Tennessee Teabaggers want US history to be whitewashed.

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NASHVILLE — Members of Tennessee tea parties presented state legislators with five priorities for action Wednesday, including “rejecting” the federal health reform act, establishing an elected “chief litigator” for the state and “educating students the truth about America.”

About two dozen tea party activists held a news conference, then met with lawmakers individually to present their list of priorities and “demands” for the 2011 legislative session that opened Tuesday.

Regarding education, the material they distributed said, “Neglect and outright ill will have distorted the teaching of the history and character of the United States. We seek to compel the teaching of students in Tennessee the truth regarding the history of our nation and the nature of its government.”

That would include, the documents say, that “the Constitution created a Republic, not a Democracy.”

The material calls for lawmakers to amend state laws governing school curriculums, and for textbook selection criteria to say that “No portrayal of minority experience in the history which actually occurred shall obscure the experience or contributions of the Founding Fathers, or the majority of citizens, including those who reached positions of leadership.”

Fayette County attorney Hal Rounds, the group’s lead spokesman during the news conference, said the group wants to address “an awful lot of made-up criticism about, for instance, the founders intruding on the Indians or having slaves or being hypocrites in one way or another.

... convinced that slavery was not only a happy time for Negros ...

The Tennessee Teabaggers want US history to be even more whitewashed than it already is.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/20 ... e-demands/

What a bunch of wackos

One opinion I read is some of the founders frankly knew they were hypocritical. Or early on Washington in particular was savagely cruel to his slaves.

But over time there was some thought given to it by them especially in light of their Declaration of Independence. Still while considering slavery might seem hypocritical after fighting for their own freedom, they didn't try to stop it because it was so entrenched and part of the American culture at the time. Some like Jefferson hoped America would grow out of it over many generations.

the history of his present majesty, is a history of unremitting injuries and usurpations, among which no one fact stands single or solitary to contradict the uniform tenor of the rest, all of which have in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. to prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world, for the truth of which we pledge a faith yet unsullied by falsehood....he has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating it’s most sacred rights of life & liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. this piratical warfare, the opprobrium of infidel powers, is the warfare of the CHRISTIAN king of Great Britain. determined to keep open a market where MEN should be bought & sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce:[11] and that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distinguished die, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, by murdering the people upon whom he also obtruded them; thus paying off former crimes committed against the liberties of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives of another.

The Southern States probably have the worst history classes. Most Southerners have no idea what happened to their Indians (or, if they learn anything, it was that the Trail of Tears was a picnic), and are convinced that slavery was not only a happy time for Negros, but had nothing to do with the Civil War.

To be fair, I was educated in the South, in both private and public schools, and the history classes I took did discuss both the Trail of Tears and slavery at length. I can recall very vividly a section on slavery in my 7th grade history class, which included watching a PBS documentary on how badly the slaves were treated and-- if you can believe it-- a field trip to a working cotton plantation, to see how physically demanding picking and manually deseeding cotton actually is. It may not be the norm, but there are history classes in the South that address the uglier parts of the region's past.

That said, I will concede that no curriculum I ever had about the Civil War was taught without states' rights being cited as one of the primary causes.

You think that's bad. Just wait till you read this: http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2012/01/0 ... ?mobile=nc

Do we need anymore proof how backwards this state has become?

HB 1153 *SB 0760

Education - As introduced, clarifies terms and policies associated with harassment, intimidation and bullying. - Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 6.
Fiscal Summary

NOT SIGNIFICANT
Bill Summary

Present law requires each school district to adopt a policy prohibiting harassment, intimidation or bullying.

This bill clarifies that the policy may not be construed or interpreted to infringe upon the First Amendment rights of students and may not prohibit their expression of religious, philosophical, or political views as long as such expression does not include a threat of physical harm to a student or of damage to a student's property.

Under present law, "harassment, intimidation or bullying" means any act that substantially interferes with a student's educational benefits, opportunities or performance, that takes place on school grounds, at any school-sponsored activity, on school-provided transportation or at any official school bus stop, and that has the effect of:
(1) Physically harming a student or damaging a student's property;
(2) Knowingly placing a student in reasonable fear of physical harm to the student or damage to the student's property; or
(3) Creating a hostile educational environment.

This bill specifies that "creating a hostile educational environment" would not include discomfort and unpleasantness that can accompany the expression of a viewpoint or belief that is unpopular, not shared by other students, or not shared by teachers or school officials.

Present law encourages school districts to form harassment, intimidation or bullying prevention task forces, programs and other initiatives involving school employees, students, administrators, volunteers, parents, guardians, law enforcement and community representatives.

This bill specifies that such task forces, programs, and other initiatives may not include materials or training that explicitly or implicitly promote a political agenda, make the characteristics of the victim the focus rather than the conduct of the person engaged in harassment, intimidation, or bullying, or teach or suggest that certain beliefs or viewpoints are discriminatory when an act or practice based on such belief or viewpoint is not a discriminatory practice under present human rights law.

Under present human rights law, a "discriminatory practice" is any direct or indirect act or practice of exclusion, distinction, restriction, segregation, limitation, refusal, denial, or any other act or practice of differentiation or preference in the treatment of a person because of race, creed, color, religion, sex, age or national origin.

Apparently Jefferson made an attempt to address the injustice of slavery. Here is a passage from the original draft of the Declaration of Independence:

he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, by murdering the people upon whom he also obtruded them; thus paying off former crimes committed against the liberties of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives of another.