A religious bias against good education?

August 8, 2007

One might be too stunned to shake one’s head; this is a description for a high school calculus course:

CALCULUS
Students will examine the nature of God as they progress in their understanding of mathematics. Students will understand the absolute consistency of mathematical principles and know that God was the inventor of that consistency. Mathematical study will result in a greater appreciation of God and His works in creation. The students will understand the basic ideas of both differential and integral calculus and its importance and historical applications. The students will recognize that God created our minds to be able to see that the universe can be calculated by mental methods.

No, I’m not kidding. It’s from Castle Hills First Baptist School in San Antonio, Texas.

The scientist who sent me the link called it “God’s math.” Architect Mies van der Rohe once said, “God is in the details.” But he didn’t mean that math should be taught as anything other than mathematics. He didn’t mean that any religion should be inserted into math classes — and frankly, that’s a little worrying to me. I speak regularly with theologians who read the same text and come up with radically different descriptions of what it means, sometimes diametrically opposite descriptions.

The social studies curricula are more troubling. What is described is at best second-rate course work. One hopes that the teachers teach the material instead of these descriptions:

SOCIAL STUDIES/HISTORY

WORLD HISTORY I
NINTH GRADE
The students will examine the nature of God as revealed through the study of social studies. Students will develop convictions about God’s word as it relates to world history and will define their responses to it. Through the study of world history, students will develop an understanding of the economic, social, political and cultural developments of our world, as they compare countries and civilizations, Students will learn and acquire an appreciation for God’s relations throughout the timeline of world events. The integration of literature into studies of ancient civilizations will enhance and inspire their learning process. Students will develop attitudes, values, and skills as they discover their place in the world. Students will analyze, synthesize and evaluate social studies skills, including social relationships such as family and church.

WORLD HISTORY II
TENTH GRADE
The students will examine the nature of God as revealed through the study of social studies. Students will develop convictions about God’s word as it relates to world history and will define their responses to it. Through the study of world history, students will develop an understanding of the economic, social, political and cultural developments of our world, as they compare countries and civilizations since the Reformation. Students will learn and acquire an appreciation for God’s relations throughout the timeline of world events. The integration of literature into the studies of modern civilizations will enhance and inspire their learning process. Students will develop attitudes, values, and skills as they discover their place in the world. Students will analyze, synthesize and evaluate social studies skills, including social relationships such as family and church.


AMERICAN HISTORY
ELEVENTH GRADE
Students will evaluate the past and learn from its lessons (I Corinthians 10:11), and become effectual Christians who understand “the times” (I Chronicles 12:32). Students will study the history of our country beginning with the Civil War with a biblically integrated filter as they examine the political, social, and economic perspectives. An emphasis will be placed on the major wars, the industrial revolution, and the settlement of the frontier, requiring students to critically analyze the cause and effect relationships of events in history.

GOVERNMENT/CIVICS
TWELFTH GRADE
Students will evaluate the past and learn from its lessons (I Corinthians 10:11), and become effectual Christians who understand “the times” (I Chronicles 12:32). Students will study the foundational documents of our founding Fathers built upon as they formulated the ideals upon which our country was established. Such documents include: The Magna Carta, The English Bill of Rights of 1689, and the Mayflower Compact. Students are equipped with an understanding of the basic principles contained in these documents, and are able to identify their dependence upon biblical and Reformation principles, leading them to an understanding why the American system is meant for a religious people.

ECONOMICS/FREE ENTERPRISE
TWELFTH GRADE

Students will evaluate the past and learn from its lessons (I Corinthians 10:11), and become effectual Christians who understand “the times” (I Chronicles 12:32). Students will gain an understanding of the workings of economic systems, being able to identify the strengths and weaknesses inherent in capitalism (Deuteronomy 8, 15, 28, Leviticus 25), and the reasons for its superiority to the models of communism and socialism (Ezekiel 46:18).

The last description there, for economics, might lead one to understand this school ignores most of the lessons of Jesus, and especially the stories of the disciples in the immediate aftermath of the crucifixion as described in Acts 2. Not only are the courses described inadequate (we hope the teachers teach the state standards instead, at least), where scripture is specifically mentioned, they appear to be tortured to fit the agenda.

Then comes the choker:

SCIENCE

BIOLOGY

Students will study the physical life of God’s creation. They will continue to develop skills in the use of the scientific method. The students will learn methods and techniques of scientific study, general attributes of the cell and its processes, characteristics of the wide spectrum of living organisms, the classification, similarities and differences of the five kingdoms, evolutionary models and the creation model, the mechanics of inheritance, disease and disorders, and the workings of the human body. Students will gain experience in manipulating the conditions of a laboratory investigation and in evaluating the applications of biological principles in everyday life.

