Academic Standards Public Hearings
Academic
Standards Hearing
View Academic Standards and give comments online
October 21, 2003
Hearings on New
Academic Standards
The hearings across the state on the new academic standards will be
complete this week. Wednesday, October 22nd in Albert Lea, is the last
public hearing. Testimony may still be submitted on the Department website
until Friday, the 24th: http://www.education.state.mn.us
Last night the Forest Lake hearing continued the battle of worldviews.
Once again the education cartel appeared in force with their pre-fab
talking points. It is embarrassing to observe those charged with educating
our children address their concerns with insults, personal attacks, and an
attitude of condescending arrogance toward the public, the parents and the
committee members. They act out their "civil government"
philosophy, that is, unelected organizations drive public policy by
shouting the loudest, drowning out the voice of elected
representation.
One Liberian woman took to the microphone to express her surprise that
American's would even consider NOT teaching what makes this country a
beacon of freedom in the world. She suggested that people spend a month in
most places of the world to discover the freedom that America represents.
The Profile of Learning was a highly politicized set of standards. The new
Geography standards reflect that same agenda, unfortunately.
"Sustainable development," for example, is an entire agenda of
radically restructuring our country and our communities. And it's required
in the geography standards. Only a small portion of the geography
standards are physical geography. Most of them are written straight from
the national standards, the Profile-type content.
The economic standards also come straight from the Profile-type national
standards. They define "scarcity" as the core of economics. In
fact, the free market system works because private entrepreneurs create
resources and wealth.
But most of the standards are a substantial improvement. Geography
standards excepted, they are knowledge based, not process based. They
expect students to have knowledge and information that they can take with
them into their futures. Those who denigrate knowledge call it
"regurgitating facts." Those who don't want to teach national
sovereignty and unalienable rights call the standards
"Euro-centric."
Many Profile-believers want to stay with the old. They are speaking up to
their legislators and to the committee. They are even collecting
signatures on a petition to bring the process to a halt and put themselves
in charge again.
The most exhaustive petition drive, however, is an election. Minnesota
engages in elections every two years. That's why the Profile was repealed.
There is a deliberate effort to undo that election, even the legislation
that was passed. Some teachers have stated outright that they would not
teach these kind of standards. Thankfully, while they may be the loudest,
but they don't represent all teachers, many of whom are appalled at the
behavior of their colleagues.
We encourage you to make your own views known to your own elected
representatives. The Profile advocates are.
The following is a letter one parent wrote to voice the view of so many
thousands who battled the Profile for five year in their local schools.
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Dear Commissioner Yecke,
My husband and I are the parents of 3 children, two boys now in
college and one daughter in the ninth grade. We have been unable to
go to any of the hearings regarding the new social studies and science
standards so I went to the Department of Education web page to look at the
standards and have read some of the comments in the newspapers. The
most recent article appeared in the Mankato Free Press and it prompted my
letter.
According to the article, the Mankato area administrators and teachers are
concerned that the new standards have too much memorization and not enough
critical thinking. This amazes me.
How can a student think critically if he or she does not have the
"facts" of the subject easily at hand? I still have facts
in my head that were required to be memorized oh so many years ago.
I thank my teachers for this. This is a life long gift that the
student can use when reading, talking or watching a movie about history,
civics and science, be it in college or as a parent down the road. Having
these facts gives you a point of reference and a certain confidence that I
see lacking in the students of today. The article in the Free Press
calls memorization the lowest form of learning. Far from it -- it is the
foundation for more learning.
The standards as written on the web page are user friendly for the
parents, too. There is an educational jargon that does not make it
easy for an equal partnership between teachers and parents to exist.
The clarity of the new standards is very welcome.
Finally I must also comment on the Op-ed by Jim Davnie in the October 5,
2003 Star Tribune. I find it sad the Mr. Davnie is so critical of
the standards, somehow finding in them a political agenda.
The previous standards were full of history as viewed by a particular
group rather than simply following the path of our history and finding in
the history of our country much to be proud of. If our children are
not inculcated with a pride of country, what will become of our country?
He worries that the drama and energy is
squeezed out of history with these new standards. I think that this
will always be dependant on the teacher. My concern is more that the
teachers have strong knowledge in the content of the subject they teach
and that the textbooks are not written with political correctness at the
core. The job of the teacher is to find a way to convey that
knowledge and some will be better at it than others.
Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts. I sincerely hope
you fight to keep these standards. I heard a national expert say
that our new standards are among the best in the nation. I know that
they are so much better than what we had. We have waited so long to
get back on the right path. Don't let those that would like to keep the
Profile of Learning in place under a different name have their way.
Sincerely,
Kathleen Miller
Waseca, MN
EdWatch - 105 Peavey Rd, Ste 116, Chaska, MN
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