Tag: texas scares me

The Atheist Experience in Austin Texas talks about the developments for Texas’ board of education election this year. It’s not exactly a clear, sweeping victory for science and reason, but McElroy is well and truly out, having been knocked out in the primary.

We’ll see how things shake out, but it does allow a spark of hope that the state of Texas won’t single-handedly destroy the quality of school textbooks for the rest of the country.

Though I will admit, I’ll miss the big lug just a little. He was always good for a cringe-inducing quote that would leave me torn between despairing laughter¹ and that face you make when you accidentally drink sour milk.

1 – Or possibly a Joseph McCarthy-esque eerie giggle.

Conservative Vision Ascendant In Latest TX History Textbooks Draft; Gingrich, Schlafly Back In; because what social studies text books need is more emphasis on the positive cultural contributions of the NRA. No, really. I’m not even making this up.

Of course, the best bit come from TPM’s previous post on this topic:

In a note to curriculum writers last fall, McLeroy encouraged them to “read the latest on McCarthy — he was basically vindicated.”

Um… no. He really wasn’t. McCarthy was a horrible human being on a witch hunt and ruined a lot of innocent lives. Unless by reading the latest, you mean by one of well-known historian¹ Ann Coulter’s vicious screeds, and in that case… still no. What planet is McLeroy living on anyway?

“The secular humanists may argue that we are a secular nation. But we are a Christian nation founded on Christian principles. The way I evaluate history textbooks is first I see how they cover Christianity and Israel. Then I see how they treat Ronald Reagan–he needs to get credit for saving the world from communism and for the good economy over the last twenty years because he lowered taxes.”

Oh. That planet.

Text books are important, and what’s in them is important as well. If you’ve never read Lies My Teacher Told Me, I cannot recommend it enough. Whether or not you buy the author’s political stance, his points regarding the presentation of history and how easily manipulated it is range from thought-provoking to terrifying.

1 – Yes, I was laughing as I typed this. Well, more like giggling. Possibly in a manner reminiscent of Joseph McCarthy.

I meant to post this link last week, but the horrifying detonation of my digestive tract on Wednesday kind of distracted me. My best friend Kat, who teaches first grade, sent this story to me: Museum Field Trip Deemed Too Revealing

The basic story seems to be that a teacher took her class on a field trip to the Art Museum, which is a place that’s been approved by the school for kids to go. Kids saw (OH GOD NO) some art that involved nudes at some point along the tour. Teacher was subsequently fired.

I’d like to paint this as a head-shaking, “only in Texas” thing, but I can quite easily imagine this sort of situation cropping up in Colorado Springs or any other deeply conservative¹ community. What freaked Kat out the most is that the teacher took the kids to an approved location, and still ended up on the block for it. What’s freaking me out the most is that apparently nudity in art is so evil and offensive to someone that they went gunning for the teacher’s job.

I understand not wanting children to be exposed to pornography, really I do. How some people can conflate pornography with simple nudity is, I think, more revealing of those doing the conflating than they’d really like. I also admit that I’m quite puzzled as to how children can spend their infancy presumably being exposed to boobies while being fed, and to the reality of being naked under their clothes throughout their childhood², but a nude statue at an art museum is apparently going to warp their young minds beyond recognition. Maybe the statues in question were holding signs that said things like, “Santa Claus isn’t real,” “The Tooth Fairy doesn’t exist,” and “Metallica 4ever.”

Yeesh.

1 – Here, “deeply conservative” read as “completely fucking insane.”

2 – I took showers with my parents when I was a really little kid, so I even knew what naked grownups looked like. Though I suppose depending on your feelings about me as a person, that could work as an argument in either direction.

For about five minutes, I had a little flutter of hope in my heart when Don McElroy was given the boot from the Texas Board of Education. He was an infamous creationist stooge, and every time I heard his name, I cringed. While I’m not Texan myself, I’m well aware of the influence that Texas has on the contents of school text books, and the worse science standards get in Texas, the more harm it does to children throughout the united states.

I should have known it wouldn’t last. Somehow the governor managed to dig up a candidate nearly as horrifying to head the board, Gail Lowe. She’s a prominent part of the conservative bloc on the board, and oh yeah, she’s a creationist. Quite an outspoken one, actually.

I weep. Considering that McElroy was trumpeted as an embarrassment to the state of Texas, I’m not sure how the governor thinks this will be an improvement. Though I suppose once he gets around to seceding from the union, we won’t be able to make fun of him any more.

This is all a prelude to the latest cringe-inducing education news coming out of Texas. They’ve set their sights on the teaching of history. Please go read, and then pick your jaw up off the floor and come back.

Seriously, are you kidding me? De-emphasize Thurgood Marshall, who led the charge in Brown v. Board of education, one of the most important Supreme Court decisions in the last century? Particularly when you consider that the argument for changing the standards seems to amount to this: “We’re in an all-out moral and spiritual civil war for the soul of America, and the record of American history is right at the heart of it.” (Rev. Peter Marshall)

That’s very, very scary. Thurgood Marshall, by helping desegregate schools, by chipping away at “separate but equal” throughout his career, is not a moral role model? His contributions deserve LESS emphasis? The man was a freaking SUPERHERO.

Considering the tired old argument about the Bible being the basis for the Constitution has been dragged out by this people, I think that says sad things about the education standards when they went through school. And since there’s further justification made by beating the dead horse of American exceptionalism, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. Coming soon: a return to the concept of manifest destiny!

You can make a lot of arguments regarding how scientific the study of history can truly be. I recently did a semester of British history at university, and it really opened my eyes to how skeptical – and just a bit scientific – you can be in regards to history education. That’s not something that you’ll find in K-12 any more. It involves giving the students historical sources, and helping them read and understand through the framework of what the world and people were like at that time. One of the best lessons in skepticism I ever had was reading The History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth and turning a skeptical eye on many of his more hilarious claims. (My personal favorite: At one point, the British invade Rome and sack it.*** No, really.)

I suppose that it’s too much to ask for US History to be taught like that in public school. But at the very least, could we refrain from directly misleading or lying to the kids if we’re not going to teach them how to understand history in a skeptical fashion?

History is written by the winners, indeed.

*** So, for example, this is how I’d start looking at his claim in a skeptical fashion:
– When did Monmouth write this? If it’s not a first hand account, how long after the fact is it?
– What are his sources? Are they reliable? Do they even exist?
– If this actually happened, what evidence should there be? If the Romans were too embarrassed to chronicle it, were there other countries around where the citizens would either not care and take note of it as good world gossip, or delight in the fact that Rome just got burnt to the ground?
– Are there any accounts written by British historians that repeat Monmouth’s claim that aren’t sourced either from him or directly from his source?
– What motive could Monmouth have if he were making up something this ridiculous? What was going on in Britain around the time he wrote this?

…and so on.