"Atlantic triangular trade" - texan translation of slave trading

[BlackCat]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8693397.stm

Texas schoolbook fight heats up
Former Education Secretary Rod Paige
Former Education Secretary Rod Paige told the Board: "History is what it is"

Tempers are flaring in Texas over controversial proposed changes to the US state's public school curriculum.

The changes, put forward by the Board of Education's conservative members, include referring to the slave trade as the "Atlantic triangular trade".

Critics say the changes are ideological and distort history, but proponents argue they are correcting a long-standing liberal bias in education.

The conservatives are expected to prevail in Friday's final vote.

The changes eliciting the most concern include diminishing the role Thomas Jefferson - principal author of the Declaration of Independence - in history courses because of his belief in the separation of church and state, and dropping references to a landmark court case that barred schools from segregating Mexican American students.

The amendments also cast the United Nations in a critical light, with students asked to evaluate whether the UN and its committees undermine US sovereignty - a common refrain for conservative Americans.

The new curriculum would emphasise the role of religion in America's founding, as well as promoting the superiority of the capitalist system.

The Board insists, though, that capitalism will only be referred to as "free enterprise system", largely because of the negative connotations of the word capitalism.

Criticism of 1950s McCarthyism, where suspected communists were aggressively questioned before government inquisitors, would also be toned down.

Delay urged

Texas is the second-largest consumer of textbooks in the country, after California.


What students are taught should not be the handmaiden of political ideology
Rod Paige
Former education secretary

Opponents of the changes worry that textbooks sold in other states will be written to comply with the new Texas standards, meaning that the alterations could impact curricula nationwide.

Rod Paige, who served as Secretary of Education under President George W Bush, urged the Board to delay its vote.

"We have allowed ideology to drive and define the standards of our Texas curriculum and it has swung from liberal to conservative depending on the members of state board," Mr Paige said during a day-long public hearing on Wednesday.

"What students are taught should not be the handmaiden of political ideology."

Over 200 witnesses registered to testify during the heated proceedings - a record for the Texas Board.

How low can thay go

[Hauldren Collider]

Er, it's called the triangular trade everywhere...because it was triangular. It's just a synonym. It's like saying Third Reich instead of Nazis. Not a euphemism, just a synonym. Jesus.

My history textbook uses Triangular Trade and slave trade interchangeably. I mean seriously. I know you're socialist eurotrash but please understand that Americans don't fit their stereotype as well as you personally fit European stereotypes.

Then again Texan textbooks do have a lot of other problems, but this is not such a big deal.

[BlackCat]

Yeah, I'm probably what you call a commie socialist eurotrash since I'm to the left of us dems

True, even here the triangular trade is a term, but it isn't a replacement of slavetrade.

[giblets]

Slavery is evil, while triangles are not, so saying "triangular trade" instead of "slave trade" is in fact a euphemism.

[Az]

I mean seriously. I know you're socialist eurotrash but please understand that Americans don't fit their stereotype as well as you personally fit European stereotypes.

remove yourself from the internet for 5 years or so, you're a little **** just as your older brother was. :beer:

[Hauldren Collider]

just trying to keep up with the heavyweight (pun intended) trolls, I'm sorry

[Az]

Apolyton is more of a skinny nerd territory...

[BlackCat]

No offense, but Kuci shouldn't have let you out of your confinement so early.

This is trolling :

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?t=191360

Current subject isn't.

[SlowwHand]

Don't forget that they may leave out about Mexicans fighting in defense of the Alamo.

[DRoseDARs]

Christ, it's what I was taught in the late 80's early 90's, but the emphasis was that slavery was the main component. What the slave state of Texas is doing is DE-emphasizing the slavery part, that's the problem whether the more vocal critics realize it or not. Most of the criticism I've heard indicates to me a lot people WEREN'T taught the triangular trade portion, only the slavery, that this is the first they've heard of it and thus think it's some devious new plot to rewrite history. It's not, they're just ill-informed and Texas is trying to ensure a LOT more are likewise ill-informed.

It's a bit like the controversy over "constitutional republic" that cropped up a while back, originating within the same textbooks. Poly Sci Majors must've slapped their foreheads in unison when that one erupted. The people who wrote these ridiculous new textbooks must've been thinking "Durhur, democracy = Democrats = Bad, republic = Republicans = GOOD! Durhur." *sigh* The United States is a small-c constitutional small-r republic because our governmental institutions are codified in the constitution and we're a republic because we elect among us representatives to run things on our behalf. Small-d democracies only work well in small population groups; the larger the group gets, the more untenable that government form becomes. None of this has ANYTHING to do with the political parties participating in any of these processes, but how utterly not shocking the conservatives writing these textbooks blithely ignore that.

[Ben Kenobi]

Umm, I was taught that too, in Canada. Dunno why it's different in Denmark. Seems the Danes are backwards.

[BlackCat]

Umm, I was taught that too, in Canada. Dunno why it's different in Denmark. Seems the Danes are backwards.

Ben, link is to bbc, so probably not only a dansih treat. Actually, I'm not that surprised that a christian as you think that is fine to use euphemisms when it comes to slavery.

[Theben]

Hmmm, in the late 70s- early 80s they taught about the triangle trade but never referred to it as that, always as the slave trade, and that it was just that- a trade. Back and forth.

[BlackCat]

Well, to be honest, it was probably just some kind of ferrying people

[Ben Kenobi]

Ben, link is to bbc, so probably not only a dansih treat. Actually, I'm not that surprised that a christian as you think that is fine to use euphemisms when it comes to slavery.

It's not Christians who use the term. I'll see if I can dig out some of the books. I'm talking secular historians, and it's more accurate, because the slave trade was part of an interlocking system.