RoR: Forum

Philip,
This is off topic - I saw in your profile that you accidentally pick something as your "favorite gallery item" item. I find that if your pick another one, the old one will automatically disappear. It happened to me. So you may try it.

Post 21

Wednesday, March 30, 2005 - 11:58am

Philip wrote:

The problem is *epistemological* not political..and would not be fully solved in the short term if all schools were privately owned and competing.

Not sure I agree that it is not political. PC is political and text books are decidedly PC. They try to offend no one and as a result say nothing.

Post 22

Wednesday, March 30, 2005 - 3:30pm

[Robert] " text books are decidedly PC. They try to offend no one and as a result say nothing."

This is a sweeping claim with no concretes offered: subjects, particular textbooks, quoted passages. I'm a teacher and have worked with quite a number of textbooks. Have I been fortunate in the ones I've seen?

First hand examples and their scope, please!

...As opposed to indirect claims by Alan Bloom, unless you've looked over the book yourself..conservative 'culture warriors' and Objectivists do overstate sometimes.

Phil

Post 23

Friday, April 1, 2005 - 11:30am

Philip,

Clearly, you don't watch C-span.

I don't deal with textbooks on a regular basis, but the people who do report that the texts are balanced for gender, race and politically correct ideas, rather than intellectual content. If you deal with science or mathematical texts this may not be quite as obvious to you.

But if you don't believe me, read these:

http://www.mackinac.org/article.asp?ID=6460

http://www.edutopia.org/magazine/ed1article.php?id=Art_1195&issue=nov_04

http://www.vfw.org/index.cfm?fa=news.magDtl&dtl=2&mid=2360

http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/pc-educ.html

There are many more I could add, but this should make my point.

Post 24

Friday, April 1, 2005 - 3:28pm

Robert, Your links don't prove what you claim they do and they are second-hand. Nor did I claim there was *no* p.c. problem. Moreover, you want to talk about politics, politics, politics rather than the role of the deeper branches of philosophy on which politics depends. I don't.

You are not engaging me on the seven textbook problems I mentioned (which tend to be epistemological, such as issues of coherence and integration) since you are not familiar with the textbooks.

If anyone else has concrete examples or wants to contest, debate, explore in those areas to get us away from "political reductionism" I would be eternally grateful. Otherwise this thread is in a vegetative state for me.

Post 25

Monday, April 4, 2005 - 7:47am

Philip,

As Plato said, You can ignore politics, but politics will not ignore you.

What good is your epistemological textbook, if it is hacked to pieces by the PC crowd. It sounds like wasted effort. Now if you are talking about offering a line of alternative textbooks that will compete in the marketplace, that is something different. But, it sounds like you are only talking about input into what is being published, mere pearls before swine, a bandaid on a gaping wound.

Post 26

Monday, April 4, 2005 - 2:00pm

What good is your epistemological textbook, if it is hacked to pieces by the PC crowd. [Robert]

1. Private school market.
2. A thousand Catholic schools.
3. Homeschool market...millions of parents.
4. Adult education.
5. (Perhaps)The occasional public school district in the more conservative states.

Post 27

Monday, April 4, 2005 - 2:42pm

On a more uplifting note, sometimes a public school teacher can provide just the inspiration we need.

An Ode to William Yachymiak

Post 28

Monday, April 11, 2005 - 7:31am

Great article Jennifer, beautifully written.

Post 29

Monday, April 11, 2005 - 8:43am

Thank you, Robert. :)

Post 30

Monday, April 11, 2005 - 9:56am

JI wrote: "On a more uplifting note, sometimes a public school teacher can provide just the inspiration we need."

The essay was so compelling that I signed up for Atlasphere.

Post 31

Monday, April 11, 2005 - 10:02am

check out this link, we need some inspiration:

http://www.reason.com/0504/fe.gb.the.shtml

(I really need a page showing how to type the code for this site)

Post 32

Monday, April 11, 2005 - 10:45am

Michael, what a wonderful compliment to receive. Thank you!

Post 33

Monday, April 11, 2005 - 10:49am

Thanks for posting that, Clarence. I loved the quote from Mrs. Burges that ended the piece:

I’m reaching out to the community, staying in their face. I have a bull’s mentality where that’s concerned. I’m just not going to give up, because what we’re doing works.

Three cheers for the bull mentality!

Jason

Post 34

Monday, April 11, 2005 - 7:54am

Jennifer

What a wonderful moving tribute to a passionate dedicated teacher who would settle for nothing but the best from his students.

These are the people who make huge differences for the better in our lives -- and we need as many as we can get -- and they don't have to be Objectivists (see Liking People, by Joseph Rowlands and comments thereafter.).

Post 35

Monday, April 11, 2005 - 4:29pm

Jennifer,

At the risk of hijacking Robert's thread for a new article, I do wish to compliment you on it.

So you were sassy with your English teacher, huh? I wonder why that doesn't surprise me...

//;-)

Seriously. it is a great article. Why don't you post it on SOLO too? Is that allowed around here?

Michael

Post 36

Monday, April 11, 2005 - 8:12pm

Michael,

I can certainly post it on SOLO at a later date. It belongs to the Atlasphere for a while, but after that period is up I can put it in the queue. Thanks for the compliment. :)

And thank you too, Steven. I'm trying to track him down so I can send him the article. I think he'd get a kick out of it. ;)

Post 37

Tuesday, April 12, 2005 - 9:11am