By Denise Mamo
You wouldn’t think that making curriculum and textbook decisions would cause such heated debates, but the Texas State Board of Education is adding fuel to the fire.
You wouldn’t think that making curriculum and textbook decisions would cause such heated debates, but the Texas State Board of Education is adding fuel to the fire.
English Curriculum
In the recent years, research has shown that almost half of college freshmen in Texas have to take remedial 
classes.
classes. The State Board of Education (SBOE) unanimously voted to appoint StandardsWork (SW), a nonprofit professional education consultancy, to put their heads together and help create the best possible English curriculum for students. After years of proficient research, the data was submitted to the SBOE. The conservative board members proceeded to substitute their own curriculum at the last minute, completely disregarding the years of research that the committee had done. They claim that SW kept the documents after the agreed time, possibly making more changes before submitting it to the SBOE.
Ken Mercer, a very conservative SBOE member, wrote an article addressing his thoughts on the matter. He says, “It is my belief that the Coalition lobby [SW] was mean, they lied, and they cheated. In the end, they got a very well deserved spanking.”
Ken Mercer, a very conservative SBOE member, wrote an article addressing his thoughts on the matter. He says, “It is my belief that the Coalition lobby [SW] was mean, they lied, and they cheated. In the end, they got a very well deserved spanking.”
Texas' Decision Makers
The SBOE is debating which textbooks will be used to teach grades K-12 in 2010, and in the present just like the past, a small board of members makes these decisions.
The SBOE plays a vital role in determining curriculum standards taught in Texas public schools. Comprised of 15 members, this organization strives to provide the best possible criteria for students to become well-rounded, successful individuals. Although the members do not share the same opinion, they all are trying to work towards a similar goal; educating kids and future generations.
Other organizations were also created in an attempt to control public school education. During the 1960’s, a couple named Melvin and Norma Gabler founded an institution called the Educational Research Analysts. This nonprofit conservative Christian group examined school books to uncover what they thought to be factual errors and expunge information which they did not feel was correct. This posed a great problem for several reasons; neither of them had college degrees and they had a religious and political bias. Despite their lack of education, they still managed to have and impact.
For decades, far-right fundamentalists have had an enormous impact in deciding what content should be printed in school textbooks. The Texas Freedom Network (TFN), a nonprofit corporation established in 1995, has been aiming its attention towards overseeing that the far-right pressure group does not solely dominate the curriculum. Years prior to the TFN, pressure groups tried and succeeded in excluding and/or censoring information that was presented in textbooks.
The SBOE is debating which textbooks will be used to teach grades K-12 in 2010, and in the present just like the past, a small board of members makes these decisions.The SBOE plays a vital role in determining curriculum standards taught in Texas public schools. Comprised of 15 members, this organization strives to provide the best possible criteria for students to become well-rounded, successful individuals. Although the members do not share the same opinion, they all are trying to work towards a similar goal; educating kids and future generations.
Other organizations were also created in an attempt to control public school education. During the 1960’s, a couple named Melvin and Norma Gabler founded an institution called the Educational Research Analysts. This nonprofit conservative Christian group examined school books to uncover what they thought to be factual errors and expunge information which they did not feel was correct. This posed a great problem for several reasons; neither of them had college degrees and they had a religious and political bias. Despite their lack of education, they still managed to have and impact.
For decades, far-right fundamentalists have had an enormous impact in deciding what content should be printed in school textbooks. The Texas Freedom Network (TFN), a nonprofit corporation established in 1995, has been aiming its attention towards overseeing that the far-right pressure group does not solely dominate the curriculum. Years prior to the TFN, pressure groups tried and succeeded in excluding and/or censoring information that was presented in textbooks.
State Board Of Education
Review committees, comprised mostly of volunteer teachers, formulate the curriculum for approximately a year before the members of the SBOE vote on the material presented to them. The members are then supposed to double-check the material and make sure that the information is factual.
