Education, Texas Style, Whitewashes Democratic Ideals

Yee-haw! Texas conservatives prevailed in their academic culture war Friday, when the state’s education board approved a plethora of amendments that could alter curriculums across the nation. The move unabashedly injects some right-wing ideology into the nation’s collective syllabus, and, however unintentionally, runs counter to the very democratic ideals the board members celebrate. This episode provides quite the lesson in how to whitewash American history. Literally.

The Texas board occupies an over-sized place in America’s educational system: it’s the biggest buyer of text books in the union, therefore publishers often shape their content to suit the Lonestar State’s mandates. The 10-member board gained infamy, and mockery, a few years ago for trying to debunk Darwinism and replace it with the more Biblically palatable creationism. Now they’ve taken aim at social studies, voting along party lines to change what students learn about America’s evolution.

As with the evolution debate, this development stems largely from members’ religious motivations –- like their amendment that stresses the Founding Fathers’ spiritual intentions for the States –- but also goes far beyond the church and state debate to recast American history from a decidedly conservative angle.

Many of the board’s suggestions revolve around teaching our nation’s youth about the accomplishments of right-wing leaders, like Newt Gingrich, Ronald Reagan and anti-feminist icon Phyllis Schlafly. I’m all for fair and balanced -– in fact, I myself have previously written about Schlafly’s oversized role in America’s political scene –- and certainly these people deserve inclusion, but the Texas board’s nearly 300 amendments, which receive a final vote in May, challenge the very makeup of our melting-pot nation.

One of the nearly 300 amendments specifically takes on coverage of the civil rights movement, which it insists creates “unrealistic expectations of equal outcomes” for minorities. It wants to include the Black Panthers’ violent ideology alongside the peaceful tactics employed by Martin Luther King, Jr. An amendment to include more Hispanic leaders in history books, meanwhile, failed. But, luckily, so did the suggestion that history books ignore Thurgood Marshall, the Supreme Court’s first black Justice.

The board also wants to avoid too much talk of President Thomas Jefferson, who’s credited with inventing the separation of church and state, and put more emphasis on Confederate leader Jefferson Davis. Davis once claimed that “[slavery] was established by decree of Almighty God…it is sanctioned in the Bible… it has existed in all ages, has been found among the people of the highest civilization, and in nations of the highest proficiency in the arts.” That’s certainly not a lesson that belongs in 21^st century America.

The most unsettling amendment stresses the importance of being colorblind, although for far different reasons than liberals may like. The NY Times notes, “Another proposed change removes and reference to race, sex or religion in talking about how different groups have contributed to the national identity.” Excuse me, but isn’t that the point of the United States? Aren’t we meant to teach our children, well, that they can do anything they put their little minds to, regardless of their background? The board wants to stress American exceptionalism, except when it goes against their ideology. They are, in essence, eschewing the ideals inherent in the American dream by cutting out –- or censoring -– people who have made this nation great.

Don McLeroy’s definitely the board’s most outspoken member. It was McLeroy, a dentist, who pushed for creationism a few years ago. He justifies this latest move as a pushback against academia’s liberal bias, saying, “Academia is skewed too far left.” Any objection from liberals, he claims, stems from their realization that they too are biased. Rather than using the word “capitalism,” which has been tainted, as in “capitalist pig,” McLeroy and his right-wing peers prefer the term “free-market enterprise.” American “imperialism” should be replaced with “expansionism,” as if we’re still a colony trying to realize our Manifest Destiny.

It’s incredible that such a small group of people should be given so much control over the entire nation’s education system. And McLeroy agrees. He once boasted “Sometimes it boggles my mind the kind of power we have.” Indeed it is mind boggling, especially since McLeroy also insisted, “There are people out there who want to replace truth with political correctness. Instead of the American way they want multiculturalism. We plan to fight back.”

McLeroy, it’s worth noting, was voted off the board in a primary election earlier this month, but won’t step down until the fall, after the board’s final vote, which means these recommendations will likely get the green light. That doesn’t sit well with all of the board’s members. Democratic member Mavis B. Knight lamented last week’s vote, saying, “The social conservatives have perverted accurate history to fulfill their own agenda.” And that spells trouble for America’s school kids.

Image via Jadensmommy’s flickr.