Texas Board Of Education Approves Resolution To Limit Islam References

[Klaatu]

Texas Board Of Education Approves Resolution To Limit Islam References

APRIL CASTRO | 09/24/10 09:20 PM | AP

AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas State Board of Education adopted a resolution Friday that seeks to curtail references to Islam in Texas textbooks, as social conservative board members warned of what they describe as a creeping Middle Eastern influence in the nation's publishing industry.

The board approved the one-page nonbinding resolution, which urges textbook publishers to limit what they print about Islam in world history books, by a 7-5 vote.

Critics say it's another example of the ideological board trying to politicize public education in the Lone Star State. Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, which advocates for religious freedom, questioned why the resolution came at a time when "anti-Muslim rhetoric in this country has reached fever pitch."

"It's hard not to conclude that the misleading claims in this resolution are either based on ignorance of what's in the textbooks or, on the other hand, are an example of fear-mongering and playing politics," Miller said.

Future boards that will choose the state's next generation of social studies texts will not be bound by the resolution.

"This is an expression of the board's opinion, so it does not have an effect on any particular textbook," said David Anderson, the general counsel for the Texas Education Agency, when asked by a board member what legal weight the resolution would carry.

"So this is a cosmetic exercise?" asked board member Mavis Knight, a Democrat from Dallas.

The resolution cites world history books no longer used in Texas schools that it says devoted more lines of text to Islamic beliefs and practices than Christian ones. Chairwoman Gail Lowe said the resolution cites old books because board rules prohibit them from discussing current books more than 90 days after their adoption.

"I believe that it's happening in the current (social studies books) even though we can't cover that in the resolution," said board member Terri Leo, a Republican from Spring. The resolution sends a "clear message to publishers that it should not happen in the future."

The resolution also claims "more such discriminatory treatment of religion may occur as Middle Easterners buy into the U.S. public school textbook oligopoly, as they are doing now."

Two Republicans broke from their party to vote with the Democrats. Two Democrats – Mary Helen Berlanga of Corpus Christi and Rene Nunez of El Paso – were absent for the vote. The initial vote on the resolution was 7-6, but the board later reconsidered the measure. The second vote was 7-5 after a Democratic board member left the meeting.

The measure was suggested to the board this summer by Odessa businessman Randy Rives, who lost his Republican primary bid for a seat on the panel earlier this year. Members of a social conservative bloc of the board then asked Lowe to put the resolution on this week's agenda.

During public testimony, which included comments from activists as well as a handful of parents, Jonathan Saenz, a lobbyist for the conservative Liberty Institute, argued that the board was "doing the right thing ... to prevent any type of religious discrimination or treat any religion in a way that's incomplete."

Several times during the testimony, Lowe intervened, attempting to calm flaring tempers.

"The Board's mission, and Texas' future, is ill-served when the board chooses to use its limited meeting time to discuss and vote on discriminatory and politically motivated measures, such as this proposed resolution," said Frank Knaack, of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas.

The resolution concludes by warning publishers the "State Board of Education will look to reject future prejudicial social studies submissions that continue to offend Texas law with respect to treatment of the world's major religious groups by significant inequalities of coverage space-wise and by demonizing or lionizing one or more of them over others."

Social conservatives control the 15-member board for now, although the landscape is set to change after one member of the bloc lost his primary election bid and another chose not to seek re-election. The board in recent years has become a battleground for social conservatives and liberal watchdogs, each accusing the other of imposing ideological agendas into what about 4.8 million public school students learn in Texas classrooms.

source
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/0..._n_738930.html

[Weezer]

Stalin and Mao hid the facts from their people! They hid the real horrors of communism!

We Americans, however, stick true to history, and would NEVER hide anything from our people.

[Klaatu]

The last time I checked, the U.S. First Amendment gives all students the right to learn and know (this is implicit in it's meaning) as well as the right to speech. These Conservatives in Texas, by modifying or holding back truthful information, are being unconstitutional. And here are the same people that vehemently claim to support the Constitution. What clueless bastards they are.

[The Fighting_Crusnik]

M'God... think if Texas remained it's own, sovereign republic... they'd probably would have gone fascist and sided with Hiter...

