Teachers in Texas will be required to cover the Judeo-Christian influences of the nation's Founding Fathers, but not highlight the philosophical rationale for the separation of church and state. Curriculum standards also will describe the U.S. government as a "constitutional republic," rather than "democratic," and students will be required to study the decline in value of the U.S. dollar, including the abandonment of the gold standard.
"We have been about conservatism versus liberalism," said Democrat Mavis Knight of Dallas, explaining her vote against the standards. "We have manipulated strands to insert what we want it to be in the document, regardless as to whether or not it's appropriate."
Following three days of impassioned and acrimonious debate, the board gave preliminary approval to the new standards with a 10-5 party line vote. A final vote is expected in May, after a public comment period that could produce additional amendments and arguments.
Decisions by the board -- made up of lawyers, a dentist and a weekly newspaper publisher among others -- can affect textbook content nationwide because Texas is one of publishers' biggest clients.
Ultraconservatives wielded their power over hundreds of subjects this week, introducing and rejecting amendments on everything from the civil rights movement to global politics. Hostilities flared and prompted a walkout Thursday by one of the board's most prominent Democrats, Mary Helen Berlanga of Corpus Christi, who accused her colleagues of "whitewashing" curriculum standards.
By late Thursday night, three other Democrats seemed to sense their futility and left, leaving Republicans to easily push through amendments heralding "American exceptionalism" and the U.S. free enterprise system, suggesting it thrives best absent excessive government intervention.
"Some board members themselves acknowledged this morning that the process for revising curriculum standards in Texas is seriously broken, with politics and personal agendas dominating just about every decision," said Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, which advocates for religious freedom.
Republican Terri Leo, a member of the powerful Christian conservative voting bloc, called the standards "world class" and "exceptional."
Board members argued about the classification of historic periods (still B.C. and A.D., rather than B.C.E. and C.E.); whether students should be required to explain the origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its impact on global politics (they will); and whether former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir should be required learning (she will).
In addition to learning the Bill of Rights, the board specified a reference to the Second Amendment right to bear arms in a section about citizenship in a U.S. government class.
Conservatives beat back multiple attempts to include hip-hop as an example of a significant cultural movement.
Numerous attempts to add the names or references to important Hispanics throughout history also were denied, inducing one amendment that would specify that Tejanos died at the Alamo alongside Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie. Another amendment deleted a requirement that sociology students "explain how institutional racism is evident in American society."
Democrats did score a victory by deleting a portion of an amendment by Republican Don McLeroy suggesting that the civil rights movement led to "unrealistic expectations for equal outcomes."
Fort Worth Republican Pat Hardy, a longtime teacher, voted for the new standards, but said she wished the board could work with a more cooperative spirit.
"What we've done is we've taken a document that by nature is too long to begin with and then we've lengthened it some more," Hardy said, shortly after the vote. "Those long lists of names that we've put in there ... it's just too long.
"I just think we failed to keep that in mind, it's hard for teachers to get through it all."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/13/texas-textbook-massacre-u_n_498003.html
So Obama gives a message about staying in school and it's somehow indoctrination but the religious right can get away with rewriting history to suit their views.
How is it that the U.S. is soo bass ackwards? Keep in mind that most schoolbooks made are made in Texas.
Teachers in Texas will be required to cover the Judeo-Christian
influences of the nation's Founding Fathers, but not highlight the
philosophical rationale for the separation of church and state.
Curriculum standards also will describe the U.S. government as a
"constitutional republic," rather than "democratic," and students will
be required to study the decline in value of the U.S. dollar, including
the abandonment of the gold standard.[snip]
By late Thursday night, three other Democrats seemed to sense
their futility and left, leaving Republicans to easily push through
amendments heralding "American exceptionalism" and the U.S. free
enterprise system, suggesting it thrives best absent excessive
government intervention.[snip]
Board members argued about the classification of historic
periods (still B.C. and A.D., rather than B.C.E. and C.E.); whether
students should be required to explain the origins of the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its impact on global politics (they
will); and whether former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir should be
required learning (she will).In addition to learning the Bill of Rights, the board specified
a reference to the Second Amendment right to bear arms in a section
about citizenship in a U.S. government class.
