The Texas Textbook Wars have begun and it is truly a clash of cultural warriors vs. mainstream America. So why does anyone care what textbooks Texas purchases? Texas is the 2nd largest purchaser of textbooks in the nation. California is the first. However, California’s financial woes are so bad that they have postponed purchasing textbooks for the time being.
So whats the big fight over? Texas has been known as clearing house for textbooks for several decades. What goes in, what goes, who gets mentioned and who is shunned is often determined ‘deep in the heart of Texas.’ Because California is not buying new textbooks, all the textbook publishers are kowtowing to Texas. According to Myfox in Phoenix:
What happens in Texas – is likely to impact your child’s textbooks, no matter where you live. That’s because the Lone Star state is one of the top textbook buyers in the world, so publishers write to Texas curriculum standards and the books are sold nationwide.
This week, the Texas State Board of Education will be hammering out social studies curriculum and stirring up plenty of controversy.
“The cultural war, has regrettably not ended. And of the biggest, most important fronts now are curriculum battles in Texas and indeed around the country because the next generation of young people need to understand good science, good history, comprehensive sex education.” said Barry Lynn, a church-state separation advocate.
But as 15 elected board members prepare to make those decisions in Texas this week, conservatives say there are organized, liberal groups in these textbook fights who want to sanitize our country’s history.
“Our founders acknowledge the reliance upon divine providence, that we’re endowed by our Creator with these inalienable rights, and this idea that now you remove that as if it does not exist it really goes to the depths of what these groups trying to get at, and that is to expunge any reference to America’s religious heritage.” said Jay Sekulow from the American Center for Law and Justice
Math seems to be fairly protected from politics. However, science and social studies texts are rife with contention. The biggest issue in science has to do with origin of the earth ideas and evolution/Darwinism. Many fundamentalist Christians oppose teaching about anything that is Darwin and words like ‘secular humanist’ are used to describe those who believe the earth is more than 6,000 years old.
Social Studies is also a huge area of controversy because of the foundations of this nation. There is also great dispute over who our national heroes really are and what their role is in history. Terms like revisionist history are thrown about as well as terms like afro-centrism and euro-centrism. Patrick Henry sometimes gives way to Benjamin Banneker. George Patton and Douglas MacArthur might not be included. Colin Powell might be the potential replacement. Conservatives hold dear to their heroes and insist that those who have been revered throughout history stay at the forefront for children to read about and to be standard bearers.
Religion and religious topics continue to be argued as some parents and politicians fight to retain holidays like Christmas and Easter as units of study while others want all reference to Halloween stomped out.
One parent, Vivian Scretchen says “One day my son came home with an assignment for– it was around– it was around Christmas.”
But other parents believe religious discussions aren’t suited to secular classrooms.
“What I’m saying is that public schools don’t need to place this in their curriculum. Because it is– it’s potentially offensive to some. And it– it isn’t what a public school should be teaching.” said Jane Miller, a parent.
The Texas Board has already had showdowns over whether to get rid of mentions of Christmas, the Liberty Bell and Neil Armstrong. Some of the debate continues, but the backlash was so bad when the public got wind of the Christmas issue that the Board quickly voted to save it.
How sad that even textbooks have become political and part of the culture wars. What can parents do to make sure their voice is heard? What impact does this battle front have on language arts? What if your school districts ends up with a very conservative set of text books because nothing else is available? What can schools do? How about the other direction? Are there remedies? Will climate change be as contentious as Darwinism?
Elena, thanks for the reminders with those 2 videos. Loved those earrings.
That video of the man making his way through the mall with the public option sign did not single out the strange to interview. No way. That was a sea of people who were not acting like civil discourse was even a remote possiblity. Many of them attempted to squelch his opinion and to shout over top of him.
@Moon-howler
Re Choice – I’ve never quite gotten the money / space argument.
Why couldn’t parents be given a choice, and those who respond will be placed in classes of their choosing while those who do not respond will be used to fill the classes to capacity with the proper balance of students? I suspect that about 1/3 of parents would choose option 1, 1/3 would choose option 2, and the rest wouldn’t respond because they don’t care either way. As long as the instructional programs in each option meet state standards, then it should be OK.
The cost of materials would differ as some program are more expensive than others, but the difference aren’t that pronounced and schools could share inventory if they have excess materials for one choice.
I suspect that a larger part of the opposition to allowing choice is that many in education don’t believe parents deserve to have a say in how their kids are taught and with what materials. We heard that exact sentiment from a PWCS administrator when she stated in public testimony before the school board (I’m paraphrasing) that parents are spectators and need to sit down and shut up.
