Conservative Textbook Curriculum passed in Texas

[Rusty Shackleford]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont....140f306f.html

AUSTIN – In a landmark move that will shape the future education of millions of Texas schoolchildren, the State Board of Education on Friday approved new curriculum standards for U.S. history and other social studies courses that reflect a more conservative tone than in the past.





Split along party lines, the board delivered a pair of 9-5 votes to adopt the new standards, which will dictate what is taught in all Texas schools and provide the basis for future textbooks and student achievement tests over the next decade.
Texas standards often wind up being taught in other states because national publishers typically tailor their materials to Texas, one of the biggest textbook purchasers in the country.

its pretty obvious with this that all sides use information as a political weapon. and those who have state power tend to have a bigger more effective weapon. expect to see a lot of idiots running around in the next decade.

[JazzRemington]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I predict an 80s-style right-wing backlash sometime around the next presidential election.

[ChrisK]

I heard about this. The history texts are supposed to show how important Regan and the 80's were.

[Lacrimi de Chiciură]

I heard about this. The history texts are supposed to show how important Regan and the 80's were.

Yikes.

I always remember the history and social studies text books we used in k-12 being really conservative to start with though. You know, Prentice-Hall and what not.

The textbook we used for US government class was actually written by a CIA agent. I remember looking him up when I was in the class, but I can't remember what the book was called now... but it had a lot of the typical bullshit about democracy vs. communism, the Bolsheviks were a small group of elitists, etc.

Ah, and this one memorable bit of that textbook just came back to me... It was supposed to demonstrate how right wing extremists and leftists are the same, with the examples being that RCP guy who burned a US flag and some neo-Nazi gang who killed children: the similarity? They both like to break the law.

[Jimmie Higgins]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I predict an 80s-style right-wing backlash sometime around the next presidential election.

Well all sorts of things may happen - if you mean far-right Republicans will make some electoral gains, then that is definitely a strong likelihood for the short term.

But I think the time we are in now is very different than the right-wing and ruling class push-back that has been identified with Regan's presidency (though beginning before it). That was the beginning of the ruling class side of the class war going on the offensive and moving from a period of relative class cooperation and reforms (on the ruling class side anyway - i.e. welfare state, negotiations with union bureaucracy). While they are certainty STILL on the offensive and see no real way out of the crisis but intensifying their attacks (moving from attacks on industrial unions to attacks on public sector unions too, making the poor pay for budget shortfalls etc) the big difference is that this is not the beginning of a push-back, this is the same push-back facing a period of intense crisis and I don't think they can "solve" it with the same neo-liberal and austerity and union-busting that they used to "solve" the crisis that began in the 1970s.

This isn't to say that they won't win or that workers will automatically fight back this time; it's just to say that we are in a totally different political reality.

I do think that in the immediate future, the ruling class backed by reactionaries (has and) will make us suffer successfully without much opposition in the US. But this is because we lack organization and workers were demoralized even before this new sharp econ crisis. But in the medium-term I think there are several encourging signs:

1. Fightback in Education. While temporarily disoriented now, the student and faculty protests in places like California were able to unite workers and non-workers (in this case students) in a common struggle that linked the attacks on unions and workers to the budget cuts and attacks on education. In New Jersey the "maverick" government Christie bucked the "Millionaire tax" that people voted for and mavericklly upheld the status quo of the establishment elite by vetoing the small tax increase on millionaires to fix the budget. Students and unions have responded by taking to the streets in small protests.

2. Greece - definitely the "vanguard" of fighting back against austerity and neoliberalism in this new era and people all over the world will hopefully learn from their successes and failures - nuff said.

