<p>Cayuga,
If you think that Colin Powell (or even John McCain) is a conservative, then I doubt that you have ever met any….</p>
<p>As for Columbus, it is clear that teaching interpretations/priorities have changed over the past several decades since I was in high school and college and your more recent experience. I think that Encyclopedia Brittanica sums up our varying perspectives well in the passage below. </p>
<p>“Numerous books about Columbus appeared in the 1990s, and the insights of archaeologists and anthropologists began to complement those of sailors and historians. This effort has given rise, as might be expected, to considerable debate. There was also a major shift in approach and interpretation; the older pro-European understanding has given way to one shaped from the perspective of the inhabitants of the Americas themselves. According to the older understanding, the “discovery” of the Americas was a great triumph, one in which Columbus played the part of hero in accomplishing the four voyages, in being the means of bringing great material profit to Spain and to other European countries, and in opening up the Americas to European settlement. The more recent perspective, however, has concentrated on the destructive side of the European conquest, emphasizing, for example, the disastrous impact of the slave trade and the ravages of imported disease on the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean region and the American continents. The sense of triumph has diminished accordingly, and the view of Columbus as hero has now been replaced, for many, by one of a man deeply flawed. While this second perception rarely doubts Columbus’s sincerity or abilities as a navigator, it emphatically removes him from his position of honour. Political activists of all kinds have intervened in the debate, further hindering the reconciliation of these disparate views.”</p>
<p>hoedown,
Here is the article that you referenced:</p>
<p>[The</a> Public View of Politics in the Classroom - Chronicle.com](<a href=“http://chronicle.com/free/v54/i30/30a02201.htm]The”>http://chronicle.com/free/v54/i30/30a02201.htm)</p>
<p>I don’t consider the work of Jeremy Mayer and the Brookings Institute as a balanced source. Unless you consider the work of David Horowitz to be a balanced source. </p>
<p>However, I do agree with the idea put forth by Matthew Woessner that there is a large part of America that believes that leftist politics/opinion, whether part of a political proselytizing action plan or not, are far too dominant among faculty on college campuses. And such perceptions are continually reinforced by reports like the one above that says that donations to Obama are EIGHT TIMES larger than donations to McCain.</p>