Texas OKs changes to school texts
Has anyone else been keeping up with the textbook debate in Texas? Because it's monumentally epic. Congrats to Texans! You're children will now be able to receive an ultra conservative education focused on Christian influences on politics. If they choose to go out of state for college, everyone will think they're a dumbass...even more so than when they hear that they're from Texas. YAY TEXAS!
What a lot of people don't realize about the Texas textbook revisions is that Texas is the second largest textbook purchaser in the US (behind California). So future textbook buyers from smaller states will be limited to a super conservative version on US History.
The Revisions
Adds references to "laws of nature and nature's God" to a section in U.S. history that requires students to explain major political ideas. The Founding Fathers were motivated by Christian beliefs and morale.HAHAHAHAHA. I'm pretty sure as "christian" as the founding fathers were...they cared less about instilling christian beliefs and more about not getting killed by the red coats. that's why there was that huge debate about the seperation of church and state. or is Texas planning on erasing that part of history too?
Replaces "democratic" in references to the form of U.S. government with "constitutional republic."Since when the United States become a constitutional republic? Just because it used to be "The Republic of Texas" doesn't mean the US is one too.
In addition to learning the Bill of Rights, the board specifies a reference to the Second Amendment right to bear arms in a section about citizenship in a U.S. government class.I knew guns would be included somehow.
Requires economics students to "analyze the decline of the U.S. dollar including abandonment of the gold standard."click here it's a video clip from the Colbert Report (disclaimer: conservatives beware. content may be offensive).
Ensures that students learn about "the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s, including Phyllis Schlafly, the Contract With America, the Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority and the National Rifle Association."It wouldn't be a complete Texas education without mentioning guns in every other sentence.
In teaching about the civil rights movement, students must learn about the violent philosophy of the Black Panthers in addition to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s nonviolent approach.Only in Texas will you see Black Panther in the same paragraph as MLK. I think they may be taking it too far with the "teaching both sides of the story" philosophy. Wait, are we still allowed to use the word philosophy without being blasted as a liberal? Oh Texas, how you're becoming more difficult to live in.
Specifies that Germans and Italians were interned in the United States as well as the Japanese during World War II, to counter the idea that the internment of Japanese was motivated by racism.WOW. Finally, something that makes somewhat sense, even though it kind of sounds like a cover up? Texas: "Hey Japanese Americans from WWII, we're going to cover up the fact that you were interned because we don't want to admit to being racists." I was going to count it in favor of reason but I feel like they're trying to cover up the existence of racism. Texas Conservatism 7 Reason 0
Requires 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.I smell conservatism stank.
In sociology, requires the teaching of "the importance of personal responsibility for life choices" in a section on teen suicide, dating violence, sexuality, drug use and eating disorders.Soo what...does peer pressure, bullying, etc, no longer exist in Texas? I wonder what the textbooks will say about Sarah Palin's daughter...the one who apparently forgot the "importance of personal responsibility" when she got pregnant because she didn't use a condom. Wait, where were her christian morale and beliefs when she decided to have sex before marraige? Hmm...something just doesn't add up.
One thing that msnbc seems to have left off is the removal of Thomas Jefferson as an enlightenment thinker and the severe reducing of his role in the American Revolution. Umm..he kind of WROTE THE DECLARATION.
I worry for future generations in Texas and the rest of the US. Since when did it become okay to re-write history because it was "too liberal?" I guess every view of history is biased to some extent, but the textbook revisions have gone too far. No where else but in Texas will something as crazy as this pass with a vote of 9-5 (only because 3 democrats walked out). When a Texas Democrat walks out of a debate because the change was too conservative, you know that there's a problem.
Next time you drive through Texas, the sign might change from "Welcome to Texas: the Lone Star State" to
Welcome to Texas: Where your child can finally receive a conservative education. Hmm..that might be a bit too long to fit but I'm sure they'll figure out a way to shorten the message.
peace, love, and mcd.
