Texas education panel deciding who's in and who's out for social studies textbooks

[damntexdem]

Coming to a school book near you -- and then to the entire U.S.

http://www.star-telegram.com/texas/story/1689806.html

By SHIRLEY JINKINS
Dallas billionaire Ross Perot is in, but former Texas Gov. Miriam "Ma" Ferguson is out on what could be the most talked about list in Austin.
Perot and Ferguson, and other notable figures in history, are part of the name game that has emerged in the state capital as a committee appointed by the State Board of Education considers suggestions about whom should be included — and who should be cut — from new social studies textbooks.

. . .

As the list stands now, former Texas U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm was booted out "to be replaced with examples of positive leaders," and Ferguson, the late Texas U.S. Sen. John Tower and former U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros were all removed "for questionable character."
Revolutionary War hero Nathan Hale is gone because "few age-appropriate materials exist," and polio vaccine pioneer Jonas Salk is out, "to be replaced with creators of new technology." Albert Einstein, Galileo Galilei and Louis Pasteur should be taught, "but not explicitly named." Desmond Tutu and Mother Teresa were "removed to focus on events, not personalities."

[sonias]

1. I don't mind Phil Gramm being booted (if he has been)

That creep is largely responsible for the financial crisis.

Guardian UK 1/26/09
Twenty-five people at the heart of the meltdown ...

(snip)
Senator Phil Gramm
Phil Gramm

Former US senator from Texas, free market advocate with a PhD in economics who fought long and hard for financial deregulation. His work, encouraged by Clinton's administration, allowed the explosive growth of derivatives, including credit swaps.

In 2001, he told a Senate debate: "Some people look at sub-prime lending and see evil. I look at sub-prime lending and I see the American dream in action."

According to the New York Times, federal records show that from 1989 to 2002 he was the top recipient of campaign contributions from commercial banks and in the top five for donations from Wall Street. At an April 2000 Senate hearing after a visit to New York, he said: "When I am on Wall Street and I realise that that's the very nerve centre of American capitalism and I realise what capitalism has done for the working people of America, to me that's a holy place."

He eventually left Capitol Hill to work for UBS as an investment banker.

But I hear ya. Some of those calls are being made on political grounds. The conservatives want Cesar Chavez and Thurgood Marshall booted too.

Dallas Morning News 7/09/09
Conservatives seek to shift focus of state social studies lessons

AUSTIN – Civil rights leaders César Chávez and Thurgood Marshall – whose names appear on schools, libraries, streets and parks across the U.S. – are given too much attention in Texas social studies classes, conservatives advising the state on curriculum standards say.

"To have César Chávez listed next to Ben Franklin" – as in the current standards – "is ludicrous," wrote evangelical minister Peter Marshall, one of six experts advising the state as it develops new curriculum standards for social studies classes and textbooks. David Barton, president of Aledo-based WallBuilders, said in his review that Chávez, a Hispanic labor leader, "lacks the stature, impact and overall contributions of so many others."

Marshall also questioned whether Thurgood Marshall, who argued the landmark case that resulted in school desegregation and was the first black U.S. Supreme Court justice, should be presented to Texas students as an important historical figure. He wrote that the late justice is "not a strong enough example" of such a figure.

:crazy:

Sonia

[mbperrin]

4. Oh, no, I do want Gramm in, cross-indexed against "carpetbagger slime

from Georgia who fucked over the country and went to live in Switzerland with big bucks and who deserves to be taken out and horsewhipped."

I teach high school social studies courses, and we must not pretend rats don't exist. We must advocate for their rightful places.

My apologies, of course, to actual biological rats, who serve many useful purposes, both in the lab and as pure entertainment in the world. THEIR antics are hilarious!

Gramm, on the other hand, is the result of ..... well, never mind, you're never supposed to badmouth anyone's mama, no matter how poor a job she did raising her children.

[sonias]

6. And would have been Treasury Secretary under a McCain presidency

Ah the problem with letting Gramm keep his place in the textbook is that they will clean him up and he'll be respectable. They won't point out his crookedness because it's too complicated. Phil Gramm - the Senator from Enron.

Remember Gramm thinks we're a nation of whiners anyway.

LA Times Top of the Ticket blog 7/10/2008
Phil Gramm's 'whiners' comment causes John McCain a headache
(snip)
He added: "We may have a recession; we haven't had one yet."

And then he showed why his own presidential bid in 1996 quickly crashed and burned, calling the United States "a nation of whiners."

But Obama got him back with a zinger on Gramm's whiner quote:

Milking the moment for all it was worth as his crowd both laughed and booed, Obama delivered a punch line that gave the cable networks one of the day's prime sound-bites: "I want all of you to know that America already has one Dr. Phil, we don’t need another one."

I would take a rat over Phil Gramm any day.

Sonia

[mbperrin]

7. Yes, indeed, rats are cute and smart. Clean as well.

I've been teaching for three decades, and I hate what's being done to schools in Texas.

[Aragorn]

2. Sick of this

which is partly why, as a liberal, I home-schooled my kids for a time. 1 daughter in law school and 1 in med school.

But the real reason I posted is because I'm tired of scrolling down to Texas and seeing the same post under Utah. Must not be many DUers in Utah?

[sonias]

3. I didn't see the same post under Utah

I could see other states making it an issue though. Texas sets the "standard" for textbook purchases for most of the rest of the country. If the publishers get an "ok to publish" in Texas, a lot of states are stuck with the book Texas cleared. So I can see other states griping about this too.

:shrug:

Sonia

[white cloud]

5. Wait til we get the Mrs. Cheney on board.

It will get worse.

[sonias]

9. Did Lynne Cheney actually get appointed?

I knew they were considering her, but never saw a story that said she was actually participating.

Cheney is a published author after all, so that probably gave her more credibility with the board. A social studies text book is a book and her novel is a book - whoa she's qualified! :sarcasm:

I'm sure Cynthia Dunbar has a signed copy of "Sisters". Priceless!

Sonia

[Aragorn]

8. bad grammar ?

What I mean is every time I scroll down to Texas, which has Utah on the line below it, I see the very same post from Utah. For about 9-10 months now. (" I need a lawyer fast" or similar.)

[sonias]

10. Oh you mean Utah is copying our threads

On the DU home page where you get a listing of the latest post by state. Well if they are - I say let'em. Texas has so much to share - we can't possibly hoard all the good/bad news to ourselves.

We'll just make more stories!

:hi:

Sonia