Friday, August 6, 2010

Progressive

Todd and I watched a program on PBS tonight that featured the Texas Board of Education and their revisions to the state curriculum.  We both grew more and more agitated as the program went on and we were able to see how the Board was engaged in the process of rewriting history:  minimizing struggles for rights by minority groups, sugarcoating American actions abroad, and redefining (or erasing) words like "imperialism" and "capitalism" to sound less... imperialistic and capitalist.  The charge from the Board was that textbooks are written by liberal academics and thus skewed sharply to the left;  the arguments for changing the textbooks were absurd and Christian conservative, based on the narrowest possible worldview without regard for fact and without any serious research.

The program sparked a wonderful, hours-long discussion with my husband about the nature and purpose of education, and about how important it is for parents to have a clear sense of what it is that teachers are teaching in the classroom and what is it that is left for parents.  We discussed our priorities for our children, we discussed our politics, we discussed our children.  And it was wonderful to realize that, even though we don't always have the chance to have an in-depth conversation such as the one we had tonight, we are cut from the same cloth.  We are progressives.  We are compassionate.  We are culturally literate.  We are communicators.  We are united by a single purpose.

For the record, I thought that the most important thing to emphasize for our children was written and oral communication.  I want them to be good readers, and by being good readers to become good writers.  I want them to be able to sustain an argument in writing, to follow one as they read, and to construct one as they speak. This is a skill that will serve them well no matter what career path they choose in the future.  Todd's emphasis was on engagement:  he didn't want them to be passive observers of the world around them, but to learn to appreciate and become part of it.  He wants them to understand and appreciate a ballet as much as a baseball game, to be able to enjoy the physical exertion of a nature hike but also recognize the birdsong and the patterns in nature.  

If we can accomplish these things in our children, I will be very happy indeed.


1 comment:

  1. Both of your goals are admirable and I share them too. I had actually never think of them. I'm sure K and I are of one mind in this respect too. My greatest joy is to see what a good reader Kelvin has become. I can actually discuss the plots of books with him (we read Narnia this summer, he only needs to read the last book).

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