15,000 OC Third-Graders Pack Angels Stadium to Get Brainwashed by Corporations, Political Hacks on OC "History"

By Gustavo Arellano Wed., Nov. 9 2011 at 1:10 PM

Categories: Gunkist Memories, School Daze

Pin It

Until yesterday, the most-infamous case of OC mass schoolkid indoctrination was a 1961 rally at Glover Stadium in Anaheim held by the Orange County School of Anti-Communism, a red-baiting machine whose members included Walter Knott and the Rev. Robert A. Schuller, and whose paranoia set the stage for our modern-day conservatism. They convinced the OC school districts at the time to bus over 7,000 high-schoolers to Glover, so they could hear speech after speech about the evils of communism disguised as liberalism.

Nothing so wackjob happened yesterday at Angels Stadium, when--as the mainstream media will tell you--about 15,000 third-graders, teachers, and parents attended a presentation on Orange County history and in the course set a Guinness Book of World Records mark for the largest mass history lesson (quick aside: didn't you like the book better when it concentrated on fat twins on bikes?). Yet even a cursory glance can easily see that what happened yesterday wasn't history taught so much as a giant commercial for its various sponsors and masterminds.

The event, titled "Orange County's Gift of History," was held by something called the Children's Education Foundation of Orange County (CEFOC), and you know they have to be a shady organization given that they count former Anaheim mayor/permanent on-the-make politico Curt Pringle and Orange County Department of Education superindendent William Habermehl as board members. It originally started as an Anaheim-only effort, in which Curt and councilwoman Gail Eastman got the city's third-graders to learn about Anaheim history--or rather, read Eastman's book on Anaheim history, Anna's Home by the River. But this year, Pringle and Eastman decided to branch out of Anaheim and hold a countywide event, now using a history book written by another OC politico: Stan Oftelie, the former OCTA head whose new tome, Nothing Rhymes with Orange, is conveniently aimed at third-graders.

None of these are professional historians, and the master of ceremonies at the Angels Stadium event yesterday definitely wasn't: Caroline Sunshine, who apparently is some sort of Disney Channel star, Disney being a big sponsor of the event. Other conflicts of interest masquerading as history? I've yet to actually hear the program, but the Orange County Register (a sponsor, a point reporter Eric Carpenter failed to mention in his piece) wrote that Southern California Edison (a sponsor) senior vice president of public affairs Gaddi Vasquez--yes, that Gaddi Vasquez, the disgraced ex-supervisor--spoke about the importance of water...maybe because the Orange County Water District was a sponsor? Carpenter also said Anaheim Angels (a sponsor) broadcaster Jose Mota talked--bizarrely--about transportation issues...maybe because one of the sponsors was Cofiroute USA, the operator of the 91 Express Lanes? And Mickey Mouse, a presenter a history lecture? Where was Andy Anaheim when you needed him?

After the corporate mass indoctrination, kiddies left with a backpack filled with Oftelie's book and...corporate propaganda. I haven't gotten a hold of one of these backpacks (and if your kiddie went, por favor send one along!), but documents obtained by the Weekly show that CEFOC promised companies who donated $10,000 or more "inserts into tote bags (e.g., company fliers, pens with corporation logo, etc.). Because NOTHING says OC history like a Southern California Gas Company eraser...

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Weekly Newsletter: Our weekly feature stories, movie reviews, calendar picks and more - minus the newsprint and sent directly to your inbox.

