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Comments from an AP history
and government teacher in Raleigh, NC.
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Comments from an AP history
and government teacher in Raleigh, NC.
e-mail betsynewmark AT gmail.com
Commissions earned from selling items through Amazon will go towards buying materials for my classes. Thank you.
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Thursday, September 15, 2005
I am so irritated by the mandate inserted by Robert Byrd into last year's budget bill requiring schools to have some sort of discussion of the Constitution on Constitution Day. This bugs me not because I object to such a discussion. On the contrary, my classes do this all year long whether I'm teaching American history or Government and Politics or in my seminar on the Revolution and the Civil War. What gets me is the federal government once again ignoring the idea of enumerated powers and trying to tell schools what their curriculum should be. And another silly aspect of this is that it has to be on September 17, Constitution Day. So, I'm supposed to stop what I'm teaching on that day (The Townshend Acts and Boston Massacre in one class or the role of political parties in another) and talk about the Constitution instead of when it fits best into my syllabus. But, if Constitution Day falls on a weekend, as it does this year, it is okay to wait two days and then teach this unit. Why can't the federal government let my state figure out what history teachers need to teach and worry about the many burdens that the federal government already has?
I'm with the George Mason professors who are observing this mandate in a much more appropriate fashion.The Byrd Rider to this year's Omnibus Appropriations Bill requires schools that receive federal funding -- nearly all of them -- to have ceremonies each year marking Constitution Day.If this is on C-Span, I'd show a clip to my classes when we discuss federalism.
Join Foundation Professor of Law Ronald Rotunda and Patrick Henry Professor of Law Nelson Lund for as they examine whether it is constitutional for Congress to use its spending power to reach down into the curriculum and culture of every school in the country and dictate what shall be taught, celebrated, or memorialized -- and when. The discussion will be moderated by Paul Mirengoff of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld and the Power Line blog.
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I am so irritated by the mandate inserted by Robert Byrd into last year's budget bill requiring schools to have some sort of discussion of the Constitution on Constitution Day. This bugs me not because I object to such a discussion. On the contrary, my classes do this all year long whether I'm teaching American history or Government and Politics or in my seminar on the Revolution and the Civil War. What gets me is the federal government once again ignoring the idea of enumerated powers and trying to tell schools what their curriculum should be. And another silly aspect of this is that it has to be on September 17, Constitution Day. So, I'm supposed to stop what I'm teaching on that day (The Townshend Acts and Boston Massacre in one class or the role of political parties in another) and talk about the Constitution instead of when it fits best into my syllabus. But, if Constitution Day falls on a weekend, as it does this year, it is okay to wait two days and then teach this unit. Why can't the federal government let my state figure out what history teachers need to teach and worry about the many burdens that the federal government already has?
I'm with the George Mason professors who are observing this mandate in a much more appropriate fashion.
0 comments
I am so irritated by the mandate inserted by Robert Byrd into last year's budget bill requiring schools to have some sort of discussion of the Constitution on Constitution Day. This bugs me not because I object to such a discussion. On the contrary, my classes do this all year long whether I'm teaching American history or Government and Politics or in my seminar on the Revolution and the Civil War. What gets me is the federal government once again ignoring the idea of enumerated powers and trying to tell schools what their curriculum should be. And another silly aspect of this is that it has to be on September 17, Constitution Day. So, I'm supposed to stop what I'm teaching on that day (The Townshend Acts and Boston Massacre in one class or the role of political parties in another) and talk about the Constitution instead of when it fits best into my syllabus. But, if Constitution Day falls on a weekend, as it does this year, it is okay to wait two days and then teach this unit. Why can't the federal government let my state figure out what history teachers need to teach and worry about the many burdens that the federal government already has?
I'm with the George Mason professors who are observing this mandate in a much more appropriate fashion.
The Byrd Rider to this year's Omnibus Appropriations Bill requires schools that receive federal funding -- nearly all of them -- to have ceremonies each year marking Constitution Day.If this is on C-Span, I'd show a clip to my classes when we discuss federalism.
Join Foundation Professor of Law Ronald Rotunda and Patrick Henry Professor of Law Nelson Lund for as they examine whether it is constitutional for Congress to use its spending power to reach down into the curriculum and culture of every school in the country and dictate what shall be taught, celebrated, or memorialized -- and when. The discussion will be moderated by Paul Mirengoff of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld and the Power Line blog.
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