There is no “creation model” that is scientific, nor is there one that conflicts with evolution and is also Biblical. What, in God’s name, are they teaching?

CHFB School was established over 25 years ago, and claims to have more than 300 students enrolled, K-12. Surely there is a track record to look at.

Anybody know what the actual curricula look like at this school? Are there any measures to suggest the school teaches real subjects instead of what is described?

What was the Texas legislature thinking when they authorized Bible classes? Isn’t this bad enough as it is?

____________________

Update: See parent and student comments and ratings of the school, here.

____________________

Update, August 11:  Blogs4Brownback endorses the curriculum — if you do not fully realize the significance of that particular endorsement, study this post, and this one.  Parody?  I asked Brownback’s campaign about the site — they have not disowned it.  As Dave Barry often wrote, I could not make this stuff up.

72 Comments | Curricula, Economics, Education, History, History Revisionism, Religion, Science | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Serious indictment of media fetishes . . .

August 8, 2007

 . . . that will drive the “mainstream media (MSM)” critics to distraction.  Are we sure it’s a good idea to let Rupert Murdoch own the Wall Street Journal?

Orcinus tells conservative commentators to grow up:

Remember the fuss over Jet Pilot Action Figure Bush’s “package”? Damn fool didn’t loosen his straps before getting out of the jet. Nobody else on the deck had his crotch trussed up like a Christmas goose; and to them, he looked like a rookie idiot. But Chris Matthews practically had an orgasm on-air while watching him prance and strut.) The fact that so many mainstream and conservative media guys are suckered by this posturing shows that they don’t really have a clue about what a Real Man looks like — though, somewhere deep down inside, they’re pretty sure they don’t qualify. That’s why they’re so easily wowed by men who can put on the costume and make it look good.

But they’re even more easily cowed by men who can actually fill the boots. John Kerry. John McCain. Colin Powell. Bill Clinton. (You don’t have to agree with their politics; but nobody can say these men haven’t comfortably worn the full measure of male power and responsibility for some critical stretch of their lives.) Like little boys, the media guys are so awed by the outward forms of masculinity that they eagerly make a fetish out of them; but they also actively fear and resent men who display the authentic internal goods that make an honest-to-God man. These guys’ very presence incites such a strong sense of personal inadequacy that the Boys On The Bus can only resort to attacking them in ways that are openly calculated to feminize them — that is, to bring them down to their own level. He look French. He’s whipped by his powerful wife. He’s preoccupied with his hair. Translation: This guy has more balls and more maturity than we do — and we need to take him down before everybody figures out how inadequate that makes us feel.

And this:

 . . . the first rule of real macho was that those who possess it never need to prove it to anyone. If you have to prove it or put it out on display, you don’t have it in the first place. And if you are intimidated by seeing it in others, you aren’t even in the ballpark. The truth of that should come home to all of us every time we hear an MSM or conservative talking head going on in breathless awe about some public figure’s “manhood,” or asking leering, creepy questions about other people’s sex lives.

In a time when we need thought leaders who can help us sort out the issues and navigate the national crisis, we’ve got a media staffed by sniggering, leering first-graders who exhibit every regressive intellectual, moral, emotional, and sexual characteristic of right-wing authoritarian followers. It’s time to clean house — and to demand new media voices who aren’t in business to make fun of the grownups, or shamed by people who show the attributes of true maturity and power. It’s time to send the scared little boys home, and put some authentic adults in charge.

1 Comment | Current History, Heroes, History, Leadership, Newspapers, Politics, Radio, Reason, Television, War | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

August 7, 1964: Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

August 7, 2007

August 7 is the 43rd anniversary of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, the resolution which authorized President Lyndon B. Johnson to move troops into South Vietnam to defend U.S. interests.

The resolution passed Congress after what appeared to be attacks on two U.S. Navy ships in the Gulf of Tonkin.  At the time, and now, evidence is weak that such attacks took place.

Santayana’s ghost looks on in wonder.

Leave a Comment » | History, Lyndon B. Johnson, Presidents, U.S. Constitution, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, Vietnam, War | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Structurally deficient bridges in your state? See this cool tool

August 7, 2007

How does your state rank in terms of “structurally deficient bridges?” You can get a per capita report and comparison at this site chock full of statistics comparing states: Statemaster.com.

