Burnt Orange Report

"Being the liberal I am, I certainly do support the efforts to rebuild Iraqi schools and their educational system. Every child should have the right to an education free of indoctrination.

"But just because Bush has to cover himself overseas, it doesn't mean he can do it at the expense of the educational system here at home."

Iraq: no usable textbooks
Texas: lots of usable, older textbooks

Your statement makes a false comparison. Most information in textbooks changes little (if any) over time. Texans won't be hurt if they have to use older editions or delay having to purchase new editions. Iraq, on the other hand, has to build an eductional system from the ground up, and it's absolutely essential to have the tools (such as de-politicized textbooks) to do it.

I wish I could say that Texas textbooks were also de-politicized but with this State Board of Education, I cannot say it is true. It's not like Saddam, but you can't claim that it isn't political, either.

By your arguement, we can keep accepting decreased services at home until they reach the levels of Iraq, "because at least ours will be relatively better."

Personally, I think by even getting into this discussion, in some ways, it relates directly to sentiment regarding whether or not we should even be over in Iraq and whether or not this war should be taking place...blah, blah, blah.
So without further ado, I think both of the posts are important points: re-building an entire school system is important and should be set up accurately from the onset. However, everything in moderation... don't keep pulling things from home and not trying to replace it with something equivalent or better... and equally important, don't forget to replace what is taken or else it becomes a gaping hole (much like our ozone and the environment). Well said by both sides.
IMHO, I believe a lot of people have forgotten what got us over to Iraq in the first place. I believe in an eye for an eye, sometimes, even an eye for a face. However, sometimes getting pissed off and retaliating isn’t the answer… other times it is effective. I wish that I could say that America got where it is today, by not fighting for it, but I don’t think we did. I also don’t think we got where we area today by throwing our weight around (or maybe we did). I don’t know enough about politics to really say much either way, I just know that a lot of people died on 9-11… and call me crazy but I want someone to pay for that devastation… I also want Iraq to know the difference between being free and being spoon fed and ideal. Sorry, sometimes I walk that little grey line and wonder whether or not it is getting thinner, or I am just getting “larger feet”.

Jonathan, the Social Studies textbooks in use in Texas in 2002 (U.S. Government, Texas History, but also U.S. History) make no mention of George W. Bush's career or the Republican ascendency in state or local government. In addition to the events that have happened since the mid-1990s, today's textbooks have a technological dimension. It's not just dancing bologna on a CD-ROM; I'm talking about using the Internet for research activities, self-tests, classroom tests, and field trips.

A lot of people in Texas don't want their state history and civics books holding up Ann Richards as a current events heroine.

Math books and Literature don't need updating as much except for the technological extras.

"Jonathan, the Social Studies textbooks in use in Texas in 2002 (U.S. Government, Texas History, but also U.S. History) make no mention of George W. Bush's career or the Republican ascendency in state or local government. In addition to the events that have happened since the mid-1990s, today's textbooks have a technological dimension. It's not just dancing bologna on a CD-ROM; I'm talking about using the Internet for research activities, self-tests, classroom tests, and field trips.

"A lot of people in Texas don't want their state history and civics books holding up Ann Richards as a current events heroine.

"Math books and Literature don't need updating as much except for the technological extras."

Make sure you (and Karl-T) avoid the fallacy of extremes: buying textbooks for Iraq doesn't preclude buying any textbooks for Texas. Obviously, social studies and history textbooks need to be updated relatively frequently, but those textbook company salespeople trying to sell you the newest math or literature textbook with all the new gee-whiz-bang-interactive-Internet features can wait. The brief experience I had as a teacher told me that those features are of extremely minor importance in educating, anyway.

Since Texas has special "Texas edition" textbooks, will they be printing Iraqi editions as well?
"Texas math" is the biggest joke I've ever seen in my life! With it's section on Taks + the plug for the TI calculator, you wonder what can be more ridiculous? It's the poetry! The Texas history book is a further waste of paper.
My biggest fear, with kids growing up in this state, is that they end up thinking this is normal......