Heads up also – the CCSSO just released the National K -12 English and math standards for public comment (you can find them at corestandards.org). I’m still digging through them, but it appears that math above Geometry will no longer be offered as there are no standards for Algebra 2, Trigonometry, or Calculus. I’m not sure what that’ll do to college admission requirements as most state run Colleges and Universities in Virginia require at least Algebra 2 for general admission and Calculus for admission to STEM programs.
Oooops I typo’ed. I said CCSSI. sorry.
I don’t know the answer to your question. I meant like if all but 3 kids’ parents want abstinence only education and there are 3 teachers how are you going to do that? 2 classes will be bulging and the other 1 will only have 3 kids in it.
I am assuming you were really talking about the elementary math classes? If that is the case, I am going to recuse myself. It is not something I feel comfortable discussing for several reasons.
Believing in Christ and basing your government foundation and structure on that belief system are two different things in my opinion.
Those national standards are very scary. I don’t want to see national standards. The minute you get national standards you will have NCLB with a vengence. It will take everything wrong with NCLB and make it 100 times worse.
The politicians MUST start accepting that everyone doesn’t need to go to college. Localities MUST start creating decent vocational schools. Politicians and localities must accept that not all kids learn as well, as fast, or as much as others. When these differences are recognized perhaps meaningful education can take place.
Another big improvement would be for every administrator to grow some stones and support teachers in the classroom by insisting on decent behavior and giving them back the power.
Doing those things will improve education, not teaching Plato to 6th graders or having 11th graders read As I Lay Dying.
CIF,
“permeate every aspect”….can you expand please. I see the history of America as beginning with the Puritans, but certainly not ending there! I don’t think that their strict rules, i.e. that whole hanging witches thing, is necessarily at the foundation of our government structure.
What I would argue is that you can have a religious belief system that actually does NOT dictate the basis on which you “actualize” a government structure, i.e. the three branches of our democracy.
@Elena
Libraries full of books have been written about the subject. Newt’s latest is probably great on the topic.
MH, did you copy and paste my arguements about college vs. vocational training at the high school level? GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!! 🙂
Why have a local elected school board if we’re going to have a national standard to go with our national job ID card, our national health insurance, our national drivers license………et al.
MH, I am turning you towards the dark side… Come join us We have better cookies.
And TEA! =)
The lack of real skills training at the high school level is an embarrassment to this country, vocational training is a wonderful option!
Marin, too funny!!! Maybe I have turned you toward the light side? Ever think of that?
I feel very strongly about the fact that everyone doesn’t need or want to go to college.
I really fear this national standards target. I can’t imagine how states signed on without our knowledge.
Ok I need to go back to bed and start all over because I too agree with MH on the educational thing. He is moving into the light and I am not ready for it.
PWC is really good at getting kids to college, but is Pi$$ poor for the kids that are having trouble – and I have been blessed with both extremes 🙂
Does anyone else see the humor in how the liberals attacked Bush for the standards they tried to invoke and then backed away from under public (teacher union) pressure and the new – significantly higher – standards that are now proposed by this Administration. We just lost a lot of time and a lot of money.
@Elena
There has been a movement of late to end high school at 10th grade and, like many other nations, sort children then based on desire and ability. The argument is that after 10th grade students would enroll in trade / technical training, some sort of 2 year associates program, or a 2 year college prep program geared towards preparing students for either a STEM, Business, or General Studies program of study.
While I have some reservations with that idea (primarily related diversity and equal opportunity), there’s a big part of me that kind of thinks this is a good idea. Most kids know whether they want or are capable of going to college by the end of 10th grade. Classes in 11th and 12 grades are supposed to be geared to either college or career preparedness, and I don’t think we do a great job with either.
MH – the group drafting national standards is called the Common Core State Standards Organization (CCSSO) and is part of the National Governor’s Organization (NGO). The effort itself is called the Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI). All those letters are a pain in the tookas (and the names they’ve assigned to these things – oi!). I use CCSSO and CCSSI pretty much interchangeably. 🙂
National standards are concerning, especially as these standards come with the threat of loss of federal funding for education for states and municipalities that don’t adopt them. Federal Race to the Top funds are tied to states which adopt the common core standards and many grants for federal education funds are being awarded only to states which adopt the national standards.
Sorry for the back to back posts – I’m trying to figure out how this quote thingy works and I’m not doing so well………
I guess that would have to be dealt with on a case by case basis, though I suspect that with many areas only a sub-set of the population will make a selection and the rest won’t bother responding. The assumption would be that if you don’t respond you don’t care either way and, as long as the instructional program meets state standards, then your child will be placed in a class based on need.
