St. Paul Pioneer Press: Our new history books -- Texas style

[marmar]

Sassone: Our new history books -- Texas style
April 8, 2010

By PAUL SASSONE Contributing Columnist


Don't be surprised if one of these days your kids come home from school speaking with a Texas twang.

Texas may have more to say about what your children learn in school than you think.

It's because Texas is so big (as Texans never tire of telling the rest of the country). Texas has an enormous school system, with a single standard of instruction for all grades throughout the state.

Each year, it is reported, Texas spends $22 billion on 48 million textbooks.

So, it is only natural -- or good for business -- for textbook companies to be swayed to adjust the content of their textbooks to what Texas wants its kids to learn.

The question arises, is what Texas wants its kids to learn what you want your kids to learn?

Just recently the Texas Board of Education approved a social studies curriculum for its students through high school. Reported contents of the curriculum include:

• Confederate general Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson will be listed as a model for leadership.

• Students must learn about Confederate president Jefferson Davis' inaugural address along with Abraham Lincoln's.

• The word "capitalism" is to be eliminated and "free enterprise system" substituted on all references.

• Country and western music will be studied as a cultural movement.

• There will be a required section on "the conservative resurgence in the 1980s and 1990s, including Phyllis Schafly, the Contract with America, the Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority and the National Rifle Association."

• Thomas Jefferson's name has been removed from a list of people who inspired revolutions in the 18th and 19th centuries. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.pioneerlocal.com/opinion/2138170,oak-park-sassone-040810-s1.article

[protest_dude]

1. Confederate Apologism, the New Republican Project

"Students must learn about Confederate president Jefferson Davis' inaugural address along with Abraham Lincoln's."

"Confederate History Week"

"Lincoln began the march toward socialism." - Chuck Baldwin

Who could honestly beleive these people aren't racist. This sounds like something liberals would be mockingly accusing conservatives of doing, not something they would actually be stupid enough to publicly do.

It seems Confederate Apologism is the new talking point of right-wing propaganda. They even wrote a book "The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Civil War."