Daily Republic - Tuesday, August 20, 2002
I wanted to be sure I had my facts straight. I heard the most outrageous story about
the National Education association. I needed to know, number one, was the
Fairfield-Suisun Unified Teachers' Association - F-SUTA - a member of the NEA, and number
two, was the story true?
A friend assured me that on their strike literature, our local union proudly proclaimed
its affiliation with the California Teachers' Association and the National Education
Association. That took care of that question, so next, I went to the Web site of the
Washington Times, where the story originally appeared. There it was, with no exaggeration.
If you haven't heard the story yet, the national teachers' union is strongly suggesting
that public school teachers follow certain guide-lines when the Sep. 11 terrorist attacks
are commemorated in a few weeks. Teachers should be very careful not to "suggest any
group is responsible" for the hijackings and attacks. Lesson plans the union would
like to see used say "address the issue of blame factually - blaming is especially difficult
in terrorist situations - in this country, we still believe that all people are innocent
until solid, reliable evidence from our legal authorities proves otherwise".
What F-SUTA's parent organization is insisting on is that teachers steer any discussion
of blame for 9-11 away from mention of Arabs or other Muslims, because, in their opinion,
we don't have enough evidence to make that case. That contention is too ridiculous
to waste your time or mine arguing about, except to point out that your tax dollars go to
our teachers' salaries, which in turn are the source of funding for the National Education
Association.
Not enough evidence to link Muslims to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon? Whew.
I'll let you decide which part of the NEA's recommended 9-11 program is more aggravating.
The next part of NEA lesson plan, "Remember September 11", tells teachers to
"discuss historical instances of American intolerance" so that children understand that
America has often been guilty of similar crimes against innocents.
The NEA uses the favorite liberal example of U.S. internment of Japanese-Americans
during World War II, as well as the "backlash" against Arab-Americans during the Gulf War
against Iraq. So what F-SUTA's big brother union insists is that, one, we shouldn't
suggest to American children that Arabs were involved in the 9-11 attacks, and, even if they
were, we ourselves have been guilty of many terrible crimes ourselves.
You might be interested to know that the Council on American Islamic Relations strongly
supports the NEA's lesson plan, saying that it will "help teach students how to appreciate
diversity. The (NEA) critics' view-points will only harm the children." At
least one group supports the "blame America" curriculum.
If you're wondering where the NEA "suggestions" came from, union officials said that
more than 200 teachers from around the country submitted ideas to the union's main office
in Washington, D.C.
What we don't know is how many teachers in our own district, whose dues go to the NEA,
will take the "official" suggestions to heart. Will Fairfield-Suisun teachers tell
their students that there is insufficient evidence to blame Muslims for the 9/11 murders?
Will they also devote considerable time to point out how horrible America has been,
so that we cannot make a moral judgement about others, as the NEA insists?
Most of all, how do you feel about your tax dollars paying for the teaching of the NEA's
history lesson right here in Fairfield and Suisun?
Bud Stevenson, a stockbroker, lives in Fairfield. He can be reached at
Bsteven254@aol.com.
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