By Carole Hornsby Haynes Ph.D.

For more than a year the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) has diligently worked on the Social Studies Standards with preliminary approval given in their March meeting. As we approach the day of their final vote this Friday May 21st the volume has been ratcheted up to a deafening roar by the leftists who failing at their attempt to cram through radical changes to the standards are pulling out all stops to delay the final vote until next year.
They are hoping for more liberal representation on the Board at that time.
The SBOE has done an outstanding job in restoring historically accurate social studies and history standards. However a very vocal minority has petitioned the SBOE to trash these standards and permit a group of experts" to write new standards in order to push their own radical revisionist agenda.
It is critical that our State Board of Education approve the proposed Social Studies Standards on May 21st.
Why?
Leftists view education as the best way to eradicate any knowledge or memory about the America that became the greatest country in the world with liberty and justice for all".
It is no secret that left wing ideologues have long proclaimed they will destroy America in a bloodless revolution by collapsing our society from within. This was the purpose of the Frankfurt School a Marxist think tank which fled Germany in 1933 and found a safe haven in New York City.
The primary goal of the Frankfurt School was to translate Marxism from economic terms into cultural terms with the focus being the destruction of traditional Western culture and the Christian religion. Termed cultural Marxism" this branch of western Marxism is also commonly known as multiculturalism or political correctness.
To carry out their work which they believed would be more effective if the Marxist nature was concealed the Frankfurt School invented Critical Theory" which is a continual assault using vicious criticism against Christians Christmas Ten Commandments the Boy Scouts our military and all other aspects of traditional American culture and society. Those who uphold our traditional moral values and institutions are labeled racist and fascist.
Do you recognize these code words of cultural Marxists--tolerance social justice economic justice peace reproductive rights sex education and safe sex safe schools inclusion diversity and sensitivity?
Cultural Marxism was spread to major institutions including education entertainment media labor organizations and religion to effect the change" that inevitably had to occur if Western culture was to be destroyed.
Cultural Marxism found its way into our school curricula especially in the fields of literature social studies and teacher education disguised as multiculturalism diversity and moral relativism.
Sound familiar?
The initial 11th grade American history standards proposed by the liberal members of the Texas review panel were heavily slanted toward multiculturalism and diversity with hip hop thrown in to make education fun and relevant for kids. America was portrayed as an aggressor nation driven by money hungry capitalists. The liberal reviewers tried to expunge the historical facts of our Judeo-Christian heritage and its role in the founding of America.
Further erosion of our traditional values has been effected by the domination over education and teachers by the once conservative National Education Association which is now the largest and most influential union and has become an ally of Leftist political philosophy. The 2009 NEA policy resolutions call for providing instruction in sexual orientation" gender identification" and diversity."
In a few short decades America has transitioned from the singing of patriotic songs and prayer in schools and at public events to seniors in assisted living facilities being denied their right to say grace before a meal.
For those who can remember the wholesome role models in entertainment such as John Wayne and Donna Reed the bizarre behavior and dress code of Lady Gaga are mind boggling. When a conservative TV talk show host recently criticized Lady Gaga Barbara Walters replied But shes a big star."
Watching reruns of popular family TV shows from the 1950s is a jarring reminder of the depth of moral decay that has occurred within our nation.
Although our Constitution left education to the states and to the people our politicians created the U.S. Department of Education which is now making a concerted effort to take total control of education away from states and local communities. Having a national curriculum standard is touted as the answer to our nations embarrassing state of illiteracy.
Dangerously the underlying reason for federal control this is not to better educate our children or to see no child left behind". Rather it is a crucial part of the revolutionary agenda of leftists to control the minds and upbringing of our children.
This is a familiar pattern among those who attempt to take control of a people. One such attempt that is well documented is the communist takeover in Europe. In a speech on November 6 1933 Hitler said When an opponent declares I will not come over to your side I calmly say Your child belongs to us already . . . What are you? You will pass on. Your descendants however now stand in the new camp. In a short time they will know nothing else but this new community." And on May 1 1937 he declared This new Reich will give its youth to no one but will itself take youth and give to youth its own education and its own upbringing."1
In two court cases Meyer v. Nebraska (1923) and Pierce v. Society of Sisters (1925) the fundamental right of parents to control the upbringing of their own children was affirmed. In rejection of this Meyer-Pierce doctrine intellectual elites and the radical National Education Association decided they alone knew best what should be taught to students.
With the help of activist judges leftists have created a monopolistic control over our public education. In Fields v. Palmdale School District (2005) it was ruled that a public school can teach whatever information it wishes to provide sexual or otherwise and the right of parents to control the rearing of their children does not extend beyond the threshold of the school door.
Recently Michele Obama announced her plan to end childhood obesity by enrolling more children in the government free meal program which now will include dinner meals for children. This virtually removes from parents the responsibility of rearing their children.
A rational person will have to ask how free government meals which are intended for the hungry will end obesity which does not seem normally to be a hunger problem. Would not a plan to engage children in physical activity like children of yesteryear--who were rarely obese---be preferable to allowing children to sit in front of a TV or computer several hours a day gorging on sweets and soda pop?
However the dots connect when one realizes this is not about obesity or hunger but rather the federal government taking complete control of the childs upbringing.
When one understands the focus of cultural Marxism the dots further connect about the frenzy by radicals and the ACLU a disciple of cultural Marxism in eradicating every vestige of our Judeo Christian heritage and prohibiting the free exercise" of our religious beliefs.
Back to the question: Why is it so important that our elected SBOE approve the proposed Social Studies on May 21st?"
If the vote is delayed it is highly probable that the left wing experts" will weigh in and rewrite the standards to further their radical agenda.
Cultural Marxism has already made great strides in destroying Western culture and our Christian religion.
We have now exposed the Lefts revolutionary agenda and we must begin the task of reclaiming and rebuilding America.
Reclaiming our schools and teaching our children a positive accurate history of our country are essential elements in that task.
We must let our Texas State Board of Education members know that we want them to pass the proposed Social Studies standards on May 21st. Reminder: for those you who are not in Texas our decision on standards will ultimately affect your state so we ask for your support as well.
How can you help?
· Send a written response to the SBOE in support of the proposed standards and ask for them to be passed on May 21. Send emails to
sboesupport@tea.state.tx.us .
The changes and additions the board members have made over the last several months illustrate the important role we can and should have in the education of Texas students.
The approved standards can be read here:
http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/rules/home/sboeprop.html (scroll down to the bottom section).
1 William L. Shirer The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (New York: Simon and Schuster 1960) 249.