I attended high school in Texas for two years, 15 years ago. So I can attest to the fact that Texas has about the worst public school system in the country.
It's about to get worse.
The Texas Board of Education is suggesting the following changes to state curricula:
revamping the K-12 curriculum to emphasize the roles of the Bible, the Christian faith and the civic virtue of religion in the study of American history. Two of them want to remove or de-emphasize references to several historical figures who have become liberal icons, such as César Chávez and Thurgood Marshall.
Mind you, this is in Texas public schools. If they want to teach this crap in private schools, fine. If you send your kid to Baptist Elementary, you expect them to learn about the Bible and Jesus. In fact, you pay for that privilege. Now, the Texas BOE wants to emphasize the roles of the Bible and Christianity in schools attended and paid for by atheists, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, etc. In other words, the Texas BOE seeks to turn every school in Texas into a Christian school.
Seriously, wtf?
A few other choice teachings for Texas' public schools:
The conservative reviewers say they believe that children must learn that America's founding principles are biblical. For instance, they say the separation of powers set forth in the Constitution stems from a scriptural understanding of man's fall and inherent sinfulness, or "radical depravity," which means he can be governed only by an intricate system of checks and balances.
The curriculum, they say, should clearly present Christianity as an overall force for good -- and a key reason for American exceptionalism, the notion that the country stands above and apart.
Why this should scare you:
Nearly every state has its own curriculum standards, and there are scores of social studies texts to choose from at most grade levels, so what happens in Texas won't necessarily affect other states. But the Texas market is huge, so most big publishers aggressively seek approval from the board, in some cases adopting the majority's editing suggestions nearly verbatim.
In other words, textbook publishers aren't going to make different textbooks for each state. They're going to please their largest customers (Texas) and the rest of us will suffer for it. I hope everyone enjoys explaining "radical depravity" to their children.
