Indigenous figures including the chair of the Prime Minister's Indigenous Advisory Council are furious that Tony Abbott has highlighted white settlement as the defining moment in Australian history.

The Prime Minister made the comment while he was launching a project on the 100 Defining Moments in Australian History at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra on Friday.

"The arrival of the First Fleet was the defining moment in the history of this continent. Let me repeat that, it was the defining moment in the history of this continent," he said.

"It was the moment this continent became part of the modern world."

His remarks about drew swift condemnation from Warren Mundine, the chair of the Prime Minister's own advisory panel.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-30/pm-comment-on-defining-moment-angers-indigenous-groups/5707926

I disagree with Champ Tony the Turd... because we need to include in his "modern world" concept, things like massive idiotic wars, stupidity of greed and consumerism, burning the planet down with anthropogenic CO2, deforestation and a wad of imbecilic beliefs that are detrimental to all of us, including all religions and economic values designed to enrich the rich and keep the poor in their place... Materialistic progress indeed... but a big zero, philosophically speaking... Aboriginal people had a better understanding of values than we do.

Anthony the Turd's view is that of a whitey — a self-appointed whitewasher of history... See toon at top...

When it comes to controversies about curriculum, textbook content and academic standards, Texas is the state that keeps on giving.

Back in 2010, we had an uproar over proposed changes to social studies standards by religious conservatives on the State Board of Education, which included a bid to calling the United States’ hideous slave trade history as the “Atlantic triangular trade.” There were other doozies, too, such as one proposal to remove Thomas Jefferson from the Enlightenment curriculum and replace him with John Calvin. Some were changed but the board’s approved standards were roundly criticized as distorted history.

There’s a new fuss about proposed social studies textbooks for Texas public schools that are based on what are called the Texas Essential  Knowledge  and  Skills.  Scholarly reviews of 43 proposed history, geography and government textbooks for Grades 6-12 — undertaken by the Education Fund of the Texas Freedom Network, a watchdog and activist group that monitors far-right issues and organizations — found extensive problems in American Government textbooks, U.S. and World History textbooks, Religion in World History textbooks, and Religion in World Geography textbooks.  The state board will vote on which books to approve in November.

Ideas promoted in various proposed textbooks include the notion that Moses and Solomon inspired American democracy, that in the era of segregation only “sometimes” were schools for black children “lower in quality” and that Jews view Jesus Christ as an important prophet.

Here are the broad findings of 10 scholars, who wrote four separate reports, taken from an executive summary, followed by the names of the scholars and a list of publishers who submitted textbooks.

The findings:

• A number of government and world history textbooks exaggerate Judeo-Christian influence on the nation’s founding and Western political tradition.

• Two government textbooks include misleading information that undermines the Constitutional concept of the separation of church and state.

• Several world history and world geography textbooks include biased statements that inappropriately portray Islam and Muslims negatively.

• All of the world geography textbooks inaccurately downplay the role that conquest played in the spread of Christianity.

• Several world geography and history textbooks suffer from an incomplete – and often inaccurate – account of religions other than Christianity.

• Coverage of key Christian concepts and historical events are lacking in a few textbooks, often due to the assumption that all students are Christians and already familiar with Christian events and doctrine.

• A few government and U.S. history textbooks suffer from an uncritical celebration of the free enterprise system, both by ignoring legitimate problems that exist in capitalism and failing to include coverage of government’s role in the U.S. economic system.

• One government textbook flirts with contemporary Tea Party ideology, particularly regarding the inclusion of anti-taxation and anti-regulation arguments.

• One world history textbook includes outdated – and possibly offensive – anthropological categories and racial terminology in describing African civilization.

• A number of U.S. history textbooks evidence a general lack of attention to Native American peoples and culture and occasionally include biased or misleading information.

• One government textbook … includes a biased – verging on offensive – treatment of affirmative action.

• Most U.S. history textbooks do a poor job of covering the history of LGBT citizens in discussions of efforts to achieve civil rights in this country.

• Elements of the Texas curriculum standards give undue legitimacy to neo-Confederate arguments about “states’ rights” and the legacy of slavery in the South. While most publishers avoid problems with these issues, passages in a few U.S. history and government textbooks give a nod to these misleading arguments.

In July, the Texas Freedom Network released a review of the various panels of people who had been selected by the Texas Board of Education to review the proposed textbooks. It said in part:

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/09/12/proposed-texas-textbooks-are-inaccurate-biased-and-politicized-new-report-finds/?hpid=z4

Now watch for the Pyne review of curriculum in Aussieland. See article at top.