Dear Texas, WTF!!!????

sleepyb

For anyone still checking out this thread, I sent the link to my brother.  He's a History/education major here in Houston.  His response:

"I have a printed out copy of how they changed the TEKs (what is supposed to be taught) it is hilariously biased, religious, and wrong".

semplesarah

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_dear-texas-wtf?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:17Discussion:b6742643-7b06-4f85-a0d6-dc9e0a085255Post:42966d94-7880-4c9f-a0a7-9fd3b444778c">Re: Dear Texas, WTF!!!????</a>:
[QUOTE]If I had a child in these public schools, I would have a major problem. 
Posted by LetsHikeToday[/QUOTE]

Yeah my FI and I have already decided when we have kids we will do whatever it takes to put them in private school. I love Tx, but I don't like some of the things that it comes up with.

LetsHikeToday

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_dear-texas-wtf?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:b6742643-7b06-4f85-a0d6-dc9e0a085255Post:60ec9ff9-4e6d-4b60-adcf-5fc2d7f23d86">Re: Dear Texas, WTF!!!????</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Dear Texas, WTF!!!???? : Yeah my FI and I have already decided when we have kids we will do whatever it takes to put them in private school. I love Tx, but I don't like some of the things that it comes up with.
Posted by semplesarah[/QUOTE]
Oh, I won't be putting my kids in private school, I just would be at school board meetings being vocal about the changes. 

ktwed1

My daughter is a Junior in high school and came home a few weeks ago complaining about this. I'm glad she only has one year left. I'm not a big fan of how her school district is run here in the Dallas area. I especially hate the fact they are trying to change history.

miranda1211

I had the opportunity to speak with a sitting member of the Texas BOE a few months ago and asked her about the Thomas Jefferson thing.

According to her, there was never any intent to completely remove TJ from educational curriculum.  It was simply to move his teaching from one grade level to another - that is, teach TJ at the same time when the American Revolution is taught.  But, she said, the TBOE completely failed at getting this point across and was effectively drowned out.

So I can't speak for the other things mentioned in the article, and I certainly have my own problems with the Texas public school system, but this statement-

"How else would one explain the decision to remove references to Thomas Jefferson from the state's history books? It's true that Jefferson is not a conservative hero, since he coined the term "separation between church and state.""

Kind of discredits the entire editorial to me, for the reason mentioned above and also for the fact that Thomas Jefferson kind of is a conservative hero.

chirpchirp

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_dear-texas-wtf?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:17Discussion:b6742643-7b06-4f85-a0d6-dc9e0a085255Post:98f151b2-6316-4e59-b8bd-b05adfc1ff17">Re: Dear Texas, WTF!!!????</a>:
[QUOTE]I had the opportunity to speak with a sitting member of the Texas BOE a few months ago and asked her about the Thomas Jefferson thing. According to her, there was never any intent to completely remove TJ from educational curriculum.  It was simply to move his teaching from one grade level to another - that is, teach TJ at the same time when the American Revolution is taught.  But, she said, the TBOE completely failed at getting this point across and was effectively drowned out. So I can't speak for the other things mentioned in the article, and I certainly have my own problems with the Texas public school system, but this statement- "How else would one explain the decision to remove references to Thomas Jefferson from the state's history books? It's true that Jefferson is not a conservative hero, since he coined the term "separation between church and state."" Kind of discredits the entire editorial to me, for the reason mentioned above and also for <strong>the fact that Thomas Jefferson kind of is a conservative hero</strong>.
Posted by miranda1211[/QUOTE]

You know that there is a difference between being a conservative and being conservative, right?  For instance, one can be considered a conservative (or Republican for another term) and have liberal (otherwise not identifying with the conservative framework) ideologies.  Hence, while Jefferson was considered a conservative, he had some inherently liberal leanings, such as his belief in the separation of church and state. 

Also, while I'm sure you believe the person you spoke with was being completely honest when they told you that their intention was not to remove Jefferson (or any other factual pieces for that matter) from the curriculum, that's not exactly what the article is about.  This is about altering textbooks to more closely align with the BOE views.  And I fail to see how the BOE would be disregarded if they had a problem with the text that assists in the teaching being changed.  It's not an oversight FFS.

Sydney91

History has always been altered. Most history texts ignore Vietnam. Doesn't make it right. Makes it worse every time it happens. Thank you USA for failing as a superpower in the democratic world. I'm so glad Robert E Lee brought the notion of liberal arts degree to colleges so students have to widen their horizons beyond their major/minor. And yes, that is the Civil War general that I'm talking about. The people that don't like certain events in history need to take a dose of maturity and smarten up!! 

Sydney91

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_dear-texas-wtf?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:b6742643-7b06-4f85-a0d6-dc9e0a085255Post:333bb32c-adb4-4e33-8a21-de1f97b7b3c7">Re: Dear Texas, WTF!!!????</a>:
[QUOTE]I know this thread is already dead, but as a hopeful future teacher in Texas (and Texas resident), can I please just say that most of us are not cray cray like these school board people?  Most of the educators I have met (and, really, people in general), would agree that this rewriting stuff is insane. Although, the only thing I will add is that there is no such thing as 100% "true" history--it's all someone's interpretation.  But that is why we need to teach children how to read CRITICALLY and look for biases and multiple viewpoints.
Posted by monkeysip[/QUOTE]
We all know it's just a few bad apples. Don't worry about that. Anyone who doesn't know it's just a few bad apples might be bad apples too.

juliebug1997

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_dear-texas-wtf?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:b6742643-7b06-4f85-a0d6-dc9e0a085255Post:a5934b7f-ab31-433d-838b-df69e14ff0d0">Re: Dear Texas, WTF!!!????</a>:
[QUOTE]What I don't understand is how the BOE could have a "conservative majority."  Our education boards up here in the boondocks are non-partisan boards.  How the fluck do you get to twist facts about shiit that actually happened in history according to your politics and think it's okay?
Posted by AllAboutTheBenjamin[/QUOTE]

I know I'm really late to this, but BOE people are elected statewide here, so, yes, they do have their own personal agendas. 

ETA:  Also, they haven't fully funded education and textbooks for the rest of this school year and for next school year.  They have to pass a budget next year and, even then, they can pass laws in the state of TX but they don't have to fund them.  So, if they don't give the schools money for new textbooks (I teach Latin and I was supposed to be up for readoption for next year, but that's a joke!), the schools do not have to buy them.