Just How Ridiculous Are Texas’ Textbook Standards?

Yesterday, March 10, 2010, was a very busy day for educators in the South. In a bad way.

First, a high school in Mississippi announced it would rather call off its annual senior dance than let two lesbians attend (according to a statement, the district’s policy requires that dates be of the opposite sex). Officials said the cancellation was due to “recent distractions.”

Then, the Texas school board pushed ahead with its plans to overhaul the state’s textbook curricula. Diverging sharply from suggestions laid out the same day by educators, the board’s template emphasizes Christianity’s role in the founding of America. It also calls for a larger focus on conservative movements and downplays the civil rights era.

The board’s recommendations have already been written about at some length. But at risk of leaving anything out, here’s a few of the greatest hits. Via The NYTimes:

…one guideline requires publishers to include a section on “the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s, including Phyllis Schlafly, the Contract with America, the Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority and the National Rifle Association.”

Okay…not so bad. One might even agree that high schoolers aren’t given enough information about modern political movements — right or left. But the NRA? Anyway, let’s keep this ball rolling.

There have also been efforts among conservatives on the board to tweak the history of the civil rights movement. One amendment states that the movement created “unrealistic expectations of equal outcomes” among minorities. Another proposed change removes any reference to race, sex or religion in talking about how different groups have contributed to the national identity.

This one’s a little more problematic, especially given the fact that you can actually quantify the ways in which various strains of minority activism have shaped America’s legal and political landscape. It’s not even hard to do – just open a law book. Yet under this recommendation, a passage about, say, Brown v. Board of Education would read something like, “Some people were mad, then stuff changed.” Verrryyy informative.

Some on the board have suggested that the Tea Party movement be included in the textbooks. Fine. Others have insisted that names like Ralph Nader and Ross Perot be stricken. Not so fine. But perhaps the most egregious feature is this one relating to foreign policy:

Throughout the standards, the conservatives have pushed to drop references to American “imperialism,” preferring to call it expansionism.

Got that? The message for our children: America has never acted out of line — not when we toppled Democratic regimes in Iran and South America, not when we invaded Iraq for no reason. We were just “expanding.” It’s the American way.

You can imagine this mode of thinking working great for teachers when disciplining children: “No, Timmy. You were wrong to put your head directly in Bobby’s kicking range. Bobby was expanding.” Or, “That ought to teach you for trying to nationalize your drawing supplies, Billy.” I could go on.

Certainly, the push to develop more inclusive textbooks — textbooks that incorporate many different viewpoints, including those on the right — is essential. The real issue here is what stands to be removed. That’s the point at which “education” turns into “brainwash.”