Dr. Rebecca Bell-Metereau, Texas State University professor and Democratic nominee for District 5 of the SBOE, says that, “what is happening now is they [SBOE] are ideology checking and trying to find things that do not agree with their beliefs.”
Currently, 10 of the 15 members on the committee are Republicans.
Science Curriculum
The biggest controversial issue of our time is the teaching of evolution and creationism. The debate has been over the wording on the theory of evolution. The religious board members keep trying to say that the biblical version is somehow scientific, creative design is a scientific theory and that evolution is a matter of opinion.
Dr. Bell-Metereau says that we’re the only industrialized country in the world that doesn’t believe in evolution.
“I don’t think it does the students any favor to make them think that science is a matter of opinion. That in itself is really a problem. If they don’t teach students how to make scientific experiments and how to look at scientific data and record it as accurately as they can without reference to their feelings or what their personal beliefs are, then we’re really hurting not just their education, but we’re hurting our ability to conduct the business of the state, the economy and almost anything.” Dr. Bell-Metereau says that we’re the only industrialized country in the world that doesn’t believe in evolution.
Many people across the board have different stances on this touchy topic, but most agree that children need to have a good education.
Rhe-Anne Cannaday, a conservative Christian mother of 3, believes that it is her responsibility to teach her children about religion, not the schools, the teachers or the textbooks.“I don’t want my children learning facts in their science classes that are not even considered science facts. When I teach them about our beliefs that is my job as a mother.”
Will Creationism Ever Have Its Place in Public Education?
In science, it is the responsibility of researchers to find evidence and empirical facts. Dr. Bell-Metereau says that creationism would best fit in a religion based class. Some public high schools do offer religion as a class, but the problem is that they only teach Christianity and a very narrow band of it. 
High school teacher Rebecca Whitmire, says that both evolution and creationism have their theories and strengths.
“Creationism is steeped in religious viewpoints, so it is nearly impossible to teach without violating some person’s religious freedom. That said, it may be best left to a philosophy class where it could be taught with other philosophical notions of how the world came to be.”
High school teacher Rebecca Whitmire, says that both evolution and creationism have their theories and strengths.
“Creationism is steeped in religious viewpoints, so it is nearly impossible to teach without violating some person’s religious freedom. That said, it may be best left to a philosophy class where it could be taught with other philosophical notions of how the world came to be.”
Social Studies Curriculum
The next subject up for debate will be social studies.
It has already been suggested that Thurgood Marshall, the first African American that served on the Supreme Court of the United States, and Cesar Chavez, Mexican American labor leader, be taken out of social studies curriculum.Earlier this year, several Republican members of the SBOE proposed to alternatively put public figures and organizations such as Newt Gingrich, Rush Limbaugh and even the National Rifle Association in the textbooks. The Republicans want to give the boot to the genuine historical figures and implement the suggested changes so that students will be to be able to identify famous right wing supporters.
Texas’ Decision Making Impact
Texas’ population ranks number two in the United States and has greatly affected textbook sales nationwide. In the past it could have potentially impacted or even destroyed the livelihood of a publisher if their book was rejected by the SBOE.
Dr. Bell-Metereau says that now, with Desktop Publishing, publishers will be able to produce individualized textbooks for each state.
“Since Texas has these people who have particular attitudes about science, the age of the earth, and things like that, they are essentially changing the wording in these textbooks just for Texas. Now, that’s not influencing other parts of the country.”
Earlier this month, The Texas Tribune reported that the state’s healthy multi-billion-dollar textbook fund has recently been expanded to other forms of teaching media and will be used to purchase e-readers and laptops.
The Dallas Morning News reported that in March, $4.6 million worth of textbooks and materials were sitting in a warehouse, unused and collecting dust, all because of the way publishers package their products. Many publishers demand that the state must buy the paper version of their textbook or they will refuse to sell the computer-based version.
In the future, rather than wasting hundreds of million of taxpayers dollars, the state could potentially have a mass archive stored in the form of an e-library. It would benefit students and taxpayers, and it would also be environmentally friendly.
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