3. This new poll (which should be stickied on this site for all US comrades) which shows that despite the rise of the tea-parties, the Obama backlash/hangover, and demoralization of many workers after the election, that support for "socialism" among young people is about the same as their support for capitalism. In fact it seems to verify and uphold the Rassmussen poll form 2009 that said that "socialism" was increasing in popularity among the young while people across the board were suspicious of capitalism:

Keep in mind these findings reflect an overview of the public mind when Right wing views seem at a high point – with the Tea Party often cast as a barometer of American public opinion. The polls in this era do not suggest a socialist country, but not a capitalist-loving one either. This is not a “Center-Right” America but a populace where almost 50% are deeply ambivalent or clearly opposed to capitalism. Republicans and the Tea Party would likely call that a Communist country.

The story gets more interesting when you look at two vital sub-groups. One is young people, the “millennial generation” currently between 18 and 30. In the Pew poll, just 43% of Americans under 30 describe “capitalism” as positive. Even more striking, the same percentage, 43%, describes “socialism” as positive. In other words, the new generation is equally divided between capitalism and socialism.

Of course most people probably think socialism means a welfare state and northern European type societies, but even support for that is a remarkable sea-change. The fact that people are coming to these conclusions from their own experience despite being contrary to every piece of propaganda shoved at them from the media, liberals, conservatives, and tea-party loons, and distorted representations of socialism (and in the vacuum of mass reformist socialist groups let alone radical socialist groups) shows the possibilities to re-build working class fight-back with radical Marxism and anarchism at the core.

[Jimmie Higgins]

Sorry to de-rail the thread a little. One other thing about the Texas situation is that many of US textbooks adopted in other states come from texas - there was a section about that in "Lies My Teacher Told Me" which I recommend (it's a quick read - quicker than my long-ass posts) in light of this repulsive and deliberate re-writing of history.

Also the hypocrisy of claiming that "ethnic studies" is racial supremacy in Arizona while a nearby state is promoting white southern protestant supremacy makes me ill and angry beyond belief!

[LimitedIdeology]

Great, even more heaping glory on the crimes of history.

[Cooler Reds Will Prevail]

Somebody was telling me that in Texas they are no longer going to refer to slavery as "slavery," but rather as the "triangle trade." Anybody seen evidence for this?

[Lacrimi de Chiciură]

Somebody was telling me that in Texas they are no longer going to refer to slavery as "slavery," but rather as the "triangle trade." Anybody seen evidence for this?

That wouldn't make sense. The triangle trade is this:

[jake williams]

Well all sorts of things may happen - if you mean far-right Republicans will make some electoral gains, then that is definitely a strong likelihood for the short term.

But I think the time we are in now is very different than the right-wing and ruling class push-back that has been identified with Regan's presidency (though beginning before it). That was the beginning of the ruling class side of the class war going on the offensive and moving from a period of relative class cooperation and reforms (on the ruling class side anyway - i.e. welfare state, negotiations with union bureaucracy). While they are certainty STILL on the offensive and see no real way out of the crisis but intensifying their attacks (moving from attacks on industrial unions to attacks on public sector unions too, making the poor pay for budget shortfalls etc) the big difference is that this is not the beginning of a push-back, this is the same push-back facing a period of intense crisis and I don't think they can "solve" it with the same neo-liberal and austerity and union-busting that they used to "solve" the crisis that began in the 1970s.

This isn't to say that they won't win or that workers will automatically fight back this time; it's just to say that we are in a totally different political reality.

I do think that in the immediate future, the ruling class backed by reactionaries (has and) will make us suffer successfully without much opposition in the US. But this is because we lack organization and workers were demoralized even before this new sharp econ crisis. But in the medium-term I think there are several encourging signs:

1. Fightback in Education. While temporarily disoriented now, the student and faculty protests in places like California were able to unite workers and non-workers (in this case students) in a common struggle that linked the attacks on unions and workers to the budget cuts and attacks on education. In New Jersey the "maverick" government Christie bucked the "Millionaire tax" that people voted for and mavericklly upheld the status quo of the establishment elite by vetoing the small tax increase on millionaires to fix the budget. Students and unions have responded by taking to the streets in small protests.

