In March 2010 the Texas Board of Education voted 10-5 along party lines to institute a number of revisions to the state's history textbooks. A small list of the changes from the NYT:
-"......a plank to ensure that students learn about “the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s, including Phyllis Schlafly, the Contract With America, the Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority and the National Rifle Association.”
- "a change to the teaching of the civil rights movement to ensure that students study the violent philosophy of the Black Panthers in addition to the nonviolent approach of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr
-".......textbooks would mention the votes in Congress on civil rights legislation, which Republicans supported. “Republicans need a little credit for that,” ( A Republican board member) said. “I think it’s going to surprise some students.”
-"students should study “the unintended consequences” of the Great Society legislation, affirmative action and Title IX legislation."
-"an amendment stressing that Germans and Italians as well as Japanese were interned in the United States during World War II, to counter the idea that the internment of Japanese was motivated by racism"
-"Other changes seem aimed at tamping down criticism of the right. Conservatives passed one amendment, for instance, requiring that the history of McCarthyism include “how the later release of the Venona papers confirmed suspicions of communist infiltration in U.S. government.” The Venona papers were transcripts of some 3,000 communications between the Soviet Union and its agents in the United States."
These changes have not gone over well to say the least. For a typical outraged response check out this HuffingtonPost slide show:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/13/texas-textbook-massacre-u_n_498003.html#s73765&title=Thomas_Jefferson_Whos
I'll write some gigantic essay giving my opinion next week, but in the meantime, what do you, the viewer, think about these changes?
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