Education Control

8/8/2019 Education Control

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Texas Schools Board Rewrites US History with LessonsPromoting God and Guns

US Christian conservatives drop references to slave trade and sideline Thomas Jefferson who backed church-state separation

By Chris McGreal, Houston

May 18, 2010 " The Guardian " - -Cynthia Dunbar does not have a high regard for her local schools. She has called them unconstitutional, tyrannical and tools of perversion. The

conservative Texas lawyer has even likened sending children to her state's schools to "throwing them in to the enemy's flames". Her hostility runs so deep that she educated her own offspring at home and at private Christian establishments.

Now Dunbar is on the brink of fulfilling a promise to change all that, or at least point Texas schools toward salvation. She is one of a clutch of Christian evangelists and social

conservatives who have grasped control of the state's education board. This week they are expected to force through a new curriculum that is likely to shift what millions of

American schoolchildren far beyond Texas learn about their history.

The board is to vote on a sweeping purge of alleged liberal bias in Texas school textbooks in favour of what Dunbar says really matters: a belief in America as a nation chosen by God as a beacon to the world, and free enterprise as the cornerstone of liberty and democracy.

"We are fighting for our children's education and our nation's future," Dunbar said. "In Texas we have certain statutoryobligations to promote patriotism and to promote the free


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enterprise system. There seems to have been a move awayfrom a patriotic ideology. There seems to be a denial that this was a nation founded under God. We had to go back and make some corrections."

Those corrections have prompted a blizzard of accusations of rewriting history and indoctrinating children by promotingrightwing views on religion, economics and guns while diminishing the science of evolution, the civil rights movement and the horrors of slavery.

Several changes include sidelining Thomas Jefferson, who

favoured separation of church and state, while introducing a new focus on the "significant contributions" of pro-slaveryConfederate leaders during the civil war.

The new curriculum asserts that "the right to keep and bear arms" is an important element of a democratic society. Studyof Sir Isaac Newton is dropped in favour of examining scientific advances through military technology.

There is also a suggestion that the anti-communist witch-hunt by Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s may have been ustified.

The education board has dropped references to theslave trade in favour of calling it the more innocuous"Atlantic triangular trade", and recasts the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as driven by Islamic

fundamentalism.

"There is a battle for the soul of education," said Mavis Knight,a liberal member of the Texas education board. "They're tryingto indoctrinate with American exceptionalism, the Christian founding of this country, the free enterprise system. There are


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strands whe re th e f ree e nt e rpris e syst em f its appropriat ely bu t th ey hav e str e tch e d th e conc e pt of th e free e nt e rpris e syst em b ack to me die val time s . T he pre side nt of th e Tex as historical association could not find an y docum e ntation to support th e

str e tchin g of th e free e nt e rpris e syst e m to anci e nt time s b ut it mad e no diff e re nce."

T he curriculum has alarm e d libe rals across th e countr y in part be caus e Tex as b uys millions of t ex t b ooks e ve ry ye ar , g iving it consid e ra b le swa y ove r what pu b lishe rs print . By som e e stimat e s , all b ut a handful of Ame rican stat e s re ly on t ext b ooks writt e n to mee t th e Tex as curriculum . T he C alifornia

leg islatur e is consid e ring a b ill that would b ar th e m from be ingus e d in th e stat e's schools .

In th e past four ye ars , C hristian cons e rvativ e s hav e won almost half th e se ats on th e Tex as e ducation b oard and can re ly on oth e r Re pu b licans for support on most issu e s. T heypre viously trie d to req uire scie nce t e ach e rs to addr e ss th e "str e ngths and we akn e ss e s" in th e th e ory of e volution a mov e critics reg ard as a b ack door to t e achin g cre ationismb ut faile d . T hey hav e had mor e succ e ss in tacklin g histor y and social studi e s .

Dun b ar b acke d am e ndm e nts to th e curriculum that portra y th e free e nt e rpris e syst e m (th e re is no me ntion of capitalism ,dee me d to be a taint e d word) as a corn e rston e of libe rt y and ar gue that th e g ove rnm e nt should hav e a minimal role in th e e conom y.

One am e ndm e nt req uire s that stud e nts be tau ght that e conomic prosp e rit y req uire s "minimal gove rnm e nt intrusion and ta xation ".

U nd e rpinnin g th e chan ge s is a particular vie w of re ligion .


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Dun b ar was e le ct e d to th e stat e e ducation b oard on th e b ack of a campai gn in which sh e ar gue d for th e t e achin g of cre ationism e uph e misticall y known as int e llige nt de sign in

scie nce class e s.

