Texas Textbook ControversyHow the State Board Of Education

manipulated curriculum to guide political policies.

When I first began this project, I asked these questions:

How does the state Board of Education determine

school curriculum?

Do political agendas directly influence education?

How do the education policies of one state affect

the rest of the nation?

Texas Board of Education

Also known as the Texas Education Agency, is a 15 member elected board, overseen by the Commissioner of Education, who is appointed by the Governor. Currently the state has 10

Republican members and 5 Democrat and is highly conservative, as is reflective of the state. They’re elected to

four-year terms, and every ten years they’re required to reevaluate and make any changes they deem necessary to

Texas textbooks.

You might be thinking: “Who cares what the Tx Board Of Education does?”

Houston and San Antonio are the

fourth and seventh largest

cities in the nation. That’s a

lot of kids to educate.

In 2010, Texas was at the top of the list with

57 Fortune 500 companies. Some of these companies pay taxes, hire lobbyist

and manipulate societal policies…Texas leads the nation in export revenue

and has the second highest gross state revenue ($1.2 trillion).

Next to Alaska, TX is the second

largest state in the U.S. and has

34 electoral votes. Compared

to the 7 that Oregon has, that’s a lot of voting power.

In 2010, there were 346,000 millionaires in Texas,

constituting the second-largest population of

millionaires in the nation. (If only money talked… oh

yeah, it DOES. It also votes.)

With 4.7 million school-aged children, Texas is one of the largest buyers of

textbooks.

That means that these textbooks will be mass

produced and sold to other states.

It also means that the conservative agendas being pumped into children are growing up to be legislation with a distorted view of history and the nation.

So, what exactly is the SBOE of Texas manipulating?

The removal of Thomas Jefferson as an inspirational voice in the revolution.

Jefferson’s Crime?He was a voice for the separation of church and state and he wrote his own Bible: The Jefferson Bible

which took out all of Jesus miracles and divinity and only

kept his moral teachings.

Never mind that he wrote the Declaration of Independence…

Imperialism (the policy of extending the rule or authority of an empire or

nation over foreign countries)

Even after former President Bill Clintons

formal apology in 1993 to the Hawaiians for the

U.S.’s role in the overthrow of it’s queen in

1893, Texas representatives on the

BOE still deny Americans motives as imperialistic.

Shall be changed to…

Expansionism (a policy of expansion as of territory or currency)

The new curriculum stresses the superiority of American capitalism…

Errr… I mean American Free

Enterprise

Lessons on American Culture (according to Tx SBOE)…

Country music: Yes!

Christianity: Absolutely!Beethoven: Okay.

Hip Hop? BANNED.

Reagan: A Must!

Cesar Chavez? NOT NECESSARY.

Also newly asserted? Our founding fathers were Christian and this

nation was built on Christianity.“The way to

see by faith is to shut the

eye of reason.”

~Benjamin Franklin

"I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish Church, by the Roman Church, by the Greek Church, by the

Turkish Church, by the Protestant Church, nor by any Church that I know of. My own mind is my own Church.

Each of those churches accuse the other of unbelief; and for my own part, I

disbelieve them all.“ ~Thomas Paine

And, yes, they are still debating this:

Video

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG3INVP9u6g&feature=related

Inclusion of the NRA into curriculum?

This topic can be viewed in the importance of the roles of schools and teachers in education as well as the philosophical perspectives that affect education.

Do teachers/school districts have a responsibility to teach Creationism in public schools without teaching other religious beliefs concerning the beginning of the Earth?

How about the political agendas infiltrated into the curriculum including pro-war agendas and Conservative standards?

State Boards of Education wield a lot of power for a small group of people and they affect a lot of lives. In Texas, 4.7 million school children’s education will be manipulated. Although I’m sure that many of the teachers in the state disagreed with the new textbook imput, they are helpless to do anything about it. In the classrooms, teachers do have the power to teach subjects with their own biases, however. Education really is up to the interpretation of the teacher and the student. In my future work, I will be more aware of political parties taking root in what kind of education children receive. I do not believe that agendas should exist in learning. I believe that history is history and should be taught genuinely so as not to make the same mistakes.

References Used

Birnbaum, Michael. (2010) Historians speak out against proposed Texas textbook changes. Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-

dyn/content/article/2010/03/17/AR2010031700560.html

McKinley Jr., James C. (2010) Texas Conservatives Win Curriculum Change http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/education/13texas.html

Mintz, S. (2007). Digital History. United States Becomes a World Power The Annexation of

Hawaii. Retrieved March 4, 2012 from http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu Severson, Lucky. (2010). Texas Textbook Controversy. PBS.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/april-30-2010/texas-textbook- controversy/6187/

Thevenot, Brian. (2010). Texas Textbooks' National Influence Is a Myth.

http://www.texastribune.org/texas-education/state-board-of-education/texas- textbooks-national-influence-is-a-myth/