2. Greece - definitely the "vanguard" of fighting back against austerity and neoliberalism in this new era and people all over the world will hopefully learn from their successes and failures - nuff said.

That's an excellent analysis, thank you.

3. This new poll (which should be stickied on this site for all US comrades) which shows that despite the rise of the tea-parties, the Obama backlash/hangover, and demoralization of many workers after the election, that support for "socialism" among young people is about the same as their support for capitalism. In fact it seems to verify and uphold the Rassmussen poll form 2009 that said that "socialism" was increasing in popularity among the young while people across the board were suspicious of capitalism:

I think it's important to keep in mind that while the "Tea Parties" themselves are charades put on by a combination of the petite-bourgoisie, and the most reactionary segments of not just the ruling class but the most reactionary segments of the right wing of the ruling class - Fox News, the radicals in the Republican Party, etc. - while the events are in large part being organized by the above, their base, their constituency, the people they engineer their political messages to appeal to are, primarily, the disenfranchised, pissed off, terrified working class, in particular the white working class, but not solely. Many of these people identify as "conservative" or as even being right wing, but still support extensive social programs (eg. "Don't let goverment touch my Medicare"), democratic and civil liberties (eg., one could argue, gun rights), and view themselves as opposed to state collaboration with big business and what we would refer to as the right-wing leadership of much of the labour movement. Thus, while the Tea Parties are organized as a sort of proto-fascism, the people they are appealing to aren't our enemies, they're the people who should be our allies, and I think it's extremely important to never lose sight of that.

Of course most people probably think socialism means a welfare state and northern European type societies, but even support for that is a remarkable sea-change. The fact that people are coming to these conclusions from their own experience despite being contrary to every piece of propaganda shoved at them from the media, liberals, conservatives, and tea-party loons, and distorted representations of socialism (and in the vacuum of mass reformist socialist groups let alone radical socialist groups) shows the possibilities to re-build working class fight-back with radical Marxism and anarchism at the core.

Yeah, that's true, and I'd go further - I think that, combined with the above, doesn't just show that we can do a lot more than we are, but that we need to be doing more than we are, and quite urgently, because the fight is on and we're not keeping up our side of it enough.




Sorry to derail the thread, but I think the context here is important. Why is this happening in Texas now? Because the Republican Party is going toward "culture politics" populism and advancing its assault, which is a very scary thing at precisely the time when the working class across America and the world, not just in "blue states", needs to be productively organizing.

[Jimmie Higgins]

Somebody was telling me that in Texas they are no longer going to refer to slavery as "slavery," but rather as the "triangle trade." Anybody seen evidence for this?

Yeah, the slave trade is called "Atlantic triangular trade".

Interestingly, other changes include: "capitalism" is replaced with the "free enterprise system," and "imperialism" is replaced by "expansionism".

[LimitedIdeology]

Yeah, the slave trade is called "Atlantic triangular trade".

Interestingly, other changes include: "capitalism" is replaced with the "free enterprise system," and "imperialism" is replaced by "expansionism".

Euphemisms ftw!

Seriously, as if Texas children aren't already fucked up enough already.....

[Red Commissar]

I was discussing the topic in here early on, and watched it until the main site that was tracking the debates, tfninsider.org, updated and said the high school standards were passed. It's a damn shame but unfortunately it was an uphill battle against them anyways. There were a number of issues:

-Texans are woefully unaware of the SBOE's functions
-Even with the first point, many Texans probably would not mind the changes. There is a general mistrust of academia for perceived "liberal" biases among a considerable segment of Texans, and Americans in general
-The right wing nutjobs had the biggest clout on the board

And they are all popularly elected. Each and every member is popularly elected. Even wit the low turn outs for those elections, there are people who believe in what they say and hold their views.

Indeed one of the main focuses of the nutbags was to promote American exceptionalism, that America is great and has only done good for the world, and that outweighs what it has done wrong.

But the more pressing issue is that most of these were religious wackjobs, and are trying to chip away at the notion of the separation of church and state.