Tweet
OTHER VIEWPOINTS: LEAVE TEXTBOOKS TO THE HISTORIANS
Columbus Dispatch
Feb 5 2014
In California, the Armenian lobby is celebrating passage of a
resolution in the state's House instructing the education department
to emphasize the Armenian genocide in its publications. "We did it!"
the Armenian National Committee of America, Western Region, alerted
its followers in an e-mail.
"Just a few hours ago, despite heavy attacks from the Turkish lobby,
we won a battle for truth and justice that will be passed down to
future generations."
The letter then goes on to solicit donations so "we can continue to
build on today's victory."
In Virginia, as The Post's Laura Vozzella reported, legislators
are working on a resolution instructing the education department
to buy textbooks that challenge the name of the Sea of Japan, which
many Koreans believe should be called the East Sea. Newly installed
Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe, finds himself in a pickle.
On the campaign trail he promised to support such a change, but he
has now discovered that Japan -- whose companies are big investors
in the commonwealth -- is pretty unhappy about the idea.
All of this prompts the following suggestion: Maybe state legislatures
aren't the best place to write high-school history textbooks.
We understand that public education systems ultimately need to be
responsive to the taxpayers who pay for them, and the legislators in
Richmond (and Sacramento) are representing those taxpayers. But the
history they teach should be based on the best judgment of historians,
not on such considerations as, to quote Sen. J. Chapman "Chap"
Petersen, D-Fairfax, the fact that "in Virginia, there are a lot of
Koreans. There are very few Japanese." Or that Armenian-Americans
outnumber Turkish-Americans in California.
We're not doubting the importance of teaching about the Armenian
genocide that began in 1915.
We also think Americans can benefit from learning about the history
of Japanese imperialism in Asia. We'd be fine if the General Assembly
instructed the education department to embrace such controversial
subjects and to write curricula that encourage exploration and debate
on historical issues that continue to reverberate in modern times.
We doubt, though, that elected officials should be drawing textbook
maps or writing lesson plans -- whether they are about evolution,
climate change, Armenia or that body of water between Japan and Korea.
-- The Washington Post
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/editorials/2014/02/05/leave-textbooks-to-the-historians.html
Columbus Dispatch
Feb 5 2014
In California, the Armenian lobby is celebrating passage of a
resolution in the state's House instructing the education department
to emphasize the Armenian genocide in its publications. "We did it!"
the Armenian National Committee of America, Western Region, alerted
its followers in an e-mail.
"Just a few hours ago, despite heavy attacks from the Turkish lobby,
we won a battle for truth and justice that will be passed down to
future generations."
The letter then goes on to solicit donations so "we can continue to
build on today's victory."
In Virginia, as The Post's Laura Vozzella reported, legislators
are working on a resolution instructing the education department
to buy textbooks that challenge the name of the Sea of Japan, which
many Koreans believe should be called the East Sea. Newly installed
Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe, finds himself in a pickle.
On the campaign trail he promised to support such a change, but he
has now discovered that Japan -- whose companies are big investors
in the commonwealth -- is pretty unhappy about the idea.
All of this prompts the following suggestion: Maybe state legislatures
aren't the best place to write high-school history textbooks.
We understand that public education systems ultimately need to be
responsive to the taxpayers who pay for them, and the legislators in
Richmond (and Sacramento) are representing those taxpayers. But the
history they teach should be based on the best judgment of historians,
not on such considerations as, to quote Sen. J. Chapman "Chap"
Petersen, D-Fairfax, the fact that "in Virginia, there are a lot of
Koreans. There are very few Japanese." Or that Armenian-Americans
outnumber Turkish-Americans in California.
We're not doubting the importance of teaching about the Armenian
genocide that began in 1915.
We also think Americans can benefit from learning about the history
of Japanese imperialism in Asia. We'd be fine if the General Assembly
instructed the education department to embrace such controversial
subjects and to write curricula that encourage exploration and debate
on historical issues that continue to reverberate in modern times.
We doubt, though, that elected officials should be drawing textbook
maps or writing lesson plans -- whether they are about evolution,
climate change, Armenia or that body of water between Japan and Korea.
-- The Washington Post
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/editorials/2014/02/05/leave-textbooks-to-the-historians.html