This year teams of volunteers are working in Austin to review & rewrite social studies academic standards for Texas public schools. Bill Ames is a member of one of these teams the U. S. History writing team. He gained significant insight into how standards flaws translate into unacceptable curriculum as a voluntary textbook reviewer during the 2002 social studies textbook review process. Ames negotiated some 100 changes within just two textbooks.
Even as tens of thousands of Texas citizens rally against the Obama administrations agenda of deficit spending and socialist health care policy another leftist agenda is going relatively unnoticed. A group of educators some of whom are liberal activists have descended on Austin. This year they have been busily rewriting U. S. history revising the story of the most successful experiment in history with its roots firmly anchored in Western Civilization and replacing it with their own negative view of America told thru an overly multicultural lens of victimization and oppression of minorities and women.
It is time for mainstream Texans to focus if only briefly on ensuring that our youth get an accurate historical view of the United States. It is a history that has served America so well during its 200 years.
Upon arriving at the kickoff meeting of the social studies writing teams on February 5 2009 my first surprise was the overloading of the writing teams with representatives of the education establishment. On the 16 writing teams a group totaling just over 100 people I was one of only four Texas citizens who represented interests outside the education establishment.
Even so the Texas Education Agency (TEA) initially rejected my nomination put forth by no less than a member of the State Board of Education (SBOE).
Whether unelected TEA staff has the authority to reject nominations made by elected SBOE members is a question for another day. Only a number of last minute phone calls by my State Board of Education (SBOE) sponsor assured my place on the U. S. history writing team.
Such an overloading surely violates the Texas legislatures intent. Texas Education Code 28.002(c) clearly specifies: The State Board of Education with the direct participation of educators parents business and industry representatives and employers shall by rule identify the essential knowledge and skills of each subject of the required curriculum …
Reasonable observers would agree there are not enough parents business and industry representatives employers or taxpayers on the writing teams.
Activist educators do not appreciate public representation in a process that determines what is to be taught to our students. Especially activist educators who are liberals. A Wall Street Journal column published March 28 2002 during the debate over that years review of social studies textbooks clearly revealed the lefts agenda.
Nothing about public involvement is reasonable as far as the Texas school boards Democrat members are concerned. Groups of extremists are organized in an attempt to censor our textbooks by removing material that is unacceptable to them Mary Helen Berlanga a voice of the liberal faction bawled recently. Having gotten used to exercising power over what is fed to impressionable minds Ms. Berlanga and allies are loath to give it up."
But Ms. Berlanga was not bawling earlier this year when the extremist anti-Christian group Texas Freedom Network (whose most intelligent rebuttal to conservative Christian viewpoints is its often-recurring Thats a crock!") insisted on censorship of any classroom discussion questioning the validity of Darwins evolution theory.
In fact on March 27 2009 Ms. Berlanga cast one of only two dissenting SBOE votes thereby supporting such censorship. The double standard is not surprising.
The lefts allegations of censorship and extremism emerge only when its own ox is being gored.
Further as far back as a 2003 Zogby poll of Texas citizens reveals that fully 84 of respondents agreed public schools in Texas should teach both evolution and intelligent design.
So who is the mainstream here and who are the censors and extremists guilty of
politically motivated indoctrination of Texas students?
But back to earlier this year on February 5th.
It soon became clear that the starting point for our work was not going to be the existing social studies standards as is dictated by custom. Rather a group called the Texas Council for Social Studies (TCSS) had pre-prepared a document that it claimed was an update" to the existing standards.
One member of my writing team at one time associated with the TCSS arrived with revised" standards on her laptop and assumed control as the de facto leader of our group using the TCSS standards as the new starting point.
My complaints toward the validity of our starting point" were met with what can be best described as smug condescension. Our leader" controlled any flow of additions and deletions to the TCSS document during the three-day meeting. Liberal and multicultural material was added freely. My conservative suggestions were most often voted down by a 7 to 1 vote. In short the TCSS and its allies had hijacked the process.
The history standards had gone from bad to worse.
What is the TCSS? A study from a few years ago revealed that members of the TCSS comprise less than 20 of Texas social studies teachers. Yet by February they had anointed themselves as spokespersons for the standards work effort.
