed by segregation.”
Adding to the absurdity is the fact that the problem-solving and decision-making skills outlined in the TEKS as being important for high school seniors are, word-for-word, the exact same standards held out for kindergartners. As Dr. Keith Erekson put it “I will leave it to the late-night comedians to identify the careers best suited for Texas high school graduates with kindergarten-level problem-solving skills, but I will say that the phrase “All I really need to know I learned in Kindergarten” makes a far better bumper sticker than educational philosophy.”
To illustrate this absurdity, here are a few of the TEKS set down for Kindergarten students. Keep in mind, we're talking about 5 and 6 year olds, who cannot go to the bathroom in school without an adult. In the Social Studies curriculum, these children are supposed to learn:
1) Students identify the role of the U.S. free enterprise system within the parameters of this course and understand that this system may also be referenced as capitalism or the free market system. Children at this age don't even know how to count money. How are they to understand capitalism or free market economics?
2) Students identify and discuss how the actions of U.S. citizens and the local, state, and federal governments have either met or failed to meet the ideals espoused in the founding documents. This requires a significant degree of reasoning skill. Even high school students have difficulty with such reasoning.
3) History. The student understands how patriots, and good citizens helped shape the community, state, and nation. The student is expected to:
(A) identify the contributions of historical figures, including Stephen F. Austin, George Washington, Christopher Columbus, and José Antonio Navarro who helped to shape the state and nation; and
(B) identify contributions of patriots and good citizens who have shaped the community.
This begins what Bruce VanSledright has termed "collective memorialization". "In a nation that has built itself off the backs of waves of immigrants, the push to use history education to 'Americanize' the hordes of 'outsiders' lobbies incessantly. To sow allegiance to the nation state requires constant maintenance." It is indoctrination instead of education. It introduces the idea that there are people, other than the child's own parents, who have the right and ability to identify "patriots" and what constitutes a "good" citizen. But, even "bad" citizens have shaped the nation.
4) History. The student understands the concept of chronology. The student is expected to:
(A) place events in chronological order; and
(B) use vocabulary related to time and chronology, including before, after, next, first, last, yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
While youngsters do need to begin to understand the concept of time, this antiquated method of teaching history leads to the view, voiced by many high school students, that history is "just one darned thing after another."
5) Social studies skills. The student applies critical-thinking skills to organize and use information acquired from a variety of valid sources, including electronic technology. The student is expected to:
(A) obtain information about a topic using a variety of valid oral sources such as conversations, interviews, and music;
(B) obtain information about a topic using a variety of valid visual sources such as pictures, symbols, electronic media, print material, and artifacts;
(C) sequence and categorize information.
In most cases, the only history class(es) an elementary education major ever took in college was the freshman survey course, utilizing a textbook, which represents only one source. How, then, is a non-history major to judge the validity of a source? But, leaving aside that lack of qualification, kindergartners can't even READ yet. How in the world are they to apply "critical-thinking skills" to ANYTHING? In most cases, the teacher tells them what to think.
6) Social studies skills. The student communicates in oral and visual forms. The student is expected to:
(A) express ideas orally based on knowledge and experiences
WHAT knowledge and experience? They're 5 and 6 YEARS OLD!
As the Dallas Morning News reported in September 2014, the ongoing debate over what are called “social studies skills” reflects a culture war, with conservatives on the State Board of Education maintaining that “social studies education has been too heavily influenced by left-leaning relativistic ‘empowerment’ rhetoric that reduces American history to a roll call of oppressed minorities and a sneering parade of robber barons.”
On the other side of the argument are those who charge that the texts “exaggerate the role of religion in the nation’s founding; deliberately downplay the separation of church and state; and, shamefully, minimize the disparities imposed by segregation.”
Adding to the absurdity is the fact that the problem-solving and decision-making skills outlined in the TEKS as being important for high school seniors are, word-for-word, the exact same standards held out for kindergartners. As Dr. Keith Erekson put it “I will leave it to the late-night comedians to identify the careers best suited for Texas high school graduates with kindergarten-level problem-solving skills, but I will say that the phrase “All I really need to know I learned in Kindergarten” makes a far better bumper sticker than educational philosophy.”
To illustrate this absurdity, here are a few of the TEKS set down for Kindergarten students. Keep in mind, we're talking about 5 and 6 year olds, who cannot go to the bathroom in school without an adult. In the Social Studies curriculum, these children are supposed to learn:
1) Students identify the role of the U.S. free enterprise system within the parameters of this course and understand that this system may also be referenced as capitalism or the free market system. Children at this age don't even know how to count money. How are they to understand capitalism or free market economics?
