Having failed in their attempt to inject religion into science education, Texas conservatives have shifted their attention to the state's elementary school social studies curriculum. According to some, school children need no longer learn about national figures such as George Washington and Abraham Licoln or Texas leaders like Stephen F. Austin. Other public figures, Cesar Chavez and Thurgood Marshall for example, too could be excluded from the study material. According to the right wingers, the former is an "unworthy role model" for young school children and the latter's life story and influence are deemed "inappropriate." Instead, they would like to emphasize the role of Christianity in founding America and formulating Texas history. I suppose if you can't indocrinate older children with faith based science, it is far simpler to catch them young by way of revisionist history.
AUSTIN — Biographies of Washington, Lincoln, Stephen F. Austin? Not fit reading material for children in the early grades.
Cesar Chavez? Not worthy of his role-model status.
Christianity? Emphasize its importance.
Such suggestions are part of efforts to rewrite history books for the state's schoolchildren, producing some expert recommendations that are sure to inflame Texans, no matter their political leanings.
The State Board of Education expects to start discussing new social studies curriculum standards this week, with members of the public getting their first opportunity to speak this fall and a final board vote next spring.
The process is a long one with lasting impact: reshaping the social studies curriculum, including history, for 4.7 million Texas public school children.
“This is something that every parent would want to be paying attention to. This will determine whether or not the kids get the education needed to succeed in college and jobs in the future,” said Dan Quinn of the Austin-based Texas Freedom Network. “If we are going to politicize our kids' education, that will put our kids behind other kids when they're competing for college and good-paying jobs on down the road.”
Curriculum standards are updated about every 10 years; the last social studies update came in 1997.
According to a preliminary draft of the new proposed standards, biographies of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Stephen F. Austin have been removed from the early grades, said Brooke Terry of the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
The early draft, which is likely to change multiple times in the coming months, also removes Independence Day, Veterans' Day, and anthems and mottos for both Texas and the United States in a section on holidays, customs and celebrations, she said.
“You have the ability to shape the next generation on the beliefs about the government and the role of personal responsibility but also understanding our history and the principles that we want to pass down to our children,” Terry said. “With many of the suggested changes, I think we would be backtracking on many of the important things that people fight for in defense of our country.”
The State Board of Education has appointed six experts to review existing social studies standards, which will influence the new curriculum. Two of them have recommended that migrant farm labor union leader Cesar Chavez, who died in 1993, be removed as an example of a significant model for “active participation in the democratic process.”
“Chavez is hardly the kind of role model that ought to be held up to our children as someone worthy of emulation,” said Peter Marshall, head of Marshall Ministries.
Role of Christian faith
Another expert reviewer, David Barton, said: “Cesar Chavez may be a choice representing diversity, but he certainly lacks the stature, impact and overall contributions of so many others; and his open affiliation with Saul Alinsky's movements certainly makes dubious that he is praiseworthy ... .”
Alinsky influenced the Texas Industrial Areas Foundation, a number of church-based groups that help give low-income Texans a voice and a role in democracy. Those groups include The Metropolitan Organization in Houston.
“Cesar Chavez was one of those great historical figures that struggled for better wages and working conditions of America's farm workers so that they and their families could enjoy a better future,” said Irene Jimenez, a TMO executive board member.
Marshall, one of the expert reviewers, also recommends that school children get a better understanding of the motivational role the Bible and the Christian faith played in the settling of the original colonies. He provided multiple examples of early Americans parlaying their biblical views into the communities and governments they established — beginning with the Pilgrims who risked their lives in coming to America.
“In light of the overwhelming historical evidence of the influence of the Christian faith in the founding of America, it is simply not up to acceptable academic standards that throughout the social studies (curriculum standards) I could only find one reference to the role of religion in America's past,” Marshall said in his review.
One of the reviewers also suggested that the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall be removed from history books on grounds that he is not an appropriate example as a historical figure of influence. Thurgood Marshall was the NAACP lawyer who won the landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme court school segregation case that led to the integration of public schools.
I never learned about Thurgood Marshall in school. In hindsight I think that's pretty weird, especially considering that Jackie Robinson probably came up during every black history month.
Posted by: Joe | July 14, 2009 at 07:26 PM