Network With Other Concerned
Citizens in Your State!
View Your State's Education Documents
Contacts listed on our site do not imply endorsement. They are given to assist readers in contacting others who may be of similar mindset in their area. It is the reader's duty to investigate whether or not that is so. To submit your name as a contact in your state, e-mail us with applicable information. EdAction reserves the right to control information posted on the site.
FLORIDA
Contact: Independent Voices for Better Education
Website: http://www.ivbe.org/
Contact: Lydia O'Connor
Email: Lydocon@aol.com
Contact: Lee Coleman
Phone: 561-586-0997
Links:
The Florida standards are called Sunshine State Standards:
They are based on the "national" standards, as described in the book FedEd.
The requirements for 9-12th grade social studies on page 3, for example, describes the standards for civics and government. These standards make no reference to most of the founding principles of our country: national sovereignty, natural law, unalienable rights, self-evident truth, the purpose of government to protect these unalienable rights, and so on.
What the Florida standards do say is this:
The student "understands the ideas that led to the creation of limited government in the United States (e.g., ideas of natural rights philosophy, and the concept of popular sovereignty)."
One could interpret that to include all the items mentioned above, but, unfortunately, in the national standards, these items are either missing entirely, or, where, they are included, they are taught, as ideas appropriate for the 18th century.
To see how they teach these generalities, look at the curriculum for 9-12 American Government:
http://www.firn.edu/doe/curriculum/crscode/basic612/912/ss912/2106310.pdf
There is nothing more mentioned in the specific curriculum about national sovereignty and unalienable rights. The identical language of the "natural rights philosophy" is stated here as is
stated in the standards.
The "National Standards on Civics and Government" teach the founding principles as a philosophy that was predominant at that time. They don't portray them as "self-evident truth" or "unalienable" rights. According to the founders of our country, these are principles of freedom that are
timeless, not philosophies of the time.
The curriculum says that the students will:
"understand how personal, political, and economic rights are secured by constitutional government and by such means as the rule of law, checks and balances, an independent judiciary, and a vigilant citizenry."
According to our Declaration of Independence, the unalienable rights of people are not "secured" by government. They are endowed by our Creator. They are "protected" by government. When government grants rights, they are not unalienbable. This is a key to our unique system of government in the history of the world.
The "new" civics and the "national" standards no longer teach our children these fundamental principles of freedom.
EdAction - 105 Peavey Rd, Ste 116, Chaska, MN 55318
952-361-4931 - edaction@lakes.com - (c) EdAction - All rights reserved.