 

Rank States Amount (top to bottom)
#1 Oklahoma: 21.331 per 10,000 people  
#2 Iowa: 17.965 per 10,000 people  
#3 Nebraska: 14.828 per 10,000 people  
#4 South Dakota: 13.493 per 10,000 people  
#5 North Dakota: 13.021 per 10,000 people  
#6 Mississippi: 12.67 per 10,000 people  
#7 Kansas: 12.038 per 10,000 people  
#8 Missouri: 9.094 per 10,000 people  
#9 Wyoming: 8.266 per 10,000 people  
#10 Vermont: 7.881 per 10,000 people  
#11 Montana: 6.231 per 10,000 people  
#12 West Virginia: 5.95 per 10,000 people  
#13 Alabama: 5.678 per 10,000 people  
#14 Louisiana: 4.908 per 10,000 people  
#15 Arkansas: 4.904 per 10,000 people  
#16 Pennsylvania: 4.404 per 10,000 people  
#17 Indiana: 3.366 per 10,000 people  
#18 Wisconsin: 3.183 per 10,000 people  
#19 South Carolina: 2.914 per 10,000 people  
#20 Kentucky: 2.815 per 10,000 people  
#21 New Hampshire: 2.802 per 10,000 people  
#22 Tennessee: 2.772 per 10,000 people  
#23 Maine: 2.762 per 10,000 people  
#24 North Carolina: 2.724 per 10,000 people  
#25 Ohio: 2.712 per 10,000 people  
#26 Minnesota: 2.283 per 10,000 people  
#27 Alaska: 2.17 per 10,000 people  
#28 Idaho: 2.148 per 10,000 people  
#29 New Mexico: 2.012 per 10,000 people  
#30 Illinois: 1.913 per 10,000 people  
#31 Michigan: 1.789 per 10,000 people  
#32 Rhode Island: 1.775 per 10,000 people  
#33 Oregon: 1.541 per 10,000 people  
#34 Virginia: 1.534 per 10,000 people  
#35 Georgia: 1.432 per 10,000 people  
#36 Hawaii: 1.216 per 10,000 people  
#37 Texas: 1.215 per 10,000 people  
#38 New York: 1.16 per 10,000 people  
#39 Utah: 1.093 per 10,000 people  
#40 New Jersey: 0.98 per 10,000 people  
#41 Massachusetts: 0.975 per 10,000 people  
#42 Connecticut: 0.966 per 10,000 people  
#43 Colorado: 0.855 per 10,000 people  
#44 California: 0.805 per 10,000 people  
#45 Maryland: 0.745 per 10,000 people  
#46 Washington: 0.693 per 10,000 people  
#47 Delaware: 0.498 per 10,000 people  
#48 District of Columbia: 0.345 per 10,000 people  
#49 Arizona: 0.286 per 10,000 people  
#50 Nevada: 0.257 per 10,000 people  
#51 Florida: 0.178 per 10,000 people  
  Weighted average: 4.3 per 10,000 people  

DEFINITION: Number of bridges which are structurally deficient. Per capita figures expressed per 10,000 population.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory: Deficient Bridges by State and Highway System, Washington, DC: 2004 via StateMaster

This site has oodles and oodles of great statistics, and a few tools to pull them out and compare. I have not even scratched the surface of utility for the site.

Welcome to StateMaster, a unique statistical database which allows you to research and compare a multitude of different data on US states. We have compiled information from various primary sources such as the US Census Bureau, the FBI, and the National Center for Educational Statistics. More than just a mere collection of various data, StateMaster goes beyond the numbers to provide you with visualization technology like pie charts, maps, graphs and scatterplots. We also have thousands of map and flag images, state profiles, and correlations.

We have stats on everything from toothless residents to percentage of carpoolers. Our database is increasing all the time, so be sure to check back with us regularly.

If you are interested in data on an international scale, be sure to check out NationMaster, our sister site and the world’s largest central database for comparing countries.

What other uses can you find?

4 Comments | 1968, History, Libraries, On-line education, On-line learning, Technology, Technology in the classroom | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Update your list of Utah mine disasters

August 7, 2007

When I put together the addendum list of disasters, to append to the Popular Science list of ten worst natural disasters in the last century in the U.S., I found it difficult to make a natural cutoff of mine disasters. From growing up in Utah I recalled the 1924 Castle Gate mine fire, which was covered fleetingly in Utah history texts, but became relevant during the 1963 potash mine incident. Local newspapers opened their archives, people who had roles in the incidents gave new interviews, and history came alive in the newspapers for a brief period.

A few years later, when I worked public policy for Utah politicians, in discussions of mine safety and the expansion of coal mining, I discovered that the history of Utah accidents had once again slipped from general public recall, and from the text books.

