Texas State Board of Education approves new curriculum standards

[Ed Barrow]

Source: Dallas Morning News

In a landmark vote that will shape the future education of millions of Texas schoolchildren, the State Board of Education on Friday approved new curriculum standards for U.S. history and other social studies courses that reflect a more conservative tone than in the past.

Split along party lines, the board voted 9-5 to adopt the new standards, which will dictate what is taught in all Texas schools and provide the basis for future textbooks and student achievement tests over the next decade.

Texas standards often wind up being taught in other states because national publishers typically tailor their materials to Texas, one of the biggest textbook purchasers in the country.

Approval came after the GOP-dominated board approved a new curriculum standard that would encourage high school students to question the legal doctrine of church-state separation - a sore point for social conservative groups who disagree with court decisions that have affirmed the doctrine, including the ban on school-sponsored prayer.


Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/052110dnedusboeupdate.2671ec55.html

[FiveGoodMen]

1. "question the legal doctrine of church-state separation"

The single most American thing about America and they are against it.

[anthroguy101]

2. This is unconstitutional

No government should be allowed to tell the private sector what should go in their history books. That's big government, something the Republicans have been against UNLESS IT SERVES THEIR OWN INTEREST. It goes against free speech and the first amendment. What we need here is a Supreme Court challenge.

[Xipe Totec]

5. We need another Scopes trial

but this time on the topic of teaching history, rather than evolution.

[glinda]

8. Repubs accuse Dems "first" of what THEY themselves are totally guilty of in order

to throw the public off track.

[Igel]

15. You misunderstand.

Or engage in hyperbole.

Texas doesn't dictate what's in textbooks. That's a result stated as the intent. There are lots of results that follow from actions but which aren't stipulated or even intended.

In this case, Texas just stipulates (as do most school boards) what their curriculum consists of, what must be covered in the textbooks that they purchase. If you want to sell to Texas, you provide what the customer wants. They want brown eggs, you the egg supplier find brown eggs. They want blue eggs, you find blue eggs. Even if it means killing all the chickens that lay white eggs.

You produce a textbook and want to sell it to Texas, you make sure that it covers most of the points sufficiently well to comply with what's put into TEKS, Texas essential knowledge and skills.

I've just got done perusing the TEKS standards for fall 2010, para. 112.35 and 112.34. Annoying in what they cover, annoying in what they leave out. I'd do it differently. But the TAKS (the Texas standardized test) and accreditation boards say otherwise. If I teach science my school can easily have a different standard--Texas BOE doesn't dictate such things. The school may lose its accreditation, but that's a different matter.

Now, if I can teach what TEKS says needs to be taught and still have time, then I can cover stuff I think is important. They're not negative requirements: If they say that students need to know about biomolecules such as carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids, that doesn't mean we can't also discuss in detail the citric acid cycle, ATP, and other stuff. If there's time.

[Xipe Totec]

3. It will shape the future alright, but education will not be part of it nt

[drmeow]

4. What I don't understand

CA and NY must have as much buying power as TX - why can't the leverage their power?

Can some of the education experts clarify for me. Is it that NY and CA don't have a single statewide standard?

[d_r]

6. CA and NY have more local autonomy

Texas is the biggest state that has a centralized system, where they pick one set of books for the whole state. So it has the most buying power, and therefore a lot of clout with the publishers.

[marshall]

12. There are actually more than "one set of books for the whole state" that are picked

There are at least two and up to four and sometimes five that are chosen for each grade level and subject. Local school districts may then choose which of the officially adopted sets they want to use in their own district.

The latest proclamations can be found on the TEA website:
http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/textbooks/proclamations/index.html

[Divine Discontent]

7. God, I do not know these 'brethren' - they are a part of a cult.

There should be a clear separation of church and state/education. It's just so easy to understand how wrong the combination of the two could go. But when you're not too damned smart, you don't get it - and the f*ckups of that board are idiots.

[Orlandodem]

9. Pretty much destroys the whole "librahl gubmint skewl" meme

[Divine Discontent]

11. if I had children in TX, and had to stay there, I would find a way to home school them instead of

subjecting them to Right-Wing Lack-of-a-Brain-washing!

[Igel]

16. And you'd find that you have a right to do it.

As long as you teach reading, writing, and, I believe, civics, and have a curriculum that specifics that you teach these things (however vacuous the curriculum actually is), you're covered by a provision in the state constitution.

But as I pointed out above: Just because X isn't mentioned in the TEKS doesn't mean it won't be taught.

[Downwinder]

10. Cut Federal funding, it will be wasted anyway.

[salin]

13. If I were one who was purchasing textbooks for a school

I would look to those tied to California or New York standards (the other two large states to which textbooks are written.

[alp227]

14. CNN: Texas will keep Thomas Jefferson.

The board also voted "to add a direct reference to the election of President Barack H. Obama" and to require students to become familiar with the political philosophies of Thomas Jefferson.

--CNN, "Texas OKs school guidelines after ideological debate"

Wait, so Texas didn't write out "Hussein"? Because most of the parents would think it's pronounced "Who-Sign"?

The CNN article also reports:

However, digital publishing has diminished the state's influence on textbooks nationally and that curriculum is always going to be decided at the local level, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said.

"Whatever Texas decides, I do not think there will be large ripple effects around the country," he said before Friday's votes. "Textbook companies today have a real ability to customize textbooks and whatever the Texas board decides, I don't think that's going to impact education in other parts of the country."

I've been following the actions of the Texas school board through PZ Myers's and Ed Brayton's excellent blogs on Scienceblogs.com as well as a recent episode of PBS's Need to Know, the program that replaced Bill Moyers Journal and Now on PBS. All I gotta say is that the ultra-patriot-conservatives on the board are living in their own fantasy America. Need I cue in Ted Kennedy's infamous speech during the Robert Bork confirmation hearings? Given the influence of Texas in the national curriculum America will look even worse to the rest of the world, and they will be laughing at the intellectually sinking American students while American tech companies will continue outsourcing jobs to Canada, the UK, India, and China.

[EFerrari]

17. My mom would say, this is why 9/11 happened. n/t

[TomCADem]

18. Arne Duncan - "School officials should keep politics out of curriculum debates"

It is nice to hear the Obama administration condemning this effort to politically indoctrinate kids with an overtly politicized view of history.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37271857/ns/us_news-life/

Educators have blasted the curriculum proposals for politicizing education. Teachers also have said the document is too long and will force students to memorize lists of names rather than thinking critically.

The curriculum dispute contributed to McLeroy's defeat in the March state Republican primary.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan said school officials "should keep politics out" of curriculum debates.

"We do a disservice to children when we shield them from the truth, just because some people think it is painful or doesn't fit with their particular views," Duncan said in a statement. "Parents should be very wary of politicians designing curriculum."