Could Texas' Gingrich-Based High School History Curriculum Go National?

[Are_grits_groceries]

While Republicans are busy gnashing their teeth over President Obama's imminent indoctrination of the nation's schoolchildren, there's an education story bubbling up in Texas that could have considerably more far-reaching consequences.

The GOP-controlled State Board of Education is working on a new set of statewide textbook standards for, among other subjects, U.S. History Studies Since Reconstruction. And it turns out what the board decides may end up having implications far beyond the Lone Star State.

The first draft of the standards, released at the end of July, is a doozy. It lays out a kind of Human Events version of U.S. history.

Approved textbooks, the standards say, must teach the Texan student to "identify significant conservative advocacy organizations and individuals, such as Newt Gingrich, Phyllis Schlafly, and the Moral Majority." No analogous liberal figures or groups are required, prompting protests from some legislators and committee members.

Read an excerpt here:http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/documents/2009/09/excerpt-of-proposed-texas-us-history-textbook-standards.php?page=1

Here's what makes this a national story: what happens in Texas doesn't stay in Texas, says Diane Ravitch, professor of education at NYU.

That's because Texas is one of the two states with the largest student enrollments, along with California. "The publishers vie to get their books adopted for them, and the changes that are inserted to please Texas and California are then part of the textbooks made available to every other state," says Ravitch, who wrote a book about the politics of textbooks.

Rick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute explains it as a simple economic calculation by the big textbook publishers. "Publishers are generally reticent to run two different versions of a textbook," he says. "You can imagine the headache the expense the logistics, the storage, all of it."

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/09/could_texas_gingrich_based_curriculum_go_national.php?ref=fpb

Coming to a school near you. (There is still some voting left before this is formalized.)

The excerpt is pure RW propaganda. This is why I pay attention to Texas school book fights. Not just Texas gets them.

They are also arguing over science texts. They've been trying to sneak creationism in under various guises.

[Deep13]

1. TX students have a right to be told the truth...

...and not the RW crap souffle. How is this any different than Islamic schools in Arabia that teach students to hate Jews?

[KansDem]

2. I thought the Bible was the only "textbook" for good ol' GOP-lovin', God-fearin' Christian neo-cons

What's with them there "textbooks?" You tryin' to "book learn" my children? Is this here "TEX-book" gonna be "Bible-lite?"

[oligarhy]

3. It isn't just Texas, it's the entire nation! All of the textbooks.

Texas is the largest market, so the textbook companies only go with their approval on the learning materials. Those same materials are then sold to all of the nation's other schools. The other schools have no choice.

It came from deregulation during Reagen. (I think)

Thom Hartmann talks about this a lot, because he ran/runs an educational facility,