Texas Social Studies TEKS Revisions

I meant to write more about this sooner but I just can't. It's too upsetting. For those who have not heard, the State Board of Education has been working on revisions to the social studies TEKS that remove the names of many important women and minorities in the TEKS and add in requirements for teachers like teaching the "disadvantages" of multiculturalism and glorifying right-wing ideologues.

It's disgusting. It's embarrassing. And... since Texas buys more textbooks than most other states, it will set a scary tone for the nation at large. Fun times. The State Board of Education does not seem to care, in the majority, that our students will be further marginalized by this, when so many of them already feel pretty totally alienated from mainstream society as it is. Nice folks.

Not all of the members of the SBOE are uneducated bigots. Mary Helen Berlanga, the representative from our part of the state, really tried her best to fight these changes, as did Mavis Knight. Kudos to them. Not that it helped much, but it helped some. Every bit counts.

The Texas Freedom Network pretty much exists to monitor this issue and fight the good fight. Their coverage is the best I have found. Check out their blog at www.tfninsider.org so you can see how bad it is. And keep teaching your kids about the valuable contributions that people of all cultures have made to the world, okay? Please.