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Originally Posted by willravel
Ever cracked open a history textbook? They're all, without fail, biased. My history book from Jr. year in high school had a conservative bias (it was from the late 80s). On the other side, I remember attending Captain Elementary School in St. Louis and spending an entire school year on nothing but Africa and Native Americans, which were very liberal lessons. To this day I know more about long-houses than I could ever hope to know about the Constitution.
At least the school in the article was open about being a magnet school for particular interests, which is actually common. Have you ever been to a magnet school? I went to a few music magnet schools.
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Yes, biases are unavoidable. Local school districts review books in committees and there is not consistency across the board ... city to city, state to state. I think the magnet programs are great for arts, science, etc., but I don't think ethnic cultural studies should be a primary platform for any public school. I don't see anything wrong with private schools having a cultural focus. I'm all for promoting ethnic community relations. Public education should consider focusing on basic skills like reading, writing, arithmetic, and improving graduation rates before venturing into more diversity. Get basic proficiencies up, then add special interest programs.