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POINT / COUNTERPOINT The Medford School Board was wrong: 'American Pageant' is a political agenda, not history Comment By Joel Marks MailTribune.com By Joel Marks Posted Apr. 18, 2015 at 2:00 AM Updated Apr 23, 2015 at 10:37 AM By Joel Marks Posted Apr. 18, 2015 at 2:00 AM Updated Apr 23, 2015 at 10:37 AM » Social News On Monday, April 6, I attended the Medford School Board meeting for the express purpose of testifying on the American history book called"American Pageant." The board was to vote on its adoption for 10th-grade advanced placement students. In preparation for my testimony I spent seven to eight arduous hours of study and thought trying to decipher the message of this huge tome. In my determination, I realized that this beautifully bound and meticulously structured book of 1,108 pages with 150 pages of indexing was not history at all but a political agenda of the authors' views and their bias toward the original intent of the Founding Fathers. I took copious notes concerning the book and wound up with four pages of misinterpretations, bias towards the original understanding of the Constitution, misstatements, preposterous falsehoods and propaganda which students and maybe some teachers would possibly not recognize. In my testimony I presented over 12 of these flaws in the book. There are many others, but I did not present them because of time constraints for board business. The board was kind and patient in their deliberations as well as thoughtful in listening, but as the meeting went on and the board gave reasons pro and con about "American Pageant," it became obvious that most of them had not studied the book, some not spent any real time and others just focused on one section. The publishers of the book and the staff of the schools as well as the influence of certain educators took precedence over the board actually rolling up their sleeves and studying the text. After the 4-2 vote in favor of the text , which should have been a 3-3 vote with further discussion if Jeff Thomas had not changed his vote in favor of the district and the publishers, the real losers became the students and the parents of the district. It is not fair to denigrate Thomas Jefferson by telling students the author of our freedoms in America had an illicit relationship with a slave based on disputed DNA evidence that has turned out to be dubious at best but is being taught in the schools as truth. It is not fair to denigrate the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 — the "right to work" act allowing those states not willing to force participation in unions to do so as a choice — and then in the book quote an unnamed labor leader saying it's a "slave-labor act." That is only one side of the story and will not allow critical thinking for students to have a real opportunity to make up their minds with both sides of the story. It is not fair to characterize the Founding Fathers as "elite conservatives," which has no meaning for students as it relates to our Framers, as they thought of themselves as guardians of a free society, with the word conservative having no meaning whatsoever except as prejudicially political in these times. The only thing elite about our Founders is the documents they produced. No one in the history of man has duplicated their vision for a free society and culture. The book is long and complicated, and though there are many beautiful bells and whistles, in the final accounting this book poisons the well of American history. There is no doubt the people of America, north, south, east and west, feel our constitutional rights are being eroded and we are slowly and sometimes quickly losing our history and heritage. The Medford School Board on April 6 unfortunately helped in that erosion. If, as some board members said, you leave this up to the teachers' discretion, why purchase over $200,000 worth of books with a pessimistic attitude toward the greatest country in the history of God's green earth? Kudos to Board Members Kim Wallan and Larry Nicholson. Under pressure from various quarters, Wallan in particular stood her ground, calling for changes in the editorializing of the Second Amendment. But why should she have to be forced to stand her ground in a phony editorializing of the Constitution by the writers and publishers of this book, which is used all over the fruited plain? This generation of young people is the anointed generation to save the republic, or it may not be. They need to know the original success formula put in place by inspired men and, yes, women. It was Abigail Adams who told her patriot husband John to hold fast to freedom. Will we do as John and Abigail did? May God grant that it be so. Joel Marks lives in Medford. By Joel Marks MailTribune.com By Joel Marks Posted Apr. 18, 2015 at 2:00 AM Updated Apr 23, 2015 at 10:37 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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