Confused Texas Education Board bans kids' author (confuses picture book w/ Marxist tome)

[villager]

Source: Dallas Morning News

Confused Texas Education Board bans kids' author from curriculum

What do the authors of the children's book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and a 2008 book called Ethical Marxism: The Categorical Imperative of Liberation have in common?

Both are named Bill Martin and, for now, neither is being added to Texas schoolbooks.

In its haste to sort out the state's social studies curriculum standards this month, the State Board of Education tossed children's author Martin, who died in 2004, from a proposal for the third-grade section. Board member Pat Hardy, R-Weatherford, who made the motion, cited books he had written for adults that contain "very strong critiques of capitalism and the American system."

Trouble is, the Bill Martin Jr. who wrote the Brown Bear series never wrote anything political, unless you count a book that taught kids how to say the Pledge of Allegiance, his friends said. The book on Marxism was written by Bill Martin, a philosophy professor at DePaul University in Chicago.

Bill Martin Jr.'s name would have been included on a list with author Laura Ingalls Wilder and artist Carmen Lomas Garza as examples of individuals who would be studied for their cultural contributions.

Hardy said she was trusting the research of another board member, Terri Leo, R-Spring, when she made her motion and comments about Martin's writing. Leo had sent her an e-mail alerting her to Bill Martin Jr.'s listing on the Borders .com Web site as the author of Ethical Marxism. Leo's note also said she hadn't read the book.

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Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/012510dntexbooks.3e17c50.html

[GodlessBiker]

1. Let's ban books we have never read. Ignorance twice over.

[EFerrari]

27. The other day, Hartmann pointed out that as TX is such a big market for

textbooks, they are setting the standard for schoolbooks nationwide.

Holy cr@p.

[justabob]

34. has been true for a while

It is frightening. What little bits I have heard/read about this go-round of what is in and what is out of TX textbooks is appalling - the process, the decisions they have made, the people making them.... Very frustrating.

[mitchum]

2. Hey, I know Bill Martin Jr (the commie)...

we were punk rockers together.
I'm sure that he is both disgusted and amused by this turn of events

[fascisthunter]

3. WTF? Talk about Fanatical Paranoia

stupid people like this usually over-react because they have no fucking clue as to what they are talking about.

They act like a bunch of book-burning nazis... extremely closed minded.

[hobbit709]

4. what you mean act?

[Flaneur]

5. The stupid...it hurts.

[Botany]

9. The threats are everywhere

Maybe he was linked to Dean Martin and supported drinking and the "Rat Pack.

[KansDem]

6. "very strong critiques of capitalism and the American system."

I think the actions of the board itself is a "very strong critique of...the American system."

Ignorance and stupidity cannot be tolerated in a democracy...

[CatholicEdHead]

25. They must have very thin skins

if they cannot handle a written critique. Capitalism is not perfect, that is why prior to the last decade or two we had a regulated system, not so much anymore and look where it has gotten us.

[Gormy Cuss]

7. They should've banned his book because he managed the Yankees.

:eyes:

[ixion]

8. Tejas is making great strides in outpacing teh Florida Stupid

it's a race to the bottom. :dunce:

[fl_dem]

15. just because you are correct

doesn't mean I agree..LOL :hi:

[ixion]

24. LOL... fair enough

hey, I live in Florida, too. :hi:

[fl_dem]

26. Hello fellow Floridian!

glad we can agree on and find humor in our states level of stupidity, I mean hell, we rank #1 at screwing up a perfectly good election and paid for it dearly! Not sure what area you reside in but in the panhandle I am surrounded by the religious right (which I feel is an oxymoron of great proportion).

[HopeHoops]

10. And people wonder why we make fun of Texas.

As if the shrub wasn't enough of a reason.

[kentauros]

37. No, we don't wonder why at all.

We just get tired of the endless bashing. We know how fucked up the state is right now. I only hope y'all are aware that we are changing things, however slowly it may be.

[SlingBlade]

11. Texas .... Confused..... ???

:)

[Chef Eric]

12. They should've banned his book because he wrote the Bay City Rollers' hit "Saturday Night." nt

[alp227]

13. It's still 1955 in that school district?

:rofl:

[mbperrin]

17. Sadly, this is the STATE board of education.

Three decades in teaching, and these are the people in charge.....

[proReality]

14. When Education Board members have a lower intelligence than the students

they're selecting books for, it's time for them to step down and let the students take over.

[MidwestTransplant]

16. These teabaggers are just so stupid it's beyond comrpehension.

[Chulanowa]

18. So... wait...

They banned the book because of something else the author might have written?

Even if it were the same guy, that's totally ridiculous in its own right. That's like a school banning Jared Diamond's biology works from the school library because he also wrote "Why is Sex Fun?"

[Froward69]

22. shhhh do not give em any Ideas...

thats the last thing they need.

at this rate they will stop teaching kids to read all together...

[Mari333]

19. is it Idiocracy yet?

[villager]

36. It is.

Alas.

[Froward69]

20. Burning Books

would be too obvious eh?

Seems the school board needs to do some remedial reading of their own... :rolling eyes:

[Downwinder]

21. Only in Texas: Someone who can't read, chooses books. n/t

[mahatmakanejeeves]

23. talking bears

are possessed by Satan.

[mamaleah]

28. If you are a parent

you'll know that Brown Bear is a pre-K picture book and must be wondering why it is on a 3rd grade reading list at all!

[RaleighNCDUer]

33. Then you remember that it is TEXAS. nt

[SteelPenguin]

29. What the Education Board does in Texas is no laughing matter

Texas buys books bulk by the state. They're the single largest purchaser of schoolbooks in the country. All the major publishers of textbooks write their books based on whether or not it'll sell to Texas. If Texas refuses to buy a book for whatever reason, it's huge, and usually the book will get edited to remove whatever offends Texas.

It's easy to think "crazy people down in Texas banning books" but if they want a book off a list of other materials to read from a textbook, believe me... It will get removed. These people determine the education your kids get in other states because the books are written FOR texas. Your school districts just buy them also.

Top that off with the people who make these decisions in Texas are ignorant and right wing whackjobs, just makes it worse.

Just thought I'd throw this out there. This isn't a Texas problem. This is an everyone problem.

[rainbow4321]

35. Ding ding ding, we have a winner

That's right...back when the board was deciding about some other textbook content a year or so ago our local news was "bragging" about how the fate of nationwide textbooks were basically in the hands of the TX BOE. So whatever the repukes decide down here, will likely end up in the bluest of blue communities elsewhere since nationwide publishers will go with whatever their largest customer wants/orders---and that customer is the TX BOE

[kentauros]

38. And this is one major reason we welcome outside help in turning Texas blue.

Just think of the impact on the rest of the country if we only turn the TX BOE blue ;)

Of course, I don't understand why with the advent of POD (print on demand) that publishers don't just isolate the Texas BOE and do POD for everyone else. They'd still make the same amount of money, but everyone else would get a better education. That might be the wake-up call to the republicans here that their idea of "knowledge" needs to be improved.

[LuckyLib]

39. This has been true for more than 40 years. To think that Texas right wing crazies

have determined the content of texts for the entire country is simply appalling. For many years publishers and educators knew it, the public not so much. The troglodytes in TX have wa-a-a-a-y too much power over children and youth nationwide.

[brentspeak]

30. Why are uneducated adults on an education board for children?

[RaleighNCDUer]

31. Of course you realize, the original title of that book was

"Red bear, red bear, what do you see?"

[RaleighNCDUer]

32. Somebody needs to alert Stephen Colbert about the bullet we just dodged.

Commie bears - they're #1 on the Threatdown!