Once again, an accident of unbelievable proportions occurred in a massive coal mine in Utah, in an out-of-the-way place; a handful of people are trapped, and the nation hopes for their safety and prays for their rescue.

To its credit, the Salt Lake Tribune opened its archives again, and provides some historical context; somebody will need this list of Utah mine accidents in a few months, so I preserve it below the fold.

Read the rest of this entry »

6 Comments | Disasters, History, Newspapers | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Hiroshima: August 6, 1945

August 6, 2007

Today, August 6, 2007, is the 62nd anniversary of the first use of atomic weapons in war, when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. August 9 marks the anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki.

Please see my post of last year — the links all still work, and they provide significant resources for teachers and students to understand the events.

Performance of Texas students on questions about the end of the war in the Pacific, in the TAKS exit exams in 2007 showed minor improvements.

Other sources teachers may want to use:

7 Comments | 1941-1945, Atomic Bomb, Historic documents, History, History blogs, Nuclear weapons, Science, World War II | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

WSJ on oral histories: A hoax in the family line

August 6, 2007

Jay Gould told everybody he knew about his work recording the memories from the working people of Manhattan, real history. In 1942 he told The New Yorker of his work, and the phrase “oral history” leapt out of the story.

It was a great idea. But Gould made up everything about his work. At his death, friends discovered he left no oral histories behind.

It’s still a good idea, though, and it makes for good student project. Barry Weiss wrote a quick history of oral history for the Wall Street Journal last week. You can pull it off of JSTOR and use it as an introduction to the projects you assign to students.

You’ve never heard of him, but Robert Rush may be a modern-day Herodotus. Mr. Rush, who jokes that “he got his B.A. from the back of a Humvee,” is an oral historian with the U.S. Army. A retired command sergeant major who spent 30 years on active duty before getting his doctorate in history, Mr. Rush believes that recorded testimonies “can flesh out details that aren’t present in the paper histories.” In 2006, he was stationed in Iraq, where he spent seven months interviewing everyone from “engineers to bricklayers to military officers,” all with his handheld Olympus.

A century ago, historians might have laughed at Mr. Rush’s desire to spend time talking to construction workers. Today, the populist impulse is everywhere in the study of history.

Veteran interviews need to be done quickly for any veterans left from World War I, and for the few remaining veterans from World War II and Korea. There is a crying need for interviews of the women who performed the “Rosie the Riveter” work building airplanes, tanks, bombs, and other manufactured items, especially interviews of those women who worked in heavy industries and then went home to raise families when the men returned from foreign fronts. Rush got the soldiers while they were in Iraq — many of them are home now, and provide a source of oral history.

Veterans of Gulf War I, and Vietnam, have stories that need to be told and recorded. There is much to be done.

These stories would be perfect for podcasts, by the way.

Today, digital technology has allowed for every fisherman and every member of Parliament to immortalize their stories. With folks from all walks of life now making autobiographical podcasts, historians in the future will be presented with the issue of how to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Storycorps, an ambitious national oral- history project whose results can occasionally be heard on NPR, does some of this sorting, providing a more structured opportunity for such recordings than YouTube. In soundbooths across the country, Americans can come in and record their stories for 40 minutes, which then get archived in the Library of Congress. David Isay, the founder of Storycorps, describes the act of listening to the voice as “an adrenaline shot to the heart.” The physical experience of hearing another’s words can bring an understanding that reading those words on a page simply cannot.

If you go to the Library of Congress Web site you can listen to Lloyd Brown, the last U.S. Navy veteran of World War I, who died earlier this year. On the 71-minute recording, which he made at age 103, Mr. Brown offers a confession for posterity. “I lied about my age; I told them I was 18,” he recalls in a Southern drawl. At 16, he couldn’t wait two years to join the Navy. “It was a matter of patriotism.” So says the voice from history.

Weiss’s story, in the on-line version, briefly linked to this blog last week, bringing in at least two readers. Alas for the blog, but good for readers, the links at the bottom of the page change. Follow what’s there, see what you find.

2 Comments | Capturing history, Historic documents, History, History audio sources, Korea, Vietnam, World War I, World War II | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Cool tool: Tag clouds of presidents’ thoughts

August 5, 2007

Only Crook pointed this out in a comment — and it’s neat enough to raise to a headline:

 . . . have you seen the U.S. Presidential Speeches Tag Cloud http://chir.ag/phernalia/preztags/ I happened upon a speech by Millard Fillmore, so naturally I thought of this blog. I can’t link you directly to the speech I looked at, which was his 1850 State of the Union Address, (you have to use the slider to get there) but these were the most common words in that speech according to the tag cloud:

appropriations california constitution negotiation pacific ports revenue territory treasury treaty war

Go try it out.   It’s a very interesting tool for the visual portrayal of information — visual portrayals that I don’t know how to copy for display here.

