History is usually written by the victors. Not so when it comes to social studies standards here in Texas, where Don McLeroy - a dentist from College Station and a defeated, outgoing member of the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) - would rather have public school attendees talk about fictional characters from a coffee table book than historicallysignificantAmericans. As Phillip Martin wrote about earlier, Dr. McLeory recommended a change to curriculum (page 3) that prominent American history muckrackers and reformers like Upton Sinclair, Susan B. Anthony, Ida B. Wells and W.E.B. DuBois be contrasted against "the optimism of immigrants including Jean Pierre Godet as told in Thomas Kinkade's The Spirit of America." Dr. McLeroy did not mention that Jean Pierre Godet is a character in a work of fiction written in 1998. And that's only one point on a long list of mistruths the current SBOE wants to write into public school curriculum.
But there is still hope for the kids of Texas. Just like Texas science textbook purchase in Texas might be delayed, so might social studies textbooks. In fact, the textbooks will likely be purchased by the next SBOE elected this coming November, which means we have a chance to elect people who have education credentials and possibly save history in Texas. Here's what you can do to help...
Donate directly to the campaigns. Support two candidates running for the SBOE by donating directly to their campaigns. Dr. Judy Jennings (running for SBOE District 10) and Dr. Rebecca Bell-Metereau (running for SBOE District 5) are running in districts that - if you put the two districts together - are geographically the size of Mississippi and total about 1.8 million registered voters. Judy and Rebecca are both committed to Saving History and you can donate to both candidates at their Save History ActBlue site.
Help spread the word through Facebook, Twitter and your blog of choice. Those of us supporting Judy, Rebecca and others in Texas are using the #savehistory hashtag on twitter, as well as using that same tag on our posts.
Be heard - join us in the Twitterbomb. Forget to submit your personal comment on the current standards up for review? We found a (non-official) way to submit a comment. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is on Twitter and we'd like to let them know how we feel about the proposed curriculum changes while they're voting on those changes. Please join us on Thursday, May 20th at 9am Central Standard by tweeting:
.@teainfo Do right by TX kids & public school kids everywhere. Reject distorted Social Studies curriculum changes. #SaveHistory
Also let TEA know which historical figures and heros you'd like the SBOE to save by tweeting your favorite folks (for instance, Dolores Huerta) using the #savehistory hashtag all week.
Just when you thought it couldn't get any crazier, Don McLeroy -- who lost his bid for re-election in the Republican primary but appears hell-bent on inserting as much insanity into Texas' textbook process as possible -- is proposing that Susan B. Anthony, among others, espoused negative information about America.
One of McLeroy's proposals is for students to question the separation of church and state as they study the First Amendment.
Another would amend the standards to cast muckrakers and reformers such as Upton Sinclair, Susan B. Anthony, Ida B. Wells and W.E.B. Dubois as figures espousing negative views of America. McLeroy said such figures should be contrasted with optimistic immigrants that include Jean Pierre Godet as told in painter Thomas Kinkade's book "The Spirit of America."
A Republican from College Station, McLeroy lost his bid for re-election but he remains in office until January.
Conservative members of the board have already added measures such as one that would require high school students to learn more 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."
For those who don't already know, the culture wars taking place in Texas' State Board of Education have moved a bit from attacking our science classes to ridiculing the idea of a proper social studies education. The latest event in this fight was a Don McLeroy response to The American Humanist Association, which advocates education without theism. Mr. McLeroy responded by including an essay he had written and a video of an interview he had with Fox News.
His essay actually reads intelligently. He starts by praising the West and defining the freedoms that have become apparent in many places of the West:
The West has relieved human suffering to a unprecedented degree; the West has developed freedom to a unparalleled level, both in freedom of coercion by other men and in freedom of opportunity to rise above one's original station in life. This is demonstrated by an incredible standard of living where even its "poor" are rich by global standards. It is also seen in the full political rights of all and the accepted idea of equality of all-including women and minorities.
This idea has a lot of merit, but McLeroy acts as if this "freedom" that has been discovered in the West has barely ventured beyond the West, and certainly not among un-Christian countries. So, he continues:
We must look at the indisputable historical facts without the fear of being labeled ethnocentric. Where in the modern world do we find freedom? Freedom, as we know it, can be found in Europe-before and after the totalitarians, in England, Canada, the United States, parts of Latin America, and parts of the Pacific Rim. It is never found in the ancient world, though Athens and the Roman Republic came closest. It is never found in the rest of the modern world. Freedom is unique to the areas of the world that have been touched by Christianity.
The emphasis is mine -- for it is surely a conclusion that McLeroy comes to only with scant research. So, let me continue for him. To look at "the indisputable historical facts without the fear of being labeled ethnocentric," I will use some normal qualifications to determine if a country has "freedom of coercion by other men" and "freedom of opportunity to rise above one's original situation in life" - essentially, political freedom, economic freedom, and economic sustainability. I will consider a country "free" under these standards: the country must be labeled free by Freedom House and must, in all three sets of data here, have a GDP per capita above the World Average.
Unsurprisingly, I find a few non-Christian countries that Don McLeroy must have missed in his research, such as Israel, Japan, and Estonia. These are not simply exceptions to the rule -- they are countries of very diverse religious backgrounds that have achieved freedom, apparently from something else other than freedom. Christianity is clearly a part of our history, but it is not the force that allowed freedom to blossom in this world.
In his interview with Fox News, McLeroy talked about the Declaration of Independence. Surely, a document referring to our creator must point towards a basis in Christianity, right? Once again, McLeroy only knows the surface of the details.
Thomas Jefferson, as a historian on him would know, was greatly influenced by John Locke when writing the Declaration. So, his slight mention of our creator was probably derived from Locke's mentions of God. I'm sure Mr. McLeroy knows this. Only, Locke wrote his Second Treatise of Government using God only as a rhetorical tool to hide his true wishes for a much more secular society. The fact that the Declaration of Independence mentions God [only] one time does not show that our government was based at all in Christianity, but instead that Thomas Jefferson did not feel quite as much need as Locke to appeal to Christians in his argument for freedom.
All of the above said; I would not mind Christianity being discussed at times in our history classrooms. But when discussing the founding of our democracy; thought, rationality, bravery, and determination are much better vantage points.
According to the Houston Chronicle's "Texas Politics" blog, a majority of the State Board of Education, including two of its Democratic members, gathered in Spicewood two weeks ago to honor rejected SBOE Chair Don McLeroy.
Among the highlights:
Cynthia Dunbar, R-Richmond, asked Rene Nunez, D-El Paso, to take a photograph of McLeroy and "Don's Darlings," which included herself, [Terri] Leo [R-Spring] and Barbara Cargill, R-The Woodlands.
What I wouldn't give for a copy of that picture! Oh wait ... here it is ...
The son of moderate Republican Bill Ratliff, Thomas, has decided to run for the State Board of Education in the highest profile district: that of Dr. Don McLeroy's. Without any Republicans voting against him, McLeroy recently lost his bid to start a new term as chair of the Board of Education. Although Democrats who voted against him said that they were not questioning his ability to serve his district, it is obvious that someone can better serve the district by making quality education policy.
SBOE District 9 is a heavily Republican district, so our tangible hopes for better representation and education out of the counties of Brazos, Collin, etc. rests in the Republican party in this case.
Burka pointed out that the Religious Right can be particularly good at winning SBOE seats, but the folks at the Texas Freedom Network and their allies have been put on enough notice that I would not be surprised to see a strong push against the Right in the 2010 educational races.
