Product Description
This digital document is an article from School Administrator, published by Thomson Gale on March 1, 2006. The length of the article is 464 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Service program bridges generational divide; Kansas: Spring Hill Unified School District 230.
Publication: School Administrator (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 63Issue: 3Page: S21(1)

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Product Description
If there is a "culture war" taking place in the United States, one of the most interesting, if under-the-radar, battle-grounds is in local school board elections. Rarely does the pitch of this battle reach national attention, as it did in Kansas when the state school board-led by several outspoken conservative Christians-voted to delete evolution from the state's science curriculum and its standardized tests in August 1999. That action rattled not only the educational and scientific communities, but concerned citizens around the nation as well. While the movement of the Christian Right into national and state politics has been well documented, this is the first book to examine their impact on local school board politics. While the Kansas decision was short-lived, during the past decade in school districts around the country, conservative Christian majorities have voted to place limits on sex education, to restrict library books, to remove references to gays and lesbians in the classroom, and to promote American culture as superior to other cultures. School Board Battles studies the motivation, strategies, and electoral success of Christian Right school board candidates.Based on interviews, and using an extensive national survey of candidates as well as case studies of two school districts in which conservative Christians ran and served on local boards; Melissa M. Deckman gives us a surprisingly complex picture of these candidates. She reveals weaker ties to national Christian Right organizations-and more similarities between these conservative candidates and their more secular counterparts than might be expected. Deckman examines important questions: Why do conservative Christians run for school boards? How much influence has the Christian Right actually had on school boards? How do conservative Christians govern? School Board Battles is an in-depth and in-the-trenches look at an important encounter in the "culture war"-one that may well determine the future of our nation's youth. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Educate yourself about the religious right with this book
Washington College Assistant Professor Melissa M. Deckman delivers readers a fresh new portrait of the Christian right which, although still critical of their ultimate end goals, wants to understand how they were able to achieve their successes or not.

Differing from the organizational research reports and partisan titles which already flood the market, Deckman's book has readers instead consider why the religious right enjoys so much electoral success even if a majority of American voters do not formally appear to support their ideas.

She then wants us to consider how waging a campaign/counter campaign against these candidates and public officials is literally impossible when we actually do not know about the people who we want to run against.

The thesis of Deckman's book is that both sides in a community demonize each other in the process of school board and local elections in an attempt to win support from undecided voters. The Christian right is at once both more similar and more complex than previous attack campaigns/counter-responses publicly have conceded. Articulating this complex nature will then enable myself and others to win more campaigns and more effectively sell our own policies to that swing public.

Starting out with wanting to make major change, the Christian right candidates and/or elected officials subsequently are required to alter their grand world views in order to be a part of the system which they ultimately seek to change. Built on compromise, the American political system is subsequently not receptive to radical changes which these people (and other candidates) would like to make. Our campaign portrayals of these people might therefore indicate what they would like to do, but it does not actually acknowledge what they are permitted to do; held in check by the American government's system of checks and balances.

Deckman's data includes case studies of elections held in Fairfax County Virginia and Garret County Maryland. These case studies prove that although they share some important group characteristics and goals, not all Christian right campaigns and then the candidates who run them are virtual `carbon copies' of each other. A vulnerability to internal dissent among various religious right candidates and office holders further lessens their being the `mighty boogeyman' of political jargon.

She also suggests that both the `far right' candidates and my beloved liberal counterparts are much more alike than we actually are different. The research in this book uncovers that non-religious right school board candidates are also likely to be religiously affiliated and also are more likely to come from the community elite---who can afford to run in an election and hold public office. We have more in common with each other than we have previously thought and/or let on in campaigns and debates.

Although I also read the more conventional broadsides against the right, and tend to agree with the left, Deckman's book is a critical step for defeating Christian right candidates.

Examines ongoing local school board elections in America
Also available in a hardcover edition (1589010000, $39.95), School Board Battles: The Christian Right In Local Politics by Melisa M. Deckman (Assistant Professor of Political Science, Washington College, Chesterton, Maryland) examines ongoing local school board elections in America, and their effect upon shaping the culture and educational curriculum of the nation, a phenomenon that gaind widespread attention when the Kansas state school board, led by outspoken Christians, voted to delete evolution from the state's science curriculum and standardized tests. Especially focusing upon the electoral success of Christian Right school board candidates, School Board Battles strives to reveal why conservative Christians run for school boards, the extent of the Christian Right's influence upon school boards, and the manner in which conservative Christians in general tend to govern. A critical and insightful study of turbulent struggles to determine what will be taught to America's next generation.

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Product Description
KU 101 is required reading for every future Jayhawk! From hanging out on Wescoe Beach to the excitement of a basketball game in the Allen Fieldhouse, you'll share all the excitement with the next generation!This sturdy board book features loads of high quality photos and content for young and old alike. Perfect for fans and alumni to share with kids and grandchildren. The book makes a great baby shower gift, birthday gift and holiday gift! Make sure the little ones grow up supporting the RIGHT school and team!!!! ... Read more

Product Description
K State 101 is required reading for every future Wildcat! From eating Call Hall ice cream to the excitement of a basketball game in the Ahearn Fieldhouse, you'll share all the excitement with the next generation!This sturdy board book features loads of high quality photos and content for young and old alike. Perfect for fans and alumni to share with kids and grandchildren. The book makes a great baby shower gift, birthday gift and holiday gift! Make sure the little ones grow up supporting the RIGHT school and team!!!! ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Church & State, published by Americans United for Separation of Church and State on September 1, 2000. The length of the article is 765 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Kansas GOP Voters Remove Creationists From School Board.(Brief Article)
Publication: Church & State (Refereed)
Date: September 1, 2000
Publisher: Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Volume: 53Issue: 8Page: 15

Article Type: Brief Article

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