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Mine was changed by about five great teachers. I write today because I had an English teacher who expected the very best I could give when I was 17 years old. Mr. Johnson didn't give anyone an A on their essay, ever. You counted yourself lucky to get a D. If you got a D, you didn't have to rewrite it unless you wanted to. Anything lower than that meant a full rewrite with many scathing comments. We hated it and we hated his droll method of teaching then, but my Facebook friends and I agree now that he was probably one of the most influential teachers we had.

Oh, and he was a union guy. All our teachers were. But that was before the days of Proposition 13, when teachers were paid to be good teachers and not produce standardized test results, though I also credit Mr. Johnson's coaching with passing AP test results that year. After Proposition 13 and in the years since, the trend is to turn education over to the profiteers via charter schools and online learning, all in the name of "budget savings."

The skills Mr. Johnson taught me cannot be measured by standardized tests and value-added evaluations.

Mr. Johnson is long-retired. I don't know if he's still alive, even. But I do know that if we keep going the way of charter schools and vouchers, the Mr. Johnsons of this world won't spend their time teaching. You'd have to be insane to do that. He was a lot of things, but he wasn't insane.

Diane Ravitch's column in today's Washington Post paints a picture of our education system that should concern us all, whether or not we have kids. Yes, this is something I have to remind my neighbors about when they complain that they have no children yet pay taxes for education. An educated society is a prosperous one. We all benefit from educating children, even children of undocumented workers.

Ravitch:

Governors and state legislatures heed these messages. How could they not? In state after state, men with vast personal fortunes invest in campaigns to end teachers' tenure, end seniority (now called Last In, First Out, or LIFO), and clear the way for private takeovers of public schools, where teachers work with no job rights at all. Understandably, the message is embraced by right-wing governors like Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, John Kasich of Ohio, Mitch Daniels of Indiana, Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania, and Rick Scott of Florida, but also by Democratic governors like Andrew Cuomo of New York and Daniel Malloy of Connecticut, as well as independent Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island.

Meanwhile, the richest foundation in the United States, the Gates Foundation, pours hundreds of millions of dollars into a project to find the perfect teacher evaluation system, thus reinforcing the "reform" narrative that the best way to fix what ails public education is to create a foolproof way to find and fire those malingering bad teachers. Where the Gates Foundation leads, many other foundations follow, sure that this philanthropic behemoth is wisest because it has the most money and presumably the best thinking.

The one thing Ravitch didn't mention that I wish she had? The alliance Gates and ALEC have forged, which is directly related to the goals of these right-wing governors. Remember, this is the purpose of their $300,000+ grant to ALEC:

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Tucker Carlson is all ablaze with a neon-green tie and red-hot fury over the California Senate's passage of a bill requiring California curriculum to include instruction regarding gays and Muslims. In fact, he's so outraged over it that he calls it "propaganda", with some strange reasoning attached.

The purpose of the bill is to raise awareness of the place gays and Muslims take in history in an effort to raise awareness and hopefully, tolerance. This isn't a bad thing, despite Tucker's worrying over it. After all, it wasn't all that long ago that a 15-year old with access to a gun shot another student at point-blank range just up the street from where I live because the other student was struggling with his sexual identity. This is the state where Harvey Milk was assassinated, after all. Should teachers teach that lesson in California history while failing to mention why Harvey Milk was assassinated? This is the state that just passed the odious Proposition 8 after an even more odious ad campaign. Should teachers simply ignore the reasons why our state constitution now actually defines marriage?

To Fox Talkers, the answer to all of those questions is yes. Led by Tucker Carlson, they want California schoolchildren to learn about the Catholic priests who came and built missions, and about the gold in them thar hills, but gays and Muslims? Strictly off-limits.

And just to pile on a little more, Carlson completely dodges the question of what age group will have this instruction in their curriculum, so of course he makes it sound like all the little kindergartners are going to have a lesson and coloring worksheet on Jane and Judy in the mosque.

Here's Carlson's reasoning behind why he believes it to be propaganda:

Second, it's propaganda. It's lying. Whenever a school system is mandated by law to teach happy news, non-controversial, complimentary facts about a group of people they are by definition excluding the unhappy facts. And they are therefore, lying. That's propaganda.

His reference to "happy news" stems from this:

The measure further would prohibit the adoption of any materials that "reflect adversely" on gays or particular religions. School districts would have flexibility in deciding what to include in the lessons and at what grades students would receive them.

Gretchen Carlson tries to get him to specify the age group to receive this instruction, to which he replies:

Look, it doesn't matter, because at any age teaching propaganda is wrong. No one is suggesting -- and as far as I know has ever suggested -- that people who are gay not be included in history.

While that may be true, it's also true that kids are not informed as to whether they were gay or not. Earlier in his diatribe, Carlson goes on about how Trotsky is a historical figure, but not because he's gay. Perhaps not. But should that be ignored?

The central question here is whether or not we teach all of history or just the parts some people like. It would be nice not to have a law mandating curriculum that teaches these sorts of facts, but they have for too long been buried and swept under the rug. Yes, it does matter, because homosexuality isn't something that just burst onto the scene 3 years ago. It should be taught as a fact and historical figures should not have relevant facts omitted simply because they make the Tucker Carlsons of the world squirm.

In the down-ballot races, you find the real damage done to American government and culture when sane, rational people fail to vote. I can't think of a better example than the Texas State Board of Education. At Netroots Nation this year, I met two women, Judy Jennings and Rebecca Bell-Metereau, who aim to take that institution back this cycle. More after the jump...

