Taking on The Texas Textbook Tussle
Frederick Clarkson printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Tue Mar 23, 2010 at 12:30:17 AM EST
The Relgious Right has made manipulation of the content of Texas public school text books a major project for a generation. This is because Texas purchases most of their textbooks on a statewide basis, and therefore it tends to set the standards competing publishers have to meet in order to sell books to the state's huge book market. And therefore as Texas goes, so goes the nation, at least for the winning publisher. The body with the biggest say in the Texas textbook brawl is the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE).  Much has been written about the many controversies in recent years, involving the SBOE regarding science and most recently history standards, as well as the election campaigns of SBOE members. (For in depth information about the battle of the SBOE, visit the Texas Freedom Network ).

While the SBOE merits such attention, so do the textbook publishers who pander to Texas. The Washington, DC-based Interfaith Alliance has offered to help publishers who are feeling the Texas heat.  While it's not clear what they are offering to do, or what the publishers might ask of them, it could be an an interesting develpment.

An Alliance press release today also says that Alliance president Rev. Welton Gaddy has sent a letter to leading publishers denouncing the Christian nationalist ideas religious right board members insist be taught to Texas public school students. Here is the text:

March 22, 2010

ADDRESS

Dear ___,

On behalf of Interfaith Alliance and our 185,000 members nationwide who come from more than 75 different faith traditions, I write to urge you to stand up for the right of America's students to receive a quality education, based on the facts, by rejecting the Texas State Board of Education's (Texas SBOE) latest changes to its social studies curriculum. As both a Christian minister and the president of an organization committed to the protection of faith and freedom, I am deeply concerned by the Texas SBOE's misguided, erroneous characterization of the separation of church and state in America and their attempts to misrepresent the role of Christianity in our nation. Nothing less than the integrity of our children's education and their future are at stake.  

On March 11, 2010, the Texas SBOE voted on several amendments to the state social studies, world history and U.S. government curricula.  The most egregious of these votes struck down an amendment that would have enabled students to gain an understanding of "the reasons the Founding Fathers protected religious freedom in America by barring government from promoting or disfavoring any particular religion over all others."  This amendment failed because several conservative members of the Board embrace the revisionist propaganda that the Founders did not intend there to be separation between institutions of religion and institutions of government and thus concluded that the proposed amendment was "not historically accurate."    

Furthermore, proposals by the conservative Christian bloc of the Texas SBOE would change our children's understanding of the origins of American history.  Through several amendments, the Texas SBOE proposes to teach our children not that we are a pluralistic democracy, founded as a safe haven for minorities and the freedom of religion, but instead the fallacious notion that we are a "Christian nation," founded upon and governed by Christian beliefs.  

The tragic decisions made by the Texas SBOE go beyond issues of church-state relations. One amendment passed by the board incorporated the study of the "right to bear arms" in the curriculum on First Amendment rights and free expression, regardless of the fact that this right is not one of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment and is already covered by study of the Second Amendment.  Yet another curriculum amendment removed Thomas Jefferson from students' study of the Enlightenment though he is undoubtedly one of the leading American scholars of that era; it is a shame that children in Texas will not learn of his contributions on behalf of our country.

Sadly, after these changes are approved in May, children in Texas will be presented with a picture of our history that is historically inaccurate. I know that the state of Texas is a major consumer of your textbooks, but I call upon you to reject these erroneous, ill-advised changes and maintain your commitment to an accurate education of superior quality for our nation's children; I urge you to ensure that they receive a better education, one that is not shaped by narrow-minded opinions that are being passed off as fact.  Our children deserve the best, most accurate educational resources possible, so that they have an opportunity to receive the best education possible, and part of that education is learning the true meaning of the First Amendment, of the religious freedom we hold dear as Americans â€" a freedom that has made our great nation what it is today.  

Thank you for your consideration.  Should you need our support in resisting this pressure from the Texas SBOE to replace American history with conservative ideology, we would be honored to stand by you and support your commitment to the most accurate educational materials possible.

Sincerely,  

C. Welton Gaddy




Display:
College Station, home of Texas A&M has been a hotbed for the hardcore leadership on the board.  The city called the Woodlands, just 50 miles southeast of here elected one of the more famous women on the board.  She objected to a textbook picture of a woman carrying a briefcase dressed in a pant suit.  If one would check the voter guides sent out by the Freemarker Foundation, the answer as to how these folks arrived on the board is evident.  The majority of  politians in the state are linked to at least two or more reilgious right organizations.  To those who doubted this the board's absurd revisionism is proof.

by wilkyjr on Tue Mar 23, 2010 at 09:17:34 AM EST

about my thoughts on how to approach the "Texas textbook massacre," and my opinion was that it would be better to find a way to put pressure on the textbook publishers than to try to change the minds of Texas. The person I was talking to didn't think this approach was viable, so, needless to say, I'm extremely happy to see that Welton is thinking along the same lines as I've been thinking.

by Chris Rodda on Tue Mar 23, 2010 at 11:15:56 AM EST
The Texas Freedom Network has created a PAC and is working on campaigns.

I think that the creation of appropriate electoral capacity and the development of appropriate electoral strategy has been one of the great missing pieces in response to the Religious Right which has made it a priority. The result? The RR elects candidates to public office and we worry about how to stop their "agenda."

That said, more focus on the publishers could be a very good thing under the present circumstances.

by Frederick Clarkson on Tue Mar 23, 2010 at 03:35:06 PM EST
Parent



I applaud Welton Gaddy's letter & its underlying modus operandi. If it seems long and windy, it's really concise given all the issues, and he's spot-on here. What Reconstructions want the rest of us accept without any action to the contrary is exactly how they prevail "where" they prevail in the literalist network of churches from which they  garner their wagons! While it's true that over the last 3 or 4 decades that their ability to infuse politics with a few successes at ballot box,i it's also true that a Don Barton or Ron Paul from East TX is few & far between states'-wide. The Tea Partiers now are attempting through intimidation and fear-mongering to accomplish via obstructionism and TV-ready rallies that their influence is much larger than it really is. They'll be the last to know they really are reviled in the larger society. One solution for the Texas Mess would be to just allow them to secede even tho' it'd be a failure quickly, not unlike the Quebecois & their complaint against the Canadian Confederation: they wanted the Canadian Treasury still, just as TX would need the dollar! In the battle for truth in ideas, we must intervene on the side of children in the schools and make sure that they are not misinformed via rightist propoganda, when at the same time that's all they hear at home and from their so-called churches.
Arden C. Hander

by achbird65 on Sun Mar 28, 2010 at 08:54:01 AM EST


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