What is going on in Texas? Schools remove Thomas Jefferson from new teaching standard

• IggyPride00

  

  The board voted to enact new teaching standards for history and social studies that will alter which material gets included in school textbooks. It decided to drop Jefferson from a world history section devoted to great political thinkers.

  I saw this story and was kind of laughing about it on the surface, but what in the world is going on in this country with activist school boards (both liberal and conservative) using Hugo Chavez like tactics in re-writing cirriculums to match red and blue state ideologies?
  
  This whole thing just seems kind of whacky to me, and I suspect it is only a sign of things to come as we will probably start to see more of this type of thing moving forward.
  
  http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/texas-removes-thomas-jefferson-from-teaching-standard/19397481
• majorspark

  

  School boards have been making these decisions since they were created. Someone has to decide what materials are to be used in the education process. The question is who gets to decide? Local and State? Or should we create national school board that regulates and insures all children receive the proper education materials?
  
  The way it is now States and localities have the power. They have the freedom to get it right or get it wrong. If the feds are wrong we all get to take a bite of the excrement sandwich.
• georgemc80

  As a History teacher in Texas, I understand that Texas dictates most of the country's curriculum. I have no problem with removing Jefferson from the World History section...being as he is simply an extension of Locke. Students will still get their share of Jefferson in 8th and 12th grade and in AP courses throughout. There are far crazier issues within the curriculum than Jefferson....dig a little deeper and you will see what I mean.
  
  Of course I am so arrogant that I told my curriculum people that I didn't care what the state curriculum is, because in that classroom I am the instructional device. I teach what I want.
• cbus4life

  Well, they definitely got this one wrong.
• bigmanbt

  Thomas Jefferson only wrote our Declaration of Independence, but he's not important. It's ridiculous really, the biggest champion of freedom isn't mentioned in history now in Texas.
• cbus4life

  bigmanbt wrote: Thomas Jefferson only wrote our Declaration of Independence, but he's not important. It's ridiculous really, the biggest champion of freedom isn't mentioned in history now in Texas.

  Well, to be fair it is only in world history, so he is still mentioned in an American context.
  
  Though, with that said, i disagree with him not being included in world history curriculum.
• CenterBHSFan

  

  It decided to drop Jefferson from a world history section devoted to great political thinkers.

  To America and Americans concerning AMERICAN history, this act would most definitely be unthinkable.
  
  Texas should have stopped and thought about how much impact the Revolution and the Declaration of Independence had on the rest of the world.
• 2quik4u

  

  Texas Approves Curriculum Revised by Conservatives
  
  AUSTIN, Tex. — After three days of turbulent meetings, the Texas Board of Education on Friday voted to approve a social studies curriculum that will put a conservative stamp on history and economics textbooks, stressing the superiority of American capitalism, questioning the Founding Father’s commitment to a purely secular government and presenting Republican political philosophies in a more positive light.
  
  The vote was 11 to 4, with 10 Republicans and one Democrat voting for the curriculum, and four Democrats voting against.
  
  The board, whose members are elected, has influence beyond Texas because the state is one of the largest purchasers of textbooks. In the digital age, however, that influence has been diminished as technological advances have made it possible for publishers to tailor books to individual states.
  
  In recent years, board members have been locked in an ideological battle between a bloc of conservatives who question Darwin’s theory of evolution and believe the Founding Fathers were guided by Christian principles and a handful of Democrats and moderate Republicans who have fought to preserve the teaching of Darwinism and the separation of church and state.
  
  Since January, Republicans on the board have passed more than 160 amendments to the 120-page curriculum standards affecting history, sociology and economics courses from elementary to high school. The standards were proposed by a board of teachers.
  
  Efforts by Hispanic board members to include more Latino figures as role models for the state’s large Hispanic population were consistently defeated, prompting one member, Mary Helen Berlanga, to storm out of a meeting late Thursday night, saying, “They can just pretend this is a white America and Hispanics don’t exist.”
  
  “They are going overboard, they are not experts, they are not historians,” she said. “They are rewriting history, not only of Texas but of the United States and the world.”
  
  The curriculum standards will now be published in a state register, opening them up for 30 days of public comment. A final vote will be taken in May, but given the Republican dominance of the board, it is unlikely many changes will be made.
  