Not specifically, no. I’d imagine that implementing a parental choice program would be more difficult at the elementary level, especially in the lower grades, as the children are so young and rotating would be difficult for them to figure out. Such a program would be much easier to implement in the upper elementary and middle / high school grades because the students are familiar with rotating and the teachers are accustomed to teaching one topic several different times a day.
Very interesting post by Elena in #3. It does, however, raise a question. As the primary drafter of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson included or acceded to the usage of such terms and phrases as “Nature’s God” ;”they are all endowed by their Creator” ; and “firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence” (Capitalization all Jefferson’s). If, as Elena points out, Jefferson himself had doubts about the existence of God , one might then conclude that, in drafting the Declaration, he elected to prevaricate by indicating the opposite to the intended audience of that document. If one does not believe in God, it is disingenuous to claim that one’s cause is under the protection of a non-existent deity. One could say that the Declaration, which was directed at both the British and the American colonials, became at that particular point a form of covert action aimed at inducing the support of an audience consisting of many believers in the divinity.
It would be an interesting exercise to see if those terms and phrases were voluntarily used by Jefferson or whether he was obliged to use them via pressure from his colleagues in that congress in Philadelphia. Or did he just change his mind about the existence of a divinity between 1776 and that letter to Peter Carr in 1787? Elena, did the inclusion of those terms in the Declaration come up during the debate?
In pursuit of this question, might I throw in a quote from John Adams, one of the members of the committee charged with preparing the Declaration.
“…Britain has been fill’d with Folly, and America with Wisdom, at least this is my Judgement — Time must determine. It is the Will of Heaven, that the two Countries should be sundered forever. It may be the Will of Heaven that America shall suffer Calamities still more wasting and Distresses yet more dreadful. If this is to be the Case, it will have this good Effect at least: it will inspire us with many Virtues, which We have not, and correct many Errors, Follies, and Vices, which threaten to disturb, dishonour, and destroy Us….”
Philadelphia, July 3rd, 1776. Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams.
Makes me wonder just who placed those comments about divine Providence in the Declaration.
Somebody brought up the BEST point in this argument today. Nobody reads these textbooks anyway, so who cares? Stopped me dead in my tracks, because it was so true!
@Elena
Elena,
I’ve been to at least five marches in DC., usually as a counter protester. While that guy had guts, all he got was verbal abuse. I could not hear any foul language over the boos.
I walked through an “anti-war” ANSWER demonstration with a US flag and got spit upon. I did the same with a humorous counterprotest sign and was manhandled out of the crowd, interrupting a nice discussion I was having with one protester. I don’t know where you were marching but those people were polite compared to the antiwar crowd I had to deal with. Of course, he was there to provoke that very reaction……
Ok, now, back to topic.
Soon, this whole topic will be moot. Can no one else see the writing on the wall? With digital textbooks, each COUNTY could be tailor made. No more printing. Heck, one master disc and and the school could print out their own textbooks.
As to a national core curriculum…..decided by whom? North Carolina wants to dump the first 100 years of history from their curriculum: http://www.norcalblogs.com/post_scripts/2010/02/proposed-us-history-curri.html in order to concentrate on “global and environmental issues.”
We have enough trouble deciding on what Texas should buy, much less have a central authority decide for the states. And if that include threats of withholding funding, I say cancel ALL national funding and leave the money in the states. The federal gov’t has NO authority to decide what our school boards decide is best for our schools.
My problem with how history is taught is that in the higher grade levels, the WHY is not taught. Why did the Founders do certain things? Why did the Puritans leave? Why was Jamestown founded? Lets put the dirty laundry in there too. Why did the Great Depression last so much longer in the US than in the rest of the world? What religious ideas did the Founders actually profess? And how was their piety different that that of today?
Faith in God definitely influenced the formation of this country. But they were, by and large, men of science. And that too, influenced the formation of the country. Heck, even the Catholic Church teaches natural selection and the theory of evolution.
Tax-person, you know I am not a HE don’t you? I am female. Married with children and a g-kid or 3 even. I am not moving into the light. I have felt this way for year.
Liberals didn’t attack Bush over NCLB. Teachers unions and professional associations didn’t really take a strong stand on NCLB. Teachers took a strong stand on it once they saw how it killed learning.
I believe it was you or Marin who asked what was wrong with it. Basically, its worst component is that it holds schools accountable for all children learning the same material, at the same amount of time and with the same depth. This includes special ed children, minority children, economically disadvantaged kids and kids who still aren’t proficient in English.
It is the ultimate in cookie cutter kids. It isn’t a liberal or conservative thing. Its a bad for schools thing. It sounds wonderful on paper. Right now, it is the engine driving the train in every school in America. It compares kids in the low socio economic section of route 1 in Fairfax Co to kids at Langley High School. It has the same expectations.
Kim, you make a good point about rotation. Elementary school is only a distant memory here. I don’t know the answer then.
You did fine with the blockquote. Someone on here left a link to all the emoticons. Who was it and will they leave it again?
CArgo, Anti war protests are nasty things from all I have observed. Never been to one. but I have heard stories. The closest I have been to an anti war protest is a support of Bosnia when the genocide was going on there. It was scary but it was because I was such a minority. it was scary enough that I went a few blocks and all of us went home.
I am glad to hear you mention digital textbooks. I don’t know why it hasn’t happened. It certainly would be cheaper in the long run. i figured it would happen by the turn of the century. It didn’t.
I don’t disagree with you about the why. Even young kids should learn why. Unfortunately, those become critical thinking skills. With NCLB, there isn’t time for that kind of crap. I guess that isn’t a totally fair statement but there is just too much canned history nowadays.
Good read from Cargosquid. Thought I would just throw in a little story here from those days of anti-war protests. I was doing grad work at a local university in the early 1970’s as the protests swirled all around me and into the streets. I was taking a break between classes on the quad when a group of young female undergrads launched a meeting on the lawn right behind me. The theme of the meeting was how wonderful life was in Fidel Castro’s Cuba and how these students were going to add a “Support Fidel” element to the local protest picture.
It so happened that among those female students was one lone male student. I’ll call him “Henry.” Every once in awhile, Henry would raise a common sense question about the group’s plans. Finally, the female “commissar” in charge of the group got so mad at Henry that she started screaming at him to shut up and not speak unless he was given permission to speak, that he was a stupid fellow who understood nothing. Henry sort of shrunk back inside his T-shirt with a drawing of Che Guevara on it.
I remember saying to myself: “Henry, my boy, you are surely in Cuba now!”
Right now digital textbooks are much more expensive than traditional paper textbooks. Based on conversations I’ve had with textbook / education folks, the movement is away from textbooks in favor of instructional materials cobbled together from multiple sources with pointers to web sites and other internet accessible materials for students. The primary support being that if a student doesn’t understand a topic he / she can go to school approved sites to access instructional materials and demonstrations which might better teach the lesson.
By a team of individuals appointed by the National Governors Association. If you go to the commonstandards.org site you can find the identities and qualifications of the individuals appointed to the work groups who have drafted the standards. I was more than slightly shocked to learn that the English / Language Arts standards were being drafted by group which didn’t include a single English major and that there were few mathematicians in the math work group. From my research it seemed like many of the appointees were affiliated with textbook publishers and testing companies (who are set to make a fortune from national standards).
I agree. I don’t have a problem with setting national standards as long as adopting them is voluntary and federal funding doesn’t hinge on states and municipalities adopting and implementing them. Unfortunately, that ship has already sailed. Governor Kaine signed Virginia up for the effort and agreed that we’d adopt at least 85% of the common core standards and Governor McDonnell hasn’t backtracked on that commitment.
KimS, the CCSSO situation is very frightening. Will you cut and paste the site? That one isnt working. NO English majors? No math teachers? Even more frightening. It will end up being uber NCLB.
I am surprised that digitial text is all that expensive now. It is only expensive because companies are greedy. It would be much less expensive, IMHO, after start up costs that I grant you, would be awful.
I wouldn’t care if the dept of ed folded. I honestly don’t see the benefits.
I will go a step further and say I don’t think I even understand the common core standards past idea that you sign on. Is this going to be like roach motel? You can enter but they won’t let you leave? Hotel California?
Like NCLB but on steroids. National standards come with a new national assessment ($350 million in stimulus funds were allocated by Secretary Duncan to create the national assessment). Secretary Duncan even mentioned a desire to track student performance beyond public school and into college so that we could link back to their high school teachers and the education schools they attended to see which teachers / ed schools really are effective. Really freaky deaky.
I think I put the wrong link in. The web site is http://www.corestandards.org/
I am surprised that digitial text is all that expensive now. It is only expensive because companies are greedy. It would be much less expensive, IMHO, after start up costs that I grant you, would be awful.
I wouldn’t care if the dept of ed folded. I honestly don’t see the benefits.
I will go a step further and say I don’t think I even understand the common core standards past idea that you sign on. Is this going to be like roach motel? You can enter but they won’t let you leave? Hotel California?
Dang! Forgot to delete out the rest of MH’s comment! Brain fart – smacks head – Sorry!!!!! Please ignore my comment after the link to the common core standards site.
Oh – I love the Hotel California reference!