Texas Removes Thomas Jefferson from Textbooks

Originally posted by iamsupermanv2
reply to post by AmericanDaughter

 

not according to the source in the OP

"The new standard, passed at the meeting in a 10-5 vote, now reads, "Explain the impact of the writings of John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Voltaire, Charles de Montesquieu, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin and Sir William Blackstone."

Notice the focus is anywhere but on the americans that forged a working reality out of Hobbes, Locke ect. Notice these are all Europeans.

We should teach the life and work Willlaim of Orange as well then oh you British subjects of Texas.

See people, it's quite easy to rewrite history. If this pans out, so much for our great Thomas Jefferson being a known figure in 20years for the next generation. Between Texas and North Carolina cutting out history before the civil war, no darn wonder the kids in the public school system are idiots...they are being taught a revised dumbed down version of it.

And people wonder why i question everything. Just because you believe it to be the truth don't make it so.

reply to post by cenpuppie



At this rate in 50 years kids will grow up believing that FDR, King, X, founded the modern day america.

However one thought does come to mind. How do nations like England that have such a long history pick and chose? And modern history is always just that modern made and shaped by the bull crap of the age.

Another strong argument for shutting down the Dept. of Education and stamping out Federal intrusion into our homes and classrooms.

If we give over our responsibilities to educate our children to some bureaucrats in D.C. or the State Capitol, we shouldn't be surprised when these things happen.
We are powerless now in the face of the powerful bureaucracy.
Educating our children should be OUR responsibility on a LOCAL level. Parents and teachers should decide how best to educate, not remote and politically motivated bureaucrats.

Originally posted by iMacFanatic
Fools and morons.

No I take that back...that is insulting to fools and morons.

Ditto.

Nothing more to say, really.

reply to post by Logarock


Is there something in the water supply down there??

Not to gang up on Texas (or Texans) but....

www.abovetopsecret.com...

(Shameless plug...)

Maybe the School Board members were in that survey???

[edit on 13 March 2010 by weedwhacker]

Originally posted by Logarock
reply to post by cenpuppie

 

At this rate in 50 years kids will grow up believing that FDR, King, X, founded the modern day america.

Maybe so... if we were talking California

I don't think the above mentioned folks are more popular than Thomas in Texas and it appears old TJ is out based upon his love for intellectual rational or distrust in theocratic proclamations (as a method of sound governance) have put him on the outs?



No No, Don't tread on me is the line of the day down that way, this story must be a lie.

I say - "Don't tread on me, but feel obliged to tread all over anyone else"

"I firmly, absolutely and unequivocally believe in freedom for all... people who think like me!"

Here's a few others for you:

Texas ed board adopts new social studies standards that reflect ultraconservatives' influence

A far-right faction of the Texas State Board of Education succeeded Friday in injecting conservative ideals into social studies, history and economics lessons that will be taught to millions of students for the next decade.

Teachers in Texas will be required to cover the Judeo-Christian influences of the nation's Founding Fathers, but not highlight the philosophical rationale for the separation of church and state. Curriculum standards also will describe the U.S. government as a "constitutional republic," rather than "democratic," and students will be required to study the decline in value of the U.S. dollar, including the abandonment of the gold standard.

Rosa Parks, Ben Franklin, Rush Limbaugh? Texas may change must-know figures for students

AUSTIN, Texas — Does civil rights activist Cesar Chavez belong alongside Benjamin Franklin as an example of a model American citizen? Should Texas schoolchildren be required to identify Rush Limbaugh? How big a place does the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall — most famous for his victory in integrating the nation’s schools — deserve in the history books?

The conservative-dominated Texas State Board of Education debates changes beginning Thursday to the social studies curriculum of the state’s 4.6 million K-12 students, and both conservatives and liberals say the other is attempting to rewrite history.

This one's actually pretty intereesting, a little balanced between the two extremes.

