CSCOPE state director, Wade Lebay discusses the CSCOPE Boston Tea Party Lesson on Terrorism.
FYI: The Social Studies TEKS Mr. Lebay refers to are shown. Note that the lesson title is Terrorism. Note that the Lessons Synopsis is about Terrorism. Now note that the TEKS used for this lesson has nothing to do with terrorism. The author chose to write about terrorism and chose to represent the Boston Tea Party as a terrorist attack.
Mr. Lebay said:
Based on recent questions about this lesson, we immediately initiated an examination into this unit and its origins. Since none of our current State CSCOPE staff members were involved in the development of this particular lesson…
This is an accountability problem for the parents of school children in Texas. No one can answer for this lesson or any of the other lessons in CSCOPE,
cont….we contacted someone who was directly involved. We were able to speak with the person who actually wrote the “Engage” activity in this lesson that references the Boston Tea Party.
As Americans, we of course know that the Boston Tea Party was a courageous and patriotic event in our history, celebrated as one of the most important acts leading to the American Revolution. According to the writer, the intent was to have students hear a random news report from an unidentified source claiming the event to be an act of terrorism-writing it from a completely different perspective than the one embraced by our great country today.The purpose of education is to teach students accurate information. The acknowledgement that someone was paid to write intent into a lesson that students should rewrite the accurate history of our great country from a completely different perspective is proof that parents must be alerted. Mr. Labay must be held accountable for lack of judgment. This is clearly not what any parent would desire for their child in a public school system.
Following is a copy of the instructions for the teacher. What do you think? Does the script for the teacher present the Boston Tea Party as a patriot act or an act of terriorism?
Mr. Lebay continues….. Additionally, it is important to note that an “Engage” activity is meant to “hook” the students and set the stage for the rest of the lesson. The writer stated that this was an attempt to engage students with an activity on perspective over the topic of terrorism. The activity was meant to show students how the same act can be viewed differently, depending on one’s perspective. The Boston Tea Party is an example of how an act of patriotism to Americans could be perceived differently by an outside party, specifically the King of England at the time.
We always strive to provide the best content possible in CSCOPE, and we certainly do not want any information to be misleading. In reviewing this particular content, we believe additional information could have been included either in the activity itself or in the Teacher Notes section of the lesson to clarify the intent of the activity and prevent it from being taken out of context. However, the current controversy over this issue is an example of what can happen when an interpretation of content is made without the proper context or other relevant information. It is also worth noting that this is the first concern we have heard about this activity, which has been available as an optional CSCOPE resource for teachers prior to this school year.
Could it be that no one has spoken out because until now the lesson has not been viewed by the public. It is shown now only because a teacher basically smuggled it out. Parents need to investigate more of the CSCOPE lessons and ask why teachers cannot openly reveal the content of the CSCOPE lessons their administrators force them to use.
We hope this additional information will help provide some context and clarity regarding this material. We are constantly working to improve CSCOPE to ensure that it is of the highest quality and benefit to the 800+ school districts currently using the system. We continually strive to assist Texas teachers in ensuring student proficiency in the State Board of Education approved TEKS and prepare students to be career and college ready.
As previous shown, this CSCOPE lesson on terrorism was not described by the TEKS. Instead, the author chose to present terrorism and chose to present the Boston Tea Party as a terrorist act.
Please feel free to contact us with any additional questions and/or visit www.cscope.us for more information
BTW, my comment was for Wanda, Matt, and Carolee…..NOT the author of this article! And to the author, LOVE your point, “Could it be that no one has spoken out because until now the lesson has not been viewed by the public. It is shown now only because a teacher basically smuggled it out.” Smuggled! LOVE IT and you’re SPOT ON….anything that needs to be “smuggled” out(other than actual testing questions, of course), is INHERENTLY EVIL in my opinion…..EVIL HIDES, NOT TRUTH!
