Whenever the State Board of Education revises the public school curriculum standards, the new standards should be clear, rigorous, and flexible enough to allow for classroom innovation. Unfortunately, the Social Studies TEKS just approved by the SBOE meet none of these objectives.
Instead, the new Social Studies TEKS offer:
* a cumbersome list of names and dates that will stifle creativity and encourage "teaching to the test";
* individual standards that favor political posturing over sound scholarship;
* individual standards that are virtually unteachable in a real-world classroom environment because they are incoherent or hopelessly vague; and
* individual standards that are plagiarized from dubious sources.
If one of my Trinity University students handed in this work, then he or she would receive a D for the quality of ideas and an F for academic dishonesty. Texas schoolchildren deserve a first-class education, not plagiarism or politics-as-usual from the SBOE.
Throughout my campaign and, should I be elected, once I am seated in public office, I will consult with concerned parents, teachers, scholars, community and business leaders, and textbook publishers. Together we can and will work to identify and correct the errors that were incorporated into Texas' new Social Studies TEKS.
As a member of the State Board, I will work tirelessly to repeal and revise the the Social Studies TEKS so that our schools position Texas students for college and career success. And I will insist that social studies textbooks are based on sound scholarship; they must reflect the rich diversity of Texas and U.S. society as well as the intricate and splendid past that is Texas and U.S. history.
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.
We're closing in on May, and that means that the State Board of Education is closing in on finalizing a disastrous revision of our social studies curriculum. Our public schools need a world class education if we are going to lead the country for the next few decades, as I know all our leaders hope, but right now they are being set up for something that is, well, less.
Bill White, who wants to drive us back in the right direction, weighed in today.
Bill White called on Rick Perry today to ask his appointed chair of the State Board of Education (SBOE) to delay the May vote on curriculum standards until newly elected board members are in office.
Delaying action until next year could save money on new textbooks and allow new board members to provide leadership that will not allow political interference with education.
"Texas voters have voted against those who are extreme and hyper-political," said campaign spokesperson Katy Bacon. "If Rick Perry won't show some leadership about the process, he should at least respect Texans who've said they don't want the current, controversial SBOE making decisions about their children's future."
Perry's previous appointed chair of the SBOE, Don McLeroy, engaged in such extreme antics that the Texas Senate refused to confirm him the second time Perry appointed him in 2009. McLeroy was defeated in his party's primary this spring.
Nearly a month ago, White called on Perry to ask the current chair to send amendments back to the original curriculum review teams. Perry responded, saying of the SBOE that he was not going to "try to outsmart them."
Since White's comments about bringing revised standards back to expert review teams, the Texas Council for the Social Studies and the Texas Social Studies Supervisors Association have weighed in saying, "state education standards should be balanced and neutral and not reflective of political viewpoints."
But this isn't just a political move. State legislators are getting in the act, too. They know that there's a major policy problem.
21 state representatives and senators are scheduled to gather on April 28 in E2.012 in the Capitol as they schedule a hearing on the State Board of Education. Representative Trey Martiniez Fischer, chair of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, said, the members intend to send a message that "either they operate within the confines of statute or be ready to explain to the Legislature why not."
The Mexican American Legislative Caucus is hosting the event, but they've teamed up with other leadership groups in the legislature: the Legislative Study Group, the House Black Caucus, and the Senate Hispanic Caucus. The hearing will include both students and educators. Even some Republicans are likely to show, such as Republican SBOE candidate Thomas Ratliffe, who was invited for testimony.
It's not just these legislators, either, though. It's not just the elites who run this state and want to run this state. Pretty much everyone has noticed that the SBOE is ruining things, as 1,000 historians have signed a letter of protest, and the University of Texas' student Save our History! Coalition has had an Action Week against the board, which will culminate in a rally in the UT Campus' South Mall on Sunday.
Rick Perry, who appoints the chair of the board and likely holds all sorts of influence, is a statewide elected politician. All 15 members of the board are elected, too. They were elected by Texas voters, but the Texas Voters are now being ignored.
Ken Mercer and the other extremist members of the State Board of Education claim that the United States was established as a Christian nation and seek to bring down the wall of separation between church and state. This extremist cabal seems to have forgotten their history lessons regarding one of the primary reasons that many European colonists came to America. We all learned that the Pilgrims came here seeking to escape religious persecution.
The Founding Fathers were not so far removed from the European religious wars between Catholics and Protestant sects all over Europe that they could fail to understand the value of separating religion and the state. In the years 1553 to 1660 there was religiously inspired violence or war between Christian sects somewhere in Europe each year almost without exception.
Mary I, Queen of England (1553-1558), restored Catholicism and in the process had almost 300 religious dissenters burned at the stake in the Marian Persecutions.
