Sunday, March 14, 2010

A victory for public education in Texas

Thanks to the Texas Board of Education, public school students in the Lone Star State will be learning ideas that students are not allowed to learn in other states.
For example, textbooks in Texas will no longer use the loaded word "capitalism," which is equated with evil by the left. Instead, they will use "free-enterprise system."
Two champions of the free-enterprise system, Milton Friedman and Friedrich Von Hayek, will be mentioned in the books.
These changes are the result of a “textbook war” that took place recently. Every 10 years, textbooks used in the public schools are reviewed by the board, and changes ordered. This time, the conservatives on the board prevailed and some of the left-wing ideology was purged from the books. (Hat tip to Greg Halvorson at American Thinker for listing some of the changes.) Other topics Texas children have not been allowed to hear in school: the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s: Phyllis Schlafly, the Moral Majority, the Heritage Foundation, and the Contract with America.
Dangerous things, these. But now children will know they exist.
Black Panther agitation in the civil rights era will be addressed, rather than hidden. Also, the inclusion of congressional vote-tallies on civil rights legislation, from which children will learn which party had the largest percentage voting in favor of the Civil Rights Act. (If you said Republican, you get an A.)
One more heretical thought will be added by teaching the importance of personal responsibility. Students will have to learn that the world owes them a living from watching the news on TV, from any network other than Fox, which merely reports the news.
There will be a clarification on "separation of church and state" as intended by the Founding Fathers. Texas students may even learn than these were great men, not evil conspirators.
It is entirely possible that the public schools in Texas will get more students, as fewer parents resort to private schools and homeschooling in order to get a full education for their children. Controlling the minds of children is one way those who do not like America have been able to gain political power. But indoctrination is not education.

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