Ace responds to Michigan Dept. of Ed.

Ace of Spades picked up on Instapundit's post re: the Michigan school board which announced they will no longer tolerate tests (or grade level expectations) in which we are referred to as "Americans". They're of the opinion that "we're all North Americans", but once we declared ourselves separate, as a nation (back in the late 18th century -- but I have my doubts these characters would know about what that was all about), we were no longer qualified to call ourselves what we've nevertheless been called for more than two centuries. They seem to think that, because other countries are in the Americas, they want to call themselves "Americans" (and yet they don't), but we, of the United States of America, don't have that right. So, what are we supposed to call ourselves as a nation? They don't say. They simply announce that "you can't do that."

According to the song, God shed his grace on America. Apparently, the Michigan Dept of Education were shielding themselves with umbrellas, at the time. Still, it looks like the sort of thing that the IL leadership might come up with, too, saints preserve us...

But Ace has the right response:

Rather than referring to them as "Michigan Department of Education officials," let's start referring to them as "former Michigan Department of Education officials," as quickly as legally possible.

Update:lgf posts a rebuttal from Michigan D. of E.:

LANSING -The Michigan Department of Education is not taking the word “America” or “American” out of the classrooms of Michigan.

In an opinion piece crafted by Michael Warren in today’s Detroit News, the former State Board of Education member incorrectly states that the Michigan Department of Education has “ordered that our hard-working teachers not utter the words.”

No such edict has gone out to school teachers across Michigan, nor will one, said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Mike Flanagan. He explained that an independent association of Social Studies educators has discussed the issue of official U.S. documents or titles, but that any recommendations regarding changes in school curriculum have not even made it to his desk for review.

Inasmuch, Flanagan emphatically stated that, if such a recommendation ever came to his desk, it would be stopped in its tracks.

“We are not seeking to do away with the terms ‘America’ or ‘American’ from classroom instruction,” Flanagan said. “It’s not going to happen. I consider myself an American. We live in the United States of America. We are citizens of the United States of America. But the vernacular is that we’re Americans.”

I feel slightly better, now, about Michigan. But not so much about my own state.