2) Students identify and discuss how the actions of U.S. citizens and the local, state, and federal governments have either met or failed to meet the ideals espoused in the founding documents. This requires a significant degree of reasoning skill. Even high school students have difficulty with such reasoning.
3) History. The student understands how patriots, and good citizens helped shape the community, state, and nation. The student is expected to:
(A) identify the contributions of historical figures, including Stephen F. Austin, George Washington, Christopher Columbus, and José Antonio Navarro who helped to shape the state and nation; and
(B) identify contributions of patriots and good citizens who have shaped the community.
This begins what Bruce VanSledright has termed "collective memorialization". "In a nation that has built itself off the backs of waves of immigrants, the push to use history education to 'Americanize' the hordes of 'outsiders' lobbies incessantly. To sow allegiance to the nation state requires constant maintenance." It is indoctrination instead of education. It introduces the idea that there are people, other than the child's own parents, who have the right and ability to identify "patriots" and what constitutes a "good" citizen. But, even "bad" citizens have shaped the nation.
4) History. The student understands the concept of chronology. The student is expected to:
(A) place events in chronological order; and
(B) use vocabulary related to time and chronology, including before, after, next, first, last, yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
While youngsters do need to begin to understand the concept of time, this antiquated method of teaching history leads to the view, voiced by many high school students, that history is "just one darned thing after another."
5) Social studies skills. The student applies critical-thinking skills to organize and use information acquired from a variety of valid sources, including electronic technology. The student is expected to:
(A) obtain information about a topic using a variety of valid oral sources such as conversations, interviews, and music;
(B) obtain information about a topic using a variety of valid visual sources such as pictures, symbols, electronic media, print material, and artifacts;
(C) sequence and categorize information.
In most cases, the only history class(es) an elementary education major ever took in college was the freshman survey course, utilizing a textbook, which represents only one source. How, then, is a non-history major to judge the validity of a source? But, leaving aside that lack of qualification, kindergartners can't even READ yet. How in the world are they to apply "critical-thinking skills" to ANYTHING? In most cases, the teacher tells them what to think.
6) Social studies skills. The student communicates in oral and visual forms. The student is expected to:
(A) express ideas orally based on knowledge and experiences
WHAT knowledge and experience? They're 5 and 6 YEARS OLD!
7) Social studies skills. The student uses problem-solving and decision-making skills, working independently and with others, in a variety of settings. The student is expected to:
(A) use a problem-solving process to identify a problem, gather information, list and consider options, consider advantages and disadvantages, choose and implement a solution, and evaluate the effectiveness of the solution; and
(B) use a decision-making process to identify a situation that requires a decision, gather information, generate options, predict outcomes, take action to implement a decision, and reflect on the effectiveness of that decision.
How does someone who can't even tie his shoelaces do any of that?
The public education establishment is very much like a Medieval Guild. It makes up its own criteria for membership and sets the rules for entry. Only those who undergo the required training and learn the secret handshake are then considered qualified to impart knowledge. As anyone who has dealt with teachers and administrators knows, it is also highly secretive. The teacher and the school itself is allowed to determine what might, or might not, be "disruptive" to the learning process. Parents who would like to sit in and audit what is being taught are viewed with suspicion. Often such a request will be denied.
Parents or citizens who express concern are met with standard replies that are taught in many graduate Education Administration courses to deflect such concerns and maintain control. They will be given such dodges as:
1) You’re too inexperienced to understand, or
2) That all experts disagree with your point of view, or
3) That scientific evidence proves you wrong, or
4) That you’re trying to impose your morals or values on others, or
5) That you’re the only person in the whole community who has raised that issue.
Now, all of these assertions may be completely false. But most parents don’t have the time or resources to prove it. School officials KNOW that.
For the past 85 years or so, the education establishment has religiously worked to convince the general public that it represents a profession, rather than a trade. When he retired from the Presidency of Harvard in 1933, Abbott Lawrence Lowell told the Board of Trustees that Harvard's Graduate School of Education was "a kitten that ought to be drowned”. In 2013, Harvard stopped conferring the Doctor of Education (EdD) degree. The Board of Trustees finally acted on the recommendations of the rest of the faculty that this degree is not, and never was, the equivalent of the PhD. Instead, it was created by the education establishment itself for those seeking the same stature as academic scholars.
What the general public doesn't know is that, at colleges and universities with "schools" or "departments" of Education, those departments are considered the trash dumps of the university by the rest of the faculty, when they think of them at all.
Hard data on education student qualifications have consistently shown their mental test scores to be at, or near, the bottom among all categories of students. In 1952, the U.S. Army had college students tested for draft deferments during the Korean War. More than half the students in the humanities, the social, biological and physical sciences, and mathematics passed, compared to only 27% of those majoring in Education.
