Texas Board Of Ed Approves Right-Wing History Textbook Standards

[sonias]

Talking Points Memo 5/21/10
Texas Board Of Ed Approves Right-Wing History Textbook Standards (VIDEO)

After months of debate and national controversy, the Texas State Board of Education Friday afternoon passed new high school textbook standards that recast U.S. history from the point of view of a movement conservative.

The AP reports on the 9-5 vote by the Republican-dominated board:

The partisan board has amended or watered down the teaching of the civil rights movement, slavery, America's relationship with the U.N. and hundreds of other items. ... They dictate how political events and figures will be taught to some 4.8 million schoolchildren in Texas and beyond for the next decade.

Among other things, the standards state that students must "discuss alternatives regarding long term entitlements such as Social Security and Medicare, given the decreasing worker to retiree ratio." Another clause says students must "describe the causes and key organizations and individuals of the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s, including Phyllis Schafly, the Contract with America, the Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority, and the National Rifle Association."

:puke:

[sonias]

1. Divided board gives final OK to social studies standards

AAS 5/21/10
Divided board gives final OK to social studies standards

The State Board of Education members kept up their bitter, year-long ideological tussling until the very end when they finally approved new social studies curriculum standards late Friday afternoon.

Despite two consecutive 15-hour days of discussion and changes, the board members still had plenty of steam on Friday to argue over issues great and small throughout the history, government and economics standards.

They tackled Thomas Jefferson, religious freedom, communism and more before passing the high school standards on a 9 to 5 party-line vote. Republican Geraldine Miller had left the meeting by that point.

(snip)
Democrats decried the standards as the product as a highly political, flawed and heavy-handed process.

Mavis Knight, D-Dallas, said there has been little appetite for finding common ground among the board’s ideological factions. The result, Knight said, is that she has been rendered “invisible as an elected official.”

“I cannot outvote you,” Knight said. “Seldom, if ever, can I work to bridge things with you.”

Fox News must be cheering tonight. :mad:

[sonias]

2. State Board of Education Finalizes and Adopts Social Studies Standards

Texas Observer 5/21/10
State Board of Education Finalizes and Adopts Social Studies Standards
(snip)
4:55 - Ken Mercer is into a 10-minute rant about the "lie" that the SBOE deleted Jefferson from the standards. He kept saying that this was a lie and he is obviously so angry about this. "Jefferson was the biggest lie of all." He compares the critics of removing Jefferson to Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi minister of propaganda, who did indeed say that if you keep repeating a big lie it will become the truth (a technique used quite successfully by the Bush Administration in their run-up to the Iraq Conflict/War). In his mind he has convinced himself that it is a lie, but in reality the Board did delete Jefferson from an important standard, so it is Mercer himself who is fibbing. Today Mercer and others put Jefferson back in that standard. Why does Mercer think that Jefferson needed to be put back into the standard--after all, he voted for it earlier today--if it is a "lie" that Jefferson was deleted? No editorial writer or blogger to my knowledge wrote that Jefferson was deleted from all the standards; their statement that Jefferson was deleted was in the context of the standard in which he was deleted, not the entire document. If they did say or imply that Jefferson was deleted from all places in the standards, then that, of course, was incorrect. So what? Removing Jefferson from one very important standard or all standards in social studies is equally obnoxious and partisan and any instance of this is subject to proper revulsion. Ken Mercer is a fool for thinking otherwise.

5:06 - The SBOE votes 9-5 to adopt the high school social studies standards along party lines which was completely expected. As I have written many times before, public education in Texas is a 100% political process and this vote proves that. Texas citizens should be appalled.

The whole day is pretty detailed if you have the stomach for it.

Ken Mercer is the nut bag that represents me. :(

[tanyev]

3. *sigh*

January can't get here soon enough. :banghead:

[NoPasaran]

12. What's happening in January?

[tanyev]

13. New board members take office

McLeroy stands as a symbol of the social conservative bloc's rise and fall. He served as the board's chairman during some of the divisive debates and was defeated in the March GOP primary by Thomas Ratliff of Mount Pleasant, who has been critical of the social conservative bloc and promises a less dogmatic approach. Ratliff faces only a Libertarian candidate in the fall in a board district that includes much of Collin County.

