As Texas messes with history, worry that it'll multiply
A lot of attention has been focused on Texas in recent weeks, because state officials decided to rewrite social studies curriculum and force kids to learn a distorted view of the country's past.
Folks in other states are worried that the changes will wind up appearing in schools outside Texas. The state, with almost 5 million students in kindergarten through high school, dictates what is in the textbooks it purchases from publishers, and other states often buy the same materials.
Texas textbooks will, for example, play down the role of Thomas Jefferson among the Founding Fathers (which actually can't be overstated) and question the separation of church and state as a fundamental principle in the country's creation.
There will be a new emphasis on conservative figures, including columnist Phyllis Schlafly. And students will study Abraham Lincoln's and Jefferson Davis's inaugural addresses as if they had equal historical weight.
Read entire article at The Washington Post
Folks in other states are worried that the changes will wind up appearing in schools outside Texas. The state, with almost 5 million students in kindergarten through high school, dictates what is in the textbooks it purchases from publishers, and other states often buy the same materials.
Texas textbooks will, for example, play down the role of Thomas Jefferson among the Founding Fathers (which actually can't be overstated) and question the separation of church and state as a fundamental principle in the country's creation.
There will be a new emphasis on conservative figures, including columnist Phyllis Schlafly. And students will study Abraham Lincoln's and Jefferson Davis's inaugural addresses as if they had equal historical weight.