Unbiased History

Yesterday on a local conservative radio program, I heard discussion about the Texas American history text book controversy. In Texas, conservatives have taken control of the Texas State School Board, and are trying to order text books that put a different slant on U.S. history...specifically a conservative one. This is important because Texas orders more school text books than any other state, so as Texas goes, so goes the nation.

To his credit, the conservative host was against this mostly. While he agreed that some balance is needed in the history curriculum in this country and even applauded some of the suggested changes, he said the conservatives should run this organization with more class than the liberals who have run education in this country for years. And, to the Texas State school board's credit, some of their suggested changes do make a lot of sense...I was unaware that many American history curriculms are now glossing over the fact that this country was founded on religious principles.

Here's my thought...teach what happened!!! It's history, it's already happened, and we know what happened. Teach that! Don't slant it to emphasize anything...tell these kids what happened, good and bad, and let the kids figure it out for themselves.

For example, we should be teaching that this country was founded by people seeking religious freedom, and it was founded on a religious code...specifically the 10 commandments. That is fact! For some reason, liberals have seen fit to de-emphasize this, and the conservatives want to put that back in. We should also teach about slavery and the civil rights movement. The conservatives want to lessen the emphasis on that. We need to teach both!

These conservatives in Texas should be ashamed of themselves. Some have suggested they are doing this to prove a point to the liberals, and will come back to a more reasoned stance, and I hope that is right. As conservatives, we need to be better than the liberals, and we need to trust that our children will make the correct choices when given all the facts.

Our education system is failing our children for many reasons, but this is one of them. The education system should not be a tool used to breed a certain type of political thinking. Instead, it should be used to teach our children the skills they need to survive in this world, and a strong knowledge of history, all history, is important. If we don't understand our history, we are doomed to repeat it.

Daylight Savings Time - Pros and Cons

On Sunday morning at 2 a.m., we officially "sprung forward" and began daylight savings time. As someone who had to play piano at the 7 a.m. mass this past Sunday, I was not a fan of daylight savings time this time around. Though, as a golfer, I love it when it lets me golf later in the evenings. And, that's really the idea...give us more time in the summer evenings to enjoy the outdoors.

However, daylight savings time is fraught with problems, and I'm not just talking about 7 a.m. mass. For example, this past weekend, everybody's weekend got shortened by 1 hour. Sure, you get it back in the fall, but it never feels quite the same. Also, since it's darker in the morning once daylight savings time hits, it's much harder to get up and go to work. There's a bit of a safety concern with this as well, because kids are waiting for school buses when it's darker, and groggy people are driving to work in the dark.

On the bright side, it's not dark when I drive home anymore, which is nice. Nothing is more tedious than going to work when it's dark and coming home when it's dark. Also, as stated, when it's golf season, it's really nice to have that extra hour of daylight. I guess it's nice when mowing too, but who wants to talk about yard work at a time like this?

I guess I'm on the fence about Daylight Savings time. It annoys me, but it also has benefits. I've always lived with it, so I don't know any difference. I got it...how about we spring forward and stay there? Permanent daylight savings time. That might just be crazy enough to work!

Book Review: "The Last Olympian"

I finished the "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" series this week. The final book, "The Last Olympian" caps off the series very well. Rick Riordan is now one of my favorite authors. Anyone who can put together a series that rivals Harry Potter is top notch in my book.

In "The Last Olympian", the final battle against the Titans is looming. Percy is nearing his destiny, and he's not sure if he's prepared. Fortunately for Percy he has Annabeth, Grover, Tyson, Nico and Thalia to help him along the way. Does Percy find it within himself to be the leader his friends need, and fulfill the prophecy, or will the Titans destroy Western Civilization?

In a lot of ways, I liked this book more than the final Harry Potter book. What I really liked is the wrap-up. There were 3 chapters of wrap-up, rather than a cryptic final chapter that leaves lots of open questions. One struggle I had with "The Last Olympian" was putting it down. It's about 335 pages of battles, followed by 50 pages of wrap-up. Very difficult to put down when it's just one battle after another.

The biggest issue for me is the same issue I always have when I finish a series like this...the sadness of being done. I love to read series like this, and I hate to finish them. These books brought me so much joy, and it's sad to see it go. I can't wait to read these books again with my kids when they are older.