For example, notice the arrival of the word “California” in presidential speeches, circa 1848.  Note how the word grows over the next few years, but then disappears just prior to the Civil War — what might that suggest to students about events in California, compared to events in the rest of the U.S.?  Or, track the word “Constitution” from the earliest speeches/writings listed to the latest.  Or track the use of the word “Iraq” in President Bush’s speeches, between 2000 and 2007.

The tool is ahead of its time, a fun device now.  The key question is, how should we be using such information?

Chirag Mehta created the program. Browsing his site will give teachers good ideas about what can be done by a decent programmer.  Does any school have a programmer to make such things for the classroom?  And we’re supposed to be using technology?  (Mehta’s stuff may be as good as it looks — see this article about the tag cloud device, in the Wall Street Journal, no less.)

1 Comment | Historic documents, History, On-line education, On-line learning, Politics, Presentations, Student projects, Technology, Technology in the classroom | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Shortest term on the Supreme Court, and an unexpected controversy

August 5, 2007

Real history has enough mystery and controversy in it that one need not make up fictions.

I posed a question about who served the shortest term on the Supreme Court.

I had stumbled across the fact, and found it interesting: Edwin McMasters Stanton was a Supreme Court Associate Justice for one day in 1869.

Edwin M. Stanton, Lincoln's Sec. of War, Or was he? In the comments to my previous post, Ray from Anything Goes Discussions Edutechation (or Education Technology, more formally) pointed out that the official list of members from the Supreme Court Historical Association denies that Stanton took the oath of office, and so does not list him as a Member of the Court. What are the facts?

One source I have said Stanton took the oath of office on his deathbed, and died within hours. (Wikipedia agrees, but on such an issue, without reference, one should not trust it unconditionally.) The list from the Supreme Court specifically mentions the need to take the oath of office to be a Member, and leaves Stanton off the list, suggesting that he did not take the oath. What’s the truth in this matter? I do not know.

Read the rest of this entry »

1 Comment | 1861-1865, Abraham Lincoln, Cartoons, Civil War, History, Politics, Reconstruction, War | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

A Scout is . . . Friendly, Courteous, Kind . . . Reverent: 100 years of Scouting

August 4, 2007

Scouts at the World Jamboree renew their oaths, Wednesday, August 1, 2007

  • Scouts from many nations renew their oaths, August 1, at Brownsea Island, off the south coast of England — the 30th World Jamboree of Scouting, marking the founding of Scouting 100 years ago. Photo by Ron Neal, AFP/Getty Images.

The rowdies who like to claim all shows of manners are just ‘wussy PC boojum’ got their knickers all atwist because Scouts at the 30th World Jamboree eat vegetarian.

Why not? It’s a World Jamboree. If the menu that best fits Scouts from 80 nations is vegetarian, why not? In the U.S., the fourth, fifth and sixth points of the Scout Law are “Friendly, Courteous, Kind.” If the menu offends a quarter of the Scouts, can they live up to those three points of the law? What about the twelfth point, which says a Scout is Reverent, especially to the religious views of others?

Here’s the post that set me off, at Innocent Bystanders.  (And here’s the same sort of bluster at a very Scout-unfriendly site — warning, site contains cheesecake NSFW.)

Here’s the news story from ThisIsLondon.com that probably inspired that post: “Scouts banned from eating burgers and bangers — because of religious belief.”

Here’s the AP story in the Bryan-College Station Eagle, in Texas, that notes the fire ban at the Jamboree:

LONDON – Scouts around the world celebrated the 100th anniversary of their movement Wednesday, but those at its birthplace couldn’t show off one of their fundamental skills – firebuilding.

While observances took place from the Kingdom of Bhutan to Ecuador, the symbolic focus was on Brownsea Island, off the coast of southern England. That’s the site where Robert Baden-Powell organized a camp for 20 boys that developed into the worldwide Scouting movement.

Baden-Powell, a lieutenant-general in the British army, organized that camp to teach boys outdoor skills and physical fitness. He detailed the experiences in a book called Scouting For Boys, and the movement gained footing when boys organized themselves into groups, persuaded adults to become their leaders and used Baden-Powell’s ideas as the basis for camps, treks and other activities.

Older girls were allowed to join during the 1970s. Membership was extended to all girls, ages 6 to 25, in 1991.

