Stupid Texans rewriting history for schoolchildren everywhere

Texas Conservatives Win Curriculum Change (New York Times)

After three days of turbulent meetings, the Texas Board of Education on Friday approved a social studies curriculum that will put a conservative stamp on history and economics textbooks, stressing the superiority of American capitalism, questioning the Founding Fathers’ commitment to a purely secular government and presenting Republican political philosophies in a more positive light.
. . .
The board, whose members are elected, has influence beyond Texas because the state is one of the largest buyers of textbooks….
. . .
Since January, Republicans on the board have passed more than 100 amendments to the 120-page curriculum standards affecting history, sociology and economics courses from elementary to high school. The standards were proposed by a panel of teachers.

“We are adding balance,” said Dr. Don McLeroy, the leader of the conservative faction on the board, after the vote. “History has already been skewed. Academia is skewed too far to the left.”
. . .
Efforts by Hispanic board members to include more Latino figures as role models for the state’s large Hispanic population were consistently defeated, prompting one member, Mary Helen Berlanga, to storm out of a meeting late Thursday night, saying, “They can just pretend this is a white America and Hispanics don’t exist.”

… There were no historians, sociologists or economists consulted at the meetings, though some members of the conservative bloc held themselves out as experts on certain topics.
. . .
“I reject the notion by the left of a constitutional separation of church and state,” said David Bradley, a conservative from Beaumont who works in real estate. “I have $1,000 for the charity of your choice if you can find it in the Constitution.”
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Dr. McLeroy, a dentist by training, pushed through a change to the teaching of the civil rights movement to ensure that students study the violent philosophy of the Black Panthers in addition to the nonviolent approach of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He also made sure that textbooks would mention the votes in Congress on civil rights legislation, which Republicans supported.
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…Conservatives passed one amendment, for instance, requiring that the history of McCarthyism include “how the later release of the Venona papers confirmed suspicions of communist infiltration in U.S. government.” The Venona papers were transcripts of some 3,000 communications between the Soviet Union and its agents in the United States.

Mavis B. Knight, a Democrat from Dallas, introduced an amendment requiring that students study the reasons “the founding fathers protected religious freedom in America by barring the government from promoting or disfavoring any particular religion above all others.”

It was defeated on a party-line vote.
. . .
Even the course on world history did not escape the board’s scalpel.

Cynthia Dunbar, a lawyer from Richmond who is a strict constitutionalist and thinks the nation was founded on Christian beliefs, managed to cut Thomas Jefferson from a list of figures whose writings inspired revolutions in the late 18th century and 19th century, replacing him with St. Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin and William Blackstone. (Jefferson is not well liked among conservatives on the board because he coined the term “separation between church and state.”)
. . .
“The Enlightenment was not the only philosophy on which these revolutions were based,” Ms. Dunbar said.

U. of California Must Refund $38-Million in Fees to Students, Judge Rules (Chronicle of Higher Ed)

The University of California must pay a total of $38-million to thousands of former students who say the university illegally raised their fees after it had promised not to do so, a judge ruled on Wednesday…. (continued)

Comments:

Anonymous said... ~ Oh, how I hate this. —ES ~ 12:54 PM, March 13, 2010

B. von Traven said... ~ I think that, when the likes of Texans and Rush Limbaugh threaten to separate from the rest of the country, we should immediately take 'em up on it.
I know some great people from Texas. Gotta remember that, I guess. ~ 4:53 PM

Anonymous said... ~ I lived in Texas for a while. Even had a boyfriend with a gun rack in his truck. He was not a redneck – the family was wealthy and had a big ranch we used to go hunting and stuff on...anyway, trivia. Still have cousins in Texas. They are pretty conservative, so I have no idea what they would think of this. 2/3 of my Face Book friends are Texans; I should post a link to the article and see what comments come up... ~ 5:54 PM

Anonymous said... ~ Ok, I put up the link on FB – now to see what the Texans say. I bet they like it. – ES ~ 5:57 PM

Anonymous said... ~ One thumbs-up already, but that was from a Californian...
– ES ~ 6:12 PM

Anonymous said... ~ This is pretty much what I expected (and now my brain hurts): –Lisa Jordan
Texas Conservatives Win Vote on Textbook Standards - NYTimes.com
www.nytimes.com
Because Texas is a large buyer of textbooks, the changes approved by the school board will have a broad influence.
31 minutes ago · Comment ·

Jamie Rudolph likes this.

Lisa Jordan
I'm not sure this is all good...
15 minutes ago ·

Jamie Rudolph
"stressing the superiority of American capitalism and questioning the Founding Fathers... See More’ commitment to a purely secular government" as the article says they want to do is good. Capitalism is the most prosperous economic model, America has been superior in freedom and prosperity and after just finishing "The 500 Year Leap" a history of the founding of our country, I can tell you that the majority of our founding fathers believed that America had to keep a focus on God and Godly principles in governing. ~ 6:31 PM

B. von Traven said... ~ Academia's grip on the culture is weakening. No longer respected, often hated, the professorate can yammer all they want, but the mob is making its move to grab the steering wheel. It thinks it has a destination. Silly me. Like I could ever do a thing about it. I'm beginning to wonder if I would if I could. ~ 7:22 PM