Conservatives beat back multiple attempts to include hip-hop as an example of a significant cultural movement.Numerous attempts to add the names or references to important
Hispanics throughout history also were denied, inducing one amendment
that would specify that Tejanos died at the Alamo alongside Davy
Crockett and Jim Bowie. Another amendment deleted a requirement that
sociology students "explain how institutional racism is evident in
American society."
This is what you call 'historical revisionism'? To those who've grown up on Howard Zinn, this might seem like it.
Given how low the standards have gotten regarding American students' grasp of our country's history, I welcome this. Every
history book should include the faith of our Founders. Why? Because
it's history. Every history book should also include the Trail of
Tears. Why? Because it's history. Just because you seem to cringe at the thought of textbooks acknowledging Judeo-Christianity's philosophical influences on the Founders doesn't mean it shouldn't be included.
Years of college and grad school, just to be told what to teach. I'm sure the teachers are glad they got those expensive degrees so they can ignore them now.
What's the deal with a statewide board of education anyway? I can't think of any other state that has one. School districts' needs are so diverse, these decisions should be made on the local level, not state or nationwide. It shocks me that small-government Republicans would favor such a nanny-state type of measure.
I'll do them a favor and re-write the standards for them.
"Teach history"
Years of college and grad school, just to be told what to teach. I'm sure the teachers are glad they got those expensive degrees so they can ignore them now.
What's the deal with a statewide board of education anyway? I can't think of any other state that has one. School districts' needs are so diverse, these decisions should be made on the local level, not state or nationwide. It shocks me that small-government Republicans would favor such a nanny-state type of measure.
I'll do them a favor and re-write the standards for them.
"Teach history"
Those are Republicans for you! The very same republicans in Georgia who refuse any notion of a tax increase for education (Not to mention making HUGE cuts to the already dismal school system, going so far as to close down several schools and forcing teachers to take pay cuts AND furlough days), but at the slightest possibility of the Falcons needing a new stadium, they jump on board with a backdoor motel tax increase just to make sure the Falcons stay in town 
Gotta love Republican logic.
I just tell myself this is because our country is chronologically the equivalent of a pimply teenager and has it all figured out.
If you think about it? It's probably time for this to start escalating towards forcing people into the "approved" social circles. Welcome to country puberty!
~Tobe
Texas and California are the two big states that end up defining what virtually the rest of the country uses for textbooks, so it's somewhat hilarious to see either side whine about how the other side is "promoting their ideology" in either state during these kinds of meetings.
Regardless, when you read the actual changes that were voted on and
passed, it's really nothing to be concerned about. They're shifting
focus to other things that happened during various periods in US
history that were not given much, if any, attention in the past.
Every history class I took in public school, they taught us nearly the
exact same thing every year. Basically, Columbus through Hiroshima. I
don't know how many years those two things bookended the entire course.
Jeez. I don't understand how white ultra-conservatives think their way is the only right way. And it sucks that the crazy republicans give the rest of us a bad name. There are level-headed people in each party, donchaknow.
Sucks that moderates aren't batcrazy enough to influence politics the way extremists do.
<strong class="quote-title"
B Vulpix wrote:
Texas and California are the two big states that end up defining what virtually the rest of the country uses for textbooks, so it's somewhat hilarious to see either side whine about how the other side is "promoting their ideology" in either state during these kinds of meetings.
I hate this B.S. excuse of "Well, the other side do it to."
Trust me, an ultraliberal would NOT have gotten away with this.
http://www.hnn.us/articles/124527.html
Also, it doesn't help their case that they decided to cut out Thomas freaking Jefferson and replace him with Evangelicals.
[quote:82dfe26aa8="
I hate this B.S. excuse of "Well, the other side do it to."
Trust me, an ultraliberal would NOT have gotten away with this.
Does Howard Zinn count?
Also, regarding Jefferson...that's certainly news to me. *headdesk*
Edit: The one thing to note is that, according to http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/texas-removes-thomas-jefferson-from-teaching-standard/1939748 1">this article by AOL News, "The board voted to enact new teaching standards for history and social
studies that will alter which material gets included in school
textbooks. It decided to drop Jefferson from a world history section
devoted to great political thinkers." Furthermore, "According to Texas Freedom Network, a group that opposes many of the
changes put in place by the Board of Education, the original curriculum
asked students to "explain the impact of Enlightenment ideas from John
Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Voltaire, Charles de Montesquieu, Jean Jacques
Rousseau and Thomas Jefferson on political revolutions from 1750 to the
present." That emphasis did not sit well with board member
Cynthia Dunbar, who, during Friday's meeting, explained the rationale
for changing it. "The Enlightenment was not the only philosophy on which
these revolutions were based," Dunbar said.The new standard,
passed at the meeting in a 10-5 vote, now reads, "Explain the impact of
the writings of John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Voltaire, Charles de
Montesquieu, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin and Sir
William Blackstone.""