In France between 1562 and 1598, there were eight civil wars and other outbreaks of violence that were clearly motivated by religious differences.
The Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), began in Bohemia when Ferdinand II became the king in 1617 over Protestant fears he would recatholicize it.
The English Civil War (1640-1660) involved various Protestant denominations and Catholics and included the beheading of Charles I in 1649.
Ken Mercer doesn't understand that separation of Church and State protects his freedom of religion and our children's, but our founders did.
The radicals on the State Board of Education have shown that they don't value religious freedom. At their last meeting the members proposed and discussed various aspects of the proposed social studies curriculum which was developed by volunteer teachers and subject matter experts. Board member Mavis Knight offered the following amendment: "examine the reasons the Founding Fathers protected religious freedom in America by barring government from promoting or disfavoring any particular religion over all others." Knight pointed out that students should understand that the Founders believed religious freedom was so important that they insisted on separation of church and state.
Board member Cynthia Dunbar argued that the Founders didn't intend for separation of church and state in America and claimed instead that the Founders intended to promote religion. She called the amendment "not historically accurate."
Almost all constitutional scholars agree that separation of religion and state is clearly expressed in Article VI paragraph 3 of the United States Constitution which states: The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.
Ken Mercer voted with the rest of the historical revisionists to defeat the amendment. If you value your right to practice your religion and teach your children that religion Rebecca Bell-Metereau must be elected to the State Board of Education.
I'm exactly the kind of person who should have known about what's been developing at the Texas State Board of Education regarding textbook curriculum.
I'm a product of the public schools of Texas, I have two children in public schools and another who recently graduated from a public high school, and I'm politically active. Yet, like many of my fellow Texans, I just haven't paid close enough attention to what many would consider to be a not-so-glamorous elected panel.
So thanks to Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and just about every other working comedian, I am now more than just aware of the ludicrous actions regarding textbook selections being undertaken by the SBOE; I'm fired up.
At first I thought I was seeing yet another round of the ongoing racism we still haven't completely evolved from in our great state, but I quickly came to realize the SBOE actions go way beyond racism. Their plans are much more pervasive and actually affect school children all over the country.
In short, members of the SBOE are systematically engaging in an extreme ideological agenda in an effort to skew history, science, literature, and any other area of study they can come across, to fit their own narrow views and beliefs. I would call it Orwellian, but that would be an insult to George Orwell. And the SBOE would probably try to ban his books from Texas public schools if they haven't already thought of it.
Members of the SBOE are free to believe anything they want, but when they start forcing their beliefs on the rest of us using the very textbooks my children and many of your children (or nephews, nieces, cousins, friends...) are being taught from, then they've crossed the line. So we have to stop these school yard bullies!
Thankfully, State Representative Richard Peña Raymond has started the Thomas Jefferson Movement to stop the SBOE from succeeding with their agenda. http://thomasjeffersonmovement...
The online organization, named for just one of the many great Americans who are being historically revised by the SBOE, has been formed to educate, inform and mobilize the vast majority of Texans who disagree with the current SBOE members' radical views.
Additionally, the Thomas Jefferson Movement, in the spirit of Jefferson himself, will be a forum for open, honest discourse on the subject. The site is built on a Ning platform and allows for anyone who doesn't cross the line into hate speech and extreme profanity to express their points of view for or against the SBOE. But make no mistake, the creators of the site do not agree with the current majority on the SBOE. Neither do the majority of Texans.
To say that Texas and the State Board of Education has recently gotten some negative play in the media would be the same as saying Karl Rove has a mild problem with facts.
I'm not going to link to some of the petitions and Facebook groups floating around the internet - google Texas Textbooks or run a quick search in Twitter and you'll spot them. I do want to lay out just exactly why these efforts are completely wrong-headed in their approach, and why they discredit Progressives everywhere - particularly those of us on the frontlines here in Texas.
State Board of Education District 5 incumbent Ken Mercer is running for re-election. In the Republican Primary debate held last week Mr. Mercer repeatedly claimed that students are not allowed to raise their hands and ask questions in science class. His opponent Mr. Tuggey suggested that, if that's really happening then it's a local issue which should be handled by the administration in that district, not micro-managed by the heavy hand of the SBOE. That's a great way to look at the purported problem, but what Mr. Tuggey failed to note is that many of Mr. Mercer's claims are ginned up to provide red meat to his most rabid supporters and I'm betting this one is too.
Ken Mercer also claimed that while the curriculum writing teams are required by law to involve participation of teachers, parents and business people; only teachers were involved. For this to be true none of the 102 team members must have any children, I find that highly improbable.
