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revelarts
07-27-2013, 10:31 PM
Former Governor, Now Purdue President, Wanted Howard Zinn Banned in Schools
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who more or less appointed the Board of Trustees that ultimately decided to hire him on as the President of Purdue University in January (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/21/mitch-daniels-purdue-university-president_n_1615577.html), is facing a new round of scrutiny for some heavy-handed moves he underwent as governor to remove ideas he didn't like from school classrooms. According to a series of documents obtained by an Associated Press Freedom of Information Act request (http://www.indystar.com/viewart/20130716/NEWS/307160061/As-governor-Mitch-Daniels-looked-censor-academic-writings-courses), Daniels also tried to use his position as governor to punish his enemies, including a professor at a local university. At the center of the story, however, is Daniels' special hatred for historian Howard Zinn.
Zinn, in case you're not familiar, was the author of A People's History of the United States, a book he described to the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/29/us/29zinn.html)as a "history from the perspective of the slaughtered and mutilated." It was, and still is, a controversial book, both as a work of history and as a work embodying a particular kind of radical approach to confronting injustice. But it's a bestseller, hugely influential, and still used often in the classroom. Zinn died in 2010, while Daniels was in office. According to the Associated Press, here's how Daniels marked his passing in an email:

This terrible anti-American academic has finally passed away...The obits and commentaries mentioned his book, ‘A People’s History of the United States,’ is the ‘textbook of choice in high schools and colleges around the country.’ It is a truly execrable, anti-factual piece of disinformation that misstates American history on every page. Can someone assure me that it is not in use anywhere in Indiana? If it is, how do we get rid of it before more young people are force-fed a totally false version of our history?
Daniels and David Shane, a school board member, then hatched a plan to begin a statewide review of higher education curricula in an attempt to remove Zinn and his ilk from classrooms. However, as the AP notes, A People's History is still taught in some education courses in the state. Daniels told the AP that his request was limited to K-12 classrooms. Daniels also found the time to try and audit and cut funding from a program run by Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis professor Charles Little, an outspoken critic of the governor, something he didn't address directly in his response to the AP. Meanwhile, the Indianapolis Business Journal (http://www.ibj.com/daniels-hiring-of-ex-aides-for-purdue-posts-draws-scrutiny/PARAMS/article/42436) notes that Davis's decision to hire on many of his former aides into the University is also raising eyebrows.
The former governor is the subject of criticism from many faculty, staffers, and alums of the college, both because of his conservative politics and because of his lack of academic credentials, given Purdue's status as a major, science-focused research center. In his short tenure as college president, however, Daniels has publicly supported free speech (http://www.indystar.com/article/20130205/OPINION08/302060307/Mitch-Daniels-An-open-letter-people-Purdue) at universities.
The emails are below, via the AP: ...
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/07/former-ind-gov-daniels-now-purdue-president-wanted-howard-zinn-banned-schools/67256/



sample of Howrd Zinn's work

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Arn3lF5XSUg?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Gaffer
07-28-2013, 10:05 AM
Zinn is a revisionist. You don't have a problem with him Rev?

Daniels did what ALL politicians do. He secured a nice cushy high paying job where he didn't have to do a lot of work. But he recognizes communist propaganda when he sees it. And the colleges are full of it. You want conspiracy? Look at the colleges and leftie take over there.

It's about time someone started revamping the college curriculum.

revelarts
07-28-2013, 11:35 AM
there's no doubt the Zinn is a leftist and socialist.

You call his work revisionist. hmm maybe.
I see it that it does have a lot real information that's left out of some histories.

He puts a spin on it that fits his politics no doubt but. is it wrong in general to talk about reasons that are documented from gov't archives that get less light of day, but show MORE reasons for national actions than the general high sounding notions.

Is it revisionist or bad history to talk about the expansion into the west in terms other than "manifest destiny"?

Even Abe lincoln while in congress was against the Mexican war. is it "revisionism" to call it expansionist or even imperialist?

I've promoted the founding fathers as much as anyone here, more than many. So don't confuse me with someone who hates the history of the old white guys. But my thing is, paint the portrait... warts and all.

I can give a list of things i've read about Geoge washington that would make some people toes curl up. Does it mean i completely negate the good things he said or did.
For me the only perfect person i know is Jesus Christ. Everyone else is a flawed human being. I don't have to have their histories white washed for them to be used as examples of various virtues.
Same for the history of the country. America is not Eden, Utopia or Heaven. I don't need it's history tweaked to fit some near pristine vision. Seems to me it doesn't mean someone "HATES" America or is revisionist just because they acknowledge that parts of it's history is stinks.


ANd beyond that. I don't like the idea of Bokk burning on this issue. I'm not saying his text should be the TEXT to use but it shouldn't be banned. where's that gonna lead?

Voted4Reagan
07-28-2013, 11:47 AM
yeah..I love how they dont TEACH about WWI, WWII, KOREA any more.

But they love Vietnam.... The war started by Liberals, Protested by Hippies and Ended by Republicans.

Zimm is a pure revisionist.. he is a perverter of history, not a scholar of it.

Gaffer
07-28-2013, 08:22 PM
there's no doubt the Zinn is a leftist and socialist.

You call his work revisionist. hmm maybe.
I see it that it does have a lot real information that's left out of some histories.

He puts a spin on it that fits his politics no doubt but. is it wrong in general to talk about reasons that are documented from gov't archives that get less light of day, but show MORE reasons for national actions than the general high sounding notions.

Is it revisionist or bad history to talk about the expansion into the west in terms other than "manifest destiny"?

Even Abe lincoln while in congress was against the Mexican war. is it "revisionism" to call it expansionist or even imperialist?

I've promoted the founding fathers as much as anyone here, more than many. So don't confuse me with someone who hates the history of the old white guys. But my thing is, paint the portrait... warts and all.

I can give a list of things i've read about Geoge washington that would make some people toes curl up. Does it mean i completely negate the good things he said or did.
For me the only perfect person i know is Jesus Christ. Everyone else is a flawed human being. I don't have to have their histories white washed for them to be used as examples of various virtues.
Same for the history of the country. America is not Eden, Utopia or Heaven. I don't need it's history tweaked to fit some near pristine vision. Seems to me it doesn't mean someone "HATES" America or is revisionist just because they acknowledge that parts of it's history is stinks.


ANd beyond that. I don't like the idea of Bokk burning on this issue. I'm not saying his text should be the TEXT to use but it shouldn't be banned. where's that gonna lead?

His work is revisionist. Just like much of the history taught today. And there are plenty of historians out there writing the true history warts and all. I've read many. I'm familiar with the warts and the many reasons behind the warts.

Only communists, who wish for an empire, call America an empire. If the present Dictator in Chief (DiC) gets his way it will become an evil empire just like the old soviet union, which is where we're heading.

There won't be any book burning while a conservative is in charge of the college. Only the left does that. He's just making sure the book is not the main text of the history courses.