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TN Tea Partiers Demand Schools Not Teach Too Much About ‘Minority Experience’

Tea Party activists in Washington, D.C.

Tennessee’s tea partiers are sick and tired of all the made-up criticism of our founding fathers — and about schools spending too much time teaching about the “minority experience.”

Local tea partiers have presented state legislators with a list of “demands,” that would alter school curricula to suppress the teaching of the “minority experience,” elect a “state litigator,” and, of course, reject Obama’s health care reform legislation, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reports.

On the education front, they’re proposing that new textbook-selection criteria basically state that you can teach about minorities in history, just as long as it doesn’t get in the way of teaching students about the majority or about how awesome the founding fathers were.

“Neglect and outright ill will have distorted the teaching of the history and character of the United States,” read documents distributed by the group. “We seek to compel the teaching of students in Tennessee the truth regarding the history of our nation and the nature of its government.”

No portrayal of minority experience in the history which actually occurred shall obscure the experience or contributions of the Founding Fathers, or the majority of citizens, including those who reached positions of leadership.

The group’s other demands include amending the state Constitution so voters can elect the attorney general, and enforcing “constitutional law.”

h/t Think Progress

David Taintor

David Taintor is TPM’s News Editor. He contributes to TPM’s Livewire coverage, among other areas. David is from Chanhassen, Minnesota, where, yes, it gets very cold. Reach him at taintor [at] talkingpointsmemo.com

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