  The standards, reviewed every decade, serve as a template for publishers of textbooks, who must come before the board next year with drafts of their books. The board’s makeup will have changed by then because the leader of the conservative faction, Dr. Don McLeroy, lost in a primary to a more moderate Republican, and two others — one Democrat and one conservative Republican — have announced they are not seeking re-election.
  
  There are seven members of the conservative bloc on the board, but they are often joined by one of the other three Republicans on crucial votes. There were no historians, sociologists or economists consulted at the meetings, though some members of the conservative bloc held themselves out as experts on certain topics.
  
  The conservative members maintain that they are trying to correct what they see as a liberal bias among the teachers who proposed the curriculum. To that end, they made dozens of minor changes aimed at calling into question, among other things, concepts like the separation of church and state and the secular nature of the American Revolution.
  
  “I reject the notion by the left of a constitutional separation of church and state,” said David Bradley, a conservative from Beaumont who works in real estate. “I have $1,000 for the charity of your choice if you can find it in the Constitution.”
  
  They also included a plank to ensure that students learn about “the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s, including Phyllis Schalfly, the Contract With America, the Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority and the National Rifle Association.”
  
  Dr. McLeroy pushed through a change to the teaching of the civil rights movement to ensure that students study the violent philosophy of the Black Panthers in addition to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther KingJr.’s nonviolent approach. He also made sure that textbooks would mention the votes in Congress on civil rights legislation, which Republicans supported.
  
  “Republicans need a little credit for that,” he said. “I think it’s going to surprise some students.”
  
  Mr. Bradley won approval for an amendment saying students should study “the unintended consequences” of the Great Society legislation, affirmative action and Title IX legislation. He also won approval for an amendment stressing 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.
  
  Other changes seem aimed at tamping down criticism of the right. Conservatives passed one amendment, for instance, requiring 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.
  
  In economics, the revisions add Milton Friedman and Friedrich von Hayek, two champions of free-market economic theory, among the usual list of economists to be studied, like Adam Smith, Karl Marx and John Maynard Keynes. They also replaced the word “capitalism” throughout their texts with the “free-enterprise system.”
  
  “Let’s face it, capitalism does have a negative connotation,” said one conservative member, Terri Leo. “You know, ‘capitalist pig!’ ”
  
  In the field of sociology, another conservative member, Barbara Cargill, won passage of an amendment requiring 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.
  
  “The topic of sociology tends to blame society for everything,” Ms. Cargill said.
  
  Even the course on World History did not escape the board’s scalpel.
  
  Cynthia Dunbar, a lawyer from Richmond who is a strict constitutionalist and thinks the nation was founded on Christian beliefs, managed to cut Thomas Jefferson from a list of figures whose writings inspired revolutions in the late 18th century and 19th century, replacing him with St. Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin and William Blackstone. (Jefferson is not well liked among the conservatives on the board because he coined the term “separation between church and state.”)
  
  “The Enlightenment was not the only philosophy on which these revolutions were based,” Ms. Dunbar said.
  
  Mavis B. Knight, a Democrat from Dallas, introduced an amendment requiring that students study the reasons “the founding fathers protected religious freedom in America by barring the government from promoting or disfavoring any particular religion above all others.”
  
  It was defeated on a party-line vote.

  
  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/education/13texas.html?hp
• Writerbuckeye

  

  For better or worse, I'd MUCH rather have these decisions being made by states as opposed to some arbitrary rule coming down from the federal government.
  
  The federal government should have no role in education.
  
  It's a state and local issue, and should remain that way.
• fan_from_texas

  Writerbuckeye wrote: For better or worse, I'd MUCH rather have these decisions being made by states as opposed to some arbitrary rule coming down from the federal government.
  
  The federal government should have no role in education.
  
  It's a state and local issue, and should remain that way.

  I agree. Let Texas determine what Texas wants to do for itself. If people don't like it, they can move.
• majorspark

  

  fan_from_texas wrote:

  Writerbuckeye wrote: For better or worse, I'd MUCH rather have these decisions being made by states as opposed to some arbitrary rule coming down from the federal government.
  
  The federal government should have no role in education.
  
  It's a state and local issue, and should remain that way.

  I agree. Let Texas determine what Texas wants to do for itself. If people don't like it, they can move.

  I am with you guys on this one. Its amazing some want this stuff shoveled to all of us by political appointees in Washington.
• cbus4life

  The problem to me isn't where it is being shoveled from, but the shit itself that gets shoveled.
  