But seriously... yeah, eliminating as much bias about a subject as possible and keeping things as neutral as possible in an education setting is good. But I think we all know that, THAT isn't the case with this... my guess is that there were a few "positive" statements about Muhammad or the Quran that drove the conservotards and fundamenta-la-la-landers over the edge.

[cska]

We have to protest this. Grrrrrrrrr.

[Bright Banana Beard]

The sad facts is that barely none of this are mentioned in the Texan's mainstream media, except for where teachers are striking against this.

[Klaatu]

The sad facts is that barely none of this are mentioned in the Texan's mainstream media, except for where teachers are striking against this.

There ya go. Teachers' strikes, that might be the answer. Being a teacher myself, if I lived in TX, I would be introducing the kids to communism/socialism (subtly, of course, in ways the cons will never know...That's exactly what I do here in MI))

[Quail]

This kind of thing really disgusts me.

[Technocrat]

As a resident of Texas, this is no big surprise.

The Texas Board of Education is, how shall we put it... fucking evil?

Among this, other proposals they have made include portraying America as being founded as a Christian nation, the teaching of "intelligent design" as a viable alternative to evolution theory, and portraying socialism in a historically negative light while ignoring the negative effects of capitalism. They would accomplish this by changing the textbooks, essentially re-writing history. This shit really pisses me off, but hey, it's Texas - what do you expect from a state that was essentially a territory stolen from Mexico by power hungry white protestants.

[Technocrat]

There ya go. Teachers' strikes, that might be the answer. Being a teacher myself, if I lived in TX, I would be introducing the kids to communism/socialism (subtly, of course, in ways the cons will never know...That's exactly what I do here in MI))

Strikes do not exist in Texas for the most part. We have the "right to work law"

You're talking about probably the single most conservative state in the Union.

[Klaatu]

You're talking about probably the single most conservative state in the Union.

More so than Alaska?

[LC89]

They should abolish the use of modernized Arabic numbering system such as 2010. They should replace with legit and proper English like : Year of two-thousand and ten.

[Klaatu]

They should abolish the use of modernized Arabic numbering system such as 2010. They should replace with legit and proper English like : Year of two-thousand and ten.

And if they abolish algebra (invented by Islamic scholars) other important things like chemistry, physics, and calculus would collapse too.
So would all of modern science. I guess the Fox-News-watching Islami-phobe hillbillies wish to return to being conservative, know-nothing, cave-dwelling rednecks

"Hey, teacher! Leave us kids alone!"... Pink Floyd

[Quail]

And if they abolish algebra (invented by Islamic scholars) other important things like chemistry, physics, and calculus would collapse too.

Haha, I bet they never thought of that. I suppose it's just convenient to forget all the important contributions made by Islamic people when you're trying to demonise them.

[¿Que?]

Strikes do not exist in Texas for the most part. We have the "right to work law"

You're talking about probably the single most conservative state in the Union.

Oh I don't know, Austin labor grows balls from time to time. Remember the AT&T strike? Or the busdriver's strike that threatened to spill over to into some election, thereby preventing a large sector of the democratic vote from reaching the polls?

Seriously, for a while I was considering working for AT&T, just to join the union. What a silly lad I was just one year ago!

[Os Cangaceiros]

You're talking about probably the single most conservative state in the Union.

Nope. That "honor" goes to Utah.

[progressive_lefty]

lol What a joke. But this is obviously the state of the Bush family and intelligent design. It must be very hard to live there, if you believe in reason, truth and history..

[Red Commissar]

SBOE passed the worst of their textbook resolutions a few months ago. These things coming afterwards are stuff they are tacking on to it.

http://www.revleft.com/vb/religious-....html?t=129110

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

The thing is, stuff like this actually damages a child's education in the name of shitty ideology.

Consider; it is thanks to Islamic scholarship that we have our intellectual inheritance from the Greeks.

But then, is this not the same board that tried to introduce Creationism?

[LC89]

Escalating American Exceptionism probably will prevent Americans student from absorb foreign ideal in long run it actually makes our children be less competitive in world stage.