Gov. Perry Bemoans . . . .

[ensho]

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/01/15/perry-education/


Gov. Perry Bemoans ‘Federal Takeover’ Of Education, But His State’s Takeover Of Textbooks Is Totally Fine


Back when the economic recovery act was first put into place, Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) rejected $555 million in extended unemployment benefits, saying “we do not need any more strings from Washington attached to programs.”

Now, Perry has also decided that he won’t be applying for any of the Race to the Top funding available in the stimulus, which could bring Texas $700 million to implement education reforms. Points on the Race to the Top application are awarded for accepting the National Governors Association’s effort to adopt common national standards, which, despite originating in the states, Perry said “smacks of a federal takeover of public schools.” Perry added that he doesn’t want to put Texas’ education system in the hands of those “thousands of miles away”:

-snip-

Perry’s railing against a “takeover” from “thousands of miles away” is pretty remarkable, considering that his state is trying to lead a conservative takeover of the nation’s textbooks. The conservative-dominated Texas State Board of Education is pushing changes to textbooks that would emphasize conservative figures like Newt Gingrich and Phyllis Schlafly, “downplay the contributions of the civil rights movement,” challenge the science of evolution, “play up clashes with Islamic cultures,” and even attempt to rehabilitate Joe McCarthy.

And as the Washington Monthly’s Mariah Blake pointed out, “when it comes to textbooks, what happens in Texas rarely stays in Texas”:

The reasons for this are economic: Texas is the nation’s second-largest textbook market and one of the few biggies where the state picks what books schools can buy rather than leaving it up to the whims of local districts, which means publishers that get their books approved can count on millions of dollars in sales. As a result, the Lone Star State has outsized influence over the reading material used in classrooms nationwide, since publishers craft their standard textbooks based on the specs of the biggest buyers. As one senior industry executive told me, “Publishers will do whatever it takes to get on the Texas list.”

Perry has continually appointed members of the conservative bloc to head the Board of Education, who will potentially play a big role in what students thousands of miles away read in their textbooks. So who, exactly, is pushing a “takeover” onto whom?
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this HAS to change!

[Luciferous]

1. This guy wants to secede, so why the hell would anyone listen

to him? I've read some of the proposed changes they want to make to the textbooks, and they are ridiculous. Who the hell cares about Mary Kay?! How is she relevant to the overall history of the United States? I find it a little bit scary that this is the kind of stuff they want to teach my child...

[marshall]

2. The solution is to push textbooks to become electronic

Not necessarily internet based, but available on CD and then give the students cheap sturdy kindle like readers. It would be far easier for the publisher to tweak an electronic format so that it will suit a small base like New Hampshire or Nebraska as well as the huge buyers in Texas and California.

[ensho]

3. giving Tex. writing our school books a kick before I go

nt

[DFW]

4. Some of us bemoan that Rick Perry is our Governor

Many of us, in fact.

[texanshatingbush]

5. DFW, you couldn't be more correct !!!

I have always said that Rick Perry makes George W look like a member of MENSA.....

[DFW]

6. Talk about Mission Impossible!!!!!!!! n/t