EdAction
Maple River Education Coalition PAC
105 Peavey Rd, St 116
Chaska, MN
55318
952-361-4931
http://www.EdAction.org
E-mail
September 11, 2004
A 9/11 Letter to Lawmakers
Please consider printing off a copy of this letter and sending it into your own
members of Congress and to your own local lawmakers to honor those who were
killed in the attacks against our country on September 11, 2001.
Dear [Member of Congress or state legislator]:
September 11, 2001, was a day none of us will ever forget.
As we Americans watched hijacked planes crash into the World Trade Center towers
and the Pentagon, most of us experienced outrage and anger at the evil that had
been directed against us.
President Bush captured the reaction best during his address to the nation on
September 20th:
We are a country awakened to danger and called to defend freedom. Our grief has
turned to anger and anger to resolution. Whether we bring our enemies to justice
or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done.
It was not long, however, before an opposing view emerged, a blame-America-first
view which asked, "What has America done wrong to make them hate us so much?"
The opposition reached its peak in public schools during September 2002, the
first anniversary of 9/11, when the nation's largest teachers' union, the
National Education Association, released a negative, anti-America series of
lesson plans.
The union suggested to teachers that they be careful not to "suggest that any
group is responsible" for the terrorist hijackings that killed more than 3,000
people.
One NEA lesson plan took a decidedly blame-America-first approach, urging
educators to "discuss historical instances of American intolerance," so that the
American public avoids "repeating terrible mistakes." In addition, the
blame-America response suggested despair, futility and defeat, rather than anger
and firm resolve.
The Glencoe-McGraw Hill 2002 U. S. history textbook reflected the defeated view
of the 9/11 attack on our country. In the initial review copy of the book
submitted to the Texas State Board of Education, the authors communicated
malaise at ground zero: "The smell of death.....the odor is everywhere.......a
scrap of skin, a leg......my bones feel ground, my nose numb from dust and
asbestos." [See textbook,
http://www.edaction.org.]
Through discussions between the public and the publisher, the authors
incorporated the spirit of fearless determination. For example, the "Let's Roll"
story of Todd Beamer and his heroic fellow passengers on United flight 93
replaced a description of despair. The initial and negotiated textbook pages can
be viewed on-line. ." [See textbook,
http://www.edaction.org.]
Teaching a negative view of our country through lessons about the 9/11 attack on
America is just one example of the kind of anti-American bias that routinely
permeates much of our nation’s curriculum, usually without the knowledge of
parents. A careful review of the content standards that all states have adopted
in compliance with requirements of No Child Left Behind demonstrates that the
state standards themselves reflect a negative bias toward our country, our
history, and such founding principles as national sovereignty, unalienable
rights, self-evident truth, and the economic principles of a free market
economy. These biased standards have been adopted by states and incorporated
into the curriculum of our local schools, textbooks and teacher training
institutions because they conform to national content standards.
Unelected organizations within the national content standards movement work a
tireless agenda to revise American history to reflect their anti-American
ideology. The Center for Civic Education (CCE) is one of those organizations.
Their National Standards for Civics and Government do not teach students
the timeless principles of America’s history, such as national sovereignty,
self-evident truth and unalienable rights. Yet the CCE is directly funded by
Congress to write, publish and promote their standards with no Congressional
oversight. In addition to funding the development of the biased national content
standards, federal grants and contracts continue to support them as models for
state standards and for national and state assessments. (See FedEd: The New
Federal Curriculum and How It’s Enforced,
http://www.edwatch.org.]
On only one occasion have national content standards been submitted to a vote.
In 1995, in a nonbinding vote, the U.S. Senate rejected the National History
Standards 99 to 1. Yet those same standards, with only cosmetic changes, are the
national history standards in use in our states and schools today.
To remedy this matter, we urge Congress to eliminate all funding and grants for
the development, production and promotion of national education content
standards, curriculum, teacher training, and teaching methodology.
We also urge every state to adopt state content standards that teach patriotism
for our country by implementing the following actions:
· communicate that while America has made mistakes, our history is
overwhelmingly positive.
· emphasize historically significant events as opposed to events to meet
diversity goals.
· teach the valued history of Western civilization.
· reverse the dogmatic hostility toward America’s Judeo-Christian
heritage.
· teach the principles of our free market economic system.
· emphasize the founding principles of the Declaration of Independence
that form the basis of our Constitutional government.
Sincerely,
[Sign your own name here.]
[Your name, address, and telephone number.]