“When [Baden-Powell] first ran the camp, he brought together different social classes from public schools and less fortunate backgrounds,” said scout Jon Grimes, 19. “It was about crossing the social divide and making friends. Our camp this year will be about making friends between people from different cultures.”

But unlike Baden-Powell’s boys, today’s Scouts are banned from lighting campfires on Brownsea Island. The National Trust acquired the island in 1962 and forbids fires in order to protect the wildlife.

The campfire ban did not dampen the spirit of the 300 Scouts on Brownsea Island who celebrated the centennial canoeing, hiking, making pottery, learning archery and participating in workshops.

Our troop, Troop 355, didn’t send anyone to the World Jamboree, but five boys have already attained their Eagle rank this year — we had an Eagle Court of Honor this afternoon. Scouts devised several interesting ways to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Scouting, regardless of where they are:

Some centennial celebrations began as early as Saturday, when Prince William opened the 21st World Scout Jamboree, in eastern England, with 40,000 youngsters from more than 160 countries.

Scouts from around the world are taking part in events. About 1,000 Scouts are cooking a huge campfire breakfast in Namibia, and groups from all over Malawi will be camping at the top of Mulanje mountain, one of the highest peaks in Africa.

Scouting in the U.S. marks its centennial in 2010.

Other coverage:

2 Comments | Boy Scouts of America, Citizenship, Geography - Physical, Geography - Political, History, Travel | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Saving Texas’s only natural lake

August 3, 2007

Aptly named, Salvinia molesta threatens to choke Caddo Lake to death. As Caddo Lake is the only natural lake in Texas, and a site of outstanding beauty and great natural treasure, the friends of Caddo Lake are fighting back.

Spraying Salvinia molesta on Caddo Lake - NY Times photo by Michael Stravato

The New York Times features a lengthy story on the lake and the fight to save it in this week’s Science section (July 31, 2007 – Science is part of the Times every Tuesday).

Every Texas social studies teacher should know Caddo Lake and its stories as well as anything else. It’s the stuff memorable classes are made of.

1. It’s the only “natural” lake in Texas, though it is formed by a dam. The “only honest lake in Texas,” in the local lingo. The original lake was formed by a monumental log jam on the Red River, probably trees blown down by a massive hurricane several hundred years ago.

2. Caddo Lake is named after the Caddo Tribe, the tribe whose word for friend, “tejas,” gave the state its name. (See my earlier post on Caddoland.)

3. Caddo Lake straddles what was once “no man’s land,” or the Neutral Territory, a buffer zone between English/French, then American, and Spanish, then Mexican settlements. It was a haven for criminals, scalawags, filibusterers and revolutionaries. The area plays a large role in the decades of fighting to steal Texas from the Spain, and later from Mexico. Texas history is much better understood when one knows the lake.

4. Caddo Lake once was the means to make Jefferson, Texas, a port city. Until Col. Shreveport dynamited the logjam that made the lake in 1873, Jefferson was a bustling center of commerce. Today Jefferson boasts some wonderfully preserved historic remnants of that era, many converted to bed and breakfast inns, a great weekend getaway. Fishing is good, photography is great.

5. Ladybird Johnson was born nearby, and her family still lives in the area.

6. The Hughes Tool Company had its beginnings on Caddo Lake, where Howard Hughes, Sr., tested his drill bit, “the rock eater,” designed to cut through mud and rock to where the oil was; this is the home of the fortune that Howard Hughes, Jr., inherited, to build to one of the greatest fortunes in the world. That the younger Hughes was a rake, a mechanical genius, an air pioneer, daring movie producer, and weird as hell only makes the story better. Hughes named his movie production company after the lake, Caddo Productions.

6. Contrary to most of Texas’s political leanings, local people around Caddo Lake have rallied to efforts to protect the lake and conserve its rare beauty. The area is designated for protection as a Ramsar Treaty critical wetlands site — a designation that most conservative Texans ridicule and fear (at one point the Texas Republican Party platform opposed conservation easements to protect the lake — bizarre). Latter-day Caddoans welcome the designation, and when we toured the area they sang the praises of Don Henley, the rock and roll musician who is aiding their efforts to save the lake. It’s an odd combination for any political work — uniquely Texas. (Here’s your chance to play the Eagles for your classes, teachers!)

7. When it comes to Texas botany, zoology, and biology in general, Caddo Lake provides the local angle for water quality, water shortages (one proposal is to steal water from the lake for Texas cities far away), wildlife management, and of course, the invasion of exotic species.

8. Everything about this area screams Texas quirkiness. Uncertain, Texas? An often-told story (accurate?) is that when the town applied for a post office, there was a dispute about what to call the town. The fellow who filled out the application wrote “uncertain” in the blank for the town’s name — and that’s how the U.S. Postal Service approved it. Another story holds that the name “Uncertain Landing” caught on because the landing was treacherous mooring for boats. You got a better story about your town’s name? I doubt it.

