Texans Wrangle Over Science and History Texts

Texan evangelicals are fighting to change history, starting with the textbooks. Why does this matter to the rest of us?

Texas isn’t known for its great educational system; in fact, Texas has a 19% functional illiteracy rate. California, New York, and Florida are the only states worse off; most states are closer to 10%. So, why should we care what textbooks they buy?

Textbook publishers don’t like to produce multiple editions of the same book to satisfy different states’ requirements. It’s not cost-effective. So, they look to the biggest buyers to tell them what their books should say.

Unlike most states, individual school districts in Texas do not select their own textbooks. They are chosen by the 15-member Texas State Board of Education. This makes Texas the second-largest market for textbooks in the nation, buying up to 48 million textbooks annually.

While California has a larger market for textbooks in normal times, given its current budget disaster, California won’t be buying many textbooks for a few years. All major textbook publishers have turned their eyes to Texas to learn what to write . . . particularly in the areas of science and history.

As we reported several months ago, the Texas Board of Education has been stacked with evangelical Christians. As may be expected, they’re doing everything within their considerable power to rewrite history and science. Last year was an attempt to bring the “strengths and weaknesses” comparison of evolution vs. creationism (an attempt which failed). This year, it’s the social studies curriculum.

The New York Times Magazine reports on the latest Texan manipulations of history:

Don McLeroy, a small, vigorous man with a shiny pate and bristling mustache, proposed amendment after amendment on social issues to the document that teams of professional educators had drawn up over 12 months, in what would have to be described as a single-handed display of archconservative political strong-arming.

McLeroy moved that Margaret Sanger, the birth-control pioneer, be included because she “and her followers promoted eugenics,” that language be inserted about Ronald Reagan’s “leadership in restoring national confidence” following Jimmy Carter’s presidency and that students be instructed to “describe the causes and key organizations and individuals of the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s, including Phyllis Schlafly, the Contract With America, the Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority and the National Rifle Association.” The injection of partisan politics into education went so far that at one point another Republican board member burst out in seemingly embarrassed exasperation, “Guys, you’re rewriting history now!” Nevertheless, most of McLeroy’s proposed amendments passed by a show of hands.

Finally, the board considered an amendment to require students to evaluate the contributions of significant Americans. The names proposed included Thurgood Marshall, Billy Graham, Newt Gingrich, William F. Buckley Jr., Hillary Rodham Clinton and Edward Kennedy. All passed muster except Kennedy, who was voted down.

Pat Hardy, a conservative member of the board who considers herself an independent voice, comments that there are seven board members who openly admit that they intend to enact a theocratic agenda:

They do vote as a bloc. They work consciously to pull one more vote in with them on an issue so they’ll have a majority.

Don McLeroy, a member of the Christian voting bloc, is crystal clear about his views.

“I consider myself a Christian fundamentalist,” he announced almost as soon as we sat down. He also identifies himself as a young-earth creationist who believes that the earth was created in six days, as the book of Genesis has it, less than 10,000 years ago. He went on to explain how his Christian perspective both governs his work on the state board and guides him in the current effort to adjust American-history textbooks to highlight the role of Christianity. “Textbooks are mostly the product of the liberal establishment, and they’re written with the idea that our religion and our liberty are in conflict,” he said. “But Christianity has had a deep impact on our system. The men who wrote the Constitution were Christians who knew the Bible. Our idea of individual rights comes from the Bible. The Western development of the free-market system owes a lot to biblical principles.”

For McLeroy, separation of church and state is a myth perpetrated by secular liberals. “There are two basic facts about man,” he said. “He was created in the image of God, and he is fallen.”

Last year, the Texas Legislature got heat from across the nation over the Board’s attempts to add creationism to science. Texas was mocked by the entire nation, and some legislators got the message.

Will you help them get similar attention this year as the Board rewrites American history to suit a Christian agenda?

Update: The Dallas Morning News has endorsed Thomas Ratliff in the race for Texas School Board District 9 . . . Don McElroy’s district. Why, you ask?

Unfortunately, since being appointed as chairman in 2007, the 63-year-old McLeroy has helped lead the board into skirmishes involving evolution, reading standards and social studies content. The panel even got bogged down debating hip-hop versus country music. The rancor grew so routine that the Texas Senate last year refused to confirm the Bryan dentist as chairman.

McLeroy, a board member since 1999, undoubtedly cares about education. But this panel could use Ratliff’s more practical approach to keep its work focused on essential issues. He’s not an ideological brawler and could develop consensus.

Ratliff has had experience doing just that while serving on boards at his children’s public schools in East Texas. And he says he would listen to teachers and superintendents in determining what students should know. Setting standards is a key function of this board, and Ratliff, 42, would be more in touch with educators than McLeroy. While Ratliff shouldn’t become their captive, Texans are better served by someone who takes teachers’ points of view seriously in crafting curriculum.

The winner of the March 1 primary will enter the 2010 general election unopposed.

You can read about Ratliff (and, if you are so inclined, donate to his campaign — primary is March 1) at http://www.thomasratliff.com/

March 3, 2010 Update: Thomas Ratliff has defeated Don McLeroy by 829 votes! Also, teacher George Clayton displaced 26-year fixture Geraldine Miller.

Clayton’s website stated his position simply:

As an educator, I see the question of curriculum and textbook content as a simple task; both should be agenda free.

Related articles:

1. "Texans for Truthful Textbooks" Rally in Austin on Sunday, May 16, 2010
2. Poll Result: Texans want experts, not board members, to decide curriculum
3. Virginia Baptists condemn Texas Board of Ed revisionist history
4. Early history of science
5. ACT! For America Warns Against "Anti-American" History Textbooks

Jenny Donati is webmistress and co-editor of Secular News Daily. Jenny is an outspoken secularist who believes firmly in the separation of church and state. She demands evidence to support arguments, and holds herself to the same standard. She doesn't write about herself in the third person . . . but there's a first time for everything.

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