Texas to rewrite history books?

[Mark F]

This Wednesday, Jan. 13, the state board will take a preliminary vote to adopt new standards for social studies texts. These new standards would eliminate all Hispanics since the conquest of Mexico in the early 16th Century.Cesar Chavez, arguably the most important Hispanic civil rights leader of the 20th Century, is among the historical figures to be eliminated. One of Lowe's so called "experts" said that Chavez "lacks the stature...and contributions" and should not be "held up to our children as someone worthy of emulation." Also eliminated are a number of key Texas history makers such as Irma Rangel, the first Hispanic woman elected to the state Legislature.

Board members and their appointees have complained about an "over representation of minorities" in the current social studies standards. This is ironic as Hispanics will soon comprise the majority of all Texas public school students.


I couldn't believe this when I read this earlier today.

[Whiny Old Bastard]

Where do you find this stuff?
A brief search found just the opposite.

AUSTIN — Scratch Henry Cisneros, but add Dolores Huerta, Dr. Hector P. Garcia, Sandra Cisneros, Henry B. Gonzalez and Irma Rangel to the list of important Hispanic figures Texas schoolchildren might be discussing in the future.

State education leaders are still in the early stages of writing new curriculum standards for social studies that will shape future history and geography books.

And by the time those new textbooks arrive in the fall of 2013, a majority of the children attending Texas public schools will be Hispanic.

Hispanic students made up nearly 49 percent of the K-8 grades last year and were already a small majority in kindergarten and the first two elementary grades.

A debate on which — and how many— Hispanic historical figures should be included is coming to the 15-member State Board of Education, which expects to take a final vote next spring. It's already under way among the review panels the board appointed, who will huddle with the board this fall.

Earlier this summer, board member Mavis Knight, D-Dallas, stressed the importance of describing the contributions of minority groups in school history books.

The first draft of the new social studies curriculum standards includes notable 20th-century community leaders, politicians and artists. Huerta, a co-founder of the United Farm Workers of America, would join Helen Keller and Clara Barton to show third-graders examples of good citizenship.

Under the proposal, third-graders also would be introduced to Dr. Garcia, a civil rights leader and founder of the American GI Forum who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Reagan.

The late Henry B. Gonzalez of San Antonio could end up in fourth-grade history books as an example “of individuals who modeled active participation in the democratic process.” Gonzalez, who once stood for 22 straight hours on the Texas Senate floor to fight segregation bills, was later a member of the U.S. House for 38 years.

And second-graders would learn about Irma Rangel, who in 1976 became the first Hispanic woman elected to the Texas Legislature and chaired the House Higher Education Committee when the current textbooks were written a decade ago. She died in 2003. Hispanic children “want to see some brown faces and in Texas there are a lot of people with Hispanic surnames who are a part of Texas history. So that's easy to come by,” said State Board of Education member Patricia Hardy, R-Fort Worth, who has 30 years' experience as a world history and geography teacher.

“But you cannot distort Texas history. You cannot give people an elevated place in history when their place was not elevated,” she added.

Texas history must be taught in a way that incorporates the distinctive features of the community where the students live, said Texas' first state historian, Jesus F. de la Teja.

“There's absolutely no quarreling with the fact that there are fundamental aspects of the state's history and of America's history that need to be covered for all children everywhere,” said de la Teja, chairman of the history department at Texas State University.

One of six board-appointed “expert reviewers” who will help recommend the new standards, he said the ultimate goal of teaching history is to make students feel they are part of the story.

“It doesn't mean that you get rid of Benjamin Franklin; it doesn't mean that you get rid of Sam Houston,” de la Teja said. “What it does mean is that you pay more attention to the 21st century. We are no longer an agricultural, Indian-fighting, wilderness-busting society.”

David Barton, another “expert reviewer,” would emphasize older history.

“There are so many good guys, why just stay on the 20th century?” said Barton, founder and president of WallBuilders, an organization that emphasizes America's moral, religious and constitutional foundation while promoting its forgotten history and heroes.

He would like to see Bernardo Gálvez earn a mention in history books as an example of a Hispanic hero during the American Revolution. An energetic Spanish commander, Gálvez helped deny the British army a foothold in what are now the Gulf States.

It's not possible for history books and teachers to feature everyone, “So the question will be, if you add more of the old names, do you cut out some of the modern ones?” Barton said.

Third-graders are expected to understand the importance of writers and artists. The writing review teams propose to add Sandra Cisneros of San Antonio to the list. She has won many awards, including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and her work has entered the literary canon.

But some team members worry that traditional American values and historical perspective will be de-emphasized to promote multiculturalism.