Save the article from the Times, teachers! You’ll be glad you have it later this year.

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6 Comments | 1836, A Good Story, Conservation, Geography - Economic, Geography - Physical, Geography - Political, History, Natural history, Texas, Texas history | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

When things get tough, the patriotic listen to Barbara Jordan

August 2, 2007

Whose voice do you hear, really, when you read material that is supposed to be spoken by God? Morgan Freeman is a popular choice — he’s played God at least twice now, racing George Burns for the title of having played God most often in a movie. James Earl Jones?

Statue of Barbara Jordan at the Austin, Texas, Airport

Statue of Rep. Barbara Jordan at the Austin, Texas airport that bears her name. Photo by Meghan Lamberti, via Accenture.com

For substance as well as tone, I nominate Barbara Jordan’s as the voice you should hear.

I’m not alone. Bill Moyers famously said:

When Max Sherman called me to tell me that Barbara was dying and wanted me to speak at this service, I had been reading a story in that morning’s New York Times about the discovery of forty billion new galaxies deep in the inner sanctum of the universe. Forty billion new galaxies to go with the ten billion we already knew about. As I put the phone down, I thought: it will take an infinite cosmic vista to accommodate a soul this great. The universe has been getting ready for her.

Now, at last, she has an amplifying system equal to that voice. As we gather in her memory, I can imagine the cadences of her eloquence echoing at the speed of light past orbiting planets and pulsars, past black holes and white dwarfs and hundreds of millions of sun-like stars, until the whole cosmic spectrum stretching out to the far fringes of space towards the very origins of time resonates to her presence.

Virgotext carried a series of posts earlier in the year, commemorating what would have been Jordan’s 71st birthday on February 21. (Virgotext also pointed me to the Moyers quote, above.)

Now, when the nation seriously ponders impeachment of a president, for the third time in just over a generation, Ms. Jordan’s words have more salience, urgency, and wisdom. It’s a good time to revisit Barbara Jordan’s wisdom, in the series of posts at Virgotext.

“There is no president of the United States that can veto that decision.”

“My faith in the Constitution is whole.”

“We know the nature of Impeachment. We’ve been talking about it a while now.”

“Indignation so great as to overgrow party interests.”

And finally:

The rest of the hearing remarks are all here. It’s a longer clip than the others but honestly, there is not a good place to cut it.

This is Barbara Jordan on the killing floor.

This was a woman who understands history, who illustrates time and again that we are, with every action, with every syllable, cutting the past away from the present.

She never mentions Nixon by name. There is the Constitution. There is the office of the Presidency. But Richard Nixon the president has already ceased to exist. By the time she finishes speaking, he is history.

“A President is impeachable if he attempts to subvert the Constitution.”

Also see, and hear:

Virgotext’s collection of Barbara Jordan stories and quotes is an excellent source for students on Watergate, impeachment, great oratory, and Barbara Jordan herself. Bookmark that site.

Barbara Jordan, in a pensive moment, in a House Committee room

Rep. Barbara Jordan sitting calmly among tension, at a House Committee meeting (probably House Judiciary Committee in 1974).

Update 2019: Here is the full audio of Barbara Jordan’s speech. It is still salient, and if you listen to it you will understand better what is going on in Congress today.

Barbara Jordan, Statement on the Articles of Impeachment, at AmericanRhetori.com.

3 Comments | Barbara Jordan, Democracy, Ethics, Famous quotes, Free press, Good Quotes, Heroes, History, History audio sources, Justice, Leadership, Patriotism, Presentations, Presidents, Quotes, Reason, Scandals, Texas, Texas history, Texas Lege, U.S. Constitution, U.S. House of Representatives, Watergate scandal | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Quote of the moment: Andrew Carnegie, on competition

August 1, 2007

Carnegie Steel Works, Youngstown, Ohio, 1910

While the law [of competition] may be sometimes hard for the individual, it is best for the race, because it insures the survival of the fittest in every department. We accept and welcome, therefore, as conditions to which we must accommodate ourselves, great inequality of environment, the concentration of business, industrial and commercial, in the hands of a few, and the law of competition between these, as being not only beneficial, but essential for the future progress of the race.

— Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919), “Wealth,” in the North American Review, June 1889.