Mr. Mercer claims that conservative historians in classrooms were shut out of the process. Given that Republicans hold a 2 to 1 advantage on the board and appointed 67 of the 102 team members that is an absurd assertion. Can he seriously believe that not a single conservative was named to the teams with kind of majority? But wait, if he's so concerned about the lack of conservatives, parents and business people why didn't he bother to nominate even a single person to the teams?
Lately, I've liked telling people that Democrats have a very good chance to make important gains in all levels of state government, from the Governor's Mansion to the State Board of Education.
With the SBOE, there are really only one or two districts where Democrats can reasonably hope to take away from Republicans, but the story on that board is not so much Democrats vs. Republicans. In the SBOE, somehow, one major group is of crazy conservatives who want to isolate Texas into a Christian and potentially unproductive box. The other group: rational people, both Democrats and Republicans, who want to ensure that Texas children are prepared to compete in the global economy.
There are four important seats where that way-too-extreme social conservatism is being fought tooth-and-nail. One is SBOE 3, where Democrat Rick Agosto has embarrassingly been a swing vote with the crazies. He's been pushed to not running for reelection, and Michael Soto is expected to take his place and do well.
The other important races are in districts 5, 9, and 10. The Texas Freedom Network did a nice roundup of SBOE fundraising, so let's take a look at these three districts.
SBOE District 5
This district stretches from Bexar County to southern Travis County and includes the Hill Country.
Republican Primary
Ken Mercer (I): $8,035.00 in contributions, in $3,639.05 cash on hand
Tim Tuggey: $60,330.58 in contributions, in $24,945.65 cash on hand
Democratic Primary
Rebecca Bell-Metereau: $17,797 in contributions, in $6,414.44 cash on hand
Robert Bohmfalk: no report available yet
Daniel Boone: $4,176.72 in contributions, in $3,457.72 cash on hand
Josiah Ingalls: $350 in contributions, in $36.15 cash on hand
There are a lot of Democrats who think that Rebecca Bell-Metereau has a decent shot, and she is certainly leading the other Democrats in fundraising as well as social conservative incumbent Ken Mercer.
But the real challenge to Mercer might be in his own party. Tim Tuggey is absolutely dominating the money race. He's spent more than half what he has received, but he still has about 3 times more on hand than Mercer has raised at all. If his spending is wise, we'll see Mercer knocked off in March.
District 9
This largely East-Central Texas district stretches from Plano to Bryan-College Station.
Don McLeroy (I): $1,200 in contributions, $611.33 in cash on hand
Thomas Ratliff: $15,173.20 in contributions, $8,098.50 in cash on hand
District 9 is a definitely Republican district, which could hurt Ratliff. But he still is significantly leading McLeroy, and he has his father's name. Don McLeroy is possibly the most dangerous member of the State Board of Education. So, go Thomas Ratliff!
District 10
This district stretches from Williamson and northern Travis County to just west of Houston. Republican incumbent Cynthia Dunbar is not running for re-election.
Republican Primary
Marsha Farney: no contributions, no cash on hand
Rebecca Osborne: $5,416.00 in contributions, $5,515.09 in cash on hand
Brian Russell: $8,229.40 in contributions, $7,455 in cash on hand
Democrat
Judy Jennings: $15,900 in contributions, $14,072.31 in cash on hand
Cynthia Dunbar, as you probably know, is in that McLeroy-level of dangerousness. Thankfully, she's not running. But her hand-picked successor, Brian Russell, is probably just as bad. He's leading the Republican money race, but Rebecca Osborne has been campaigning longer.
Thankfully, Judy Jennings beats both of us. District 10 contains about half of Travis County, and it is also the absolutely best chance for a Democrat to take a seat that a Republican has held. This is a clear toss-up seat, so seeing Jennings' lead is a surely comforting sign.
(From a candidate for SBOE 3. - promoted by Matt Glazer)
Perhaps because I grew up an awkwardly lanky Little League pitcher, one of my childhood heroes was J.R. Richard, the improbably tall Houston Astros ace who was close to unhittable during his prime. Nothing could convince me to trade my J.R. Richard baseball card.
Not a championship season Willie Stargell card.
Not a mint condition Pete Rose rookie card.
Not even an autographed Roger Staubach card. (The Cowboys legend was another hero, so mixing baseball with football doesn't tarnish my logic too much.)
Would I part with J.R. Richard for Stargell, Rose, and Staubach? It's just a card, right?
Wrong.
Anyone who grew up loving baseball knows that a card isn't just a card. And what's true of recent sports history is truer still of America's intricate and splendid past.
The ongoing debate surrounding social studies standards in Texas public schools too often sounds like an unfunny parody of baseball card trading done by bratty kids who never really played the game.
