more on Scholastic Rethinks Path to 9/11 Study Guide

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: John BARTAS <Jbartas () speakeasy net>
Date: September 11, 2006 2:59:04 PM JST
To: dave () farber net
Cc: ip () v2 listbox com
Subject: Re: [IP] more on Scholastic Rethinks Path to 9/11 Study Guide

Hi Dave,

   You are correct that it could be quite a useful exercise, but  
unfortunately neither the schools nor Scholastic is trying to do this.

   The schools don't have a mandate for it - in fact, there's case  
law declaring that K-12 public school teachers are there to teach a  
lesson plan set by the community, not their personal beliefs. This is  
good - reversing this law would result in billions of dollars in  
teaching scholarships for young radical conservatives from Focus on  
the Family, Richard Mellon Scaife <http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/ 
1998/04/27/scaife.profile/>, and other well heeled groups who want to  
indoctrinate the next generation in their views. This doesn't happen  
(much)  because teachers are supposed to stick to the curriculum and  
leave personal politics outside.

   Similarly, Scholastic Books has profited from a trusted position  
leveraging public schools for their book sales. Promoting any overtly  
partisan film, whether an anti-Clinton fantasy like "Path to 9-11" or  
an anti-Bush documentary like "Fahrenheit 9-11" is way overstepping  
their moral authority. It may not violate any laws, but it's gonna be  
bad for business - if I were a stockholder (NASDAQ - SCHL) I'd be  
selling. As a (former) customer, I'm boycotting.

   Scholastic's latest position on the subject (link below) still  
refers to this fictional film as a "docudrama" and tries to connect  
invading Iraq with fighting "Terror". The very fact they offer a  
"study guide" is an implicit endorsement of the movie.

   I'm still waiting to find out why a once reputable company would  
risk their whole business in such a reckless manner. Was it just  
dumb? Have they been bought by Ruppert Murdoch? In the meanwhile I"ll  
be asking the school board members I campaigned for last year to drop  
Scholastic as a bookseller.

   Does anyone know a good company that can serve as a replacement?  
The kids should have ready access to books, but us moderate parents  
can no longer trust Scholastic. I think there's a huge market  
opportunity here.


Scholastic's link:
http://www.scholastic.com/medialiteracy/


David Farber wrote:

> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Dave Crocker <dhc2 () dcrocker net>
> Date: September 9, 2006 8:54:34 AM PDT
> To: dave () farber net
> Cc: ip () v2 listbox com, Alice Kehoe <akehoe () zen org>
> Subject: Re: [IP] Scholastic Rethinks Path to 9/11 Study Guide
> Reply-To: dcrocker () bbiw net
>
>
>
> > Rather than washing its hands entirely due to the fallout with   
> > former president Clinton, the company will still provide a guide  
> > to  the show, but will try to incorporate the controversy into  
> > the  guide by focusing on media literacy, critical thinking, and   
> > historical background.
> > “After a thorough review of the original guide that we offered   
> > online to about 25,000 high school teachers, we determined that  
> > the  materials did not meet our high standards for dealing with   
> > controversial issues,” said Scholastic President Dick Robinson on   
> > the company's Web site.
> > “At the same time, we believe that developing critical thinking  
> > and  media literacy skills is crucial for students in today’s  
> > society in  order to participate fully in our democracy and that a  
> > program such  as ‘The Path to 9/11’ provides a very ‘teachable  
> > moment’ for  developing these skills at the high school level.
>
>
>
> This could be quite a useful exercise.
>
> The effect of propaganda -- material that contains a small amount  
> of  truth and a great deal of tailored untruth -- is strongly  
> reversed by  having a credible commentator offer insight about the  
> material while  it is being watched.
>
> In other words, properly educating the viewer about a distorted   
> program, while they are watching it, can result in a strong  
> reaction  against the program's creators.  In effect it can  
> innoculate viewers  against the program's creators...
>
> d/



--
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John Bartas, CTO, Praemio, Inc.
www.praemio.com - Home of TheAgent
(408) 857-0605
- - - Take back your Internet! - - -



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