Write Comment

Email to Friend

Print Article

Related Content

And Disney?
Gustavo, third graders don't pay their parent's gas/electric bills, nor water bills, nor taxes for the installation of express lanes. Are you really worried that your kid is going to come and tweet to his friends about how cool the OCTD is? They don't give a shit and Edison isn't projection a 15,000 increase of customers in Orange County 10 years in the future.
Gustavo only likes "history" when it is re-written to justify a Mexican invasion. I'm sure if the day was concentrated around "Chicano Studies" and other worthless pursuits, it would be time well spent.
Talk about someone who drank the water...
Did you read the book that came with it? I read it cover to cover, including the short bibliography and the qualifications of the "packer" to write it. I think it would have been nice to share with the 3rd graders that this is the second mass history lesson in OC History. The first time was to keep everyone conservative, and if I read the text they accompanied with the lesson, so was this lesson. But, sure, most of them will remember a helicopter and Mickey Mouse.
Can I interrupt to ask a punctuation question? See Gus's quote here: "...history lesson (quick aside: didn't you like the book better when it concentrated on fat twins on bikes?). Yet even..." I was always taught to write those sentences this way: ...history lesson. (Quick aside: didn't you like the book better when it concentrated on fat twins on bikes?) Yet even... There must be some school teachers reading this that can help, eh?
Sounds like you aren't familiar with 3rd grade curriculum. Third grade is when public schools in OC study ORANGE COUNTY HISTORY. And they learn about what brings water to our county (even 5th graders at our school were talking today about where water comes from). You can do that regardless of who sponsored the event. The sponsors names were not mentioned during the history lesson. They were listed BEFORE. And I'm happy to give them some advertising because they made the event happen. In case you don't know, public education funding is at an all time low. Our beach city school didn't even know if we could afford the transportation costs to attend until less than a week before, thanks to an Ed Foundation grant at the last minute. So I don't even want to know how out of reach this event would have been without the sponsors. The lesson educated the kids about things like: first city in OC, the "main street" of OC (which was the 5 fwy--no mention of the 91 express). How about which cities used to be called "Richland" and "Oil City"? Who were the first, next and next inhabitants of OC--complete with sounds and facts. And by the way, the MC, while she is a Disney star, she was the MC to demonstrate to kids that fellow OC natives can become famous. So while a healthy dose of sceptacism is ok, don't completey trash this event. My 3rd grader learned about OC history and then became part of it. It's kind of fun and empowering to be part of OC history as documented in the Guinness Book of World Records when you are only a 3rd grader, even if you aren't a fat twin on bikes!! PS--my daughter wants to know if YOU are in the Guinness Book of World Records :)
Didn't pass your third-grade reading comprehension test, did you?
your --> you're
And for chisakes, your a Mexican, surely you have at least 10 sobrinos that attended this deal. Get your backpack from la famiglia.
Man, if I had time I'd fisk this post -- which Klavito should take as a compliment because at least there is something substantive here -- very wrong, but substantive as opposed to vacuous posts about long dead and forgotten gentlemen who may or may not have been active Klansmen. The really interesting thing to me is GA's psychology. I mean, the degree of resentment, if not outright hatred, shown here is laughable. So some kids learned about water from a guy sponsored by the county water district? Like water isn't important in our semi-arid climate. So some woman wrote a cheesy kids book about the establishment of Anaheim by OTM's (other than Mexicans). Why is that nefarious or insulting or a cause for outrage? I mean, Arellano has what seems to be a pretty easy gig, he gets to go on national TV, gets columns in the LA Times, gets to eat out on the company dime (despite the fact he can't tell Spanish/Catalan food from Argentinian). You'd think all that would satisfy a man of modest talents, that he'd take it easy, be...what's the word...magnanimous. You know, just get a little laid back and stop the vendettas and hate. But no, he let's it consume him. Of course, I am not a professional headshrinker, so think of this as the equivalent to Arellano's attempts at 'history'.
So the author of this piece has "yet to actually hear the program" and "haven't gotten a hold of one of these backpacks " yet he knows that these children were brainwashed by the big bad corporations. That's some darn fine reporting there.
There is a distinct difference between opening a theme park by the battle of Bull Run and calling it "Disney's History" and taking some 3rd graders on a field trip to get them interested in history... And again third graders shouldn't be privy to the gore and traumatic details the this countries creation... We can both agree that will better be taught in High School and beyond when the students are better equipped to handle the truth and discuss it in a more mature manner. Example;3rd grader history; Davey Crockett king of the wild frontier10th Grade History; Davey Crockett engaged in a bloody battle with General Santa Anna's troops at the Alamo where he and his men killed upwards of 600 Mexicans before ultimately succumbing to the greater force resulting in the death of every soldier defending the Alamo.
Remember when Disney tried to open a theme park about history in the early 1990s near a Civil War battlefield, and everyone went rightfully apeshit? Flashforward 20 years, and no one gives a damn. That's progress, right?
They are third graders Gustavo... What would you have them do a PPT presentation on your Klan series? The retelling of history has come a long way since I was a 3rd grader at white ass Kettler Elementary in HB during the early 80s, but third graders should get "History Light". And easy with the indoc tag, something in the neighborhood of 70% of public school teachers are liberal and the teachers union is 100% liberal and constantly pushing, as they call it "progressive" curriculum. Hell, (and this wont surprise you) I had t-shirt with a Ronald Reagan quote on it and the teacher made me turn it inside out, That was in 86 and I was still in elementary school and in OC!