For three and a half years, social conservatives have held seven of the 15 board seats and frequently garnered a majority by picking up one or two votes from among the three other Republicans and five Democrats on the panel.

In addition to McLeroy's loss, another seat held by Republican Cynthia Dunbar is expected to drop out of the social conservative column after this year. Dunbar did not seek re-election, and her chosen successor lost the GOP primary to former educator Marsha Farney of Georgetown. Farney faces a Democrat and a Libertarian in the general election.

Those changes are expected to leave no more than five social conservatives on the board beginning in January.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics/state/stories/DN-sboe_18tex.ART.State.Edition2.146961ad.html

[onestepforward]

4. A sad day for Texas

and students around our country. I can only hope that one day children will be given the facts in their textbooks instead of political indoctrination.

This is a huge step backward.

[sonias]

5. One ray of hope

The state is so broke they probably won't buy these books. The won't even buy the science standard books that were wacky too because they cost 1.4 billion dollars. And those are in the pipeline first.

I agree with tanyev - January can not come soon enough. :-(

Hopefully a new board can undo the damage or the Texas Legislature can reign them in once again. I'm with Chuy Hinojosa on this one - just abolish the board.

KVUE 3/23/10
Sen. Hinojosa: Abolish State Board of Education


AUSTIN – The State Board of Education won’t be getting into any more schoolbook skirmishes if a state senator from the Rio Grande Valley gets his way; in fact, there won’t even be a State Board of Education.

State Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa, District 20, is planning to file legislation next session that would abolish the State Board of Education. A spokesman for Hinojosa said there is a working draft of the abolition legislation, but it’s not ready to be released to the public, meaning specifics are unavailable.

The board is locked in a contentious and heated debate over how much ideology should shape what Texas students learn about in public school classrooms.

"The S.B.O.E. lacks a coherent mission aside from promoting a radical cultural view at the expense of public school children," Hinojosa said in a written statement. "In framing curriculum guidelines, the SBOE appears to be shaping an extreme, if not myopic, view of social studies material to be used in Texas schools."

[onestepforward]

6. I'll take that ray

I'm with Chuy Hinojosa too. :hi:

[onestepforward]

7. White sees political circus in new school curriculum

http://blogs.chron.com/texaspolitics/archives/2010/05/white_sees_poli.html

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White put out a statement this evening after the State Board of Education adopted a controversial social studies curriculum standard for Texas public schools.

"The State Board of Education, led by a (Gov. Rick) Perry appointee, created a political circus and undermined the independence of public education from politics. When people see Texas as a place with political agendas in schools, it hurts our ability to attract entrepreneurs and new businesses.
Instead of politicians spending their time editing textbooks, we need leaders who will push electronic textbooks forward to save money and create a better variety of courses for Texas students.

"Today, I visited an innovative school, New Tech High School in Coppell ISD near Dallas. Students there use online materials almost exclusively, but the state requires taxpayers to fund a full set of expensive textbooks anyway. In history classes, students study original historical documents online. We need a governor who leads Texas education forward with opportunities like this, rather than one who creates an atmosphere in which politicians use classrooms to serve their political agendas."

[sonias]

9. Bravo - it is the future

I honestly think this is what the Lege will do too because of the budget crisis. No new books and a push to more electronic materials since they can be updated more rapidly and are much, much cheaper.

Great point Bill. I hope he does an ad on this. This would be the time to strike Perry's appointees. If we had real journalism in the MSM - one of them would ask Perry about the SBOE, his appointments and does he support the new standards. But journalists cower before Perry. They give him such a free ride in Texas.

[CoolOnion]

8. So what's next?

They've approved their right-wing books, but that doesn't mean these things have to actually end up in classrooms. Anybody know some rich person who would donate millions of copies of Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States to Texas schools? Bill White mentioned replacing hard cover books with teaching from original documents...any other ideas?

[sonias]

10. Bill White is right about E-books for schools

It's happening now anyway. The Lege has already hinted they won't be paying for the science books the SBOE approved because of the price tag of $1.4 billion.

I'm sure the Dems are going to make sure that money gets cut in the budget next spring.