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EDIT: Video was corrected for spelling at 775 views and 29 downloads.

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We love The General. Frank Schaeffer at Huffpo, h/t Mike:

Every Sunday thousands of right wing white preachers (following in my father's footsteps) rail against America's sins from tens of thousands of pulpits. They tell us that America is complicit in the "murder of the unborn," has become "Sodom" by coddling gays, and that our public schools are sinful places full of evolutionists and sex educators hell-bent on corrupting children. They say, as my dad often did, that we are, "under the judgment of God." They call America evil and warn of immanent destruction. By comparison Obama's minister's shouted "controversial" comments were mild.

...Was any conservative political leader associated with Dad running for cover? Far from it. Dad was a frequent guest of the Kemps, had lunch with the Fords, stayed in the White House as their guest, he met with Reagan, [and]...became a hero to the evangelical community and a leading political instigator.

Read more...

Of course there's a New Hampshire Primary Open Thread here, but for the main open thread let's watch an issue-oriented video that will bring us down gently from Planet Primary. Actors Jack Klugman and James Whitmore have recorded these spots in support of separation of church and state. These religious freedom ads will run this week in South Carolina (heh), and the accompanying website has ten sample questions for voters to ask candidates, such as "Do you think public schools should sponsor school prayer or, as a parent, should this choice be left to me?" and, "Do you think my pharmacist should be allowed to deny me doctor-based prescribed medications based on his or her religious beliefs?" You can watch the other ads here.

Generic Open Thread below, and again, the New Hampshire Primary open thread is here.

The WaPo reported the other day that at least 14 states have “either notified the federal government that they will no longer be requesting [sex education] funds or are not expected to apply,” because the Bush administration mandates abstinence-only lessons in public schools receiving the funding.

“We’re concerned about this,” said Stan Koutstaal of the Department of Health and Human Services, which runs the program. “My greatest concern about states dropping out is that these are valuable services and programs. It’s the youths in these states who are missing out.”

Actually, that’s backwards. The youths are better off with actual sex-ed.

Teenagers who have had formal sex education are far more likely to put off having sex, contradicting earlier studies on the effectiveness of such programs, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.

They found teenage boys who had sex education in school were 71 percent less likely to have intercourse before age 15, and teen girls who had sex education were 59 percent less likely to have sex before age 15.

Sex education also increased the likelihood that teen boys would use contraceptives the first time they had sex, according to the study by researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which was published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

Whaddaya know; giving young people reliable, accurate information about sexual health leads to safer, more responsible behavior. Maybe someone get pass word along to the Bush administration.

Early Warning: More troops?!! Come on...remember when our frighteningly unbalanced president claimed he would be guided by the advice of his generals? Forgot that sh#t and just go shopping

Women's E-News: The Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which tests the "body burden" of chemicals every two years, finds the average American now has 116 synthetic compounds in her body, including dioxin (produced by burning plastic), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (found in auto exhaust) and organochlorine pesticides (found in farming areas).

Truly Equal: The invasion of Iraq has changed the status of Iraqi women for the worse. They're now being used to settle vendettas

The Poor Man Institute: The Official Official Golden Winger Nominations

Mick LaSalle: It's tough being an American abroad these days. I noticed it in 2005. Mick, more recently

HOLY CRAP: Mainline churches need to wake up and smell the concrete! Could Pope Benedict be any lighter in his..um...bejeweled slippers? James Dobson distorts research..again! Teaching religion in public schools...Our bigotry is more important than your safety

PBS Now :

Viewed before Hurricane Katrina as an institutional disaster, New Orleans' public schools got a second shot at success as a result of the devastation. City planners ran with the opportunity, deciding not just to rebuild schools, but to implement a bold experiment in public schooling. A full 60% of the city's reopened schools are now independently-run charter schools. On November 24, NOW looks at the challenges, successes, and implications of one of these schools, Lafayette Academy, through the tragedy-tested eyes of individual students, faculty, and parents.

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HuffPo:

No one can criticize the GOP for failing to produce sophisticated propaganda that successfully exploits the hopes and fears of white middle Americans. But can the right-wing distraction factory woo minorities with the same techniques? Check out the following transcript of a new Republican ad targeting black voters in 10 battleground states this year and you be the judge:

BLACK MAN #1: "If you make a little mistake with one of your 'hos,' you'll want to dispose of that problem tout suite, no questions asked."

BLACK MAN #2: "That's too cold. I don't snuff my own seed."

BLACK MAN #1: "Maybe you do have a reason to vote Republican."

This ad was financed by J. Patrick Rooney, a white billionaire notorious for funding several misleading anti-Kerry ads that ran on urban radio stations in 2004. The money for Rooney's newest ad flowed through a little-known group called America's PAC, which was founded by Richard Nadler, a veteran Republican consultant who pushed Intelligent Design in Kansas public schools, declaring, "Darwin is bunk." Read on...

O'Reilly fabricates being slimed over his S.F. remarks

Eric at SpeakSpeak alerted me to this from Bill's website:

A well-organized, well-funded effort to slime the Radio Factor has begun over comments made about the disgraceful vote in San Francisco that sought to prohibit military recruitment in public schools.

His site then plays the audio of his rant again. Bill thinks that if he says he's being slimed and then plays the same idiotic dribble over again his audience will hear it differently. Memo to Bill: You're a jerk! Don't take this personally, I'm just stating a fact that everyone already knows. Tonight he'll begin the spin on The Factor: "Bill O'Reilly takes on the orchestrated campaign organized by left wing critics who have whipped up controversy about his satrical riff on the city of San Francisco."