Check out California's reaction below at the very end of what I pasted in below...
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Texas ready for textbook showdown
Board to vote on curriculum changes some call ‘backward’
Members of the Texas State Board of Education in March gave preliminary approval to a social studies curriculum that will put a conservative stamp on social studies textbooks.
Board to vote on curriculum changes some call ‘backward’
Members of the Texas State Board of Education in March gave preliminary approval to a social studies curriculum that will put a conservative stamp on social studies textbooks.
Caleb Bryant Miller / Zuma Press file
msnbc.com staff and news service reports
AUSTIN, Texas - Is Texas on the verge of rewriting history, or just correcting it?
The answer depends on whom you listen to on the state’s Board of Education, which is poised to vote this week on new social-studies curriculum standards that could significantly shape what Texas children — and perhaps those outside the nation's second-largest state — are taught in the classroom.
Social conservatives on the 15-member Republican-dominated board are optimistic they will be able to push through curriculum changes that, according to board member and conservative Texas lawyer Cynthia Noland Dunbar, “promote patriotism.”
msnbc.com staff and news service reports
AUSTIN, Texas - Is Texas on the verge of rewriting history, or just correcting it?
The answer depends on whom you listen to on the state’s Board of Education, which is poised to vote this week on new social-studies curriculum standards that could significantly shape what Texas children — and perhaps those outside the nation's second-largest state — are taught in the classroom.
Social conservatives on the 15-member Republican-dominated board are optimistic they will be able to push through curriculum changes that, according to board member and conservative Texas lawyer Cynthia Noland Dunbar, “promote patriotism.”
Among the recommendations facing a final vote: adding language saying the country's Founding Fathers were guided by Christian principles and including positive references to the Moral Majority, the National Rifle Association and the GOP’s Contract with America.
Other amendments to the state's curriculum standards for kindergarten through 12th grade would minimize Thomas Jefferson's role in world and U.S. history because he advocated the separation of church and state; require that students learn about "the unintended consequences" of affirmative action; assert that "the right to keep and bear arms" is an important element of a democratic society; and rename the slave trade to the "Atlantic triangular trade.”
"The standards are looking real good now. We've made some significant improvements, and I am proud of what the board has done," board member Don McLeroy, author of many of the changes backed by social conservatives, told the Dallas Morning News.
The board holds a final public hearing Wednesday. It will consider amendments Thursday before a final up-or-down vote Friday on the curriculum document. More than 200 people have signed up to testify, and more than 20,000 comments on the proposed changes have been received, said Suzanne Marchman, spokesperson for the Texas Education Agency.
"There are a lot of people who are concerned and want to share their information with the board," she said.
Not in our stateBecause of Texas’ sheer size, the education board’s decisions could reverberate across the nation. Texas is the country's second-largest textbook buyer, behind California, and textbooks written to comply with Texas standards are sold in many other states.
Already, a California lawmaker has introduced legislation to prevent changes ordered by the Texas school board from being incorporated in California texts.
Other amendments to the state's curriculum standards for kindergarten through 12th grade would minimize Thomas Jefferson's role in world and U.S. history because he advocated the separation of church and state; require that students learn about "the unintended consequences" of affirmative action; assert that "the right to keep and bear arms" is an important element of a democratic society; and rename the slave trade to the "Atlantic triangular trade.”
"The standards are looking real good now. We've made some significant improvements, and I am proud of what the board has done," board member Don McLeroy, author of many of the changes backed by social conservatives, told the Dallas Morning News.
The board holds a final public hearing Wednesday. It will consider amendments Thursday before a final up-or-down vote Friday on the curriculum document. More than 200 people have signed up to testify, and more than 20,000 comments on the proposed changes have been received, said Suzanne Marchman, spokesperson for the Texas Education Agency.
"There are a lot of people who are concerned and want to share their information with the board," she said.
Not in our stateBecause of Texas’ sheer size, the education board’s decisions could reverberate across the nation. Texas is the country's second-largest textbook buyer, behind California, and textbooks written to comply with Texas standards are sold in many other states.
Already, a California lawmaker has introduced legislation to prevent changes ordered by the Texas school board from being incorporated in California texts.
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