Texas. If anyone did not already know, many have recently discovered how much power the Texas Board of Education has over the education of young people across the entire nation. This is in large part because of the population of Texas; quite simply, the state is responsible for purchasing a great number of textbooks. Money talks, and the publishers are going to listen to them; even regarding desired changes to the information contained in the books.
Anytime changes like this are being requested, there is an apparent attack on the freedom to read. The Board seems to be rewriting history in some cases. One item that gets a lot of attention in articles on this subject is the fact that they have decided that Thomas Jefferson will not be studied as a political philosopher. Some of the changes, however, do not really seem to be all that bad. They want it taught that the words “separation of church and state” are not in the Constitution (which is true) so that students will compare and contrast the actual words of the First Amendment with the judicial interpretations. They also want the government of the United States to be referred to not as a democracy, but as a constitutional form of government (this is also true).
The idea of changing the history books is truly frightening (especially to one’s own agenda). This certainly could be a case of restricting the freedom to read, and an attack on free access of information. It really depends on if other points of view will be made available by teachers, and in the library for students to access on their own.
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As a long time educator, the impact on the educational system of the nation is one of the most frightening aspects of the Texas textbook bro-ha-ha. Because of the sheer volume of books adopted in California and Texas, in reality, the decisions of those two states control the textbooks for all of us.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, as a complete news junkie, I track several sources, including Fox. In their usual "fair and balanced" manner, they have elected to file these stories in the "culture wars" section, which is strongly slanted toward extremely conservative rhetoric. Tea Party stories often end up there too.
The "separation of church and state" thing wasn't adopted separately from everything else, though. This issue by itself wouldn't be enough to start crying out "Bias!" but, combined with the Jefferson stuff and everything else, it shows a clear pattern of intentional insertion of conservative bias in student textbooks.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure about the "democracy" thing. I guess I'm not catching the dog whistle aspect of it. Is it to stop getting kids to associate the word "democracy" with something positive because of the Democratic Party?
I think I would have assumed that Texas school books were moderate to center-right in the first place. This board has seemed to disregard opinions of some educators and historians in favor of their own ideologies. I'm most concerned with how they want to downplay certain parts of American history. I have no problem with them teaching students about conservative values and important leaders of the conservative movement(Goldwater/Reagan/etc., not Limbaugh and Beck) when it's balanced from the other side.
ReplyDeleteWill parents that find the new textbooks intellectually offensive be able to challenge them? Or will they just have to supplement their lessons at home? I'm assuming the curriculum will appear on standardized tests as well.
Thomas Jefferson was not a political philosopher. He was the one that implemented the political philosophy of John Locke. The standard curriculum of political philosophy that deals with that time period should deal with the Social Contract Theories of John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Thomas Hobbes. Also, our form of government is a constitutional republic. This is exactly how I analyzed this issue so far, I bracketed out any political bias, and just went with the right facts and best theory.
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