You want people to analyze? Here’s an analysis for you….. I KNOW, based on EXACTLY what this lesson states, that it is NOT IMPARTIAL and IS attempting to plant in the minds of children, much too young btw, that the Boston Tea Party Patriots WERE INDEED TO BE CONSIDERED TERRORISTS. What leads me to that “analysis”, you ask? Very, VERY SIMPLE, at least for people who actually ANALYZE…..while it WOULD be justifiable for the “NEWS REPORT” to call them a “terrorist organization”—-it WAS the point of view of England, after all; the lesson plan that follows is UNEQUIVOCALLY, INEXCUSABLY, UNJUSTIFIABLE RHETORIC, which means to attempt to inform, PERSUADE, or motivate particular audiences…..COMPLETELY INEXCUSABLE!!!!!!!!!! What rhetoric, you ask? THIS: “Give the groups a few minutes to discuss who they think THE TERRORIST GROUPS IS…” First of all, HORRIBLE GRAMMAR!!!! Should be “ARE”, and if it was an IMPARTIAL lesson, it WOULD HAVE said “the ALLEGED terrorist groups”. YES, THAT LITTLE WORD REVEALS, CLEAR AS A BELL, the TRUE MOTIVATION of this lesson! Same think for the next bullet point, as well. Think on this….ANALYZE this.
I was in the classroom for 13 years(public school), an assistant principal for 7 years(public school), twice National Board Certified instructor, and am currently working on my dissertation for my doctorate…. This lesson IS unmitigated, socialist CRAP, forgive the word, but not only is the lesson completely INEXCUSABLE, the explanation from the company is absurd in the extreme!
Now there is a surprise. Obviously my comments are not the ones you want to hear because my opinions differ. That was the whole context of what I had to say before.
Some of the responses to this story make me very sad. The assignment is intended to actually make students THINK. I do have children in school and I do approve of anything that causes them to use their brain and this lesson is a good example of that. My children are capable of looking at things from more than one point of view, I thank good teachers for that and the fact that I am not frightened that they may actually hear something other than my opinion. We send them to school to LEARN not to just enforce what they already know from parents. Perhaps they should stay home. Just my opinion.
As a Grandparent, I am appalled at what I have read about CSCOPE by the writers of CSCOPE!!! Trying only to have the kids pass the TEKS tests first. This Boston Tea Party Terrorist idea should not be under World History, but Philosophy, and brought to only those in 11th grade and above. Those who already know the actual true and correct History… I’ve recently researched alot about CSCOPE and found hundreds of Teachers speaking out about how bad it really is, how little it actually teaches kids today, just enough to meet the TEKS test. Kids don’t want to go to school in the first place, Teachers are force fed something that does not work, CSCOPE, Kids don’t get a great education, Perry takes money from the school system. What more do you want???
Philosophy? Are you kidding?
Chanda, I am a social studies teacher in another state. There are few that admire those great and truly unique American principles more than I.
However, I must inform you that this is standard fare for any quality social studies class. I happen to hold political positions that most would deem far right of center. I assure you that there is nothing insidious about this lesson whatsoever. The lesson is designed to help students challenge their assumptions and recognize differing historical perspectives. It is not designed to “trick” anyone into accepting the viewpoint of a British monarch. This is not an anti-American conspiracy, it’s proper historical methodology.
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Thank you for your intelligent, professional reply.
Was anyone killed at the Boston Tea Party? If not, it destroyed property but it did not cause terror. In that case it was not an act of terrorism. What should be really scary is that educators themselves are so dumbed down that they can’t make logical analogies.
Lumberton ISD is in the news fro having students dressing in burqas. The teacher is said to have told the students that those who flew planes into the twin towers and pentagon are no to be called terrorists –Instead they are Freedom Fighters. Yet, the Boston Tea party group are called terrorists.
Please!!!!
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If you study the actual lesson you understand that this is what they want the students to discuss and evaluate for themselves (what constitutes terrorism).
Using the Boston Tea Party in this example most likely had the intent to subliminally link the current Tea Party activity with terriorism. This entire CSCOPE program seems overly influenced with muslim and islamic overtones as well as other obama driven issues. A far better incident in American History, aside from 9/11, would have been Pearl Harbor. It would seem that if one is teaching american children about terriorism, a truly terrioristic state would have been chosen to be the subject of the lesson.
As a parent I am appalled at the Anti-American sentiment in this lesson. The Boston Tea Party was a part of our History as a nation and should NOT be compared to a Terrorist attack. You spat in the face of those who truly lived through a REAL terrorist attack such as 9/11. As a employee of the public schools I am dis-heartened you would distort our great American history and liken it to something disgusting, as this lesson does. You should be teaching lessons that lift America up and form Patriots of the future. We have a phenomenal history in our country and should be PROUD of the road our ancestors took to get us here. At times there were injustices but as a nation we learned from them and forged onward. This seems nothing more than socialistic indoctrination. Shame on you and who-ever saw fit to teach such a disgusting things to trusting students. You did nothing short of LIE about The Boston Tea Party. They were Patriots and it seems someone over there needs to brush up on their American History and take an additional lesson in Patriotism.