The school districts can supplement their current books with electronic updates

[CoolOnion]

11. That's good news!

[sonias]

14. Texas Board Of Education Approves More Conservative Curriculum

Huffington Post 5/21/10
Texas Board Of Education Approves More Conservative Curriculum
(snip)
The board attempted to make more than 200 amendments this week alone, reshaping draft standards that had been prepared over the last year and a half by expert groups of teachers and professors.

(snip
During the monthslong revision process, conservatives strengthened requirements on teaching the Judeo-Christian influences of the nation's Founding Fathers and required that the U.S. government be referred to as a "constitutional republic," rather than "democratic." Students will be required to study the decline in the value of the U.S. dollar, including the abandonment of the gold standard.
Story continues below

They also rejected language to modernize the classification of historic periods to B.C.E. and C.E. from the traditional B.C. and A.D., and agreed to replace Thomas Jefferson as an example of an influential political philosopher in a world history class. They also required students to evaluate efforts by global organizations such as the United Nations to undermine U.S. sovereignty.

(snip)
Another Republican board member, David Bradley, said the curriculum revision process has always been political – but this time, the ruling faction had changed since the last time social studies standards were adopted.

"We took our licks, we got outvoted," he said referring to the debate from 10 years earlier. "Now it's 10-5 in the other direction ... we're an elected body, this is a political process. Outside that, go find yourself a benevolent dictator."

Fuck you David Bradley!

[Melissa G]

15. This curriculum gags me...

:puke:

[sonias]

16. I know, as it should

Something else to add to this debate is home schooling. Most of the so called Christian conservatives home school their kids anyway. So this is a form of "indoctrination" for the people who do not share their religious beliefs.

Oh they so want the government to stay out of their lives except when it comes to your beliefs and your kids - then they want total control.

:puke:

[mbperrin]

17. I can already tell that we will take a pragmatic approach in our

classrooms and find solutions, like students must "discuss alternatives regarding long term entitlements such as Social Security and Medicare, given the decreasing worker to retiree ratio.

Obvious answer is to encourage students to breed like rabbits. Voila, ratio "problem" solved.

Yes, this does have possibilities. Lost the battle, not the war. Not yet.

[sonias]

18. Thanks - always nice to hear a real educator chime in

You are really on the front lines during this war, and I for one am glad to have your service.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! :yourock: :hug:

[sonias]

19. California bill takes aim at new Texas standards

The Answer Sheet Washington Post blog 5/22/10
California bill takes aim at new Texas standards

(snip)
And some California legislators aren’t so sure. A new bill introduced in the state Senate by Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) seeks to ensure that none of the Texas standards are allowed to be used in California in any fashion.

Under Yee’s bill, SB1451, the California Board of Education would be required to look out for any of the Texas content as part of its standard practice of reviewing public school textbooks. The board must then report any findings to the legislature and to the secretary of education.

California education officials say they aren’t worried about any spillover. Tom Adams, director of the state Education Department’s standards and curriculum division, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that the Texas standards could make their way into national editions of textbooks, but that California uses its own.

Yee wants to make certain with his bill, which describes the Texas curriculum changes as "a sharp departure from widely accepted historical teachings."

The intent of the bill is sound, but if in fact there is no chance of any spillover, Yee’s bill would serve only as a rebuke to the Texas board. That it deserves.

:spank: the SBOE. I'd like to kick the McLeroy wing nut faction myself!

[sonias]

20. White calls for removing politics from classroom

Houston Chronicle 5/23/10
White calls for removing politics from classroom
AUSTIN — Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White said Saturday that if elected in November, he would pick a new chairman for the State Board of Education to “undo some of the damage” from controversial social studies curriculum standards adopted Friday. Critics contend they shortchange minorities and push a rosy view of history.

(snip)
“Obviously, I would pick a chair who would try to undo some of the damage that is being done as quickly as we can,” White said. “We should have standards which reflect the views of professional educators and historians and respect the integrity of that process rather than injecting political ideology in the classroom — regardless where that ideology came in the political spectrum.”

:dem:

[onestepforward]

21. This cartoon says it all:

[sonias]

22. +10

Awesome toon! Junk shot was never more appropriate!
:fistbump:

Thanks!