In 1981, students majoring in education scored lower on both verbal and quantitative SATs than students majoring in art, music, theatre, all the sciences, mathematics, business, and health occupations. In 1994, a review of the SAT scores of Education majors was done as part of a graduate school research project at Tarleton State University, which has an Education department. A search of the Registrar’s computer records was conducted. Student names were not part of the search criteria, only SAT scores by major in each department. The earlier data was confirmed. Education majors ranked in the lowest group, by mental and verbal ability, of all students in the university.
At the graduate level, it is much the same story, with students in numerous other fields outscoring education students on the Graduate Record Examination – by from 91 points composite to 259 points, depending on the field. The pool of graduate students in education supplies not only teachers, counselors, and administrators, but also professors of education and those who speak for the Education establishment, advising such people as elected officials.
Perhaps this is why, at some point in the past, the Texas legislature inserted a provision in the Local Government Code making teacher's college transcripts private. As public employees, teachers' salaries are a matter of public record. But, parents have no way of determining what kind of student a teacher was in college. Did they score so low on the SAT or ACT that they were required to take remedial classes before being allowed to do college work? At least 1/2 of all students leaving Texas high schools today must do so. Were they ever put on academic probation. Did they start off declaring an academic major, only to switch to Education because they found the other discipline too hard?
Although local Boards of Education are still elected, this is a nostalgic throwback to the early 20th century. How and what is taught in the public schools has been taken out of the hands of local officials and is vested in educational bureaucrats who have a vested interest in the status quo.
Parents or citizens who express concern are met with standard replies that are taught in many graduate Education Administration courses to deflect such concerns and maintain control. They will be given such dodges as:
1) You’re too inexperienced to understand, or
2) That all experts disagree with your point of view, or
3) That scientific evidence proves you wrong, or
4) That you’re trying to impose your morals or values on others, or
5) That you’re the only person in the whole community who has raised that issue.
Now, all of these assertions may be completely false. But most parents don’t have the time or resources to prove it. School officials KNOW that.
For the past 85 years or so, the education establishment has religiously worked to convince the general public that it represents a profession, rather than a trade. When he retired from the Presidency of Harvard in 1933, Abbott Lawrence Lowell told the Board of Trustees that Harvard's Graduate School of Education was "a kitten that ought to be drowned”. In 2013, Harvard stopped conferring the Doctor of Education (EdD) degree. The Board of Trustees finally acted on the recommendations of the rest of the faculty that this degree is not, and never was, the equivalent of the PhD. Instead, it was created by the education establishment itself for those seeking the same stature as academic scholars.
What the general public doesn't know is that, at colleges and universities with "schools" or "departments" of Education, those departments are considered the trash dumps of the university by the rest of the faculty, when they think of them at all.
Hard data on education student qualifications have consistently shown their mental test scores to be at, or near, the bottom among all categories of students. In 1952, the U.S. Army had college students tested for draft deferments during the Korean War. More than half the students in the humanities, the social, biological and physical sciences, and mathematics passed, compared to only 27% of those majoring in Education.
In 1981, students majoring in education scored lower on both verbal and quantitative SATs than students majoring in art, music, theatre, all the sciences, mathematics, business, and health occupations. In 1994, a review of the SAT scores of Education majors was done as part of a graduate school research project at Tarleton State University, which has an Education department. A search of the Registrar’s computer records was conducted. Student names were not part of the search criteria, only SAT scores by major in each department. The earlier data was confirmed. Education majors ranked in the lowest group, by mental and verbal ability, of all students in the university.
At the graduate level, it is much the same story, with students in numerous other fields outscoring education students on the Graduate Record Examination – by from 91 points composite to 259 points, depending on the field. The pool of graduate students in education supplies not only teachers, counselors, and administrators, but also professors of education and those who speak for the Education establishment, advising such people as elected officials.
Perhaps this is why, at some point in the past, the Texas legislature inserted a provision in the Local Government Code making teacher's college transcripts private. As public employees, teachers' salaries are a matter of public record. But, parents have no way of determining what kind of student a teacher was in college. Did they score so low on the SAT or ACT that they were required to take remedial classes before being allowed to do college work? At least 1/2 of all students leaving Texas high schools today must do so. Were they ever put on academic probation. Did they start off declaring an academic major, only to switch to Education because they found the other discipline too hard?
Although local Boards of Education are still elected, this is a nostalgic throwback to the early 20th century. How and what is taught in the public schools has been taken out of the hands of local officials and is vested in educational bureaucrats who have a vested interest in the status quo.