  Don't have a solution, but that isn't going to keep me from being disgusted at some of the decisions made by school boards and the like across the country.
• majorspark

  

  cbus4life wrote: The problem to me isn't where it is being shoveled from, but the shit itself that gets shoveled.

  Think of it this way Cbus, if the shit is being shoveled from Washington we all get covered and are stuck in the shit pile. If the shit is shoveled from Austin, Texas it only covers the people of Texas. And they are not stuck in the shit pile and can leave. If its shoveled in some local school district, well the shit pile is not that big.
  

  cbus4life wrote: Don't have a solution, but that isn't going to keep me from being disgusted at some of the decisions made by school boards and the like across the country.

  Until all 300 million agree or are forced to agree with your political ideology you will continue to have that problem. In fact I share the same problem. I agree some of the decisions school boards make can border on insanity. But not everyone believes what I believe. We should be thankful that in this great country if we don't like what the people around us are doing and can't bring change. We can leave and move somewhere else.
• bman618

  Seeing how Jefferson wrote the document that gave birth to one of the greatest nation's in world history, I find it kind of ridiculous for him being taken out of world history text.
• majorspark

  

  bman618 wrote: Seeing how Jefferson wrote the document that gave birth to one of the greatest nation's in world history, I find it kind of ridiculous for him being taken out of world history text.

  Seeing Jefferson was a big proponent of the sovereignty of the states I doubt he would object.
• bigmanbt

  You know, after reading this I don't dislike the whole curriculum change. Adding Friedman and Hayek is an AMAZING first step and they've actaully added relevant history that should be known. I never learned about the 70's til current history in high school, and barely touched on it in college. The 90's should definitely be put into our history books.
  
  Having said that, I am totally against the removal of Jefferson, because basically it is an attempt to discredit his views of secularism. We would have been no different than England if we allowed an official religion back in the 1770's. The term "freedom of religion" should imply that the government should have no official religion because that would force all it's citizens to back that religion's ideals if it did, and thus not allow the freedom of religion it says we have.
• CenterBHSFan

  

  It's funny that this topic came up today because last night I started watching a documentary about Jefferson. It's done by Ken Burns, who always does a good job.
  In this doc, it specifically pays attention to Jefferson's work to establish freedom of religion (which he started within his own state of Virginia), the taxes involved with a state religion, and so on.
  
  Of course, I'm not done with it yet, but from what I've seen so far, it's a great piece.
• queencitybuckeye

  I agree that it should be a state decision.
  
  A really. really stupid one.
• I Wear Pants

  majorspark wrote:

  bman618 wrote: Seeing how Jefferson wrote the document that gave birth to one of the greatest nation's in world history, I find it kind of ridiculous for him being taken out of world history text.

  Seeing Jefferson was a big proponent of the sovereignty of the states I doubt he would object.

  Just because we see this as the stupid decision it is doesn't mean we want some guy from DC in every class room.
• majorspark

  

  I Wear Pants wrote:

  majorspark wrote:

  bman618 wrote: Seeing how Jefferson wrote the document that gave birth to one of the greatest nation's in world history, I find it kind of ridiculous for him being taken out of world history text.

  Seeing Jefferson was a big proponent of the sovereignty of the states I doubt he would object.

  Just because we see this as the stupid decision it is doesn't mean we want some guy from DC in every class room.

  Didn't say that. Just pointing out that Jefferson would not have objected based on his belief in the sovereignty of the states. Just as I don't object to Texas' sovereign power to decide what is best for their children.
  
  In the favorite politician thread I listed Jefferson as my top American politician. If I had my way his political philosophy would be taught as standard in all classrooms throughout the nation.
  
  I understand your point. I disagree with that aspect of their decision as well. I was just making the point that Jefferson would support their power to make that decision.
• I Wear Pants

  I support their power to make the decision. That doesn't mean I can't call them stupid for it.
• cbus4life

  I Wear Pants wrote: I support their power to make the decision. That doesn't mean I can't call them stupid for it.

  Haha, well said.
• Swamp Fox

  Apparently the Gablers muxt have returned to Texas. I certainly hope not. It won't be an advantage to the students in Texas schools. Conservatism in the cause of liberty can be much more than just a vice. (Please excuse the amateurish paraphrase of an old Barry Goldwater quote.)