T wo ye ars ago, sh e pu b lishe d a b ook , One Nation U nd e r God ,in which sh e ar gue d that th e U nit e d S tat e s was ultimat e lygove rne d by th e scriptur e s .

"T he only accurat e me thod of asc e rtainin g th e int e nt of th e foundin g fath e rs at th e time of our gove rnm e nt 's ince ption

com e s from a b ib lical worldvi e w," sh e wrot e. "We as a nation we re int e nd e d by God to be a light se t on a hill to se rve as a be acon of hop e and C hristian charit y to a lost and dyingworld ."

On th e e ducation b oard , Dun b ar b ack e d chan ge s that includ e t e achin g th e role th e "Je wish Te n C ommandm e nts " playe d in "political and legal ide as ", and th e stud y of th e influe nce of Mose s on th e US constitution . Dun b ar sa ys th e se ar e important st e ps to ove rturnin g what sh e be lie ve s is th e myth of a se paration be twee n church and stat e in th e US.

"T he re's bee n this amorphous chan ging of how we look at re ligion and how we de fine re ligion within Ame rican histor y.One conc e rn I hav e is that th e vie wpoint of th e foundin gfath e rs is ve ry cle ar . T hey we re not against th e promotion of re ligion . I think it is important to pre se nt a historicall y accurat e

vie wpoint to stud e nts ," sh e said .

On th e fac e of it som e of th e chan ge s ar e innocuous b ut critics sa y that close r scrutin y re ve als a not-so-hidd e n age nda .Histor y stud e nts ar e now to be require d to stud y docum e nts ,such as th e Mayflowe r C ompact , which instil th e ide a of


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Ame rica be ing found e d as a C hristian fundam e ntalist nation .

K night and oth e rs do not que stion that re ligion was an important force in Ame rican histor y b ut th ey f e ar that it is

be ing us e d as a T ro jan hors e by e van ge lists to inse rt re ligious indoctrination into th e school curriculum . T hey point to th e wordin g of am e ndm e nts such as that requiring stud e nts to "de scribe how re ligion and virtu e contri b ut e d to th e g rowth of re pr e se ntativ e g ove rnm e nt in th e Ame rican coloni e s".

Amon g th e advis e rs th e b oard b rou ght in to he lp re writ e th e curriculum is David Barton , th e le ad e r of WallBuilde rs which

see ks to promot e re ligion in histor y. B arton has campai gne d against th e se paration of church and stat e. He ar gue s that incom e ta x should be ab olish e d be caus e it contradicts th e b ib le. Amon g his re comm e ndations was that pupils should be tau ght that th e de claration of inde pe nd e nce e sta b lishe s that th e cre ator is at th e he art of law , g ove rnm e nt and individual rights .

C ons e rvativ e s hav e bee n accus e d of an assault on th e histor yof civil rights . One curriculum am e ndm e nt de scribe s th e civil rights mov e me nt as cre atin g " unr e alistic expe ctations of eq ual outcom e s" amon g minoriti e s . Anoth e r see ks to plac e Martin Luth e r K ing and th e viole nt Black Panth e r mov e me nt as opposit e side s of th e sam e coin .

"We had a b ig discussion around that ," said K night , a form e r t e ach e r. "I t was an att e mpt to taint th e civil rights mov e me nt .

T hey did th e sam e by almost eq uatin g Ge orge W allac e [ th e seg regationist gove rnor of Alab ama in th e mid- 1960 s] with th e civil rights mov e me nt and th e thin gs Martin Luth e r K ing J r was trying to accomplish , as if Wallac e was standin g up for whit e civil rights . T hat 's how slick th ey ar e.


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"T hey' re ve ry smooth at excludin g th e contri b utions of minoriti e s into th e curriculum . I t is as if th ey want to re nd e r minorit y g roups totall y invisib le. I think it 's racist . I re ally do ."

T he b lizzard of am e ndm e nts has produc e d th e occasional farc e. S om e figure s hav e bee n side line d be caus e th ey ar e dee me d to be socialist or un- Ame rican . One of th e m is a childre n 's author , Bill Martin , who wrot e a popular tal e, B rown Be ar , Brown Be ar , What Do Y ou See? M artin was pur ge d from th e curriculum wh e n he was confus e d with an author with a similar nam e b ut a diff e re nt b ook , Ethical Mar xism .

G uardian Ne ws and Me dia Limit e d 2010

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