A very well-written explanation of the new Texas textbook laws

[hyphenate]

I found this one of the easiest to understand write-ups of the rules of how fundies and evangelicals are taking over the textbooks that kids around the country are going to be expected to learn from. As usual, public schools are going to be short shrifted, thanks to these assholes. It is time to decide who is running this country--us, or them.

http://www.thesuntimes.com/news/x427979739/Rewriting-history-to-support-our-beliefs

Rewriting history to support our beliefs

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By Richard Mays/ The Legal Pad
The Sun-Times
Sun Mar 21, 2010, 05:00 PM CDT

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Heber Springs, Ark. - Let us assume that you wanted to write a book about the history of the United States.


<snip>

If we believe that our country’s history is important, and further, that it is important to describe that history accurately in textbooks, then Americans should be concerned about the actions last Friday of the Texas Board of Education, when a majority of that Board overruled curriculum standards recommended by a panel of teachers and inserted their own personal political, social and religious views into what should be contained in history, economics and sociology textbooks used in Texas schools. It should come as no surprise that the majority were advocates of a conservative evangelical philosophy. The Board’s conservative majority voted to require Texas school books to be rewritten to reflect political, social and religious positions that reflected their views. For example, they voted that history books should state that our Founding Fathers were guided by Christian principles in drafting the Declaration of Independent and the Constitution, and cast doubt upon their commitment to a secular government.
The Board voted that history books should question the separation of church and state – some of the members arguing that principle was not to be found in our Constitution. They oppose Darwin’s theory of evolution. They even voted that textbooks emphasize “the conservative resurgence” of the 1980s and ‘90s, and that conservative icons and institutions such as Ronald Reagan, Phyllis Schlafly, the Moral Majority, and the National Rifle Association be given prominent mention.
One might think that this is Texas’ problem, except for the fact that Texas is the second largest market for school book publishers in the country, behind only California, and the materials that are in Texas’ schoolbooks has traditionally be published in the schoolbooks of other states.

<snip>

Arkansas is certainly a conservative-leaning state, and for many of its citizens, this type of revisionist or tailored history would be perfectly acceptable. There are many people in this country who strongly believe that the United States is, and always has been, a Christian nation; that there should be no separation of church and state; that creationism should be taught in public schools instead of or along with evolution; and that Ronald Reagan’s was one of our greatest presidents and that his face should be on the $5 bill.

[Swamp Rat]

1. Is there a list of the already published "textbooks?"

I would love for everyone here to participate in to debunking them. :D

[mfcorey1]

2. As a retired educator, I have always cautioned........

parents that the most dangerous subjects for high school students are social studies and American History. Know who is teaching your child and what their beliefs are because that is often imposed into the lesson.

[Ichingcarpenter]

3. Chapter 1