Further the TCSS is the Texas arm of the left-leaning National Council for Social Studies (NCSS) whose spin off National Center for History in the Schools (NCHS) created national history standards that were so anti-American that they were rejected by a resolution of condemnation in United States Senate including both Democrats and Republicans alike by a 99 to 1 vote.
The Senates condemnation concluded with the words Any recipient of federal funds … for standards and curriculum development … should have a decent respect for United States historys roots in western civilization."
Regardless even today the NCSS distributes NCHS history standards thru its catalog.
Obviously the vast majority of social studies teachers in Texas are anything but radical. But unfortunately it is the leftist-activist minority who often show up to create the new standards exploiting the opportunity to impose their ideology on unsuspecting Texas parents and their impressionable children.
There are two agendas at work here.
First is an attempt to paint United States history in as negative light as possible thru dwelling on the negative even coloring overall positive events in terms of any negative effects.
Second is the agenda to add as much multicultural content as possible with little regard for the historical significance of the contributions.
The result if left unchecked will be to eliminate our real history; that is Western Civilizations role in creating the most successful country in the worlds history and replacing it with a story in which historical events are told in the context of how they caused oppression and exploitation of minorities and women.
After the meeting I called then-SBOE chairman Don McLeroy with the bad news. Dr. McLeroy collected and reviewed the offending documents and wisely asked the Texas Public Policy Foundations (TPPF) education policy analyst Brooke Terry to look at the standards drafts created in the February meeting.
One SBOE board member characterized the writing teams collective work as a train wreck". Ms. Terry testified before the SBOE on March 26 2009. Much of her testimony and observations follow:
Good morning Chair McLeroy and members of the State Board of Education. I am Brooke Terry an education policy analyst with the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
I am here today to share our concerns regarding changes to the social studies curriculum (TEKS). Based on our review of the revised TEKS we are concerned that important pieces of history are being removed or changed. In addition we see repeated examples of bias against individualism against the free enterprise system and against personal responsibility.
We bring this to your attention today in hopes that the Board can rectify this situation and protect Texas K-12 social studies curriculum from unnecessary or inappropriate revisions.
Here are some examples of the revisions:
Kindergarten Social Studies Removes suggested selections of Youre a Grand Old Flag and a childrens biography of George Washington.
1st Grade Social Studies Removes the suggested selection of a childrens biography of Abraham Lincoln. In the section on holidays customs and celebrations it removes Independence Day Veterans Day and the anthems and mottos of Texas and the United States. In the list of character traits of good citizenship it removes a belief in justice and truth". Removes the Liberty Bell from a list of patriotic symbols.
3rd Grade Social Studies - References to Daniel Boone Paul Bunyan and Robinson Crusoe were removed. Many new names including Grace Hopper Margaret Knight Quanah Parker Dr. Hector P. Garcia Maya Lin Maya Angelou Sandra Cisneros Kadir Nelson Jean Pinkey Angela Shelf Medear Elisabet Ney Carmen Lomas Garza and Bill Martin were inserted.
(Authors note: This list is a multiculturalists dream. It is the perfect example of testimony I have made elsewhere exposing multicultural overrepresentation" in U. S. history standards).
8th Grade In the history of the revolution section it removes the phrase describe how religion contributed to the growth of representative government in the American colonies. In the section on the importance of personal responsibilities such as accepting responsibility for ones behavior it deletes supporting ones family".
High School World History Removes John Lockess two treatises of Government and English Common Law.
High School Government In the section on science technology and society it removes the reference to the private sector as helping improve consumer products and only mentions government-assisted research.
High School Economics Changes free enterprise system" to capitalism" throughout the document.
History Since Reconstruction - Wants analysis of contributions of political activist organizations including Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund National Organization of Women Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee Southern Christian Leadership Conference and American Indian Movement. What about other activist organizations such as pro-life groups like National Right to Life? What about groups protecting constitutional rights like the National Rifle Association?
History Since Reconstruction- Adds in political groups but only liberal ones (NAACP LULAC NOW and others are added). What about conservative political groups like the Christian Coalition Family Research Council or the Heritage Foundation?
The biased content introduced in February by the writing teams screamed for intervention by the SBOE.
Tomorrow Part II of this article will cover the steps the elected Texas State Board of Education took to attempt to correct the flawed standards work. Part II will also review in detail the actions of the writing teams during their second meeting July 28-31 2009.
This year teams of volunteers are working in Austin to review & rewrite social studies academic standards for Texas public schools. Bill Ames is a member of one of these teams the U. S. History writing team. He gained significant insight into how standards flaws translate into unacceptable curriculum as a voluntary textbook reviewer during the 2002 social studies textbook review process. Ames negotiated some 100 changes within just two textbooks.
Even as tens of thousands of Texas citizens rally against the Obama administrations agenda of deficit spending and socialist health care policy another leftist agenda is going relatively unnoticed. A group of educators some of whom are liberal activists have descended on Austin. This year they have been busily rewriting U. S. history revising the story of the most successful experiment in history with its roots firmly anchored in Western Civilization and replacing it with their own negative view of America told thru an overly multicultural lens of victimization and oppression of minorities and women.
It is time for mainstream Texans to focus if only briefly on ensuring that our youth get an accurate historical view of the United States. It is a history that has served America so well during its 200 years.
Upon arriving at the kickoff meeting of the social studies writing teams on February 5 2009 my first surprise was the overloading of the writing teams with representatives of the education establishment. On the 16 writing teams a group totaling just over 100 people I was one of only four Texas citizens who represented interests outside the education establishment.
Even so the Texas Education Agency (TEA) initially rejected my nomination put forth by no less than a member of the State Board of Education (SBOE).
Whether unelected TEA staff has the authority to reject nominations made by elected SBOE members is a question for another day. Only a number of last minute phone calls by my State Board of Education (SBOE) sponsor assured my place on the U. S. history writing team.
Such an overloading surely violates the Texas legislatures intent. Texas Education Code 28.002(c) clearly specifies: The State Board of Education with the direct participation of educators parents business and industry representatives and employers shall by rule identify the essential knowledge and skills of each subject of the required curriculum …
Reasonable observers would agree there are not enough parents business and industry representatives employers or taxpayers on the writing teams.
Activist educators do not appreciate public representation in a process that determines what is to be taught to our students. Especially activist educators who are liberals. A Wall Street Journal column published March 28 2002 during the debate over that years review of social studies textbooks clearly revealed the lefts agenda.
Nothing about public involvement is reasonable as far as the Texas school boards Democrat members are concerned. Groups of extremists are organized in an attempt to censor our textbooks by removing material that is unacceptable to them Mary Helen Berlanga a voice of the liberal faction bawled recently. Having gotten used to exercising power over what is fed to impressionable minds Ms. Berlanga and allies are loath to give it up."
But Ms. Berlanga was not bawling earlier this year when the extremist anti-Christian group Texas Freedom Network (whose most intelligent rebuttal to conservative Christian viewpoints is its often-recurring Thats a crock!") insisted on censorship of any classroom discussion questioning the validity of Darwins evolution theory.
In fact on March 27 2009 Ms. Berlanga cast one of only two dissenting SBOE votes thereby supporting such censorship. The double standard is not surprising.
The lefts allegations of censorship and extremism emerge only when its own ox is being gored.
Further as far back as a 2003 Zogby poll of Texas citizens reveals that fully 84 of respondents agreed public schools in Texas should teach both evolution and intelligent design.
So who is the mainstream here and who are the censors and extremists guilty of
politically motivated indoctrination of Texas students?
But back to earlier this year on February 5th.
It soon became clear that the starting point for our work was not going to be the existing social studies standards as is dictated by custom. Rather a group called the Texas Council for Social Studies (TCSS) had pre-prepared a document that it claimed was an update" to the existing standards.
One member of my writing team at one time associated with the TCSS arrived with revised" standards on her laptop and assumed control as the de facto leader of our group using the TCSS standards as the new starting point.
My complaints toward the validity of our starting point" were met with what can be best described as smug condescension. Our leader" controlled any flow of additions and deletions to the TCSS document during the three-day meeting. Liberal and multicultural material was added freely. My conservative suggestions were most often voted down by a 7 to 1 vote. In short the TCSS and its allies had hijacked the process.
The history standards had gone from bad to worse.
What is the TCSS? A study from a few years ago revealed that members of the TCSS comprise less than 20 of Texas social studies teachers. Yet by February they had anointed themselves as spokespersons for the standards work effort.
Further the TCSS is the Texas arm of the left-leaning National Council for Social Studies (NCSS) whose spin off National Center for History in the Schools (NCHS) created national history standards that were so anti-American that they were rejected by a resolution of condemnation in United States Senate including both Democrats and Republicans alike by a 99 to 1 vote.
The Senates condemnation concluded with the words Any recipient of federal funds … for standards and curriculum development … should have a decent respect for United States historys roots in western civilization."
Regardless even today the NCSS distributes NCHS history standards thru its catalog.
Obviously the vast majority of social studies teachers in Texas are anything but radical. But unfortunately it is the leftist-activist minority who often show up to create the new standards exploiting the opportunity to impose their ideology on unsuspecting Texas parents and their impressionable children.
There are two agendas at work here.
First is an attempt to paint United States history in as negative light as possible thru dwelling on the negative even coloring overall positive events in terms of any negative effects.
Second is the agenda to add as much multicultural content as possible with little regard for the historical significance of the contributions.
The result if left unchecked will be to eliminate our real history; that is Western Civilizations role in creating the most successful country in the worlds history and replacing it with a story in which historical events are told in the context of how they caused oppression and exploitation of minorities and women.
After the meeting I called then-SBOE chairman Don McLeroy with the bad news. Dr. McLeroy collected and reviewed the offending documents and wisely asked the Texas Public Policy Foundations (TPPF) education policy analyst Brooke Terry to look at the standards drafts created in the February meeting.
One SBOE board member characterized the writing teams collective work as a train wreck". Ms. Terry testified before the SBOE on March 26 2009. Much of her testimony and observations follow:
Good morning Chair McLeroy and members of the State Board of Education. I am Brooke Terry an education policy analyst with the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
I am here today to share our concerns regarding changes to the social studies curriculum (TEKS). Based on our review of the revised TEKS we are concerned that important pieces of history are being removed or changed. In addition we see repeated examples of bias against individualism against the free enterprise system and against personal responsibility.
We bring this to your attention today in hopes that the Board can rectify this situation and protect Texas K-12 social studies curriculum from unnecessary or inappropriate revisions.
Here are some examples of the revisions:
Kindergarten Social Studies Removes suggested selections of Youre a Grand Old Flag and a childrens biography of George Washington.
1st Grade Social Studies Removes the suggested selection of a childrens biography of Abraham Lincoln. In the section on holidays customs and celebrations it removes Independence Day Veterans Day and the anthems and mottos of Texas and the United States. In the list of character traits of good citizenship it removes a belief in justice and truth". Removes the Liberty Bell from a list of patriotic symbols.
3rd Grade Social Studies - References to Daniel Boone Paul Bunyan and Robinson Crusoe were removed. Many new names including Grace Hopper Margaret Knight Quanah Parker Dr. Hector P. Garcia Maya Lin Maya Angelou Sandra Cisneros Kadir Nelson Jean Pinkey Angela Shelf Medear Elisabet Ney Carmen Lomas Garza and Bill Martin were inserted.
(Authors note: This list is a multiculturalists dream. It is the perfect example of testimony I have made elsewhere exposing multicultural overrepresentation" in U. S. history standards).
8th Grade In the history of the revolution section it removes the phrase describe how religion contributed to the growth of representative government in the American colonies. In the section on the importance of personal responsibilities such as accepting responsibility for ones behavior it deletes supporting ones family".
High School World History Removes John Lockess two treatises of Government and English Common Law.
High School Government In the section on science technology and society it removes the reference to the private sector as helping improve consumer products and only mentions government-assisted research.
High School Economics Changes free enterprise system" to capitalism" throughout the document.
History Since Reconstruction - Wants analysis of contributions of political activist organizations including Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund National Organization of Women Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee Southern Christian Leadership Conference and American Indian Movement. What about other activist organizations such as pro-life groups like National Right to Life? What about groups protecting constitutional rights like the National Rifle Association?
History Since Reconstruction- Adds in political groups but only liberal ones (NAACP LULAC NOW and others are added). What about conservative political groups like the Christian Coalition Family Research Council or the Heritage Foundation?
The biased content introduced in February by the writing teams screamed for intervention by the SBOE.
Tomorrow Part II of this article will cover the steps the elected Texas State Board of Education took to attempt to correct the flawed standards work. Part II will also review in detail the actions of the writing teams during their second meeting July 28-31 2009.
