(NAME-MCE) History Textbook Controversy Roils Texas

[kispokot at aol.com]

History Textbook Controversy Roils Texas

Updated: 9 hours 55 minutes ago 

 
 

 
_Print_ (javascript:void(0))  Text Size  (javascript:void(0))  
(javascript:void(0)) 
E-mail  
(http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?pub=&v=250&source=tbx-250&tt=0&s=digg&url=http://www.sphere.com/nation/article/texas-board-of-education-con
siders-making-history-lessons-more-conservative/19323135?icid=main|htmlws-ma
in-w|dl6|link4|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sphere.com%2Fnation%2Farticle%2Ftexas-board-
of-education-considers-making-history-lessons-more-conservative%2F19323135&t
itle=Texas%20Board%20of%20Education%20Considers%20Making%20History%20Lessons
%20More%20Conservative%20-%20Sphere%20News&content=&lng=en&uid=X4b2d62e447e7
0c07)  
(http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?pub=&v=250&source=tbx-250&tt=0&s=aim&url=http://www.sphere.com/nation/article/texas-board-of-education-consi
ders-making-history-lessons-more-conservative/19323135?icid=main|htmlws-main
-w|dl6|link4|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sphere.com%2Fnation%2Farticle%2Ftexas-board-of
-education-considers-making-history-lessons-more-conservative%2F19323135&tit
le=Texas%20Board%20of%20Education%20Considers%20Making%20History%20Lessons%2
0More%20Conservative%20-%20Sphere%20News&content=&lng=en&uid=X4b2d62e447e70c
07)  
(http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?pub=&v=250&source=tbx-250&tt=0&s=twitter&url=http://www.sphere.com/nation/article/texas-board-of-education-con
siders-making-history-lessons-more-conservative/19323135?icid=main|htmlws-ma
in-w|dl6|link4|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sphere.com%2Fnation%2Farticle%2Ftexas-board-
of-education-considers-making-history-lessons-more-conservative%2F19323135&t
itle=Texas%20Board%20of%20Education%20Considers%20Making%20History%20Lessons
%20More%20Conservative%20-%20Sphere%20News&content=&lng=en&uid=X4b2d62e447e7
0c07)  
(http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?pub=&v=250&source=tbx-250&tt=0&s=facebook&url=http://www.sphere.com/nation/article/texas-board-of-education-
considers-making-history-lessons-more-conservative/19323135?icid=main|htmlws
-main-w|dl6|link4|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sphere.com%2Fnation%2Farticle%2Ftexas-boa
rd-of-education-considers-making-history-lessons-more-conservative%2F1932313
5&title=Texas%20Board%20of%20Education%20Considers%20Making%20History%20Less
ons%20More%20Conservative%20-%20Sphere%20News&content=&lng=en&uid=X4b2d62e44
7e70c07) More


 (http://www.sphere.com/team/david-knowles)   
_David  Knowles_ (http://www.sphere.com/team/david-knowles)  Writer
 
 
 




(Jan. 19) – "History is written by the victors,"  Winston Churchill 
famously said. In Texas, that may mean removing mention of Ted  Kennedy and Cesar 
Chavez from textbooks in favor of new entries on the National  Rifle 
Association and Phyllis Schlafly. 

For much of the past year, the  Texas State Board of Education has been 
considering changes to its social  studies curriculum, hearing from community 
members and debating alterations to  the way the state will teach history. 

Jack Plunkett, AP
"I don't see any evidence that people are pursuing any  political or 
personal agendas," Gail Lowe, the chair of the Texas State Board of  Education, 
told The Daily Texan newspaper.


Many on the board,  which is made up of 10 Republicans and five Democrats, 
seem to have concluded  that Texas' classrooms have been infected with a 
liberal bias. As a result, the  board has spent numerous hours hearing from 
members of the community on subjects  such as whether labor activist Chavez and 
Supreme Court Justice Thurgood  Marshall deserve space in history textbooks 
alongside founding fathers like  Benjamin Franklin. 

Also at issue is whether _Christianity_ (http://www.chr
on.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6526101.html)  deserves more  classroom time in the Lone Star 
State, and whether Abraham Lincoln deserves so  much. 

Last week, the board voted 7-6 to make some changes, so that the  state 
standards will mandate that lessons include the causes and key  organizations 
and individuals of the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and  1990s, 
including anti-feminism advocate Schlafly, the Contract with America, the  
Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority and the National Rifle  Association.

It wasn't clear which grades would be affected.

In a  written statement, the measure's sponsor, board member Don McLeroy, 
explained  why he believes the current textbooks are unacceptable and needed  
revising.

"These standards are rife with leftist political periods and  events: the 
populists, the progressives, the New Deal and the Great Society,"  McLeroy 
wrote. "Including material about the conservative resurgence of the  1980s and 
1990s provides some political balance to the document."

McLeroy  also succeeded in making changes to how Sen. Joseph McCarthy will 
be taught,  painting the man – whose use of Congress to investigate alleged 
communist  behavior in the 1950s has been widely repudiated – in a more 
favorable light.  

The board's preliminary vote has met with some opposition.

"When  partisan politicians take a wrecking ball to the work of teachers 
and scholars,  you get a document that looks more like a party platform than a 
social studies  curriculum," Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom 
Network, a group that  monitors public education in the state, told the 
_Houston Chronicle_ 
(http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6818516.html) .

The final  vote on the new standards will be held in May. There are 4 
million children in  the Texas public school system, making it the second-largest 
market for  textbooks in the country. As a result, changes to the Texas 
curriculum are  likely to impact other states as well.
Filed under: _Nation_ (http://www.sphere.com/category/nation) , _Politics_ 
(http://www.sphere.com/category/politics) , _Only On  Sphere_ 
(http://www.sphere.com/category/only-on-sphere)