Texas Board of Education New Amendments to the Social Science Curriculum Give it a Conservative Spin

Friday according to Talking Points Memo the Texas Board of Education voted 10-5 to change their social science curriculum to include a variety of Conservative points. The vote was along party lines some outlets like Fox News have made the argument that this is a war to save our children from evil liberal policies. Other outlets are arguing that what Texas decides shapes the school curriculum for the entire nation.

Major alternations according to the New York Times include works Thomas Jefferson will be limited in talking about the Constitution because he was a strong supporter for the separation between church and state and considered to be a major person in the Enlightenment. He will be replaced with by religious thinker John Calvin the founder of Calvinism.   This only pertains to World History.  Another amendment that is out there is the inclusion of Conservative ideals like Newt Gingrich's "Contract with America," Moral Majority, and the National Rifle Association. Other items lessen with these amendments are the great tragedy of Japanese Internment Camps, the Civil Rights movement will also show the downfalls that it brought to society, and the importance of McCarthyism in the fight against Communism.

The view of history projected by the Texas Board of Education is biased and does not serve a purpose of educating students, but promoted an agenda through the second largest buyer of textbooks. Interesting facts none of the board members are Historians. They do not have any formal training in the subject matter that they are changing. A quote from Mary Helena Berlanga a board member commenting on the amendments, “They are going overboard, they are not experts, they are not historians,” she said. “They are rewriting history, not only of Texas but of the United States and the world.” 

This is an outrage 10 people are holding the history curriculum hostage for their personal beliefs instead of the common good. They are angry that beliefs that they hold have not been criticized by historians and want revenge by altering the textbook for a more favorable view of history.  What they are doing is wrong. History is the way society looks at the past and critiques what went right and what went wrong. By top loading history to benefit one side does not help that side’s argument. History is free flowing and the truth will come out. Unless Texas changes their college, history curriculum the true idea of history will be told.  It is impossible to change history to your liking what the Texas Education Board fails to realize that will history teachers actually teach the lessons that they propose?  What happens when history educators rebel? This attempt by the Republican 10 to alter history textbooks to alter history will not work and will fail.