Neil Armstrong isn't worthy of Texas Schoolbooks?
[e]x
As some readers may know, Texas State Board of Education has held meetings this week (read more) to conduct a variety of business. Fortunately they haven't engaged in their anti-science attacks on evolution, but there have been other questionable actions.


Older articles, but in the same vein as the OP.


Edit: Tags.

[edit on 13-3-2010 by RuneSpider]

Originally posted by weedwhacker
reply to post by Logarock

 

Is there something in the water supply down there??

Not to gang up on Texas (or Texans) but....

www.abovetopsecret.com...

(Shameless plug...)

Maybe the School Board members were in that survey???

[edit on 13 March 2010 by weedwhacker]

dude, Tom made a fortune raising and curing brontosaurus jerky, not the issue...

This will not stand.

Texas sets the standard for textbooks by the sheer volume that they buy HOWEVER I am certain other states will not stand for this and make their displeasure known to the textbook companies and if they don't get relief there it will go to the courts. For example Virginia won't put up with Jefferson being written out.

It is stuff like this is why I have serious problems with positions like school boards or judges or sheriffs being elected.

No one state or no one group of fanatics (idiots) should be allowed to dictate standards for the rest of the country.

reply to post by endisnighe

Ya know we don't agree on a lot but I am right by your side on this.

What a lot of people don't know is as I mentioned in the above post that Texas by the sheer volume of books it purchases essentially sets the standard for the rest of the nation.

reply to post by Kaploink

I don't know how old you are or whether you know about it but we have been having this problem since the late 80's.

The American Taliban discovered next to nobody bothers to vote for school board members so they started coming out in mass and voting their people into office...this is why we still have school boards trying to ban evolution and things like that.

Originally posted by iMacFanatic

No one state or no one group of fanatics (idiots) should be allowed to dictate standards for the rest of the country.

What about freedom? They should be free to print what ever they like in their text books, should they not? They earned their positions and it is not the duty of the government to dictate to people, book printing is likely a private corporate endeavor... Clearly this is a first amendment issue? Is it Texas's right to print the ideas of true freedom and leaf out
the treasonous ideas that might state America is not a Christian nation in governance?

reply to post by RuneSpider

Neil Armstrong isn't worthy of Texas Schoolbooks?

I don't know, but I think that upsets me even more!!!

IF it merely shows the lack of scientific comprehension prevalent on that School Board....then, maybe they can be forgiven. ( Maybe. After all, all they need is some education ).

BUT, IF they elect to remove such sciences (and social historical) references as part of some sort of 'conservative religious' agenda, then there's gonna be some heck to pay!

I certainly hope this gets more attention, because there are a lot of intelligent parents in Texas who should be outraged by this. Hope their voices are heard.

Originally posted by Smack
Another strong argument for shutting down the Dept. of Education and stamping out Federal intrusion into our homes and classrooms.

Actually its a pretty damned good argument for national standards of education and taking things like what public schools teach out of local school boards.

reply to post by Janky Red

Don't you understand allowing a group of fanatics to dictate by default the educational standards to the nation is the antithesis of freedom...it is the minority dictating to the whole.

Originally posted by iMacFanatic

Originally posted by Smack
Another strong argument for shutting down the Dept. of Education and stamping out Federal intrusion into our homes and classrooms.

Actually its a pretty damned good argument for national standards of education and taking things like what public schools teach out of local school boards.

Wow

Smack, steeped in some quantum logic there, I don't have the skills to do that equation.

Originally posted by iMacFanatic
reply to post by Janky Red

 

it is the minority dictating to the whole.

Now we know why they do not like Jefferson -

Yet it is interesting that his intellectual platform is used to propagate "Texan" ideals when it suits the terrane of specific battles.

I am not a believer in a "free market" in this modern world, but I might pull a Texas and say, "Hopefully free market disgust will put them out of the text book business creating opportunities for other producers in less; "traditional" states."

reply to post by guillotinegleam
Day by day homeschooling becomes more and more appealing....

reply to post by guillotinegleam


Yes, and it is not just that he was removed -- they replaced him with the all-work-no-play French theologian John Calvin.