The Texas State Board of Education adopted a conservative-leaning social studies and history curriculum that amends or waters down the teaching of the civil rights movement, religious freedoms and the US’ relationship with the UN, among other items.
The board’s vote dictates how political events and figures will be taught to some 4.8 million primary and high school students in Texas — one of the most conservative states in the US and home to former US president George W. Bush — and beyond for the next decade.
The standards will also be used by textbook publishers, who often develop materials for other states based on guidelines approved in Texas, although teachers in the state have latitude in deciding how to teach the material.
The final vote was nine-five along party lines, after Democrats’ and moderate Republicans’ efforts to delay a final vote failed.
In one of the most significant changes leading up to the vote, the board attempted to water down the rationale for the separation of church and state in a high school government class, pointing out that the words were not in the Constitution and requiring that students compare and contrast the judicial language with the wording in the First Amendment.
They also rejected language to modernize the classification of historic periods to BCE and CE from the traditional BC and AD, and agreed to replace Thomas Jefferson as an example of an influential political philosopher in a world history class. They also required students to evaluate efforts by global organizations, such as the UN, to undermine US sovereignty.
Educators have blasted the curriculum proposals for politicizing education. Teachers have also said the document is too long and will force students to memorize lists of names rather than thinking critically.
Members of the board had briefly fought over the meaning of the president’s middle name, Hussein. Democrats and a moderate Republican accused conservatives of trying to stir up a needless controversy by proposing to refer to the president with his full name, President Barack Hussein Obama, saying the middle name was loaded with negative connotations. The effort was eventually dropped.
Former board chairman Don McLeroy, one of the board’s most outspoken conservatives, said the Texas history curriculum had been unfairly skewed to the left after years of Democrats controlling the board and he just wanted to bring it back into balance.
“I’m proud to have my name on this document,” Republican board member Barbara Cargill said shortly before the vote.
At least one lawmaker vowed legislative action to “rein in” the board.
“They have ignored historians and teachers, allowing ideological activists to push the culture war further into our classrooms,” Democrat Representative Mike Villareal said. “They fail to understand that we don’t want liberal textbooks or conservative textbooks. We want excellent textbooks, written by historians instead of activists.”
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese