Slave trade? No, silly. Now we should call it the "Atlantic triangular trade."

[flvegan]

Anyone watching the Texas textbook controversy?

Texas textbook changes could impact what children learn across the country

A battle in Texas over proposed changes to the curriculum for new social studies textbooks will ultimately impact what many children are taught in schools across the country. Many states purchase textbooks that are created by Texas standards, as it is the second-largest buyer of textbooks behind California.

State Board of Education members are meeting in Austin, Texas, this week for a final vote on the curriculum changes, which were originally proposed by a committee of teachers and community members. After some revisions, board members voted 10-5 in March to adopt some socially conservative changes, which angered the liberal members of the board.

Board member Cynthia Noland Dunbar told MSNBC the curriculum changes “promote patriotism.” “We are adding balance. History has already been skewed. Academia is skewed too far to the left," board member Dr. Don McLeroy told the NY Times. On the other hand, Democratic board member Mavis Knight accused conservatives on the board of inserting their political and religious views into the standards "whether or not it was appropriate," according to a report in the Dallas Morning News.

The recommendations include adding language to say the country's Founding Fathers were guided by Christian principle; requiring that students learn about the 'unintended consequences' of Great Society legislation, affirmative action and Title IX legislation; replacing the word 'capitalism' with 'free-enterprise system'; and renaming the slave trade the 'Atlantic triangular trade.'

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/05/texas_textbook_changes_could_i.html

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2010/0519/Texas-textbook-war-Slavery-or-Atlantic-triangular-trade


Sorry if this is a dupe or old news. I checked the Greatest, etc and didn't see anything about this. I just saw this story on the local Fox station (waiting for the weather and sports) and even the conservative windbag lead anchor didn't like this. Incredible. Absolutely incredible.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Well if Jesus willed it....

now as a non joke issue... these guys are complete ass hats that know nothing. But unfortunately they are proud members of the anti intellectual tradition going all the way back to the colonial period.

I wonder though if the original slaves, white or black, would like to have a nice talk with these good ol' boys though.

[Stinky The Clown]

2. DAMMIT, Man. EVERYone knows the facts have a decidedly liberal bias. That cannot be allowed to stand

What is WRONG with you? Why are you reporting this?

[political_Dem]

3. It is what it is even without the prettified language: human trafficking based on racist intent.

I don't know how anyone could feel more patriotic by "changing the language". I can tell this is the sentiment of someone whose ancestors were never stolen, enslaved, dehumanized, raped and robbed of their rights and dignity.

In fact, mine had to walk 200 hundred miles following the carriage of their masters in chains like cattle during the so-called era of "Atlantic Triangular Trade".

So, screw that move for "benign language". And screw them for trying to sweep the ugliness of that era under the rug. Be men and women and own up to what happened without trying to hide behind a wall of fake sentiment.

[petronius]

4. Setting aside the motivations of that Texas committee, "Triangular Trade" is

a slightly more informative name, so long as that Africa-Americas leg isn't glossed over. It's what we use in our university courses...

[Motown_Johnny]

6. "Triangle Trade" or "Triangular Trade" has been used for as long as I can remember

why adding "Atlantic" is somehow a problem I have no idea.

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. It is the intent I suspect

Mostly...

[Sinistrous]

21. I remember being taught about the Triangular Trade over 50 years ago.

But I have learned a lot about the obscenity and horror of slavery since then.

[enlightenment]

11. Agreed.

It is more than slightly important to understand the context in which the slave trade operated and the triangle trade is completely relevant to that context.

As long as they aren't directing that the slavery aspect of that trade be ignored or minimized, it is a good thing to include this.

[Xithras]

18. It was called Triangular Trade 20 years ago when I learned it.

The slave trade was one leg of the triangle. Rum and sugar made up the other two.

[Motown_Johnny]

5. Molasses to Rum to Slaves.......

If you haven't watched "1776" lately here is a reminder. (the song starts just after 4:30)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXsXej9FloA&feature=related

[FarCenter]

8. Sugar, not cotton, was the economic reason for most of the slave trade

Most of the slaves were brought to Brazil and the Carribean to work the sugar cane plantations.