Leave a Comment » | Business, Business Ethics, Economics, Free market economics, Freedom - Economic, Good Quotes, History, Labor and unions, Quotes, Technology | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Tracking hurricanes for classrooms

July 31, 2007

This image of Tropical Storm Chantal depicts wind speed in color and wind direction with small barbs. White barbs point to areas of heavy rain. The highest wind speeds, are shown in purple. The data were obtained by NASA’s QuikSCAT satellite on August 1, 2007, as it was just south of Newfoundland, Canada. NASA image

This image of Tropical Storm Chantal depicts wind speed in color and wind direction with small barbs. White barbs point to areas of heavy rain. The highest wind speeds, are shown in purple. The data were obtained by NASA’s QuikSCAT satellite on August 1, 2007, as it was just south of Newfoundland, Canada. NASA image

Here in North Texas, most of our classrooms see refugees from coastal storms from time to time — in fact, most schools still have refugees from Hurricane Katrina, or Hurricane Rita. Plus, sitting close to Tornado Alley, everyone understands that weather is no abstraction here. Weather is personal.

Maps of weather offer teachers a good way to make geography personal, too — or at least more relevant. Those little clouds swirling west from the coast of Africa today could be the hurricane that swamps the Texas coast in a couple of weeks.

An e-mail correspondent sent a link to the Weather Channel’s Hurricane Central, suggesting I might want to track storms for my personal safety (Tropical Storm Chantal is far off in the Atlantic, and racing away; no problems from that storm).

Why not have kids track storms in class? The map above, for example, should be a basic foundation for much of Texas history (the explorers and Spanish colonization, for example), for U.S. history (explorers and the slave trade, the Triangle Trade, the Battle of the Atlantic in World War II, and so on). Get students used to using maps to track important and interesting things, and map use will become second nature, as it should be. The Weather Channel and other sources create updates on that basic map several times a day.

What sorts of storms did the explorers face? The slave ships? How big was the storm that shipwrecked Esteban in Texas? What is one likely source of the massive forest blowdown that created the greater Caddo Lake?

Hurricane season runs through October. There should be a lot of grist for the learning mill just in the daily weather reports. You might also use the weather maps in the daily newspaper (most local newspapers will give you a classroom set for a week for under $20.00 under the Newspapers in Education (NIE) project) (NIE offers an interactive quiz on geography weekly, by the way).

Is there any kid who isn’t fascinated by the weather? That’s your hook. Maps are freely available from the Weather Channel site, and from dozens of others.

Caption from NASA: The third tropical depression of the Atlantic hurricane season formed around 11:00 p.m. EDT on Monday, July 30 west of Bermuda. Exactly 12 hours later on Tuesday, July 31, at 11:00 a.m. EDT, the storm strengthened into a tropical storm with sustained winds of 40 mph and higher gusts. At that time, the storm was named Tropical Storm Chantal. Chantal was located near latitude 40.2 north and longitude 62.7 west, about 330 miles (530 km) south of Halifax, Nova Scotia and is moving rapidly toward the northeast near 23 mph (37 km/hr). Chantal is not a threat to the United States.

Caption from NASA: The third tropical depression of the Atlantic hurricane season formed around 11:00 p.m. EDT on Monday, July 30 west of Bermuda. Exactly 12 hours later on Tuesday, July 31, at 11:00 a.m. EDT, the storm strengthened into a tropical storm with sustained winds of 40 mph and higher gusts. At that time, the storm was named Tropical Storm Chantal. Chantal was located near latitude 40.2 north and longitude 62.7 west, about 330 miles (530 km) south of Halifax, Nova Scotia and is moving rapidly toward the northeast near 23 mph (37 km/hr). Chantal is not a threat to the United States.

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4 Comments | Geography - Economic, Geography - Physical, Geography - Political, History, Natural history, On-line education, On-line learning, Technology, Technology in the classroom | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

BBC animation: The Western Front, World War I

July 30, 2007

Western Front of World War I, from BBC animation

Here’s another map animation from the BBC that helps people visualize the stalemate nature of the Western Front of World War I.

If this animation is available in any form for purchase from the BBC for classroom use, I haven’t found it. I do wish the BBC would do a DVD or CD compilation of these animations and make it available at very low cost to teachers (high costs mean schools buy only one copy, which teachers can’t get a chance to see, and consequently won’t integrate into their lesson plans; paradoxically, a low-priced disk would probably earn BBC more money, and certainly would contribute to much more classroom learning).

This would be a good link for individual study at home on the internet. A great lecture could be built around it, if one has internet access live in the classroom and a way to project it.

1 Comment | 1914-1918, Geography - Physical, Geography - Political, History, History video sources, Maps, On-line education, On-line learning, Teaching, Technology, Technology in the classroom, World War I | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

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