If you have kids that are grade-school aged, they may receive a mini-Time magazine for kids called "Time for Kids".
It's about 6 or 8 pages long, with lots of pictures and short articles for kids on current events, etc. Usually just very innocuous and bland and never has concerned me in any way.
The November 12, 2010 issue was a bit of a different story, however.
It's the "Election 2010" edition. "Who Won and What it Means for the U.S."
On page 4 we have "Cover Story - Nation". The title of the Article is "A Clear Signal." I wanted to link to it but I cannot locate the article at www.timeforkids.com.
There is a subtitle "Tea Party" which includes the following:
"More than 90 million people voted. Surveys show that many were unhappy with the economy. They believe taxes are too high and that too many Americans are out of work.
Some Republicans and independent voters joined together. They started the Tea Party movement. These candidates called for lower taxes and less government control.
Tea Party candidate Rand Paul won a Senate seat in Kentucky. He promised to keep government spending down. So does Florida's new Republican senator, Marco Rubio.
I've got some problems with this presentation of information regarding the tea party. First, I would not say it correctly describes how the tea party started or who comprises it. It fails to describe the controversy around the person who started the tea party movement.
It also fails to mention the violence associated with the tea party movement, the racist signage and things like "We came unarmed...this time." No information was presented regarding head stomping, handcuffing the press, spitting on members of Congress, etc. Not that it would be for this age group, but if we can't present a full, accurate picture of the tea party, please don't put this cleansed version in literature sent home with my child.
Not to mention that many tea party supporters hold unions - like teachers unions - in contempt and advocate for the elimination of public education. Why is this article in a school newspaper without mentioning that obvious conflict?
By saying that the tea party candidates promise to keep government spending down - that seems to me like an obvious attempt to disseminate a tea party talking point without any backup or presenting both sides. It also could be interpreted as a slap at Democrats as a party of reckless spending - also a tea party talking point.
This, however, is in my mind the most troubling part of the article:
"More than 90 million people voted. Surveys show that many were unhappy with the economy. They believe taxes are too high...
Again, this is pushing a blanket unsupported assertion that all voters think taxes are too high and leaves an erroneous implication that voters booted Democrats for being the party of high taxes.
Am I reading too much into this? What do you all think?
I don't want the school to become a channel for slipping in information that presents the tea party in a favorable (as opposed to neutral or accurate ) light or that normalizes, mainstreams or legitimizes the extremist views of the tea party. I have already asked that no more tea party information be presented to my child without showing it to me first. Parents, just a reminder to stay on top of the info your child gets at school.
You may want to send a courteous reminder to emailbag@timeforkids.com that information regarding the tea party needs to be carefully presented so as not to appear to favor certain views over others.