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Texas schools to get controversial syllabus


Texas' decisions could influence curriculums across the US

Education officials in the US state of Texas have adopted new guidelines to the school curriculum, which critics say will politicise teaching.

The changes include teaching that the UN could be a threat to American freedom, and that the Founding Fathers may not have intended a complete separation of church and state.

Critics say the changes are ideological and distort history.

However, proponents argue they are redressing a liberal bias in education.

Analysts say Texas, with five million schoolchildren, wields substantial influence on school curriculums across the US.

The BBC's Rajesh Mirchandani in Los Angeles says publishers of textbooks used nationally often print what Texas wants to teach.
Jefferson out

Students in Texas will now be taught the benefits of US free-market economics and how government taxation can harm economic progress.

They will study how American ideals benefit the world but organisations such as the UN could be a threat to personal freedom.

And Thomas Jefferson has been dropped from a list of enlightenment thinkers in the world-history curriculum, despite being one of the Founding Fathers who is credited with developing the idea that church and state should be separate.

The doctrine has become a cornerstone of US government, but some religious groups and some members of the Texas Education Board disagree, our correspondent says.

The board, which is dominated by Christian conservatives, voted nine-to-five in favour of adopting the new curriculum for both primary and secondary schools.

But during the discussions some of the most controversial ideas were dropped - including a proposal to refer to the slave trade as the "Atlantic triangular trade".

Opponents of the changes worry that textbooks sold in other states will be written to comply with the new Texas standards, meaning that the alterations could have an impact on curriculums nationwide.

This post has been edited by CelicaST_CALI: May 31, 2010 - 3:49 AM

Ahh the joys of education... wait what the hell?

This post has been edited by Hazmat: May 31, 2010 - 4:07 AM

Many states has been laying off teachers due to lack of local/state/government funding so these classes will be taught by heavily biased southerners. Living in Florida and traveling all over on business trips I certainly meet thousands of them.

I would certainly opt out from merging religion and education since there are already venues such as catholic schools out there right now. When you start mixing the two you no longer respect the fact that while many people in this country happen to associate themselves to a christian religion, there are hindus, muslims and other religious denominations and branches out there. By that definition if they do plan to introduce religion into schools then they need to teach it same way they do in college and that is as a class and not base their entire curriculum on what bible teaches.

I am of course heavily biased myself. Growing up in a religious-less society I have never been subjected to much religion. In russia we have churches that serve more "museum" status than a religious one. Lately there has been a revival but role of religion is at home where it belongs, at least in my opinion.

The unfortunate part is that I am getting closer to where I am ready to start a family and all these questions will be on my mind for school wont be behind me like it was all these years but ahead of me since my children will be subjected to this schooling system and I will have lots and lots of thinks to think about

Just another reason why we should all probably move to Canada. Texas is dragging this country down. (Sorry Texas members)

n/p. i know what you're saying.

Really i dont like the idea of combined church and state. Like Yarik i am not a religous person. But you'll have people do it to you all the time.

Old ladys will randomly say something about god; and how he's going to help you. lol

As far as government taxation, it can slow economics down. We all get our checks and say "awe~ i could have used that extra 300 here or there"

Myself for example, have somehow wound up paying in almost 1500 in march because of an error made in my corporate office having to do with my w2's. I still haven't recovered from that.

Then wen the govt is low on money like it is now~ We're up-ing the police force tocrack down and intinsifying punishments. No insurance = automatic arrest, suspended d/l AND you have to pay the ticket 3 times. (once a year) WHY? that's 5 ways of getting paid, that's why.

Govt is full of sh!t IMHO. So i dont disagree with that particular teaching.

This post has been edited by D-Man: May 31, 2010 - 6:54 PM

i think there are worse states...

Which states are worse, and why?

Personally, I think that the new curriculum is very much the WRONG way to go; the idea of education is to give as much information and "facts" so that the students can come about creating their own views of how the world is - not giving them a defined view that's pre-conditioned as much as this one is.

This sounds a lot like how Japan has completely changed their history books to remove such atrocities as the horrors of their occupation of China and Korea.

Agreed.

Yet you need to explain out how one idea can lead to both positive and negative consequences/circumstances. Not to mention, each action taken will have different effects on different classes of people.

first of all why is texas, of all places determining anything? how did that come about? never understood that. 2nd, why are people LETTING this happen?!? its bad enough young african american kids dont know their heritage, but for it to be omitted,chopped and screwed is an additional slap in the face. i cant BELIVE theyre leaving out important bits about thomas jefferson!!



what ever happened to teaching what happened and allowing the students to formulate THEIR OWN views and conclusions based on facts? isnt that what the purpose of an education is? learning to think for yourself? AH... another kick in this country's already bleeding nutsack... U.S.A. is goin to hell in a handbasket... with a big ol pink bow on it.

I live in Texas and I hate this its ruining the future of our great country. Everything is going down hill and fast with declineing education system our future children will not be able to compete on a global level. That means we will have a lot of unskilled workers in the work force causeing more business's to hire people outside U.S. borders.

I foresee a mass exodus from Texas.

I'm in the educational publishing business so I'll answer this one. Texas is a HUGE money market for text books, thus; they decide which ones to use, and since they decide what their curriculum is they choose the text books that most closely adhere to it. Therefore, lots of text book writers (yes guys actually write them) and publishers cater to the larger accounts.

This, ladies and gentleman, is how history is written. Not with facts, but with figures. It's a scary thought when conservatives in strict Bible-adhering areas decide what your children learn and what parts of science & history are left completely out.

This post has been edited by Supersprynt: Jun 1, 2010 - 11:36 AM

not going there. draw your own conclusion

Don't come in here saying there are worse states and then say you aren't going there. You stated others were worse and I would appreciate it if you would share your supporting evidence.

last time i check i was entitled to my own opinion. chill out there tough guy. i think ill do what i want how i want to thank you.

He's asking what your opinion is, not that you can't have one. I think you kinda just supported what he said in the first place.

ok so he said "Don't come in here saying there are worse states and then say you aren't going there" i never said there were worse states, i said "
i think there are worse states" (THINK, implying this is my opinion). I then refused to enter a conversation about which states are worse to avoid offending people from other states. why? because i didnt want to. but here are some random facts http://blog.bestandworststates.com/ i have no idea how credible these are. i dont see texas at the bottom of any list...

By coincidence: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=...7161&ref=mf

Looks like Mississippi takes the cake.

This post has been edited by Supersprynt: Jun 1, 2010 - 3:21 PM

Texas spawned George W. Bush. Automatic worst state.