A school participating in Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's controversial voucher program is apparently using a history book that teaches its eighth-grade students that "hippies" were dirty followers of Satan-worshipping rock musicians.
The textbook, “America: Land I Love," includes a section on the counterculture movement of the 1960s.
Here's a paragraph taken from that section, which was published Wednesday by AmericaBlog.com:
Many young people turned to drugs and immoral lifestyles; these youth became known as hippies. They went without bathing, wore dirty, ragged, unconventional clothing, and deliberately broke all codes of politeness or manners. Rock music played an important part in the hippie movement and had great influence over the hippies. Many of the rock musicians they followed belonged to Eastern religious cults or practiced Satan worship.
It's not clear which school is using the aforementioned textbook. John Aravosis, who published the text on AmericaBlog, said the source was "a friend" who sent him a photo of the section.
But this isn't the first time books used in Jindal's voucher program—which allows poor and middle-class students the opportunity to attend private schools that often have religion-based curricula—have been called into question. Last fall, Mother Jones magazine published a list of "14 wacky 'facts' kids will learn in Louisiana's voucher schools."
Among them:
"A few slave holders were undeniably cruel. Examples of slaves beaten to death were not common, neither were they unknown. The majority of slave holders treated their slaves well."—United States History for Christian Schools, 2nd ed., Bob Jones University Press, 1991
And:
"[The Ku Klux] Klan in some areas of the country tried to be a means of reform, fighting the decline in morality and using the symbol of the cross. Klan targets were bootleggers, wife-beaters, and immoral movies. In some communities it achieved a certain respectability as it worked with politicians."—United States History for Christian Schools, 3rd ed., Bob Jones University Press, 2001
Last month, Jindal defended the program in Washington.
"To oppose school choice is to put the wishes of the adults who control the status quo ahead of the needs of our children," Jindal said. "To oppose school choice is to oppose equal opportunity."
Notice the use of "Newspeak" to be able to put forth these premises.....facts aren't really facts....if they interfere with the right wing rewrites of history...