“I argued in favor of only adding or maintaining people on the (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) lists that merited being there on the basis of their historical accomplishments and not simply due to their gender or ethnicity,” said Peter Morrison, a member of the Grade 5 review panel. “Unfortunately, I felt that I was the only one in the group using that metric.”

Morrison, a real estate developer and member of the Lumberton ISD school board, complained that Presidents Eisenhower and Roosevelt were characterized as “dead white guys” during a committee discussion.

“I was offended that great Americans could be excluded from the curriculum based on their race or ethnicity,” he said.

The review committees have recommended that former San Antonio Mayor and U.S. Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros be removed from the new history books — along with former U.S. Sen. John Tower — because of “questionable character.”

But board member Hardy of Fort Worth said the pair should be removed “because they are no longer relevant” rather than because of any personal foibles.

[Mark F]

Where do you find this stuff?

http://action.ufw.org/page/speakout/cectxjan10

[Whiny Old Bastard]

Well that does seem to conflict with the information that I found.

[Madhatterat60]

Hey...we ARE talking TexAss. NOTHING....NO THING...that happens there surprises me. President Ford once called California "the land of fruits and nuts". He'd obviously not spent much time in Texas.

[Mark Mentzer]

Yeah, I wish Texas would just secede like they've been promising.

[Just-a-Writer]

If we can rewrite history to suit our own needs can we cut Blagojevich out of the Illinois history? He's too embarrassing to include. lol

[Bull]

This article shows the changes are much greater than just hispanics. Also because Texas is the largest purchaser of text books these are likely the books that will be used in many other states.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_01/021745...

THE TEXAS TEXTBOOK TUSSLE.... The Monthly has been keeping an eye on the Texas Board of Education over the last several months, which has been working on a social studies curricula steeped in conservative Republican ideology. It's a rather remarkable story: board members -- 10 Republicans to 5 Democrats -- have recommended downplaying the contributions of civil rights leaders, minimizing an "emphasis on multiculturalism," and trying to "exonerate" Joe McCarthy.

The first draft of the standards mandated that Texans be taught to "identify significant conservative advocacy organizations and individuals, such as Newt Gingrich, Phyllis Schlafly, and the Moral Majority" -- with no comparable progressive leaders or organizations.

In the new print edition of the Monthly, editor Mariah Blake has a great piece documenting the far-right players behind the Texas effort, which also emphasizes a point that's often overlooked -- Texans won't be the only ones who suffer.

Battles over textbooks are nothing new, especially in Texas, where bitter skirmishes regularly erupt over everything from sex education to phonics and new math. But never before has the board's right wing wielded so much power over the writing of the state's standards. And when it comes to textbooks, what happens in Texas rarely stays in Texas. The reasons for this are economic: Texas is the nation's second-largest textbook market and one of the few biggies where the state picks what books schools can buy rather than leaving it up to the whims of local districts, which means publishers that get their books approved can count on millions of dollars in sales. As a result, the Lone Star State has outsized influence over the reading material used in classrooms nationwide, since publishers craft their standard textbooks based on the specs of the biggest buyers. As one senior industry executive told me, "Publishers will do whatever it takes to get on the Texas list."

Until recently, Texas's influence was balanced to some degree by the more-liberal pull of California, the nation's largest textbook market. But its economy is in such shambles that California has put off buying new books until at least 2014. This means that McLeroy and his ultraconservative crew have unparalleled power to shape the textbooks that children around the country read for years to come.



And given that the Texas Board of Education appears to be led by unhinged right-wing activists with an insane worldview, it's a problem with serious consequences.

For all the truly bizarre talk in September about President Obama wanting to "indoctrinate" America's youth by encouraging them to do well in school, the reality is ultraconservative Texans fully intend to rewrite your kids' textbooks.

[Mark F]

between these posts and orianb's post we have a huge discrepancy. Where is the truth do you suppose?

I suspect, like a lot of things on the internet, the truth lies somewhere inbetween.

Sadly for us, history is written by the 'victors' in most cases. If only history could be written by an impartial observer with no interest in the subject other than to record it. Yeah, Yeah, I know....dream on....I'm just saying it would be nice.

But here's an idea for the Texas school board: Instead of removing anyone from history books, why not add to them? Is there a law that says history can only mention X number of people?

[Just-a-Writer]

I'll have to get that book, thanks Wanda. I had no clue that was how Alamo went down. I mean, I realize our history books are tailored to suit the popular view, but I hadn't heard about the realities of that one.

[Just-a-Writer]

The formation of our nation would be very interesting, the complete raw truth of it. It shouldn't be glossed over, we were harsh. It should be acknowledged.