A Minute for Parents

Summary

A Battle Being Fought for the Mind's of Our Children

Article

By JoAnn Hibbert Hamilton

“Make no mistake there is a battle being fought for the minds of future generations of Americans. Who wins and who loses is up to you,” stated Tucker Carlson, the moderator of Fox News Reporting: Do You Know What Textbooks Your Children Are Really Reading? September 4, 2009. He concluded by saying, “Textbooks are leaving an affect. . . . The goal isn’t education; it is social change using your kids.”

Tucker Carlson went on to say that they found in their preparation for this report that “some textbooks are full of outright lies, completely missing basic facts or (they) push agendas hidden or otherwise.” Pushing an agenda in California, second graders are required to read the book And Tango Makes Three, which is a story about two male penguins rearing a baby penguin.

He pointed out that the publication of textbooks is a ten billion dollar a year business dominated by The McGraw Hill Companies, Pearson Education and Houghton Mifflin Company. All three refused interviews.

Carlson found books that taught there were two Thanksgivings, one in April and one in November. The Espanic/Mexican Thanksgiving held in 1598, which had to do with a lack of water, is on pages 46-49 and when you get to pages 136-139 you have a little bit on the Pilgrims and the Mayflower.

In her book, The Language Police, Diane Raavitch pointed out that there is a censorship regime that says you can’t say or print certain things. Textbook publishers have multi-culture advisory committees where someone represents every bias group. “A small group of unelected individuals has a lot of control over what our children learn, states Diane. “They work in secret and the forces involved are dumming down our kids,” she continued.

Diane pointed out that the committees demand that you can’t show a woman with big hair. You can’t have a picture of a woman cooking because that is demeaning and considered bias, but you can have her using a jackhammer. “Waiter” or “waitress” is considered a bias word, as is any word that ends in man or woman, i.e., policeman, fireman, etc.

Was Christopher Columbus a war criminal? Children reading current materials on an elementary level decided that he did not deserve a holiday. He opened the way for the Spanish to come to America, and they harmed the Indian people. Often United States History is not taught at all.

The 1.8 million Muslims in the United States comprise less than 1% of the population and yet they have made a considerable contribution to textbooks. In Allan Brinkley’s textbook The Unfinished Nation, the 2008 edition stated that only one person was charged in the attacks on the Twin Towers. At the time it was public knowledge that 129 were charged. The author wouldn’t comment if the new addition had a correction. Textbooks talked about terrorists but considered it bias to point out that they were Muslims/Radicals, so that was not allowed in the books.

Moslem beliefs are stated as facts, i.e. “Mohammed got information from God” while Christianity is portrayed as “For those who believe in Christ, Jesus is believed to be the Messiah.” “Moses claimed to have received the 10 Commandments, but the Koran says ‘the revelation came from God.’”

Information on anti-bullying in textbooks opens the door to discussions about lesbian/gay/bisexual and transgender lifestyles even in books on a grade school level. Some textbooks encourage suicide, death and dying and have more copy on Marilyn Monroe than George Washington.

Books are sold to districts or by Textbook Adoption committees. They are pressured by pressure groups. Adults are obviously trying to superimpose their ideology on children. Often the books are not written by the names on the covers, and there is sloppy duplication and writing, colorful though the book may be.

The problem: propagandizing our children. The solution: (1) Read your child’s textbooks and object if there are problems. (2) Teach children, “You can’t believe everything that you learn in school.” (3) Discuss issues regarding your values as you find problems.