So the trade engaged in by the New Englanders, (some of those Christian principled folks) was to ship slaves from Africa to the Carribean, ship molasses from the Carribiean to New England, and ship rum to Africa.

[Odin2005]

7. I was taught that the Triangular Trade as INCLUDING the Slave Trade as a part of it.

[fishwax]

10. it gets worse with each new development

:wtf:

[Chulanowa]

12. Maybe there is a liberal bias in academia

I'm willing to allow that it may be there; any institution populated by humans tends to reflect human foibles, including bias, and... Well, there's really no such thing as "conservative academia" so...

But even if such a bias exists, "countering" it with lies and obfuscation is fucking ludicrous.

"The founding fathers (as an aside, I detest that term) were guided by Christian principle?" 'Fraid not, chucklenuts. Fact of the matter America has had more influence on christianity than christianity has had on America.

"Unintended consequences of great society legislation" - such as what? I'm all ears.

"Replacing the word Capitalism with..." That sounds doubleplusbad.

"Atlantic triangular trade"? - Okay. Now I want to set some motherfuckers on fire. Who's idea was that?

[Canuckistanian]

13. What's "triangular" about it?

The white man was at the top. The blacks were at the bottom, just slightly above the dirt.

Seems pretty "linear" to me.

[Motown_Johnny]

15. the trade ships went from North America to Africa to the Caribbean (to north america)

the trade route formed a triangle

[handmade34]

14. any history teacher

worth their salt... doesn't use standard history textbooks

[MrScorpio]

16. Jingoism = Patriotism

Rah-rah sis boom bah!

[troubledamerican]

17. White Supremacist? Who -- us?

[BalancedGoat]

19. I don't see this as a big deal.

I've been reading through the new standards and there are a number of changes far more questionable than this one.

If I thought that they were trying to somehow gloss over the history of slavery, I would be outraged. However, I do not feel that this is the case.

Here is the relevant portion of the new standards with new text in quotation marks and deleted language in parenthesis.

12. Economics. The student understands why various sections of the United States developed different patterns of economic activity. The student is expected to:
A. identify economic differences among different regions of the United States;
B. explain reasons for the development of the plantation system, the "Atlantic triangular" (growth of the slave) trade, and the spread of slavery; and
(C. explain the reasons for the increase in factories and urbanization; and)
D. analyze the causes and effects of economic differences among different regions of the United States at selected times in U.S. history.

My feeling is that the change is meant to ensure that students study the entire trade cycle going on at the time instead of just one leg of the triangle. It would be impossible to learn about the Atlantic triangular trade without learning about the slave aspect of it.

[flvegan]

20. Sorry, but to me it's like renaming The Holocaust "The German Logistical Movement"

Yep, went right to Hitler.

[BalancedGoat]

24. I disagree.

I see it as more like studying a comprehensive history of the Nazi regime rather than focusing exclusively on the holocaust.

This is not the only reference to slavery in the eighth grade standards. Slavery is to be studied in a few different contexts including the history of Texas, general American history, the civil war, and economics. This change is in the section relating to economics. They're trying to ensure that students study the entire triangle of trade that was going on. From an economic standpoint, it's the entire triangle that's important; not just the one leg of it. It gave America a source of cheap labor as well as market for it's cash crops; it gave Europe a supply of American crops as well as a market for finished goods. The previous wording could be interpreted to only refer to the shipping of slaves to America.

Also, it's not like these standards force textbook publishers to exclusively use the phrase "Atlantic triangle trade" in place of "slave trade". I would expect to see both phrases turning up in textbooks based on these standards.

[Kurska]

22. In Florida we learned about the Triangular exchange.

Europe got Potatoes and other crops, gold etc, sent disease and settlers
Africa received gold sent slaves
America received disease sent gold and crops

I don't think it was pushing slavery to the side, we covered that alot on it's own, just talked about all the other stuff that got exchanged besides people.

[Seneca]

23. I noted that their stench has made its way over to the UK

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8353571