So the particular focus on 'political revolutions' has been dropped, in favor of more general influences on the writings of the people mentioned on Western thought. Jefferson was dropped in favor of William Blackstone (I can understand him being included), Thomas Aquinas (a more religious choice and rather far removed, but his works DID have great influence on Western thought), and John Calvin (wait, what?).
So it's just one section devoted to the influences of particular people on Western philosophy and political theory that Jefferson was removed from. Eh...still sort of iffy, but it's not the same as Jefferson being removed from the history curriculum entirely (surely they're not that stupid, right? >_>; ).
Edit2: And according to Ken Mercer of the Texas State Board of Education,
History is created by the winners. I've yet to see a history book talk in depth about Wounded Knee '73.
It's not really a surprise to me they're suppressing non-christian influences on the founding of America. They're already trying to make science teachers teach things that all scientific evidence contradicts. Why not try to omit things so they can have fabricated evidence to push towards a national religion? Watch, they'll tone down Adams and Franklin too. Washington will just have to have his personality... changed to fit with what THEY think kids should know.
~Tobe
its time to prick our thumbs
The Texas State Board of Education is reviewing history textbooks, and since the state buys so many books each year -- a whopping 48 million -- the elected board members can dictate the books' content. The board members are not scientists, historians or scholars, but the content they choose will determine how the books are written for texts sold in all 50 states.
Arguing that American textbooks have been hijacked by a liberal agenda, board members are trying to restore a conservative bent to the material taught in grades K-8. The current "standards are rife with leftist political periods and events: the Populists, the Progressives, the New Deal and the Great Society," board member Don McLeroy said in a statement. "Including material about the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s provides some political balance to the document."
In the proposed changes, Susan B. Anthony would be wiped from the history books, along with Florence Nightingale and Shirley Chisholm (the first black woman elected to Congress). In their place would be Abigail Adams and Phyllis Schlafly, a conservative politician who opposed feminism and the Equal Rights Amendment.
When students learn about the McCarthy hearings, they might now learn that Joseph McCarthy was eventually vindicated as details about spying emerged. A popular children's-book author, Bill Martin Jr., has been stricken from the curriculum because he shares the same name as a professor who wrote favorably about Karl Marx.
Even W.E.B. Du Bois, founder of the NAACP, may not make the cut. For the moment, the famous civil-rights activist's writings have been included in the reading curriculum -- but his ties to the Communist party and the fact that he ultimately moved to Ghana and denounced capitalism might undo him.
It is deeply disturbing that a group of elected officials who are not historians, scientists, sociologists -- or experts in any of these fields -- can determine the curriculum for the entire nation.
Julio Noboa, a history professor at the University of Texas at El Paso and a social-studies expert who made recommendations for the board, told the San Antonio Express, "This goes to the fundamental issue. The board is not made up of educators, let alone historians. It really makes them look stupid."
This goes beyond a handful of ignorant people making decisions that affect all of our children. This is about a group of people deciding to erase elements of our collective history that don't fit with the neat picture they prefer.
Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network (a watchdog organization), said it best when she told FOX News, "I believe the members of this board, this seven-member voting block, are willing to sacrifice the truth in history to promote a very skewed perspective, especially on the issue of civil rights. We watched while they tried to whitewash civil rights and remove references to ethnic and religious minorities and women and the struggles we faced in expanding our rights."
Board members see no problem with revising the history to reflect a "rosier" view of it that excludes women, minorities and oppression.
Houston State Senator Dan Patrick told FOX News, "I'm glad the SBOE is drawing a line in the sand, as we in Texas have been known to do from time to time, to say this is what our country was founded upon, these are our principles, these are our values and this is who we are as a people."
A final vote is scheduled for May. And then we can all look forward to our kids coming home reciting a history written by 15 elected officials in Austin.
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Links removed
Even SPAMbots care about history! I'm so moved. :'D
