Texas State School Board Approves Conservative and Non-Hiphop Proposal

I saw this and had to step away from the computer for a while. Someone told me about this proposal drawn up by the Texas state Board of Education, and I figured I would share this with the HHC fam. Here’s the link to the story from the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/education/13texas.html

Basically, the state school board in Texas has approved ratifications for the nation’s school curriculum, including social studies, economics, and history. There aim to “add balance” in the classroom is taken because they feel “academia is skewed too far to the left” full of political “extremists” solely trying to “promote their ideology.” Texas, a huge market (and state) for the textbook industry, has the power to influence over 80 percent of the nation’s textbook and ultimately their yearly curriculum. In other words, if these textbook companies take to heart these suggestions made by the board, then the majority of this country’s education will be effected. Some of their changes include the following:

A greater emphasis on favorable coverage on the National Rifle Association, the antifeminist Eagle Forum, the Heritage Foundation, and Newt Gingrich’s Contract with America. I ADVISE YOU ALL TO LOOK THESE NAMES UP!!!

Less coverage on Hispanic and Latino history and culture.

Changes in terminology, including the change from “imperialism” and “capitalism” to the terms “expansionism” and the “free market.”

A twist in coverage of the Cold War to call documents released by the Soviet Union after President McCarthy’s death “the Soviet’s design to undermine the U.S. government.”

Great Society programs like Title IX and Affirmative Action will be said to create “adverse unintended consequences” in curriculum’s preferred language.

Thomas Jefferson will no longer be included among writers who have influenced American’s intellectual origins because of his input to separate church and state.

The removal of coverage on Ross Perot and Ralph Nader, two of the nation’s recent third-party candidates that actually did get references in school books.

Replacing hiphop with country and western music as among the nation’s important cultural movements.

Before I let you marinate the list of ratifications this state’s school board created for the entire nation in your mind, below is a graphic sample from the New York Times of how the changes have been proposed by the state school board in Texas: