Members of the State Board of Education skirmish all day to create Texas social studies curriculum. One board member walks out.
AUSTIN The State Board of Educations Hispanic and African-American members clashed with its Anglo majority for hours Thursday over how to present history to the states 4.7 million public school children.
Much of the conflict centered on the racial balance of the historical figures to be included in textbooks starting in the 2011-2012 school year. Tempers boiled over when sex or religion were added to the mix.
Members grew increasingly distraught over the process as they moved toward a preliminary adoption of new social studies curriculum standards set for today.
And one Mary Helen Berlanga D-Corpus Christi walked out shortly after 5 p.m. as the board added two more Anglos Lawrence Sul" Ross and John Nance Garner to a standard on the contributions of Texas leaders.
We can just pretend that this is White America. Hispanics dont exist" Berlanga said as she left.
Earlier she said the Legislature should abolish the board if its makeup and methods dont change with the November general election. Berlanga its longest-serving member has been on the board since 1982.
A partisan vote on the governments relationship to religion was typical of the skirmishes.
Mavis Knight D-Dallas was unable to attract any Republican support for her motion to teach students that government is not supposed to favor any religion. Knights proposed amendment: Examine the reasons the Founding Fathers protected religious freedom in America by barring government from protecting or disfavoring any particular religion over all others" was defeated.
Board member Cynthia Dunbar R-Richmond a Liberty College law professor called Knights proposal inaccurate.
We dont want our religious history to be drawn from a viewpoint that is not historically accurate" Dunbar said.
Later she said the nations Founding Founders were not antagonistic toward religion: They did not have a barring ideology."
Distrust of liberals
Kathy Miller president of the Texas Freedom Network called the vote on Knights amendment stunning."
Religious wars in Europe pushed the Founding Fathers to guarantee religious liberty to ensure a strong and united country said Miller whose liberal-leaning organization monitors the board.
Clearly this board doesnt understand how critical that was to Americas founding" she said.
David Bradley R-Beaumont said Republicans generally distrust their liberal colleagues.
Theres a hostility toward faith specifically Christianity" Bradley said calling Knights motion one more attempt to muddy the waters."
The board also rejected experts who recommended a sociology standard for high school students to differentiate between sex and gender as social constructs and determine how gender and socialization interact."
The focus would shift to transgender transvestites and who knows what else" predicted Barbara Cargill R-The Woodland calling the proposed standard totally inappropriate."
Talking about your heterosexual experiences" is inappropriate added Terri Leo R-Spring.
Those who lost that 9-6 vote argued that students are mature enough to discuss the issue in class because they already talk about it informally.
Race also provoked sharp debate.
Berlanga attached copies of old signs on her desk: This park was given for White people only. Mexicans and Negroes stay out" read one. But she failed to muster any Republican support for her amendment identifying minority Medal of Honor recipients.
Bradley said he wanted schoolchildren to learn about Medal of Honor recipients but questioned Berlangas criteria. We are doing it by skin color and I object to that."
After she left the board voted to have students discuss Medal of Honor recipients of all races and gender such as Vernon J. Baker Alvin York and Roy Benavidez respectively an African-American hero from World War II an Anglo who fought in World War I and a Hispanic hero from the Vietnam War.
Last years Texas public school enrollment included 2.3 million Hispanic 1.6 million white and 671871 African-American children.
Hip-hop out country in
Earlier in the day Berlanga said her board colleagues are not being realistic.
They want to believe that things were as they remember them when they were children protected and thinking everything is fine across the world" she said. Its all ideology. Lets not talk about the bad things that have happened in the past. Lets just talk about the great things."
Rick Agosto D-San Antonio said he felt frustrated because Hispanic children are entitled to more examples of contributions by Hispanics.
Agosto Rene Nuez D-El Paso and Lawrence Allen Jr. D-Houston quietly left 90 minutes before the meeting ended leaving Knight as the lone Democratic member.
Republicans then got their way including removing hip-hop as an example of a significant cultural movement" in American society for high school history. Country music survived.
gscharrer@express-news.net
