Texas conservatives rewrite history

[jesseps]

When people worry about the US economy being surpassed by the likes of India and China, it's often slipping educational standards that are identified as a possible cause. With that in mind, consider the worrying events in Texas, where Republicans on the state's Board of Education enforced party-political changes to the state's curriculum. As the New York Times reports:

 

After three days of turbulent meetings, the Texas Board of Education on Friday approved a social studies curriculum that will put a conservative stamp on history and economics textbooks, stressing the superiority of American capitalism, questioning the Founding Fathers' commitment to a purely secular government and presenting Republican political philosophies in a more positive light.

 

The vote was 10 to 5 along party lines, with all the Republicans on the board voting for it.

 

Why does it matter? As the Houston Chronicle notes: "The often contentious process has been watched closely across the nation, particularly this week as the board gathered to debate and vote on the proposed standards. Because of Texas' size, decisions by the board on what should and should not be included can influence publishers whose textbooks may be adopted by other states."

 

Many of the hundreds of line-by-line changes are tiny but carefully considered: this graphic shows how Richard Nixon's "role" in opening relations with China is to be changed to the more positive "leadership".

 

The leader of the Republican effort is a dentist named Don McLeroy, who has previously justified his attempts to add qualifications to evolution into science textbooks by saying: "Somebody's got to stand up to experts". You can enjoy that on video right here:

 

So what were some of the latest changes? The NYT reports:

 

In economics, the revisions add Milton Friedman and Friedrich von Hayek, two champions of free-market economic theory, among the usual list of economists to be studied, like Adam Smith, Karl Marx and John Maynard Keynes. They also replaced the word "capitalism" throughout their texts with the "free-enterprise system."

 

"Let's face it, capitalism does have a negative connotation," said one conservative member, Terri Leo. "You know, 'capitalist pig!' "

 

(Courtesy of The Guardian UK)

 

I wonder if anyone from the PQ or BQ heard or read about this Probably not seeing they dislike the English language. So I guess Canadian / Quebec history is safe for now, until one of them comes out of their narrow-minded shell and sees this

[BiloMtl]

(Courtesy of The Guardian UK)

 

I wonder if anyone from the PQ or BQ heard or read about this Probably not seeing they dislike the English language. So I guess Canadian / Quebec history is safe for now, until one of them comes out of their narrow-minded shell and sees this

 

I don't get your point...

[jesseps]

I don't get your point...

 

PQ/BQ dislike the English and from what I recall they wanted to rewrite some of Quebec's history (i.e) Plains of Abraham.

[ProposMontréal]

PQ/BQ dislike the English and from what I recall they wanted to rewrite some of Quebec's history (i.e) Plains of Abraham.

 

Jesseps, if you're just here to stir sh*t around, shut the f*ck up. It's not necessary and it's because of comments like this that racism against anglos are on the rise.

[jesseps]

Jesseps, if you're just here to stir sh*t around, shut the f*ck up. It's not necessary and it's because of comments like this that racism against anglos are on the rise.

 

I'll use a kids defence. They started it with their sovereignty bs and terrorism back in the 70s. If they can't deal with English speaking Quebeckers fighting back so be it.

 

As for racism honestly we are all the same... we are Quebeckers. So wouldn't it be like "langism", seeing its two languages hating each other. I know langism doesn't exist or is not the proper word for this problem we have in this province.

 

Now back on topic: I just dislike it when people try to change the history that has already been written (i.e) in the case of Texas. It will separate people even more.

[jesseps]

History should only be changed if there is some fact to it or some new development that has shown up and can be proven.

[BiloMtl]

PQ/BQ dislike the English and from what I recall they wanted to rewrite some of Quebec's history (i.e) Plains of Abraham.

 

They don't dislike english they want to preserve the french language in Quebec, and I'm pretty sure that many BQ/PQ MPs are more bilingual than you are kid.

 

This is my last comment in this thread as this discussion will go nowhere.

[ProposMontréal]

They don't dislike english they want to preserve the french language in Quebec, and I'm pretty sure that many BQ/PQ MPs are more bilingual than you are kid.

 

This is my last comment in this thread as this discussion will go nowhere.

 

Finally someone saying it like it is.