Last week’s Texas State Board of Education meeting included an interesting discussion about who should be helping guide the revision of curriculum standards. The conversation was a perfect example of how politics and mediocrity have taken precedence over scholarship and expertise in deciding what students will learn in Texas public school classrooms. […]
Recent Blogs
TFN Brings Dionne to Austin on Thursday
The religious right is still a powerful force in Texas, but is it finally on the decline in the rest of the country? That’s what E.J. Dionne, the award-winning columnist for The Washington Post, suggests in his best-selling book Souled Out: Reclaiming Faith and Politics after the Religious Right. You can still reserve a seat to hear […]
Gov. Perry: ‘We’re in a Recession?’
Texas Gov. Rick Perry is speaking in the nation’s capital today at the “Values Voter Summit,” a confab put together by a constellation of religious-right groups like the Family Research Council, Focus on the Family and the American Family Association. What’s more likely to make news in coming weeks, however, are the governor’s comments this […]
First Amendment? Not in Mississippi
Texas isn’t the only state that is constitutionally challenged. In fact, Mississippi is giving us a run for our money when it comes to (willful?) ignorance about what the First Amendment means. Earlier this summer, our friends at Advocates for Youth brought us the disturbing tale of an abstinence-only rally/evangelical prayer meeting sponsored by the […]
Important Progress
Today’s State Board of Education hearing on proposed new social studies standards for Texas public schools was long and often exhausting. (Scroll down to find our blog posts from the hearing.) But we noted some important progress for ensuring that our schoolchildren get an honest and sound education. In particular, David Barton and Peter Marshall […]
