A Tea Party Manifesto for Every Child
By louisehartmann
California state Sen. Leland Yee (D) has introduced a bill to stop Texas textbooks from getting into California classrooms.
Earlier this year, Texas cut Thomas Jefferson out of textbooks and replaced him with the religious right icon John Calvin - who argued that riches are the sign of god's blessing and poverty is a sign of god's curse - and also tossed out the word “democratic” from the description of the U.S. government, replacing it with "republic" which sounds more like "Republican" - an old rhetorical trick that goes back to Joe McCarthy's time.
A new report in the Guardian reveals that the Texas dropped the phrase "slave trade" in favor of ‘Atlantic triangular trade."
And newly proposed changes in Texas schoolbooks include teaching kids the importance of gutting social security & medicare and how the UN "is a danger to US sovereignty."
The Texas school board will be meeting again this week and conservatives have promised to keep chipping away correct years of liberal bias in history classes.
Texas serves 4.7 million students and accounts for a large percentage of the textbook market, and they influence what is taught in the the entire US.
Textbooks for children are becoming a Tea Party Manifesto..
Comments
#2
Excellent,
I will get this to the staffer of our Assembly person who asked me to keep him informed of any updates per my call to him a few months back. I will be sure also to call Yee.
#3
Okay- I just called 2 of Yee's offices and my assembly person Dave Jones, whose staffer asked me to keep abreast of this should there be any developments. Just called Senator Pro Temp Steinberg as well.
Bill to Block Texas Curriculum Changes in California Approved by Committee Monday, May 17, 2010
Yee's bill would help ensure ultra-conservative changes do not affect California textbooks
SACRAMENTO – On a 6-3 vote, the Senate Appropriations Committee today passed legislation to help ensure California textbooks are not subject to the ultra-conservative curriculum changes recently made in Texas.
SB 1451, authored by Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco), will require State Board of Education to review all California social studies textbooks to ensure that they have not been changed as a result of textbook changes in Texas.
In March, the Texas State Board of Education approved several extreme right-wing curriculum changes. Due to the number of public school students in the state, the changes in Texas could drastically influence textbooks throughout the country.
“While some Texas politicians may want to set their educational standards back 50 years, California should not be subject to their backward curriculum changes,” said Yee. “The alterations and fallacies made by these extremist conservatives are offensive to our communities and inaccurate of our nation’s diverse history. Our kids should be provided an education based on facts and that embraces our multicultural nation.”
Such curriculum changes approved in Texas include reducing the scope of Latino history; replacing Thomas Jefferson among influential writers with individuals guided by “strict Christian beliefs;” terms such as “capitalism” replaced with “free market;” labeling civil rights programs that protect women and people of color as having adverse “unintended consequences;” emphasis on “the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s,” including favorable mentions of the Eagle Forum, Moral Majority, Heritage Foundation, the National Rifle Association and New Gingrich’s Contract With America; more positive portrayal of Cold War anticommunism; removal of third-party presidential candidates; labeling Confederate General Stonewall Jackson as a role model for effective leadership and a statement from Confederate President Jefferson Davis to accompany a statement from President Abraham Lincoln; removing references to the term “slave trade;” and to include country and western music among nation’s important cultural movements while dropping hip-hop from the same list.
“These curriculum changes are completely unacceptable,” said Yee. “Our children deserve better.”
SB 1451 will next be considered by the full Senate.
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Contact: Adam J. Keigwin
(916) 651-4008
#4
Maybe Texas can write in future textbooks how the deregulation mania started by St. Ronald Reagan allowed all the beachcombers in Texas to become oil magnates.
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Well this is a nice recap of what the Texas School Board is trying to do... but is there anything more about what California State Sen. Leland Yee is doing to stop the pollution of this dribble in the California schools. Like what is the verbiage of the bill? Has he made any statements to the California School Board, extolling them to demand standards of there own? I personally would love to see California step in and take control of this (we do have the numbers after all), perhaps give even a little push back and demand a section on how healthy vegans have changed history for the better (that should give Texas fits for centuries to come ;-) )