Help with history

[Razorgeist]

A conservative (Im being nice here) friend of mine who happens to be a history buff sent me a paranoid email. Apparently pissed with Obama once again, I'm leaving out the part where he goes off about Obama mispronouncing corps (yes a guy who voted for Bush twice is pissed that obama mispronounced a word). Anyways he had some stuff about the progressive movement and I was wondering if someone who has a background in history could help me refute this.

" He who controls the minds of the youth of a nation controls the future."

Give up ? It was Adolf Hitler. It was the entire purpose for the formation of the Hitler Youth Corp. Obama is doing the same; as is all left wing liberals in politics and in education. Look at the recent proposition proposed in North Carolina, which wants to teach American History in 11th.grade,but -but- BUT ! American History will start from the year 1877, not 1776 or before. Isn't that some what of a coincidence that the liberal "Progressive" movement in the United States started approximately at the same time in history?

A professor of philosophy at Columbia University and prolific author of philosophical,educational, and reform treatises, John Dewey (1859-1952) made his greatest contribution to the Progressive Movement through his works on educational theory and reform. Among these, his best-known works are The School and Society (1899) and Democracy and Education (1916), the latter of which gives the most comprehensive statement of his radical reconstruction of the theory and purpose of education as traditionally understood. Dewey eliminated religious conceptions of reality and substituted complete faith in the democratic ideal realized through state control of education. Remember, any child is a good spokesperson !!!!!!!!

It is also noteworthy to notice that in 9th.grade the North Carolina progressive cocksuckers propose to teach " Global History", which has special attention paid to topics like global warming. Talk about a fucking agenda, ha?

Blech sorry this is so dreadful to read. By the way does anyone know any good websites that refute the whole anti-progressive nonsense period. I get so sick of the Glenn Beck crowd going on about it?

Fixed your quote tags. ~S

[Samuel]

Look at the recent proposition proposed in North Carolina, which wants to teach American History in 11th.grade,but -but- BUT ! American History will start from the year 1877, not 1776 or before.

I am almost positive that propositions are entirely under the power of the state legislature and not the president.

Dewey eliminated religious conceptions of reality and substituted complete faith in the democratic ideal realized through state control of education. Remember, any child is a good spokesperson !!!!!!!!

The evils of Jeffersonian democracy brought to life.

More to the point, the government already controls education. Remember No Child Left Behind?

[Mayabird]

Look at the recent proposition proposed in North Carolina, which wants to teach American History in 11th.grade,but -but- BUT ! American History will start from the year 1877, not 1776 or before.

I am almost positive that propositions are entirely under the power of the state legislature and not the president.

Actually, I would think starting at 1877-ish would mean they would avoid having to talk about such icky things like slavery/Civil War/civil rights/etc. Kinda like how my mother's (remember, she was part of the Japanese post-war generation) history classes all happened to end sometime around the 1920s, so they wouldn't have to talk about all the horrible things they did and why that whole war thing happened in the first place and the implications thereof. If we want to see conspiracies, I can see plenty of others that make way more sense.

[Liberty]

A professor of philosophy at Columbia University and prolific author of philosophical,educational, and reform treatises, John Dewey (1859-1952) made his greatest contribution to the Progressive Movement through his works on educational theory and reform. Among these, his best-known works are The School and Society (1899) and Democracy and Education (1916), the latter of which gives the most comprehensive statement of his radical reconstruction of the theory and purpose of education as traditionally understood. Dewey eliminat;ed religious conceptions of reality and substituted complete faith in the democratic ideal realized through state control of education. Remember, any child is a good spokesperson !!!!!!!!

My understanding is that Dewey rejected the idea that knowledge should be imparted to a child through rote learning in favor of experiential learning and teaching children to think for themselves.

http://www.iep.utm.edu/dewey/
Dewey rejected the notion that a child’s education should be viewed as merely a preparation for civil life, during which disjoint facts and ideas are conveyed by the teacher and memorized by the student only to be utilized later on. The school should rather be viewed as an extension of civil society and continuous with it, and the student encouraged to operate as a member of a community, actively pursuing interests in cooperation with others. It is by a process of self-directed learning, guided by the cultural resources provided by teachers, that Dewey believed a child is best prepared for the demands of responsible membership within the democratic community.

I think that in general conservatives want to teach children facts and liberals/progressives want to teach them to think for themselves. In light of this, your friend's accusation that Obama, and Dewey before him, wants to brainwash school children to be servants of the state is...rather silly.

[Surlethe]

Give up ? It was Adolf Hitler. It was the entire purpose for the formation of the Hitler Youth Corp. Obama is doing the same; as is all left wing liberals in politics and in education. Look at the recent proposition proposed in North Carolina, which wants to teach American History in 11th.grade,but -but- BUT ! American History will start from the year 1877, not 1776 or before. Isn't that some what of a coincidence that the liberal "Progressive" movement in the United States started approximately at the same time in history?

Even if it were true, one example does not a pattern make. "Obama and all the left-wing liberals in politics and education are trying to brainwash children all across the country! How do I know this? Here is a single data point." I hate this example-citing mode of argumentation, where people go, "I claim pattern X exists. As support, here is an example." It's rhetorically effective, but it establishes nothing factual (would you conclude gravity doesn't exist if I showed you this?). One good example is the quote-popcorn style of argument popular among conservative founding-father worship.

PS- There are progressives in North Carolina?

[Razorgeist]

^^^Well maybe they'e progressive compared to the rest of the south.

American History will start from the year 1877, not 1776 or before.

Speaking of which where is this coming from? The only thing I could find on google was a fox news blog.