The Texas Textbook Massacre
Texas has a 15-member elected school board that sets the educational standards for 4.7 million students. The board is composed of 5 Democrats and 10 Republicans, seven of whom describe themselves as ultra-conservative. The seven often attend as a block, sit as a block, vote as a block and are known as the Wingnut Brigade.
Religion is already taught as an elective subject in Texas schools, but the Board wants to insert religion into the social studies and history curricula as well. Changes may seem subtle, but all reflect a religious, racial, or political bias. For instance, in describing our economy the board voted to replace the word “capitalism” with “free enterprise.” New textbooks would call our nation a “constitutional republic” rather than a “democratic” country, lest young, impressionable minds be led to think the country has any historic association with the Democratic Party.
Though half of the students in Texas are Latinos, references to their culture were cropped significantly. The civil rights movement was downplayed, too, as were any historic wrongdoings of the Texas Rangers and U.S. Cavalry. In the re-write of history, Jefferson Davis and Abe Lincoln were given equal billing and Joe McCarthy was vindicated. A children’s book was dropped because the author was thought, mistakenly, to be a socialists.
Thomas Jefferson’s contribution to the Enlightenment was played down, perhaps because of his proclivity for separating church and state, but Newt Gingrich, the NRA, Phyllis Schlafly and the Moral Majority were hailed for inclusion because of their contribution to American politics.
The good news is that several members of the Wingnut Brigade lost their re-election bids; the bad news is that before they leave, they get to decide on the textbooks used by students for the next ten years.
So why do the rest of us give a tweet about the texts in Texas? Since the state is the largest purchaser of schoolbooks in the nation, it is likely publishers will tailor their offering to the Texas standards.
Elections have consequences.
Image credit: Associated Press
