Texas State Board of Ed. comes under Far Right Control

by Susan Marie Kovalinsky | March 12, 2010 at 08:06 pm

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New Curriculum will be taught to millions over a decade

A faction of the Texas State Board of Education with far-right leanings was able to enact provisions today which will insert conservative ideals into history, social studies, and economics classes which will be taught through out the next decade to millions of public school students, the Associated Press reports.

Curriculum with Far Right Influence

Under the new Texas provisions, teachers in the state will have to cover the Judeo-Christian influences of the nation's Founding Fathers, but the philosophy of the separation of church and state will be ignored in the curriculum. Within these standards students must describe the U.S. government not as a democracy but as a constitutional republic.

After three days of debate the board gave approval in a 10-5 voted. The final vote will be in May. Further amendments and arguments will be introduced then. Those who voted against these new standards viewed them as a fight of conservatism against liberalism.

From global politics to civil rights, ultraconservatives were able to amend and reject and revise according to their own standards. Efforts to include Hispanics in important historical events were shot down, and civil rights and institutionalized racism in America were questioned.

Several Democrats walked out of the debate conference. From the Bill of Rights to the Second Amendment, the new curriculum requirements seemed to be all about conservative politics, was the view of many against the standards.

Although Texas and conservatism have always gone hand in hand, the influence on education standards from the far right will disturb many liberals and moderates. The TEA move may be defended as counterbalance and compensation for three decades of liberal influence.

Thus far, debate has been limited to curriculum and the standards of what should be taught in the coming years. There have been no text books decided on, and much of what was discussed has been along the lines of a general syllabus or outline, something the TEA had to clarify with Fox News, it said.

Numerous attempts to add the names or references to important Hispanics throughout history also were denied, inducing one amendment that would specify that Tejanos died at the Alamo alongside Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie. Another amendment deleted a requirement that sociology students "explain how institutional racism is evident in American society."
Democrats did score a victory by deleting a portion of an amendment by Republican Don McLeroy suggesting that the civil rights movement led to "unrealistic expectations for equal outcomes."