The State Board of Education’s reckless revisions to proposed social studies curriculum standards for Texas public schools have raised serious concerns among classroom teachers and scholars regarding pedagogical issues and historical accuracy. Issues involving religious freedom are also a growing concern, however. In March the board rejected a proposed standard that would have required high […]
social studies
A Board Divided by Faith or Contempt?
We have heard the Texas State Board of Education‘s far-right members claim over and over again that they are unfairly attacked for their fundamentalist religious views. They do so even as they seek to inject those narrow views into curriculum standards for our state’s public schools, whether it’s by promoting creationist arguments against evolution or objecting […]
Propaganda vs. Truth
The right-wing propaganda machine has kicked into high gear over the past two weeks in defense of the State Board of Education‘s mutilation of proposed new social studies curriculum standards for Texas public schools. A blizzard of press releases, blog posts and viral e-mails have claimed that the “liberal media” has unfairly criticized the board’s politicization […]
Getting in Touch with ‘Their Inner Children’
The political jousting between Bill White and Rick Perry over the Texas State Board of Education‘s controversial revision of social studies curriculum standards is legitimate in the electoral arena. It’s certainly preferable to dragging political agendas into our children’s classrooms, which the state board has been doing during the curriculum revision. But what the Republican Party of Texas did […]
Is This about ‘Payback’ or Education?
We noted this morning that Robert Scott, the Texas education commissioner, told state legislators at a Capitol public hearing that changes the Texas State Board of Education is making to proposed social studies curriculum standards reflect a change in political control of the board in recent years. (A far-right faction took control of the state […]
