Texas' New Curriculum Standards Are Scary

I noticed an article on fellow teacher Hopi Hawk's Facebook status today that made me cringe a bit. Whenever I see "Texas" and "Curriculum Standards" in the same headline I assume the worst. I told myself not to jump to conclusions and clicked on the link. Unfortunately, my (admittedly) stereotypical assumption was correct. Texas changed their curriculum standards based on the recommendations of a combination of professors and right wing religious figures. This has broad-reaching effect because Texas is such a big purchaser of textbooks and so they drive much of the regional textbook manufacturers' designs.

Most of the changes are somewhat laughable, and you can read in detail here. Suffice it to say they are all changes to create a more conservative view of history. For example, we'll conveniently leave out Thomas Jefferson's views on separation of church and state if they don't fit our ideology. Or, we should probably change the word "capitalism" to "free enterprise." I guess if your economic system has recently avoided utter collapse because of irresponsibility and a lack of regulation, it's time for a name change. Don't get me wrong, there are some teachers that spew forth an endless stream of liberal propaganda, but for those of us that really put effort into being non-biased, this type of state-mandated obfuscation of the truth is infuriating. We should be teaching students to be critical thinkers, to read both sides of an issue and make up their own minds, not setting a biased agenda from the start! I am proud of the fact that when I had students give me feedback on my government class today after finals, more than one student wrote that they were frustrated they couldn't figure out my political leanings. This is one teacher that would switch states were this kind of nonsense to occur in Oregon.

I guess what upsets me the most is that this is yet another example of partisanship gone awry. The Texas state school board voted along party lines to pass these amendments. Why does every decision, from large national issues down to the local level, have to be so bitter and divisive these days? While there has always been partisan bickering in America, there was usually a compromise in the works once both sides had gotten their say. Politicians seemed to generally understand that their loyalties were to their constituents first, country, and THEN party. Now every political debate seems to consist of either ramming an idea through (think Patriot Act, Iraq War or Health Care legislation) or scoring political points through appearances on skewed "news" programs to try to get a soundbite or two for a 30 second ad spot.

I guess I'll just add this to my list of reasons not to work in Texas.