Here in California, the state legislature is about to pass a bill sponsored by legislator, lesbian and former Doby Gillis star Sheila Kuehl that would mandate that all California Social Studies teachers (including me) must teach that many homosexuals are equal heroes of American history too. We will be provided with a list of these approved heroes as part of our state standards... Hmmmm. This presents me with several new problems, as you can imagine. As I look at the portraits of the presidents which adorn my classroom, I see only one homosexual: James Buchanan, who is also universally regarded as our worst president. Am I supposed to teach that he was equal in ability to his successor Abraham Lincoln? As I spend equal time on Mr. Buchanan to illustrate his previously unrecognized abilities, where will that time come from? Shall I spend less time on Jefferson, Washington or Madison? There's only so many minutes of classtime and that time has to come from somewhere... When you add up all of these mandates, for Black History Month, Women's History Month, Cesar Chavez Day and on and on and on, there is less and less time to teach about liberty and democracy and where it comes from, but maybe it won't matter. When they get to college, they can join their professors in shouting down anyone who disagrees with them anyway... :roll:
Funny thing is that many if not all prominent and educated Blacks hate Black History Month. BTW: How about historical cross dressers and transexuals, hopefully we won't leave out their contributions to society!!
:roll: That's what's coming next. No kidding. My last year at the university, the school had just started its newest major subject: Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Studies. Graduates with this new degree will be immediately certified to enter grad school as "Social Studies teachers." Carnac JO'Co can seeeeeee the future. I foretell that James Buchanan's reputation will soon be rehabilitated on a scale not seen since Stalin was rewriting history books...
TP wrote: Pardon me, but IF they were actually heros, wouldn't we already be studying about them? Duh...
re: Buchanan At least your students will also be introduced to William Rufus "Aunt Nancy" King, the Alabama senator. re: Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Studies I thought CSUSB already had a European History department :wink:
re: Aunt Nancy I'm ready to rock. He was also Vice President of the United States in the Pierce administration. He also lived with Buchanan for 16 years, he was a flashy dresser, he had a nice smile and they were all Democrats: Pierce the Drunk, Old Buck, Aunt Nancy; all of them fiddling around as the nation descended into Civil War. Please force me to teach this. Make my day. Winged battle flies through the night and finds me... ready.