To the abundant evidence showing that ideologues and non-historians shouldn’t be deciding what students learn in their history classrooms, add another exhibit: far-right efforts to use our kids’ classrooms to rehabilitate the image of Joseph McCarthy and turn him into an American hero. Sadly, that’s what some members of the Texas State Board of Education and […]
Textbook Censorship
More McLeroy Malarkey, Part 2
Last week, we brought you some choice selections from cryptic, hand-scribbled memos Texas State Board of Education member Don McLeroy wrote to curriculum writers preparing the latest draft of social studies standards (“More McLeroy Malarkey, Part 1”). Here is Part 2. To the “World History Studies” writing team, McLeroy suggests a few additions to the […]
Putting Ideology Ahead of Progress
Texas voters will consider 11 amendments to the state constitution on Nov. 3. The Texas Freedom Network has taken no official position on any of the measures. But we could have predicted what far-right groups, such as David Barton’s WallBuilders, would say about one: putting more resources into university research. They don’t like it. […]
More McLeroy Malarkey, Part 1
Yesterday we explored the latest strange twist in Texas State Board of Education member Don McLeroy’s ongoing crusade against the National Academy of Sciences — this time in bizarre, hand-scribbled memos he wrote to social studies curriculum writers who met in Austin last week. Well, McLeroy’s curriculum advice wasn’t restricted to his well-documented problems with […]
Don McLeroy vs. National Academy of Sciences
I’m not sure what the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) did to get on Don McLeroy’s bad side, but the deposed chair of the Texas State Board of Education has renewed his assault on the most prestigious science academy in the world. Only this time, he’s trying to insert his grievance in the state’s social […]
